Day 505: The Armageddon Factor Part 6

So the Shadow has been defeated, and the Key to Time assembled. It is then promptly disassembled when the Doctor realises that this has all been a ploy by the Black Guardian in order to create everlasting chaos in the Universe. The story then ends with the Doctor and Romana going on the run to escape the Black Guardian, thus ending this series long story arc.

So perhaps we should look back at this story arc, now that all has been said and done. It's got a nice variety of stories within it, and each one in their own way is enjoyable, from the rollicking adventure that is The Androids of Tara to the Hammer Horror of The Stones of Blood. The characters too are all generally memorable and enjoyable, such as Drax, the cheeky Time Lord, or the overacting Pirate Captain from The Pirate Planet. And above all else, the series has a vast amount of fun behind it, with little jokes and gags throughout the series that keep things light, which makes for a much happier time as a viewer.

And for the past four or five years I have sadly viewed The Armageddon Factor as the mark on the otherwise spotless jewel that is this series. A mixture of bad padding, poor acting and poor special effects led me to dismiss this story. But looking at it for its ideas, and the way in which the story is told, I'm able to see that this story has its merits, and I can enjoy it for what it is, meaning that this series, Series 16 of Doctor Who, is now in my opinion the greatest series of Doctor Who we've covered as of this moment, and possibly of all time. But we shall see whether this holds up, as we start a new series tomorrow, and it's got high standards to live up to.

Day 504: The Armageddon Factor Part 5

Looking at The Armageddon Factor, the character of Drax, introduced in Part 5, strikes the audience as one of the more interesting characters that we have encountered in this story. He's another Time Lord like the Doctor, but he represents a different slant on Gallifreyan society compared to what we have seen before. The Time Lords have previously been all powerful beings, and a little bit stuffy and pompus. Drax, on the other hand, would appear to have rejected these views after failing his examinations and going off to explore the Universe, much like the Doctor. Unlike the Doctor, however, he is fairly loose when it comes to criminal activity and has at one point had an extended stay in a London prison. Personality wise, he's a bit silly, and whilst he is technically gifted he is liable to make mistakes fairly often. So we have an imperfect Time Lord introduced within the series. Sadly this is his only appearance, which is a shame as the character works well with the Doctor, providing a voice that both has the intellectual capacity to discuss various concepts with the Doctor, but also the looseness that makes his scenes feel lighter and more enjoyable. That said though, we already have a character who somewhat fulfils those criteria in the form of Romana. Romana, however, still feels a little bit too 'straight' compared to the Doctor's looseness, and perhaps a change may be seen in the future with regards to Romana's character to inject a little bit more fun into the series.

Day 503: The Armageddon Factor Part 4

The titular Armageddon Factor refers to one proposed ending of the war going on in the background of this story. Essentially, the two warring planets consist of one planet with humanoids fighting and desperately trying to win, and the other consisting of a computer that has been programmed to win at all costs, even if the race that created it has died out ages ago. The computer thus decides that if it cannot win then no planet can win, setting off an explosion big enough to destroy both planets if it looks as if it is going to be destroyed. This idea of Mutually Assured Destruction is clearly prevalent in society at the time, being broadcast in the 1970's as the Cold War rages on, which means that the story is able to play on the audience's fears and create a more compelling story as a result.

Meanwhile, in my ongoing quest to approach The Armageddon Factor from a nicer viewpoint, I am a little worried. The major flaw in the story is beginning to show and I'm not looking forward to experiencing it, not least because I've actually been enjoying this story up until this point and am looking forward to seeing how it will continue as we further seek the final segment of The Key to Time.

Day 502: The Armageddon Factor Part 3

There's really not much to say about this episode. Quality wise it is remaining on a level pegging with the previous parts of this story (even if Ian Saynor, the actor playing the young male lead known as Merak, is beginning to become a little annoying), and the story, whilst introducing new characters and new settings, only scratches the surface as far as the true depth of these concepts is concerned, making me somewhat reluctant to talk about them at this present moment. What's interesting then is the fact that we've reached Part 3 of a 6 part story and we're still presented with new questions. this is partly because the writing team have decided to experiment with a new format for 6 part episodes, consisting now of interconnected 2 part episodes. We've had the set-up on Atrios, more set-up and some discovery of the true nature of the plot on Zeos and a final conclusion on an unnamed planet that we will get to in a couple of episodes time. At this moment, this set-up actually seems to be working rather well. For 6 part stories there always seem to be sagging sections where nothing really seems to be happening. This isn't the case here, where new parts of the story can be easily introduced throughout the adventure, ensuring that the audience will never get bored. Or at least, hoping that the audience will never get bored...

Day 501: The Armageddon Factor Part 2

Edit: So whilst watching some special features on The Armageddon Factor DVD, I noticed that they were mentioning the fact that Part 1 of this story was the 500th broadcast episode of Doctor Who. This perplexed me, mainly because I had this down as the 500th episode. I then consulted my backlog and discovered that I had made a mistake when noting down episode numbers around the time of The Deadly Assassin. So whilst I fix the episode numbers so that this won't happen again, I'll leave this entry standing as is except with the relevant numbers changed. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

501 episodes. On this blog we've covered 501 individual episodes of Doctor Who. We've visited junkyards, ancient Egypt, oil refineries, small English villages and distant alien worlds. And through all of that time the series still produces some truly great moments.

Take, for instance, this episode. The Armageddon Factor concerns two warring planets: Atrios and Zeos. For the first section of the story we are stranded on Atrios, and we see the destruction and damage that the war has brought. But then we reach the point that the episode has been building up to: the battle between the two planets' respective fleets of spaceships. We view this battle from afar, looking only at a monitor screen revealing the ships and their movements. We wait and see the battle to take place, only to see Atrios' fleet be utterly demolished by their enemies.

Looking at the scene from a production point of view, it's incredibly low budget. We're confined strictly to one set, which is used to have the main characters commentating on the events. There's also not enough money to afford spaceship models either, meaning that our only representation of the warring fleets is by a series of dots on a screen, which flash brightly and then disappear when they get hit. But despite the lack of production values, it still comes across well. This is mainly due to the performances of the people watching the events, in particular that of John Woodvine as the Marshal, a man who desperately hopes that his fleet will survive. He pleasingly remarks on every hit with a quiet glee, only to be continually reminded of how the ships being hit are his own, and that he is losing badly. It helps the situation come across as a desperate one, and makes us empathise with their hopeless cause.

And this scene is just another great scene that we've covered over the past 501 days. It makes up for a lack in budget with strong acting, some excellent direction and some very well made sets, thus making for some incredibly good television. But there are still 300 or so episodes left, which can only mean that We've Got Work to Do!

Day 500: The Armageddon Factor Part 1

Before we begin this story, I should probably talk about the context with which I'm currently viewing this story. I first saw the Key to Time series four or five years ago. The Ribos Operation stunned me, The Pirate Planet enthralled me, The Stones of Blood provided much enjoyment, The Androids of Tara was a lovely surprise and I even admired the underrated The Power of Kroll. Then I came to The Armageddon Factor. I didn't enjoy this story. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I hated it. That opinion has been stuck within my mind for several years. So, whilst I try to come to each story with a relatively open mind, I'm not sure whether that will be possible in this situation.

That said, the first part of this is actually pretty good. It begins with a post-modern piece where we look at two hammy actors in front of some dodgy blue-screen effects, only for the camera to pan out and reveal that this is just a drama, and our real set is revealed, looking far more realistic as a nuclear bunker is bombarded and we see the destruction that past attacks have wrought on the populace, lying on the floor moaning for help as nurses hurriedly rush to their aid.

Indeed, the entire episode feels rather dark, with death destruction and the constant barrage of explosions being a constant presence as events continue. But, thanks in part to Tom Baker's performance as the Doctor, and also a romantic sub-plot from Bob Baker and Dave Martin (the writers), it never feels overtly dark, and we can grow to enjoy the story. So maybe I was wrong about it the first time around, and The Armageddon Factor is just another underrated gem that we've encountered on this voyage through time and space.

Day 473: Underworld Part 4

Today I occasionally felt as if the world was conspiring against me. Between having a long day at University, facing the wrath of an oncoming cold and having some minor computer issues, today hasn't been that good. To top it all off, I had significant problems whilst watching Underworld today, meaning that I ended up having to stop and restart it around four or five times. It doesn't help that Underworld is, to be perfectly frank, completely awful.

The blue screen sets occasionally cause logic to be defied as we see K9 float in mid air. The direction is poor, such as in one scene where we hold on the Doctor and Leela for five seconds more than we needed to, presumably to pad the story out a bit more. The writing is poor as well, where Baker and Martin succeed in ideas, they fail in other aspects. Orfe has a pacifying ability that I honestly don't recall him using beyond the first episode, wasting a perfectly good and useful concept. Jackson, when preparing to leave, promptly forgets about the Doctor and Leela, then when K9 reminds him, he suddenly cares deeply about their plight, showing a lack of character consistency within the same scene. The villains all look identical, meaning that it is completely impossible to tell which one is talking at any point in time. The above wouldn't matter so much, were it not for the fact that the villains decide to have conversations amongst themselves at various intervals throughout the program. And this is just the start of a long list of problems that I have with this story.

But my major problem is slightly different. When I first watched Underworld, I was 15 or 16. For some reason, I actually enjoyed the story a great deal. And so when I watched this story again, I was hoping every single day that today would be the day that it would get better. I already planned out in my head that today's blog entry would be about how I still liked Underworld, despite all its problems. And there are things to like in it, there's a cracking scene in the middle of this episode as the Doctor faces off against the Oracle. But this is not enough to get around the fact that Underworld is just a very poor Doctor Who story.

Day 472: Underworld Part 3

There's no getting around it, on screen Underworld is a failure. Granted, that's not entirely it's fault. The series has suffered a bit of a lack of budget, which means that it's difficult to afford things such as sets. Thus, the decision was made to have half of the sets replaced with blue-screen, or Colour Separation Overlay, which means that everything looks incredibly fake. It also restricts the camera, meaning that much of what is seen on screen is static, making the story feel remarkably dull.

And it's not just that, the cliffhanger to this story ranks in my mind as the worst cliffhanger that we've ever encountered. To summarise: the Doctor and Leela are hiding in a mine-cart, someone pushing a mine-cart falls over (incredibly unconvincingly) and a mine-cart (that almost certainly doesn't contain the Doctor and Leela) is emptied in a crusher. It doesn't give any sense of peril, instead it just feels like the episode just ends. This isn't helped by the limited direction from Norman Stewart, most likely due to the issues mentioned in the first paragraph. But by watching this story, it's becoming increasingly apparent that this story really is very poor indeed.

Day 471: Underworld Part 2

This story is an adaptation of the old myth of Jason and the Argonauts. It concerns, as did the original tale, of a group of heroes on a quest to find a lost object. The tale is littered with references to the original story, with characters called things like Herrick (as in Heracles) and Orfe (as in Orpheus), which acts as a nice touch, and rewards the vigilant and well-read viewer. It's also a good idea to use this story as a basis, as the original story has survived for so long due to being a good story. Thus, if you're going to steal plot ideas, it makes sense to steal from the best.

You can also add to this that young kids will tend to enjoy these tales of Greek heroes, and may thus be interested in watching stories that act as adaptations of some of their favourite legends. I can testify to this, as I was one of those kids. I loved Greek mythology as a kid, and to some extent I still do, but as a kid looking through Doctor Who The Television Companion I saw the story Underworld, clearly recognised the names and I got excited for the story. I have a suspicion that I saw the episode on VHS from our local library, however I have virtually no recollection of it. But the fact that I was keen to see it is testament enough to this story, that it should grab a young 10 year old's imagination, showing that this story has certainly got something in its favour.

Day 470: Underworld Part 1

As first episodes go, this isn't that bad. Bob Baker and Dave Martin, writers of this serial, are always keen to bring ideas to the series and here they provide them in spades. Take, for instance, the cliffhanger. We have a spaceship's mass, as it is too large, attracting small pieces of debris, causing the ship to quickly become buried alive as various rocks and asteroids form a surface around it. It's a fantastically cool idea, and one that is particularly well realised by the visual effects crew for the series. 

Indeed, it's not often that we praise the work of the visual effects department on this blog, but it's something that should really happen more often, because they consistently provide fantastic models or special effects that are instantly believable. There's often talks about the wobbly models made of egg cartons that feature in Doctor Who, but these are rarities, as we have had consistently good models for the past 450-odd episodes and I am sure that we will have even more as the series continues.

Day 461: The Invisible Enemy Part 4

There's no getting around the uncomfortable fact about The Invisible Enemy. The titular enemy looks like a prawn. It's one of those cases where you desperately wish that the title were more accurate, such that we never saw what was cooked up for us on screen and we can live in blissful ignorance of the shrimp-like creature that attempts to take over the universe. It's one of several things that don't quite hit the mark with this story, mainly based around special effects although the direction, design and writing could have certainly been improved.

And yet, there's still a part of me that kind of likes this story. As I mentioned yesterday, there's the fantastic idea of the Doctor going inside his own mind. And there are a vast array of fantastic ideas here, from robot dogs to viruses that want to take over the universe, this story feels like it really wants to push the boundaries of what can be achieved on screen. It's commendable that the production team at least gave it a shot then. And even if it may not have worked as well on screen, at least we got something that was memorable and had some elements that were enjoyable within it.

Finally, today we learnt of the passing of Barry Newbery, designer for Doctor Who and coincidentally this story. His work has generally been fantastic, bringing forth wonderful worlds such as Renaissance Italy, Aztec temples and my personal favourite, the mysterious planet Karn. He will be sorely missed as a man who brought brilliant worlds to our screens, captivating our imaginations to truly allow us to be wanderers in the fourth dimension.

Day 460: The Invisible Enemy Part 3

"Where are we going Doctor?"

"Into the land of dreams and fantasy, Leela"

Through a convoluted procedure, the Doctor and Leela are currently inside the Doctor's brain trying to find the Nucleus of the Swarm, the viral creature that is causing all of the problems that are currently afflicting everyone. What this means is that the script gets to go a bit more surreal, as we walk through a truly alien landscape, full of strange backgrounds and dark areas, making the brain feel like an unexplored planet, full of mysteries to be uncovered. It's a plot line that verges on the surreal, but is also grounded in scientific reality. They are attacked by strange beasts, but these are antibodies aiming to remove the inteuders. Similarly, when we see strange signals and flashes in the background, we know that these are electrical impulses sending signals from the brain to the rest of the body. This all comes together to represent a merging of both the scientific side of the series and the fantastical, creating something that, as written, is truly awe inspiring.

Day 459: The Invisible Enemy Part 2

The Invisible Enemy features one incredibly major thing that occurs within the story. It is something that changes the landscape of Doctor Who forever and will go on to define Graham Williams' era as producer. It is in this story that K9 first appears in. He instantly stands out in the story as a really cool idea, being a robot dog that can give information whenever required. The way in which he is written and portrayed is fun as well, with K9 having some sense of humour, which lends a sense of fun to the proceedings as we get to laugh with a robot dog, and not be as terrified by the monsters in this story. The character certainly worked well for the audience, where the reaction to him was so good that they decided to make him a companion at the end of the story, instead of leaving him to be a one-off like was originally planned. On top of that, he is still a character that is fondly remembered to this day, and able to be enjoyed by a modern audience thanks to the fact that we can all sit back and have fun with a robot dog.

Day 458: The Invisible Enemy Part 1

This story takes an interesting tack in that the Doctor is possessed relatively early on, about halfway into Part 1. This makes the Doctor have more of an edge, as he tries to kill Leela and other people who do not give into the Swarm, the force that is currently trying to possess much of humanity. However, it doesn't quite work. For a start, Bob Baker and Dave Martin, the story's writers, have made the decision to let Leela have extra senses to know that something is going wrong, thus meaning that she clearly knows that the Doctor is possessed, removing much of the tension that could surround the story. There's also the fact that everyone who is possessed goes into the typical 'possessed' acting, speaking slowly and making no effort to hide their true nature and you get an episode that doesn't entirely work. Hopefully the rest of the story shall improve as The Invisible Enemy continues.

Day 435: The Hand of Fear Part 4

At the end of the day, The Hand of Fear is a story destined to be forgotten. We may remember certain aspects such as the characters or the basic plotline, but it is all overshadowed by what immediately follows it. You see, Sarah Jane Smith, beloved companion, decides that she has had enough at the end of this story. Tired of being shot at, hypnotised and the like, she decides once and for all to give up the life of travelling in the TARDIS. The Doctor takes no notice of this, he's busy with other matters. But then after discovering that he has to go away to Gallifrey, he is forced to leave Sarah Jane behind. She quickly changes her mind, but then is told that she has to leave. So she does, but not before saying "Travel does broaden the mind". The Doctor responds with "Til we meet again Sarah", and she leaves. The Doctor looks away, hiding the fact that he's sad. Because he's never going to see his best friend again. This is the nature of Doctor Who. The companions leave and move on with their lives, just as the Doctor moves on with his life. Change is inevitable in the world of Doctor Who.

And we wish it wasn't. Sarah Jane Smith has been one of the best companions the series has ever had. She is able to be smart, funny and resourceful. She can be brave when the situation demands it but she's not afraid to show fear. She was a perfect audience identification figure, as she was able to provide an air of normality to the insane adventures that the Doctor went on, but she was also able to represent the very best qualities of humanity in the process. We'll miss you Sarah Jane Smith. And we'll never forget you.

Day 434: The Hand of Fear Part 3

This episode brings another interesting cliffhanger. Eldrad (who MUST live), has resurrected themselves and has secured the help of the Doctor and Sarah Jane to return to Kastria such that they can fully regenerate themselves, as they currently exist as a weird hybrid between their native Kastrian form and the form of the human that unwittingly helped resurrect Eldrad, Sarah Jane Smith. It is blatantly obvious throughout the serial that Eldrad serves as the antagonist, through using mind control on people and threatening to kill others, indeed almost going through with it in the case of Professor Watson.

Thus, it is a surprise to see Eldrad as the focus of the cliffhanger, where a trap is sprung upon them and they are in clear mortal peril. It is rare to see cliffhangers that focus on characters other than the regulars, let alone the antagonist, and yet here we are. However, it works as a dramatic device. We do not know whether this will kill Eldrad or not, and we have grown to become invested in that aspect of the story. We thus need to see the conclusion of the story, to get closure on whether Eldrad will live or not. But I've got a feeling that that won't be the main focus of tomorrow's episode...

Day 433: The Hand of Fear Part 2

There's a simple little scene within this episode. Sarah Jane, possessed by the power of Eldrad (who MUST live), has infiltrated a nuclear power complex and is making the reactor go critical. Professor Watson, the leader of the complex, is suddenly faced with the very real prospect of dying, so he calls his family. He doesn't let them know that he's going to die, he instead says that he's going to be at the reactor a little bit late. By having this scene, Bob Baker and Dave Martin, the writers, are able to make us immediately sympathise with this character who we've never met before, thus giving us a reason to pay attention to the story, because we suddenly care about this character and want him to make it home to see his children.

This is followed up with the cliffhanger to the story, which features the reactor having some sort of crisis, with the final shot being Professor Watson lying unconscious on the floor. It is an implicit rule of television that the regulars will always survive whatever cliffhanger you throw at them. As Professor Watson is not a regular, there is suddenly a very real chance that he might die. This simple character that we care about is now in danger and so we are encouraged to tune in to see the following instalment. Forget Eldrad, Professor Watson MUST live!

Day 432: The Hand of Fear Part 1

This, as an episode, doesn't quite feel right. It's not like The Seeds of Doom where I can pinpoint exactly where the story deviates from expectations, instead the not-rightness surrounds the episode as a whole, feeling like it's surrounded by a goo of not sitting well with me. It's unexpected that this should happen as well, I last saw this story a year and a half ago and can only remember good things, but seeing it now makes everything feel...odd.

A reason could plausibly be due to the setting. We're firmly in the present day, but not the present day that we're used to. This is the first story since Fury from the Deep to feature no input from UNIT, and even then you'd have to go back to The Faceless Ones to find a story that's within the same category as this, with strange goings on happening in familiar environments (this time a quarry, a hospital and a nuclear power station). Add to this the fact that we have the Doctor separated from Sarah Jane for a vast proportion of the episode, a tacked on prologue detailing the possible origins of the titular Hand, and an odd scene where we see the Doctor not in a sprightly yellow roadster but in a rather more mundane car driving along in the passenger seat to find Sarah Jane, and we have an episode that doesn't sit well with this particular member of the audience.

But I do remember strong things to come in this story, and I look forward to seeing the rest of it as we delve more into The Hand of Fear...

Day 391: The Sontaran Experiment Part 2

This story is entirely set on location. Instead of being confined to the studio, we get to see the Doctor and co. dash about on the desolate wasteland that is Dartmoor. This works incredibly effectively, as we never doubt for a second that this is the Earth and that it is in the process of regaining the ability to sustain life, due to it being a region on Earth which isn't ideal for sustaining life. It just goes to show that not all Doctor Who locations are quarries and that this experiment can be deemed a success.

Speaking of experiments, it's probably about time that we mentioned the titular experiment run by the Sontaran Field Major Styre. Styre is in the process of capturing humans and subjecting them to the limits of their abilities to observe what their weaknesses are and how to overcome them. This is achieved through torture, as we see people dying of thirst, Sarah Jane being subjected to mental torture through exploiting her fears and two men forced to hold an ever incresing weight so as to prevent the death of another man. It's gruesome stuff, showing that Doctor Who is no longer afraid to go into these dark places. It also fits in well with the Sontaran psyche, exploiting their military point of view, which is to be expected as is story is script edited by the Sontarans' creator: Robert Holmes.

But coming back to the point that was made yesterday, the shortened length of this story means that we don't get as much time to develop the characters, as plot strands are introduced and then dropped as quickly as they came. Cases in point are traitors amongst the humans, as well as the conclusion in which the Doctor defeats the oncoming Sontaran battle fleet by telling them that if they try to invade, they will be destroyed. It's anti-climactic, and lessens the overall impact of the story. All of that said though, this story wasn't that bad and shows great promise for stories of a similar length (although it will be a long time before we enounter another one), and it should also be noted that the art of writing 45 minute episodes will be honed in future years as the series continues.

Day 390: The Sontaran Experiment Part 1

This is going to be a quick one. The Sontaran Experiment is a rarity in Classic Doctor Who, as it is do e and dusted in 45 minutes. Thus, there's not as much time for character development, or having a longer and more detailed plot, however there's no danger of this outstaying its welcome meaning that we'll get a half decent story at the end of the day. All of that said though, this episode still feels like a Part 1 of a four part story. We're introduced to the guest cast and get a sense of the mysterious goings on. The monster, in is case a Sontaran returning from The Time Warrior, is also kept hidden from view, to increase tension and pad out the story. This implies that Part 2 will feel more rushed, as it struggles to conclude the plot strands that have all been built up whilst expanding on the actions of Part 1 at the same time. But this is all me hypothesising, and we still have Part 2 to come of this Experiment.