Context for those unfamiliar with Red Dwarf(Spoilers for Episode 1 of the show)
Dave Lister is the last man alive. He’s living in the mining ship “Red Dwarf” with a Hologram of his dead roommate, Rimmer; a member of a species of evolved cats, “The Cat”; and a computer on the ship, Holly. Lister crushes on a deceased member of the crew, Kristine Kochanski.
There’s some interesting developments in this episode. Rimmer is rewarding Lister with cigarettes for obedience. Why does Lister follow this? Because Rimmer is hiding the stock. Rimmer is getting smart. If him simply being higher ranked than Lister won’t work, then he’ll force it upon him. It was odd to learn that Rimmer needs to sleep and he gets tired. Why? He’s a hologram. Lister continues to pine over Kochanski. I can’t help but wonder why he doesn’t ask Holly to turn off Rimmer and turn Kochanski on? He only ever asks Rimmer.
Cat’s once again segregated from the episode. He doesn’t appear until between nine to ten minutes in. Cat takes the cigarettes, despite not smoking. He just likes that they’re in shiny cases. He doesn’t understand that not everything’s his. This is understandable as he is a cat and for some time he was more or less alone. He shows great unintelligence when he initially seems unable to count past five, though he knows what six is and that it’s higher than five. He is shown to be a fan of fish in this and the previous episode, but how would he know what fish is? When would the cats have had a chance to obtain some? They’re in space!
SPOILER
We get a somber moment with the aid of a flashback sequence between Lister, Rimmer, and Lister’s friends. He imagines an old memory of him with his pals. It’s shown on Lister’s face and in his voice how much he hates being alone from his friends. Later on in the series, he more or less forgets his old friends. Lister’s loneliness is developed more when he tries to talk Rimmer into agreeing to be turned off, so Kochanski can be turned on. Rimmer says no as he fears that Lister will never turn him back on. Lister and Rimmer seem to be self aware of the absurdity of their relationship. They argue over everything, but they can’t help but get in situations that are self destructive and counter productive. Rimmer and Lister don’t have to be respecting the rules of the ship. Rimmer is hurting himself more than Lister by holding up these rigid rules that don’t apply to their current situation. A theme of this season is self-destructive behavior. This continues when Lister decides to become an officer so he can rank higher than Rimmer. Rimmer genuinely doesn’t think Lister can do it. When Lister gives up, but tries to become a chef. Rimmer is genuinely afraid he can do it. Rimmer tries a lot to get Lister to fail. He passionately tries to convince Lister they’re pals. This is just for personal gain, but he is putting up emotion and being nice.
Rimmer disguises himself as Kochanski and talks to Lister during his exam. Lister is more relaxed talking to Kochanski than we’ve ever seen him before in the series. It’s almost jarring seeing this change in how he acts. Lister quickly realizes it’s Rimmer. Lister’s intelligence is usually considered quite low by fans, but someone like the Cat probably wouldn’t have deduced that, but he did. When Lister won’t give up on the exam, Rimmer does another short shot at Lister by looking under Kochanski’s shirt, saying he’s seen something Lister hasn’t. Characteristically, Lister isn’t too bothered by that.
When the results of the exam come in, it’s not obvious what the results are. We do see a subtle disappointed look on Lister’s face. One might miss it, but that’s such a good moment that reveals the test’s results. He lies to Rimmer and says he passed.
OVERVIEW
This episode points out the nonsense of the rules everyone follows. It shows the intelligence and foolishness of the characters. To varying degrees, they try to one up each other and oftentimes it backfires for the characters. Rimmer tries his hardest to trick the others and it backfires on him pretty hard. He holds his status as the highest ranking member above Lister, but each time he does it ends up being to his detriment. This episode doesn’t try to be anything other than a character piece, unlike the last two episodes. It works well because of that. “Balance of Power” is efficient, funny, and does a great job showcasing the personalities of Lister and Rimmer. Sadly, Holly and the Cat are short changed.
Context for those unfamiliar with Red Dwarf(Spoilers for Episode 1 of the show)
Dave Lister is the last man alive. He’s living in the mining ship “Red Dwarf” with a Hologram of his dead roommate, Rimmer; a member of a species of evolved cats, “The Cat”; and a computer on the ship, Holly.
For those that missed the first episode, Holly gives context at the beginning of each episode from Series 1 Episode 2 to Series 2’s finale in the form of an S.O.S. message. In said message, he gives a joke. This is a clever way of getting viewers informed on the show’s premise. It’s more appealing to returning viewers as there’s a joke. It’s one of the better ways of giving an expository dump.
Rimmer insults Holly and refers to himself as the highest ranking crew member, something he prides, despite only being the highest ranking by circumstance. As retaliation for Rimmer’s rudeness, Holly pranks him. It’s interesting that Holly, a computer, can even pull pranks. This shows the degree of Holly’s free will. Lister wants him and the Cat to go into stasis as it will take a very long time to get back to Earth. We see more of Rimmer’s character when he tries to convince Lister to not go into stasis for the sake of his sanity. It’s an interesting concept that Rimmer is reliant on Lister and Lister is reliant on Rimmer in their own ways. Rimmer also realizes that he was rude and admits it to Holly, admittedly only so he’ll correct the prank on him. At least Rimmer’s learning! Rimmer is also nice to Lister, but only to convince him to not go into stasis. Rimmer complains about being dead and Lister says it’s not so bad.
Other things that appear here that recurred in this series are jokes about a death, Lister and Cat adds very little to the episode. He interacts very little with the episode’s plot. This episode’s main highlight is how it shows off how the character’s react to and act in certain situations. It doesn’t get too deep, but it is something. One moment I liked is how in Episode 1, the Cat doesn’t eat with a spoon, but here and in later episodes, he does. Did Lister teach him that? More character growth is shown when Lister’s scared of dying, though he earlier said it wasn’t a big deal. Rimmer’s various ways of treating situations give him lots of depth.
SPOILERS
The main premise of the episode is that future versions of the main characters are appearing and having future conversations that the present versions can’t interact with. These are called “Future Echoes” However, about the first half of the episode was focusing on things unrelated to that. Like with “The End”, it feels like multiple episodes that are too short were combined together. There’s an interesting foreshadowing where the characters see a future echo of Lister with two babies. This would later be resolved in Series 3!
My favorite joke in this episode is when a future echo of Lister in his 170s appears and laughs at Rimmer. It’s quite amusing. Another good joke consists of a future echo of Cat breaking his tooth and it’s assumed he tried to eat one of Lister’s robot fish, but it turns out that in Lister’s attempt to stop him from eating the fish, he broke Cat’s tooth. It’s pretty clever. Rimmer had a funny line, “You can’t whack death on the head.”
I like how the plot of the future echoes seems to be superfluous, but then it sets up more things while also being concluded. There won’t be anymore Future Echoes. Some concepts, like Old Lister, have elements that will be relevant later.
There are a few, simple issues I have with this episode. Lister and Cat going into stasis isn’t addressed again. Not even a mention. The robot fish aren’t either. This episode’s main concept, the future echoes, aren’t explored with much depth. If the episode had to break from that to something else, I’m glad it was character development. It’s still annoying. It is nice that the future echoes help fuel character development, because what characters see influences their relationship.
Red Dwarf is a classic of British television. Few have managed to reach its level of universal appeal and critical acclaim. I am one such person who gives the series much praise for its exceptionally good comedy and actors. After running through the then whole series (eleven seasons), I wrote a review which I consider to be one of my all time worst. However, a new special is set to air soon and I’ve been wanting to revisit the show for sometime. This seems like the ideal time to do so.
The first series is one that after watching the whole show for the first time, I considered one of the best series of the show. After watching the “Remastered” edition, I didn’t think it was nearly as good. It keeps things straightforward and uncomplicated, which works better than one might think. Its six episodes are low budget and youthful. Things are getting started. The show’s theme song is great. In it, someone cleaning a bit of the ship, before the camera zooms out to show the whole thing. The opening’s ominous and does a great job of showing the scale of the ship. It’s shown from various angles that look very attractive. The instrumentation for the theme have power and grandiose before fading out slowly. It’s great.
The events of Episode 1 have an affect on the rest of the series. The episode and the show start by immediately seeing the relationship of the two leads, Lister and Rimmer. For a few minutes, they interact without any other characters. There’s plenty of angles to the scene. Lister dresses and acts slobbishly. He picks on Rimmer playfully. Rimmer dresses very dignified and makes big deals over nothing. We see Rimmer’s foolishness when he berates Lister for confusing two objects with each other before making the same mistake himself. Rimmer makes several mistakes throughout the episode (maybe it’s foreshadowing…). He complains a lot to and about Lister. Sincerely, Lister doesn’t seem to dislike Rimmer. He just finds him uptight and difficult. This is seen when Lister explains the reason he’s picking on Rimmer is because he’s bored. I can’t help but extrapolate on that. Is Lister saying he would like for both of them to take it easy and procrastinate together? Lister at least likes Rimmer more than the other crew members. This is shown when a superior to Lister and Rimmer complains to Rimmer that he’s filing too many complaints about Lister. The numerous superiors seem to like Lister and they’re nice to each other, though that’s not delved into much.
We get a lot of scenes with Lister and Rimmer. Rimmer, at one point, blames his parents for his problems and writes a textbook’s info on his body for a test, claiming it’s not cheating. He seems to believe it. This shows how he handles problems and masks the reality of them. Rimmer’s actor, Chris Barrie, is a skilled impressionist. This is shown off with Rimmer doing an imitation. This is something that will happen more deeper in the show. Chris Barrie is very good at portraying an unlikable, weasley character like Rimmer, but in such a way where you can relate to him and contradictingly, like him. Rimmer has a bit of a breakdown when Lister’s sleeping (it’s not very well written or performed). When Lister wakes, Rimmer starts speaking and acting proper. He’s trying to look good to someone that he doesn’t like or respect and already doesn’t respect him.
Lister doesn’t care what people think of him for the most part. He’s played relaxed by Craig Charles. He doesn’t hold grudges and can look past things that don’t matter. He honestly wishes Rimmer good luck on his test. Despite how annoying Rimmer is to Lister, he can look past that and just be polite. Lister spills some milk when feeding a cat he snuck on board, but doesn’t care. This shows that Lister also makes mistakes, like Rimmer, but reacts to them differently. Lister is the lowest ranked crew meon board, but never is bothered by that. Rimmer is second lowest and holds his power over Lister like a badge. Lister is called up to speak with the captain, who is named Hollister. Lister goes to the ship’s bridge and makes small talk with a female crew member named Kristine Kochanski. It’s not initially obvious what their relationship is. She makes fun of him a little by saying he’ll be admiral and he either doesn’t care about being made fun of or doesn’t get it. The joking isn’t mean spirited.
SPOILERS
Captain Hollister says Lister needs to give up the cat, which will be dissected or Lister goes without pay and has to go into stasis for a year and a half. In stasis, time is paused. Lister would rather go in stasis, so there he goes.
A crew member named George McIntyre dies offscreen. There’s some comedy associated with the death of him, though the death itself isn’t joked about. This foreshadows and shows how darker topics like death are covered. He’s revived as a hologram and we get a dump of expository dialogue explaining that the dead can be recreated as holograms, though the ship’s computer, Holly, played by Norman Lovett, can only support one at a time. There’s another light mention of death when Holo-George jokes about the death of the crew.
When Lister wakes up, he walks around the ship, noticing that there’s no one around and there’s several piles of some powder-like material. Without thinking, he eats some of it. Holly explains that the crew is dead and the powder-like material is the remains of the crew. There was a radiation leak that Rimmer accidentally caused. Lister was kept in stasis for three million years as that’s how long it took for the radiation to reach a safe level. Lister’s stupidity is shown as he eats some of the ashes of a crew member before knowing what it is. From his perspective, couldn’t the powder have been some kind of poison or feces? Holly tells Lister everyone’s dead. He doesn’t get it and Holly tells him this information several times. Lister eventually does get it. This joke doesn’t make much sense. How could Lister be missing what Holly is saying? It’s not particularly funny and Lister isn’t shown to be that idiotic in the show proper. While Holly went senile being alone, it’s not as obvious as we saw him very little pre-accident. We do see his decreased demeanor when he says a rude joke to Lister. Before the accident, he acted completely professional.
Rimmer is revived by Holly as a hologram. Holly says he chose to revive Rimmer as he’s the best person to keep Lister sane. This has confused some fans. This angle of keeping Lister sane isn’t looked into more in the show, but the two are constantly arguing. It seems that anger and conflict is what’s keeping him sane. It’s an interesting concept. Moving forward, the party’s not full yet! It’s revealed that Lister’s cat was safely away from the radiation and was pregnant. After so long, the cats evolved to be more human-like. One of the cats appears. This cat for the whole series is called “The Cat”. It’s odd to me that the Cat is never given a name. The Cat, played by Danny John-Jules, is shown to not be very smart and self-centered.
More interesting to me than anything else in the episode is that the cats developed a religion around Lister and his cat. I wonder how they learned this. Did they learn it from Holly? Were there documents that the cats found? The Cat is an Atheist to this religion and he says that most cats are as well. We do get an episode on the topic down the line, but it doesn’t answer my questions!
This episode is called “The End”. I think this is saying that this is the end of the crew that Lister knew. The episode ends with Lister telling Holly to set course for Earth and “The Beginning” appears on screen. This could mean that this is the beginning of this story.
“The End” is a bit inconsistent in the quality of the humor. Almost everything we learn of the crew, which is very little, is irrelevant to the story. If one is unfamiliar with the show, them all dying is a good twist. This is basically Episode 0 of Red Dwarf as it isn’t set mostly in the deep future and a lot of the staples of the show are absent. The Cat barely appears and we learn very little about him.
OVERVIEW
Sadly, no interesting ideas are covered, something that would be the norm down the line. This whole episode’s purpose is to establish the series. It’s good, but it lacks an identity. The writing and acting isn’t on top form. I really don’t like expository dumps. This episode has two. One from the captain of the ship and one between Lister and Rimmer.
I had wanted to review the films, Pink Floyd – The Wall and Head, but I never did. Fortunately, I can just review Tommy, which is very similar to the two. This movie is on drugs. It’s filled with insane and inane visuals and performances which are filled with life, but fail at making sense. Not that sense was a priority for the film. This film is based on an album by The Who. It makes a lot more sense than this film. It seems that the loud, operatic music in the album is simply describing the situation in a larger than life manner. The film, at least insinuates, that everyone and everything is naturally over the top. Note that this is just my interpretation. As a quick sidetrack, people sometimes talk when music is playing, but often no words come out. I wondered if there was something wrong with the audio mixing. Perhaps this shows that the music is more powerful than the actors.
The performances are a mixed bag. Any of the minor characters are over the top to the extreme. Tina Turner, Elton John, and The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, all get a song and they make it their own. However, I didn’t like any of these overly dramatic performances. The film’s attempt to one up itself is distracting. Several minutes will be dedicated to showcasing the abilities that come with writing while high. Tommy’s mother, Nora Walker, played by Ann-Margret (who needs a last name?!), is generally too over the top, but she does have subtle moments which are good. One particular highlight is her face after giving birth to Tommy.
There are two performances that I rather liked. One is Oliver Reed as Frank. There often seems like there’s multiple sides to him. He has the appearance of being very friendly, but there’s a harder edge that sometimes comes out. Sadly, we never explore him to the depth I would’ve liked. This can probably be chalked up to bad writing. Speaking of which, the writing! There’s plenty of times in the film where there’s a tangent into a song that ultimately adds nothing to the overall story. So much either doesn’t make sense or is a complete waste of time. There’s a weird robot-esque suit that Tina Turner has, Tommy follows himself into a junkyard, and champagne, baked beans, and chocolate spew in alarming numbers out of a broken television. We’ll then follow into the next scene where none of it even happened the way we saw it. My best guess as to what it means is that they’re personifications of what the characters are thinking. However, it doesn’t seem to mean anything. If you cut these various scenes and moments out, you wouldn’t think something’s missing. In the champagne scene, Nora throws a bottle at her TV and all the previously mentioned start flowing out. Ideally, this would impact her character, but it doesn’t. We see a girl named Sally introduced near the end of the film, her story plays out over a song, then she’s gone. It’s the most obvious tangent and it’s tenuously related to the story of Tommy. If a lot of these scenes, especially Tina Turner’s, were portrayed with more subtlety, they’d be easier to comprehend and experience as it’d be more down to Earth. With all this imagery, the movie needs an intermission every five minutes.
Elton John as he appears in the film
The standout of the film is Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who and Tommy himself. He is so incredibly good as Tommy. We see a lot of the character even when he’s not doing much. His singing is also gorgeous. I love seeing him run during the song “I’m Free” and “Listening to You”. He’s imposing and triumphant. His look matches what the film is doing with the character. The more Daltrey, the better the movie. He almost makes you forget about the confusing, hilariously bad greenscreen that I hope was intentional.
Why?
Another big positive is the excellent cinematography. We get a lot from seeing how something’s filmed. Is it filmed from a high or a low? How bright is it? The big negative was something I had to think about for a bit. I wasn’t sure what was hurting the film so much, but then I realized how bad the pacing is. It’s absurd how quickly things are brushed to the side or forgotten about. There’s no scale to how long something is, so it’s hard to get a grip on it. At one point, a character leaves, their absence hurts the other characters, then they’re back after barely any time length-wise. A decent bit of time passed in the movie.
SPOILERS
For much of the film, Tommy is deaf, dumb, and blind, but not from the beginning. His mother thought Tommy’s father was dead, so she started dating another man, Frank. When Tommy’s father returned, he attacked Frank or Nora and Frank killed him. Tommy witnessed the occurrence. We get some good music and acting with Nora and Frank repeatedly saying, “You didn’t hear it. You didn’t see it.” This psychologically made him deaf, blind, and mute. I like how the sound cuts out right before the scene ends, subtle foreshadowing of Tommy’s condition. During one scene, Nora and Frank are upset that Tommy can’t go to heaven because he’s not aware of the existence of Jesus. This initially seemed like filler, but it comes back around.
A scene I really do not like is the one with Keith Moon as Tommy’s “Uncle Ernie”. Ernie seems to have some sort of secret arrangement with Frank, but this is just shown in their expressions and actions. It’s never elaborated on and it’s never portrayed so it’s understood to the audience. We never learn what Frank knows about Ernie. In the album, Ernie is singing about fiddling about with Tommy. I was horribly uncomfortable. The movie version is even worse. Ernie goofily jumps around, making uncomfortable gestures and movements while singing a song. As he sings the fiddling lines, he’s digging through a suitcase, filled with nonsensical things like papers and women’s shoes. The lights cut out and he makes disturbing noises, which probably are him molesting Tommy. He comes off more like a cartoon than a menace in how he acts, which is tonal whiplash. Admittedly, this whole scene is tonal whiplash from the rest of the film.
Tommy is eventually cured by Jack Nicholson in a subtle performance (thank goodness!). Tommy sings of being free and he wants to spread his spirit and gift to the people. Tommy is often on top of buildings and flying with a hang glider while singing of himself and his church. Frank and Nora use this to sell things to the people. Tommy, on the other end, says to spare no expense in benefiting his followers. Here we get a lot of good scenes with Daltrey. He stands tall singing. You could believe that he could convince people to follow him.
Follow they do, but not for long. The bad pacing comes around where after virtually no time, the followers come to Tommy, angry that they don’t feel better. It’s amusing to me that they, like real life people, expect quick solutions to big problems. Oh, I’m depressed and you didn’t cure me perfectly, instantly. How dare you! I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but we don’t see Tommy do anything other than feed the followers.Tommy then gives everyone little masks that prevent them from speaking, seeing, and hearing anything and he asks them to play pinball, as Tommy had done earlier in the film.
We see Tommy’s disconnect from people here. He sings to the followers, though no one can hear him. This puts into perspective what he’s thinking throughout the film. Even as an adult, he’s like a child. The followers flip flop on their views once more as briefly playing pinball didn’t satisfy them. They become reckless, murder Nora and Frank, and set fire to everything. That came out of left field. My guess is this was supposed to be symbolic, but it makes no sense in the story. My confusion continues with Tommy crying over his mother briefly, running off, and climbing a mountain. All while singing a very good song extremely well.
Tommy after being attacked by his followers
The writer and director of the film, Ken Russell, wanted to show the “spiritual journey from darkness to light” for Tommy. I didn’t get the message of that being the point. How is his parents dying enlightening for Tommy? Sure, he runs off singing, but what’s the connection there? He doesn’t seem more enlightened by the events of the ending. What is he supposed to have learned? If the film wanted to show he learned something, then keep the movie going a little more. Show him learn something about people and himself from what his followers did, instead of just closing the book. This movie’s a trip, an experience I haven’t seen before. Pink Floyd – The Wall and Head are more understandable equivalents, but they don’t reach the same level as Tommy.
I seem to be progressively liking Bill Burr more and more. His currently most recent special, Paper Tiger, doesn’t disappoint. He doesn’t let you forget that he’s a middle-aged man that grew up in a world different from the one we’re in now. He shows this through his writing and performance. When he describes an experience he’s had, his face and body expressions show so much. Even when he just rests his arm on the mic stand, you see him. He’s relaxing or he’s tense or he’s something else.
This special is relatively short on jokes, in comparison to typical hour long comedy specials. He’s mainly telling stories, which are very interesting and funny. It seems like it’s unintentional that there are fewer jokes, but the special still delivers on being entertaining. Admittedly, I am more interested in the performer than the comedy when I watch these specials. Dave Chappelle succeeds in his shows, not because of his writing, but his performance. Get a bad comedian and the writing of Chappelle and Burr falls completely flat. Get a talented comedian, like those two, and the writing is exceptionally brilliant.
The stories Burr tells here have a common theme. He’s discussing his disconnect from other people. One story discusses how him being white and his wife being black led to an argument which was racially divided. He’s critical of modern Feminism, which to many has a large impact on the current culture. This moves into him talking about sexual harassment and how he sees hypocrisy in the way men as opposed to women are treated. His opinion is emphasized by a personal anecdote. This recurring theme makes the special feel more solid. This is a cohesive whole, though if there was no recurring theme, it wouldn’t be much of a hindrance. Comedy specials main priorities should be good performing and writing, which this special isn’t lacking.
Perhaps this is a nitpick, but I never like it when a comedy movie or stand-up routine doesn’t end on a killer joke. This special ends on something that could barely be considered a joke and leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Even if Burr was trying to prioritize subtlety in his ending, subtlety can still be done well. The final joke of John Mulaney’s stand-up special, The Comeback Kid, isn’t performed with much grandiose, but with its elements and the knowledge of information learned earlier in the special, the final joke is incredibly good. The filmmaker legend, Alfred Hitchcock, ends his film, North By Northwest, on a joke so subtle you might miss it, but it’s absolutely hilarious to no end.
Overall, Paper Tiger is a funny, solid affair that shows the long and plentiful abilities and talent of Bill Burr. He commands his audience and improvises based on how they act, demanding more and larger laughs which he certainly earns.
The Who Sell Out is a classic album. It’s hard to listen to its superb vocals by the band and not love it. They’re complimented by some of the all time best instrumentalists. One song on the album that is particularly good is the acclaimed track, “Tattoo”. The song is about some young boys who want to get a tattoo without telling their parents. It’s easy to listen to the whole song and not know the plot, because the words blend so well into the background and you’re just carried by the sound of the piece. If you listen to the words a little, they sound like the story of some dumb kids, but if you pay attention, the song rewards you with a real story.
“Me and my brother were talking to each other ’bout what makes a man a man. Was it brain or brawn, or the month you were born?” This line suggests the brothers are going through puberty. They are becoming aware of concepts that those going through puberty would likely just be thinking about. We see them contrast with their father in the line, “He [their father] said that only women wear long hair”. This shows that they are starting to become more rebellious and self interested, by growing long hair. We also learn that their dad is a more traditional person. “So me and my brother borrowed money from Mother… and got our arms tattooed”. It’s revealed a bit later that the boys did not tell their mom they were getting tattoos. This reveals they understand how their parents feel and don’t care. “Welcome to my life, tattoo. I’m a man now, thanks to you.” To the boy, this isn’t just a tattoo. This is adulthood. This is a liberty that they’ve achieved. They may have lied and permanently changed part of their skin, but they’re men, so who cares? There’s a contrast to an actual adult, their father, who doesn’t approve of such an action. Oddly, the next line says “I expect I’ll regret [the tattoo]-”. This somewhat contradicts the song’s message that this is a good thing to the singer. While it should’ve been cut, it does show that the singer has at least a degree of self awareness, which also adds to them growing and learning as they’re leaving the innocence of childhood.
“My dad beat me ’cause mine said “Mother”, but my mother naturally liked it and beat my brother ‘Cause his tattoo was of a lady in the nude and my mother thought that was extremely rude.” This line is very interesting. The parents seem to go mostly by their own values and feelings. It’s not that they were bothered by the kids lying or got tattoos, it’s that they don’t like the tattoos. This gives lots of info into the kind of people they are. It’s ironic that the mother felt it just to beat her son, because the tattoo is rude to her. In reference to the tattoo, the singer says, “We’ve a long time together, me and you”. The line is said optimistically, suggesting that after all that’s happened, the singer in the end regrets nothing. Earlier, the line “You’ll be there when I die [in reference to the tattoo]” was said and it’s repeated here. This line slips the radar the first time, but is more noticeable here. This has such a large impact on the story, especially after the We’ve a long time together one. The singer can and does comprehend that this is essentially permanent and this is the situation they’re in. It’s sung in a way to suggest they aren’t aware of the gravity of the matter, it’s sung innocently. The instruments behind the line are especially good here. It’s simple and ominous. The musicians really want you to feel the implications.
The last verse features, “Now I’m older, I’m tattooed all over”. This could mean the singer continued to feel a need to validate their adulthood and lied for more money and/or got a job. Thus, they’re putting a much more prominent amount of money into getting tattoos. If they did do this again as a child, they’d be risking another and perhaps harsher beating, but it’s still worth it to them. “My wife is tattooed too”. The boy could have been considered lower brow to people and could only date someone like him. The song’s ending confuses as it’s just “rooty-toot-toot” repeated a few times. A Google search shows that there’s an animated short called Rooty Toot Toot. This could suggest that watching TV could play a role in why the boys are thinking the way they do. There’s no reference to other kids that might be influencing the singer and this is the closest to a reference to television. I don’t see any big clues as to why the boys are doing what they’re doing. This song mocks the older, more traditional style of parenting, where beatings and insults were more common. It also criticizes the younger mentality, where people do things without thinking. Though, one could almost admire this song’s protagonist. They did what they wanted and could very well be satisfied by the outcome. They weren’t deterred by those that stood in their way. This could be considered a critique of the government, which, especially in 1967, have been criticized for trying to control people.
Even if one doesn’t like the subject matter, it’s hard to turn away the well crafted instrumentation. The drums and the guitar especially bring “Tattoo” to a new level of expert storytelling in music. This song never turns down elegance and class and it doesn’t turn down the punch of the situation, though that punch is up for interpretation. It’s hard not to appreciate complexity in subtlety.
In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. This story is five episodes long. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time. Since Spearhead from Space, he’s been exiled to Earth and aiding the monster fighting-military organization, U.N.I.T. Other main characters are U.N.I.T. members, Jo, The Brigadier, Benton, and Yates, and the villainous “The Master”. This article is part of a review of Doctor Who‘s eighth season. This review contains spoilers for Colony in Space.
We’re at the end of Season 8. It’s been a fun journey. Does it end on a bang or a whimper? Well, The Dæmons is more wimp than bang. I wouldn’t call it bad, but it’s certainly the weakest Jon Pertwee story I’ve seen so far. The serial seems dependent on the audience thinking the monsters are terrifying, but they come off as laughably silly. The one that speaks sounds like a typical human badly imitating a threatening beast, not a threatening beast in and of itself. The monsters also follow the trend of just looking like a guy dressed up a bit, something that’s been more common this season.
Just like with many first episodes of Doctor Who serials, this one’s atmospheric. The story starts very well. There’s thunder and lightning, it’s dark out, there’s animals making noise, and it’s raining. This is just pure, unadulterated atmosphere and I love it. The audience is just plopped into the narrative. You don’t know what’s going to happen as you’ve been given no context. It’s great. Even throughout the story, there’s good tension. All of the cuts and transitions create tension. They cut on intense lines and moments.
We see more development between the Doctor and Jo. The Doctor references that he’s trying to turn Jo into a scientist. That’s quite interesting. In Terror of the Autons, the Doctor was upset that his previous assistant, Liz, left as she was a scientist. He seemed content with Jo not being the brightest, but now he’s trying to change that. It’s very eye-catching that he is going to attempt to change how someone is to be smarter than before. This is never continued in this story, but who knows what will happen in future ones?
In a classic parent argument, Jo asks how the Doctor knows something and he responds with “I just know”. Jo also argues that magic exists and the Doctor dismisses it outright. He says, “You know, Jo, for a reasonably intelligent young lady, you do have the most absurd ideas.” This once more shows how highly the Doctor perceives himself and how he’s frustrated by people. He just wants to move on past the dumb questions. However, he at least respects his friends, like Jo, as he compliments her intellect. We see another moment of the two being friends when the Doctor says, “Oh, come on, Jo. E=MC squared.” and Jo amusingly responds, “You’re the Doctor.” When someone says the Doctor’s plan is impossible, he gets the line, “Yes, well, according to classical aerodynamics, it’s impossible for a bumblebee to fly!” Later there’s:
BRIGADIER: Do you know what you’re doing?
DOCTOR: My dear chap, I can’t wait to find out.
The Doctor seems able, at least to an extent, to say he’s wrong.
In a later scene, the Doctor walks into a bar and asks its patrons a question. He comes off as rude and after a bit of arguing, he gets out with what he wanted. He was frustrated already, but he didn’t think to compose himself more before going in. In Inferno, he also went into a situation thinking and acting brash. Later, there’s a confrontation that is confusing:
DOCTOR: Yes, the final confirmation of my theory.
JO: You mean you know what caused it?
DOCTOR: Yes, I think so.
YATES: Tell us then.
DOCTOR: No, not just yet. I want to wait until I’m absolutely sure.
What? Why hold off any info? What’s to gain by not sharing any knowledge? Why does it matter if you’re not absolutely sure? There doesn’t appear to be any reason for this. It doesn’t progress the plot or anything.
The characters are fun. There’s a group of Morris dancers who harass the Doctor, led by a man in a silly costume; a scientist who acts foolishly, at one point his invention blows smoke into his face; and Miss Hawthorne, a woman who casually speaks of being a (white) witch and adds almost nothing to the story. I love them all. The normal cast are very good, too. They all work off each other very well. I’d watch the Doctor talk to Jo about science or his history with the Master. I’d watch the Brigadier, Benton, and Yates talk at their lunch break. It’s nice that Yates and Benton get a lot to do this serial, though the Brigadier amusingly has very little to do and he knows it. The others are deep in the adventure, while he’s off to the side, bummed that he’s not doing more.
There’s some subtle and not so subtle directing and writing. We’re introduced to the main plot with a TV reporter speaking to the camera about an expedition into a barrow where treasures are rumored to be and we see some people involved in it. This scene’s here to be an exposition dump. It’s kind of nice that we’re just getting all the facts out of the way and moving onto the story, though it’s pretty on the nose. There’s nice physical acting in this serial. In the barrow, the reporter is speaking to someone more knowledgeable on the topic. The reporter is on his feet, while the other is sitting. This shows he’s more relaxed. At the pub scenes, people are generally relaxed, thus contrasting the serious plot. The antagonists, who generally are in control, stand tall and proud.
SPOILERS
At a church, we learn the old vicar suddenly had to leave, then we see the new vicar is the Master, thus subtly showing he was responsible for the old vicar leaving. Episode 1 carries its atmosphere with a very good ending. It’s dark out, which matches the dramatic and dark tone. The Master is making incantations and the Doctor is frantically trying to stop the dig which will aid the Master. All the characters at the dig are being knocked over and a spooky statue moves. The editing is good. It’s sharp and cuts at the best points to cut on. Jo sees the excavation site cave in on the Doctor. She frantically tells those around to help him and is very protective of the Doctor. This is similar to her relationship with Barnham earlier this season. For the first half of Episode 2, the Doctor is in bed unconscious. In the 60’s era, due to production being almost year round, actors would get breaks during filming weeks, so main characters would often be written out in ways like that. Starting in the 70’s the episode count lowered, so the inclusion of this seems to only be for story reasons. It’s especially amusing as something that was also common when the Doctor was out was for one or two younger, male characters to do the heavy lifting. Yates and Benton do a lot of the getting in trouble and learning of what’s going on. There’s a nice moment of Yates looking after Jo. The two youths seem to connect, like they did in Terror of the Autons. Yates is very protective of Jo this story. Just like with the Doctor, he can get upset. At one point, Yates calls Jo an idiot for going to a place that’s booby trapped. He then tells her of how the place works. Jo, like throughout the season, sneaks out of safety and into danger, once again getting into trouble.
Let’s talk about the monsters. Starting with Bok. Bok is a gargoyle controlled by the Master. At the end of Episode 2, he comes across the Doctor and Jo and the episode suddenly ends. In this bit of episode, Bok and the cliffhanger don’t really work. Bok just appears and doesn’t look intimidating and doesn’t do anything. We don’t know what it does or how, so why should we be scared? We later learn that he kills people pretty simply and is hard to kill, not a very interesting character. It is fun seeing this stupid looking creature run around and their name is Bok.
In Episode 3, there’s a scene where the Master and the Doctor are talking dramatically about the situation. There’s constant cuts from one to the other. The cuts are on attention grabbing and dramatic lines. It works very well. There’s an odd scene later where the Master tries to convince some people to follow him. He starts out doing well, but he loses them, so he kills one of them and says he’ll kill the others unless they obey him. The moment’s pretty peculiar. This episode’s cliffhanger is pretty good. The Master has been trying to awaken a demon. Here, they rise up and for the first time in this serial, the Master isn’t in control. He’s on the ground, scared. This is another physical performance. Overall, Episode 3 was so by the numbers and typical that I realized this story would probably turn out to just be “Ehhh”. …So… how does this demon look? Pretty bad. Azal looks and sounds a lot like a typical dude. Virtually nothing is done to make his voice intimidating. They speak like a normal guy doing a deep voice which sounds very silly.
Episode 4 has a weird scene. Benton and Miss Hawthorne see a group of people doing an odd dance which supposedly is “traditional”. The Doctor shows up, who the dancers wouldn’t have known was there, the dancers then forcefully tie up the Doctor like it’s nothing out of the ordinary. They prepare to burn him. They say he’s evil and the Master is good. However, the Master clearly was villainous to the people, he said he’d kill them if they disobeyed. While the Master has mind controlled people in the past, we haven’t seen him do that here. Why would they be singing his praises? I like that the Doctor isn’t reacting much to kindling being laid and a fire lit, it’s like he’s trying to think some way out of it and he’s not going to waste time by screaming or telling them to stop. He ultimately took advantage of the foolishness of mob mentality by convincing them all he had special powers. Episode 4 is trying to continue with the plots of the previous three episodes and set up the ending. It lacks an identity and is unfocused.
The Master needs to sacrifice someone to Azal and the Master picks Jo. When the sacrifice is being set up, one of the Master’s men says doing so is wrong. Who the hell is this guy? We haven’t seen them before. This guy presumably saw the Master making incantations all story, then he just feels like talking at such an inappropriate time. After this, we never see him again. What was the point? I thought this was crumby foreshadowing to the men revolting against the Master, but that doesn’t happen. The Doctor shows up and with diplomacy, gets Jo freed. Just like in Colony in Space,the Doctor and the Master try to convince a wise force of how to act. The idea of the Doctor convincing someone who is basically a God to change their mind as well as the quality of the dialogue and acting is so stupid that it can’t be taken seriously. Jon Pertwee does a good job as always as the Doctor, but his performance doesn’t really “fit” with what’s going on. Azal constantly changes his mind on whether or not he will kill or help the various characters. This, among other things, doesn’t make him look very threatening. There were some good parts of the scene. I like how against the wishes of the Doctor and the Master, Azal says they’ll give the Doctor their demon powers. This is a good character moment for the two. Despite how smart the Master is, he fails at these moments. When Azal says they’ll kill the Doctor, Jo says they should kill her instead. This is yet another nice moment of development for the Doctor and Jo.
Azal dies and it’s not obvious why. The Doctor says that Azal couldn’t understand Jo sacrificing herself for the Doctor as it’s so illogical, so their power turned against them. What? Azal, you’re dealing with humans. The first human they ever met should have killed them, because humans are illogical. I also don’t see how Jo doing that could have “turned their powers against them”. How could the Doctor have known this? Part of me likes to think that the Doctor just made that up for fun. I like how at the end, Jo does what the Doctor says happily.
The last few minutes feature the Master being captured by U.N.I.T., he escapes, then is recaptured. The story ends with him captured and being taken away. I must ask what was the point in that excursion (other than to kill time). Him being driven off is a fitting end to the Master story of this season, he’s finally been caught, not that it’ll last.
OVERVIEW
There’s plenty of flaws in The Dæmons, but I don’t mind too much. This is a comfortable end to the season, it ends light and relaxed. This serial compliments the kind of thing people were looking for in 1970s Britain. Even in 2020s America, this is a good story to just put on and relax because of how homely everything is. The setting contains buildings that look like they’re from paintings, green grasses, and simple 70s people. Despite the big, darkly lit monster, and the incantations, it all plays in a comforting way. How does it pay off the season’s stories?
The Doctor is not a military person. Throughout this season and the last, he’s been forced to work with one. Perhaps due to this, he’s become snippier with how he treats people. Admittedly, this probably is not intended. The writers likely just wanted the Doctor to have funny lines, and thus, there’s not a “resolution” to that, which it doesn’t need. The Doctor seems content at the end with U.N.I.T. being in control. In this story, he sharply tells Jo to follow what the Brigadier says. At the end, he lets the military group handle the Master.
The Master doesn’t really learn anything. He often makes similar mistakes in different stories. Which is a shame, as the writers seem to be trying to make him seem intelligent, such as in The Claws of Axos, where he shows off his ability to use complex science. There’s a formula this season in how the day’s won and lost for the Doctor and the Master. Similar beats occur, though it’s not too noticeable as it’s mixed up a little. The most interesting part of the Master in this season is how he works off the Doctor. They both respect each other, but they also don’t agree on anything. It’s a shame that their story couldn’t be concluded, as the Master’s brilliant actor, Roger Delgado, died before it could be filmed.
In the beginning, the Doctor doesn’t like or respect Jo. She tries to get his respect, but fails. Throughout the season, the Doctor seems more comfortable with his “situation”. Not just in being with Jo, but with U.N.I.T. He’s begun to quip with the Brigadier more. He has more positive moments of laughter and levity with the U.N.I.T. crew. Jo never changes too much, but she does help more, which is what I think the Doctor may like about her. In the opening serial, Terror of the Autons, the Brigadier says the Doctor doesn’t want a smart assistant, but a dumb one that can say how smart he is. While the Doctor disagreed with him, this season seems to prove him right. The Doctor enjoys his adventures with the dimwitted Jo, but she can help sometimes. All of the cast will be back for more adventures, though absences will become more and more common. This is the only season with the Master as a regular. Everyone will be back for more development and stories in Season 9!
The Filme Diary 