Day 753: Planet of the Dead

Planet of the Dead, like The Next Doctor, is another one of the specials that doesn't really feel that huge. Yes, there's been some foreign location filming in Dubai, which does look impressive, and there's also a sense that more money has been spent on this episode than on normal episodes, which makes the episode feel a little bit more special, but other than that it's an average science fiction romp of an episode. Which is what makes the episode rather interesting, in my opinion.

You see, this is a story in the mould of something like Partners in Crime or Smith and Jones. It features the Doctor having fun in a story that simply provides a fun adventure for the Doctor to have with his new companion. But, after the events of Journey's End, the Doctor has been travelling alone and he fully intends to stay that way, which eventuates in him rejecting Lady Christina's request to travel on the TARDIS with him. So what this episode becomes is an example of how the events of Journey's End have affected him. He's made the decision not to travel with anyone, even when he can see their clear potential as a companion. And the story quite obviously looks towards setting this moment of rejection up as quite an important moment.

Lady Christina is set up to be a basic concept for a companion. Not only does she have the physical and mental prowess required to become a companion, she's also a character that has just enough of an edge to make her stand out against the rest of the supporting cast. She's the only one with any sizeable back story, as well as the one that takes charge when events get out of hand. She's also able to build up a good relationship with the Doctor, gleefully disregarding his orders in much the same way that he gleefully disregards hers. She could have clearly been a companion, were it not for the fact that the Doctor was always going to reject her because he doesn't want someone else on the TARDIS. This simple rejection should be seen as important because the story itself is pointing out that she's perfect for the Doctor and yet he still decides to walk the lonely path.

All of this goes as an example to show how the events of Donna's departure affected this Doctor, and marks a nice example of character development for the Doctor, which will be explored tomorrow, with fairly larger consequences...

Day 739: Partners in Crime

Partners in Crime is an interesting story to introduce a new companion in. As you will recall, Donna Noble, who returns in Partners in Crime, was already introduced in The Runaway Bride, where she made a clear and positive impact due to Catherine Tate's clear comedic timing and sensibilities, as well as her chemistry with David Tennant. Her return, then, in Partners in Crime has to serve not only as a reintroduction to the character for those that never saw her first appearance, it also has to remind the rest of the audience of why she was so good in the first place.

The way in which Russell T Davies achieves this is by first establishing that Donna has evolved as a character beyond her first appearance. She's kept much of what made her good in her first episode, and moments like "You're not mating with me sunshine!" and the mime scene bring forth memories of the lighter scenes in The Runaway Bride. But she's also grown from that experience, seeking new experiences, and notably starting the adventure completely independently of the Doctor, with the two of them being separated from each other for the first 25 minutes of the episode. By doing this, the audience can begin to see that she's clearly a strong companion, and it helps acclimatise them to her forthcoming time on the TARDIS (remember also that there were some doubts about her re-appearance on the series, with some people disliking The Runaway Bride intensely. These people, by the way, are all fools.).

The other main way through which Davies is able to help to introduce Donna is through keeping her with Tennant in the latter half of the episode. In the two prior introduction stories, there were scenes where the Doctor and companion were separated towards the end, to help show their respective strengths in various scenarios. For Partners in Crime, however, Davies recognises that the main reason why Tennant's Doctor worked so well with Donna was their chemistry, and so he keeps them together, working as a team as they stop Miss Foster from turning people into Adipose. It helps to show that the partnership is strong, and goes as further evidence to show that Donna not only could be on the TARDIS as a companion, it would be to the benefit of the series if she were to become a companion. And of course she did, and the rest, as they say, is history...

Day 738: Voyage of the Damned

When I was in the process of starting up the blog, one of the first things that I did was create a massive Excel spreadsheet of every episode, which I put alongside the date that I was going to be watching it. The two purposes of this were to ensure that I hadn't missed a day by keeping a close eye on what day I was meant to be doing what, and also to have a sneak peek at what episodes I'd be watching on reasonably important days. My eyes dashed towards Christmas 2013 - The Sensorites Episode 3 - not the most festive episode, but enjoyable nonetheless. Christmas 2014 then came to mind, and I saw Revenge of the Cybermen Part 1, again not the most festive of episodes, and not the greatest either, unfortunately. Maybe Christmas 2015 would be better, I thought, at the very least there's the possibility that I could end up watching a Christmas special on Christmas Day! I looked and saw that on Christmas 2015 I was scheduled to watch Amy's Choice. I rather liked Amy's Choice last time I watched it, and I looked forward to that Christmas, but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that it wasn't particularly festive.

Flash forward to mid-December, 2015. I'm watching The Runaway Bride and reflecting on Christmas Specials past, present, and future. I casually wonder what episode I'll be watching on Christmas Day again; the break that I took for exams meant that my spreadsheet was now a couple of weeks out of date. A quick round of mental arithmetic later and I realise that it's going to be The Last of the Time Lords. If I'd finished my break a day earlier, I'd be watching a Christmas Special on Christmas Day. So I made a quick decision to cheat and watch two episodes on the one day; after all, it is nearly Christmas and I deserve to treat myself...

So I watched Voyage of the Damned on Christmas Day. It's not the most overtly festive of the Christmas Specials, but it very much falls into the mould that was set by The Runaway Bride - make the episode fun. And so whilst we get a reasonably dramatic story about the Doctor banding together a group of misfits (including Kylie Minogue!) to escape the Titanic in space, you can't help but feel that much of it was written with a certain sense of glee from the writer, Russell T Davies. You can't help but give a chortle at the sight of seeing Kylie Minogue in a forklift in a battle with a cyborg, which is just the right amount of ridiculousness for this episode.

But the special isn't just a romp on the Titanic. It makes the strong decision to include hints of the Doctor's character arc at the conclusion of the episode, making him lose Astrid whilst desperately trying to save her, and allowing him to lose his temper, shouting out "I can do anything!" in a fit of rage. It's not the Doctor's finest moment in terms of his character, because it shows a certain arrogance to the man, showing that it's become harder and harder for him to accept the inevitability of losing. This brief moment adds a bit more flavour to the feast that is placed before us in Voyage of the Damned, and helps to make for what is quite a fun and interesting story.

So Voyage of the Damned is a nice and fun episode to watch, a perfect way to wind down after a hectic Christmas. And, incidentally, a Happy Christmas to all of you at home!

Day 729: Evolution of the Daleks

Ignoring the fact that this isn't technically Day 729 (I'm just calling it that to help rationalise me doing a double post today), I found the entire experience of watching Evolution of the Daleks weird. Indeed, there was one point, approximately 3 minutes in, where I was reduced to helpless laughter as I suddenly made a connection that had been festering away in my mind.

"PROTECT THE HYBRID!"

Thus speaks one of the Daleks at the start of this episode, as the Doctor makes his escape, temporarily confusing the Daleks and the Human-Dalek hybrid. The Human-Dalek hybrid was created at the end of the previous episode, initially as a means to extend the life of the Dalek by way of combining Dalek DNA with Human DNA, as humanity always seems to survive where Daleks fail. Instantly, this hybrid begins to realise the benefits of such a species intermingling, given that both are adept at waging war, with all of that anger and hatred bottled up within the two races. Two great warrior races, merged together in the heat of the moment. A hybrid.

This is, of course, the basis of the story arc of Series 9 of the revival series of Doctor Who. It supposed that two warrior races would merge to form some unbeatable enemy, and was presented as something to be feared throughout the cosmos. Instead, we end up with a man with phalluses hanging off his face who keeps on struggling with the fact that he's got feelings. This entire juxtaposition is hilarious, and represents a lot of what is fundamentally wrong with this story. There's enough foundation there for something worthwhile, but the story doesn't quite go into those areas.

For instance, the killing of Solomon could have either been used as a big dramatic moment to expose the cruelty of the Daleks, or as a dark joke, revealing the cruelty of the Daleks. Both work well to the story's message, and yet the story ends up aiming for the big dramatic moment and hitting the joke, giving the impression of a rough script. Another, even more interesting example is that the Doctor accidentally creates a new race of Time Lords when he injects a bit of his own DNA into some humans who were set to become more Human-Dalek hybrids. But the story immediately forgets about that, leaving us instead with a botched message about how the Doctor won't let another person die today, because there's been too much death. It's such a missed opportunity, and shows how good this story could have been if it had just been slightly reworked at the end. But instead, we're left with a rather poor Dalek story, that can be forgotten about in an instant.

Day 728: Daleks in Manhattan

So today, provided that everything goes to plan, the blog will have a double post. I've not done one of these in the history of the blog, but a certain opportunity presented itself the other day and left me with no other choice than to do two episodes on one day over the course of the next couple of weeks. And there seemed to be no better candidate in my mind than the two parter Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks.

Why did I want to cover these two episodes on the same day? Because, to be perfectly frank, they are pretty bad episodes, and I kind of want to get them done as soon as possible. But why are they so bad? I mean, yes there is the problem of the Dalek/Human hybrid's design, which has far too many phalluses on it to be believable, but there'e enough in this story for it to be worth watching. We're dealing with the return of the Daleks, as well as the Daleks being faced with their own twisted moral dilemma of whether they should evolve or not. It shouldn't be as bad as it is, and yet I can't bring myself to call it any good.

I think the reason why it's not great is a question of scale. Looking at the other Dalek stories, it's clear that they have something that adds to the story in some meaningful way, that just couldn't be achieved by any other race. Eccleston's Dalek stories are all about using them as a way for the Doctor to relive the horrors of the Time War. The rest of Tennant's Dalek stories are all about having already stressful situations and making them even worse. Smith's Dalek stories are about having them be the legendary foes of the Doctor, and Capaldi's Dalek stories are about using them as character studies of the Doctor himself. The one thing that connects all of these stories is that they feel big, and that only big stories are worthy of capturing the inner hatred of a Dalek. But Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks doesn't really have any of that stuff. Instead, it's just woefully generic, with even the reveal of the Dalek being a Dalek emerging from a lift, and you can't help but feel that it needed more work or more money to make the story feel more spectacular. Instead, we're left with something average, that goes as an example of how not to do a Dalek story.

Day 719: The Satan Pit

The Satan Pit differs from The Impossible Planet in terms of action. The first 25 minutes or so of this episode are some of the most intense in any episode of Doctor Who. And whilst it may not seem from the outset to be intense as described, through strength of direction and writing, it becomes something truly marvellous.

It begins slowly, with a brief action sequence to resolve the cliffhanger, but immediately, the tension begins to rise with the ever-present threat of the Ood banging on the door. And just as things begin to sort themselves out, problems start to arise. The Doctor is cut off from everyone else, so Rose is left to help guide the crew-members into a basic plan to escape the Ood. They do this by choosing to go into the maintenance shafts, which is left to the absolute last second. James Strong, the director, takes full advantage of this by having a disorienting series of quick cuts, varying from the cover of the maintenance shaft, the face of Mr Jefferson (the security chief) and one of the Ood slowly advancing. This leads to the impression for the audience that the Ood are closer than they appear to be, and that makes them even more of a threat.

Inside the maintenance shafts, claustrophobia begins to set in. Everything is kept tight, and the Ood are never allowed to be too far away, in a chase to take down the people in the Sanctuary Base. Murray Gold's music keeps rising in tension, only pausing for a brief moment to allow for the sacrifice of Mr Jefferson. This brief pause is well needed, and credit should clearly go to Matt Jones and Russell T Davies, who both did writing work on this story. His death both reminds viewers that the characters are more than capable of dying in this episode, as well as providing a brief moment of quiet in the otherwise intense scene. This allows for the audience to breathe, so that the episode feels real, and not just an extended action scene.

What the moment of quiet also allows for is a jolt to bring the action back to the story. The surprise appearance of an Ood kicks the story into overdrive, ensuring that attention is kept to the story. And then, as quickly as the Ood appears, the sequence is allowed to finish with the crew-members hitting the Ood with a psychic knock-out, leaving them safe, for the time being. And after that sequence, I personally had to pause the episode and go for a quick break to breathe and recover. It's a thoroughly worrying and exciting sequence, and one of my personal favourites in the story.

But that only describes half of this fantastic adventure. I've made no real mention of the Beast, and the work that has gone into that, with all of those fantastic ideas. Nor have I mentioned the Ood in any great detail, where arguably the story's greatest idea is thrown away, only to be picked up again in a couple of series' time. But that's just because there's so much to talk about in this two parter, and so little time to do it in. It's a truly fantastic story, and one that I've been quietly looking forward to over the past couple of days.

Day 718: The Impossible Planet

To be perfectly honest, this story is not only, in my opinion, the best story of Tennant's first series, it is also one of the best stories that I've covered on this blog. It's like a black hole of a story, grabbing your attention and never letting go until the credits start to roll. And it's easy to see why.

Take, for instance, the scene that I've put above, where we see Scooti die in a rather horrific way. The scene begins with her encountering the frightening appearance of Toby, the chief archaeologist, who has been possessed by the Beast. It's handled with a degree of quietness and serenity, acknowledging the perverse beauty of what we're seeing. Like Scooti, we are drawn to Toby and his appearance, but we ultimately reject it. Unfortunately, this is where the story shifts gears slightly, and we go into a more dangerous region. Scooti tries to escape, but she is stopped, as the glass breaks and she is left to go out into the vacuum of space. The music and direction changes abruptly, reflecting the intensity of what is happening, as Scooti's screams become more and more desperate. And whilst this is a ruthlessly tense scene, what makes it powerful, in my opinion, is what comes directly after it.

We eventually end up in one of the habitation zones on the sanctuary base, with the crew-members looking for Scooti. The Doctor finds her, floating beautifully in space, in what is a truly haunting image. We then pay respects to this character, before closing the window and leaving her to drift off into the black hole. And this is what makes the story so powerful. It's based around ordinary humans who have done something stupid, who have gone out to explore a region of space that should never have existed. And it's dangerous, and they're probably going to die, but these are ordinary, likeable people, who clearly have lives outside of the adventure. And the tension of the story is exacerbated because all of these people feel real, feel as if they could be part of your life. And when they die, they are mourned, just like any other person is.

But that's just the first half of how I think this story is so fantastic. Much of The Impossible Planet is based around tension, letting the horror build until it reaches a breaking point. And we'll see that breaking point in the next entry, when we look at The Satan Pit.