Planet of Fire is partially filmed on location on the island of Lanzarote. Unlike previous foreign location shoots, such as City of Death or Arc of Infinity, the location is mainly used as the actual location on Earth, but instead as the alien landscape of the planet Sarn. It makes for a very visually impressive landscape, being a beautiful red rocky vista, appearing as if it is unlike anything on Earth and something truly alien (the irony of course being that it is very much on Earth).
There are other bonuses to the landscape as well. There's the fact that there's no-one else in rather large surrounds, which can lead to a feeling of isolation and emptiness, giving the impression that there is only a small colony of people, the TARDIS crew, and nobody else. It also lends the programme with a bit of a cinematic feeling as well, as large shots are taken, showing off the location to full effect, and making the production feel just that bit more visually impressive. One can easily imagine this being shown on a big cinema screen, with the beautiful Lanzarote landscape as the major star of the piece. And if nothing else, the tourism board of Lanzarote should be fairly pleased, as I've actually got half a mind to go on a visit there in the future, and see this awe-inspiring area myself.
How much do we really know about Turlough? Despite the fact that several episodes were entirely devoted to his character and the development thereof, we know virtually nothing of his history before joining the TARDIS crew. We knew that he wasn't a human, but aside from a few hints as to his past, that was all that we really knew about this companion.
That is, of course, until Planet of Fire. Here, we see him genuinely worried, hiding things from the Doctor that hint toward his past. Symbols appear in various places and he recognises them but with a degree of worry and horror that implies a darker history than what one had previously thought. He even goes to the lengths of dismantling the TARDIS console in order to prevent the discovery of his history.
And I suppose that it's at this point that we really realise how little we know about this character, and how we can now be kind of worried that he may be as nice as we had assumed him to be. It also raises the notion of how much faith we, as an audience, put into the role of the companion, being that they are normal beings with no real problems outside of the TARDIS. Of course, in a few years time, this notion will be challenged again in a far more interesting way, and once the series is brought back in 2005, we will see this notion developed again, but for now let's focus on Turlough, as we learn more of his mysterious past.
There are a lot of things that I'm not keen about in Resurrection of the Daleks. One such thing is something that I had never realised until I watched it again tonight. There's a character called Mercer who acts as one of the main characters. He helps lead a group of people on the prison ship that the Daleks have attacked to try and destroy it with Davros still on it, and in the process meets Turlough and works with him as they attempt to figure out the best course of action to take. He's also killed towards the end of the story, when some Dalek troopers encounter him by surprise. The fact that I had never noticed that his character, one which has actually played a large role in the story and is one that I cared about, dies, makes me feel that perhaps the director, Matthew Robinson, could have drawn a little bit more attention to this fact.
But this is not that kind of story. Resurrection of the Daleks is an action story, pure and simple. It's actually quite a good action story, filled with violence and explosions and plenty of adrenaline. The Daleks are used as an assault force, destroying everything in their wake and leaving no survivors, reminding the audience of why they are powerful foes and creatures to be feared. Similarly, the use of humans working for the Daleks as troopers adds a cheaper way to have larger action scenes, as humans cost less money to hire than full Dalek props. It's all written well too, with enough going on such that the audience never loses interest (as I alluded to yesterday), and the direction keeps everything at a cracking pace as well.
But that's all to the story's detriment, in the end. There are so many scenes that I look at and shake my head at. The Doctor picking up a handgun and using it to kill a Dalek mutant. The fact that so many characters die needlessly. The fact that a major scene is the Doctor picking up a gun and holding it directly at Davros's head. That last point is a particular bugbear for me because it's given no build-up and seems completely out of character for the Doctor. We should never see him consider killing someone, holding a gun before their face and contemplating pulling the trigger. All of this could be excused by having the doctor turn away and take the non-violent option, and yet he doesn't. Instead, he goes outside to check something and gets locked out. It feels completely out of character for the Doctor and is the major reason why I find it hard to really like this story.
Perhaps this is the reason that Tegan leaves at the end of the adventure. Fed up with the violence that she's encountered, as well as all the death and destruction, she proclaims that none of this is fun any more and runs off. I should mention that Tegan, for all her faults, did eventually mature into a strong companion. Add to this stories like Kinda and Snakedance, which took her character to new horizons that no companion had ever been to before, as well as strong performances in episodes like Enlightenment, and we can see a good character leaving the series, after a distinguished time in the TARDIS. But perhaps her departure is a little prophetic, as from this point onwards, things are going to be a lot more violent and a lot darker.
I'm very sorry, but this entry won't be as long as it should be, mainly because I've just had a 10 hour day at Uni as well as various other places and I'm slowly falling asleep, hence I want to get this done quickly.
But this episode is not one that can be done quickly. Due to a quirk of scheduling, it went from being a four part story to a two part story with double length episodes, inadvertently predicting the future of Doctor Who, both in the short term for Colin Baker's first full series as the Doctor and in the long term with how the series is broadcast since the revival in 2005. Oddly enough, it works quite well in this instance, most likely due to the fact that both Eric Saward (writer) and Matthew Robinson (director) keep a good pace up and ensure that things are always happening on screen, preventing boredom from setting in too much.
Another note that I'd be remiss to mention is Malcolm Clarke's music. It's not the best score for the series, but it is memorable. I know this because, 7 years ago, I had to do a speech on music and how it relates to visual images in TV and film. I originally chose Resurrection of the Daleks, and briefly analysed a certain scene before changing my mind and doing The Curse of Fenric instead. But, despite the fact that I only really watched that scene in detail once or twice 7 years ago, when it came up again, I was struck by the music and how familiar it sounded. So, at the very least, this story has a rather nice score behind it.
I suppose the reason that I've enjoyed Frontios so much is the villains, known as the Tractators. They're beings that can control gravity, and they have cqptured humans such that they can tunnel out the caverns of Frontios into waveguides, which will help them transform Frontios into a spaceship allowing them to wreak havoc across the universe. Although, to be honest, I'm fairly sure that they'd be able to wreak havoc across the universe anyway, because they can control gravity. That's one of the four fundamental forces, and control over gravity would give anyone an immense amount of power.
Is it any wonder, then, that Turlough is so distressed by these events? But he's distressed in a different way than what we're normally used to, he's been reduced at various points to a quivering mess as he tries to come to terms with the creatures that he's facing. The Tractators, it transpires, are creatures that have invaded Turlough's home planet, and left a strong race memory due to the immense impact that they made on his society. It's a nice touch, as it makes the monsters feel like a genuine threat, and gives Mark Strickson something worthwhile to do in the story.
It's a shame that Frontios is overlooked by so many people, to be honest, as it's not that bad a story. It does have problems, yes, but it also has an awful lot of things going for it that make it an incredibly worthwhile adventure, and one that I'll look back on fondly.
A week or so ago, I lamented the fact that I could not watch episodes of Doctor Who and experience surprises, sudden plot developments that come out of left field and genuinely shock the viewer. Frontios was to prove me wrong though, as it keeps on bombarding me with little bits and pieces that make it all worthwhile.
The biggest example, for me, is the cliffhanger to Part 3 wherein we discover that the villainous Tractators have been capturing humans and using them as slave labour in machinery as some sort of terrifying body horror concept. It's a genuine surprise and throws the story in a new direction with ethical dilemmas to now consider about the lives of the humans in the machines, as well as dealing with the generic alien attack story that had been present for the previous couple of episodes.
It's also a good enough cliffhanger concept to allow me to forgive Ron Jones' poor direction of it, where he elects to zoom the camera in but holds the final position for a second too long, making it slightly awkward. But it's oddly one of the few poor moments from Jones' direction of the story, which is otherwise quite good. Interesting camera angles are chosen as well as some effective glass shots and some strong acting, which presumably comes back to discussion with the director. It's not enough for me to forgive him for Time-Flight or Arc of Infinity, but it is enough for me to say that, on the basis of the first three episodes, Frontios is an underrated gem of a story.
There's an absolutely hilarious moment early in this episode where Turlough picks up the TARDIS hatstand, which the inhabitants of Frontios feel is a weapon of mass destruction. Thus, for the first five minutes of the story, Turlough weilds the hatstand with a degree of menace, threatening to kill anyone who comes in his way. It's a moment of unexpected hilarity in this story, which could threaten to be rather serious. It's about mass destruction, death and chaos, and could easily be given an Earthshock-esque treatment with little humour and massive amounts of action, but instead Bidmead and Saward give the story a lightness that makes it all far more bearable. Another example can be seen when Turlough is helping Norna do some tests on the minerals of Frontios. Turlough spends much of the time wandering through the lab and commenting on how nothing really makes sense around the area, which Norna keenly remarks is just his way of getting out of work. It's not a massive moment, but it's well appreciated, and by allowing this moment of lightness, it gives the inhabitants of Frontios some character that makes the story much more enjoyable.
Frontios marks a one time only return to the series for former script editor Christopher H Bidmead, who previously script edited the series from The Leisure Hive to Logopolis, as well as writing Logopolis and Castrovalva himself. His time on the series is often characterised by a movement to make the series less fantastical and more scientific, which can be seen very easily in Frontios.
For instance, in Part 1, a large portion of the episode is devoted to finding a power source to improve the lighting of the medical centre of the planet. This is littered with concepts that are either real scientific developments, such as phosphor lamps, or sound realistic enough that one can assume that they will be scientific developments in the far future, such as acid jars powered by wind power (I don't have as much time to research this as I'd like, but I would be curious to learn if this is a real development or something that Bidmead made up). It's stuff like this that gives the story a sense of scientific grounding that marks Bidmead's return to the series.
We can also see this in the protagonists on the planet Frontios. Almost immediately, we're being told to side with the scientists, the people who keep everyone else alive and are keen to learn the truth, while the military personnel on the planet are far more interested in keeping control of the population and jumping to conclusions when it comes to anything suspicious. It's actually something which speaks to the core of what Doctor Who is about, that scientists and the like will be better than the military any day of the week. It's an understanding of that which shows why Bidmead was a good writer for the series, and why I'm now looking forward to watching more of Frontios.
And for more discussion about science and Doctor Who, why not read the latest issue of The Terrible Zodin, where I write about the recent Brian Cox special where the Science of Doctor Who is discussed, in particular with respect to my life, which can be found here: http://doctorwhottz.blogspot.co.uk
The plot of The Awakening is rather simple. A diabolical force has landed in a small English village which feeds off psychic energy. In this instance, it gets food by inciting violence throughout the town, mainly through the war-game re-enactments which are taking place. The clear message of the story is that violence and other firms of negative energy should be avoided, and that one must always be level-headed when uncomfortable events happen. An example of this comes halfway through this episode, when Ben, the main henchman of Sir George, is handed a gun and told to execute the Doctor. Ben, a middle-aged man, takes the gun, and when Sir George leaves, simply asks for an explanation. He's not going to take orders from a madman, and is perfectly happy to sit down, listen, and have a level head.
And that finishes off The Awakening. It's a story that I almost wish I could have spent another episode with, as the characters were all rather lovely and there's a fair bit to enjoy from it. It's a shame that neither director or writer ever worked for the series again, as they both did an excellent job and I'd have very much liked to see future work from them.
The Awakening is a rather nice little story, but it's difficult to outright love it. It's got a simple little plot (more of which tomorrow), nice characters, a good design for the monster, and a lovely location but nothing is allowed to be done in too much detail. An example, for instance, is Sir George, the human villain of the piece. He's full of enthusiasm for his work, re-enacting old battles from days of yore, even if it may not be the safest past-time, both physically and morally. We can see that, and understand both his point of view and the point of view of those opposed to him, but we never get to spend too much time with the character. He gets one scene in which to describe his motives before he turns into a more generic Doctor Who villain who captures people for nefarious purposes.
It's a consequence of the pacing of the story, being a two part adventure with no real time to fully explore the characters and the situation. That said, the production team is more used to having longer adventures, but I'm fairly confident that things will change at some point in the future as times change as well. But, for the moment, let's finish off The Awakening and relax with a story with plenty to like, but not a lot to love.
Over the course of this blog, I've come across episodes that are pleasant surprises. They're the sorts of stories that I look forward to each night that I watch them, because I'm legitimately interested in what's happening. An example, for instance, is Doctor Who and the Sliurians, a story that was all about subterranean reptiles who previously inhabited this planet and now want to take it back from the humans. It was fantastic because it had a strong idea, excellent monsters, superb direction, and wonderful characters. Warriors of the Deep is a sequel to that story, and has virtually none of that.
The obvious way in which Warriors of the Deep fails, in my opinion, is through the characters. Doctor Who and the Silurians was filled with interesting and distinct characters. Take, for instance, the two main Silurians, a young one and an elder one. The elder was keen to make peace, and was open to discussion with the Doctor about their lives, however the younger one was more keen to attack, killing others in their wake and escalating events to an inevitable destructive conclusion. And those are just two of a fantastic cast of characters that made up the story.
Warriors of the Deep, on the other hand, is filled with cardboard cut-out characters. There's evil foreigner, evil alien, good natured human male, good natured human female, all of these characters are painfully generic. But it's not just that, it's the fact that we never really get to spend any time getting to know them, which was one of the clear benefits of Doctor Who and the Silurians. The closest we come is the Doctor and Icthar (the leader of the Silurians) having a conversation where Icthar says that he's not going to bother with peace and instead he's going to go for all out conflict. There's no sense of Icthar as a character though, we only see him as a plot device that is causing trouble for the humans on the Seabase because we never get any time to see him consider his actions.
In a way, this entire story can be summed up by the way in which the Silurian redesign is handled. They previously had a third eye, which was used as part of their technology, as well as to see and to cause pain to humans. Here, it's reduced to a light that flashes on to indicate which Silurian is talking. It's the essence of this story: something that was once weird and wonderful reduced to something entirely functional.
As the Doctor says at the end of this story, "There should have been another way".
The Myrka is easily one of the most memorable monsters ever to feature in Doctor Who. It's the pet of the Silurians, and attacks the Seabase in this story as some sort of unstoppable force. A memorable scene featuring the Myrka is seen above, as Dr Solow attacks the Myrka with some impromptu karate moves, failing as all shall fall in the wake of the Myrka. It is easily memorable, mainly because it elicits a strong emotional response in the viewer. That strong emotional response, of course, is uncontrollable laughter.
It's completely awful. I understand that there were severe issues with the making of the story that prevented things from coming out the way that they might have hoped. However, that does not entirely excuse the fact that it looks like a pantomime horse that's being operated by two people who are clearly under the effect of the wet paint on the costume that they've been sniffing. And whilst I can laugh at it and think of it as just another bad Doctor Who monster, the brutal truth is that this marks a turning point in the franchise. From this point onwards, Doctor Who goes down a bit in people's estimations, and it leads to the series eventually being cancelled. Granted, there are other forces at work, and I'll have a look at one or two of them a little later on, but there's no denying that after looking at the Myrka, you have to think about whether Doctor Who is really worth watching any more.
The purpose of this episode is clearly to increase the tension on the base as Silurian and Sea Devil forces threaten to attack. The last ten minutes or so, for instance, are spent staring at an air lock attempting to prepare for the attack, whilst spies on the base from the other global superpower are attempting to bring down the base from the inside as part of some nefarious scheme. It forces us to spend more time with the characters, in particular the regulars, and it's interesting to see how they're written in this story.
The Doctor is written as some sort of peacemaker, the person who clearly wants the solution with as little bloodshed as possible. An example can be seen, for instance, when he attempts to tell the commander of the Seabase that he is telling the truth, so he hands him a gun that he picked up as a sign of confidence and trust. This echoes the original story Doctor Who and the Silurians, where the Doctor's role was again to try and act as a peacemaker between humans and Silurians, to which he found varying degrees of success.
As for the companions, Turlough's role seems to be the sensible one. He'll help the Doctor, and do the right thing in most circumstances, but he knows when to retreat and move on, even if it's not the 'right' thing to do. The cliffhanger to the previous episode is a good example as it shows the Doctor falling into a vast pool of water. Turlough's immediate reaction is to keep running, as there are guards chasing him and Tegan. He says to Tegan that there's nothing they can do, and that it is likely that the Doctor has drowned. He wasn't right, obviously, and the right thing to do in that situation would be to try and help the Doctor, but Turlough makes the sensible decision to try and run away, because he knows that this way, he and Tegan at least have a better chance of staying alive.
Speaking of Tegan, she's badly treated in this story, in my opinion. The main things that happen to her are: she says a fart joke, hides in a corner, and has a wall fall on her. It's not a good Tegan story overall. Indeed, it's not a good story overall, as we'll see tomorrow with one of the story's major failings.
We delve into Earth's future for this story, as it takes place on a Seabase on the bottom of the ocean around the year 2084. It's actually an area of time that we haven't visited for a long time, being humanity's future. It's a concept that's obviously keen on the hearts and minds of much of humanity, as we wonder where we'll end up, what technological advances have been made, etc. so Warriors of the Deep clearly has a setting that's worth giving a second look.
The future that it depicts, interestingly enough, is actually more of a reflection of the times that it was made. Two great power blocs are in conflict, each poised on buttons of mass destruction that they could fire at any moment. It's much like the Cold War in that respect, and given that this was made in the 1980's, the Cold War is clearly on everybody's minds. There are other parallels to be drawn as well, such as the introduction of spies on the Seabase as well as sleeper agents, and indeed the setting being an underwater base itself, given that submarines were key parts of the Cold War.
A submarine base is actually ideal as well, as it can easily be seen as some sort of high tech spaceship given the interior design of the vessels. It can also be a place for high technology, given the importance of the missions, such as the device that appears to give some sort of mental control over missiles. It's all a very interesting setting, and one that doesn't end up deviating from the general design of Doctor Who itself at the time as, after all, "Submarines are the spaceships of the ocean!"
The Five Doctors is special. A 90 minute extravaganza where all five Doctors appear to fight various monsters whilst seeking a great and mystical Time Lord secret to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who. It's remarkable because it's fun, the sort of story where you can just relax and watch the characters that you've seen over the past 20 years, back for one last adventure. It's also special personally for me, as it was the third Doctor Who story that I ever watched, and it will always have that place in my heart.
My parents had already shown me Frontier in Space and one other story that we're yet to cover on this blog, and I was keen to watch some more. I looked downstairs in the video cupboard and found, nestled between Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and some old cooking show, The Five Doctors. It looked cool, so I went back upstairs and put it into the video player. Settling in, I was greeted with words that stick with me to this day.
It's the First Doctor, saying his farewell speech to Susan from The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It's a beautiful little speech, and works in the context here of seeing the Doctors return. We've seen them all go and regenerate (and in the case of the First Doctor, have the actor who played them sadly die), so it's nice to have the idea that they're still alive, working away, which indeed they are. But for now, we go straight from that into the 1980's.
We see the TARDIS team, as it is right now. The Fifth Doctor's full of enthusiasm and energy, and yet there's a calmness about him that works well when contrasted with the other, slightly more rambunctious Doctors. Tegan, who will fulfil the role of the main companion for this story, is actually written rather well here, being a companion with a mind of her own, who will complain if she's not happy, but within reason. It's a far contrast from her first appearance, where she was the reluctant companion, quick to complain and always at the Doctor's throat. Now that she's mellowed, she's a far more likeable character. Turlough has calmed down too, free from the influence of the Black Guardian, he's just keen to help the Doctor without getting into too much trouble.
But strange forces are working, as we see a black hand manipulate events. The First Doctor is taken from wandering through a rose garden into some weird maze with mirrored walls. It's perhaps now that I should mention the fact that we have a new actor for the First Doctor, by the name of Richard Hurndall. He's an adequate replacement for Hartnell, but he's not perfect. Hartnell had far more of an edge to him, and his grumpiness helped to define the character (and also, through contrast, made his lighter moments seem all the sweeter. Hurndall, on the other hand, goes mainly for an impression, playing a grandfather-esque figure, missing out on the hidden details that Hartnell put into his performance. But you can't have everything, and at least we have most of the rest of the surviving Doctors.
Troughton, for instance, drops back into the role like he was never away. He plays around, making jokes, and being a foil for the Brigadier (who he is partnered with in this story). There's part of me that's a little bit disappointed, as I kind of feel that his Doctor would be better suited to working with a companion that he worked with more frequently (such as Jamie or Victoria) but Troughton plays it brilliantly, playing a looser character than the Brigadier's straight man, making for a great double act and an excellent time with the story.
Speaking of good double acts, we get a brief clip of the Fourth Doctor and the Second Romana (Tom Baker declined to appear, hence we only get his Doctor through stock footage) from the aborted story Shada. It's a frightfully witty scene, written by Douglas Adams, and acts as a pleasant reminder of his time as the Doctor, frightfully witty and full of fun.
Pertwee's introduced with an action sequence, as befits his Doctor. There's also a brief sequence once he reaches Gallifrey where he rescues Sarah Jane after she's had a nasty fall. And in other stories, I might criticise this moment, on the basis that Sarah Jane's fall is down a very slight slope, which I refer to as The Mild Incline of Moderate Doom. But this story's fun enough and light enough that I can forgive it and just have fun with it, despite its flaws.
That said, there are several strong flaws. Susan, for one, is poorly treated as a character, where she's reduced to just screaming, spraining her ankle and calling for her grandfather. There's not even a moment where we get a heartfelt reunion, particularly after the little speech that we had at the beginning. But, then again, Susan's character was always treated this badly in the series (save for a few exceptions, e.g. The Sensorites), and so I can hardly blame it for being accurate.
The Master's back as well, playing the role of a vague ally to the Doctor. He's been employed by the High Council to find the Doctor and rescue him, in one of their more curious employment strategies. This leads to what is, in my opinion, Ainley's best performance as the Master yet. He's someone who genuinely wants to help the Doctor, only to be squandered at every opportunity because they don;t trust him. This is something that could perhaps only work with Ainley as the Master, as he is so much of a pantomime villain that it's easy to mistrust him, hence every one of the Doctors that he encounters knows better than to accept his help (contrast with Delgado, where there's enough respect between his Master and the Doctor that they would help each other if circumstances demanded it). This, naturally, makes him give up on everything and attempt to go fully evil, eventually being thwarted by being punched by the Brigadier. Which is nice.
One of the other legitimate highlights of the story is the Raston Warrior Robot. In a remarkably well directed sequence done by both Peter Moffatt and John Nathan-Turner (the producer of the series at the time). It's pacy, action packed, and has, at its heart, a neat concept of a robot that moves as fast as lightning and can take out anything that comes in its way. It also serves as a reminder of the good things that Doctor Who can do now, and that it can be a show filled with action and the like, making it one of the best shows on TV.
It can also deal with fairly big ideas as well, such as the prize for winning the Game of Rassilon: immortality. Borusa, President of the Time Lords, has manipulated these events such that he may win the prize, and so he meets with Rassilon to collect it. However, immortality is not that great, and Borusa is given it in the form of becoming a statue, frozen in time forevermore. It's another cool idea, and one which actually works well with memory of the previous series. If Mawdryn Undead, and to a certain extent Enlightenment, are recalled, it can be seen that immortality has not been seen as a blessing, but rather a curse. Sometimes it's best to die with dignity intact, or you risk being a walking zombie for the rest of time. That's why the series has changed so much, a way of cheating death without immortality, allowing for constant rebirth and renewal, so that we can have five Doctors, all of them different, and all of them part of the same fantastic programme.
And coming back to the beginning of the blog entry, I mentioned that this was the third Doctor Who story that I ever saw. I loved it, as it had everything that I could want. Multiple Doctors, action, a Dalek, great jokes, an intriguing story, I would watch it regularly from that point onwards. In fact, when watching it today, I was struck by how much of the dialogue I remembered, as I quoted various bits and pieces along with the characters, having fun with them on their adventure.
And, oddly enough, this story ended up helping me out one day. I was doing my end of school examination for Physics, and there was a question about calculating orbital velocity, or something along those lines. My mind panicked, this was something that I knew how to do in theory, but I couldn't quite remember how to calculate it. Suddenly, I remembered a scene from The Five Doctors. The First Doctor and Tegan are discussing, in order to cross a minefield, how the solution is as easy as Pi. The Greek Letter Pi, it turns out. Tegan says "The ratio of a circumference of a circle, to its diameter, is equal to the Greek letter Pi". Using this relation, I answered the question. So I have to thank The Five Doctors, for helping me with my Physics exam.
And, so, to close this entry, there can only be one way to end it.
A new companion is introduced in this episode: Kamelion. A shape shifting robot that once was under the control of the Master as part of an evil ploy to prevent Magna Carta, it has regained its free will and now travels aboard the TARDIS. It's actually a really cool thing to see, first of all because the shape-shifting aspect of the companion is a neat idea. Aside from the plot related instances in which it can be applied, it can also allow for a range of guest actors to play the role of the companion, which can lead to a bit of variety within the TARDIS team.
The second cool thing to see is the prop itself. It's actually a fully functioning machine, which, although it clearly isn't brilliant, by virtue of the fact that this is the 1980's, I actually have to admire it. Unfortunately, the nature of Kamelion proved to be its downfall, as it's controller sadly died almost immediately after production completed on The King's Demons, and as he never left any notes about the operation of this machine, it never really appeared again until some time in the next series. It's a shame, as this is something that does have a lot of potential, but sadly, this potential was never realised on screen.
600 days. That's an awfully long time to be watching Doctor Who episodes for. In that time, there's been Aztec priests, disused yetis, Metebelis crystals, imbeciles called Harry Sullivan, a Romana who was one of the noblest of her name, and a companion plagued with an impossibly difficult task. It's been a fun ride (and there's only around 200 days left to go!), and so to celebrate, I'm watching a mediocre Doctor Who story.
I'm perhaps being a bit unfair to The King's Demons, as there are some good things in it. The only problem is that it is a story featuring the Master, where the Master is again disguised. This time, his disguise consists of wearing a beard and speaking in a French accent. It is, perhaps, the worst disguise the Master has ever used. Aside from the eternal question of "Why has the Master disguised himself this time", it is at least something that we can have fun with as an audience. Doctor Who, in all of its history, has occasionally delved into the joy of being enjoyably bad (c.f. The Horns of Nimon, The Underwater Menace), and that at least makes the story somewhat enjoyable (contrast with Arc of Infinity earlier in this series, which was just bad for bad's sake).
Speaking of history, this episode seeks to get in some real world history as well. We learn about King John, and his role in signing the Magna Carta. Similarly, we also get a picture of what it was like living in a medieval castle (very cold, it turns out). This is a nice call-back to the early days of Doctor Who, whereby the series was intended to be educational and, as such, dropped in little history lessons here and there. That said, the history stories were generally either grand epics (e.g. Marco Polo) or bright comedies (e.g. The Gunfighters), but here we have just a light adventure, lacking in the scope of the epic or the humour of the comedy. But it's nice to be reminded of these things, as we have more fun with The King's Demons.
Enlightenment refers to the prize at the end of the race. It is the ability to know everything in the Universe, essentially making one all powerful. It is guarded by the two Guardians, Black and White, and is eventually won by the Doctor, with Turlough's help.
They are obliged to offer it to the Doctor, who refuses. It's a flippant monent, and one that is quickly glossed over as Davison babbles on about how he doesn't want it, and indeed feels that no-one should have it save for the Guardians. But it's a moment that speaks truly of the Doctor. A force for good in the Universe, he recognises that this power is overwhelming and will lead to all osrts of problems so he denies it. But that's what we expect from the Time Lord who we have followed for the past 599 days.
Turlough is faced with the choice as well, although slightly altered. He is given a lesser portion of Enlightenment, and the Black Guardian states that, as Turlough is in his employ, he will take it, although he would trade it in exchange for the Doctor's life. Faced with this monumental decision, Turlough, after a moment's thought, refuses violently, shoving the crystal that represents Enlightenment into the Black Guardian, causing him to burn away as the shining brightness of the crystal comes into contact with his deep and dark heart. Enlightenment, as is stated at this point in the story, is the choice, the power to choose what future you might have. Turlough is faced with a future of power, but that of evil, or a future on the side of good, but somewhat lacking on the power sense. He chooses the latter, recognising that it is not within his ability to hold that much power, even if it is just the power over one man's life. In that moment, Turlough can finally be accepted on the TARDIS crew. We can now see that he is at least trustworthy, even if it took some time for this to fully come to fruition, and we can look forward to seeing him, Tegan and the Doctor as they go on many more adventures through time and space.
Turlough's story arc is nearing its conclusion as we approach the end of this trilogy of stories that began with Mawdryn Undead. He's accepted the offer from the Black Guardian to kill the Doctor, and attempted this, but it's clear that he can't perform the deed, because he doesn't quite believe that he could kill someone. The Black Guardian is thus naturally annoyed, and is now attempting to torment Turlough for not fulfilling his part of the bargain.
The scene, then, that is most important to the story arc in this particular episode, comes near the conclusion. Turlough has been trapped in a chamber that overlooks a portion of space, and the vacuum shield that is preventing all of the air from escaping has been switched off. Running out of oxygen quickly, he calls on the Black Guardian for assistance. He refuses, and leaves Turlough to die. Turlough continues to call for help, but he changes his focus, asking for the Doctor, instead of the Black Guardian. The Doctor arrives, having been looking for Turlough anyway, and rescues him.
This scene is clearly important, as it shows a strong turning point for Turlough's opinion of the Doctor. He no longer views him as a threat or a target, instead as someone who can help, the man who saves people when they're in trouble. By choosing the Doctor over the Black Guardian, this also acts as a swapping of allegiances, showing that Turlough intends to work for the side of good instead of the side of evil, because he knows that the side of good will be there when he is in trouble and needs help. But we're yet to confirm this, and so we'll need to find out what happens as Enlightenment comes to a conclusion.
Enlightenment, as pointed out yesterday, is set on an Edwardian sailing ship in space. This sailing ship is taking part in a race, where it and other ships from different periods in Earth's history sail around space to reach the finish line first, and win Enlightenment. The people who take part in this race aren't really people at all, instead they are beings known as Eternals, who are a race of immense power, and who decide to do things only to amuse themselves. The danger, however, is that they require Ephemerals, or mortal humans, to provide solutions to problems as well as doing various bits of work.
This creates an interesting argument that the Doctor and Tegan have with the Eternals over the course of this episode. The Ephemerals don't actually do their work willingly, and have been kidnapped and brainwashed into working for the Eternals, acting as toys as they play their little racing game. This little racing game, in order to make things more interesting, occasionally reaches the point of deadliness, as seen when the Greek ship explodes, killing all Ephemerals on board, whilst the Eternals continue to live on in eternity. The Doctor and Tegan are shocked, in particular Tegan, as it represents normal human lives that have been killed in the name of a race.
But the Eternals do not see death. They do not understand the consequences of actions, for they only see life as a game, and death is just a small annoyance for beings such as them. But death is something that is pivotal to the life of the Ephemeral. It is something that reminds us of how fragile and short our existence can be, such as that which affected Tegan when she saw the death of people like her Aunt Vanessa, or Adric, and how she is now making the most out of her life because of this. Death is something that we can try and fight, like the Doctor, who potters around the Universe, saving people from a variety of fates. It can also be our objective to bring death, such as that of The Black Guardian, who orders Turlough to bring death to others, namely the Doctor. Turlough's punishment for not doing this, as shown by the cliffhanger, is to live on this ship forever, an eternal life of servitude without the sweet release of death and as we saw in Mawdryn Undead, this can be far more of a curse than a blessing.
It's sometimes really annoying to know things. I've lost count of the amount of films that I've accidentally spoiled by reading one article that will casually mention surprise plot developments in the final act, which I feel kind of ruin nice surprises. An example that comes to mind, for me, is Enlightenment.
It's a Doctor Who story that appears to be set on an Edwardian sailing ship. The sets are all accurate, as one would expect from a BBC period drama, and the sailors below decks all seem to be straight from the period, joking about as they continue on some race that they're meant to be on. But slowly, things appear to be rather odd. The men in charge all of an air of otherworldliness about them, in particular one who stares at Tegan in a slightly uncomfortable way. As the end of the episode is reached, the strangeness intensifies, with sailors screaming as they go above decks, anachronistic wetsuits are spotted and eventually we see an electronic terminal in the wheelhouse. We look outside and see that this ship, along with many others, is a sailing ship in space, a wonderful image and a great shock to the audience.
But not for me. I've already read a brief synopsis of the story which reveals the twist. If I'd missed out on that, I could have found a similar synopsis in the DVD sleeve notes, or from the DVD menu screen which plays out highlights from the story. It's annoying, as this is clearly meant to be a genuine surprise, and whilst I can still appreciate it, I can't really experience it. Still, I've found that surprises come in other forms for me with this blog, as I encounter unexpected classics throughout this fantastic voyage.
Terminus is an odd beast of a story. There are parts of it that are actually rather good, such as, for instance, the fact that we discover that the Big Bang was caused by accident due to a load of unstable fuel being released, and that another accident that may end up occurring will cause the destruction of the Universe, which the Doctor must try and prevent. Other parts of the story aren't so good, such as the general structure, which gives almost two parts before half of the regular cast meet somebody relevant to the overall plot, which causes for some unwelcome structuring issues. Each good decision made in the making of the story can be given a counterexample of how bad a decision it is and vice versa. Roger Limb's music is rather poor throughout, but then gets quite touching at the end, for example. The design of the ship is well crafted, but overlit, removing all of its atmosphere. The Garm is a good character on the page, but a weak character on screen. Tegan and Turlough have good character moments at the beginning of the story, but are left essentially pointless by the end. All of these things leave me confused as to the quality of Terminus. Because, on the one hand, I really don't like it, but on the other, I can appreciate what they're trying to do, and I have to give the story at least some credit for that.
These are sentiments that can also be applied to the character of Nyssa, who leaves at the end of this story to go on and fight the space plague by developing a workable cure. She's a character that's more of a traditional Doctor Who companion, being technically minded, trusting of the Doctor, and a rather nice person. But she's constantly written badly, such as in Terminus, where for three episodes she constantly screams and worries about her predicament, or for Earthshock, where all she does is stay in the TARDIS for almost all of the story. But when she's written well, the character does actually work. Snakedance sees her as a loyal assistant to the Doctor, and a kind and caring friend for Tegan. The Visitation has her destroy the robot with a machine she built in the TARDIS, whilst acting as a calmer counterpoint to Tegan's complaining and Adric's whining. All in all, she's a good character, and I will miss her, but mainly because they managed to miss an opportunity with the character, and they could have had something really interesting.
So one of the problems with Terminus is the main monster used. It's called the Garm, and is a large humanoid figure with a wolf's head and glowing red eyes. Its purpose hasn't been fully explored in the story as of yet, but we know that it has something to do with the treatment of the people suffering from the space plague. It is clear from the script that the Garm is meant to be a frightening figure, one that lurks in the shadows and steals people away to its lair. This is not entirely apparent when looking at the creature on screen.
It's a figure that looks remarkably cuddly, as if it came direct from a show that I used to watch as a kid. The red eyes add a sense of menace, but the overall fluffy nature of the design kind of backfires on it. It's disappointing, as this is something in the script that could be good, and there is still the potential to make it good, if the lighting in the studio were less bright, leaving it to lurk in the shadows with only the red glowing eyes to add a sense of menace. But, sadly, it comes across as one of the most cuddly characters to be produced in Doctor Who's history.
Post-script: As I wrote this entry, the thought crossed my mind that maybe the Garm did come direct from somewhere in my memory of a show that I used to watch as a kid. Further investigation revealed an Australian childrens' programme called Lift Off, which I have virtually no recollection of, aside from a few brief moments. There was a wolf in the programme, who actually rather looks like the Garm in my opinion (aside from fur colour and the addition of dark glasses and a snazzy suit). So that's nice, I suppose.
Given that the first episode of this story was spent mainly exploring the surrounds of where the TARDIS has landed, it seems to imply that this episode is where the plot shall begin. It does do this, but only to a certain extent. We meet more characters in this episode, and observe the fact that there is more going on on this ship than we thought. Aside from the plague victims that formed the cliffhanger to the first episode, there is also a society that is possibly dedicated to treating the plague victims, or possibly dedicated to keeping the plague victims away from the rest of society. The story's a bit vague on that point. And that's the problem with this episode of the story.
Stephen Gallagher, the writer, isn't really advancing the plot in this episode. We observe things happening, but we don't get an explanation of why they are important, or why we should care for the myriad of characters that are being introduced. Instead, we are expected to be intrigued by what is going on, and to continue watching to discover the inner mysteries of Terminus. But we don't care enough about the story to want to continue watching this story. There's an easy explanation for why this occurs, by the way. Tegan and Turlough have been confined to a ventilation shaft for the entire episode. The Doctor, along with a character that we met in Part 1, is still busy exploring the ship and trying to find the TARDIS. Only Nyssa engages with the story of Terminus with the space plague, and even then her involvement isn't large enough for us to truly invest in the story.
But here's the thing about it. If this were Part 1, I honestly wouldn't care about all of this. Part 1 is generally used to learn about the surroundings and to become invested in the plot, or to provide scant details about the plot to intrigue viewers into a new story. This isn't really expected for Part 2, where we want to get a little bit more invested in the plot, and get a strong idea of what the story is all about. This is the sort of structuring issue that should have been fixed in the script editing stage, meaning that blame falls to Eric Saward for this issue that hampers what does actually have some small potential as a story.
We've got a bit of a story arc with regards to the character of Turlough. He spent the previous story, Mawdryn Undead, in the employ of the Black Guardian, attempting to kill the Doctor. This plot point was not completely resolved by the end of the story, hence the character is on board the TARDIS, acting as companion to the Doctor but secretly trying to kill him throughout each encounter.
This makes the beginning of Terminus rather interesting. It sets the scene with some character interactions between Turlough and Tegan, both of whom mistrust the other, as Turlough attempts to sabotage the TARDIS without anyone else noticing. It's nice to see this as it acts as an effective reminder of the events of the previous story, being that the new companion is here to cause havoc, and that nobody really likes him aside from the Doctor. It also gives the impression that the series, at the moment, is less about engaging with the stories and more about engaging with the regular cast members as they travel throughout the Universe, which can be seen by the fact that the plot doesn't really begin to happen until around 8 or so minutes into the story, prior to that it had just been discussions between characters.
However, the plot must start at some point, and tomorrow we'll perhaps have a look at the story of Terminus, as our voyage continues.
The driving thrust of the plot of Mawdyn Undead is that a group of aliens, wishing to become Time Lords, stole some Gallifreyan equipment and attempted to give themselves the ability to regenerate. It went wrong, unfortunately, and they are now walking mutations, condemned to live forever whilst their bodies remain in a state of constant decay and renewal. The reason that they seek out the Doctor is so that they can allow him to use give up the rest of his regenerations to allow them to die.
It's a complex moral issue, and one that I actually kind of wish that the story explored a bit more. If it were a story about the Doctor giving up the rest of his regnenerations to allow people to live, it would be far more obvious that the solution that the Doctor would consider would be allowing people to live in exchange for his death. This case, although it seems to be the opposite, is really much the same. These people are living in constant torment, and need the Doctor's help to set them free. But, perhaps because the loss of the Doctor's regenerations wouldn't go to any new life, he's a bit more hesitant to do it and allow them to die.
Eventually he does it, but because of extraneous events that are affecting Nyssa and Tegan, and the process ends up not working as planned, due to the intervention of two Brigadiers meeting, which causes a large amount of energy to be dispersed for plot related reasons. Despite all of this, and the fact that the most interesting part of the plot was barely explored, this was still a surprisingly good story, and one that I'm sure that I'll be able to look back on fondly as one of the better Fifth Doctor stories.
Regeneration is part of the core of the structure of Doctor Who. It ensures the longevity of the programme, allowing for it to change and adapt as time marches on. In Mawdryn Undead, regeneration plays a key role, although in a slightly different aspect than what one might expect.
What happens is that, due to a series of mix-ups, Nyssa, Tegan, and the Brigadier (1977 edition) mistakenly believe that a horribly burnt person is the Doctor. When they recover from their burns, it is apparent that they are a greatly disfigured being, with a clearly visible brain coming out of their head. This unknown creature still claims that he is the Doctor though, and that he has undergone a process of regeneration after something went wrong with a transmat beam.
This is an interesting way to use regeneration, as it plays on the element of trust that the companions place in the Doctor whenever he regenerates into a new body. If they don't witness the regeneration directly, it's impossible to tell whether it really is the Doctor or not, which is clearly something that could be exploited by malevolent forces, as is done in this case. It's nice to see this key component of the show made slightly more dangerous, by virtue of the fact that it points out something blindingly obvious but that has escaped prior investigation, and shows that even in its 20th anniversary year, Doctor Who can still do exciting things with the key concepts in the show.
Returns are odd things, in my opinion. Some returns, such as that of the Cybermen in Earthshock, leave little to no emotional impact on me. Others, on the other hand, inspire a feeling of happiness and warmth as we greet this old friend. This is the case when we meet again, for the first time in almost 200 days, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
When we first meet him, he's different from what we'd expect. He doesn't recognise the Doctor, and is busy working in a school, trying to teach young minds about mathematics. He's changed physically as well, with his hair being greyer, and even his moustache has been shaved off. Mentally, however, he seems perfectly normal, his usual stoic self. Until, for one brief moment, we see a crack in that facade. He shouts about how he's fit as a fiddle, and how he's perfectly alright to work, and not going to be sent to some 'funny farm'. It's then revealed that he some form of nervous breakdown in the past, causing him to lose a little bit of what made him the Brigadier. He also lost his memory of the Doctor, although this is restored through a surprisingly lovely flashback sequence as we look back at old foes and old friends, remembering the good old days of Doctor Who, where it was the Doctor, his young assistant and UNIT all up against malevolent forces of evil.
And this is where things get a little bit complicated. Because of some timey-wimey stuff, Tegan and Nyssa have been sent back to an earlier, pre-breakdown Brigadier, where he's only just started at the school. This is where the acting of Nicholas Courtney, who plays the Brigadier, really deserves a mention, as it's clear from the moment that we meet him that this is the old Brigadier that we remember from the time with UNIT. He's a little bit more active, a little more stoic and still keen as ever to help the Doctor as well as fight alien menaces in order to protect the Earth. It's nice to see this Brigadier again, to truly remember what he was like before his character had an off-screen development. That said, it's also nice to see that the Brigadier can change, as it adds a new layer to the character, and makes it more worthwhile watching this story.
A new companion is introduced in this story, by the name of Turlough. His introduction is actually really interesing, on the grounds that he's clearly introduced as a villain. He steals a car, blames it all on his unwitting accomplice, gets a call from the Black Guardian to give him a mission of killing the Doctor, which he clearly accepts, as by the end of the episode he's holding a rock over the Doctor's head, ready to crush his skull. It's a nice change-up from normal companion introductions, as we're used to characters being introduced as allies of the Doctor, and for them to fall naturally into the role of travelling aboard the TARDIS, not for the characters to be introduced as slightly more nefarious than we're used to.
There's other elements of Turlough's introduction that are interesting as well. Looking back on previous companion introductions, such as those for Romana, Adric or Tegan, they seem to have all of their basic character and backstory introduced within a couple of scenes, be it a Time Lady who's a little bit pompous and knows far more than the Doctor, or an Australian air stewardess who's prone to getting a little bit cross from time to time. Turlough, on the other hand, clearly has far more depth as a character. We see him as a public school boy, and characterise him thusly, but it's slowly hinted at throughout the episode that he may not actually be human. Strange guardians, a strong desire to leave Earth, and familiarity with complex technology all shows that Turlough is slightly different from what his surroundings would suggest, and thus piques the audience's interest into watching the character more and more.
One of the best patts of Snakedance, for me, is the ending. After Tegan is freed of the Mara's influence, the Doctor goes to comfort her. In tears, she asks if the Mara has been truly defeated. The Doctor says that it has, and then we cut away briefly to the Mara's rotting corpse, at which point the episode ends. There's no wrap up, no moment for everyone to say what a wonderful job the Doctor has done, instead we just focus on the moment, on the fact that this traumatic experience is finally over, which makes the overall story feel far stronger as a result. This is because it keeps the focus squarely on the Mara and how to defeat it, and it knows that once the Mara has been defeated, everything else is just padding.
But that completes Snakedance. I'd love to write more about it, because it is really an absolutely fantastic story. My only problem with writing about it, however, is that it's a massively dense story. Every scene, every moment, every character means and represents something, and it's impossible to get all of the meaning out of the story after watching it once or twice. This story, along with Kinda, is a story that is designed to be savoured, to watch over and over again, and notice more and more as you find more meaning in the tale that is being told. It's Doctor Who for a new age, an age where the audience now has access to video recorders, and can readily watch stories over and over again, getting more enjoyment out of them every single time.
Snakedance is, to a strong extent, about how one views history. The Manussan, who live on the planet where the Mara was first formed, have a strong and deep culture based around the Mara and their life around it. However, the way in which this culture and heritage is viewed creates some strong problems throughout the story.
Take, for instance, the character of Ambril. He's the official historian on Manussa, and spends much of his time looking at artefacts of the previous peoples who inaphabited the world, and how they were consumed by their fear of the Mara. But he takes little notice of anything that they have to say, as he believes it all to be superstitious nonsense, and disregards much of it on the grounds that it disagrees with his personal theories. And there's a bit more to it than just that. When he finds artefacts, he doesn't seek their true meaning, instead he just applies his own reading of them and leaves them as relics of the past, not seeking to truly understand the way in which their society worked.
Some examples of this are easy to come by. For instance, there is a scene partway through this episode where he is led into a cave filled with artefacts of the previous empire. He looks at them with excitement, but he only really sees them at face value, being excited only at the prospect of these being more things for him to have in his collection, and not as works that can help him gain a greater understanding of history.
So why does all of this matter? Well, it shows the lack of respect that the Manussans have for their history, and thus shows a way in which the Mara can return, as it is not taken seriously by any of the peoples, reduced to being a relic of a bygone age or a puppet to frighten youngsters. It's all part of an underlying message of Snakedance, which is about the respect that one must give to history in order to create a well functioning society.
