Doctor Who: The Giggle // 14th Doctor Specials (2023) Review Part 3

One of the creepier images in the episode, though the VFX leaves much to be desired.

The finale of Doctor Who is a novel little concept that has in fairness been tried many times. The issue with ever doing it is who can handle not having this franchise? Even if the series managed such low ratings and disinterest that the BBC would in turn cancel it, maybe in ten or fifteen years it could be rebooted? The Giggle has never been sold as or committed to being a finale, but it does include many elements of it that do seek to offer a sense of closure. This is mainly done in the “explanation” of why the Doctor regenerated back into the Tenth Doctor and what happens after it, with it I guess seeming that the Doctor knows this is his most popular incarnation and the one who seems ideal for such a thing? We also get some returning albeit minor characters from the classic series. Will we ever get a Susan appearance? While the idea of giving the show a finale; a fake finale (which this definitely is); and regenerating into past Doctors, especially to make a point, is really fascinating and not as worthy of disdain as some would say, all these ideas are not handled nearly as well as they could have been.

The Giggle serves as the closest of the specials here to a sixtieth anniversary, though it is still light on much celebration of the past. A big thing we get is Tennant. Tennant returning is a good idea. It thematically shows how no matter how much this character changes, he remains the same and offers closure to this tenure in theory, though these specials are even light on references to the Russell T. Davies era. Considering how the Doctor witnessed a lot of strange things be done with regeneration by other time lords it works that part of the Doctor would want to be a bit strange and revisit a past experience. What other past elements we get comes in the form of a few verbal references; the welcomed but minor companion Mel, played by Bonnie Langford, predictably Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and the more fascinating return of the Toymaker. While the Toymaker’s one previous appearance was in one of the worst Who serials of the 60s, his ability to essentially shift reality and create impossible games for people to win is a phenomenal idea. Neil Patrick Harris brings a menace to him as someone who appears so bored with everything that he feels a need to be so destructive.

Thus, it’s a huge disappointment that much of this narrative is setup with little payoff. This is epitomized by a scene of Donna being approached by creepy dolls, which serve no purpose and prove no threat. The two meaningful-to-the-plot games he plays are seeing who can pick the higher card and later don’t drop a ball. Both are played as comedic, but due to their inclusion in this supposed serious finale that is trying to do so much, it muddles the tone. Beyond Harris’ performance, Tennant does sell the intensity of the Doctor’s emotions in his stress and anguish when it seems like something bad is about to happen, which comes out in a few all too brief scenes. The Doctor and Toymaker make the best of the story when talking about their experiences and specifically how they differ from humans. They’re to a degree being compared in how traumatizing it can be to go through as much as they have, which also explains why the villain acts how he does. Thus, it’s sad how little he appears.

A lot of time is spent setting up just how bad the situation is, hearing about all the things the Toymaker has done and admittedly getting some solid visuals, like the toy burning, only for a lot of this to eventually be brushed to the side. A very sudden twist is included and that just takes up the ending. Why not have the threat of the Toymaker be more connected to the twist? Maybe we could have had this be two specials, one dealing with the Toymaker with the twist part of the cliffhanger, then the last is only about the latter element. As is, this episode is so rushed. Random characters explain a lot of the plot, the cliffhanger of last episode and how it’s being resolved is similarly discussed before suddenly being pushed aside, “the Vlinx” was established as a character only to do nothing, as does Kate’s insults, Mel and more importantly Donna are barely in this, and some of the faster paced moments play as fairly comical. The scene of the Toymaker in a black tuxedo doesn’t have him even doing anything, which suggests something was cut. Same with the Doctor’s clothes regenerating with him when he first became #14. That suggested there was some weird space anomaly, but that’s not the case according to this episode.

SPOILERS

We get a really quick scene of two UNIT soldiers walking towards the Toymaker, the Doctor tells them to stop, they get killed, then he tells Kate they indeed died. It all is just very silly. Earlier, the Doctor said to Donna he wasn’t sure he could get her out alive, which is not something that weighs on the situation nearly as strongly as it should. This turmoil needs to mean something. That confession, as well as the Doctor seeming fed up with the cruelty of humanity, are good character moments in a vacuum, but come across as tossed in to make the story “deep”. The Doctor talking about order and chaos could have represented a theme that would play through to the end. Why not have it tie into how he defeats the Toymaker? The actual way he goes is absolutely absurd, losing a fairly easy game when apparently everyone else ever has lost to him. Him bragging about who has been defeated just feels like a waste of time, seeing as the Doctor doesn’t really have to do much to succeed. What if he either has to die or sacrifice Donna in order to win? What if he simply gets the Toymaker to go away, but the latter’s destruction is not even fixed?

Some of the better aspects of the story is the explanation of how the Doctor initially met the Toymaker and how the Toymaker got to Earth. The Doctor is later very clever in outsmarting the villain into letting them go. He probably understood how hopeless things were, so manipulated the Toymaker with what he knew he would want. At the same time, the Toymaker manipulates the Doctor by knowing how to cause him emotional turmoil. As such, the Doctor is often clearly fearful of him. He even offers him something… The Doctor and the Toymaker traveling together would have been a really fascinating idea. Makes you wonder if the Toymaker would steal the TARDIS. This is reminiscent of the time in the audio adventures a Nazi was a companion of the Doctor.

Ncuti Gatwa does a fair enough job, though his incarnation of the lead is devalued by this episode really just being about Tennant until the end. He doesn’t even get a chance to follow the tradition of acting really weird from the post-regeneration haze, being more about giving a bit of dialogue to the Tennant Doctor. What would have been better is if the regeneration occurs at the very end. Considering that the Tennant Doctor apparently has all the interesting baggage about the character, with Gatwa’s more of a clean slate, Gatwa’s era will probably feel like a spinoff or remake, as it might not be following many of the developments to the character that shaped the Doctor. The two Doctors saying goodbye feels like a symbolic passing of the torch, like the Doctor we’ve really known from William Hartnell to David Tennant is bowing out.

Something not covered much in the series is what causes the Doctor to regenerate into the face he does. Such a thing could tell us a lot about the character, at least making for a solid episode. The Fourteenth Doctor era hopes to offer such an explanation, with it seeming to be that it was subconscious, so he could find Donna and retire. This is concocted as something Donna just thought up, which is a lot less satisfying than if it was something the Doctor had to discover. This also spits in the face of a lot of past moments. The Doctor likes adventure, though admittedly has at times wanted to retire but felt he was unable. Wouldn’t he justify to himself now that he can do twice as much life saving? Coming up with a reason for him to call it quits isn’t impossible, but it should take a lot longer and be more about an internal struggle unlike what he’s seen before instead of being done in a few conversations in at best three episodes, but really just this one. The Doctor has already experienced the death of loved ones and failing to help people as much as he could. What’s different about now? The show must not even really believe in this, as the Fourteenth Doctor is left with his own TARDIS, which strongly suggests this isn’t the last of him. 

Hopefully it isn’t, as this “ending” is so quick and unearned. It doesn’t even distinguish itself from the many breaks of the Doctor. The emotional gravatas it is given feels like a trick just waiting to be retconned. 14 saying how happy he is retired feels way too easy, ignoring the aforementioned breaks he’s done, like between series nine and ten. The need to help that would push someone that’s gone so hard and so long fighting isn’t just going to go away. The best way to interpret this is as just a finale to the previous Davies era, as that was just a few years instead of sixty and almost every episode of it starred Tennant. A lot of the various eras of the show feel a bit distinct, but this episode still asks to be so much more and ultimately invites more questions. Even if the Tennant incarnation is just tired and wants to be both alive and retired, what about the others? Will 14 not one day die and perhaps be replaced by another risky adventurer?

While bigeneration isn’t a bad idea, it does only seem to be here for the sake of giving us more Tennant if it’s ever needed, instead of it really being dug into. A lot of exploration could occur for it and admittedly it might happen. A bit more would help the episode. There have also been a few times where we’re supposed to see Tennant off, so it’s increasingly ridiculous when he’s brought back. It does in a way make sense the Doctor could not let go of being Tennant, considering he felt he could do so much more in The End of Time. Those trying to calculate our hero’s age usually have the Tenth as around the youngest tenured, so perhaps to the Doctor, he is the one that got away? Still, it’s probably for the best that he avoids this incarnation considering that 10 cheated death once before in series four, with this episode featuring his third regeneration, all relatively soon after the last one.

OVERVIEW

Obviously it’s not objective what the best interpretation of what the Doctor is is, but Russell T. Davies’ approach of the character being essentially anything, such as that he can now do what’s shown in the episode or affirming the Timeless Child story, erases the Doctor really even being a character. He doesn’t have any wants or drive, as in an instant he could be something else. This admittedly is a problem that plagues any long running character, such as superheroes. It can get to the point where it might seem too boring to some to not go in a “this person is basically Jesus” way. It was so much more special when he was just a weird alien with a box that admittedly didn’t aspire as massive of change. As the Twelfth Doctor once powerfully said, he does what he does just because it’s kind, but that message is diluted when it’s suggested he does so because he’s really so great and special. Due to the frankly broken story of The Giggle, including the blatant attempts to force emotions out of a hat, all this comes off as laziness. What if Davies’ real reasoning is wanting an excuse to make simply a sci-fi show under the Doctor Who name instead of understanding the legacy he is a part of? He would not be the first to change things up, but he might be the first to really run with radically transforming what the Doctor is or acts like.

Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder // 14th Doctor Specials (2023) Review Part 2

A frame from the episode

Wild Blue Yonder at its heart is a simple and effective mystery. Wisely, it uses the space-filling scenes of walking and talking to give some degree of development for our leads. As such, there is a lot to like here, though as a whole the product suffers serious issues. While much of the information we learn about the story of the episode is nice, it mostly comes down to “The Doctor can’t figure it out, so he wanders around until it clicks.” At one point the antagonist explains part of it for the Doctor, which is a trope that doesn’t allow for real intrigue. Why would a villain do that? However, just like last time, David Tennant and Catherine Tate clearly know the show well and handle the absurdities admirably. Their interaction with Isaac Newton, played by Nathaniel Curtis, is very funny for what it is. It would’ve been nice if this episode was more about them flying around to different time periods and having such novelty adventures. Seeing Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott again is heartwarming. It is wonderful we got to see him before he died, which he did before even filming all his scenes for these specials.

Both The Doctor and Donna have scenes where we get a good look at the sorts of stressors and trauma they’ve gone through. The scenes of The Doctor are especially good, due to it following the general theme of The Doctor trying to force down the pain of adventures gone wrong. Donna talking about her family moving on falls flat due to the stakes never being very high. However, it would work under a more intense situation. The episode sets up the threat as particularly villainous, but once again the Doctor can almost magically think a way through. Donna, who generally is not going to give up without a fight, seems too quick to here.

This episode’s antagonist and sets are not unlike how such are handled in the budget episodes the show does, where the Tardis team and usually other characters are on a ship and a baddie tries to get them. As such, it is a real shame this is supposed to be part of a very short anniversary series when we could be focusing on something that either tackles the main story of why the Doctor regenerated into Tennant or the history of the show. Even the structure of the story is similar to other cost-friendly outings. This episode would work a lot better with the next Doctor and companion. This could explore how those two think and will interact with each other. Maybe the next companion is the type to quickly become so stressed she is convinced she will die and thus she discusses her wish for her family to move on from her, as Donna does here?

The visual look of the story and the baddies are both effectively creepy and unsettling. With the latter, it can be looked at as a metaphor for confronting your own personal demons. The exploration of the lead’s inner emotions, especially in response to the villains, feels like a tease when the episode would feel more complete if it came to some resolution. This doesn’t mean to fix their problems entirely, just to make them seem like it led to a point. One episode that did this quite well is Vincent and the Doctor, which looked at how the depression of a person both informs themselves and those around them. Another issue is how convenient a lot of it is, such as the salt shaker.

SPOILERS

The pacing could be improved, like in the beginning when the leads cool off emotionally, so the Doctor and Donna are seemingly about to start the usual of exploring a new environment. Next, the Tardis goes away, they both get inflamed, and the Doctor uncharacteristically judgy, before going back to exploring. What would work a lot better and be more suspenseful is if the two wander around, problems start arising, so they decide to leave only to find the Tardis is long gone. That could continue the escalation of tension, instead of setting it up. Seeing as the Tardis has never “run away” before, it’s ultimately a disappointment when the issue was so low scale and easily beatable.

The Doctor comes off as idiotic for leaving Donna behind. This could’ve served the story or themes by tying into the Doctor feeling like he could’ve handled the situation with the Flux better. Alternatively, what if the Doctor deliberately did this so as to defeat the baddies? Maybe he needed to use the Tardis to analyze fake Donna in some way? Can we at least see some fury from Donna for how horrifying and traumatic that would be? How can she ever forgive the Doctor for that? Here, she seems cordial with him in the end.

OVERVIEW

Similarly to the last special, my takeaway is that while this is a decent piece of Doctor Who, it is lacking in much real adventure or meaning that could make the tale more engaging or meaningful to the overall narrative of this era. This episode has several different tones, from goofy absurdist sci-fi, to drama, to everyone severely lacking confidence, to having it in droves. Why not treat these three stories with Tennant as a coda to his era, which admittedly would be a bit difficult due to The End of Time essentially being that? New ground these 2023 episodes could cover is how the Doctor impacts the family of his companions well after they’ve met him. It could cover what would lead him to regenerate into a past life. While that will probably be detailed next special, it could’ve been more prevalent throughout. We could also see more past characters. Following all this, the first series with Ncuti Gatwa could have all the concepts of these Tennant episodes, but spread out. One episode is committed to being absurdist, another focuses on a historical figure, another is really depressing, etc. Regardless, Wild Blue Yonder is fair enough when taken on its own terms, though is too by the books.

Doctor Who: The Star Beast // 14th Doctor Specials (2023) Review Part 1

When did this show become normal to me?

The Star Beast is more style over substance. Those that are getting back into Doctor Who for Russell T. Davies will find a lot of his trademarks, which maybe were emphasized more heavily for this outing that is designed to appeal to people that had fallen off the show since Davies left in essentially 2009. In fact, a lot of it is laid on a little too thick. Essentially at random, David Tennant as The Doctor can burst into some witty or comedic tangent. The mock trial is the prime example. While that and many other scenes do a disservice to the tone, they are at least entertaining. Tennant himself is very breezy with the material, doing a better job than most would at balancing all these disparate tones.

The opening scene of Tennant and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble monologuing about their past encounters and where their minds are at proves succinctly that these actors have a solid grasp of their characters, even when their lines are extremely unnatural. To give the writing some credit, it seems this opener is not even supposed to be canon, just being here to establish the episode. Much of the information is said later on in the story, so why even have this? Tennant is also in front of a greenscreen of space, which implies he’s just out in the stars standing on literally nothing. One of the biggest issues with the 2000s-present era of Doctor Who is how it can be mostly serious, but include odd bits of absurdity that really pull you out of the moment. While it’s good and also common for this show to go for these stylings, some scenes really ask to be taken seriously and they just can’t be because of this sort of thing. They can be balanced a lot better.

The pacing also is often very fast, with little time to let us sit in a certain situation, which makes that situation feel pointless. A lot of information is shot out in long exposition from characters in ways that don’t feel realistically written or it doesn’t make sense why they even would be monologuing. The music choice can also be offbeat, like the light guitar music after the opening titles that sticks out against the intimidating setup. A very common problem in the show that is especially bad here is when the heat gets down on the Doctor, but then he pulls his sonic screwdriver out and saves the day with far too much ease. Later, there’s a wheelchair that also just seems to be able to do whatever is needed for the plot.

The best performance in the episode is the relatively lowkey Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble. Sylvia is rightfully terrified that her daughter might die, though then when required the character will stay off to the side, even when you’d think she would want to be more active and trying to keep Donna safe. Her pain is also played for laughs, when it could make for a really touching and dramatic plot point if taken seriously. You regardless can’t deny how heart wrenching it is when she’s yelling at Donna that the alien right in front of her isn’t real, because she’s so afraid of what will happen. Catherine Tate herself is very effective in her role of a selfless mother and person in general that always wants to do the right thing, while being easily agitated.

Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble gives a fine portrayal, as well. It would’ve been better if her story of feeling like an outcast connected more to the main plot. It arguably does a little, but the general disconnect makes her feelings come off as tacked on. That being said, it’s certainly not uncommon for shows like this to include relatively blatant commentary of whatever is going on culturally. Also, Rose being trans does play into the storyline and it couldn’t easily be replaced with something else. It does feel like we are being given a message, as opposed to a story, when this comes up. Rose is supposed to be fifteen, though Finney was eighteen and looks a little older.

Note that this episode is pretty much the closest thing to the 60th anniversary special. It aired on the 25th of November, two days off of the actual day of the 23rd. Thus, it’s disappointing how few references there are to the history of the series. Hopefully such a thing would be included in the later episodes with Tennant, possibly whenever it’s explained why the Doctor looks like a past incarnation. Considering the fact that it was established on the 50th anniversary that the Doctor may regenerate into his “favorite” incarnations essentially explains this.

SPOILERS

Rose trying to hide Beep the Meep from everyone else doesn’t serve much purpose. Donna immediately finds the Meep. There’s not even a scene where Rose’s sneaky leanings lead anywhere. Later, Rose talking about feeling like she has gotten over her issues and is finally herself is pretty silly. Her problem was with feeling like an outcast due to dealing with transphobes. Those people have not gone away, nor has her dysphoria. While of course it is possible to change your mindset with that stuff, she would not just get over her stress in a second. This is a very ham fisted way to tie up Rose and her story, which could have just left her an open book that could be explored later. It also would’ve been interesting if the episode covered the fact that if she had not trusted Beep the Meep, the Meep may not have been able to do as much damage as was done. The Doctor was similarly loosely responsible for some of the deaths the Meep caused, which is not taken very seriously or even looked at.

The Doctor seemingly made Donna remember him so she knew what buttons to press, but couldn’t he have just told her which to press? The scene of him realizing that Donna will have to die just flies in seemingly at random, like the script will contrive any reason to make it appear Donna will be killed. Tate and especially Tennant do a good job portraying this struggle, despite some theatrical dialogue and some yelling which furthermore is desperate to pull at the audience’s heart strings. What would’ve made this land better is if this was all covered over a few episodes. Maybe the Doctor feels Donna is destined to die, but he tries to keep her safe, then after a few hours of screen time he realizes he can’t? He even shows off things like the sonic screwdriver, which could remind her. That sort of moment would fit a lot better in a story just about Beep the Meep and new characters and not Donna.

One highlight is Donna acting brassy like she’s done in the past, being annoyed with herself for giving up her lottery winnings. With very little difficulty or fanfare, the day is saved essentially by the Doctor and Donna pressing a lot of buttons, as opposed to something more complex. Beep the Meep has a very over the top villain voice and overconfidence, yelling about how the Meep will win immediately before being defeated. Beep the Meep literally destroying the streets before that is undone is such an absurd way to “save the day”. Why even show such destruction if it means nothing? The workaround for how Donna can live after getting her memories back is quite clever, other than her and Rose to a degree just “letting it go”.

The sudden cliffhanger is, just like much of this episode, a little too convenient. Seeing as Donna is now learning about her past, why not just have her decide to go with the Doctor, instead of it happening by accident? I feel bad for Sylvia.

OVERVIEW

As a Doctor Who fan, I really enjoyed this. However, The Star Beast suffers in delivering a structured and competent narrative, feeling like a collection of tropes. As an example, there are points where the heroes would be worse off if something happened even a few seconds off from when it did. Embracing the silliness of this concept, as seems to be done by the way the creatures look and their names, works in isolation, but it should’ve been married to a story that will let that thrive. The lightness of the threats and how clean most of the issues are does not fit with the fifteen year long storyline of Donna and her threatened safety, which asks for something more serious.

Doctor Who (Classic) 063: The Time Monster // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 5

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. 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. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Master are recurring villains.

The Time Monster is a welcome return for the UNIT gang and increases the stakes for the purpose of being a good finale. The Master is beautifully cunning here, losing a lot of the hokeyness he possessed in The Sea Devils. Mikes Yates and especially John Benton get a lot of good scenes and lines to make themselves presences. The Brigadier is arguably a little too shorthanded, but he has some nice bits. This episode is definitely made by the great back and forths between the Doctor and the Master, especially in episode four. They do seem to have some respect for each other, but obviously many strong disagreements. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning turn in excellent performances, feeling the weight of their time together.

There is a recurring theme of feminism, mainly restricted to references to gender by the character of Ruth and her associate Stuart. There’s an amusing moment related to this theme in the last episode of the serial, but it overall amounts to nothing substantial. While some female characters have purpose and agency this serial, notably Jo, they’re not particularly distinct or related to gender when compared to other moments of Jo or other women doing something. Due to all these references, the story probably wanted to say something on gender and/or sexism. Though the Doctor is often testy with Jo, here he is particularly snippy, like when he raises his voice for her to get the Brigadier. Arguably this might’ve been part of this theme, with the Doctor’s attitude towards his female assistant being supposed to mean something, but what is hard to say. There’s nothing that could pass as a moment of the Doctor realizing that he was wrong for his treatment, or even right.

One particularly amusing moment is when a scene opens on Jo saying the Doctor is the most infuriating *man* she’s ever met and that she’s asked a million times what the thing he’s holding is. He responds like he didn’t know she was asking. That means either he was ignoring her for no reason or he was so focused on what he was doing he couldn’t hear her. If it’s the latter, he hasn’t had this problem before. Is that supposed to signify that he won’t give much thought to a dumb woman? Another moment shows a device going off in Jo’s hand. Jo references that it’s done that and the Doctor acts like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, a little later he acknowledges the sound going off right next to him. He was literally in the same room as it, so how couldn’t he have heard it immediately?

Miscellaneous comments: There are some charming comedy moments, like Stuart dancing after a successful experiment. One of the highlights of the season is when Mike Yates has to battle some historical baddies, who pop into modern time. Episode one’s opening is striking, with a moody setting and filming. Despite this, it’s ridiculous when realizing that the reason the Doctor discovered the Master is up to something is because he had a dream, instead of something more substantial being the cause.

A scene of Stuart being distraught is laughably bad. A lot of Ruth’s dialogue, especially the gender based lines, are extremely unrealistic, as if the writer never met a real woman before. In fact, the one-off actors are particularly bad, with the scenes with Atlantians losing impact because of their extremely wooden performances. Inside the TARDIS in one scene, the door is slightly ajar, probably by accident. The interior was also redesigned for some reason. At the end of episode five, the cliffhanger music starts early, with us not getting to see Jo’s reaction.

SPOILERS

After the Doctor finds Stuart after he aged fifty-five years in a few seconds, Jo asks if they’re too late and he says they were just in time. The Master being able to imitate people’s voices makes him too powerful. Fortunately, his plan that involves that doesn’t work as Benton doesn’t seem to buy it. After the Master easily removes a gun from Benton’s hand, it’s pointed out how dumb it was that the Master was able to overpower him so easily. Roger Delgado gets a funny moment where he tells Benton that that is the oldest trick in the book. Why even keep Benton alive? He does in fact get up and it wouldn’t be hard for him to make trouble for the Master. Even though the Master thinks he can’t be stopped, he’s thought such a thing every serial pretty much. You’d think he’d learn his lesson and stop Benton.

The Master amusingly tells Kronos to obey, who is flying around screeching, not even acknowledging him. He then contains them in a room, saying they’ll stay there until he needs them. You’d think the Brigadier would understand that the Doctor often does weird things for a reason, so why would he be so in his face about what the Doctor was working on, assuming it isn’t for anything? Really good cliffhanger for episode three. Yates has been around for two seasons, but he’s not so major that you couldn’t believe he’d be killed off.

Episode four is just a fantastic episode that focuses on the battle of wits between the Doctor and the Master, with Jo, who has been pushed aside for some of this serial, having an emotional performance when the drama is high. One of Pertwee’s finest moments is when the Doctor realizes he must endanger himself just for the chance of the Master listening to him. Manning responds just as well, explosive over the idea of the Doctor sacrificing himself. When Jo thinks the Doctor is dead, she is argumentative with the Master, saying she doesn’t care if he kills her.

This episode also has one of the best cliffhangers of the show. We know the Master just did something to Jo, but we don’t know what. On top of that, the Master seems to have everything going his way. Minor negatives include the Master scrambling the Doctor’s words as he speaks being pretty ridiculous. The Doctor doesn’t seem to realize that the Master might kill Jo once he’s not around.

It’s basically unexplained how the Doctor could just magically save himself from last episode. It’s a really cheap resolution. It’s pretty funny when the Doctor solemnly says someone died where he’d have no way of knowing if he actually did. He didn’t look hurt that badly and the Doctor would have no reason to think it was a fatal excursion, he then sees the crystal he was looking for and directs Jo’s attention to it. They then move on from the apparent death like nothing happened. Why even mention the death, seeing as it’s just this awkward element wedged in the plot?

Episode six improves when the main characters leave Atlantis, with the Master and Jo having a dialogue where Jo is upset at him. That being said, the Master says the Doctor and Atlantis were destroyed, when neither appeared to be. Maybe the script called for something that looked more like a proper destruction, but what we see is Atlantis at worst being a little disordered? There’s no reason to think the Doctor was killed, though the Master acts like he’s convinced. Even if the Master saw something like the Doctor be bludgeoned violently, he knows the Doctor can regenerate.

Another one of the strongest scenes of the Third Doctor era is when Jo, after a season of constantly fretting over the Doctor in danger, encourages the Doctor to kill her and himself for the purpose of also getting the Master, even doing it herself when the Doctor refuses. This crushing darkness and mortality should’ve been used more for the point of narrative impact, though admittedly the less it’s used the more effective it is. Still, there could be a careful medium. After this moment is a really striking special effect.

The idea of the Doctor and Jo being saved by and then talking to a God is a fascinating idea, with the visual look of the two TARDISes in a void a good one. Ignoring the actual appearance of the God being quite off putting, there are other negative implications. Couldn’t the Doctor wish for the Master to be free, but also not villainous? Couldn’t the Doctor wish for so much? He doesn’t even ask for Atlantis to be restored to a pre-Master state. You could almost believe this was supposed to be the finale to Doctor Who, with the Doctor originally having asked to basically fix the universe of all that ails it. For obvious reasons, this episode is more concerned with maintaining the status quo, so why have the Doctor meet someone that apparently can fix everything? Except, maybe she can’t as she couldn’t even prevent the Master from escaping?

You can almost imagine the purpose of having a God here is to explain how the leads could wiggle out of Jo doing something that should kill them. A possible way to fix this is for this God to not be so powerful as to end the show and for it being more costly and problematic for the Doctor and Jo to get back to Earth. The Doctor says no one deserves an eternity of torment, as a way to explain not letting the Master be tortured forever. This is an annoying contradiction as the Doctor is sometimes fine with creatures suffering if they’re bad enough. He arguably holds the Master to a different standard because they were once friends.

OVERVIEW

There’s sadly ultimately little point to Stuart and Ruth. They were given a small story and character traits, only to be suddenly unimportant when the Doctor and Jo go to a different location. Stuart’s subplot is particularly meaningless, suggesting there was a purpose in an early draft. Baby Benton is similarly random.

Season nine of Doctor Who benefits from more excuses to go off Earth. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning pack enough personality into their scenes that you’re not sorry to be away from the very likable Brigadier and UNIT. Some plot contrivances and pacing issues hurt the flow and impact of stories. The 60s era had a way of really getting lost in the affairs that the 70s don’t as well. In order to keep the formula working, there are some issues. The Master comes off as extremely pathetic, constantly making grand plans that probably wouldn’t work even if the Doctor wasn’t there to stop him. The Doctor does seem to care about Jo and want her to stay safe. Thus, he seems incompetent when she multiple times gets close to death, and he keeps letting her go on dangerous missions. That all being said, every installment of this season has more than its fair share of charm and lovability. Personally, I wouldn’t skip any in a rewatch of the show.

Despite the problems, there’s much in the favor of the story. The Time Monster does a little calling back to past serials this season and leaves you wanting to know more about the Doctor and the Master’s relationship. Plus taking the more epic nature of it into account, this is a great finale and one of the biggest highlights of the Pertwee era. See for the Doctor’s tea leaves-powered device made to annoy the Master.

Doctor Who (Classic) 062: The Mutants // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 4

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. 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. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Master are recurring villains.

This serial has a more significant case of “being too slow and treading early on” than most. Such a problem is most significant in the first four episodes. If this serial was a movie, episode one probably would and could be condensed into five minutes. That all being said, the last two episodes have good payoff. There’s some good cheesy fun throughout, but they’re most prevalent in the end, especially episode six. There’s some pretty weird stuff in that last part that is so ridiculous it’ll have you laughing. Even if by episode six you’re still bored, there is something that will without fail wake you up.

There are expectedly some really ridiculous moments, with some good ideas. Why would the Doctor forcefully open doors instead of waiting for someone to get him? The Doctor acts like it’s unreasonable for him to not be allowed into the conference with no pass and with a strange item that could be a weapon. When an alarm is going off in the beginning of episode two, you can’t hear what anyone’s saying. Episode three’s cliffhanger’s quite good. Episode four’s would be much stronger if the special effects were better. The inside of the caves look excellent, being extremely colorful and psychedelic. It’s a shame there wasn’t a contrivance for our characters to stay in it more.

A black character is named Cotton. His actor, Rick James, is good at his role, though he usually is just running around in a group. His character being an officer in this corrupt government could’ve been used as commentary or to give a unique perspective on the story. Shame no one thought to change his name. The scientist character’s callousness does supply some subtle characterization of this world, with him taking things like killing lightly.

Garrick Hagon as Ky’s performance is lovably bad. This is most notable in his hammy speech in the first episode. The character of Varan gets an Oscar moment at the end of episode three. He’s supposed to be going through something emotional, but his acting is so thoughtless and wooden, with the background set so cheap. It’s unbelievable this was considered acceptable or that people watching this weren’t on the floor.

Jo is generally a liability here, not doing much to make herself useful. A recurring issue in the series is the Doctor having to make unwanted compromises in order to save her life. It gets ridiculous that he’d allow her to come with him on adventures. If the Doctor simply gets a thrill out of taking someone along, then that’s pretty immoral that he’d do something that can endanger multiple people. Episode four leans heavy on the cheese, featuring a lot of running around that will bore some to tears, losing some of the pace and energy of the previous episode.

SPOILERS

At the end of episode one, when the Doctor’s container is opened by Ky, who is running away, he yells he should wait as the box is for him, like Ky would care and isn’t trying to escape guards. Episode one’s cliffhanger is a classy one, following up on the beginning of the episode where the Doctor told Jo the mission was too dangerous for her to join in. Jo goes with Ky when she has little reason to trust him or think she won’t be walking into great danger. She later explains she went with him for the sake of her and the Doctor’s mission there, but that’s not worth her endangering her life. When the Doctor is told Jo might be killed, he doesn’t seem that worked up over it. When the Marshal threatens to not try to find Jo, whose life is in danger, if the Doctor doesn’t help him open the container, the Doctor says it’s unethical to open it as it’s for Ky. Why would he care so much about that in this situation?

After the Doctor stops Stubbs or Varan from killing each other, he takes the gun and hands it back to Stubbs, as if he wouldn’t then just try to shoot Varan. After Varan is saved by the Doctor, you’d think he would like or appreciate him, but he briefly wants to kill the Doctor due to a misunderstanding for the purpose of getting a cliffhanger. A reason is later quickly contrived for him to help the Doctor and he doesn’t show that disliking of the Doctor he had shown moments before for the rest of the serial. If only changing people’s minds on propaganda-engrained political issues was as easy as the Doctor with Stubbs here.

When the Doctor and Varan find Ky, the Doctor gives some plot, Ky and Varan then interrupt to argue, then Ky turns back to talk to the Doctor like that argument hadn’t just happened. The pacing and writing continue to be awkward. Some lines about Jo’s safety are thrown in, seemingly out of necessity, then everything stops for a few seconds so the Doctor can get the container for Ky. Later, Cotton and Stubbs say they’re going to leave so as to escape the dangerous gas. Next scene Cotton is shown with the Doctor, being stationary. It’s funny to see the Doctor just leave Sondergaard on the ground to get the crystal, though there is a point to it.

At one point, guards shoot at the Doctor, despite being told not to. At the end of episode five, Cotton becomes panicked amusingly quickly. When people arrive at the hearing against the Marshal, the investigator comically shouts who those people are. The Marshal grabs a gun at his hearing and shoots a mutant, not thinking that wouldn’t be unnecessary or make him look bad. Why would the investigator listen to the Marshal’s order to be put in command after he killed the mutant? Ky floating around, especially when he explains why and that he will kill the Marshal is simply the funniest thing. The Marshal is just poofed out of existence. Also, why wouldn’t the Doctor try to prevent his death? He is usually against even the villains being killed in the series.

It seems the Time Lords knew how to save the day and what needed to be done. Why not just send someone to tell Ky or Sondergaard what to do clearly instead of making things far more cryptic, so everyone’s got to run around getting into scrapes, with the Doctor initially knowing very little? The Doctor should not be okay with taking Jo on adventures after how close she got to death, and due to her own recklessness. He literally told her at first to not come along as he thinks it’s too dangerous. While superfluous characters are reasonably common this show, what was the point of the character of Varan? Why give him his backstory with Ky and the fate he ultimately gets? He seems to just exist to help out the Doctor once.

OVERVIEW

While The Mutants is on the dull side, there are good moments. The certain scene in episode six is an absolute riot of so-bad-it’s-good and makes it an extremely entertaining watch, though of course a few glorious minutes doesn’t save the whole serial. Still, the big dumb adventure element is charming and lasts the whole story, making it worthwhile on the level of satisfying a sci-fi itch. See for the Doctor’s Vulcan nerve pinch.

Doctor Who (Classic) 061: The Sea Devils // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 3

A frame from the episode

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. 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. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Master are recurring villains.

While The Sea Devils is hard to take seriously at points, mainly because of the look of the creatures, it might know this to a degree. There’s a few comedic moments that lighten the story up, so it doesn’t get too stuffy. Favorite bits are Jo miming instructions to a smiling Doctor, the sandwich scene, and the Doctor golfing. These make me wish for the days of comedy serials of the 60s.

There’s a recurring theme of pompous, irrational, sexist military men whose idiocy just gets everybody in more trouble. The female characters often are in subservient roles, with men making the decisions. Characters like Robert Walker, played by Martin Boddey, are so cartoonishly chauvinist that maybe this episode is making fun of that? That being said, sexism is not looked into very closely and plenty of moments seem like celebrations of this mentality. The Doctor is extremely bold and capable, and fits the standard of heroic male lead, with a pretty female assistant. Jo does get some things to do and ways to help, but lacks much identity outside of the Doctor here.

The Doctor apparently doesn’t bring his credentials with him. This shows his self-confidence. Him not feeling he needs them makes sense as this whole show is about getting strangers to trust that he’s got good intentions. He does seem pompous and over sure of himself in many ways.

You of course get some moments that show a lack of proficiency in editing, pacing, or not being laugh worthy. The very beginning of the first episode shows someone running to a chair, sitting in it, and reporting something urgent. Faster paced media would start with him talking instead of a few seconds before. Shortly after the Doctor sees live footage of the Master, he sees him in person and he’s dressed differently and doing another activity. When Jo beats up two large adult men, there’s some very prominent synth scoring. The funniest has got to be the sound of the Sea Devil’s scream, especially in the earlier appearances where the noise is so loud and ridiculous that you just want to laugh at them.

Episode one has a great slow establishment of the various elements at play, along with a mystery that initially seems very low stakes. Unfortunately, some of this serial’s cliffhangers are pretty dumb, like no one knew where to put it. Episode two strangely has a lot of sudden and poorly executed cuts, though it does have a great ending sequence, one of the highlights of the story. The footage on the boat has a very rugged look, like it’s documentary footage. It makes you realize how static the show can look, with this being a breath of fresh air.

SPOILERS

Based on the Master trying to get a new guard to obey him, it’s funny to think that every time the Master meets someone new, he tries and fails to get them to follow him. The Doctor seems to think the Master has changed his ways, except he just saw him trying to get someone to obey him. The Doctor can make correct grand conclusions from too little evidence, like trusting that Jo really did see the Master and not someone else and that the prison watching the Master really was all corrupted and not just some of it. The Doctor says “Good afternoon” and closes a door after a gun is pointed at him is fun. Later we get the great scene of a fight between the Doctor and the Master, with some lovely line delivery, all scored to some very strange and inappropriate synth music. The Doctor tsking at the Master is a favorite part. One odd part is when he hands the Master his fencing sword after he loses it. This isn’t a friendly game, the Master is clearly trying to kill him. This shows the Doctor’s over confident side. He was probably thinking he could just as easily defeat the Master again.

Episode three’s cliffhanger is better, if you can forgive the Sea Devil’s ridiculous look and the camera not being level when it captures the Doctor’s face. The Doctor, being put under arrest, boldly picks up the phone of the person arresting him. The Master explains his plan to the Doctor. What good would that do him for his enemy to know what he’s up to? The Doctor gives an unusual looking gun to someone who wouldn’t know how to use it. That character later uses it in a way the Doctor doesn’t want. Why would the Doctor trust him with it? After the military starts bombing the Sea Devils, the situation does seem pretty unwinnable for the Doctor, and thus it’s engrossing to see and think how he’ll get out of it. It also contrasts nicely with the Doctor seeming so sure he is in control.

The last episode goes through too typical beats, with a lot of shooting at the monsters and the Doctor looking clever and smaller details being overlooked. It’s like the writer was asked to write this last episode based on a quick and dirty outline of what came before. Seeing as the Master and the Doctor are together for just about the whole episode, it is a shame their relationship wasn’t delved into more, which would’ve made for a far better ending.

Lesser issues include… The Doctor turns on a machine that causes distress for the Sea Devils. It apparently takes minutes for it to be turned off. Why wouldn’t the Master turn it off instantly? How does the Doctor not realize that the Master will obviously escape the one guard? How did the Master and the Sea Devils not realize that the Doctor would want to sabotage them anyway he could?

The Doctor seems to show a racial bias. He is mortified by the idea of humans being wiped out, but by the end he seems fine with the Sea Devils being killed. If his issue is with evil beings, then he should be okay with the Master dying. He did bring up that he felt the genocide was unavoidable, but really think about how depressing that is? Your only choice is to blow up a species. Even if he’s right, things like this should be shown to weigh on him. The Doctor even had said to the Master before that violence will get him nowhere, but it sometimes being helpful to the Doctor should be acknowledged and does mean something.

It does appear that the only reason the humans won this serial is because they used violence. Thus, Walker was at least somewhat proven right for jumping to violence. Of course, the Doctor almost got the Sea Devils to agree to peace, which Walker spoiled. This shows that there might have been a chance of them seeing reason. For the record, when multiple human lives are at stake, Jo only seems concerned for the Doctor, which is similar logic of “the party I can relate to all I care about”.

OVERVIEW

See for a somewhat typical runaround with exciting action, the Doctor being such a hilarious asshole when he takes Jo’s sandwiches for no reason, and the Master watching a children’s show (I’d like to think it was an animated reconstruction of The Web Planet). Don’t see for the Brigadier, who sadly isn’t in this one, despite him being an obvious thing to include.

Doctor Who (Classic) 060: The Curse of Peladon // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 2

A frame from the serial

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. 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. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Master are recurring villains.

The Curse of Peladon is a great atmospheric story, though it takes a little while to get going. The former is encapsulated in the opening shot, a beautiful stormy night raining on a castle on top of a cliff. The whole story has a dark and foreign look. Adding more to this charm are things like the great fight scene. The suave nature and clothing of the Doctor paired with the dirty floor and guerilla style of filming is what it’s all about. The 70s grit is killer. Episode three also has a really nice cliffhanger.

Geoffrey Toone as Hepesh is glorious, able to carry the drama well. His beard is also fantastic. Henry Gilbert as Torbis has a solid dynamic with Hepesh. It’s a shame he doesn’t have much importance. The fact he was brothers with Hepesh suggests their relationship originally had more of a purpose. Alan Bennion as Izlyr is another favorite, having a twist about him that makes him especially interesting. Of all the bit characters, he seems the most logical. Some of the actors really sell their characters and this story, making it claustrophobic and captivating.

The ability to appreciate this story on its merits will be broken by some when they see Alpha Centauri. The character is a big green bug with an almost shrieking voice. As a committed Doctor Who fan, this was not such a big deal, though it was still laughable, but Centauri basically commands that this not be one of the first Who stories one should watch. The character’s costume creaking in a dramatic scene in episode four, with the costume trying to look dour, is especially laugh-worthy. Similar negatives can be levied against the character of Arcturus.

David Troughton as King Peladon is not good at saying his frequent hokey lines, like, “Enough! I will not have my Chancellor and my High Priest squabbling on the steps of the throne.” His moments of being quiet or humble are better. Episode one does get caught in trying to subtly include story information in dialogue and also expect the actors to act like they’re political leaders. Save for Hepesh and one other, it’s difficult to believe them as such. There are also editing errors. There’s some really close and awkward edits at the beginning of episode four. There’s a point where Alpha Centauri says the first syllable of a sentence before a cut to the next scene.

Jo is not the most likable character, sometimes storming into a situation without thinking. The character element works as she’s consistent, yet she sometimes conveniently shows up at the best possible time for story purposes. She at one point gets the amazingly bad line of “Well, I feel… definitely… wobbly at the knees!” You’d think the Doctor and Jo would constantly be concerned about doing something that could get them killed, but they often walk into situations where death could possibly result. Jo brings up a good point that the Doctor has basically endangered her life by getting the two of them more involved in this drama than they had to.

SPOILERS

Torbis’ death should’ve had more of an impact on the king and Hepesh. They get over it way too quickly. The king says there’s no danger to the delegates, not even telling them of Torbis’ death, they find out another way. Either he doesn’t realize that there’s no way he’d know they’re safe or he cares more about the meeting going well, at the cost of the delegates’ safety. This dynamic of the character should’ve been explored more. To be fair, his ignorance is a little.

It’s a stretch to say the delegates didn’t cancel the meeting after the first death. After the episode one cliffhanger, how could they not cancel it? Jo is way too accusatory of the Ice Warrior. Also, if she thinks the Ice Warrior was trying to kill Arcturus, why would she so blatantly reveal that she knows what they’re up to? A wiser person would consider that they might be killed so they wouldn’t be able to reveal what they did to others. After the Doctor is accused of a crime, he is told the law allows for no defense for this claim. Such a law being enacted is so unbelievable it breaks the logic of this episode, albeit briefly. Especially because this is obviously just for a cheap cliffhanger.

The king says there’s an alternative after saying there’s no choice but for the Doctor to be executed. This is just a plot convenience to justify the drama of thinking the Doctor will die. Why would Hepesh be so stuck on protecting rules, then help the Doctor escape? Jo seems really cruel when she tries to guilt trip the delegates into helping the Doctor, when they’d be risking their lives doing so. The Doctor storming into the throne room looks so badass, with a great moody shot of him to boot.

How did Arcturus think he could get away with killing the Doctor out in the open? Later, the Doctor just explains everything, instead of giving these plot clues in a more natural way. This last episode has a decent amount of filler, which could’ve gone to exploring this. The Doctor often seeming to know exactly what to do can be quite ridiculous, like he’s read the script for this serial. Based on how Aggedor attacks people, it’s hard to believe that would be even close to a killing blow. This could’ve been prevented by not letting the audience see so much of the attack.

The king comes off as pretty unlikable when he pressures Jo into staying with him. He even says he won’t stop asking her. She gives him a peck kiss in response. What he said was creepy! Jo appears to actually consider staying with him. Was this supposed to be something the audience was thinking about? They had such a thin relationship that who would want them to be together? When he proposed to Jo after condemning the Doctor to death, could he possibly have had less game?

OVERVIEW

If the Doctor and Jo see Queen Victoria’s coronation, and the Doctor has already been, then there’d be two Doctors there. Some plot conveniences hold this back, with the last episode going predictably. Still, this is a compelling adventure and worth at least one watch. See to hear Jon Pertwee’s lovely singing voice.

Doctor Who (Classic) 059: Day of the Daleks // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 1

A promo for the serial

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. This story is four episodes long. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. 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. This article is part of a review of Doctor Who‘s ninth season.

Doctor Who has returned with not only a new season, but with the show’s famous villains reappearing for the first time in over four years. The Daleks are an icon of the show that are among the most recognizable elements of the show. Originally, this season’s Dalek story was going to be its finale, but this was changed as this season had no “hook”. Season 7 had a new Doctor and setting, Season 8 had the introduction of the Master, and now this one has the return of the Daleks. Speaking of the Master, having appeared in every serial of Season 8 as a contract regular, it seems understood that there weren’t any good ideas left for him, so he doesn’t appear in this story.

Day of the Daleks is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s some great acting and laughably bad acting in the bunch. The regulars are great as usual, though most get little to do this time around. The Brigadier, Benton, and Yates simply head their soldiers and move around when a bunch of guys are needed to fire some guns. There’s some good comedic moments with them. In fact, this story blends in comedic moments pretty well. In the beginning, the Doctor is in a weird situation and he argues and banters with “another” character. The absurdity of the situation and the Doctor’s reaction are hilarious. The Doctor has some quippy lines at someone who is trying to appear above him. The Doctor’s lines are both good jokes and show that he doesn’t respect them. Lesser stories cram in jokes for the sake of it. The Doctor has another good line about “forgetting the unimaginative nature of the military mind.”

Infamously, the Daleks in this story have really silly voices. The voice actors, who were brought in for this story, have never voiced the Daleks before and clearly didn’t get them right. They awkwardly pause their sentences and lack menace. This story got a “Special Edition” which, among other things, dubbed in a better voice actor for the part. There were only three Dalek props available for use and whenever there needed to be more available in one scene, editing is used to give that illusion, but only three ever appear on screen at once. It doesn’t really look right as some scenes would only work if you could see a bunch of Daleks. You can’t really feel their presence with just three. The Special Edition also corrects this problem.

We get another villain in the Ogrons. They’re aliens who assist the Daleks. We don’t get much from them, but they look cool. They also sound lame. A lot of Who stories have monsters that simply speak in a slightly deeper voice than a normal dude. I hope the Ogrons comeback and have more to do. We get an all around good villain with “The Controller”, played by Aubrey Woods. He, a human, assisted the Daleks in their various plans. We start out seeing a very narrow view of his character, but more and more things happen which show more layers of him to the audience. He has great facial expressions throughout the story, which paint a picture of the character.

There’s some excellent camera work in this story. One character threatens another at a point and we get some big closeups on their faces. The tension’s very sharp. One person was in some trouble at a point and there’s a very still and clinical shot of their face. The cinematography is pretty impressive.

This story of course has its silly moments. One I like is when the Controller dismisses the Ogrons after speaking to them, only to say one last thing to them. The Ogrons awkwardly turn to listen. I wonder if Woods had accidently forgotten that last line. We get more from the Third Doctor era’s overall story with him trying to fix the TARDIS’ “dematerialisation circuit”, which has been unavailable to him since the beginning of Season 7. It takes me out of the story a bit as the thing is really small and simple. It looks like a prop for a low budget show that no one knew what it should look like. It would be better if it was larger and more complex looking. It looks too cheap and nothing. The Flux capacitor from the Back to the Future movies has the kind of look that would work better.

Episode 1 overall works as a decent setup to the story. We get good character moments with the Doctor. We see him relax with some wine, think hard on big problems, and knock over a guy with only one available hand. To nitpick, a Dalek briefly appears in the middle of the episode and then more prominently at the end. It would’ve been better if they appeared for the first time at the end as a little twist. There’s an amusing bad effects moment where their monitor is unintentionally moving due to there clearly being strings supporting it off camera (this was also fixed in the Special Edition). It all leads to a pretty classy and effective cliffhanger.

SPOILERS

In Episode 2, the Doctor is attacked by three people in soldier uniforms who are trying to kill a man the Doctor knows named Reginald Styles. In my notes, I refer to these three as The Three Stooges, due to their comically bad acting and lines. One of the soldiers, named Anat, says “We are soldiers, not murderers.” to one of the soldiers who was about to kill the Doctor, but she let two random, innocent U.N.I.T. soldiers be killed in Episode 1. She also almost let them kill the Doctor before he began to convince her not to. The only reason for that line’s existence was to give a reason for them to not kill the Doctor.

The Doctor and Jo are tied up in a basement by the soldiers, where we get some good character moments. The Doctor and Jo almost immediately enable themselves to speak, but they can’t free their limbs as their arms are tied behind their backs. It’s a good moment to see the Doctor so effortlessly free his mouth so he can talk. Jo calls the soldiers criminals and the Doctor says that’s prejudiced. This shows the Doctor’s age and mindset. It’s perhaps a subtle moment showing that the Doctor has met a lot of people in a lot of times. People are often misunderstood to be worse than they are. The Doctor and Jo are let out of the basement to talk to the Brigadier on the phone. Jo is accidentally teleported away with an odd device and the Doctor is thrown back in the basement. I like that the Doctor’s mouth is left uncovered. While probably just a mistake, I’d like to think it’s because they knew he’d just take it off again.

Jo appears in the 22nd century where the Controller greets her. He asks for information of who she is and what she’s about. She mentions knowing the Doctor and the three soldiers. The Controller is very polite. He details how evil the soldiers are. The Doctor escapes only to be attacked by an Ogron. The Doctor kills some of them. The Doctor didn’t know what the Ogrons were about, but he still killed them. This was an unfortunate moment which is incredibly out of character. Usually he would try to understand an apparent enemy. He criticized Jo for jumping to conclusions on the soldiers, but he’s basically jumping to conclusions here. One soldier goes missing, the other two run to a tunnel, followed by the Doctor. We get an excellent cliffhanger where the Doctor runs in the tunnel and uh-oh, a Dalek appears. Role credits! I love that ending as it’s so quick and sharp. It happens at the perfect point and leaves you wanting more. It’s so good. “Oh crap, a Dalek! Episode over!”

In Episode 3, we see more of the Controller’s character when he brilliantly manipulates Jo’s gullible nature. The Doctor is kidnapped by the Dalek’s men and questioned. Here he disrespects them with some sassy lines. The Doctor is collected by The Controller and taken to Jo. The Doctor criticizes the Controller helping the Daleks, leading to one of my favorite lines in the serial, “Now that’s an old fashioned point of view, even from my standards.” It’s telling, witty, and funny. His follow up lines are also great. Something that also happened a few serials ago was the Doctor escaped capture and was almost instantly recaptured, thus making the escape pointless. Well, it happens again here. The Doctor is trapped by the Daleks and the credits start rolling on him in capture before we cut to the normal background. It gives more prominence and importance to this moment.

The Controller convinces the Daleks not to kill the Doctor. In their conversation, the Controller subtly shows that he doesn’t entirely like the Daleks by saying “They can be reasonable.” This implies he thinks they normally aren’t. There’s a good transition from the Controller saying there’s nothing the soldiers can do to stop the Daleks to them working to save the Doctor. They do so and we get another great scene where the Doctor tells the soldiers not to kill the Controller. The Controller has a brilliant facial expression showing a lot of different emotions, as he expected the Doctor to not care about him being killed. The soldiers give the Doctor an unfortunate expository dump about why they went to the 20th century. It could’ve been more subtle. Every little plot thread left unresolved in this story is tied up here. This scene is far too long. Basically, they went to kill Styles for blowing up a bunch of delegates, which led to the start of World War 3. The Doctor realizes that the explosion was actually by the soldier that was still in the 70’s. Ironically, in trying to prevent the war, he caused it. It was interesting to make it seem like the story forgot about that guy, but now he’s relevant again in the final episode.

The Dalek’s harshness to the Controller, often threatening his life, and the Doctor’s kindness pay off when the Controller tells the Daleks he’ll stop the Doctor from going back in time, but then lets him. Unfortunately, when the Controller finds him, he explains why he’s letting the Doctor go, even though we could already infer that. It’s a good moment overall. If the Doctor let the Controller be killed earlier, the Daleks would’ve sent a harsher force to stop the Doctor and he might not have made it back.

The Daleks somehow know the Controller betrayed them. It doesn’t really make sense that they’d know. The Daleks kill him in an emotional death scene. I got attached to the character and I didn’t want to see him go. The death scene was mostly brilliant. The Doctor goes back in time and tells Styles to evacuate the building everyone’s in. He tells the Brigadier to use force if needed to clear everyone out. The Doctor finds the soldier. The soldier insists on dying for the cause and the Doctor lets him. Here we have two out of character moments from the Doctor. The first is effective, he’ll allow military force in order to save people, but here he is just letting this dude die when it could be avoided. Usually, someone who kills themselves to save the day does so behind the Doctor’s back and wishes.

OVERVIEW

Day of the Daleks has a good message about how people who want to do good can still create big problems that weren’t considered. There’s some very sharp acting, such as in the end when you can see the episode on the Doctor’s face (not literally), showing that he’s experienced a lot. It’s just a testament to the brilliant performance Jon Pertwee always gives as the Doctor. The Daleks appear very little here, but it works as this serial is about the characters and the story. While there were certainly problems that needed to be fixed, the overall affair is quite entertaining and well paced.

Doctor Who (Classic) 058: The Dæmons // Season 8 (1971) Review Part 5

A frame from the serial

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

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!

Doctor Who (Classic) 057: Colony in Space // Season 8 (1971) Review Part 4

A frame from the serial

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. This story is six 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 one’s special. The serial starts with some Time Lords discussing the Doomsday Weapon, something only they and the Master know about. It must not be used. They realize they must get the Doctor involved. The Doctor and Jo go inside the TARDIS, the Time Lords make it take off and they’re sent to the planet Uxarieus. This is quite a big deal. This is the first time since 1969’s The War Games that we’ve had an adventure off-Earth.

Colony in Space is a fair romp. It’s a story one has probably seen a few times. An oppressed group, the colonists, is bothered by an overpowered and authoritative group. Even ignoring other movies and shows, this is the plot of one of the most famous classic Who stories, The Daleks. This is not to say that Colony should be more original, as it’s a much different flavor. The two stories were produced and released almost a decade apart.

In terms of the quality of the story, it’s average. When the character, Norton, is introduced, he’s unwell, and his performance is amusingly bad. He speaks of something bad that had happened to him, not that you really believe it. Another bad performance is for the character Jane Leeson, who we’ll get to later. A lot of the sillier bits of dialogue are poorly delivered. Generally this is stuff that’s formality for a story like this. Whenever characters have a civil disagreement, the stock lines are plentiful. The regulars and some of the more prominent guest actors do a good job with acting. A notable guest actor is John Ringham, though in his forties at the time, has an aged performance. Older actors are generally the best in Doctor Who.

Admittedly, the arguing dialogue is not all bad. Ringham’s character, Ashe, and another colonist, Winton, have some good back and forths, though the stock arguing lines are not resisted. The writing and directing are also unimpressive, but not bad. This story has two big successes. One is a spoiler and the other is the adventure. The serial is mostly a big battle. Characters get split up and have to go through mud and strife. Characters go on journeys and make discoveries. Characters learn surprising things. Colony is never boring. It wants to be a dumb action movie and that’s what it is. The story and pacing are good. The tension slowly stretches throughout the story. Ashe and Winton recurring disagreements paint a lot of their characters and the situation. Most of the characters in this story are pretty well written.

This show generally has bad fight scenes, but Episode 6 of this story has a good fight between two people. It’s not just one punch and you’re out. It looks real and is well filmed. While the directing is mostly standard, there are a few good moments in the fold.

We see more characterization of the Doctor. He gets some standard quippy lines like, “No. No, it’s quite healthy. Similar to Earth before the invention of the motor car.” I like how formally he speaks lines like that. The Doctor is rude to a character and is generally condescending. The Doctor looks forward to his exile on Earth as this predicament is dangerous and stressful. It’s an interesting juxtaposition to normal, where he wants to leave Earth. Jo once more is not stopped by the bologna she sees. She snoops around and speaks to the colonists, trying to convince them to be more active.

The alien race seen here, named “the Primitives”, look unconvincing. Once again, some people are slipped into thin costumes that look really bad. They don’t at all look interesting or threatening. They never do anything that makes them worth noting. It’s as if they left a different story and found their way in this one. Characters who come across them often brush them aside and move on.

SPOILERS

One well directed scene opened on the TARDIS, it’s then knocked over and the Primitives drag it off. That scene looked very good. This was only included as the whole adventure would’ve been quite short if the TARDIS was available. I briefly mentioned a character named Jane Leeson earlier. She gets her Oscar moment in Episode 1. She sees a person off screen and calmly asks of them. She then realizes they’re a threat and she’s terrified. Next thing we know, she’s dead. This scene looks so bad. The framing is off and it looks gross. It looks so awkward as it’s positioned so we can’t see the attacker. Jane’s actress is giving a laughably bad performance. Her terror is more amusing than anything. When we later see the machine that killed her, it doesn’t look at all like a person. Why would she react to it like it was initially?

The Doctor is investigating the area where Jane was killed and a scary robot appears. Insert closing credits music here. Turns out the machine is being operated by a friendly man named Caldwell who was just investigating the planet. The machine wasn’t going to harm the Doctor. I am not a fan of these cliffhangers. The Doctor was never in danger. I like the bit of mystery built as the Doctor and the audience don’t know if this guy is a friend or foe. Turns out, he’s a bit of both. He’s part of an expedition to mine this planet. The captain of the expedition, Dent, is quite villainous, as is one crew member, Morgan. Caldwell is quite nice and often disagrees with Dent’s villainous decisions. Dent’s a fun villain. He’s strict and nasty, but I love him for that.

A well written and performed scene features Dent cryptically telling Morgan to kill the Doctor. It’s not obvious if what he meant was that Morgan should kill him per se. Later, Dent directly tells Caldwell of what he’s done. We then cut to Morgan with a machine. We find out one of those machines killed Jane and cliffhanger. The Doctor disarms Morgan and escapes. I don’t consider this cliffhanger a fake, as its events were necessary for the Doctor to discover that Dent’s crew is responsible for the deaths as well as how they were done. Speaking of Dent’s crew, we get an amusing surprise that Norton has been a part of the expedition this whole time. The reveal is subtle, but well filmed. He goes to a quiet place, pulls out a communicator, and reveals himself to the audience. As tensions rise between the two groups, it’s decided that an adjudicator should be called to assess the situation. They’re referenced often.

Winton and Jo sneak onto Dent’s ship and are quickly captured. In an escape attempt, Winton successfully flees, but Jo is captured. We see Winton get back to his people and dodge some of Dent’s men, who are firing at him. This does a good job of showing how they act in such a situation. Jo is later captured by the Primitives. Her being passed around is silly, but it leads to an excellent cliffhanger. Jo is taken to a cave where her body except part of her face is bathed in darkness. Roll credits. The cliffhanger isn’t leading us to the next episode with a shot of a monster, it’s the uncertainty of the situation, what’s happening, and if it’s safe. Jo’s being taken somewhere by a group with unknown intent. The scene also looks very good.

The adjudicator shows up and when they appear, we see they’re the Master. The reveal was subtle and a good, unexpected surprise. I was enjoying the story without the Master and I didn’t want him to show up, but the main success of the story is with the Master. He gets a lot of good scenes with the Doctor. Everyone’s trying to fool everyone in this story, not only between the colonists and the expeditionists, but with The Master and Doctor. They’re both Time Lords. They’re using their tools and intelligence to get everyone to do what they want. The Master wants to do this for the Doomsday Weapon, the Doctor does it for peace.

The Doctor, discovering that Jo was taken by the Primitives, goes to their cave to offer food in exchange for Jo. He finds Jo, but is treated as a captive. We get a nice moment of the Doctor distracting a Primitive with a trick. Ah yes, the millionth time in the series a foolish guard was distracted by someone, only to be hit unconscious. Doc and Jo escape before almost immediately being recaptured. They’re taken to a little alien, who leads the Primitives. They sentence them to death for coming to the cave. The Doctor says Jo was forced there and he was just going to get her. The alien sees reason and lets them go, but says he’ll kill them if they return… what was the point in the Doctor and Jo escaping only to immediately be recaptured? Better yet, what was the point in this whole tangent of Jo being captured? Outside of the cave, the colonists and the expeditionists are constantly seizing control of one another. You’d think they’d learn their lesson! There’s a few fights which are all basically the same. Norton has a good death and the expeditionists seemingly win, before losing and leaving.

When the expeditionists win a battle, they make the colonists leave in a damaged ship they arrived on. When it leaves, the whole thing blows up. It’s later revealed that all the colonists except Ashe snuck out the ship. One person needed to stay in and Ashe volunteered. Ashe, despite his small amount of screen time, is a well written character. He wants to help his people, even at the cost of death. I don’t mind the cop out that the colonists didn’t die as there is emotional weight in Ashe dying. That’s not a cop out.

Episode 6 is mostly about the Master and the Doctor. Other than the damaged ship plot, it’s about the Master trying to get the Doomsday Weapon in the cave and the Doctor trying to stop him. The Primitive’s leader shows up and we essentially get a trial. The Master says that using the Doomsday Weapon will help them, but the Doctor reveals how this will fail. Dramatic dialogue sequences commonly work well in Who and this is no exception. The acting is top notch and the stakes are high. Annoyingly, we hear nothing of the leader saying he’d kill the Doctor if he returns. When the Doctor returns to the cave for the Master, he never worries that if he’s caught, he could be killed. That whole plot element is dropped. After the Doctor and the leader first met, why not have the leader just not bring that up? He would just let them go and that’s that. Alternatively, why have Jo be captured initially? Couldn’t Episode 6 be the first time we see the leader?

OVERVIEW

There’s something I really liked about this serial and it wasn’t obvious at first, but then I realized… this is Blake’s 7. Blake’s 7 is a classic BBC sci-fi drama about a group of seven fighting a large, authoritarian government. Just about every good thing and bad thing about Colony in Space is in Blake’s 7. I love both that show and this serial for their many triumphs and their many faults. One notable flaw is that the Doomsday Weapon is barely involved, despite how importantly it’s treated. This serial is a typical fun runaround and I can watch that junk all day.

This story loves captures and escapes. The same characters are captured and then escape several times. It’s almost comical how much that’s done. While that’s a flaw, it’s hilarious to watch. Colony loves being good, it loves being bad, and I love it for that. I thought 1969’s The Dominators was the best dumb Doctor Who serial, but it’s been dethroned.