Day 708: Bad Wolf

Cliffhangers, in my opinion, can be generally divided into two categories. The first is 'Peril', where a character is placed in mortal peril at the end of the episode, and the tension of the cliffhanger is built upon seeing wither they live, and more importantly, how they lived (an example of this ending are the cliffhanger to The Magician's Apprentice, where Missy, Clara and the TARDIS are seemingly destroyed). The other category is 'Development', where the ending is pivoted around a major plot development that changes the entire structure of the story (an example of this could be the ending to Under the Lake, where the 'ghost Doctor' is revealed, changing the story slightly from being about ghosts attacking a base to how the Doctor became a ghost in the first place). Bad Wolf's ending doesn't quite fit into either of those categories, and it's all the better for it.

On the surface, it's a 'Peril' ending. The episode clearly ends on the point of the Daleks stating that they are going to go and conquer the Earth, which puts everyone in danger, increasing the tension in the story. But there's also the argument that the cliffhanger didn't begin there, instead it began around 5 minutes earlier when the Daleks were first revealed, showing that they have been in command of the Game Station for all these years, as well as surviving the Time War, changing the focus of the episode from a story about homicidal game shows to a fight against the Daleks. This would put it in the 'Development' column, although there's enough 'Peril' in there to make it a hybrid of the two.

But that's all missing the entire point of the ending. The real meat of it is the Doctor's speech, where he stands up to the Daleks, ready to take them on in an instant. The notion of the speech is fantastic, as we get steadily more and more excited as he lays out his aims for the next episode. But we don't get to see his actions, which makes the next episode all the more exciting. It turns the tension present in the cliffhanger on its head, not using events that will happen and you need to see the conclusion of said events in the next episode, but instead you get told about the events happening and the conclusion of the events within the cliffhanger, making it more of a trailer than a cliffhanger ending. But it still works, and it makes for one of my favourite scenes in the history of Doctor Who.

Day 707: Boom Town

Boom Town is a story of two halves. The first half is a simple and fun adventure, as the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack arrive in Cardiff, meet up with Mickey and stop one of the members of the Slitheen (hence referred to as Margaret Slitheen) left from Aliens of London/World War Three from destroying the Earth. It's delightfully fun, with some great comedic moments (the Doctor attempting to meet with Margaret is one of the truly great moments in Doctor Who history), but it lacks substance.

But then, in the second half, we get something new and different. Margaret Slitheen is put on board the TARDIS and told that she will go back to her home world, where she will apparently be executed. As her final wish, then, she takes the Doctor out for dinner, to plea for a second chance at life. It's something that's rarely been seen in Doctor Who, the idea of the villain talking with the Doctor after their plan has been foiled; the idea of consequences to the Doctor's actions after the closing credits have rolled. We're drawn into the moral dilemma with Margaret, because we know that she has killed and could kill again, and yet she has shown mercy to others, including a pregnant journalist at the start of the episode. It's a pity that these scenes don't go on for longer, as it's a well-meaning consideration to put forward and an interesting idea. We are unfortunately prevented from seeing the Doctor's decision regarding her life, as a botched plan from her ends up regressing her to an egg through the power of the TARDIS. The Doctor watches on though, comfortable with the proceedings and almost glad for her as she realises that she will be given what she needs.

So we're left with a fun and farcical first half and an interesting discussion for the second half in Boom Town. All in all, it's actually rather a fun episode to watch, and I can't help but feel that this story is a little underrated by fans. But then again, maybe that's just me.

Day 706: The Doctor Dances

One of the defining moments for the Ninth Doctor comes at the end of this story. After two episodes of a relatively traumatic adventure, the Doctor is able to save the day through the power of love and nanogenes. And then, he actually gets a chance to properly save the day, spreading the nanogenes throughout all those who have been affected by the gas mask zombie 'plague', for want of a better word. "Everybody Lives!", he proclaims joyfully, as the episode comes to its conclusion.

And it's a truly joyful moment for this Doctor, because of the circumstances in which it comes. He's just been involved with a war that has destroyed his own people, and that has left him damaged. And a good portion of the stories that we've had since then have dealt with the ramifications of the war, be it through the desire to change history, or dealing with the fallout of the war to other species such as the Gelth. So for this Doctor to be given this opportunity to save everybody from dying is extraordinary, because it represents a moment for the Universe to finally give him a break, and allow him to have one legitimately happy moment.

And whilst it may not be the truly defining moment for this Doctor (we'll look at that on Sunday), it is an iconic moment for him that's part of an iconic story.

Day 705: The Empty Child

As good as this episode is (and it is very good indeed), I can't help but think instead that I should write about something else entirely. When I was around 10 years old, I was a regular visitor to the Doctor Who website. I'd read episode guides, photonovels of missing episodes, watch webcasts (I felt really brave when I watched Real Time, given that it was advised to be watched by only mature audiences), and grow steadily addicted to the 'TARDIS Tennis' flash game (an event which would later foreshadow a crippling addiction to online flash games that would hamper my results in my final year of schooling). Later, though, I stopped visiting, for one reason or another, and moved onto other things. Curiosity drove me back to the website, where I was greeted with a bit of a shock.

Everything on the website was updated, to reflect the new series that was currently airing. Suddenly, there were a whole raft of new features, from fear factors to trailers to episode previews that had me hooked every single day to this website. Except for one week in May. For on that week, the home page was changed to reflect the upcoming episode: The Empty Child. Instead of seeing the Doctor and Rose, up to mischief, there was instead the haunting image of the child in the gas mask as you see at the top of this page. This was accompanied by a steady heart beat, as a child's voice slowly cried out for his mummy. It was thoroughly distressing to say the least, but the entire experience is etched in my memory as an example of the hype that was personally building for me around the series.

Day 704: Father's Day

This story is, in many ways, a further contemplation on the events of The Long Game. Once again, we get a companion (this time it's Rose) trying to change history, and once again, we see the Doctor's rage at this fact. But there's enough to differentiate it from The Long Game to make it unique, as well as allowing us to sympathise with Rose and give what is possibly a better story.

For a start, Rose's intentions are honourable. Whilst there is the point to be made that she wishes to use time travel for strictly her own benefit, she's doing this by saving her father from dying in a hit and run accident. It's certainly more morally just than taking data from the future back to the present day, because it's all about saving a life rather than just improving one. Indeed, as Rose points out, the Doctor saves lives all throughout history, and that's alright, but the Doctor's response is that he's allowed to because he understands how to go about it and in what circumstances he can and can't save people (and indeed, this will be explored at length through the rest of the series, particularly in The Fires of Pompeii and The Waters of Mars). But the point is that we can see that Rose is trying to do a good thing, and so we can sympathise with her.

That said, the consequences are far more visible this time around. Creatures from the Time Vortex come through to the Earth, killing the entire human race in an effort to set time back in progress. It's a shocking image to see, and a handy reminder of the stakes of the story, as we get the ever-present visual of seeing them swirl around the church where the Doctor, Rose and a group of others are gathered in hiding. With all of this, one would expect the Doctor to be cruel to Rose, but he forgives her. He can understand where she's coming from, and he feels her pain, so he allows her to apologise and indeed, jokes about it immediately beforehand with a baby version of Rose.

But as events reach their inevitable conclusion, Rose's father goes out and decides to die, making events go back to the way they were. But they didn't quite go back to normal, because history was subtly changed. The hit and run accident, became more of a simple accident, with the driver staying around to accept the blame and help where he could. And, perhaps most importantly of all, Rose stayed with her father as he died. It's not an earth-shattering moment of changing history, but it's a good one, and it improves the world in a far better way than what Adam did in The Long Game. It all just goes as further evidence to show that Rose is one of the best companions to be on screen ever.

Day 703: The Long Game

The most interesting thing about this episode is, oddly, not the main plot. Instead, it's the new companion, Adam, who was brought into the series in the previous episode, Dalek, and leaves the series in this episode. It's not an awfully long tenure, and it's easy to see why when you watch this episode.

The Long Game feels like Russell T Davies showing the audience that the role of companion isn't just for anyone. After however many years of the Doctor seemingly picking random people off the street and choosing them to be his companion, Adam is the one that manages to buck the trend in a massive way. He's not an example of what we as humans should strive to become, with the most heroic act that he does within this episode being to bravely try a 'kronkburger' in order to experience the culture of Earth in the year 200,000. Everything else that he does is profoundly selfish, as he wanders through the story trying to get as much information as possible about the future, such that he can return to Earth and use it for his own purposes. This ends up creating a lot of problems, not least of which putting the Doctor and Rose in danger when they end up being captured.

So, upon realising that he's made a terrible mistake and that Adam is going to be a nuisance, the Doctor takes him home and dumps him. It's the first companion that we've ever seen get explicitly dumped, everyone else leaves more or less of their own accord. Suddenly, the role of companion feels just that bit more sacred in the eyes of the viewer, because we get to see someone fail at it. It draws to attention just how good the previous companions have been, if only by contrast to the way in which Adam managed to ruin it for everyone. And whilst I'm not the biggest fan of Adam, I do appreciate what he represents, being The Companion Who Couldn't (to quote the working title for the story), and showing us how fantastic companions have been, both past, present and future.

Day 702: Dalek

Dalek ranks as one of my favourite stories in Doctor Who of all time. It's easy to see why, and I feel that this is best seen in one of the final scenes in the story. The lead-up to the scene is that a Dalek has been methodically going through a base, killing everyone that it comes across. This is thanks to Rose accidentally regenerating it by giving it power, somehow. The Doctor, meanwhile, is hell-bent on destroying it, in part because the Time War was between the Daleks and the Time Lords, and he blames the Daleks for so much. So the scene comes about when the Doctor, whilst holding a massive gun, meets with the Dalek while Rose is kept captive by the Dalek, for reasons that confuse it.

Over the course of the scene, we see the entire relationship between the Doctor and the Daleks play out. The Doctor turns up, all ready to kill the Dalek once and for all. But he can't, because he's shocked to see that the Dalek has opened up its casing and destroyed a potion of the roof, just so that it can feel the sunlight on its tentacles. Rose points out that the Doctor is the one with the gun, and that the Dalek is slowly changing, and that it isn't killing any more. The Doctor puts down his gun, in a moment of realisation of what he has done, whilst the Dalek, realising that it is becoming something impure, commits suicide.

This scene shows how much the Time War has changed the Doctor. A man who abhors violence, and has almost always sought peaceful solutions to events, even those concerning the Daleks, is now so legitimately furious at the Daleks that he needs to destroy it himself. But Rose stops him. Just as Rose healed the Dalek, so too does Rose heal the Doctor. She helps him realise what a person he has become, as well as striving for him to be someone better.

Meanwhile, in one of the story's cruellest jokes, the Dalek can't cope with the fact that it's changing, but the story desperately wants it to change and become nice. The music, for instance, by Murray Gold is at times overly sentimental, whilst the direction from Joe Ahearne desperately tries to get beauty out of sunlight dancing off the Dalek's tentacles. But being nice is so against the very nature of the Dalek that it must die, and so it does, defying the story that is being told and instead remaining true to itself. It's a slightly warped joke about the concept of the Daleks, and how we should never sympathise with them, because it's just wrong.

And that's just a small sample of what is a truly fantastic story that manages to do what could be seen as impossible: it makes the Daleks scary again.

Day 701: World War Three

This episode feels remarkably underrated. I loved it as a kid, mainly due to the comedy aliens, but now that I'm a bit older, it's easy to see that there's a fair but more to love than just a story about farts and it's something truly special.

For a start, it's incredibly funny. There's a fair range of jokes in this, going from the basic joke of having farting aliens to the truly great moment of the sergeant bursting into the Prime Minister's office to let them know of the crisis, only to discover that the room is filled with aliens, at which point he promptly decides that leaving would be the best course of action. The latter joke is also good because it comes in the ending sequence, where events are reaching breaking point. We then get a series of quick cuts, going from the tense scenes as the Doctor, Rose, and Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North) try to figure out their best chance of survival, while the Slitheen flounder about and provide light relief to the otherwise frightening events. This juxtaposition makes both the Doctor's scenes feel slightly tenser, as well as the Slitheen's scenes slightly funnier, making for, although an uneven in tone sequence, a relatively even in quality series of events.

There's also the social satire present within the story. The acting Prime Minister (actually a member of the Slitheen in disguise) tries to get the Earth's nuclear codes by claiming proof that there are "Massive weapons of destruction", with clear danger present for all humans living on Earth. It's a clear comment on the Iraq War, where the war was brought about due to apparent proof of weapons of mass destruction, which may not have been fully correct. This story, then, looks at the trust that we place in our leaders, not knowing whether they have our best intentions in mind, and gives us the moral that we shouldn't rush recklessly into such an event like this.

It's telling, as well, that the only politician who Davies writes sympathetically is Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North), who is clearly just a backbencher that just wants the best for her constituents and has no delusions of leadership. This search for people who speak truthfully, and genuinely make what they find to be the best decision for the people, and not the best decision for them, is the heart of what democracy should be about, and seeing a character like Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North) is actually kind of life-affirming.

And all of that makes for a surprisingly underrated gem of a story that I would heartily recommend and say is clearly part of one of the best series of Doctor Who ever broadcast.

Day 700: Aliens of London

Aliens of London looks at something that was never really explored in the past with Doctor Who. Throughout all of the series, we rarely, if ever, explored the consequences of travelling in time with the Doctor. The story begins with us returning to Earth, in the present day. As Rose goes to see her mother, it soon transpires that, whilst Rose has been gone for a couple of days by her perspective, by the rest of the world's perspective, she's been gone for a year. Suddenly, everything is thrown into disarray.

Jackie, Rose's mother, for instance, has spent the past year in a fair amount of shock, owing to the fact that her daughter has disappeared off the face of the Earth for an entire year. She's angry at the Doctor for taking her daughter away, angry at Rose for never letting her know where she's been, and generally reacting like a normal person would after an event such as this would have happened. It's refreshing to see this emotion as it shows that travelling with the Doctor is an action that has consequences. It is stupid to think that people can just vanish for protracted periods of time and then return as if nothing had ever happened, but it's what has been thought for the previous 700 or so episodes. Now Russell T Davies has changed all of that by pointing out what the consequences of that are, bringing an amount of reality to this fantastical situation.

But it's one of the things that Davies has done and will do throughout his time on the series. He tells stories that look at reactions to things, not the things themselves. The entire opening of this story isn't so much focussed on plot, but more on the reaction to Rose returning, and then the reaction to an alien spaceship crashing in London. It's new for the series, and a change that I'm pleased to see has been made, as it breathes new life into this fantastic programme.

Day 699: The Unquiet Dead

The Unquiet Dead is the first story in the revived series to be credited to someone other than Russell T Davies, being written by Mark Gatiss. Gatiss will continue to be a figure throughout the revived series, writing 8 stories, including one which has not yet aired by the time that this post is written. So looking at this story, it's interesting to consider what sort of stories Gatiss will provide for the series.

For a start, this story is reasonably safe. There's no big scene like the ending of The End of the World here, where the character of the Doctor is revealed to have changed and to be completely different from what we would expect him to be. Instead, we get a fairly light historical romp with ghosts and Charles Dickens. It's not a bad story, with some engaging characters and a darkly comic beginning where an undertaker discovers a zombie walking about, not with shock, but instead with a sort of resigned sadness that says that this is not the first time that zombies have been coming to life in this home. The only problem with the story is that it doesn't really do much that's new and interesting with the characters.

However, that last statement isn't entirely true. There's a moment halfway through this story where the Doctor realises the truth behind the ghosts. They're gaseous beings that have had their bodies taken from them due to the events of the Time War. This plays on the Doctor's guilt, and he's given a strong amount of drive to help them get some form of their bodies back, even if it is through possessing the dead. It's not a major moment for the series, but it does show that Gatiss is able to understand the character of the Ninth Doctor, and write him convincingly. So, in short, Gatiss, whilst not writing strong and earth-shattering stories, is able to write basic and fun romps where the characters are all strongly written, giving us an enjoyable little story.

Day 698: The End of the World

There's a scene in the middle of this story that sums up what the forthcoming series is going to be about. The episode so far has been focussing on the perspective of Rose as she sees all of the amazing things that the TARDIS can bring her, and it slowly dawns of the real ramifications of becoming a traveller in the TARDIS, like the sudden realisation that visiting the future means visiting a time when everyone that you've ever cared about is dead, or the fact that the TARDIS has entered her head in order to translate everything into English for her. So she talks about this with the Doctor, and the conversation reaches a point where she asks where he's from. What's interesting is that he refuses to tell her, becoming combative and and angry at the prospect of revealing this information. Not since The War Games have we seen the Doctor so reluctant to reveal his past, meaning that this sudden reluctance is a little worrying for what might have happened.

Events continue throughout the story, that I won't go into too much detail here, but I will focus on the ending scene. Rose, after witnessing the death of the Earth, is brought back to Earth in the modern day, and looks at the life that exists there. And in that quiet moment, the Doctor tells Rose that she should enjoy Earth because he can't enjoy his home planet. It was destroyed in a War, taking all of the Time Lords with it. Suddenly, everything becomes clear. We're dealing with a damaged Doctor, one who is trying to cope with this traumatic event.

This renewed focus on the character of the Doctor is interesting, and one of the major changes that Russell T Davies has brought to the programme, moving it from standalone stories to moving through time and space with the characters of the Doctor and Rose. And, funnily enough, it's kind of a callback to the work of the original story editor David Whitaker, who always put the focus squarely on the characters in the TARDIS and not so much on the worlds around them. All in all, then, it's worth continuing to watch the series, as we explore and get to know these characters of the Doctor and Rose.

Day 697: Rose

Rose is, quite simply, one of the most important episodes in Doctor Who that has ever been produced. It has to re-introduce the entire concept of the series to a brand new audience, but in such a way that it can build on what has come before so it can also attract the attention of people already familiar with the programme. And thankfully, it succeeded in this wholeheartedly.

Regarding the idea of the premise of the series, it introduces everything perfectly. We start by focussing on the life of a perfectly normal young woman, Rose, in a 3 minute long sequence as we look at her perfectly normal life. She then, whilst doing some work in a basement of a department store, encounters the Autons, causing some juxtaposition between the normal and ordinary person to the alien and extraordinary world of the Autons, and then later, the Doctor. This harks back to the first story of the entire series, An Unearthly Child, where the entire focus was on the ordinary schoolteachers discovering the extraordinary world of the Doctor. It worked then because we were able to use the schoolteachers as easy identification figures, and travel along with them as they discovered all about the Universe with the Doctor. One must also remember that it took some time for us to even trust the Doctor when the series originally started, so having an audience identification figure in the form of Rose is a strong move by Russell T Davies, writer of Rose and showrunner of the series from this point onwards.

Regarding new things to reinvigorate people already familiar with the concept, there is of course Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. For 35 minutes or so, he plays the role as if it were a modern version of the Doctor. He's funny and charming, but can also be deadly serious when needs be, such as in the famous 'Turn of the Earth scene". He effortlessly proves himself as the Doctor, and one can easily look forward to his future time on the series. But that's not all. Because towards the end of the episode, we see him being put through pain. And not just any sort of pain, but clear emotional trauma. There was some sort of war that he fought in, and it appears that an awful lot of bad things happened in that war, which the Doctor feels guilty about. It's an interesting tack to go on for the character, and reintroduces much of the mystery that was prevalent within the first few stories with respect to the Doctor. It's enough to keep the audience watching and to keep them entertained for the next series.

And, more than all of that, Rose ensures that, once and for all, Doctor Who is back on our screens and ready to wow a whole new audience.

Day 696: Doctor Who (1996)

The 1996 TV Movie is, in so many ways, the biggest mistake the programme ever made. Faced with a chance to bring Doctor Who back to TV, the production team got almost every aspect of how to do it wrong. Everything is introduced too quickly, from starting with the Seventh Doctor and changing into the Eighth Doctor around 25 minutes in, meaning that we don't really get a chance to meet the Doctor properly until the 50 minute mark. They also ruin the chance of the revelation that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, one of the greatest concepts behind the series, but treated as if it's nothing special here. Then there's the revelation that the Doctor is half-human which brings nothing to the story, or indeed the series, and just feels like pandering to an audience who may not be able to accept a fully alien protagonist.

So, with all of that in mind, why do I love this story completely? It's due to a number of factors, all of which make this story fun and worth watching over and over again. For a start, there's Geoffrey Sax's direction, which creates a beautiful action film. There are scenes like the motorcycle chase which have a series of quick cuts within them, increasing the pace of the scene dramatically, but then there are also scenes like the Doctor and Grace in the TARDIS, where the camera decides to shoot both of them through the central time rotor column, giving a beautiful effect and emphasising the other-worldly nature of the time-space machine.

There's also the performances. Eric Roberts, even though he is not a good actor, is still the funniest thing inside the entire film. He alternates between playing his scenes with enough ham to be mistaken for a pig, or playing all of his jokes completely straight. An example of the former is clearly the infamous "Drezz for the occasion" scene, which is so utterly joyful that you can't help but laugh, while the latter can clearly be seen in his interactions with Chang Lee, taking all of Lee's street mannerisms and having a lack of understanding of their correct context, which is easily one of the highlights of the adventure.

Paul McGann, in his sole television outing as the Doctor, impresses greatly, being a more adventurous and fun Doctor than his predecessors. He's the only Doctor who, when greeted with an emergency and escaping through the fire escape, smashes the fire alarm, just to make things a bit more exciting. He's got energy as he leaps through the story, running with glee as he tries to save the Universe from the Master once again. It's a shame that we never saw this Doctor on television again, as he's an amazing figure and severely underrated.

But that still doesn't quite explain why I love it so much. In order to find this out, we have to go back to 2003. I've just discovered about the series, and I'm reading through Doctor Who: The Television Companion. At the end of the book, there's a brief bit about the TV Movie, which looks reasonably interesting, and I note that I want to check it out at some point. A little while later, I find a website that has every Doctor Who theme on it, with accompanying video. The other ones don't excite me too much, I've seen them all before and they all appear fairly ordinary. But then McGann's theme came on. It was amazing, taking the foundation of the theme and making it awesome. I vowed to watch the story as soon as possible, which ended up being 7 years later when I found a second hand VHS copy. It lived up to my expectations, and occasionally exceeded them, and every viewing since has made me enjoy this episode more. And, really, as long as I'm enjoying it, what more could you want from Doctor Who?

Day 695: Survival Part 3

Survival comes to an end, and so many things end with it.

This is the last story to be script edited by Andrew Cartmel. Cartmel has been an amazing script editor, bringing new life into the programme. Each story that has been under his tenure as editor has sought to do something interesting with the series, whether it be a story about a society where it's illegal to be unhappy otherwise you will be sentenced to a confectionery based execution, or a story about a galactic species surveyor trying to face the concept of evolution head on. And more than that, Cartmel has brought a consistency to the programme that we simply haven't had under prior script editors. Every story that Cartmel was responsible for is either a really good story, or something that's not good in an interesting way. He's been an amazing part of the series, and it's sad that we won't get to see his influence again.

It's also the last story to be produced by John Nathan Turner. JNT has been an interesting figure in the production of the series. He's not the best producer that they've had, making several mistakes that have ended up costing him his career through poor management, and a lack of focus on scripts. However, he also kept the show running, and was willing to work to keep the show on the air, in the process producing some amazing pieces of television. So whilst he may have been misguided in his time as producer, he still did the job, and that's worth commending.

But all of this pales in comparison to the fact that this is the last story to be broadcast of the original Doctor Who run. The show had been around for 26 years, and it was decided that it should be retired, to make way for new programmes, and new ideas. It's a shame, as over the past 695 episodes Doctor Who has shown itself to be new, exciting and different, with stories ranging from cavemen in 100,000 BC to a race of Cheetah People on a planet that feeds off their emotions. It's a fantastic and amazing series, and it's sad to see it end.

And, indeed, over the past 695 episodes, we've seen some fantastic stories. There's been The Sensorites, a weird and wonderful tale about a new alien race. There was also Power of the Daleks, looking at a new Doctor, as well as the truly manipulative nature of the Daleks that allows them to become the most powerful race in the galaxy. That's not forgetting Carnival of Monsters, an incredibly funny story with thoroughly memorable characters like Vorg the charismatic showman. Of course, there was also The Robots of Death, a genuinely tense and frightening Agatha Christie style thriller. And one of my personal favourites is Mawdryn Undead, applying equal measures of time travel and ruminations on the power of death. Attack of the Cybermen was also worth watching, even if it was just a generic action story. But generic action isn't what you can say about The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, which was wonderfully odd and terrifying.

And almost all of those stories were stories that I saw for the first time as part of this blog. I started it so that I could watch these episodes, and many more, to experience them for the first time as part of one great adventure. And it's all come to an end with Survival, the Doctor Who story that I left to watch last, over all of my travels through this fantastic series. It's been a fun ride, and I'm thoroughly glad that I've done it. But, the blog isn't over yet, as by my count there are still 100-odd episodes left to cover before I'm truly done. And I'm looking forward to watching these as the blog continues. So, I think it's only appropriate to end this entry with some choice words...

There are worlds out there where the sky is burning
Where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream
People made of smoke and cities made of song
Somewhere there's danger
Somewhere there's injustice
And somewhere else, the tea's getting cold
Come on Ace,
We've Got Work to Do!

Day 694: Survival Part 2

And so the story continues. In the land of Doctor Who, we get a villain in the story. It's the Master, who's played by Anthony Ainley in his final appearance in the role. here, he's given something far more interesting than the generic pantomime villain that he's been lumbered with for the past 9 or so years, being able to play a darker character. He brings the Doctor to the planet of the Cheetah People, not as part of some vast trap, but instead because he is trapped and needs the Doctor's help to escape the planet. What makes this darker, however, is why he needs help. He's unwell, turning into a Cheetah Person with every passing moment. It's unleashing his more animal nature, making the character feel just that bit more unhinged and dangerous. It's a shame, then, that this is Ainley's last story, as he's able to show here the potential that he has as an actor, and that he could have been a more memorable Master, were it not for poor direction/scripts/production etc.

Meanwhile in the real world, we look back to 2013. I'm chatting with friends about Doctor Who, and someone guesses that I've seen all of Doctor Who. I reply by saying that I haven't, and then I try and figure out just how much of Doctor Who I have seen. A quick estimate in my head says that I'd only seen around a third of Classic Doctor Who. This fact stuck with me, until one day I came up with a stupid idea. I would watch every episode of Doctor Who, in order, one a day, from the start. That way, I'd gain a new appreciation for the series, as well as plug some gaps in my Doctor Who knowledge, all in celebration of Doctor Who's upcoming 50th anniversary in November of that year. Then, almost immediately afterwards, I made another stupid decision, which was to tell people that I was going to do it, thus ensuring that I was going to do it. I started a blog as well, as another mechanism to keep me on track with this odyssey. So, on the 23rd of November, 2013, I began a grand marathon of all of Doctor Who, starting with An Unearthly Child...

Day 693: Survival Part 1

To say that this story is set in Perivale in the 1980's would be a lie. It is, in actual fact, set in a suburb of Newcastle in 2015, where a young man is sitting in front of an old CRT TV and beginning to watch an old Doctor Who episode. He's watching and enjoying this story, but there's a sense of finality of proceedings. For you see, as this Doctor Who story begins, another story is coming to an end...

The Doctor Who story is known as Survival. It's a story set in the modern day, where young people are going missing in the town where Ace grew up. It's odd to watch this story though because it feels as if it's a return to the world of the mundane. It's been a long time since we've been back in such a normal environment, and it feels weird to not see alien races or strange designs behind every corner. But that, in turn, makes the aliens feel all the more exciting and frightening. Take, for example, the scene where Ace is kidnapped and sent to an alien world, where she is hunted by a Cheetah person. In another Doctor Who story, we would take that alien world in our stride, because it's fairly obviously a quarry, but to the eyes of someone who has instead been wandering around a town, it feels extraordinary, and truly alien. It all feels as if it's a return to what is one of the great concepts that can be covered in Doctor Who, the juxtaposition of normal things with strange and otherworldly concepts, creating an unforgettable series.

The other story began, I suppose, in 2003. Fresh off discovering the programme with Frontier in Space, I'd raced through other videos that we had in the downstairs cupboard, in preparation for watching the entire repeat season of Doctor Who, broadcast 6pm, Monday-Thursday on ABC. I sat down in front of the first episode, and loved it, and I continued to watch the series as the repeat season continued. But then, out of nowhere, I noticed that they skipped Marco Polo. I asked my parents, and we discovered that it was skipped because they'd lost it. Later, I noticed that the Dalek serials weren't being broadcast, which was because of legal problems. All of this kind of took the magic away of watching Doctor Who, knowing that I wouldn't be experiencing the full adventure, but instead an edited version. Combined with other factors seeking my attention, like The Simpsons or Age of Mythology, I suppose that it was inevitable that I would drift away from the programme. I still watched it though, but this was mainly through watching DVDs. It was a potted and selective viewing of Doctor Who, entirely devoid of context, and the ability to watch concepts and characters grow over time. It wasn't the ideal way to watch the programme, but it was the way I watched it for the next 10 years. Until, that is, I had an idea...

Day 692: The Curse of Fenric Part 4

Jumping back to previously in the story of The Curse of Fenric, we have the character of the Rev. Wainwright. He's a kind hearted clergyman, who is suffering with severe doubts in his faith. It's not explicitly said, however, that it's his doubts in God that is causing problems, instead it is the far more interesting dilemma of his faith in Good.

Wainwright is confronted every day with the War, and it frightens him, because it destroys his personal belief in the idea that there is good in everyone in the world. It's the bombing that affects him in particular, in particular the idea that good British men are bombing German cities, killing innocent German children. It destroys his hope that there is inherent good in humanity, when acts of such callous evil can be performed without question, and this proves to be his ultimate downfall as he dies, killed by the Haemovores. And so we're left with a dwindling cast, as more and more characters die due to their inherent lack of belief in good.

But Ace still believes in good, in particular in the power of the Doctor. But this isn't entirely correct. The Doctor, it turns out, is just as manipulative and as dark as his opponent, Fenric. He's been secretly organising and moving events throughout the entire story, in opposition to Fenric who has also been trying to manipulate events. This all culminates in a scene where the Doctor is forced to break Ace's faith in him, openly dismissing her and stating that she is nothing special, she only existed as a tool in his master plan, just so that he can defeat Fenric once and for all.

It's a shocking moment, and one that is somewhat disappointingly not given much afterthought. The Doctor is, for a fleeting moment, allowed to be evil and to be dark, and we see him take a companion, one of his friends, to breaking point. And yet it's glossed over in the conclusion to make way for a more sentimental ending to another character arc that Ace has gone through in the episode. But it's certainly something that we'll look at later in the series, and I'm certainly looking forward to re-watching those episodes again. And, at the end of the day, The Curse of Fenric is still a monumentally brilliant episode, and one of the all-time underrated classics in Doctor Who.

Day 691: The Curse of Fenric Part 3

The major action scene for the Curse of Fenric is the Battle of St. Judes, where the Haemovores attack the church at the centre of the town. It's the scene that stuck with me throughout every viewing that I've had of it, and I even recall writing an assignment examining the music cues in the scene in Year 8. So what does the scene mean in the context of the fuller story?

For a start, it introduces the Haemovores as a threat. We see them as unstoppable monsters, immune to bullets and clearly very strong. This helps to cement them as memorable creatures, and a tangible threat within the story. But what's also interesting about them is their lack of voice. We only see their simple actions, and not the intent present behind them. Even those who can speak, being the vampiric Jean and Phyllis, focus more on attacking the innocents than actually developing some sort of concrete plan. This hints at a stronger force behind them, which we shall look at tomorrow.

There's also the weakness for the Haemovores revealed. They are particularly susceptible to faith, or as I would rather put it, a belief in good, for reasons that will become obvious later. After a long struggle, they finally burst into the room where the Doctor and the Vicar are defending in the church. In a moment of concentrated panic, the Doctor quietly starts reciting some words, which creates a beautiful aural effect forcing the Haemovores away in horror. The words are not meaningless, and are transcribed thusly: "Susan, Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Steven...". These words are the names of his companions, the people that the Doctor has faith in. They are the people who the Doctor knows will always do the best thing, that he trusts, that remind him that there is always good in the Universe. It's an incredibly subtle moment, but it reveals a massive amount about the Doctor and his trust in his companions. Tomorrow, then, we'll see how far that trust can be pushed...

Day 690: The Curse of Fenric Part 2

As Fenric continues, more themes emerge that are dealt with with a certain intelligence and adult viewpoint that wouldn't really have been possible previously in Doctor Who.

Take, for instance, the two young evacuee teenagers, Jean and Phyllis. They're young, rebellious, and similar to Ace, and in any other story, one might expect that they would end up as Ace's close allies throughout the entire piece. But instead, they are consumed with a desire for lust. They spend their days breaking rules and going down to Maiden's Point, the nearby beach, which is clearly meant to be a metaphor for having sex. As they cavort in these waters, they are dragged down and turned into vampires, representing creatures of evil, a natural progression from the darkness and lust already present within their hearts. And their first act as vampires is to lure a Soviet soldier to his death, coaxing him into the water with promises that it will be nice and lovely, only for it to backfire horribly on him, with deadly results.

So one could read this as just simply being that lust and sex are bad things. But that's not the full story here. There's a scene with Miss Hardaker, the woman who looks after Jean and Phyllis, where she has her house broken into by the two young women, now vampires. Her primary character motivation so far in the serial has been to be a Mary Whitehouse figure, shouting that they shouldn't go down to Maiden's Point, and that they'll be damned forever. She sees herself as some kind of moral guardian, saying to the local vicar that the war is clearly being fought for all the right reasons and they must win it as God is on their side, to the protests of the vicar who says that God is not on anyone's side during a war. This forthright attitude all ends up getting her killed as Jean and Phyllis seek revenge in their vampire form. But my theory is that she wasn't just killed because of that, but because there was a belief in evil in her heart. She saw only the worst in people, and never felt that there was good in humanity, which, as shall be discussed tomorrow, is one of the vampire's weaknesses, where hopefully this argument will make a lot more sense.

Day 689: The Curse of Fenric Part 1

The Curse of Fenric is an interesting story from my perspective. We got a copy of it on DVD as I was getting interested in Doctor Who, so I used to watch it on fairly high rotation. And at that age of around 10 years old, I only really saw it as a fun Doctor Who story set in World War 2 England with Vikings. But, as I grew older, I began to see that it was more than just a fun story, and that there were hidden depths to the characters and the plot, creating one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time.

So, to begin, first there's the fact that, as this episode is set-up for the story ahead, there's an awful lot that works a lot better on repeated viewings, once the events that are being set-up are seen. An example is the use of the Russian soldiers. We see them be young men, afraid of what they are doing, such as the scene where one of the soldiers is holding guard and sees some teenage girls begin to walk towards him. He desperately hopes that they turn away, not because he doesn't want to be discovered, but because he doesn't want to be forced to shoot them. This plays into the future of the story, as the Russians become more and more sympathetic characters, a major point in the climax.

There's also Ace, who meets a woman with a baby. She plays with the baby, and asks for its name. Upon learning it, she's disgusted, and gives the baby back, claiming that it was her mother's name. And as we shall see as the story progresses, this hatred of her mother forms one of the major character arcs for the character. But, we'll see all of that play out as the story progresses and we learn more about The Curse of Fenric.

Day 688: Ghost Light Part 3

So what is Ghost Light about really? Well, there exists a creature named Light, who travelled around various planets, cataloguing all the various life forms that existed. There existed others who worked with him, such as Josiah, whose role on the ship was that, for each planet that they landed on, he took the form of the dominant species. This was in contrast to Control, whose job it was to remain in isolation and be the experimental control to Josiah's evolution. One day, Josiah decided to hijack the ship, and take it to Earth, where he would hopefully evolve to become head of the British Empire, through instigating a plot to assassinate Queen Victoria. So we've got this idea of evolution present in the story, as characters change their appearances to reflect changes in society. Control, who is locked up in the ship for much of the story, is almost always kept as a woman in rags, but slowly she forms herself into a proper Victorian lady, or ladylike as she refers to herself as.

But then, when Light awakens, he is rather cross. Firstly, at the fact that he's been left alone for all of that time, but also because, in his absence, Earth has evolved. Creatures such as humans have been able to change and adapt to their surroundings, while others such as the Neanderthal have been left to die out. Light decides to ensure that humans can never evolve again, by deciding to destroy all organic life on Earth, such that then nothing will evolve and everything will stay the same for his catalogue. But he's ignoring the very beauty that nature is. It changes as time changes, evolving and developing into new forms of life. It is a pointless exercise to catalogue and write down everything, instead it is far better to learn and understand what is going on, and to evolve as these notions evolve.

This is all a really interesting concept to base the story around, and there's plenty more within it that's hidden away in the depths of the adventure. But there is a massive problem with it. Almost all of this only really becomes apparent within the last third of the story, and even then, a fair portion is only accessible if close attention is being paid to what is going on. There's no scene where everybody sits down and explains the plot, instead we all are expected to pick it up as we go along and hope for the best, and that all will become clear by the time of the final act. It's why I've been avoiding talking about the story for the past few blog entries, because it's difficult to talk about something when it hasn't been made clear yet. One can only imagine having to watch this weeks apart, as it was originally transmitted, instead of watching it days apart for the purposes of the blog.

So we end up with a noble failure, something which reaches for the heavens, but doesn't quite get there because of the nature of the programme (it would probably work far better as one 75 minute story, or when everything is viewed in bulk). But in the undercurrents of this story, there's something very intriguing happening. We delve into Ace's past. A haunted house that she destroyed because she sensed something evil. But the Doctor is explicitly testing her, using her and traumatising her. A darker Doctor who plays and tests his companions. The next story in particular will look at this, and how Ace feels about it. And it's a story that I've been looking forward to for a while...

Day 687: Ghost Light Part 2

The next step in my understanding of Ghost Light came when I was around 14 or 15. My grandparents, out of nowhere, gave me a book that they'd found in a local bookstore about Doctor Who called Through Time: An Unofficial and Unauthorised History of Doctor Who. Written by Andrew Cartmel, script editor for the Sylvester McCoy era of the programme, it purported to be a potted history of the series, dipping into various stories throughout the years that Doctor Who had been on television. I began reading it, and it began a slow process in my mind of widening my horizons to the world of Doctor Who.

The book itself provided an in depth analysis of individual stories, examining their strengths and weaknesses as well as what the stories were ultimately about. I found this to be interesting, because I'd previously only engaged with Doctor Who as a viewer, getting excited about things appearing on screen but never really engaging with the text on a deeper level. So I guess that that book was a sort of catalyst for me starting to write this blog, trying to engage with stories and see why they are so good or so bad, or what is inherently interesting within them.

Now, the book wasn't perfect. I don't recall much from it, but I seem to think that Cartmel looked down on The Ribos Operation, which is something that I fundamentally disagree with. He also spent the chapter of the book dealing with his own time on the series in an unnecessarily fawning way, describing almost everything he did as some sort of masterpiece, which jarred with me at the time. But, he did spend some time on Ghost Light, where he examined the story and explained it. It was all about evolution, he said, and he doesn't see why this story is so hard to understand. And, once you know that, you can agree with him. I now watch this story with a degree of interest that I didn't have when I was 11 and first watching it, because I can see the hidden meanings in the story. But this doesn't necessarily mean that the story is good, nor does it mean that I would recommend it...

Day 686: Ghost Light Part 1

I have almost no doubt that I am the only person who got to watch Ghost Light thanks to Woman's Day magazine. You see, my mum was friends in high school with someone who would later go on to become editor of said magazine. Clearly, whilst they were having a catch-up session, my mum must have mentioned that I was interested in Doctor Who, and so I received some old review copies of Doctor Who DVDs that they clearly had lying around the office. All of this led to an interesting relationship with an interesting story.

My memories of watching this episode for the first time at the age of 11 or 12 are vague. A few shots here and there, a line of dialogue maybe, the excellent score by Mark Ayres, small things that stick in your mind after the adventure is over. Which leads me to have to fill in the gaps in my memory, to try and figure out what I thought of this episode. All I can come up with is that I was completely apathetic to this episode. I probably watched it, but it was all white noise, in one ear and out the other. It's because this story is not very good at enticing young kids into the world of Doctor Who, particularly after the rip-roaring adventure that was Battlefield. It's all a little bit too odd, and there's not quite enough that's being explained to really entice you into the story at large. But as I grew older, I began to understand...

Day 685: Battlefield Part 4

I think that the reason why I got so much out of this story is that it's unabashedly just a fun story. Looking ahead to the next few stories, the series will be going to some dark places, so Battlefield ends up giving off the impression that they got all of their frivolous and funny moments out of the way in one little package.

And there are plenty of fun moments, like Mordred's penchant for laughing, as seen in the video above. This gives the feeling that the people involved were having fun with the adventure, and allowing things to be a bit lighter than usual, whether it be through writing, directing or acting their roles. This can also be seen in such things as the relationship between Ancelyn and Brigadier Bambera, who gently flirt with one another whilst fighting and generally being awesome, which not only helps to endear the characters to the audience, but also lightens the mood of the whole adventure.

But it wouldn't be worth anything were it not for the fact that the story will allow itself to be serious every once in a while. There's a scene, for instance, where the Doctor talks Morgaine Le Fay from setting off a nuclear missile is played well, and we feel Morgaine's sadness when she discovers that her long time foe: Arthur, King of the Britons, is dead, and she didn't get to have one final battle with him. These moments of contrast not only allow for the lighter scenes to appear just that bit more joyful, but also lend the story an air of respectability that keeps it from falling into the trap of just being a generic action-adventure story. And if there's anything that I've learnt over the past 685 days, Doctor Who is generally at its best when it's not a generic action adventure story.

Day 684: Battlefield Part 3

There's a series of interesting decisions leading up to the revelation of the monster, The Destroyer, at the end of this episode. We first see it in silhouette, inside a crystal ball. That silhouette is then transfered to the real world, but it remains in silhouetted form, keeping a degree of mystery about the character, but also allowing for a sense of anticipation to build as the monster becomes more of a threat. This threat becomes palpable at the end of the episode, as it reveals itself in all of its glory, a majestic horned blue beast that looks vaguely demonic. It lives up to the anticipation that has been built around the character, mostly because through the shadow that we see of it, we're able to discern a lot of its features. However, there's a degree of disappointment, because the shadow form of it is slightly more unnerving and mystical, and one kind of wishes that they had stayed wi that form for the entire story. But, it's still a good monster, and another positive thing about this story.

Day 683: Battlefield Part 2

So this story is all about the Doctor engaging with the legend of King Arthur, as he fights Morgaine Le Fay, the evil villain who fought Arthur in days of old. What's interesting about this setting, however, is who they have in the role of Merlin. It's the Doctor, which is fairly obvious as far as analogues go, although what's not obvious is which Doctor. Merlin is a future version of the Doctor, and has set up a lot of this adventure such that his past self can come along and finish it for him.

It's a fun idea, not only because it plays with the idea of time travel (something which is rarely mentioned in Doctor Who in the Classic era) but also because it plays with the idea of the Seventh Doctor. The Seventh Doctor has become known for being a bit of a manipulator, developing complex and ornate plans in order to defeat villainy across the Universe. Here, he's been put in a position where he's a pawn in a future version of himself's game, and he's willing to play his role, treating it as some sort of puzzle where he has to figure out exactly how everything falls into place.

It all adds to the sense of fun behind this story, and makes each episode one to look forward to, as we see what happens as the Doctor figures out the Doctor's plan.

Day 682: Battlefield Part 1

And so it begins. Season 26. The last season of Classic Doctor Who. It begins with Battlefield, which appears to be an action story merging Arthurian legend with UNIT, who are making their first full appearance since Season 13 (there have been name-checks here and there, but this is the first story in a very long time to feature them in such a major role). It's clear from the offset that things have changed in the intervening years with regards to UNIT, in part due to the fact that fresh eyes are now able to look at the concept and re-work it to fit their idea of what UNIT should be.

For a start, there's a new Brigadier: Brigadier Winifred Bambera. She's similar to the old Brigadier, in that she's clearly a military type of person, someone who commands respect and is able to lead their team, but is slightly closed-minded with regards to new ideas (in her case, specifically the nature of the Doctor). However, what she lacks with comparison to the old Brigadier is the sense of warmth and familiarity that we associate with the character, or indeed, that character is allowed to associate with the Doctor and co.. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows for room for the character to move and grow, and one can expect that if the series continued we would see Brigadier Bambera more frequently throughout the years.

But as we know, things didn't pan out that way. So instead of focussing on the possibilities of the future, let's get back to the present and continue watching Battlefield. For, as the Seventh Doctor is becoming increasingly fond of saying, "We've got work to do!".

Day 681: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part 4

It's towards the conclusion of this story that the cracks begin to show within the narrative. There's a lot of things that happen that require the audience to make assumptions as to how their meaning, because they're never adequately explained, at least in my opinion.

For instance, there's the character of Captain Cook. He gets killed within the first five or so minutes if Part 4, and is left to his eternal rest in some corner of the circus tent. However, towards the climax of the adventure, he comes back as a zombie, in order to prevent Ace, Mags and one of the circus performers known as Kingpin from getting a medallion to the Doctor. It's never really explained why Cook comes back though, instead we're left to assume that he's been brought back by the villains, the Gods of Ragnarok, even if they didn't give any indication that they did such a thing.

There's also the entire premise of the Gods of Ragnarok. They're actually fairly well explained in the story, we know that they wish to be entertained for all eternity, and as such they kidnap performers to perform for them throughout the story. However, there are still some sore points with regards to their story, such as their downfall, which involves the Doctor pulling a sword out of nowhere and using it in conjunction with the medallion to reflect their power back at them. Apparently, this causes the circus to begin to collapse in on itself, which whilst an arresting image, doesn't really feel completely explained to me, the viewer.

But, I'm willing to give this story a free pass, because it's actually incredibly engaging in terms of atmosphere and character, and one gets the sense that there was all of this information in some edit of the script, but it had to be left out for reasons of time or the like. It means that The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is left being an imperfect story, but then again, nothing's perfect.

Day 680: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part 3

The cliffhangers to this story have been fairly weak so far. The exception is clearly the end of Part 3, where it is revealed that Mags, one of the supporting characters in the story, is a werewolf. Now, I knew that Mags was going to be revealed as a werewolf when I went into the story, and I had seen various images of her in her werewolf form. What I'd neglected, however, was that in context, she is incredibly creepy and terrifying, and an interesting depiction of what a werewolf could look like. It forgoes the traditional form of a werewolf, i.e. a wolf-like creature, for something altogether stranger, consisting of sharp teeth and lime green face paint. This may not sound like much, however it is a production decision that allows for focus to be put on the performance of Jessica Martin, the actress who plays Mags, who is able to unleash the inner animal and give a truly frightening performance. This is accentuated by director Alan Wareing's decision to use several close ups of her, focussing on the vaguely terrifying aspects of her form and giving a fully scary monster for this adventure.

Day 679: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part 2

The corridors in this episode are actually some of the best corridors to feature in Doctor Who ever. Now, that may not feel like I'm saying much, but it certainly feels as if it should mean something. You see, this story is set inside a circus, and a lot of this episode features Ace running through corridors within the tent complex. These corridors succeed for a variety of reasons, but it's mainly because these corridors were actually set up as if they were a circus tent, with the outside light permeating slightly through the fabric of the walls, as they sway ever so gently in the breeze as people rush by them. It adds a sense of realism to the production, as well as making the process of running through the corridors ever so slightly scarier, because the flimsy nature of the walls always gives the impression that someone could be hiding right behind them, ready to jump out and attack. And, the funny thing is, this was never actually meant to be set up this way. The production team were kicked out of their original studio due to an asbestos scare, and as such, had to relocate to a car park in the middle of some other BBC studio complex. It's a beautiful example of serendipity affecting the programme and adding a degree of atmosphere to this fantastic story.

Day 678: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part 1

On the surface, there's not much to this episode. The Doctor and Ace arrive on a planet, one that looks suspiciously like a quarry, looking for a circus. On their journey, they meet a variety of weird and colourful characters, and it all culminates with the Doctor and Ace making the decision of whether they will enter the circus or not. But, after watching it, I was surprised to find that I couldn't keep my eyes away from the story, as I remained constantly alert throughout the entire piece.

There are so many factors that play into this, but the main one in my opinion is the weirdness of the surroundings. We're treated to surreal images of a clown dressed as an undertaker setting off kites to find an Adam Ant impersonator, which feels so odd that it draws a sense of curiousity about the proceedings. This is helped by the music, by Mark Ayres, who delivers a muted but everpresent feel of mystery to the story, adding a degree of suspense, and helping build an atmosphere that engages the viewer.

So I'm actually rather looking forward to the next episode of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, and I hope that it will live up to the oddness of the first part.