Day 214: The Dominators Episode 5

The ending to this episode now ranks as one of my favourite episode endings of all time. The series up until this point has had episode endings that generally wrapped everything up, before sending the TARDIS on its way. This wrap-up could last anywhere between two to ten minutes, and whilst it's nice to get closure, there's still some annoyance in how time is being wasted just to say goodbye. This doesn't really occur here, however, instead the Doctor gets back to the TARDIS and informs Jamie and Zoe that all has been solved and the only side affect will be a small volcanic eruption. Jamie then points out that this small volcanic eruption will occur within quite close proximity to the TARDIS, causing the Doctor's face to suddenly drop as he realises what a problem he's just created. It's brilliant because it's short and snappy, but still funny at the same time. It provides closure to the episode by telling us that all will be well, and then leads into the next story with an effective cliffhanger.

The Dominators is not looked upon fondly by many Doctor Who fans, and yet there are still small gems to be found within the story. It's quite funny at points, occasionally intentional such as the indecisiveness of the council, and unintentional when considering the phallic nature of the drilling devices used, or the sheer ridiculousness of the Quarks. It's got its fair share of bad stuff, but occasionally good things can come out of it, and watching it has shown me that perhaps The Dominators isn't as bad as its reputation would suggest.

Day 213: The Dominators Episode 4

Already, we're able to clearly see the dynamic that has formed between the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. Jamie acts as the action hero, going off and fighting the monsters, while the Doctor talks with the bad guys to try and figure out their plan using his wits, and then he and Zoe come up with solutions in which to solve this problem. The idea of having a smarter companion for the Doctor has probably been inspired by Anne Travers, the wonderful scientist in The Web of Fear, who was able to show that audiences are able to take two clever people discussing their work, and so they don't require a 'stupid' character to explain what's going on. Meanwhile, the action based role clearly works for Jamie, as he has already had his character built up in that way, ever since The Macra Terror. By playing to the strengths of the various members of the TARDIS crew, and pairing them off together, we are able to truly appreciate the wonderful dynamic that has been built up between the main cast, and despite the fact that it's only their second story together, we already get a strong sense that they've been travelling together for years.

Day 212: The Dominators Episode 3

This story was apparently meant to be funnier than it actually is. Originally written as a satire of peace loving hippies, the Dominators was rewritten and the jokes were removed in order to make way for the clearly more exciting prospect of seeing robots explode. There is some interest, however, in trying to figure out what was originally meant to be funny, and what wasn't. There are scenes where discussions are had in which the primary result is found to be 'do nothing' which is clearly meant to be funny, but there are other things as well. The name of the planet, for instance, is Dulkis. Emphasis on Dull there, as it implies that not much happens. But it's difficult to tell whether this is the writers thinking that this is funny, or whether it's just an unfortunate coincidence. Similarly, there is the character of Cully. As written, it is clear that the part is written in the style of a young rebel, clear to show the world that he can rise up and make a difference. The only problem, though, is that the part is played by a man in his fifties, and thus any elements of youth within the character are completely destroyed. But it's once again difficult to tell whether this was intentional or not, because the script doesn't really draw attention to it, nor does the direction which instead chooses to treat this perhaps too seriously, not allowing the humour to come forth.

Day 211: The Dominators Episode 2

This episode's Dalek replacements are the Quarks. They annoy me, half because they're not the subatomic particle that their name refers to, but also because of how poorly set out these creatures are. They lack the excellent design of the Daleks, instead resembling air conditioning units with legs. Their voices are not the harsh metallic tones of the malevolent pepperpots, instead their voices resemble indistinguishable high pitched syllables that occasionally form words. And their major problem is that the production team clearly believed that they were good. There were major arguements about who got the rights to the Quarks, causing this serial's writers to leave the series in a huff (a shame as they wrote The Web of Fear, probably one of the best stories we've had so far) and that means that the production team quite clearly has some problems if they think that what they're putting out id of any sort of quality. This new Bryant/Sherwin era of Doctor Who will bring many things, but consistency in production quality is not one of them.

Day 210: The Dominators Episode 1

So what's created in this story is an idea of a peaceful society that is being invaded by a slightly less peaceful society. What's interesting is that this hasn't explicitly been done before. The major pacifist race that we've encountered over the past 210 episodes has been the Thals, in the original Dalek serial. That story was quite clearly about rising up against the evil forces that lurk elsewhere in the world. This is markedly different, by instead choosing to focus on defence from an invasion, whilst dealing with the fact that the people who are being defended are, rather annoyingly, not going to put up too much of a fight. This change already makes the story feel more action-packed, as we're promised about the action that will occur during this adventure, rather than waiting to see whether it will happen or not. It's also interesting that this serial is a contrast to the first Dalek serial, as we once again have some new Dalek substitutes, who we'll talk about tomorrow.

Day 197: The Web of Fear Episode 6

So the serial comes to an end and with the end we discover who the Great Intelligence has been possessing. It turns out that it's been possessing the Staff Sergeant, Arnold, who was killed a couple of episodes ago, and has now returned as a zombie possessed by an alien being. Which, while a nice idea, doesn't actually gel well with the story as it has been progressing. The story has been built on a climate of mistrust and fear, and the audience has been guided to believe that it was someone else who was possessed by the Intelligence, namely someone who has been more active throughout the plot. Indeed, I was fairly certain that it was going to be the comedy Welshman, Driver Evans, and whilst a portion of my disappointment with the resolution is with the fact that I was incorrect, there are larger issues that I have with this.

One of these is in the background to Episode 4. Episode 4 is the action based around the Yeti attacking, and it occurs due to small Yeti statues being placed in major characters' pockets, drawing the Yeti towards them. This leads to the assumption that they were planted there by someone not acting on their own will, which leads the audience to suspect other members of the cast of being possessed by the Intelligence. This means that by revealing that the Intelligence came into the story later than expected, a small plot hole has been created which draws to attention the flaws within the script.

But the script is still good though, in particular with how it deals with the Doctor. He uses his brains to defeat the Intelligence, but his plan is foiled when Jamie goes forth and uses a plan of his own, stopping the Doctor from defeating the villain. This draws to attention the way that the Doctor operates, using his mind to defeat evil, whereas those whom he travels with prefer to use their fists, a stance that he is not particularly pleased with, particularly when they aren't as effective as using the mind. But he forgives Jamie, and continues on his travels with him because he recognises that Jamie had the right idea. 

And so the story ends on a high note, with the villain mostly defeated, and everyone free to move on their way. I should also point out at this moment that The Web of Fear was also recently rediscovered, and that I doubt that I would have been as positive about the story had I not been able to admire the strong directorial output from Douglas Camfield. Of all that we've covered so far, this is certainly one of the stories that I'd recommend watching the most, for some wonderful direction and a great story that keeps tension rising in a climate of fear.

Addendum (27/6/2014): I was reading a review of this story when it pointed out that Arnold was actually dead all along, and he was always possessed by the Great Intelligence, meaning that I had catastrophically misread this part of the plot. I apologise for any inconvenience caused, it all makes perfect sense now.

Day 196: The Web of Fear Episode 5

Rather annoyingly, my plans for today's entry have been scuppered. The plot hasn't advanced as quickly as I thought it would and my research into both the new producer (Peter Bryant) and new script editor (Derrick Sherwin) has brought up nothing much in terms of a distinct manifesto of concepts that they wish to bring to the series, beyond telling some fun science fiction stories, and that they're going to keep the show afloat for the next little while. (If anyone has anything that actually links towards one of them actively wanting to introduce something to the series beyond what their predecessors have done, please let me know, I would quite like something to fill the space here on slow episode days).

All of this is building up to the fact that I'm going to discuss the sets of The Web of Fear (I know, you're excited!). The episode takes place in the London Underground, and the sets are amazingly realistic (realistic enough that they fooled the actual London Underground into thinking that there had been some secret filming happening without their knowledge). It lends to the realism of the story, by having a recognisable location as the backdrop for all of the action that is occurring. Also, the lighting of the sets is wonderful, bringing out the intense shadows that exist throughout the piece and lending the serial a darkness that hasn't been seen for a while. Again, this comes back to the director, Douglas Camfield, whose ability to create atmosphere and tension makes him ome of the best directors working on the series at the moment, and someone who we will definitely admire for several more serials to come.

Day 195: The Web of Fear Episode 4

I suppose that I should probably mention the monsters for this serial. It's the Yeti again, and they make a good impression. Part of this is due to being directed by Douglas Camfield, who has a good eye for action and making sure that what appears on screen is both axciting and tense. But it's also due to their location as well. Jon Pertwee once famously said that the scariest thing about Doctor Who is that it happened in the real world, not on some distant alien planet. The exact phrase that he used was a "Yeti on the loo in Tooting Bec". This is because we're able to see the unfamiliar in the familiar, and there is a strong air of terror to be found in watching the army fight hordes of monsters through the streets of London, as we realise that this is a threat that could happen in our backyard, not something that's removed from the real world by virtue of being set on some distant alien planet.

But a really interesting thing about the Yeti is their weaponry. Previously, they worked with just mauling people to death, but now they've taken to firing Web guns at the hapless soldiers. Because the Yeti and webs have a long connection through history, as every little child knows. Future showrunner, Russell T Davies, stated in an interview that this is the sort of thing that would never get past a modern meeting, because it doesn't actually make any sense. But it's a testament to the production of the episode that it doesn't have to make sense, because so much else is happening that we don't necessarily care that the Yeti have web guns.

Day 194: The Web of Fear Episode 3

One of the best aspects of this story is the constant climate of fear that surrounds it. Each character is not to be trusted, as we continue to suspect that people may have been taken over by the Great Intelligence. This is in stark contrast to The Abominable Snowmen, where the identity of the Great Intelligence was pretty much known from the start, and everything pretty much proceeded from there. But by having the villain be not only a faceless entity, but also an unknown character within the story, then this allows for the piece to take on a more claustrophobic mood, and improve the tone of the story.

But this is ruined because of one key thing, one of the characters whom we are meant to expect as the Great Intelligence clearly isn't. It's Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, soon to become the Brigadier, an ally of the Doctor for decades to come. Because we already know the character, it removes the sense of mistrust that makes the story so tense, because we know that he's one of the good guys. It's a depressing fact of the story that it's been ruined by an unavoidable spoiler. But that's OK, because it's still quite good

Day 193: The Web of Fear Episode 2

As a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen, this story feels the need to include recurring elements from the previous story. Here, we're going to discuss one major element, being Professor Travers. In this story's predecessor, he came across as a fairly one note character, a man driven to find the Yeti, and who was at first against the Doctor, but then grew to admire him as an ally. But here, fighting the Yeti again, he's a far more interesting character. he's older for a start, meaning that we get to see the effects of time travel on people who aren't in the TARDIS (something not often discussed in the early years of the show). But also, by being older he's been able to develop off screen. Were it not for the fact that they were played by the same actor, it would be impossible to tell that the two characters were the same, that's how different they are. And whilst the older version of the character is good, and brings another strong element to this story, it's also noteworthy that he exists as a 'second try' at his younger version, one that is better characterised and comes across as a more well rounded character.

And all of that seems to me, as I write it, as somewhat negative, so I'll redress the balance by saying that him discovering Jamie and Victoria is one of the loveliest scenes that we've had so far in the series, and it's a pleasure that we're able to see it today.

Day 192: The Web of Fear Episode 1

A sequel story has begun to The Abominable Snowmen, a story that I was rather lukewarm about when we covered it. Fortunately, however, things have changed such that it becomes somewhat more bearable. For a start it's directed by Douglas Camfield, one of, if not the, best director that the series has had so far. But also, new characters have been introduced which spice up the return of the Yeti.

One of these is Anne Travers, who is now one of my favourite characters in the entire Doctor Who universe, for one particular scene. A soldier is asking her how she got caught up in the work that's being done with regards to the invasion of London which is taking place, to which she responds that when she was a little girl, she wanted to become a scientist. So she became one. It's wonderfully simple, and gives a fantastic message to all the young little girls out there that science isn't just a boy thing, and that there are other career oppurtunities besides screaming at Yeti. I should perhaps state my bias towards this character, due to the fact that I'm currently Training Manager for a group called Robogals, which goes out and inspires young girls, just like Anne does, by showing them that science and engineering are achievable career options, rather than just being a secretary or an artist, they can want to be scientists when they grow up. And then become one.

Day 179: The Abominable Snowmen Episode 6

As this story comes to an end, let's do a brief recap of what's actually happened. The Doctor has had the role of being the guiding force, and Troughton has been able to make the character consistently interesting, particularly when getting to face off against pure evil. Jamie also gets some good stuff in this story, being able to be both an action hero and a comic double act with the Doctor, although Victoria, in a stark departure from the previous female companions who were able to hold strong positions in the plot and drive the story when required, exists solely to scream. The other supporting characters were nice and it was a nice touch to only have it until halfway through the story before everyone is on the Doctor's side, meaning that everyone comes across as having more realistic motivations. All in all, it's an OK story though, there's not too much beyond a simple adventure here, and whilst it's fun, it's not much more than that.

Day 178: The Abominable Snowmen Episode 5

Doctor Who visits the world of mysticism in this episode, as it is stated that this serial's villain, the Great Intelligence, was encountered by, and later was able to take over, Padmasambhava on the 'astral plane'. It is a formless villain, operating purely on motivation and method rather than design in order to provide its scares. But the key point here is that this villain is decidedly mystical, not one of the more scientific adversaries that we've encountered so far in this series. This means that the world is able to become stranger, and the serial is no longer just a science fiction adventure serial, but it can also include elements of something 'other', which can help spice up the series so that it doesn't become the same old thing repeated over and over again.

Also, as an addendum to the last entry, the appearance of Padmasambhava has improved and become slightly more unsettling, however I still stand by my original point that it's a poor cliffhanger, and that it doesn't really translate itself well to screen.

Day 177: The Abominable Snowmen Episode 4

Terrifying face, or bad make-up job?

Before this entry begins, I should make a small note. When I watch these episodes, I watch them in one of two ways. One is that I sit down and give the episode my full attention, the other is that I will have it on in the background whilst I do some work. The latter is not preferable, because it means that I'll sometimes lose key points of the episode in question, and so my impression might not be as truthful as the episode actually is. But this is just me pussyfooting around the fact that this episode's cliffhanger is one of the worst that I've encountered so far. The ending is that Victoria encounters the hidden face of the voice that has been guiding events, that of Padmasambhava (the writers really enjoy making me double check spelling, don't they?). As scripted, it is meant to be a wizened and decrepit old man, centuries past his use-by date. As it appears on screen, it's just another face with abnormally large lips. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm going off a reconstruction of the episode, and that his actual appearance is meant to be terrifying. But somehow I doubt that. It's not even got that much to back it up in terms of plot, because although the man has been hinted at as being a terrifying figure, he hasn't done much beyond tell people what to do, and so by seeing his face, the plot doesn't really advance too much, certainly not enough to make audiences want to tune in the next episode.

Day 176: The Abominable Snowmen Episode 3

Professor Travers is an nice character in this story, due to his interesting motives. Positioning himself in the Himalayas in order to find the Yeti (note how I'm stoically avoiding spelling Abominable over these entries because I'm pretty sure that I'll misspell it at some point), he is a driven man. He's also quick to make assumptions, as he accuses the Doctor of murder, and Jamie and Victoria as accomplices, but he soon realises that he was mistaken. And from then on, he is treated as an ally, which is a really interesting idea, because it means that once again, we have a character who was at first a villain, but has now been placed on the side of good, giving the audience the impression that development has occurred with the character and that they have all gotten to know each other far more quickly than they actually have. It's a nice economy in storytelling, although there is the issue that this story has only just reached the halfway point, and sometimes cutting down on plot could be a bad thing when there's plenty to go around, and we might end up leaving other episodes hungry.

Day 175: The Abominable Snowmen Episode 2

Another thing that's interesting about this story is that it is a sequel. The Doctor has visited the Tibetan monastery where the story takes place before, and the villain has prior knowledge of the Doctor. "So what?", I hear you ask, because sequels are normal things, we encounter them all of the time in fiction, be they continuations of popular book franchises or high budget sequels to films in order to make studios more money, we're used to the concept. But this is a sequel to an unseen adventure, meaning that there is already a history to the story, as Doctor Who has built up its own mythos in order to create more possibilities for adventures. And, of course, the villain in this story is the Great Intelligence, a being which has appeared in more recent episodes as well. And one of these was explicitly set in Victorian times, before the events of this story, meaning that perhaps we have already seen the prequel to this story, in the form of The Snowmen.

Day 174: The Abominable Snowmen Episode 1

So, this new adventure has begun, and it features the Doctor and his companions facing off against the Yeti. It's a nice idea, a simple public domain monster that is easily recognised by children that can be used to give them a nice slice of entertainment. But, let's face it, the idea lacks imagination. The Yeti, as a monster, aside from being afflicted by being some of the cuddliest monsters that Doctor Who has created, also lack the spark of originality that came with the Daleks or the Cybermen. There will be originality in this story, yes, but unfortunately it won't come from the monsters, instead we'll have to look deeper than that.

But one thing that the Yeti does have is that they are among the more frequent of myths to still be around today due to people apparently seeing them, when in fact they are seeing something far more mundane. This is explored in an interesting scene, where the Doctor is captured for apparently killing a man, and the major piece of evidence in this is that the killer was wearing a large furry coat. So what happens is that the viewer is left a step ahead of the characters, because they are already familiar with the nature of the programme, as well as being able to read the title of the episode as well. They know that the Doctor is innocent, and that the most likely killer is a monster, something which the characters haven't yet realised. So this means that the viewers get to have a bit of fun in the now traditional monster-less episode 1, by being able to piece elements of the puzzle together. It's a nice idea, and means that, for me at least, the story becomes a bit more interesting, where little interest was to be had before.