Day 677: Silver Nemesis Part 3

Towards the end of this story, a small exchange happens between the Doctor and the Gallifreyan weapon, otherwise known as Nemesis.

Nemesis: "And I'm to destroy the entire Cyberfleet?"
The Doctor: "Forever"
Nemesis: "And then?"
The Doctor: "Reform"
Nemesis: "You might need me in the future then?"
The Doctor: "I hope not"
Nemesis: "That is what you said before"
The Doctor: "Enough"
Nemesis: "And after this will I have my freedom?"
The Doctor: "Not yet"
Nemesis: "When?"
The Doctor: "I told you when"

In this brief conversation, we discover quite a bit about the Doctor. We now know that he has used, or at the very least, been heavily involved, with this weapon in the past. This is obviously quite important, as the weapon is a very destructive force, something that can destroy an entire Cyberfleet within a matter of seconds. We also discover that the weapon, which is generally classified as 'living metal' is exactly that: metal which is alive. It yearns for freedom, and yet it is held by the Doctor to act as a means by which he can stop various injustices from happening. This idea, which will later be explored in The Day of the Doctor, shows a far darker Doctor that what we're used to, one who is perhaps willing to allow the ends to justify the means. The fact that this moment is never mentioned again only serves to increase the mystery around this Time Lord, and it injects some new life into the programme and means that I'm now increasingly looking forward to watching the next few adventures for McCoy's Doctor as this series continues.

Day 676: Silver Nemesis Part 2

In watching this story, I've developed a strange fondness for the character Richard. He's the henchman of a 17th century noblewoman, Lady Peinforte, who is seeking an ancient Gallifreyan weapon, due to arrive on Earth in 1988 (don't ask questions, just roll with it). Now, while Lady Peinforte is fairly standard as a Doctor Who villain (so far all it feels like she's done is shout at things and fire golden arrows at Cybermen), Richard is something altogether more interesting.

Because Richard is from the 17th century, and he's suddenly been placed in 1988 Windsor, he appears to be undergoing some sort of mental breakdown. His mind is blown by absolutely every little thing that occurs through the story such as the fact that he whimpers at the sight of his own gravestone, while Lady Peinforte just wanders through to find her own tomb, such that she can find the Gallifreyan weapon. He also expresses some genuine distress at the thought of travelling through time, and he starts to openly pray forgiveness to God as the Cybermen and Nazis wage war in front of him (again, just roll with it). Suddenly, all these things that would seem normal in an episode of Doctor Who get put into context, with a fairly accurate representation of what it would be like to suddenly appear in a Doctor Who episode, and how thoroughly distressing that would be. It's another thing that will be looked at later on in the series, but for now, we've still got work to do as Silver Nemesis comes to a conclusion.

Day 675: Silver Nemesis Part 1

It's been around two months since I've had an episode of Doctor Who to watch that I've never seen before (the most recent one that I'd seen for the first time was Planet of Fire Part 4), so I've been looking forward to watching Silver Nemesis. However, I've also had a small degree of trepidation regarding this as the general fan consensus is that this is not a very good story, and that I should prepare myself for disappointment. To some degree, the consensus is right; the story doesn't have much weight to it and a lot of the acting is fairly poor. But, on the other hand, there is enough in this for me to enjoy it.

It all feels very different to the normal Doctor Who 'Part 1'. We don't spend time in one setting getting to know the situation, instead, we go on an adventure that crosses through time and space as we discover the background to the adventure, mainly through exposition from the Doctor as he desperately tries to figure out his strategy. This all feels very much like a New Series episode (e.g. The Stolen Earth, The Pandorica Opens) where the exposition has a momentum attached to it, through simple changes of scenery as events rapidly approach some sort of climax. The only problem is that, in the case of a New Series episode, this sort of thing would generally be done within the first five minutes, whereas here it's stretched out to the full 25 minute long episode, which makes things somewhat less appealing and a little but dull.

However, it's still kind of fun to watch, and I'm actually rather looking forward to seeing how the rest of Silver Nemesis pans out.

Day 674: The Happiness Patrol Part 3

As the story comes to a conclusion, we consider the tragic tale of Helen A. She took charge of the colony with an aim to make everyone happy, which she did by making unhappiness illegal, and filling everything with cheap and cosmetic views of happiness, not the pure happiness that is the very stuff of life itself, which can only really be experienced in contrast to unhappiness. And it's this lack of understanding that proves to be her downfall.

The Doctor plans a demonstration of all the unhappy people, known as Killjoys, to start publically laughing and partying. The Happiness Patrol are uncharacteristically unhappy due to the fact that they aren't able to start killing people because they don't have a reason to. Instead, they arrest each other, as they have become the unhappy ones in their society. This all sets off a chain of dominos as factories all around the planet begin to revolt against their horrific society. And ironically, these people who are revolting are the happiest that they've ever been in their lives, grinning as they finally take control of their own society, for the good of all Terra Alphans.

Contrast this with Helen A, who is getting more and more peeved as the episode progresses, realising that her entire way of life is flawed, and that she will never succeed. Her husband leaves her, taking with him her escape shuttle and one of her henchmen. The villainous Kandyman, who acted as her executioner, is killed in a sea of molten candy running through the pipes that he tried to escape through. And finally, as she goes on her last rant to the Doctor about how her happiness will prevail, she is greeted with the sight of her dead demonic dog, Fifi. Faced with this sight, she breaks down in tears, feeling truly sad for the first time. And whilst we might empathise with her, there is also the fact that we know this is what she truly deserves: to feel a wide breadth of emotions such that happiness can truly be felt, instead of being plastered around you as some sort of sick joke.

Day 673: The Happiness Patrol Part 2

In the middle of The Happiness Patrol, something quite extraordinary happens. Within less than two minutes, the Doctor manages to disarm two snipers without fighting them whatsoever, instead through talking with them and pointing out the graveness of the act that they are about to commit. It's an amazing scene, mostly due to the performance of Sylvester McCoy, who delivers the lines with as a calm force, effectively destroying them with the power of words. It's also a scene that is definitive for the Seventh Doctor, showing him as someone who doesn't go for a route based in action, but instead one based on manipulation of his opponents, such that they will do want he wants them to. But above all of that, it's a really well done scene, and goes to show that even in the dying days of the programme, good things could still be produced.

Day 672: The Happiness Patrol Part 1

The Happiness Patrol is an interesting little story. It concerns the Doctor and Ace arriving on a human colony, Terra Alpha, where it is apparently illegal to be unhappy. Thus, te colony is filled with fake smiles and false happiness, whilst a garish secret police perform executions based around sweets and jokes. This is obviously not a nice place to live, so the Doctor decides to overthrow their entire government over the space of one night.

It's a story that feels as if it's completely new and different, despite drawing on the same themes as previous adventures. We still get the Doctor and Ace being captured, we still get the main characters meeting up with locals in order to form some sort of resistance to fight the tyranny present in the world, but it's all done with a motivation that is is their main goal for the story, not as a secondary goal whilst they try to save the Universe or fix the TARDIS or some other plot element. Take, for instance, the start of the story where the Doctor and Ace meet up with members of the titular Happiness Patrol. The Doctor and Ace don't try and run away, or fight them, instead they look for excuses to be arrested by them, because they recognise that this process is an element of the story that will eventually lead to the government being overthrown. It also helps that the story is only three parts long, as it lends the adventure a sense of swiftness that helps the illusion that the entire revolution will take place in one night. It all certainly makes for an interesting story, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of the adventure.

Day 671: Remembrance of the Daleks Part 4

The scene above comes from Part 2 of this story. It's a simple little scene, where the Doctor reflects on the consequences of actions, and in many ways acts as one of the major starting points for the era of the Seventh Doctor. He's a Doctor who's a little bit more contemplative, a more thoughtful man, which comes in direct contrast to most of his previous incarnations. Here, his reflection reveals his inner turmoil, grappling with what he is about to do and thinking about the powers that he truly has. He contemplates if he could remove the market for sugar on Earth, and how that would have affected history, a simple act of manipulation that would have dire consequences for the rest of the Universe. And that sums up much of what the Seventh Doctor does: a simple bit of manipulation, and watching the consequences play out according to his plan.

Nowhere is this more apparent than when he faces off against Davros towards the climax of the story. He manipulates Davros into firing a Weapon of Mass Destruction, only for it to backfire into his face and explode both the planet Skaro and the Dalek ship, effectively neutering the Daleks for the next little while. This act of manipulation shows the Doctor as something truly darker than his previous incarnations, something which Andrew Cartmel, the script editor, was fairly keen on introducing more darkness and mystery into the character of the Doctor, through making him into this sort of manipulative figure. It's an interesting move, and helps to breathe new life into the programme, through turning some of the attention onto the Doctor and his role in the series. Certainly, it means that I shall watch the rest of the Cartmel era with my interest piqued.

Day 670: Remembrance of the Daleks Part 3

I mentioned yesterday about the undercurrents of racism within this story. It's quite a big theme behind the adventure, and it makes sense, given that the initial concept behind the Daleks was that they were essentially Nazis. And funnily enough, actual Nazis appear within this story, in the form of Mr Ratcliffe and 'The Association', which is a secret group of British fascists. Mr Ratcliffe has seen himself to ally with the Daleks, presumably out of a wish to gain more power, as well as be on the winning side of a war after his side lost World War 2. Indeed, he states as much in the Part 2 when he has a conversation with the Dalek Battle Computer, saying "This country fought for the wrong cause in the last war. When I spoke out, they had me imprisoned".

But, most interestingly, the Daleks are going through a particular type of race hatred in this story, especially with regards to themselves. You see, there are two groups of Dalek factions: the White Daleks, who have been augmented, and the Grey Daleks, who remain pure. Aside from providing some ridiculously fun Dalek on Dalek action in Part 4, they also provide some interesting commentary on the nature of the Daleks themselves. These are bubbling lumps of hate, genetically engineered to despise all that is not like them. So what happens when the Daleks start to become different, and how do they react to the perceived impurities within each other?

This sort of fighting, and the stupidity of it, also reflects a bit on our society, where we can see that we in fact have a lot more in common with people of other races than we might think, at least from an outsider's point of view. It also acts as a mild reinvention for the Daleks, shifting their original concept as Nazis into a concept based more on racism, to work a bit better for a new audience, who may not be as familiar with the ever-present threat of the Nazis than those who watched the original Dalek serial just 18 years after the War ended. It's a shame that this through-line was never really carried on through to the rest of the Daleks' appearances, but we'll get to them in due course, and how they use the Daleks in new and interesting ways. But for now, let's just finish off Remembrance of the Daleks.

Day 669: Remembrance of the Daleks Part 2

The new companion, Ace, is consciously different from almost every companion before her. An example can be seen above, where she makes the decision, upon meeting a Dalek, to attack it with a baseball bat that has been souped up by the Doctor. Aside from being rather awesome, it also reflect well on her character. She's not a passive voice in the story, allowing for events to happen and her to react to them, instead she gets massively involved with the action and the emphasis here is clearly on action. She's fond of explosives, fighting, and all of that sort of thing, which makes for an interesting dynamic between her and the Doctor. Indeed, the cliffhanger to this story is crafted in such a way that puts her in peril, but gives her an RPG that she could fire, although this could possibly be at the cost of her own life. It's a far cry from the days when the companion would just scream for the cliffhanger.

Another example of Ace's character can be found when she wanders around the 1960's flat in which she's been staying. Upon seeing a sign that says 'No Coloureds', she views it with disgust and immediately leaves, unable to cope with the institutionalised racism present within the time period that the story is set in. It's a scene that both reflects on the notion that a lot of time has passed between the 1963 time in which this story is set (notably the year when Doctor Who first premièred) and the 1988 time in which this story was broadcast, with a more tolerant society being developed that welcomed a multicultural landscape, and shows the character of Ace as someone who is not willing to let these things pass her by. But it also acts as a mild commentary on the story itself, that I shall perhaps look at a bit more in the next couple of days.

Day 668: Remembrance of the Daleks Part 1

I've got a bit of a soft spot for Remembrance of the Daleks. When I was a kid, the Daleks were the immediate draw card to Doctor Who, and I would instantly gravitate towards their stories. Chief among these was Remembrance of the Daleks, which is a story that I only relatively recently realised actually had a deep and meaningful concept behind it, because at the age of 10, all I saw was Dalek action.

And the most prevalent piece of Dalek action within this story is the cliffhanger to Part 1, where a Dalek climbs stairs and advances on the Doctor. It's an excellent cliffhanger, because it provides a great deal to the audience on different levels. On the one hand, it has the Doctor in immediate peril, which acts as a hook to get the audience to tune in the next week. On the next hand, it shows a development within the plot. These Daleks are clearly more advanced Daleks than the ones that we've previously seen, and so we should be a little worried about them than we already are. And finally, on a hitherto undiscovered third hand, it acts as a nod to the audience, acknowledging the joke that the Daleks can't climb stairs and using it to the story's dramatic advantage. And, to be perfectly honest, I just like it because it's pretty cool.

Day 667: Dragonfire Part 3

Well, that's traumatic

The villainous Kane, who exists in a permanently cold environment, commits suicide in this episode when he discovers that his planet has been destroyed and thus he has nowhere to wreak his revenge. Thus, he exposes himself to pure sunlight, and we see his entire face melt away. It's a thoroughly arresting image, and acts as an example of something truly iconic in Doctor Who. That word gets bandied about a lot, but I think it applies here because it sticks in the mind, much like the first appearance of the Daleks in The Dead Planet, or the Sea Devils coming from the water in The Sea Devils. These images were all well produced, using some combination of effects, writing and directorial vision to give an image that remains within the mind, and can be called iconic. Indeed, one gets the feeling that if more people were watching the series at this point then this scene could be referred to as one of the great and memorable scenes in the history of the programme. But sadly, the ratings are down, and so we'll have to return to an old enemy in order to boost them up again, when Doctor Who returns.

Day 666: Dragonfire Part 2

One of the great things about Dragonfire is the character of Belazs. She joined the villain Kane as one of his henchmen, in part because she was young and in love with him. But then she matured, and realised what a foolish mistake she had made, but she was now stuck working with him for the rest of her life. Her story is tragic, and well crafted, but the problem is that we don't get to spend too much time on it. Hints are made towards it in Part 1, before it's fully fleshed out in Part 2. she then enacts a plan of revenge on Kane, only for it to fail, whereupon he kills her. It's dealt with so quickly that I feel as if I wish that more time were spent with the character, in particular as Patricia Quinn portrays her so well, and she is well-written by Ian Briggs. It's also a sign that Doctor Who is maturing, going for characters that have far more morally complex lives than just generic good guy or bad guy. It's something that will be explored far more over the rest of the tenure of the new script editor, Andrew Cartmel, and is certainly something that I'm looking forward to.

Day 665: Dragonfire Part 1

There's an awful lot to like in this episode. We have a new companion, Ace, who we'll talk about more when she's had time to settle in as a character. There's also a fascinating villain, remarkable set-designs, and lots more besides. But the thing that unfortunately comes to mind when thinking about this particular episode is its ending.

The Doctor walks up to a cliff and decides that, for no particular reason, he will climb over the railing and hang down the ledge on his umbrella. The episode ends as he hangs perilously, and realises how bad an idea this was in the first place, in a literal cliff-hanger. Aside from the glorious pun, the main reason why this draws so much attention is the fact that it comes out of nowhere, and is never really explained. It all comes across as a stupid joke that they put in to please people, without considering the such things as logic or reason. And to rub salt in the wound, there's a better cliffhanger scene three minutes prior, where Ace is faced with a difficult decision that acts as a large piece of character development for her. But still, even with the momentary lapse of judgment present in this episode, this story isn't that bad, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it as Dragonfire continues.

Day 664: Delta and the Bannermen Part 3

As the story comes to an end, with a wonderfully ludicrous series of events including bees, Allen keys, singing and, of course, the obligatory character who undergoes a metamorphosis in order to change his species for reasons of love, I consider the fact that I've fallen in love with this story, and how it seems to have come out of nowhere. But, to be honest, I should have seen this coming.

A few months ago, I put the Doctor Who 50th anniversary soundtrack onto my iPod. It's a set of music covering all eras of Doctor Who, and I'll often put it on as background music when I'm doing various bits of work at the Uni. Through this set, I discovered the song 'Here's to the Future' a weird hybrid of a 1950's tune with 1980's instruments. It's not a great song, but in terms of tone and energy, it's become a rather nice little thing to have as incidental music to my daily life when I'm in the mood for something rather happy (it formed part of my soundtrack to the most recent coup in Australian politics, reflecting my mood perfectly).

And it's thus this song that sums up Delta and the Bannermen for me. It's not a great piece of work, but it's happy and easy to enjoy, so I can't help but like it, and I look forward to the next time that I decide to watch it again. But for now, there's still around 150 days left until this particular quest is over, so We've Got Work To Do!

Day 663: Delta and the Bannermen Part 2

I'm continuing to enjoy this story as it continues to be a blaze of fun and stupidity. But there's also surprisingly dark moments within it, such as the moment when an entire bus of alien tourists is destroyed by the villain, on the grounds that they may have been harbouring Delta, the Chimeron Queen and last of her race. It's a thoroughly jarring moment, in particular as it's preceeded immediately by a quick comedy bit as the bus driver makes a brief 1950's reference, before attempting to drive away. But it works surprisingly well in the context of the story, as it shows the villains as completely and properly evil, and not the cartoonish style of evil that one would expect for this type of story. Thus, it has now become less of a story about having fun, and more about a story of fighting between having fun and dealing with serious and evil business. So let's hope that fun can win at the end of the day, as we approach the conclusion to Delta and the Bannermen.

Day 662: Delta and the Bannermen Part 1

The last time I watched this story, I rather looked down on it. It seemed to be stupid, with poor acting, poor writing, and half decent direction that can't really save it. So I wasn't expecting to completely love it this time around that I watched it. And what's more, I expected even less to love it for exactly the same reasons that I didn't love it the last time.

It's a story that knows exactly what it is, a stupid piece of harmless fun, and thus it decides to run with this approach and make something so completely stupid and illogical that it defies all sense. The end result is something that's frequently hilarious and oddly enjoyable. I'll give an example of what I mean: Billy is a mechanic from 1950's Wales who meets Delta, the Chimeron Queen. The two sit down for lunch together and briefly look in each other's eyes. They are now hopelessly in love. This moment is not overplayed with romantic music or a slow motion shot of the two locking their eyes together. It is instead underplayed so much that you overlook it completely. It's scenes like this that feel wonderfully ridiculous because of the way in which they have been plotted, and so you can't help but laugh at the sheer ham-fisted nature of the plot.

So why do I now love this story so? Because I think this has to have been done on purpose. The story is filled with moments like this, where ridiculous conclusions are made from ridiculous set-ups and nobody bats an eyelid at them. It creates an overall very funny story, and one which I'm now very much looking forward to re-watching in a new light.

Day 661: Paradise Towers Part 4

Any plans for a longer entry for the brilliant ending to this story have been scuppered by the fact that, here in Australia, we have literally just changed our Prime Minister over the course of 6 or so hours. For that reason, much of my attention has been placed on the media coverage of this event, and less so on the urge to watch Paradise Towers.

But it's still been the highlight of my day. We see young street rebels join with the elderly in order to form a resistance to take down evil robots. And if that weren't enough, we get a strong emotional hook through the character of Pex. Pex, it turns out, is a deserter, who fled the war because he was too afraid to fight, hence he is made fun of by everyone within Paradise Towers for being a cowardly cutlet. But in one final and explosive movement, he sacrifices himself and shows his true bravery as he single handedly saves Paradise Towers from the evil Kroagnon. What's remarkable about this though, is the fact that we're allowed the time to mourn the character. We watch his funeral and, at least in my case, have a little bit of a cry over the fact that he is dead. But that's just testament to how strong a character he is, and acts as further evidence, in my opinion, that this is one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time, and should clearly be regarded as such.

Day 660: Paradise Towers Part 3

The other supporting characters in this story, by which I mean the Caretakers and the Kangs, are some of the most wonderful social groups within Doctor Who, both in the way in which they have been written and the way in which they come across on screen.

Looking at the Caretakers, to start off with, these men roam the corridors of Paradise Towers and try to stop people from breaking the rules. However, they are quite clearly massive jokes, as can be seen by their ridiculous salute in Part 1 (which comes across as an imitation of John Cleese's Hitler impression from Fawlty Towers) or the fact that the Doctor is able to escape from them by telling them to stand up and put their hands on their head, on the grounds that it's apparently in the rule book. But beneath that jokey exterior, there is still a feeling of palpable menace behind them. The Chief Caretaker seems to have the power to make people 'disappear', leaving a trail that leads to somewhere in the basement. There's also the Deputy Chief Caretaker who, although he's an imbecile, is played with a degree of ferocity in his hunt to find the Doctor, as can be seen by him breaking down the door which the Doctor is hiding behind, it would seem purely for the pleasure of this visceral action. It all makes for characters that are interesting to watch as the story continues.

Similarly, the Kangs are interesting, although for different reasons. They are gangs of young women who have divided themselves into three main sections: The Red Kangs, The Blue Kangs, and The Yellow Kangs (the last of whom is summarily dispatched of at the start of the story). What makes the Kangs interesting is their social structure, which has quite clearly evolved out of the few years that they have lived within Paradise Towers. They have their own lingo (such as through sayings like "Ice Hot!"), their own way of greeting people (through a series of movements similar to an adapted version of Pat-a-Cake) and even their own mourning rituals. It shows a clear attempt to make a society, but also one that feels as if it could have naturally evolved from what a group of young teenage rebels would want within their world. It all adds to the excellent nature of this story, and continues to make me excited to watch it as the story continues.

Day 659: Paradise Towers Part 2

I mentioned yesterday about the Rezzies, the old women who live in Paradise Towers and are generally a little bit creepy. This episode begins to elaborate on their true nature, and it makes for one of the most entertaining cliffhangers in Doctor Who history.

It begins when Tabby and Tilda get a visit from one of the other Rezzies, Maddy, who informs them that one of the Caretakers has disappeared. Tabby and Tilda take this news with the same amount of curiosity that Maddy is exhibiting, although at the same time they cover up their dinner, a healthy serving of meat for the two of them. We realise what the significance of this is later, when Mel comes back to see them, whereupon she is captured, and they threaten her with a poker. It is now quite clear that these nice old ladies are cannibals, and that they wish to eat Mel.

Nice old women who turn out to be cannibals. It's a ludicrous notion, but it works in the context of the story, being in a world where society has completely broken down and yet it still maintains the facade of being in order. There's also the fact that this is quite clearly written as a very funny joke, something that can be further shown by the design of the net with which they capture Mel with, which is obviously hand-knitted and looks more like a rug or a shawl than a deadly implement. All in all, it's easily one of my favourite cliffhangers, not because it's scary or because it changes the story completely, but because it's wonderfully odd, and yet another reason to adore this story.

Day 658: Paradise Towers Part 1

I'm always surprised that this story doesn't particularly bode well in fan polls, for example it was recently voted the 230th best story out of 241 in a recent Doctor Who Magazine poll, right in between Meglos and The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. This last fact irks me quite a great deal, because it places Arc of Infinity above Paradise Towers in terms of quality. More people like a story that has no redeeming features whatsoever than they like Paradise Towers. Why else does this irk me so? It's because I actually think that Paradise Towers is one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time, because it manages to create compelling characters, give us a weird and interesting setting, and above all else, be incredibly funny.

I'll give an example of what I'm talking about. The story is set in a futuristic apartment building that has become a dystopia, with the building's caretakers acting as a fairly useless police force, while groups of street gangs known as Kangs roam the corridors, and the elderly, who are known as the Rezzies, live safely within their apartments. We meet two of these Rezzies, Tabby and Tilda, who appear to be fairly nonchalant about their situation, if a little bit creepy towards Mel. Then, partway into their conversation, they are interrupted by Pex, an action hero type, who breaks the door down and attempts to save Mel from her tormentors. This is despite the fact that Mel isn't feeling particularly tormented at that particular moment.

The other major problem that Pex has to face is that he is resolutely not an action hero type of person. People occasionally complain, and say that the role should have gone to someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, but they're missing the entire point of the joke that is Pex. He is desperately trying to be an action hero, but he fails completely, not least because his entire body type is wrong for the role. This is backed up in the story, as Mel repeatedly turns down his attempts to help her, and Tabby and Tilda are quite miffed that he has broken down their door again. It's a very funnily created character, and is one that we shall get back to as we continue our look at this very underrated Doctor Who story.

Day 657: Time and the Rani Part 4

If there's one consistently good thing in Time and the Rani, it's Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. His performance as the Doctor is one which will evolve as the series continues, but for the moment, his character is a light and fun figure, dashing about and saving the day from all the troubles that occur within it. It's a stark contrast to Colin Baker's first outing, where the Doctor was immediately unlikeable, here McCoy's Doctor is charming, if a little nutty. The best example of this, in my opinion, comes when he finds himself up against a Tetrap partway through this episode. Immediately grabbing the nearest defensive object to hand, he points an umbrella at the Tetrap with a degree of threat. When the Tetrap is then attacked and stunned by Mel, the Doctor looks at the umbrella with a degree of quiet bemusement. It's not a large comedic moment, but it endears one to the character, and goes towards making a well rounded character in the form of the Seventh Doctor.

Day 656: Time and the Rani Part 3

There are several problems with this episode that caught my attention. For instance, there's the fact that a deadly disco ball of death releases tiny computer generated blobs which are meant to be deadly insects, which is a laughable effect, and ruins any sense of terror that that scene could have brought. There's also the decision to make the Tetraps stun people with their tongue, which looks more silly than anything else, and one final thing that really irked me for some reason.

In the story, we cut away from the Doctor talking with the native people of Lakertya, the Lakertyans, to a 15 second shot of Mel being trapped in the Tetrap's base. The next scene is outside, where Mel being led by a Tetrap to the Doctor, where an exchange takes place, with the Doctor returning some vital piece of equipment to the Rani, while Mel is returned to the Doctor. But then, as Mel walks towards the Doctor, it is revealed that she is a hologram, and that this has all been a ruse by the Rani to get her equipment back. But this moment of revelation is devoid of any surprise because we have already seen Mel trapped with the Tetraps and therefore we know that something is fishy about her suddenly appearing outside without any explanation as to how this could occur. It sparks of lazy writing, as well as poor direction, and a complete lack of an editor on this project. Funnily enough though, the script editor, Andrew Cartmel, openly admits to having nothing to do with this story as it was commissioned before he arrived on the programme and Pip and Jane Baker didn't really take much input from him as they viewed him as inexperienced. Still, as has been shown here, maybe if they had listened to their editor, then they would have seen their mistake rather than just letting it happen and leaving us with a badly produced Doctor Who story.

Day 655: Time and the Rani Part 2

One of the actually quite well done things within this story is the special effects. Most of them look surprisingly convincing, and seeing how they are utilised is one of the few highlights within this story. For example, there's the ball of death that Mel finds herself in, which is achieved through a mixture of computer-generated effects to represent the ball as well as practical effects to represent explosions that go off whenever the ball hits another object. Whilst this may not be the most impressive effect that's ever been in Doctor Who, it's still something that's worth commending as the production team making a good effort to give something worth watching on screen.

And then that's all ruined when one character shoots a Tetrap (this story's monster) with glitter. This is a massive let down, considering all that surrounds it, and really diminishes the quality of the story. Between occasionally bad special effects, and regularly bad writing, you would think that there is almost nothing that could redeem this story. And yet, I'm sure that I can still find something within it that's legitimately good.

Day 654: Time and the Rani Part 1

Oh dear. Everything was going so well, and then it all went downhill so quickly. Time and the Rani is not a very well written story. There were constraints, I suppose, that necessitated these problems, such as the fact that there was no script editor, nor an actor to play the Doctor, given that Colin Baker was fired from the programme after The Trial of a Time Lord. That said, there's still no excuse that Pip and Jane Baker, the story's writers, could manage to fail to deliver anything remotely good.

A lot of this comes down to the writing style, which feels overly simplistic and a little bit childish. For instance, we get a clunky scene at the beginning where it's revealed that the Rani has captured Einstein, which is revealed through dialogue as the Rani barks orders at her slaves, where a simple visual could have sufficed of her slave labelling the cell where Einstein is kept (which actually happens within the story as well, further questioning why this scene needs to happen). There's other scenes like this throughout the story that feel like they could have been better written, or directed, or acted, or just better in general. Still, unlike Arc of Infinity, I am at least finding some things to enjoy within this story, and I might mention some of them next time, as this story continues.

Day 653: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 14 - The Ultimate Foe Part 2

This episode isn't great. There's a good reason for that though. Script editor Eric Saward is not one of Producer John Nathan-Turner's greatest pals. They disagreed fundamentally on the direction in which the series would be going, and this all came to a head when the conclusion to The Trial of a Time Lord came to be written. Saward envisioned something written akin to Holmes's original vision for the ending of the story, which would involve a cliffhanger ending where the Doctor would be trapped in a battle with the Valeyard for all eternity. Nathan-Turner disagreed with this, which proved to be the final straw for Saward, thus he tendered his resignation and left the programme entirely whilst bad-mouthing the production office to anyone who will listen. It's a shame to lose Saward, as he's been getting progressively better as the series has been going on, but there's no denying the fact that the stories have been less consistent in terms of quality over his time as script editor, so I guess that maybe his decision will force some new life to come into the programme.

Unfortunately, that new life is Pip and Jane Baker, who were rushed in to complete this story. They aren't the most imaginative of writers, generally striving for mediocrity instead of quality. And aside from a nice sequence at the beginning featuring the Valeyard and some clever editing, and another scene involving a bait-and-switch and the Trial sequence, there's not too much to recommend this story about.

And yet, I still love this story with every fibre of my being. I love it because it's a story that's all about remembering how to write good Doctor Who stories after four series with such uneven quality as to make me consider throwing in the towel and stopping this blog altogether (I'm looking at you, Time-Flight). We've got a story in The Mysterious Planet that reminds us of how Doctor Who can be fun without being a terrible story. We've got a story in Mindwarp that reminds us of how Doctor Who can be scary without resorting to a blood-bath. We've got a story in Terror of the Vervoids that reminds us of how Doctor Who can rise above design problems, provided that the idea is strong enough. We've got a story in The Ultimate Foe that reminds us of how Doctor Who can be weird, without being incomprehensible. And above all else, we've got a story in The Trial of a Time Lord that reminds us that Doctor Who can be utterly fantastic. All I can say is, I cannot wait until tomorrow, to see what's in store in this absolutely fantastic series.

Day 652: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 13 - The Ultimate Foe Part 1

I used to have a plan for how I was going to cover this story. You see, my original plan for this story was going to be along the lines of looking at how much I adored this story upon first viewing, and mounting a spirited defense of it. This would, of course, fall apart towards the end of the story, due to the fact that I did not like The Ultimate Foe on first viewing. Then The Armageddon Factor came along, another story which I disliked on first viewing, and I found myself quite enjoying it. Annoyingly, this meant that I had to chuck out all of those plans because there was now the chance that I would enjoy The Ultimate Foe. And sure enough, it's not that bad.

It's got an awful lot of things in it that bear mentioning. For a start, there's the revelation of the nature of the Valeyard where we discover that he is in fact a future incarnation of the Doctor, from somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations. It's a clever and remarkably insane twist, that's surprisingly underplayed when it's revealed. The only shame is that it's revealed with only two episodes lieft to go, meaning that there's a feeling of a missed opportunity. We could have had a story dealing on the nature of evil within the Doctor, or the duality of the two men facing off against one another, but instead we get the character as just another villain for the Doctor to face off against as the story comes to a close.

There's also another, sadder fact to mention. This episode is the last thing that Robert Holmes wrote before he died. He's been a fantastic writer for the series, concentrating on brilliant and well-drawn characters as well as wonderfully witty dialogue and fantastic stories. His episodes have been consistent highlights of the series and he remains sorely missed. But still, time marches on, and we'll have to see what was done to resolve the issue of the fact that they now have Part 1 of a 2 part story with no ending and no writer to write it tomorrow.

Day 651: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 12 - Terror of the Vervoids Part 4

The end of Terror of the Vervoids has the Doctor killing all of the Vervoids, mainly in self defense, for if any of them were to survive then they would destroy all animal life on Earth. It's an ending that doesn't feel that out of place, considering the generally darker tone that stories have been taking over the past few series, as well as the fact that the Doctor is able to immediately justify his actions. That said, it still feels out of place, and is quickly followed up on in the trial scenes.

Here, it is clearly pointed out that the Doctor has committed genocide, and that that is a bad thing. He's going to be punished for this, and it's quite clear that the trial will find the Doctor guilty of a number of offences. And, in a way, he deserves it. The series has been getting too focussed on action for its own good, and that's leading to all sorts of problems for various stories, as we see the Doctor act out of character time and time again. The series needs to desperately reinvent itself, and although we're beginning to see elements of that reinvention in The Trial of a Time Lord, it's perhaps going to be a little while before that reinvention finally takes place...

Day 650: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 11 - Terror of the Vervoids Part 3

The Vervoids are strange creatures, plants that have become sentient and now wish to destroy all humans. They also look ridiculously rude. It's easy to see why, they wanted to go for an image of a flower in bloom, but accidentally invoked more of an image of genitalia. And whilst it's easy to look down on this moment and say that it's another example of the series going horribly wrong, I choose to look at it in another way.

We've just come off a couple of series where, if something in the story isn't up to scratch, then the entire story falls on its face. We've had disasters like Time-Flight, Arc of Infinity, The Twin Dilemma, Warriors of the Deep and Timelash where one small little problem seems to cascade into a lot of larger problems. But Vervoids doesn't go that way. Instead, we just have this problem of design of the costume, and not much else. It's not a perfect story, but it's still quite enjoyable, and that's more than can be said of the previous stories, all of which were unambiguously awful. So we're now able to see a production team finally get back on its feet, ready for all new challenges that face it and hopefully with less stories of uneven quality.

Day 649: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 10 - Terror of the Vervoids Part 2

One of the interesting things about this story is its genre. It's a simple mystery story, where the villain has not yet been revealed, so we follow the Doctor and Mel as they try to find the culprit behind the series of murders that have been ocurring on this spaceship. And in a time when I occasionaly yearn for Doctor Who to try new things and new story ideas, I'm going to be a bit hypocritical and say that this isn't that bad. It's written well, by Pip and Jane Baker, who make a nice pacy adventure that's quite enjoyable, if a little average.

But it's also a return to the heart of storytelling in Doctor Who. The series is allowed to work in any genre that it likes, but in the past few stories, it feels like it's just been action-adventure science fiction stories. So it's nice to have a change, and to see something different being done by the series, so as to remind the audience that Doctor Who can do a lot of things, not just generic science fiction stories.

Day 648: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 9 - Terror of the Vervoids Part 1

The interesting thing about this story is the way in which it is told. The eponymous trial that the Doctor is undergoing is using evidence from the Doctor's adventures, with the previous two being taken from his past. This adventure, however, bucks the trend and chooses to go for an adventure from his future. We thus get a new companion, Mel, who we've never met before (and indeed will never properly 'meet'; we will never get a 'proper' introduction story for her character), as well as a few other things, such as a calmer temperament for the Doctor, showing that his character has evolved since the time which the trial has taken place.

But more than that, it also shows how the production team have chosen to take advantage of the format of the overall story arc. Instead of just confining themselves to the events of the past, they have decided that, since this is a show about time travel, they can nip into the future and tell a story that way. Granted, aside from the addition of Mel, there's not much to distinguish it from any other story that could have been told, but it's the thought that counts, and I appreciate this story for that fact.