Day 282: Terror of the Autons Episode 4

Old and new production crew, as we look at the director and writer of this story.

The writer is Robert Holmes, previously of The Krotons, The Space Pirates and Spearhead From Space. All three were reasonably good episodes, with Spearhead showing signs of promise in this writer. But with Terror of the Autons, we're able to finally get to see Holmes get into the swing of things. Each character is well defined so that we're able to build up a relationship with them and become more invested in the story. Take, for instance, Farrel. Within our first scene with him, we know that he's a nervous man with an overbearing father, who won't trust him to do his job. His downfall as he's taken over by the Master is genuinely sad, as we feel a small connection to the character, and so we feel sympathy when he dies at the end of this serial. But Holmes also has enough of a devilish streak to put fear into kids hearts. This story was discussed in UK parliament as an example of television becoming too scary for children. It's writers like Holmes that make Doctor Who memorable, and the show is all the better for it.

Meanwhile, the director is not actually listed in the credits of this episode. It's because the director is actually the producer, Barry Letts. Lett's direction is adequate (not another Camfield or Ferguson), but it's worth noting the revolutionary new techniques that he's bringing to the series. He's interested in using the special effect known as CSO (Colour Separation Overlay, or Green/Blue Screen). It's a new technique and it can occasionally be put to good use, particularly when we need vistas that are impossible to recreate in studio. However, at the moment, it somewhat intrudes on the story, as every other scene contains fringes around the edges, and it somewhat takes you out of the adventure. Still, it's a revolutionary technique and we'll get to see more of it in the future.

Day 281: Terror of the Autons Episode 3

Old and new enemies this time. On the old side, we have the Autons. They exist, as mentioned when we covered Spearhead from Space, as presences which are everpresent in our world. They control plastic, something which constantly figures in our lives. By using this, the story is able to utilise the fact that it can terrify the audience with ordinary household objects. Take the doll, which comes to life and kills people, terrifying children everywhere of their toys. Or the chair that suffocates people. This represents a step up from the ordinary shop window dummies that were used in Spearhead, and shows that a reasonable deal of thought has been put into how the Autons might be improved for their next encounter with the Doctor.

Our new enemy is a Time Lord known only as the Master. The idea of making the new enemy a Time Lord is wonderful, as it means that the Doctor finally has a worthy adversary. Every time before this, we've known that the Doctor is somewhat above his foes, but now we have encountered someone with all of the knowledge that the Doctor has, all of the skills and prowess that the Doctor has. Suddenly this story has become a new challenge, and we are invested in how our heroes will defeat the Master. Expect more discussions of the Master later throughout this blog, as he will continue to return throughout the programme.

Day 280: Terror of the Autons Episode 2

OK, let's try something different for the rest of this serial. Each entry will be focussed on the old things that are featured in this, as well as the new. Each will be paired up with something that acts as a natural accompaniment to it. So first, we're going to look at the Doctor's allies.

His old allies are UNIT. They return in force, and it's interesting to note how there's already been an off screen development with respect to their relationship with the Doctor since we last saw them. Before, they were the Doctor's reluctant allies, but now he seems fairly benevolent towards working with them. In a way, it's disappointing as one of the highlights of Series 7 was that the relationship between the Doctor and UNIT was fractured, and that you were never completely sure of either's motives. But now it would appear that they're both on the same side, and they act as if they have been for years. It's good to see that developments have been made, but in a way I'm going to miss the tension that made up much of Series 7.

On the side of the new, we have the Doctor's new assistant: Jo Grant. She instantly makes herself different from Liz in one very large way, in that she's not actually that clever. Jo is able to be the audience, and require everything to be explained to her in the simplest terms possible. Which is annoying, as this comes across to me as looking down on the audience and not thinking them of being clever enough to figure things out for themselves. But, she's not completely irredeemable. In fact, she comes across quite well because of pluck. She's able to jump right into adventures, even if she isn't completely sure of what's going on. It's this sort of thing that makes the character instantly likeable, and I'm interested to see how the character will continue as we see her develop over the coming series.

Day 279: Terror of the Autons Episode 1

This serial marks a new beginning for Doctor Who. If Series 7 marked the start of a new era of Doctor Who, Series 8 marks the era getting into the swing of things. New characters are introduced, and old ones are retired. One of these, sadly is Liz Shaw. She was, in my opinion, a fantastic companion. She was able to hold her own against the Doctor and be a strong character in her own right. From Spearhead in Space where she traded barbs with the Brigadier to Inferno where we saw a twisted version of the character, I greatly enjoyed the time spent with Liz. It's probably because you can see her not as an assistant to the Doctor, rather a contempary, which means that we can easily see her as a character, and not just someone who exists for the Doctor to be rescued. All in all, it's disappointing to see her leave the series. But tomorrow, we'll look at her new replacement, and why she was brought in to Doctor Who.

Day 278: Inferno Episode 7

As mentioned before, this story features a trip to an alternate universe. Also as mentioned before, the story is about a scientist going possibly too far, and engaging in forces that man was perhaps not meant to meddle with. At the start of Episode 5, things come to a head. By which I mean, in the alternate universe the forces that man was perhaps not meant to meddle with come through in full power and begin to cause widespread destruction. And the cliffhanger to Episode 6 is the Doctor hurriedly trying to get his TARDIS working as lava begins to flow towards him, along with his new friends from the alternate universe. The next we see of the Doctor is him in his normal universe. But without his friends. Everyone else from that Earth died in flames. We got to know and care for some of these characters and now we suddenly realise that they all died horrifically. And to make matters worse, the Doctor, the man who is meant to make things better, was unable to save them.

There's comfort in the fact that the Doctor is able to save the normal Earth from the destruction that occurred in the other universe, but it's not strong enough. This one moment is the most dark and terrifying moment in all of Doctor Who. Because it reveals to us that sometimes not even the Doctor can save us, and that everything might come to an end because the people who are trying to save the day aren't able to make things better.

Day 277: Inferno Episode 6

When I was about 15, I began to rewatch a bunch of Doctor Who episodes that I had lying around. I then made the decision that the time had come. I was finally going to rewatch Inferno after 6 or 7 years. I was impressed by the quailty of it, the tenseness of the story, the fact that it still remained somewhat frightening to a teenager and for so many other reasons. But there was a part of me that was disappointed. Because there was something missing from when I watched Inferno for the first time.

There was a scene that was in balck and white, probably due to the varying picture quality of the VHS tape that I watched it on, which featured a giant Primord attacking the research complex. Granted, it was a model of the research complex, but the sentiment reamined the same. These things were not to be messed with and they were terrifying.

But people who have watched Inferno will have noticed that this scene is not present in the story. I'd made it up. Or rather, my subconscious had made it up. The night after I finished watching Inferno, I had a nightmare about Primords. My first nightmare about Doctor Who. It's one of the earliest memories that I have of seeing the programme, being terrified of it. So terrified that I wouldn't watch it for years because it was such a traumatising experience. But the fact that my memory had failed me was a little disappointing, showing me that it wasn't as terrifying as I had first thought. Until I saw the ending of this episode. And then I realised why Inferno is one of the most terrifying episodes of Doctor Who ever made.

Day 276: Inferno Episode 5

A Primord (Inferno)

The Grinch (How The Grinch Stole Christmas)

When I was 5, I went to the cinema with my Dad. Before the film that we were going to watch, there were three trailers that would change my life. One was for a film called Chicken Run, which I would later come to adore as one of my favourite movies of all time. Another was for a film called The Magic Pudding, which I would also adore, and come to see as one of my favourite movies of all time. And one was for a film called How The Grinch Stole Christmas. I did not adore this trailer. I was not left with any particular desire to see the film. Or any film for that matter. Because that one trailer left me with a several year long fear of movie cinemas, movie trailer, Dr Seuss, and hairy, green faced creatures.

When I was watching Inferno for the first time, I don't particularly recall being aware that Doctor Who could be scary sometimes. Nothing that I'd seen so far had indicated to me that this series was amongst one of the most terrifying for children to watch. So I watched Inferno and I was terrified to the bone. Because there were Grinches. Tonnes of them. They were terrifying in every possible way, from their design to their way of movement to the sounds that they made as they fought the Doctor. I was invested enough in the story to watch the rest of it, but I was still to frightened to watch it again. Doctor Who had scared me for the first time. And it would be a while until I watched this particular episode again...

Day 275: Inferno Episode 4

It's quite tense on the set of this episode. The director of this story, Douglas Camfield, has suffered a minor heart attack, putting him out of action for the rest of this serial. Camfield likes to cast people that he likes, meaning that the cast has some degree of personal connection to him, thus leaving them all in a constant state of worry over the fate of their director, or in the case of Sheila Dunn, the actress who plays Petra, her husband.

Fortunately, however, the producer has stepped in to take over. Barry Letts is already making a name for himself as an incredibly active producer, production wise. We'll see stories written and directed by him in the future, and it's because he's not afraid to get involved with the actual making of the programme. Instantly, we can see that this era is going to be interesting, with a new Doctor, a new producer and a whole new outlook on the series, we're going to be in for some nice stuff. But tomorrow (in an incredibly rare amount of pre-planning), we'll be looking at some of the not nice stuff in this serial, and how it would affect me in so many ways...

Day 274: Inferno Episode 3

The major reason why this serial is so well remembered is not due to overconfident scientists, or terrifying monsters, but instead due to the fact that the Brigadier wears an eye-patch for a portion of the serial. It's because the Doctor finds himself sent to a parallel universe, where everyone is evil because England is now run by a fascist regime. Which is nice. But the major point of this is that there exists a new feeling of discomfort because we're seeing characters that we know and love twisted beyond all recognition into something completely wrong.

But we have to consider context. This serial comes at the end of series 7, Jon Pertwee's first. The audience will have only known Liz for approximately 5 months, which isn't quite enough time for us to build up a strong enough relationship with her to be uncomfortable with her being evil (although the sentiment still stands). We then get Sergeant Benton, and whilst we will get to know him as a regular UNIT character in the future and it is uncomfortable to see him be ruthless, all of this is retrospectively added as we've barely got a chance to know the character aside from him being in the background a couple of times. It's only the Brigadier who we can claim that the audience has enough of a prior relationship with to be fully made uneasy by, but even then, it's still not been that long that we've known him and we've been uneasy with the character since the Silurians incident. So my hypothesis is that although this twist is rather nice, all of the impact has been retrospectively added by viewers coming to the serial later after already encountering the characters and knowing them for some time, instead of the viewers at the time who would have just seen it as a world where people occasionally wore eye-patches.

Unfortunately, I can't remember what impact this twist had on me when I was a kid. Through cultural symbiosis/Doctor Who: The Television Companion I was already familiar with UNIT and things, and I knew that they were a big deal, so perhaps I wasn't an ideal control to see what impact it would make. Or perhaps my hypothesis was wrong. But one thing that I do know is that this entire concept wasn't the big thing to make an impact on me. And in 2 days, we'll find out what that was...

Day 273: Inferno Episode 2

When I was in high school one of my courses required me to read Frankenstein, watch Blade Runner and then write countless essays on the unchecked nature of science. In some ways, it was a horrible experience (I will certainly delve into why at later points), but in others it was good, because it gave me a topic for today's blog entry.

There's a character in here called Sir Keith Gold. He's the director of the Inferno Project, and he is concerned with how things are proceeding. There are numerous safety issues that have taken place and the nature of the work that is being done (drilling into the centre of the Earth) is too risky to just let things slide. as such, he is trying to put up barriers of red tape in order to keep the world safe. He comes into conflict with Professor Stahlman, who will not accept any delay to his project, to the detriment of his fellow scientists. Whilst the character here is one that we've encountered before, we've never quite encountered this stubborn a scientist, nor someone who is opposed to the discoveries made here that is so easy to sympathise with.

So perhaps instead of watching Blade Runner and reading Frankenstein I should have watched Inferno. Because Inferno is easily able to show that, although science is all about discovery and seeking the future, when unchecked, it can lead to horrible things that can put the entire human race into danger.

Day 272: Inferno Episode 1

This serial begins a new series for We've Got Work to Do called First Experiences. It relates to the first episodes of Doctor Who that I ever saw, watching them on VHS as a 9 year old. There will be 5 entries in this series, and we'll get to them as we come to them. But first: Inferno!

Inferno was either the fourth or fifth serial that I saw. After strongly enjoying some episodes of Doctor Who, I quickly went to the VHS cupboard and went searching for more. Inferno was one of those found, and I want to say that I watched it all over the course of an afternoon or two. Like each of the five stories that I saw on VHS it made a very strong impression on me, for reasons that we'll cover later.

But as a young adult, rewatching this story for the fourth or fifth time, it would appear that the first episode doesn't make as strong an impression. It is remarkably well put together, and very enjoyable, but there doesn't appear to be much that sets it apart from other stories of its ilk. We have an obsessive scientist, the Doctor and UNIT setting up shop in a research base, it all seems intrinsically familiar. But there's hints of something greater. The Doctor travels to a weird limbo area in a nightmarish sequence that shows that this story is hiding something that will make this story unforgettable

Day 271: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 7

"I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty. You do understand, don't you?"

These are the last words said by General Carrington, the villain of this serial, before he is taken away into custody. Villain is perhaps too harsh a word, given that he is very misguided, and did everything in this story for the wrong reason. He was placed in a scenario where he made first contact with an alien race. They killed one of his crewmembers and so he swore revenge, believeing them to be a hostile force. He captured some of them and used them for his own purposes, hoping to reveal to the world that these creatures are dangerous, and to implore for help in dealing with them, by destroying them all completely.

But he was wrong. The aliens came in peace. They were unaware of the fact that when they touched people, they caused them to die. Carrington was catastrophically misguided, seeking war instead of a peacful solution. In this regard, the story makes for a perfect duo with Doctor Who and the Silurians. The conclusion of both stories is about the misguided nature of humanity, how we can occasionally jump to conclusions and cause widespread destruction. But where Silurians ended with the Brigadier doing the wrong thing, this time it is quite clearly averted. Everyone from UNIT soldiers to Carrington's henchmen are standing against him. Because they all realise what harm they could do, and that sometimes peace is the only option.

But in response to Carrington's question, he was somewhat in the right. It's not hard to ser how he came to the conclusions that he did, and it's quite clear that he began to realise his mistakes at the end of the serial. But the fact still remains that it wasn't an alien species that caused all of the havoc this serial. It was a misguided man.

Day 270: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 6

The story of how this episode came together is quite interesting. Essentially, it was decided that the story as delivered by the original writer, David Whitaker, was unsuitable, meaning that it would have to be heavily rewritten and edited by Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke. In this regard, it's interesting to compare this to The War Games, and the way in which that story progresses, due to both being by the same writing team. The War Games was a success due to the way in which the story progressed. Each episode brought a new development to how the story is unfolding, so that it could keep to the same plot, but make each episode feel different enough such that viewers don't get bored. To compare this to Ambassadors is interesting. There's development of the plot, however the majority of the storyline is hidden, left to be revealed at a slower rate. This has two effects. On the one hand, it's frustrating, as the viewer is being kept in the dark and it's only around episode 6 that you begin to get the whole plot spelt oht to you. But on the other hand, it's engaging because it keeps a strong amount of mystery to the story. The viewer is engaged because they need to discover what has been going on, and that is what makes this story so enjoyable.

Day 269: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 5

Sometimes, when you watch a Doctor Who story, there's a character that jumps out at you as interesting, above everyone else. Most of the time, it's a regular. Sometimes it's the villain. Sometimes it's the Doctor's primary ally. And sometimes it's just a side character. We get such a case here in the character of Lennox. He's a scientist who has been forced to work for the villainous group who are using the titular ambassadors, in order to find a way to control them. He's an excellent character because of his opinions, but also in the way in which he chooses to put these opinions across. He's a man who is opposed to the nature of the work that he is doing, and desperately wishes to get help to escape, however he is trapped by the fact that there is nowhere else for him to go. He expresses this not as much through dialogue, but through his neuroticism which comes across remarkably well from Cyril Shaps, the actor who plays him. This creates a memorable character for whom the audience can easily feel empathy for, and it means that the story feels better because we can care about more of the characters. This, in turn, is possibly due to Malcolm Hulke who, as previously mentioned, is a wonderful writer of character and can make things instantly memorable.

Day 268: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 4

Have I praised Michael Ferguson here before? It's because he clearly stands out as an excellent director here (although all across Jon Pertwee's first series are excellent, and we'll certainly mention direction for the next serial). But let's talk about why he's an excellent director. Aside from the obvious thongs, like getting strong performances and choosing camera position to fully utilise everything in shot, he's also masterful at editing. Take, for instance, a scene wherein a man has been given a bomb to explode the Doctor with. The scene is edited in such a way to emphasise the stress on his end, frequently cutting back to him above the Doctor, who remains calm, unaware of what is due to happen. The bomb unexpectedly explodes, and Ferguson decides to cut away two seconds after the explosion. We get an explosion, a scream and then another scene. This sudden moment allows for a far more effective piece and a genuine feeling of surprise on the viewer's part. It also means that we are spared the annoyance of having a man screaming for too long, as this is something that could appear a bit hammy and take the viewer out of the mostly realistic serial so far. All in all, it's a well directed story and Ferguson is certainly a director to admire across the series.

Day 267: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 3

I bumped into a friend of mine yesterday whilst having lunch, and during our conversation, I mentioned that I was due to watch The Ambassadors of Death over the course of that day. He praised the story, and pointed out to me that the image of malevolent spacesuits is one that has appeared in Doctor Who on a couple of occasions, most notably in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. So what actually makes these things scary? It's not that we have some sort of cultural mistrust of astronauts, far from it. We acknowledge them as pioneers and travellers to the stars, who go forth and discover a whole new world up there in the sky. Personally, I think that it's in the face. Or to be more precise, the lack of a face. We can't see the inside of the helmets, leading mistrust as we don't have the basic human ability to see the familiar. Instead, we see a suit, with no sense of familiarity attached. This can be compared with the Library two parter, where the unfamiliar is made more so by the addition of a skeleton inside, revealing the bitter truth of what lies beneath. Or indeed, we can compare to the Impossible Astronaut two parter, where the unfamiliar is made suddenly familiar by the addition of a small girl within the suit, allowing for the juxtaposition of the two presences to make for a more creepy experience. But the major thing to take away from this is that The Ambassadors of Death is providing us with a remarkably creepy monster, showing us that this new series is certainly able to bring us a strong ability to terrify children.

Day 266: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 2

Once again, this episode is wonderfully action packed. This time, instead of being a warehouse shoot-out we have a hold-up of a truck carrying a spaceship. The major thing that I took away from it was a sudden realisation that I actually have no idea what is going to happen in this episode. This has two meanings. One is that I have never seen this episode before, hence I don't have an idea of the plot and so on. The other is a consequence of the longer serial length. Due to having a longer serial, it means that we need to stretch out the plot, leave key revelations of things such as motivation of the villains until later, such that the writers don't run out of story by episode 5. It's similar to The War Games in this regard, and it's a truly fascinating experience to get to experience this story for what is essentially the first time, and have no idea of what is ahead of us...

Day 265: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 1

Today's entry is the convolution of so many things. Some of you may notice that it's remarkably close in time to yesterday's entry, and there's a reason for that. My general technique for watching episodes is to go about my day to day business, then at 10 o'clock pm (Australian Time) I'll go to the TV and put on the episode. I'll spend some time writing the blog entry and then post it by 11 o'clock. Sometimes, however, I will be aware that I won't be at home late at night, and so I have to watch the episode during the day. And sometimes I'll be equally busy during the day, so I'll have to watch it at night. Today, the Venn diagram of business reached the point when I was at a loss, and considering getting up early in the morning to sit down for some Pertwee fun. Until I realised that I had given myself a 24 hour period to watch each episode. So it came to pass that at midnight, I went across and put on The Ambassadors of Death Episode 1 and sat down for some 1970's action.

Action is the key word here, in particular Action by HAVOC. They're the new stuntmen for Doctor Who and they represent the new era that the series is going into. It's no longer acceptable to just have monsters bursting into rooms or ray guns pointing at people to intimidate them. Audiences need to be satiated with properly set-out action. It has to be exciting and packed full of danger. HAVOC are more than able to provide in this regard. Their scene about halfway through this episode consisting of UNIT performing a raid on a warehouse is remarkably well set out. Each moment is filled with tension as we, the audience, truly believe this both to be realistic, but also exciting. Guns being fired and people falling into boxes may not seem like much, but compared to what's come before and cpupled with some excellent direction from Michael Ferguson, then we've got a remarkably exciting scene, hopefully the first of many.

Day 264: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 7

This episode has one of the most chilling endings that we will encounter. The Silurians have been sent back into hibernation, and all looks as if it will be well. The Doctor is busy fixing Bessie, his car, when he notices an explosion going off in the distance. The Brigadier, fully aware of the threat that the Silurians pose, has decided to ensure that they will never wake from their slumber. He has destroyed an entire intelligent life form, just because of an incident which was blown to uncomfortable levels due to some extremists. There are two points to take away from this. One is that the Brigadier was wrong to do this. An intelligent live form has just been destroyed with no prior warning. It stands to reason that peaceful talks could have occurred, that hopes could have been made for an existence where there was no need to resort to violence. However, humanity has to resort to primitive behaviour in order to get its own way (interestingly though, the Silurians also exhibited primitive behaviour, indicating that both species may be more alike than first thought). It serves as a chilling reminder of the poor decisions that humanity can make in the course of society.

But more than that, it's the Brigadier who does this. The Brigadier is a friend of the Doctor's, a trusted ally. To see him err morally is distressing, and it goes to show how good a writer Malcolm Hulke is. He is not afraid to show heroes in shades of grey, as he understands that that doesn't reflect real life as well. But most importantly, he introduces enough doubt for people to understand why this decision was made. Hulke's ability to deal with character makes him a writer whose work on Doctor Who we shall follow with great anticipation. And that anticipation may be resolved sooner than expected...

Day 263: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 6

Doctor Who, as a science fiction series, has a knack of being able to show visions of the future, mostly ones that reflect themes of the time. So far, we've had space empires, post nuclear wastelands and computers which are taking over our lives, despite being mostly useless (but not this wonderful computer on which I'm writing this now and I for one will welcome our new computer overlords). This episode has a rather lovely thing in that it is able to have a science fiction concept that is still present today: a plague killing off people in urban areas, as we see people dying all around you. It lovely, because it shows us that this particular hasn't actually aged, and that there are certain elements of the plot that still resonate today. It's actually a rather chilling scene as shot, in particular due to Coombe's use of fade between people dying as the Doctor and co. desperately try to do something to stop things from getting worse.

I also wanted to make a quick mention of Dr. Lawrence as played by Peter Miles. He essentially undergoes a mental breakdown in this story due the effects of the plague of the Silurians. What this causes him to do is to regress mentally, as he physically attacks the Brigadier to try and keep things the way in which he wants them. What this does is serve as a handy metaphor for the outlying themes of this story. Essentially: the Silurians are a race from before the dawn of man. They treat human beings as mere animals and will not really take them seriously. To see Dr. Lawrence behave in this manner serves as a reminder that perhaps the Silurians are right, and we are nothing more than animals. This is certainly something that will be raised in tomorrow's entry as we look at the finale to Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Day 262: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 5

Here's something new: we have men in rubber suits arguing with each other about the state of affairs. This is done incredibly convincingly and I remarkably enjoyed the work that was done here. But who do we thank for the work here? For a start, there's the fantastic script by Malcolm Hulke. His ability to write characters with differing motivations may seem like small praise, but it's his complete strength. Every character by Hulke is able to have their own motivations and thus their driving force is able to be subtly spelt out to us. And it's not a case of aliens trying to take over the world, it's a case of some aliens trying to take over the world whilst others disagree with this notion. Hulke is able to clearly, but subtly, introduce us to the warring political factions when it comes to this matter, in much the same way in which he was able to treat matters with respect to the UNIT forces being in occasional opposition to the Doctor.

Seriously, they managed to make this
give emotion!

But it's not just Hulke who is behind the brilliance of being able to make this seem convincing. Tim Combe, the director, as well as the voice behind the Silurians, Peter Halliday, and the various actors playing the Silurians: Dave Carter, Nigel Johns and Pat Gorman. It takes a sheer amount of talent to be able to make a rubber suit seem convincing, and to be able to express emotion through these circumstances is truly remarkable. Each one is imbued with a certain character, meaning that the audience is able to easily and readily distinguish between the major Silurians. Contrast with, say, The Dominators where, even when we can see their faces, it's still difficult to distinguish between the characters. So, in response ot my fears exhibited in my first entry for this story, it would appear that even if some elements of the visuals do not live up to my expectations, there are others that somehow manage to surpass them.

Day 261: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 4

I'm half tempted to write this blog entry about the credits. Not because there's not much to write about in this story (because there most certainly is), but because they're slightly wrong. The music, you see, runs for slightly too long. It means that the music comes to a natiral end when the credits are only 7/8 of the way to the end, meaning that some meaningless filler music has to be added to the end of the credits, lessening the impact tof the show's signature tune. I'd normally pass this over as just a minor production issue, however it betrays a certain something about the way in which the show has undergone such a drastic change. The series has not only gained a new Doctor, a new setting and a new method of storytelling, but it has also gone into colour and changed so much of how the series is run as a result of this. What this means is that the new production team is left somewhat awkwardly runnign about dealing with problems that they've never really experienced before. Cracks begin to show, but we can accept them as teething troubles. It's not the best, but the story is alright, and if there are mild issues with the production as long as the story is good, then all is reasonably well.

But that said, I am bloody annoyed that they named this story Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Day 260: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 3

There's an interesting character in this story, Dr Quinn. He appears to be in league with the titular Silurians and, as a result of the prospective length of this story, one can easily expect that his story will develop over the course of the following episodes. We expect that the Doctor will find himself fighting against him, or perhaps ally himself with him. At the very least, he is set to be a major character over the course of the story, in much the same way that Tobias Vaughn was in The Invasion. However, he is dead at the end of this episode. This is a fantastic development because it clearly indicates a shift in the tone of the story, from one plotline to another (as yet unknown) plotline. Also, it indicates that Malcolm Hulke, the writer, is keenly aware of how stories normally develop and is making a conscious decision to not go along that pathway, indicating him as one of the more interesting Doctor Who writers.

Day 259: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 2

So one of the interesting things about how the series works now, and something that I hinted at as I talked about when we covered the new regulars in Spearhead From Space, is that a new dynamic has formed between the Doctor and his companions, which is to say that one of his companions most definitely isn't. The Brigadier comes across as a man who, while still being on the same moral side as the Doctor, uses different methods, ones that the Doctor might not necessarily approve of. Take, for instance, a scene wherein some UNIT soldiers, along with the Doctor and the Brigadier, are investigating the caves. One UNIT solider comes across something that he doesn't recognise, prompting him to shoot it and cause it to run away. The Brigadier approves because one of his soldiers may have been in danger, however the Doctor disapproves because the danger was not necessarily present and that it may have been better to discuss problems than shoot at them. It's these moral dilemmas that will form much of how the series will develop over the UNIT years.

Day 258: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 1

"Oh dear". These were the first words that I remarked upon viewing Episode 1 of Doctor Who and the Silurians for the first time, about half an hour ago. To explain, when it comes to Doctor Who episodes, they generally gall into two categories: 'ones that I've seen' and 'ones that I haven't seen'. However, there exists a special category that this and one other story fits into: 'ones that I've only heard'. Four or five years ago, I listened to the audio of this episode, and I found it quite interesting. What I really enjoyed was the fact that I was actively trying to visualise what it all looked like, and I looked forward to seeing it on screen to see how close I was to the actual fact. Take, for example, the opening scene, which is set in a cave. Only listening to it, I pictured a location shoot in an actual cave, with some moody lighting and a wholly realistic atmosphere. What I got instead was a studio set, which looked incredibly fake. I was so disappointed because it shattered my views of what the story looked like. Fortunately though, that only accounts for half of the episode, so we'll just have to wait to see whether my memory is cheating with respect to the actual story itself.

Day 257: Spearhead From Space Episode 4

And I should probably talk about the plot for this episode at some point, shouldn't I? The story concerns a Nestene Consciousness, which is invading Earth by taking over plastics, mainly shop window dummies and the like. What this gives rise to is one of the most iconic scenes in the history of Doctor Who as shop window dummies come to life and begin attacking bystanders. This is at the very heart of what Doctor Who is sometimes claimed to be, a programme for traumatising young children by taking ordinary objects and making them terrifying. Or, to put it another way, to make the ordinary extraordinary. It's a fantastic scene, and one that was brilliantly conceived by Robert Holmes, the writer of this episode. By using these everyday objects in such a way, he is able to show how the series can survive now that it has been trapped on Earth. We are used to seeing alien worlds and alien creatures, but Holmes is able to show us that sometimes what's at home can be terrifying as well.

Day 256: Spearhead From Space Episode 3

One year ago today, I was quite tired. I'd gotten up at approximately 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning to watch a live simulcast of the revelation of the new actor to play the Doctor: Peter Capaldi. This was an interesting decision. Firstly, I knew that the majority of the piece that would be introducing him would be fair at best, aside from the brief interview with the new Doctor at the end. I also knew that I had a Chemistry laboratory later that day, and as we all know, drowsiness and acid go hand in hand. But I watched with anticipation, waiting to see who the new Doctor was, and wanting to speculate on what the new Doctor would be like.

Today, I watched Spearhead From Space Episode 3. After spending much of Episode 1 in a bed, Jon Pertwee is finally beginning to settle into the role of the Doctor (note that I use the word finally because Troughton managed to do it within seconds. But that's just the Power of The Power of the Daleks). His Doctor comes across as more of a charmer than Troughton, but also more serious. There's a distinct lack of playfulness with him, although he is able to give a look that can bring comfort to the most hardened viewer. And whilst he isn;t afraid to be serious, it isn't like the seriousness that plagued Hartnell occasionally, instead being a more warm scientist type, ready to go forth and science. In short, he's different from his predecessors, but the important thing is that he isn't too different. He's still recognisably the Doctor, and thus the audience can trust him. And so this early ability to trust means that we can thus be more willing to accept him in the future, when the Doctor changes a little bit from how we know him, such as fighting with alien monsters using martial arts, or arguing with pretty much everybody. Because at the heart of it, he's still the Doctor.

And in a roundabout way, this means that we can come back to Peter Capaldi. I'm intrigued to see the direction that he will go in, because he'll apparently bring with him so many things old and new to the role. But the important thing can be found in the writing, and in the fact that he's aware of what's come before. The writers are all able to write for the Doctor, and so they will make it recognisable to the viewer. This is why Doctor Who can be successful despite losing its lead actor every couple of years. Because it has the ability to remain constant in character, but building around the theme. This is why Capaldi will be interesting, as Pertwee is as well. Because it's interesting to see how the actors will interpret this theme of being the Doctor. And so when I get up ridiculously early in the morning to watch the simulcast of Deep Breath, I look forward to seeing what interpretation Peter Capaldi will bring to the role. And how he will build on his predecessors, including Jon Pertwee.

Day 255: Spearhead From Space Episode 2

So characters! We've got people old and new in this story. Old is represented by the Brigadier, familiar to viewers from both The Invasion and The Web of Fear. He brings with him a sense of comfort in these strange new times of change. He's also able to take charge with regards to the story, given that the Doctor is in a post-regenerative haze and is out of action for much of the first half. In this role, he performs admirably, showing that at the very least, the idea of UNIT taking over Doctor Who is sound.

New characters come through as well, such as Liz Shaw, the Doctor's new assistant. She's a more professional Zoe, being a scientist employed to be UNIT's scientific advisor. She's got an edge to her, choosing not to take orders from her military superiors, giving the impression that she is quite like the Doctor. It's clear that when Sherwin and Dicks created the character that they decided upon having the Doctor have an intellectual counterpart, as Zoe worked so well in the previous series. In a similar sense, the Brigadier fulfils much the same role as Jamie, being a trusted person by the Doctor and the male action hero. But how these roles will develop will be seen as the series continues.

And tomorrow, in a startling display of me being organised, we're going to take a look at our new Doctor

Day 254: Spearhead From Space Episode 1

Different. That's the major thought that I had after watching this episode. This is not really like anything that we've seen before. The story is set in the modern day, filmed in colour, and introduces a new Doctor. The new Doctor is different, something that we'll look at more once he gets into the swing of things. But one of the important things that I noticed is the freeness with which they discuss the alien nature of the Doctor. After years of hiding away in the shadows of the true nature of the Doctor, suddenly by revealing his race we now find out more details about our mysterious protagonist such as the fact that he has two hearts. But not only that, but there's also the fact that the series is now suddenly set in the modern day, and we aren't encountering science fiction premises at every corner, instead seeing mysteries that are to be solved. It's reminiscent of Quatermass, and shows how the series will be for the forseeable future. Tomorrow, we'll have a look at some of the characters that we'll be encountering in this series.

Day 253: The War Games Episode 10

And so all good things must come to an end. This Doctor, as played by Patrick Troughton, burst into a dying series, bringing it life and energy, completely revitalising it for a new era. But time has caught up with him, time lords to be precise. They have put the Doctor on trial for his meddling in the affairs of other planets, and so he is forced to prove himself. He shows us clips of monsters from the past: Quarks, Yeti, Ice Warriors, Cybermen, and the Daleks. As an audience, we not only see the reasons why the Doctor should continue, but also why this era was so great. All of these memories come flooding back of fun adventures that we've had battling monsters. From The Dominators, which brought so much unintended hilarity to The Web of Fear showing us true suspense. From The Ice Warriors and the instantly memorable and enjoyable character to The Invasion and an instantly memorable villain. And finally we remember Power of the Daleks, where we first met this Doctor, and we learnt the true meaning of perfection, as we got to witness what is probably the best Doctor Who story of all time.

But as the memories flood back, so they must fade away. Jamie and Zoe are consigned to forget about the TARDIS, and their adventures with the Doctor. This is one of the saddest things ever to occur in all of Who. We realise that Jamie won't remember the relationship that he built up with his best friend, or the heroics that he performed by fighting all manner of outer space villainy. Similarly, we realise that Zoe is doomed to return to her vaguely oppressive regime, and that she will have no idea as to what happened with her friends Jamie and the Doctor. I cried at this bit. Because my favourite characters have been forced to stop, and so we lose the friendship that they developed.

And the Doctor is exiled to Earth, forced to change his appearance. If the previous regeneration was all about confusion, this one is about fear. We don't know what will happen now. We don't know who the Doctor will be. All we know is that the show will change completely. But unlike before, where we were ready for a change, this time we were perfectly happy to stay. But times must change, and so does the Doctor, as we remember that We've Got Work To Do.

Day 252: The War Games Episode 9

And things continue to change in Doctor Who as Troughton is forced to call for help. The task has become too large for him and he needs help from these Time Lords to solve the problem which he finds himself in. It's unlike anything that we've seen this Doctor do before, we've known him as the mercurial man who comes around and fixes things, and now he has been forced to call for help. But the Time Lords obviously have problems with the Doctor, which means that they chase him and attempt to capture him. And in one of the most surreal and spectacular cliffhangers in the series, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe run towards the TARDIS as time begins to slow around them.  Hats off certainly go to everyone involved in this, for realising how this 10 part epic can't just end like any other episode. It needs to be a spectacular ending to reflect the spectacular nature of this story, so well done to Dicks, Hulke, Maloney and Sherwin for their work on this story. It shows the God-like powers of these Time Lords, and sets up what will be an amazing and truly game changing final episode of The War Games