Day 431: The Masque of Mandragora Part 4

I am not good with scares. One of my earliest memories is hiding underneath the dinner table from the Lion on the Teletubbies. This has continued throughout my life, with a fairly recent memory being watching Jurassic Park for the first time at a University event and entertaining my friends with my heightened reactions to the Velociraptors (I neglected to attend another session with the film Alien on similar grounds). So upon watching this story, I must admit that I yelped at considerable volume when the above image flashed on screen.

I had seen the image before, whilst researching photos of the Mandragora Helix. It struck me as one that was a little bit on the unsettling side. A lot of this is the lighting and effects placed on the mask, giving it a demonic look that can scare just about anyone. The design of the mask helps as well, adding a remarkably fierce quality that adds to the terror. Watching it come up in context, however, added a new element of horror to the proceedings. It flashes up suddenly, without any sort of warning. One moment the Doctor is being attacked by Hieronymous, the next we see that image. I gave a resounding cry of shock, and thought to myself of the glorious impact that Doctor Who can have on people. It can still provide fear to people even almost 40 years on from its original broadcast date, adding to the timeless nature of Doctor Who.

Day 430: The Masque of Mandragora Part 3

There's a moment in this story where Sarah Jane asks an important question. If they are in Italy, why does it seem like everyone is speaking English? The Doctor eventually responds with something aling the lines of it being a 'Time Lord's gift' and leaves it at that. What's impressive is that this topic has never once come up in the past 430 episodes. Never have we even stopped to considr why the Thals or Daleks or Ice Warriors or Cybermen or Sontarans or the Nestene Consciousness can speak perfect English. Instead, we accept this as a by-product of drama. We've seen enough programs of this ilk to know the general tropes and we know that everyone will be understood to the audience.

What's also impressive is that this topic will next be touched upon in the episode The End of the World, over 28 years later. This shows the way in which our society has changed, that we are less likely to accept things at face value and we seek for explanations for all that occurs on screen. In a way, this is reflective of one of the themes of this story, that we have become more seeking of reason in our media, seeking science over superstition and made up nonsense, perhaps showing that we have grown as a society.

Day 429: The Masque of Mandragora Part 2

Now the major theme of this story appears to be one of superstition against science. The superstitious beliefs of the time of Renaissance Italy are being taken advantage of by the Helix, who is able to instill the control that it needs through some dedicated followers by claiming to be Demnos, an old god from centuries ago. Meanwhile, we have other characters such as the Doctor and Giuliano, men of science who believe in reason and in seeking out answers even if they may contradict current beliefs. It marks a return to the series' original remit: to educate as well as entertain. Here we are being taught about the very foundations of science, how it is about rationalism and seeking out answers instead of relying on old beliefs and the ways of magic.

Day 428: The Masque of Mandragora Part 1

This story has immediately taken me by surprise. Surrounded by stories where the Doctor lands in somewhat familiar surroundings, here we land somewhere abstract: The Mandragora Helix. It marks a return for the series to the fantastical, after some time away whilst we've had relatively mundane adventures, where we deal with invasions from outer space or alien planets. This means that we can go to stretch the limits of what the series is capable of, showing weird and wonderful settings that are unlike anything that we've seen before. And whilst the TARDIS may make a return to the norm and land in Renaissance Italy later in this episode, the opening few moments stand out and draw the viewer in to what may be an exciting adventure.

Day 409: Planet of Evil Part 4

The key driving force behind this story is one of an anti-matter monster which is rather annoyed that anti-matter is being taken from them. The Doctor resolves to ensure that all anti-matter is handed back, however there is a scientist, Professor Sorenson, who disagrees with this and sneaks anti-matter aboard the spaceship. Later, in scenes reminiscent of Inferno, we see the Professor turn into a monster, nicknamed Anti-Man by the Doctor, reflecting the mania with which he proceeded to keep the anti-matter in an attempt to find an alternate energy source.

But there's more to it than just that. Sorenson is fully aware that he is turning into a monster and tries to keep it under control with a vaccine. The Doctor then informs him that the vaccine will no longer work, and that Anti-Man will soon take full control over Sorenson. So in a harrowing scene, we see Sorenson lie down and prepare to be ejected into space. His hand hovers over the switch to eject himself, but we see that the hand has already changed into something monstrous. In a way, the Professor does die at that point. But it's not because he was ejected into the cold vacuum of space, instead it is because the monster has taken over. And whilst all turns out well by the end of the story, and the Professor regains his senses, this singular moment of horror remains one of the most truly disturbing scenes in Doctor Who.

Day 408: Planet of Evil Part 3

There are two characters of great interest in this story: Salamar and Vishinksy. Salamar is the controller of the Morestran spaceship, with Vishinsky as his second in command. Salamar is young, he makes impulsive decisions and is keen to make an impression as a strong commander, whereas Vishinsky is more eager to sit down and listen to arguments, in particular those of the Doctor. This is all fairly generic, until we reach the cliffhanger.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are accused of killing members of the crew with special anti-matter powers, and so Salamar decides to eject them into space (acting on the suspicions of Professor Sorenson whom we will deal with tomorrow). Thus, they are held in coffin like structures, and are ready to be ejected when Salamar gives the order to Vishinsky that they be sent out into space. Vishinsky refuses, so Salamar forces him to do it, taking his hand and making him pull the lever to send them outside. It shows that Salamar is not just doing this to get rid of what he sees as the problem, he is also doing this to express his superiority over Vishinsky by making him do the action. He is the commanding officer and he isn't going to let anyone else on the ship forget it.

However, by performing this action, it reveals how unstable Salamar is, that he is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to prove his dominance over anyone else. As we approach the conclusion, we shall see how this instability shall manifest itself even more as the Planet of Evil rears its head once more...

Day 407: Planet of Evil Part 2

There's a rather nice effect featured in this episode which complements the story nicely. It's the oculoid tracker, a flying gizmo that provides a group of Morestrans (humans who colonised the planet Morestra) with knowledge of what's going on, by acting as a spy. It flies about the place with some considerable speed, juxtaposing itself with the alien landscape by being a rare piece of technology. It also helps that David Maloney, the director, makes the decision at several points to attach it to the bottom of a film camera and then place the film camera high above the studio floor, after which the camera begins to move around the jungle from the high vantage point. This both shows the tracker at work, allows for the model to be shown off, and shows the beauty of the alien planet, whilst being an innovative camera position and one that shows David Maloney as a director who is very good at his job.

Day 406: Planet of Evil Part 1

This story is beautiful. Seriously beautiful. To clarify, I'm not referring to the performances, nor the plot, nor the direction (although all of those are beautiful in their own right), instead I am referring to the sets. Or to be more specific, the jungle set of Zeta Minor. It was designed by Roger Murray-Leach, who creates an alien jungle before our eyes. The plants all look unfamiliar and untamed, creating an uneasy and alien landscape. This is coupled with the lighting from Brian Clemett which exacerbates the exotic feel of the planet, covering it with reds and blues unfamiliar to the human eye, and the fact that portions of the jungle have been filmed in Ealing, allowing for a larger space and thus giving the jungle more room to breathe. This all creates one of the most beautiful sets that we have seen for some time in Doctor Who and shows the wider world the hidden beauties that Doctor Who can produce on screen.

Day 307: Day of the Daleks Episode 4

The plot of this episode is wonderful, because it actually uses the time travel elements which Doctor Who has as its premise. The idea is that a group of guerrillas in the future attempt to prevent a terrorist attack made in the twentieth century by travelling back in time to kill the supposed terrorist before they can make this attack. What they fail to realise though is that by attempting to do this, they are in fact creating this terrorist attack themselves. This is fantastic because it's actually attempting to do something different. Other episodes of the series have just been generic alien invasions, but Marks is keen to differentiate himself from what has come before, and actually take a spin on the premise of the series to produce something new.

That's not to say that we're free of flaws though. The Daleks come back in time to ensure that history will remain on course (by allowing history to be changed). This is a good idea on paper, however execution leaves a lot to be desired. The production team has three Daleks. It's not exactly an invasion force, and it begins to stretch credibility when we see the same three Daleks paraded in front of the camera in an attempt to be menacing. Never mind the fact that the Daleks don't really work on location here, as we can see them wobble about as they try to remain stable on the ground. It's a shame as the idea has great potential, it's just been squandered in the execution.

Day 306: Day of the Daleks Episode 3

As hinted at by the title of this story, this story features the return of the Daleks. There is one very obvious reason for this: a hook is needed in order to bring the audience in for the new series. There is one very obvious result of this: a villain that doesn't quite work. The entire story of Day of the Daleks is actually rather good. It has an engaging hook and some very interesting characters. But it also has the Daleks, who have been obviously shoehorned into the story to try and get some more viewers. This is to the detriment to the story as it means that we now have a handful of completely useless scenes in every episode featuring the Daleks, when it is plainly obvious that scenes with any other character would be more engaging.

But this is all bearable because for every bit of pointlessness in each episode, we get some remarkably good scenes. And that will make the Day of the Daleks something to look forward to as we approach the conclusion to this story.

Day 305: Day of the Daleks Episode 2

One of the things that happens in this episode is the Doctor picking up a gun and shooting one of the alien Ogrons in cold blood as he saunters up to the Doctor. It should be noted that the Doctor shot first, and that this is certainly a moment where the Doctor killed someone with a gun.

This is wrong. It doesn't matter that it fits into the tone of how other programmes of the ilk would handle similar situations, or that the Ogrons are clearly working for the bad guys. It still is remarkably out of character for the Doctor. The Doctor is a character who will ask questions instead of shooting. Who will use aikido as a martial art because there are no offensive moves within it, only defensive moves. Who will act for peace in a universe of war. This action by shooting an Ogron is so aggressively out of character for the Doctor that it leaves a disgusting taste in the mouth for blatant disregard for how the series works, and takes away much of what makes Doctor Who a unique and fun property. I'm not saying that it's one of the worst decisions ever made in the series (that will be discussed when we get to around August 2015), but it certainly remains an uncomfortable part of Doctor Who history.

Day 304: Day of the Daleks Episode 1

Day of the Daleks. The name seems to imply that this episode will see the return of the Daleks. This return has been well overdue, as they have been absent from our screens for over 100 episodes. However, they are synonymous with the mythos that is Doctor Who, thus they will have to return to wreak havoc on our television screens once more. However, there is one slight problem. The production team has changed several times since the Daleks were last on our screens. This isn't a blight on the production team being in flux, more a blight on the time between appearances for these evil metal creatures. Because everyone's forgotten how the Daleks work. The Dalek's voices are slightly 'off', for instance. The way in which they're directed is 'off' as well. The cliffhanger with Dalek stories is traditionally a character encountering the Daleks and being reduced to some form of shock at the revelation of the Daleks. This time, the cliffhanger is a bunch of Daleks saying that they're going to Exterminate the person in the twentieth century who's screwing up their plans. It's not exactly nail biting stuff.

But the important thing is that the Daleks have returned and it doesn't matter that they're slightly 'off' as they still have an amazing ability to draw kids in and show them the exciting world of Doctor Who.

Day 45: Crisis

It's surprising how dark this story is. For a start, the plot begins with people being murdered in cold blood, and halfway through the story, Barbara becomes infected with the insecticide. However, she neglects to tell anyone about this, not wishing to cause a fuss. And so we see her slowly succumb to the illness over the course of the serial, slowly dying and we know that there is not much likelihood of them succeeding. This is a threat that we haven't faced before in the series. Earlier serials have always been slightly detached from the real world, the threats have been ray guns, or guillotines. Not more common things such as poison, that can be found in the real world. It should also be noted that the Doctor and co are really helpless in this episode, they aren't an active part of the resolution, beyond just being there and attempting to help. I mean, they do destroy the insecticide, and in the process injure the bad guy, but the events would have essentially played out just the same without them. They just act as a nice little interlude while other people solve everything. That said, they are an interesting interlude, but the point remains that we have essentially been given two parallel plots that operate around each other, but never really meet. It makes for an interesting experiment though, as we get a nice action adventure, but also a small scientific crime drama as well.

Day 44: Dangerous Journey

So the henchman in this episode
is called Smithers. When the bad
guy finds the Doctor and co., will
he have to release the hounds?

This is the first time since the first episode that the TARDIS has landed on what was then contemporary Earth. And so we get to see Doctor Who attempt to look at modern issues, not through allegories or comparisons, but through explicitly showing these things. The plot here revolves around insecticides, a topic that is still relevant today, particularly with both the agricultural community and the environmental community, because it has a large range of issues and problems with it. All the time it has to be considered whether the products are safe for human consumption, what the danger is to the ecosystem, and whether they will actually work, but they're balanced out by showing that these products can help save crops, and contribute to the fight against hunger. And it's a complex issue that is well explored here. Fortunately, the villain is only interested in the monetary gain from it, and so whilst the bad guy is clearly shown, it also allows for the sidekick, in the form of a man called Mr Smithers (I am seriously hoping that the next episode ends with him accepting a role at a nuclear power plant), to be more sympathetic, because he is the one who has the hopes for the future, and he is the one who wants to prevent starvation, and he is not the one who has killed people who have gotten in his way. And so this leaves the audience not sure as to whether these things are bad or not, because the bad guys have control over them, yet the sidekick seems like a reasonable chap, and thus the audience may think that these things aren't so bad after all. And so they're left to make up their own minds on this issue, maybe learn more about it to make a better judgement. And maybe this will inspire a future scientist to look into this issue, and develop it for future use. So, in effect, Doctor Who is showing a modern issue, strongly relevant to society, with strong implications for the future, and indeed the present and it is showing multiple viewpoints of this, and leaves the audience never quite sure as to which is the bad one. So in essence, it's doing a better job at being a current affairs programme in 1964 than Today Tonight or A Current Affair ever have. (For overseas readers, insert awful 'current affairs programme here, also, hello!)

Day 43: Planet of Giants

This episode, as the title would suggest, takes place in a planet of giants, where everything is much taller than our heroes. Or so it would seem, however 10 minutes into the episode, it is revealed that they have in fact been shrunk down, and they have landed on contempary Earth and are viewing the world from the perspective of ants. This is a brilliant concept, and one that was put forward for the first serial, before being recycled for the opening of the second series. One must remember that for almost every single episode, the TARDIS crew have been visiting worlds that have been alien to them, be they Aztec temples or acid seas, they are all different to the things that one would see at home. And so to see everyday objects made into an alien setting, it's fascinating, as it allows us to realise how terrifying the world can be, if viewed at the wrong size. And so we are brought to mind that this is one of the most alien worlds that we have encountered, and it can be found in your backyard, bringing the danger closer to home, something we'll get to in a couple more episodes, but for now, let's just appreciate the world that we don't often get a close-up viewing of.