Day 751: Journey's End

Provided that you ignore 5 minutes of Journey's End, you're left with what is actually one of Russell T Davies' best finales. It fixes the majority of my problems with The Stolen Earth, and whilst it still has some mild problems, it's fairly easy to overlook them in the grand scheme of things.

The mild problems generally revolve around the Tenth Doctor clone (henceforth referred to as Handy Doctor) that was created with Donna's input. Coming completely out of nowhere, it doesn't entirely work as a resolution to the cliffhanger, making the audience feel just a little bit cheated as a result. Also, I'm not entirely happy with the fact that the tragic ending of Doomsday is entirely undone thanks to this clone of David Tennant that pops up out of nowhere to go off and have the sexy times with Rose (this also relies on the fact that people have forgotten that it's not an exact clone of David Tennant, it's also got some genetic input from Catherine Tate. Which could be useful, I suppose). But whilst I can nitpick this, it does work in the overall insane atmosphere that permeates through Journey's End. And also, it does give a magnificent Three Doctors joke courtesy of Captain Jack Harkness, which is a personal highlight of mine for this story.

Another highlight is the scenes featuring Davros, as played by Julian Bleach. The character dances as a villain for the Doctor, pointing out all of his failings as a character, such as his arrogance and his double standards of hating the army yet managing to turn all of his companions into his soldiers. The scenes also provide the much needed stillness that I was yearning for in The Stolen Earth. The extended running time of this episode allows for the Doctor and Davros to simply sit down and have a conversation of their various positions, which helps make the story just a little bit more palatable in my opinion.

So, at the end of the day, we're left with a story that, despite its flaws, is still ridiculously fun and one of my favourite finales from the Russell T Davies era. Except, of course, for one small thing.

I mentioned before about how I said to ignore 5 minutes of Journey's End. Those five minutes represent one of the most uncomfortable and frankly sadistic moments in the history of Doctor Who. Donna has partially merged with the Doctor, absorbing his mind. However, the mind of the Doctor is too big for a human and so it is threatening to kill Donna. So the Doctor does what the Doctor does. He wipes away her entire mind and all of her memories of their time together, effectively killing the woman that Donna had become. It doesn't feel like the right thing for the Doctor to do in that situation. Instead of letting her die as the wonderful woman that she became, he instead sentences her to the fate worse than death of making her forget everything that they did together.

And this isn't the only time that this has been brought up in the series, but in each of those times it was dealt with far more intelligently than it was here. In The War Games, for instance, the decision is taken out of the Doctor's hands for Jamie and Zoe's minds to be wiped. It works within the context of the story because it's being given to them as a sort of punishment from the Time Lords for travelling with the Doctor. The Doctor's hands are nowhere near this decision, and he feels just as heartbroken as we do that this injustice has occurred. So that's an argument previously present in the series to say that this sort of thing should be seen as heartbreaking on behalf of the Doctor. But one could argue that the Doctor does feel heartbroken over this action that has been forced upon him. So we need further evidence within the context of the series.

Enter Forest of the Dead. River's death scene is made all the more interesting because she does it willingly on behalf of the time that she spent with the Doctor. Despite the Doctor's protests of how time can be rewritten, she only responds by saying that her time with the Doctor can't be rewritten, and that she wants to die with those happy memories that she shared with him, rather than live and not remember. It presents the argument that the Doctor shouldn't have interfered with the memories of the companion, and that the companion should have really died rather than have someone else meddle with their lives. It also introduces the aspect of choice, that River, and by extension Donna, should be the one to choose their fate, and not the Doctor. It all looks towards putting the ending of Journey's End as something really quite uncomfortable.

Now, there is one last episode that is worth mentioning here, which is of course Hell Bent, the series finale to Capaldi's second series. However, I don't necessarily want to get ahead of myself with respect to the blog, so instead I'll just leave this here, and link forwards to that episode when the time comes. So, I suppose we'll just have to end on a cliffhanger for the moment, and pick up again later...

Behold, a cliffhanger has been resolved!

Day 713: School Reunion

This episode, within the first 5 minutes, has Physics and chips. And if that isn't a summary of my 3 years at The University of Newcastle, then I don't know what is. But that's just one brief element of how School Reunion speaks to people, reaching into their past and finding things to talk about. And, perhaps more pertinent to most people, it revolves around the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9.

Their return is clearly an attempt to play on nostalgia, for these two characters are two of the more beloved companions in the series' history, with Sarah Jane's era coinciding with one of the more popular times in the show's history while K9 proved to be a cultural icon, much like the Daleks or Cybermen, entering into the culture of the world around him through a mixture of a good performance, a good design and good writing. And their return is fun to watch, as we see that Sarah Jane never stopped investigating strange goings-on, while K9 is still able to defend people against alien threats. And the story focuses on that return to a certain extent, reminding the audience of the old times with the Doctor and letting them go on one last adventure with him.

But where the story fails, in my opinion, is that it decides to throw in a stupid sub-plot for Rose. Rose is now jealous of the fact that the Doctor has travelled with other companions, because she was under the impression that she was special. So she decides to make things difficult for both the Doctor and Sarah Jane because she's so blind as to not see that one day she will leave the Doctor and they will both move on with their lives. It's an annoying character trait and does not endear me to the character of Rose at all, nor does it endear me to this Doctor as he, in a way, encourages her, creating a 'special and perfect bond' with her that continues to make her feel as if she's the only companion that's ever going to travel with him. It's a sour note on an otherwise fun story, and one that unfortunately will continue across the series to come.

Still, on the plus side, "Forget the shooty dog thing" is one of the greatest lines of dialogue in the history of Doctor Who.

Day 545: Warriors' Gate Part 4

As it turns out, I was left nowhere with regards to understanding much of what happened in Part 3 of this story. But I do understand a good deal of the rest of it, oddly enough. The story concerns an alien race called Tharils. They are time sensitives, able to use their powers as god-like abilities in a variety of scenarios. They created an entire empire, and were rulers over it for a considerable period of time. But they were cruel gods, and enslaved both humans and robots to serve them. Naturally, an uprising occurred, and they were left helpless as the humans took control of them as their slaves, torturing them to use their time-sensitive abilities to traverse the universe. Their story is one of reversals, that they were once kings and now they are slaves, doomed throughout the cosmos, which is symbolised in the fact that the Doctor and Romana travel through a mirror to reach the point in history when they were rulers, as mirrors not only reflect incoming light, they present an image which is the reverse of the one which the mirror reflects. So they enlist the Doctor and Romana to help set themselves free, and in doing so create a better future.

This works as a story, mostly because of the way in which the story is revealed to us, through having us figure out their entire history and so we get that sense of satisfaction of figuring everything out. It would be a much less satisfying story if we were presented with a generic 'free the slaves' plotline, instead we get a story about helping someone, and we have to figure out both how they need to be helped and the motive for which we should give them help.

And there's one other thing about Warriors' Gate. At the end of it, Romana leaves. She makes a simple decision that she'd much rather be helping the Tharils than return to Gallifrey. The Doctor gives her K9, bids her farewell and leaves E-Space with Adric. It's a quick exit for two characters who have meant so much to the programme, K9 bringing humour as well as appeal for children, whilst Romana was a character who proved to be an equal to the Doctor in every way, shape and form, something that we often don't see with companions. It's a shame to see them leave, and more than that, to see them leave quickly, but that reflects the new period that we're in, production-wise. It's a period of 'out with the old, in with the new'. Or at least, out with some of the old...

Day 544: Warriors' Gate Part 3

When setting up this blog, I gave myself a few rules to follow. One such rule was no skips ahead. Aside from brand new episodes, I said to myself that I could not watch any episode until the day upon which I have it scheduled to appear on my blog. This has mostly worked well, but there are one or two hiccups that get in the way. One such hiccup is Warriors' Gate Part 3.

I've seen this story at least once before, maybe twice. I've read reviews of it and listened to analyses in the past as well, so I'm readily familiar with the basic beats of the story. I know, for instance, the journey of the Tharils, which we may perhaps talk about tomorrow. But in all that viewing, I can never really claim to fully understand what happens from about halfway through Part 3. Basically, Romana meets one of the Tharils, they hold hands and start glowing, then they walk off and disappear, re-appearing near the titular gate. At no point is any explanation given for how this occurs. It's all a bit confusing, and left me somewhat lost for words that didn't begin with a W, T, or F.

Another instance is the cliffhanger, where the Doctor would appear to be magically teleported from one position to another, because an axe hit the table in front of him. Or it may be that he travelled from one time period to another. It's the sort of thing that gives the idea that the production staff had a perfectly good idea of what was going on, but they failed to effectively communicate that on screen, leaving the viewers with very little idea as to what was going on.

But we get back to the hiccup at the introduction. As the episode concluded, I felt the need to put on Part 4. I needed to see whether an explanation would be made as to what everything means, with full discussions of the various concepts and their importance to the story. And the fact that I wanted to watch the rest of this must say something about the story, and how it somehow manages to draw viewers in, even if it's only to find out what the hell is going on.

Day 543: Warriors' Gate Part 2

An impressive thing about Warriors' Gate is how it deals with its supporting cast. We have a crew who have been similarly marooned at the zero point of the Universe, and through a combination of writing, directing, design and performance, we get to feel that this crew is easily one that is comfortable with one another and their surrounds. Take, for instance, a scene where Packard, a crew-member, gives some gobbledygook order to someone under his command. They respond quizzically, to which he responds by saying that it means to close the door. They promptly do, and so we get a shot of the door closing on his disappointed face, as he relays the information that he'd like it to be closed after he's gone through it. It's a simple character moment, but nice, and adds depth to the story, making it a more enjoyable experience on the whole.

Day 542: Warriors' Gate Part 1

When looking at Doctor Who stories en masse, it's easy to categorise them. There are those that are on alien worlds, those that have alien invasions, those that are less about a group of monsters and are more about just one villain, and those that are all about visiting history and meeting famous figures from the past. But there's another type, one that hasn't been shown very much in the 1970's and is about to make a return in the 1980's. We are about to witness the return of the trippy story.

Trippy stories are weird. Normally high concept, they look and feel different to everything else around it. They can be difficult to understand, but can be incredibly rewarding due to the intricate way in which the story has been constructed. But the main point to make here is that they're a bit weird. Take Warriors' Gate for instance. Part 1 features the Doctor and co. landing nowhere, the zero point that connects normal, or N-Space, with E-Space. We meet Biroc, who moves in such a way that he leaves a shadow in time behind of his past position. It's all very curious, and sparks the beginning of a story that's a bit different from everything else around it.

Day 541: State of Decay Part 4

It's easy to dislike Adric in this episode. It's as if the episode goes out of its way to make us dislike him intensely. Romana and one of the villagers have just been on a rescue mission to try and save him, but they failed with Romana about to be sacrificed and the villager already dead. So you'd expect Adric to be a little bit grateful for what everyone has gone through for him. But instead, he's quite annoyed because he was looking forward to becoming a vampire, and Romana has gotten in the way of his defection to the bad guys. And it's not as if he doesn't know that they're evil, he just wants to give up on the whole notion of being on the side of good and instead be on the winning side. Granted, he does attempt to save Romana later, but this fails terribly and is dealt with too swiftly for us to even notice the character's change of heart.

This is Adric's second story, and we're being inclined to dislike him already, before we get a full impression of the character. This does not bode well for the character, and it may be some time before we can be willing to look at him with fresher eyes and see his positives for what they are. But for now, we end this story on a low note and hope that this companion will be better treated in the future.

Day 540: State of Decay Part 3

The story has taken an interesting turn, minutes into Part 3. The Doctor off-handedly mentions that he and Romana are Time Lords and the vampires get quite excited about this, proclaiming that they are the great enemies. Further investigation reveals that these vampires were created by one of the Great Vampires, an ancient race that was fought and, until now, presumed destroyed by the Time Lords in their infancy, led by the President Rassilon.

This makes the story feel far more interesting as a result, mainly because it means that we get a sense of the real peril that the Doctor and Romana are up against, given that these are old foes of the Time Lords, a race that we have seen to be all-powerful and mighty. This is compounded by Tom Baker's performance, where he displays fear and a sense of worry over everything that is taking place, something which we're not really used to with this incarnation of the Doctor, who has been far more relaxed in his fights with various creatures. By seeing him in such a position, we know that things have become far more serious, as we eagerly await the conclusion of State of Decay.

Day 539: State of Decay Part 2

This story features vampires. Slowly, over the course of this episode, we begin to notice that various tropes of the vampire mythos are appearing, such as a fascination with blood, control over bats, and a general gothic demeanour. It's all reasonably effective stuff, and may send a chill down the spine of some young children. But there's still an interest in making this feel different. The key mystery surrounding this story is not the nature of the vampires, but who created them, given that the vampires were originally humans before being converted by some unknown power. It gives the story a driving force that is able to engage the viewer, and make for a more interesting story as a result.

Day 538: State of Decay Part 1

This story feels very traditional as a Doctor Who story. We have the Doctor and Romana landing on a planet and setting off to explore it, and they encounter the locals, who range from people living in fear of the villains who are subjugating this planet, to those who are keen to form a resistance and take back what is rightfully theirs. The villains are clearly defined as well, wandering about their castle sending plagues of bats to attack the Doctor and Romana, whilst taking people from the village for nefarious purposes. It's a far cry from Full Circle, which was more a story about exploring and learning about the surroundings. But this isn't that bad though, as it's still an engaging story, mostly due to the fact that it is written by Terrance Dicks, long time writer for the series. He's a writer that knows how to tell good, simple, entertaining adventure stories, and he certainly delivers on that front, providing a story that is simple, yet engaging. And at the end of the day, sometimes all you want from a story is for it to be a nice fun adventure.

Day 537: Full Circle Part 4

I suppose that we should talk about Adric. Adric, although this story doesn't confirm it, is the new companion aboard the TARDIS. He's an interesting character, in that a lot of writers have different ideas about how he should be written. Andrew Smith, for one, writes him as a normal teenage boy (albeit one that has grown up around a spaceship). He's a little bit cheeky, a little bit clever, and he has a need to rebel against his surroundings. He's aspires for something greater, as he speaks of travelling beyond his home planet to other worlds and other stars. He looks up to his brother, Varsh, as well, and seeks his approval. This comes to a head when his brother is surrounded by Marshmen. Adric goes to help him, but he's too late and the Marshemen overpower Varsh and kill him, leaving Adric with only his belt in memory of him. It's a scene that allows us to empathise with his character, given that we have seen him fail, and now we want him to succeed. So we'll come to follow him and know him better as part of the TARDIS crew.

But he's not going to be joining them on any voyages to Earth or Gallifrey any time soon though. The TARDIS remains stuck in another universe at the end of this story, which sparks a feeling of renewal within the programme. Now, everything that they will encounter will be new and different, and we can join with the Doctor, Romana, K9 and Adric as they explore E-Space together, trying to find a way back to their own universe.

Day 536: Full Circle Part 3

Another thing to enjoy about Full Circle is the way in which it deals with the monsters, the Marshmen. Their design is instantly memorable, being a simple swamp creature building upon a light brown colour palette that works well with the lush greens that are seen on location, and is also able to feel slightly out of place and unwelcome in the dull greys of the spaceship, making them stand out in the scenes aboard the spaceship.

But there's also more to it than just that. Consider the scene where the Marsh-child is about to be dissected by the scientist aboard the spaceship, Dexeter. The director, Peter Grimwade, makes the clear decision to have its eyes present throughout the entire scene. This works in particular as we see the human behind the rubber mask, and so we empathise with the creature. When the Marsh-child breaks free from its bonds, we are on the side of the creature, however this changes when the Marsh-child kills Dexeter. Now we see it for something that is dangerous, although still child-like in manner. It makes the monsters feel more threatening, but also gives them enough depth that we can empathise with them and thus we are interested in their plight. It all makes for a good story as we near the conclusion of Full Circle.

Day 535: Full Circle Part 2

There's a scene in this story where the First Decider, the leader of the Alzarians, discovers the truth about Alzarius through reading of the system files. The truth is kept a secret from the other characters and the audience, but it's interesting to watch the character after this point grapple with the truth that he has uncovered.

Take, for instance, a scene where the Doctor is interrogated by the three Deciders. The Doctor provides them with some information that proves contradictory to what they have been brought up with. Two of them bicker, and point out that he is clearly wrong, but the First Decider remains silent, before telling them authoritatively that the information (relating to whether the atmosphere on Alzarius is breathable during the season known as Mistfall) is indeed correct as given to them by the Doctor. But through the performance we get a sense that he is telling them this little truth, which is part of a bigger truth that they are yet to learn.

And this is a moment that is best viewed in retrospect, after the story reveals the truth that the First Decider knows. It's odd that the story would do this, given that it was broadcast at a time where home video was virtually non-existent, and repeats were few and far between, but it's mightily appreciated as it certainly makes the story more interesting for repeat viewing, and this is something that will be mentioned several more times over the coming months.

Day 534: Full Circle Part 1

When we begin Full Circle, there's something a little bit different. The Doctor and Romana have been recalled to Gallifrey. Romana's quite sad about this, because she's realised that it means that the Time Lords want her back, and for her to stop travelling with the Doctor. It's a little odd to see this happen because it hints at another life for the main characters beyond their travels in the TARDIS, something which we haven't really encountered since around the time of Sarah Jane. Obviously things go wrong, and we'll look at how that all works in a future entry, but for now we can appreciate the fact that the production team are clearly making an effort for our main characters to have lives outside of the 25 minutes that we see of them each episode, making them more rounded and interesting as a result.

Day 533: Meglos Part 4

This episode comes in at around 19 minutes in length. The reason that I mention this is because it means that this story comes across as wanting to get the story done in as quick a time as possible without any need for depth of what the story is actually about or who the characters are. I'll give a quick example. Meglos has set up a scheme to destroy Tigella. The Doctor, Romana, K9 and two other characters from Tigella get in the TARDIS to pursue him. The reason I didn't name the other two characters is because I actually don't know their names. They have possibly been mentioned, but we aren't given any reason to remember them, because we don't remember them as characters. More than that, there is literally no reason for them to be with the Doctor and co. at the conclusion of the story. The Doctor, Romana and K9 are the only characters to make any discernable difference to the conclusion of the story, and all they do is stand around and watch. It's essentially the heart of why this story is not very good: we're given absolutely no reason to care for any of the characters, and so we forget them almost immediately. It's a disappointing note to end on, but hopefully things will pick up again tomorrow.

Day 532: Meglos Part 3

It's difficult to talk about this episode. Not because of anything controversial that happens within it, but more because nothing actually happens within it. Essentially, the villain retains his prize of the Tigellan energy source, and begins the final stage of his escape with it. Aside from that, the Doctor gets put to death (something that we had been suspecting since Part 2) and Romana begins an effort to try and rescue him. This sounds like a lot, but none of it really works, in part because we aren't given any opportunities to fully invest in the story which leaves us with no real ability to talk about the characters and what they feel, beyond being devices that allow the plot to continue. It's little wonder, then, that this is the sole script from the writing duo of John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch if they aren't able to take a story where Tom Baker dresses up as a cactus and make it feel utterly forgettable.

Day 531: Meglos Part 2

The most striking part of this story is the use of Tom Baker. He plays a dual role in this story, being both the Doctor and the villain, who is currently able to impersonate other people to near perfection. This villain also happens to be a cactus, and as the impersonation goes on, the image of the person being impersonated becomes more and more cactus-like. But that's not the key point that I want to mention. Instead, I want to touch briefly on the way in which Tom Baker plays the role of the villain. It's a very muted and underplayed performance, hinting that there's something not right with this character, but not pointing it out for the audience completely. It's not what we'd expect from Tom Baker, who we'd expect to overplay it dramatically and have a great deal of fun with the part (cf Soldeed in The Horns of Nimon). So this serves as an indicator that things are perhaps slowing down on the Tom Baker front, and that his departure from the serie may be imminent...

Day 530: Meglos Part 1

What's curious about this story is its beginning. When Part 1 comes to a conclusion, the Doctor, Romana and K9 have still not left the confines of the TARDIS control room. Events have still been occurring without them, as people argue and plot various schemes without the presence of the main characters. The plot also makes up for this by making the main thrust of Part 1 be about trying to get the Doctor to visit a certain planet, Tigella, but the story still feels conspicuous by the absence of the TARDIS crew, as we realise just how important the process of the Doctor and co. interacting with other characters in the story is to our level of engagement. But this little experiment does provide a nice change in the way we expect stories to run for the series, and some days we just need a little bit of change to spice things up in our lives.

Day 526: The Leisure Hive Part 1

The Leisure Hive is the start of a new era. New producer, new script editor, new director, new music, new title sequence, everything feels new. And it certainly shows on camera. The director, Lovett Bickford, instantly sets himself apart from virtually every single director before him, mainly through his innovative use of scene transitions. We have one corridor scene that is spiced up by having the characters walk towards the camera, before their bodies obstruct the camera's view, such that when we can see again, the camera has switched positions and we are now seeing them walk away from the camera. It's a simple camera trick, but effective. Similarly effective is the cliffhanger, where the Doctor appears to have been dismembered. We watch this on a screen, and as the cliffhanger approaches, the screen zooms in on the Doctor's face. This is all fairly normal, however what makes it interesting is the fact that the camera also zooms in on the screen at the same time, making the zoom appear quicker and more violent as we zoom in on the Doctor's face. We then immediately cut to the credits, with a harshness that leaves the viewer shocked and slightly disoriented. It's one of a number of things that feels new about the series, now that a breath of fresh air has been blown into it, giving us something truly memorable as a result.

Day 525: The Horns of Nimon Part 4

This story always feels a bit bittersweet. For all the fun and enjoyment that it represents, it's also the end of an era. This is the last story to be produced by Graham Williams, producer for the series since Horror of Fang Rock. It's also the last story to be script edited by Douglas Adams, the last contribution to the series by the previous script editor, Anthony Read, and is the last story to have the music composed by Dudley Simpson, who's been doing the music for the series regularly since the start of the 70's, and before then composed the music irregularly from around Planet of Giants onwards.

The reason why I feel the need to mention all of this is that their work has been fantastic, and I've loved every moment of it. They've created so many wonderful worlds, and stories, but the time has come to leave and new blood will enter the series as we enter a new decade: the 1980's. This new blood will demand that the slate be wiped entirely clean, and so only a very small handful of writers and directors who had worked on the series previously will work for it again. So I view this story as the last hurrah for the era of the 1970's. The one where we look back at the past and enjoy what has happened before as we stand on the cusp of a new decade awaiting the future.

And what we get is oddly serious. The Nimon costumes may be laughable, as is the fact that the actors within them decide to gesticulate wildly when they talk, so as to reveal which one of them is talking, but their plan to take over the Universe is actually quite depressing. They feed off other planets, choosing someone to be their herald, setting themselves up as gods, only to get their herald to unwittingly create a gateway for the Nimons to attack in force. We see this in the character of Sezom, an old man who wanders about the previous planet that the Nimons occupied, helpless to stop them. Suddenly, the story seems a bit depressing. This is the way that we're leaving the Graham Williams era of Doctor Who. Not with a great high, but with a slight low.

Enter Graham Crowden. The actor who plays the villainous Soldeed, he has made the decision to overact massively throughout the entire story, and when he comes to die, he makes it into the most memorable death scene in Doctor Who history. Shouting and screaming, with accompanying hand movements (and a far too good performance from Lalla Ward as Romana, who is perhaps the only person on set who has decided to take this seriously), Crowden makes this story fun again.

Because the Williams era of Doctor Who is all about having fun. Whether it's Leela slapping Adelaide, a giant prawn menacing a robot dog, witches fighting archaeologists, overthrowing societies ruled by tax, updating the old classic Greek myths or defeating the attempted invasion of Gallifrey by tin foil. We've met Binro the Heretic, a Pirate Captain (with Mr Fibuli!), Amelia Rumford, Kroll, Drax and of course, the Taran Wood Beast. There are robots caught in stalemate, spaghetti monsters caught in time, a phallus trapped in a pit, cuddly yet deadly creatures with drugs hidden inside their genetic makeup, and the world's hammiest Doctor Who villain.

And I love this era with all my heart, in particular this story. And this story inspired me for one afternoon, late in 2013. I was looking for a title for my new blog, but I wasn't sure what to call it. At first, it was going to be We've Got Work To Do, but then I got another idea. That idea was scrapped the next day, after everyone that I talked to said that my first idea was better, but I still hold a soft spot for that temporary title. So as far as I'm concerned, for today only, I'll choose to think of this blog not as We've Got Work to Do, but as something more celebratory, as we continue on THE GREAT JOURNEY OF LIFE!