Day 365: Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part 6

So we reach the climax of this story. Now, the story has fully mutated. It is no longer the Doctor investigating a dinosaur invasion of the Earth, it is a story about the Doctor, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton fighting against a group of extremists. It's relatively tense stuff and works well, although there is still the niggling problem at the heart of this story. It's a story that functions on twists. Having known all of these twists in advance, it lessens the impact and makes for a far more average story on the whole. It's still fun, but I have just a strong sense of regret about being spoiled of what happens.

And yet, there was one moment in this story that surprised me. I won't say what it was, only that I legitimately found it a highlight of my Doctor Who viewing experience. Seeing that moment reminded me that as I continue along this journey of watching Doctor Who, there can still be surprises where I least expect them. And these little moments make the entire journey worthwhile.

Day 364: Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part 5

The plan has finally been revealed! It turns out that the bad giys are going to send a few chosen people back in time to repopulate the Earth and so that we can learn from our mistakes to create a better society. The obvious message that Hulke is trying to make here is one of political extremism, where extremists will go to such strong measures to get the ends that they want, in this case pretty much wiping out most of the human race to start over. We're obviously meant to be sided against them, we can see that this is a horrible move which we as humanity should obviously be against.

And yet I'm siding with the bad guys here. Hulke writes issues of grey morality, inviting viewers to consider both sides of the argument before making the final decision. And in this case, I personally have to side with the idea of rebooting the Earth and starting over. Every day I wake up and look at how the world is going terribly. Climate change and pollution are rampant in our modern world. There are also ideologies that exist that promote hate. That promote fossil fuels over climate action. And we as a society choose these people over people who are arguably going to make our planet better. And it's little wonder that some days I wish that we could go back to the time of the dinosaurs and start over, this time with clever people in charge. After all, we're already surrounded by war-mongering T-Rexes and stegosauruses with walnut sized brains in the modern day.

Day 363: Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part 4

Another twist occurred at the end of the last episode as it was revealed that Sarah Jane had been put on a spaceship and had been on this ship for three months. As an audience, of course, we are pre-disposed not to trust this on the grounds that the episode continues to cut back to Pertwee and UNIT investigating the dinosaurs in the current time period instead of three months hence. Thus, Hulke uninetnionally reveals the truth behind the plot element thathe is currently using. But the motive remains hidden, we are still unaware of how each plot element works together. On the one hand we have dinosaurs roaming the streets of London as part of a massive conspiracy with people involved from science, the military, the government and UNIT. Aside from this, we also have a spaceship filled with prime human specimens who are being reminded of how polluted the Earth is and why they have left to find a new colony somewhere different. Hopefully we shall soon discover how these plot strands fit together, but it's obvious that this is going to make for some more overtly political themes than we're used to in Doctor Who.

Day 362: Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part 3

The villain's plan is still yet to fully reveal itself, so I'll withhold discussion on that for the moment and instead bring up a very important point about Invasion of the Dinosaurs. DINOSAURS! As a young boy I loved dinosaurs. Their majesty and exciting features, coupled with the documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs sparked a youthful obsession with these terrible lizards. Naturally, when looking through Doctor Who: The Television Companion, I found the story with dinosaurs in it and got excited for it, wanting to see what would be presented to me.

The sad thing is that the dinosaurs as presented are not as CGI like the Dinosaurs that I walked with that sparke my interest in the topic, instead they are models. And somewhat poor models as well, which obviously gel poorly with the humans occupying the scenes with them. This makes for a depressing moment, as I can reflect on how I should never get my hopes up for special effects, as they'll always be less than special.

But the effects don't matter. When I was a kid and watching Walking with Dinosaurs, I wasn't thinking of the impressive effects, I was thinking of the dinosaurs that were in front of me. And the fact still remains that dinosaurs are in Doctor Who and that this is remarkably cool and exciting. We get to see the majesty of the Stegosaurus, the horror of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the beauty of the Brontosaurus. The fact that they're less than convincing doesn't matter as we can still appreciate the meaning behind it and get excited to see Dinosaurs.

Day 361: Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part 2

Captain Mike Yates is a character that we've not really discussed that much on the blog. He's one of the UNIT regulars, a reliable sort who is frequently seen either in an action set-piece or hanging out with Jo Grant. Watching this episode, however, makes you realise that something is different. He's asking more questions than he usually does and you can sense that he's not asking these questions out of curiosities sake, there's an ulterior motive at work. The ulterior motive is suddenly revealed as him actually working for a group of people bringing dinosaurs to modern day London. It's a shocking moment as we see the once reliable character who we could trust instead move to the side of the enemy. Over the course of the serial, we'll discover why this is the case, but it shows bravery that we can put the regular cast out of their comfort zone and into new and different scenarios.

Day 360: Invasion Part 1

You have to feel sorry for this story. The production team goes to all the trouble of trying to keep the fact that it's actually called Invasion of the Dinosaurs secret, and then it's all ruined due to a number of factors. One such factor is that halfway through, we get to see a dinosaur attack. This would be expected in stories featuring dinosaurs, that dinosaurs should appear throughout, and yet it's painfully obvious that it was at some point intended that the revelation of the dinosaur would be a cliffhanger reveal, to shock the audience into tuning in the following week to see the Doctor fight dinosaurs. Instead, it just comes across as a weak cliffhanger.

But there's more to it than just that, because any person who wants to watch this story will immediately be denied the pleasure of having the shock dinosaur reveal. This is because the dinosaurs are emblazoned on the front cover of the DVD. As is the phrase: Invasion of the Dinosaurs. And even a cursory glance at the internet will reveal other spoilers that are to come with the story. It's a sad reflection on the fact that we can't enjoy these stories any more in the ways that they were on first broadcast. We already know what is to come ahead of us and so we aren't allowed to be surprised any more. Some days I wish for amnesia, so that I can forget about what will happen and allow the story to be told to me, but this is just a pipe dream, and we must always continue on, as We've Got Work To Do.

Day 343: Frontier In Space Episode 6

As we reach the conclusion of this story a few things begin to become clear. Firstly, the major theme behind this story shows itself, being one of fear. Fear is a theme that we have seen throughout the Jon Pertwee era, whether through the Keller Machine using fear as a weapon in The Mind of Evil or the fear of the mutants in The Mutants drawing the worst out of people, several stories have built on the idea of fear being used as a dangerous thing. Frontier In Space continues that trend by showing the two alien races: Humans and Draconians, at war with each other because they both fear the other. The Master capitalises on this by using a machine to imitate their greatest fear and using this to convince each side that the other is attacking them, thus strengthening the fear that each side has over the other, with the intention of leading to all out war.

Of course, this fails because both sides are able to see reason. Both decide to overcome their fears and to engage in conversation with the other, as they learn from their mistakes and try to be better as a result of this. The outgoing message of Frontier in Space one of peace. That whilst fear might instigate hostility and could cause war, it could all be based on misunderstandings, and that we must truly understand the situation at hand before engaging in any rash decisions such as all out war.

Not that my nine year old self paid attention to any of that. Instead, I was far more concerned with the fact that the story suddenly goes off in a new direction at the end. The Master stands at the top of an alien mountain and proclaims to the Doctor that he has some old friends that would like to see him again. Three Daleks suddenly appear out of nowhere and begin to attack them. When I was a kid, I sort of knew what the Daleks were. And by sort of, I mean that my parents had mentioned them in passing when they were telling me about this strange television series. But this took me completely left of field, as these evil metal creatures came forth and began to attack. Instantly, they became the coolest things that I had ever seen before in my life, and laying the kindling for my obsession with Doctor Who.

And this, I should add, really was a surprise. I am possibly the only person to see the VHS cover for Frontier in Space, observe the Dalek, and then be surprised when they turned up at the end, mainly because I assumed that they were just on there for no reason whatsoever aside from they looked kind of cool. There was one more surprise though waiting for me. The conclusion of Frontier In Space features the Master cornering the Doctor, before shooting him and escaping off into the distance. The Doctor gets up, and with the help of Jo goes into the TARDIS and activates the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to send a message to the Time Lords. And then the story ends. I waited to see what would happen next. I waited for a good five minutes until the VHS finished, and then I admitted that it was quite probable that this story would end on a cliffhanger. I didn't know why though. I didn't know how it would be resolved. I needed to get some form of closure to how it would all end. So I looked up what would happen next, resolving that I would watch the conclusion to Frontier In Space as soon as I possibly could. It was a wait that would last another nine years...

Day 342: Frontier In Space Episode 5

The Draconians are a race who appear in this story, and sadly this story alone. They are probably my outright favourite alien race to appear in Doctor Who for so many reasons. For a start, their design is spectacular, being recognisably alien and at the same time able to show the facial expressions of the actors behind them, meaning that they can fully emote and express opinions instead of lumber about the place and shout. Although, they are created by Malcolm Hulke, aren't they, and so we don't really expect them to be lumbering alien menaces, instead we know that they are going to be treated as equally as the humans in the narrative, full of Hulke's shades of grey that he puts into the stories to introduce a sense of morality to the audience watching it. We can see this through their society, built up in a few brief scenes and yet it tells so much about them and what they think. We can see the high respect that they have for the ruling class, as well as their respect for tradition. But we also see that they are willing to listen, and to learn from the actions of the past. It is for these reasons and so much more that I love the Draconians, and every series that I sadly discover that they aren't returning is a tiny bit of disappointment that I have when I look at the excitement that lays ahead for what is to come.

I don't remember much about the Draconians on first viewing. Instead, I was focussed on how weird everything had suddenly become. The VHS copy that we had of this story had decided to forgo the usual theme tune for Episode 5 and instead use the 'Delaware' version of the theme, only heard in a few foreign markets due to a mistake made when creating the overseas print for the story. It was so weird and different to what I was expecting to happen that I was curious to find out more. To find out why this had occurred and what was behind it. This led me to have a hunt through the shelves of Doctor Who books downstairs to discover Doctor Who The Television Companion, a book that went through the history of every episode of Doctor Who up to The TV Movie. I would devour this book for information, to discover more about this strange series that I had been introduced to. And I still do to this day, as can be seen by the incredibly well read copy that sits beside the computer, for when I can't be bothered to use Google to look up something.

The Book that formed much of my childhood,
as Old

The Book that formed much of my childhood,
as New

Day 341: Frontier In Space Episode 4

The Master appears in this story, as played by Roger Delgado, sadly for the final time before his unfortunate death. Delgado brings a suave charm to the Master with an ability to walk into a scene and instantly make himself the most attractive character. By this, I mean that the audience is drawn to him and his character. We may not necessarily agree with him or his ideals and yet there is the attraction there that makes us want to watch him. Add to this a wonderful chemistry that he has with Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo, the Doctor's companion, and we get a character that is truly memorable and it's fairly safe to say that we will miss him greatly.

Not that I was aware of who the Master was at the time of first viewing, of course. Instead, this character was someone else in the story, someone who I had no prior connection to and as far as I was aware, neither did the Doctor. But through the way in which the story dealt with him, and the way in which Manning, Pertwee and Delgado played off of each other. There was the indication that there was a greater mythology behind all of this. Something which would be explored throughout my life as I sought to learn more about the programme.

Day 340: Frontier In Space Episode 3

There's a sequence that I have little recollection of noticing the first time that I saw this episode. Indeed, it was only when I was around 17 or 18 that I fully noticed and began to appreciate this sub-plot within the story. Essentially, the Doctor is sent to a Lunar penal colony to spend the rest of his days, as he is accused of being a spy for the alien Draconians and the evidence seems to back this claim up. Whilst on the colony, he meets like-minded people who have been placed on the colony for political crimes. These crimes are crimes of peace, attempting to prevent war from occurring. It's a revolutionary moment because it inspires in the audience a sense of realisation as to how society truly treats those that search for peace, and hopefully encourages them to join in the fight against war.

As I say, I was around 17 or 18 when I re-watched this story. I'd seen it a couple of times before, most recently about a year or two prior, although that was mainly spent realising that this story was actually quite good, and not noticing the subtleties present in Malcolm Hulke's writing. Watching it as a young adult made me fully realise how political Doctor Who could be, showing themes that reveal and reflect the time in which they were written. It helped to show me how awesome Doctor Who could be, and reinvigorated a love for the programme in my mind.

Day 339: Frontier In Space Episode 2

Frontier in Space is, on first glances, not the best story to introduce a kid to Doctor Who with. There's none of the fast paced action that hooks younger viewers nowadays, instead it is an altogether slower and more thoughtful affair. There is action, but there's also political intrigue and discussions on prejudice and fear, points that I shall delve into later. Ideally, I would talk about how this didn't matter to my nine year old self. That he was still intrigued by this piece of television that looked at the way in which we treat each other. But to tell the truth, I can't remember. I remember that I watched and liked the story, but it wasn't one that I revisited too often so I don't know how much of an impact it made on me.

But hiding in the back of my memory is something. A giant rabbit, a pink elephant, and a purple horse with yellow spots. The Doctor mentions them in an anecdote to Jo about how you shouldn't be afraid of people interrogating you with truth telling machines as long as you tell the truth, even if they don't believe you the first time*. I love this moment, it's a charming moment from the Doctor and endears him to the audience. I can't recall whether he endeared himself to me at nine years old though. But the memory stuck with me for eleven years as I grew older, and began to forget occasional memories from my childhood. The fact that that stuck says something to me about how maybe this magical little moment let me see the inner beauty of the series, and made me think that I should perhaps check out some of the other videos in the cupboard downstairs. But that's another story, as we still need to finish Frontier In Space.

*(I could lie and say that this one moment inspired me to tell the truth always for the rest of my life. However, the truth is that a traumatising moment with Christian vegetables left me petrified of lying. This is a legitimate problem that I have in my life.)

Day 338: Frontier In Space Episode 1

One day, I was watching television. I was nine years old at the time, and easily impressionable. My TV diet consisted almost entirely of the ABC, the Australian public broadcaster. Every day I would wake up to their morning cartoons, and in the afternoons I would return home and watch their afternoon programming, confident in the knowledge that everything went to some sort of order. If a new show were to be broadcast I would see the trailers for it, get from these trailers a feeling of what the show was and whether I would like it, and then decide on whether it would be worth checking out.

Then, one day, there was a trailer that didn't describe the series that was going to be on. All it said was that "It is returning" as weird patterns filled the screen and a wheezing groaning sound came forth from the TV set. I asked my parents about it, they'd seen it too and were talking about what it really was. They said that Doctor Who was coming back. Not new episodes though, the old ones from before I was born. They explained what the show was and took me downstairs. There, I was shown their Doctor Who collection. Books that I had run past rushing through the house were actually novelisations  of these stories. A cassette tape that hadn't been played since a revolutionary time travelling nativity production a couple of years prior was actually the theme to this strange programme. And the video cupboard that only held Mum and Dad's videos was opened, revealing a handful of VHS copies of Doctor Who episodes for me to discover. That weekend, I sat down with my family and watched one of them. That episode was Frontier In Space, and it would be the gateway for me to a whole new world of discovery.

Day 317: The Sea Devils Episode 6

The Sea Devils is ostensibly a sequel to Doctor Who and the Silurians. Both are by the same writer and concern the same idea: what if there was a race of intelligent beings who occupied the Earth before humanity? There are issues, however, with this approach. For a start there is the large risk of Malcolm Hulke, the writer, repeating himself with these themes, something which he manages to avoid by barely raising them. But by doing this, he doesn't give himself the opening to have the concept of individuals of different morals within the species as he's been forced to instead rely on the prior occupation of Earth as a means to justify the ends of monsters wishing to invade Earth and destroy humanity.

Thus, Hulke is forced to go other places to put through his trademark of morally ambiguous characters. The Master's allies and stuffy politicians take these places but they lack the certain fierceness that can be brought out normally with these archetypes, instead reduced to wandering around and spouting off ideas that we've heard before. So we are faced with a story that, whilst good, treads water with respect to ideas raised. One can hope that the next couple of stories will be full of ideas as we continue on this journey.

Day 316: The Sea Devils Episode 5

Amongst a certain type of person, there is one thing that distinguishes The Sea Devils to most other stories of its time, being the soundscape. The music is normally done by Dudley Simpson, however for this story the director instead utilised the talents of Malcolm Clarke and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to provide a more electronic score. The result is incredibly interesting, as it uses sonic elements that don't normally get heard in places outside of experimental music venues.

The electronic mix is something new, vibrant and different, and is able to inject life into this series as it provides something completely different from what surrounds it. But it adds a strong dissonance to the story itself as we are used to the way in which these stories are normally told. Whilst electronic music has been creeping into the series since Terror of the Autons (and arguably since the series itself began) there's still some unease about this new-fangled technology. And to inject it into the ears of unsuspecting viewers makes for a bit of a shock, and could turn some people away. That said, the story is the main focus here and it is hopefully interesting enough to keep viewers interested in the series, as The Sea Devils approaches its conclusion.

Day 315: The Sea Devils Episode 4

The sonic screwdriver is an object that is viewed with some humour these days due to its magic wand like properties whereby it can appear to solve any problem whatsoever. This hasn't always been the case though. The screwdriver itself has mainly been used to either unscrew screws or as a lockpicking device since it has been introduced, keeping true to the way in which the device was originally intended and not stretching the credibility of the use of it as a tool. However, in this episode we begin to see it approach more unbelievable territories as it is used to explode mines across a minefield to distract the titular Sea Devils from crossing it. It stretches the credibility somewhat this device and yet it also allows for a very memorable visual moment, sticking in the hearts and minds of young viewers watching the program, showing that sometimes it's OK to not stick to the rules provided that it will produce something cool in the process.

Day 314: The Sea Devils Episode 3

As this is a Malcolm Hulke script, the characters are fantastic. In today's blog, we'll have a look at Colonel Trenchard. He's a stock character whom we're familiar with, the blustering upper class type who wanders around and has things happen to him. He's more concerned with golf games than with actual work, but there's a degree of comfort associated with the character as we see him as a buffoon. But behind that buffoonery lies a pawn to be used by The Master. He willingly goes along with The Master's plans, openly helping him as he goes about his evil business. This makes us feel intense dislike for the character as it reveals that the people who are often in charge can be easily swayed and often end up on the side of bad rather than good. This holds up a mirror to our society, in the way in which Hulke stories often do, and encourages a young mind to actually think about the world in which they live, showing that Doctor Who can be an incredibly intelligent programme.

Day 313: The Sea Devils Episode 2

Well, I'm back from SINE. I'd first of all like to thank Elizabeth for taking over for me whilst I was away, and also for taking over for me with regards to The Sea Devils, as I had spent almost 30 hours awake when I got home and was in desperate need of sleep. Regarding the conference itself, much fun was had as I met people from across the world, and at one point watched Doctor Who in a small room surrounded by fellow fans desperate to watch 'The Caretaker'. But that's for a later point, now we have to deal with The Sea Devils.

The most obvious thing to notice about The Sea Devils is that it features the return of the Master. It's been a while since we've encountered him and so it feels very much like encountering an old friend when we see him again. We feel a degree of sadness seeing him locked up in prison, and can't help but feel happy when we discover that this is all a ruse and that the Master really is in control of everything. The return to the norm is refreshing, and creates a feeling of belonging to the audience as we show the show returning to the way in which things normally run (even though this is only a recent development, with the Master's first appearance being just over a year before the broadcast of The Sea Devils). One can also see an example of how much we've missed the Master in watching the video above, which is a remarkably fun sword-fight that shows how fun the Doctor/Master relationship is to viewers, something we'll continue to enjoy as this serial continues.

Day 312: The Sea Devils Episode 1

The Sea Devils is an episode of Doctor Who that I know very little about. Up until today, my knowledge of the episode was limited to a vague idea of what the monster looks like, simply from having, at some point, seen a picture or two in a book or online. So, with that in mind, I have very little to say in regards to themes portrayed in the episode, and shall perhaps leave that to my brother when he returns tomorrow. So, now that we have gotten that out of the way, perhaps we should have a look at the costuming of our protagonists.

In this episode, companion Jo Grant wears a wonderful white suit. The outfit appears well made, and practical, a nice change from the less than practical attire of last episode. This outfit adds a sense of importance to the character with the professional looking design. The predominantly white design also works to set Jo apart from the other characters who are dressed predominantly in darker colours.

 The Doctor can be seen in an outfit that is possibly the source of much inspiration for our current Doctor’s (Peter Capaldi) costume. The costume is classy as always, and truly something to be admired.

Day 298: Colony in Space Episode 6

Hulke plays an interesting trick here. The colonists are being forced onto a derelict spaceship which is certain to explode the moment it leaves the ground. Which then happens, meaning that we see a spaceship exploding and we are shocked to realise that all of the colonists have died (save for one whom was previously seen engaging in a fight with an IMC member of staff). Hulke then wisely decides to move on from this and treat it as a fact, meaning that the audience is left in a severe amount of doubt as to whether the colonists did survive or not. Hulke knows that by placing the explosion at the start of the episode, he then has maximum time to eke out the audience's belief that they all perished. By doing this, it makes the fact that they all inevitably survived more of a welcome sigh of relief as the audience realises that they were safe all along. But it's more than that, because this is such a common trope that it's expected the moment when the spaceship explodes, meaning that when it's revealed that the colonists survived, there's not only a sigh of relief that they survived, there's also a sigh of relief that the audience was right in their original supposition all along.

So by manipulating the audience in such a way, Hulke is able to create a somewhat memorable story. And whilst it's clearly not as strong as his previous efforts, it still shows that he is a capable writer. It's interesting that he's been placed directly after Bob Baker and Dave Martin in the transmission order, as it draws both of their strength to the fore. Baker and Martin are writers of ideas, whereas Hulke is a writer of character. The ideas in Axos are instantly memorable, however it is quite clear that the characters in Colony in Space are far more interesting. And we'll see tomorrow what new writing talents a certain Guy Leopold will bring to Doctor Who...

Day 297: Colony in Space Episode 5

There's a paradox at the heart of Colony in Space. Not the story, but the way in which it can be read as a viewer. Things happen in each episode. More than that, somewhat interesting things happen in each episode. We view trials, people being captured for illegitimate reasons, revolutions and people being put to death sentences for just living on a planet that happens to have minerals on it. We've also got ancient civilisations, the return of the Master and the Doctor being put on a mysterious mission by the Time Lords. And yet, none of this is interesting enough to talk about.

The start of this episode featued the colonists attempting to fight back against their oppressors. The end of this episode features them being put on trial for their actions (the second time that this has happened this serial) and being forced to leave (another thing that has been dealt with earlier in this serial). And over the course of this episode, the Doctor is forced to lead the master to an ancient city, however the Master reveals nothing of his master plan. There's something very clear here, and that's that this episode does not actually need to exist. Every plot development that takes place in this episode has been dealt with before. It makes the story seem ridiculously dull.

But the problem is that this story shouldn't be dull. The characters are somewhat interesting, the plot being slowly revealed to us is a strategy that worked in The War Games and to be perfectly honest, I would easily watch an entire story just focusing on the character of Caldwell. But through virtue of the story being overlong, one feels boredom when watching this otherwise fairly good story. Hopefully things will pick up as we reach the climax of Colony in Space.