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 499: The Power of Kroll Part 4

So let's change tack and talk about one of the supporting characters in this story. Fenner is a relatively small role, existing as the person who at first goes along with the plans of the refinery workers but then when he realises that they are all in danger he quickly becomes one of the sole sane voices, but is constantly pushed into each situation by his less than nice boss, Thawn. Eventually, once Thawn is dealt with, Fenner is left to help the Doctor and Romana save the day, and thus all is well.

But not all is well with Fenner. As the Doctor leaves, proclaiming that Fenner can adopt a more natural lifestyle with the Swampies, the inhabitants of the moon on which the story is set, Fenner has a less than pleased look on his face. He has persecuted the Swampies for much of his time working for the refinery and now he is expected to live with them. He knows that this is not going to be a good ending for him, that he may end up dead because of his past actions. But the Doctor wanders away, thinking the best and not realising that the worst is about to happen.

A lot of this is due to Philip Madoc's performance as Fenner, giving the role a sustenance that, if present in the original script, would certainly be lost on a lesser actor who would be more inclined to go for the obvious route of making the character obviously likeable. But Madoc never does this, and he always seems to be on the darker shade of grey, making his final fate all the more interesting to see, and it makes this story all the more interesting as a whole.

Day 498: The Power of Kroll Part 3

The Doctor, Romana and the treacherous gun-runner Rohm-Dutt have been put to death. The method of their death is to be tied up to some vines, which will slowly move and stretch their bodies, meaning that their spines will slowly be broken. This is reasonably uncomfortable to watch. bringing to mind medieval tortures such as the rack and, at least in my case, I felt like I wanted to curl up into a ball when I heard such descriptions as Romana describing her vertebrae as "they feel like beads on a piece of elastic". It's all thanks to Robert Holmes, erstwhile script editor for the series, for whom this story will be his last for the series for a good couple of years. It's uncomfortable and horrifying, but it's done with a certain glee that reflects that he is clearly having fun writing this section of the story. It represents another stand-out scene in Series 16, which for my money is one of the best series of Doctor Who of all time.

Day 497: The Power of Kroll Part 2

This episode is bookended by two noteworthy cliffhangers. The first is the resolution to the previous episode's cliffhanger, which was Romana being menaced by a fairly unconvincing monster. She is saved by the Doctor, who unmasks the monster as just someone dressed in a fairly unconvincing costume. This is fantastic, as it plays on the fact that the audience would not completely expect the monster to be convincing in the first place, by virtue of this being a 1970's Doctor Who story. Thus, we are surprised to learn that our initial suspicions are correct from when we first saw the monster, and that it really is just a man in a suit.

The same can't be said of the episode's ending however, which features a fairly unconvincing tentacle grabbing a refinery worker and dragging him into a fairly unconvincing pipe. It's built up to well with some excellent acting from the supporting cast, and there's a somewhat effective jump scare that signals the beginning of the cliffhanger but it just doesn't work, because the effects simply aren't up to scratch. It's not the best thing to see in the story, but that doesn't really matter at the end of the day, as there are more important things like script and character to distract us from the fairly shoddy effects.

Day 496: The Power of Kroll Part 1

There's a seriousness at the heart of this story. Instead of us being greeted with a swashbuckling adventure or a Hammer Horror style story about vampiric stones, this story instead appears to concern itself with a refinery where the staff are enslaving the native people as well as setting up refineries all over their land. This is something that they object to, but they don't respond to this in the normal way that we'd expect for a Doctor Who story, that is wait for the Doctor to come along and then have some form of revolution. Instead, we see them ordering guns and ammunition from a gun-runner, planning to take back their land by force. Granted, this isn't an idea that is new to Doctor Who, but I feel that it gains an extra seriousness because of the fact that they are using real guns. These aren't laser pistols or the like, these are real machine guns, thus driving home the point that these guns will be used to outright kill people. This seriousness is something that we haven't really seen in Doctor Who for a while, and it's something that we'll see a bit more of as the series continues. But for now, let's just see where The Power of Kroll will take us as the serial continues...

Day 495: The Androids of Tara Part 4

Towards the climax of this story we get a swordfight. We sort of expect this to happen, given that the story has been exactly the rip-roaring adventure that requires a swordfight to top it all off. What's interesting though is how the swordfight is directed. When it begins, the fight is entirely in studio, meaning a cramped area to fight in that somewhat increases tension. Tom Baker as the Doctor diffuses some of this tension by making a few jokes throughout the fight, but the tension still remains, in part due to the fact that there is no music, leaving us to purely focus on the action and become sucked in by it. It is only when it becomes clear that the Doctor has the upper hand that we can allow ourselves to relax, and to know that the Doctor will win in the end. The music is restored, we go onto location with film, meaning that the fighting gains a bit more space, and all is generally well. But the direction in the first half of the fight remains good and tense, standing out in the story as a highlight. Much kudos must then go to Michael Hayes, the director of this story, and I look forward greatly to his next story in Doctor Who. But that's for another day as we've still got 2 more segments of The Key to Time to find as the ongoing adventure continues...

Day 494: The Androids of Tara Part 3

A fun part of this story is the character of Count Grendel. Played by Peter Jeffrey, he is the villain of this story. The character is clearly evil, making no attempts to hide this fact. He wanders around the story, making attempts to become the King by killing various people and acting like a villain straight out of children's cartoon. This can be seen, for instance, in the ending to this episode which features him wandering into the Doctor's hideout under a flag of truce, in an attempt to get the Doctor to change sides, then leaping over a bench to capture Romana and ride away on horseback. In other stories, this character would be a little disappointing, as we might want a little more nuance in the role of villain, such as those found in the stories of Malcolm Hulke. But in this story, we can excuse this, because we've already bought into the idea of this being a simpler, lighter story. In this case, the Count falls perfectly into the role for which we expect him to, being your typical cartoon villain. Essentially, we allow the villains to have fun in their role because we're allowed to have fun watching it. And what's a fun adventure serial without a clearly evil villain to face?

Day 493: The Androids of Tara Part 2

So this episode revolves around doppelgängers. We have the fact that Romana is the spitting image of the Princess Strella of Tara, hence she is captured for nefarious purposes. We also have the titular androids, who are constructed to be living doubles of various people to perform various tasks when their original is otherwise indisposed (read: incarcerated). This is something that should be nothing new to the audience, this sort of story is relatively common (indeed much of this plot is lifted directly from the novel The Prisoner of Zenda), and it's nice to see Doctor Who take a science-fiction spin on the tale.

It's also important to note that The Prisoner of Zenda is hardly a dark piece. But the series realises that, and so we get a lighter, simpler adventure story, instead of the terrifying Hammer Horror style tale that we got with The Stones of Blood. This can be seen on location, for instance, as the sun brightly shines through the countryside portraying a far happier story than what we've previously had.

This brings me to the major point that I want to make about Graham Williams and to an extent his current script editor, Anthony Read. Both bring stories to Doctor Who. They don't necessarily have to be dark stories, or stories to send the kids scurrying off behind the sofa, instead, they just have to be well crafted stories. More often than not, these stories are fun as well, being filled with great characters, razor sharp dialogue, and can easily be remembered by the young children watching. For these reasons, I count the Graham Williams era as one of my personal favourites throughout Doctor Who and you can find no better reason to enjoy it than in The Androids of Tara.

Day 492: The Androids of Tara Part 1

So a new story starts today. I could write about the design work, the search for the Key to Time, the costumes, the acting or all manner of things. But this opportunity will only come around once in this entire voyage, and I need to talk about it. So today, we're going to look at the Taran Wood Beast.

The Taran Wood Beast only appears once in Doctor Who, in the opening section of The Androids of Tara. Its role in the story is small: menace the Doctor's assistant, Romana, and then be shooed off by the evil Count Grendel. So, for an appearance that small, why do I want to dedicate an entire entry to it?

The reason is simple: the design is one of the most unintentionally funny monster designs in the history of Doctor Who. It straddles the line between cute, and vaguely terrifying, whilst remaining somewhat unconvincing throughout. The fact that it only appears once in the story seems to reinforce the fact that the production staff realised that they had a bit of a failure on their hands and so they had to shoo it away as quickly as possible.

And yet I love it. It's something that makes me smile, mainly because it comes out of nowhere and fails to completely menace the audience, instead making them burst ought into unintentional laughter. It's for that reason that my twitter profile (@ComeOnAce) is an image of the beast, as is my iPad's wallpaper and various other bits and bobs. I even fondly remember waking up and realising that I'd had a nightmare about the Beast a couple of years ago, and smiling to myself that my subconscious chose one of the least frightening Doctor Who monsters to terrify me. And above all else, I'm fairly certain that it appears in the music video for Always by Erasure. Why not see for yourself?

Day 491: The Stones of Blood Part 4

This episode sees the story take an interesting turn. Previously it had been a conventional horror tale with monsters attacking the Doctor and co., whilst they try and figure out their grand plan and a means to stop them. But then, at some point in the story we visit a prison ship trapped in hyperspace and the story begins to change tack, instead becoming a legal drama. Now, it's not so much about the Doctor having to fight the terrors of the Universe using only his wit, he instead is forced to clear his name and forgo an execution through using his wit. It's a change in the direction of the story that I don't really enjoy, in part because it entirely sidelines Professor Rumford and K9 who have easily been two of the best characters in the story. It also doesn't really build on what has been done before, with the monstrous Ogri and the druidic influences all falling by the wayside in favour of some legal computers. The story is still good though, despite the sudden change in direction, but you can't help but shake the feeling that things might have been better without the change in tack.

Day 490: The Stones of Blood Part 3

There's a strong variance in tone throughout this episode. On the one hand, there are some absolutely hilarious scenes (this is, incidentally, the second story in a row to feature some truly laugh out loud Physics jokes, The Pirate Planet chose to make a gag about the law of conservation of momentum, here we get a joke about Einstein's theory of Special Relativity). You've also got a villain who appears to be covered in silver paint, Tin Man style, hamming up every scene that she's in and the monsters are some fairly unthreatening rocks. But this is contrasted very easily with some moments of absolute horror that occur throughout the episode. The aforementioned rocks may be unthreatening, but this is only a half truth. In actual fact, they can be quite threatening, such as in the scene where they advance on some campers and drain their blood, meaning that we hear their screams as the life-force is sucked out of them, see their previously flesh hands replaced with that of a skeleton and recoil as the screen fades not to black but the altogether more discomforting red. It's an interesting juxtaposition to view in the story, as it quite clearly wants to be horrific but it wants to have fun whilst doing it and make it fun for the audience. This is a fine balancing act to manage, and I give them props for trying, but there's obviously room for improvement as the series continues.

Day 489: The Stones of Blood Part 2

Continuing the trend of lovely characters in this series, this story brings us Professor Amelia Rumford. She's a professor interested in studying the titular stones, not because they are made of blood, but because there exist several discrepancies in surveys done of the area regarding the stones, particularly concerning things such as their positions and how many stones are in the area at any given time.

But that's not the reason why I wanted to talk about her. Instead, I wanted to talk about how gleeful a character she is. She's clearly into her senior years, and yet she approaches every situation that she encounters herself in with a strong amount of adventure, as she rides along on her bicycle ready for work. She takes everything that they do in her stride, whether it be the fact that her assistant has turned out to have lived for well over 500 years, or that this mysterious Doctor person has turned up with a robotic dog. It's this enthusiasm that makes her so likeable as a character, and it certainly makes me feel a little bit happier every time that she's on screen.

Day 488: The Stones of Blood Part 1

This episode surprised me, and in more ways than one. I've only seen it once before, around four or five years ago, and my memories of it are fairly hazy. I remember the basic story structure, one or two stand-out scenes and a couple of supporting characters but aside from that I remember virtually noting about this story. I realised this when one of the 'monsters' is revealed towards the end of Part 1 of this story. Not only had I not recalled that this 'monster' was revealed at the end of Part 1, I had also entirely forgotten that this existed. So when it was revealed, I was at first incredibly confused. I stared at the screen for what felt like an age, trying to figure out what was happening. Then, the design of the 'monster' slowly began to sink in. The mask in particular came across as quite frightening, and I began to feel a little bit scared. It's nice to know then that Doctor Who can still surprise and scare the viewer, even on second viewing. So I'm kind of looking forward to the rest of The Stones of Blood. Because if it can surprise me this way, then I eagerly await to see what other surprises lay dormant within this story.

Day 487: The Pirate Planet Part 4

The main villain of the piece is, oddly enough, not the Pirate Captain. For all the shouting, bluster and generally acting like a Doctor Who villain, he is not in fact the person in charge. Instead, he acts as a front for his nurse, secretly the evil Queen Xanxia, a woman who is generally kept to the background in scenes, but slowly throughout the story moves to the foreground until the audience begins to realise that she may have more power than she seems. Again, this shows that Adams is familiar with the way in which the series works in that we know how to spot villains in stories, and thus by adding this small plot development, the story becomes massively more interesting.

Indeed, it also makes the Pirate Captain more interesting as well. It is slowly revealed through this part that he is not an entirely willing sub-ordinate to Queen Xanxia, and indeed the reason why he has been collecting the planets and storing them is to form a massive trap for the Queen. It's disappointing that much of this is revealed in exposition between the Doctor and Romana though, as it feels like it needs a scene where the Captain reveals his true colours to our heroes and we can feel more sympathy for him.

But that doesn't mean that the story doesn't do this in other ways. The Captain has had, throughout the story, one man at his side, his assistant Mr Fibuli. The Captain appears to dislike Mr Fibuli throughout the story for various reasons, such as things not running as efficiently as they could have been. But when Mr Fibuli dies halfway through this part, we see a moment of sadness on the Captain's face. He acknowledges him as a good man, and then proceeds to attempt to take down Queen Xanxia single handedly. It's a simple quiet moment that reveals much about this previously one-dimensional character.

And this is really only scratching the surface when we come to The Pirate Planet. Through various time constraints I haven't been able to talk about things like the Mentiads, the Polyphase Avatron or the vast array of Physics jokes throughout the story that made me laugh far too much. This is actually a fantastic story, and thankfully it won't be the last work we'll see from Douglas Adams in Doctor Who.

Day 486: The Pirate Planet Part 3

There's a scene in the centre of this episode that sticks out completely as the highlight of the story. The Doctor has been kidnapped by the evil cyborg pirate Captain and is led around his domain. The key stopping area is his collection of planets, planets which he has mined by de-materialising his own planet from where it currently is and re-materialising it around another, slightly smaller, planet, then crushing it for all that it is worth. A fantastic idea, both on the part of Adams and on the part of the Captain, but the Doctor is perplexed. A fair chunk of these planets were inhabited, and the Captain destroys them, it would appear, without thought. The Doctor asks the Captain in a rage "What's it for?!". This works on different levels. For a start, it shows that the Captain is clearly a maniac, conquering worlds if only to look at and appreciate them, not realising the lives that have been destroyed in order to get his small amount of appreciation. It also works because Adams is playing with the notion of the Doctor Who villain. The Captain is so one-dimensional in his approach that he doesn't even have a fully fleshed out motive, and Adams sees fit to play with that idea, revealing his inadequacy to the full audience. On top of all that as well, it's a scene with a fantastic performance from Tom Baker, showing that his performance is very easily one to be appreciated.