Day 677: Silver Nemesis Part 3

Towards the end of this story, a small exchange happens between the Doctor and the Gallifreyan weapon, otherwise known as Nemesis.

Nemesis: "And I'm to destroy the entire Cyberfleet?"
The Doctor: "Forever"
Nemesis: "And then?"
The Doctor: "Reform"
Nemesis: "You might need me in the future then?"
The Doctor: "I hope not"
Nemesis: "That is what you said before"
The Doctor: "Enough"
Nemesis: "And after this will I have my freedom?"
The Doctor: "Not yet"
Nemesis: "When?"
The Doctor: "I told you when"

In this brief conversation, we discover quite a bit about the Doctor. We now know that he has used, or at the very least, been heavily involved, with this weapon in the past. This is obviously quite important, as the weapon is a very destructive force, something that can destroy an entire Cyberfleet within a matter of seconds. We also discover that the weapon, which is generally classified as 'living metal' is exactly that: metal which is alive. It yearns for freedom, and yet it is held by the Doctor to act as a means by which he can stop various injustices from happening. This idea, which will later be explored in The Day of the Doctor, shows a far darker Doctor that what we're used to, one who is perhaps willing to allow the ends to justify the means. The fact that this moment is never mentioned again only serves to increase the mystery around this Time Lord, and it injects some new life into the programme and means that I'm now increasingly looking forward to watching the next few adventures for McCoy's Doctor as this series continues.

Day 676: Silver Nemesis Part 2

In watching this story, I've developed a strange fondness for the character Richard. He's the henchman of a 17th century noblewoman, Lady Peinforte, who is seeking an ancient Gallifreyan weapon, due to arrive on Earth in 1988 (don't ask questions, just roll with it). Now, while Lady Peinforte is fairly standard as a Doctor Who villain (so far all it feels like she's done is shout at things and fire golden arrows at Cybermen), Richard is something altogether more interesting.

Because Richard is from the 17th century, and he's suddenly been placed in 1988 Windsor, he appears to be undergoing some sort of mental breakdown. His mind is blown by absolutely every little thing that occurs through the story such as the fact that he whimpers at the sight of his own gravestone, while Lady Peinforte just wanders through to find her own tomb, such that she can find the Gallifreyan weapon. He also expresses some genuine distress at the thought of travelling through time, and he starts to openly pray forgiveness to God as the Cybermen and Nazis wage war in front of him (again, just roll with it). Suddenly, all these things that would seem normal in an episode of Doctor Who get put into context, with a fairly accurate representation of what it would be like to suddenly appear in a Doctor Who episode, and how thoroughly distressing that would be. It's another thing that will be looked at later on in the series, but for now, we've still got work to do as Silver Nemesis comes to a conclusion.

Day 675: Silver Nemesis Part 1

It's been around two months since I've had an episode of Doctor Who to watch that I've never seen before (the most recent one that I'd seen for the first time was Planet of Fire Part 4), so I've been looking forward to watching Silver Nemesis. However, I've also had a small degree of trepidation regarding this as the general fan consensus is that this is not a very good story, and that I should prepare myself for disappointment. To some degree, the consensus is right; the story doesn't have much weight to it and a lot of the acting is fairly poor. But, on the other hand, there is enough in this for me to enjoy it.

It all feels very different to the normal Doctor Who 'Part 1'. We don't spend time in one setting getting to know the situation, instead, we go on an adventure that crosses through time and space as we discover the background to the adventure, mainly through exposition from the Doctor as he desperately tries to figure out his strategy. This all feels very much like a New Series episode (e.g. The Stolen Earth, The Pandorica Opens) where the exposition has a momentum attached to it, through simple changes of scenery as events rapidly approach some sort of climax. The only problem is that, in the case of a New Series episode, this sort of thing would generally be done within the first five minutes, whereas here it's stretched out to the full 25 minute long episode, which makes things somewhat less appealing and a little but dull.

However, it's still kind of fun to watch, and I'm actually rather looking forward to seeing how the rest of Silver Nemesis pans out.