Day 637: Timelash Part 2

Meanwhile in this story, there
is an actual sock puppet acting as
an antagonist.

20 minutes into Timelash Part 2, Paul Darrow gets killed. Given that he is the only good thing about this story, it is clear that the rest of this episode isn't going to be that great.

25 minutes into Timelash Part 2, the Borad gets killed. Given that he is the main villain of the story, you could be forgiven for thinking that the story ends there. But unfortunately, it doesn't. Instead, there's around 20 minutes left of Timelash to go. 20 minutes of padding and waiting for the credits.

There's also the Timelash, which is
made out of tin foil. Clearly a lot of
effort went into this story.

I'm not going to say that these are the worst 20 minutes of Doctor Who ever produced. But I will say that I was shouting at the TV throughout it and begging for it to end. Every single fault in the story becomes so much larger when it becomes apparent that there's no story to base anything on. The Doctor becomes even less likeable, at one point picking Peri up and almost throwing her out of the TARDIS control room. That said, he's nothing compared to Herbert, who brings a sense of irritation to Doctor Who that hasn't really been felt since Matthew Waterhouse's performance as Adric in The Visitation.

Once entering the Timelash. we
discover that it's made of
styrofoam and tinsel. You can almost
taste the effort that went into the story.

And there's even worse yet to come. There's a thoroughly unconvincing explosion that makes you wonder whether any thought was given to the very notion of special effects in this story, but you believe that the Doctor is dead. Then the Borad shows up, where he reveals that the one that was killed earlier was just a clone. This plot development is given virtually no prior warning and is never expanded upon, making it even more painfully clear that this scene has been shoehorned in at the last moment because there are still 5 minutes left to fill. Then the Doctor shows up, where he reveals that he survived the explosion. He doesn't bother elaborating on why this is the case, which acts as a further example of how lazy the writing is in this story. But he saves the day, and reveals to the audience that Herbert was actually HG Wells. This, in turn, reminds me of how much of a missed opportunity this was, and how there could have been a really good story where the Doctor meets HG Wells. But instead we get Timelash, a sorry excuse for a story that I'm thoroughly glad is over.

Day 636: Timelash Part 1

There's not much to like about Timelash. The script is uninspiring, the acting is generally non-existent (with the exception of Paul Darrow, who makes it reasonably watchable), and the direction is somewhat flat. More to the point, it fails to engage the audience with any sort of hook, instead it just has events happen and it expects the audience to be interested in them.

An example of a lack of any sort of hook for the story is how they attempt to bludgeon in some continuity by saying that the Third Doctor and Jo have previously visited here. But it fails to do anything interesting for the plot, aside from providing the villain with a motivation for revenge. There is potential in the idea, if the script decided to have a far greater showing of the Doctor's influence. But as for now, it feels like a 'fun fact' about the planet, which whilst somewhat diverting, fails to be of any substance whatsoever.

Still, at least it's not offensively bad like The Twin Dilemma. Although, at least The Twin Dilemma was interesting in its awfulness, whereas this is just completely uninspiring.

Day 606: Warriors of the Deep Part 4

Over the course of this blog, I've come across episodes that are pleasant surprises. They're the sorts of stories that I look forward to each night that I watch them, because I'm legitimately interested in what's happening. An example, for instance, is Doctor Who and the Sliurians, a story that was all about subterranean reptiles who previously inhabited this planet and now want to take it back from the humans. It was fantastic because it had a strong idea, excellent monsters, superb direction, and wonderful characters. Warriors of the Deep is a sequel to that story, and has virtually none of that.

The obvious way in which Warriors of the Deep fails, in my opinion, is through the characters. Doctor Who and the Silurians was filled with interesting and distinct characters. Take, for instance, the two main Silurians, a young one and an elder one. The elder was keen to make peace, and was open to discussion with the Doctor about their lives, however the younger one was more keen to attack, killing others in their wake and escalating events to an inevitable destructive conclusion. And those are just two of a fantastic cast of characters that made up the story.

Warriors of the Deep, on the other hand, is filled with cardboard cut-out characters. There's evil foreigner, evil alien, good natured human male, good natured human female, all of these characters are painfully generic. But it's not just that, it's the fact that we never really get to spend any time getting to know them, which was one of the clear benefits of Doctor Who and the Silurians. The closest we come is the Doctor and Icthar (the leader of the Silurians) having a conversation where Icthar says that he's not going to bother with peace and instead he's going to go for all out conflict. There's no sense of Icthar as a character though, we only see him as a plot device that is causing trouble for the humans on the Seabase because we never get any time to see him consider his actions.

In a way, this entire story can be summed up by the way in which the Silurian redesign is handled. They previously had a third eye, which was used as part of their technology, as well as to see and to cause pain to humans. Here, it's reduced to a light that flashes on to indicate which Silurian is talking. It's the essence of this story: something that was once weird and wonderful reduced to something entirely functional.

As the Doctor says at the end of this story, "There should have been another way".

Day 605: Warriors of the Deep Part 3

The Myrka is easily one of the most memorable monsters ever to feature in Doctor Who. It's the pet of the Silurians, and attacks the Seabase in this story as some sort of unstoppable force. A memorable scene featuring the Myrka is seen above, as Dr Solow attacks the Myrka with some impromptu karate moves, failing as all shall fall in the wake of the Myrka. It is easily memorable, mainly because it elicits a strong emotional response in the viewer. That strong emotional response, of course, is uncontrollable laughter.

It's completely awful. I understand that there were severe issues with the making of the story that prevented things from coming out the way that they might have hoped. However, that does not entirely excuse the fact that it looks like a pantomime horse that's being operated by two people who are clearly under the effect of the wet paint on the costume that they've been sniffing. And whilst I can laugh at it and think of it as just another bad Doctor Who monster, the brutal truth is that this marks a turning point in the franchise. From this point onwards, Doctor Who goes down a bit in people's estimations, and it leads to the series eventually being cancelled. Granted, there are other forces at work, and I'll have a look at one or two of them a little later on, but there's no denying that after looking at the Myrka, you have to think about whether Doctor Who is really worth watching any more.

Day 604: Warriors of the Deep Part 2

The purpose of this episode is clearly to increase the tension on the base as Silurian and Sea Devil forces threaten to attack. The last ten minutes or so, for instance, are spent staring at an air lock attempting to prepare for the attack, whilst spies on the base from the other global superpower are attempting to bring down the base from the inside as part of some nefarious scheme. It forces us to spend more time with the characters, in particular the regulars, and it's interesting to see how they're written in this story.

The Doctor is written as some sort of peacemaker, the person who clearly wants the solution with as little bloodshed as possible. An example can be seen, for instance, when he attempts to tell the commander of the Seabase that he is telling the truth, so he hands him a gun that he picked up as a sign of confidence and trust. This echoes the original story Doctor Who and the Silurians, where the Doctor's role was again to try and act as a peacemaker between humans and Silurians, to which he found varying degrees of success.

As for the companions, Turlough's role seems to be the sensible one. He'll help the Doctor, and do the right thing in most circumstances, but he knows when to retreat and move on, even if it's not the 'right' thing to do. The cliffhanger to the previous episode is a good example as it shows the Doctor falling into a vast pool of water. Turlough's immediate reaction is to keep running, as there are guards chasing him and Tegan. He says to Tegan that there's nothing they can do, and that it is likely that the Doctor has drowned. He wasn't right, obviously, and the right thing to do in that situation would be to try and help the Doctor, but Turlough makes the sensible decision to try and run away, because he knows that this way, he and Tegan at least have a better chance of staying alive.

Speaking of Tegan, she's badly treated in this story, in my opinion. The main things that happen to her are: she says a fart joke, hides in a corner, and has a wall fall on her. It's not a good Tegan story overall. Indeed, it's not a good story overall, as we'll see tomorrow with one of the story's major failings.

Day 603: Warriors of the Deep Part 1

We delve into Earth's future for this story, as it takes place on a Seabase on the bottom of the ocean around the year 2084. It's actually an area of time that we haven't visited for a long time, being humanity's future. It's a concept that's obviously keen on the hearts and minds of much of humanity, as we wonder where we'll end up, what technological advances have been made, etc. so Warriors of the Deep clearly has a setting that's worth giving a second look.

The future that it depicts, interestingly enough, is actually more of a reflection of the times that it was made. Two great power blocs are in conflict, each poised on buttons of mass destruction that they could fire at any moment. It's much like the Cold War in that respect, and given that this was made in the 1980's, the Cold War is clearly on everybody's minds. There are other parallels to be drawn as well, such as the introduction of spies on the Seabase as well as sleeper agents, and indeed the setting being an underwater base itself, given that submarines were key parts of the Cold War.

A submarine base is actually ideal as well, as it can easily be seen as some sort of high tech spaceship given the interior design of the vessels. It can also be a place for high technology, given the importance of the missions, such as the device that appears to give some sort of mental control over missiles. It's all a very interesting setting, and one that doesn't end up deviating from the general design of Doctor Who itself at the time as, after all, "Submarines are the spaceships of the ocean!"

Day 487: The Pirate Planet Part 4

The main villain of the piece is, oddly enough, not the Pirate Captain. For all the shouting, bluster and generally acting like a Doctor Who villain, he is not in fact the person in charge. Instead, he acts as a front for his nurse, secretly the evil Queen Xanxia, a woman who is generally kept to the background in scenes, but slowly throughout the story moves to the foreground until the audience begins to realise that she may have more power than she seems. Again, this shows that Adams is familiar with the way in which the series works in that we know how to spot villains in stories, and thus by adding this small plot development, the story becomes massively more interesting.

Indeed, it also makes the Pirate Captain more interesting as well. It is slowly revealed through this part that he is not an entirely willing sub-ordinate to Queen Xanxia, and indeed the reason why he has been collecting the planets and storing them is to form a massive trap for the Queen. It's disappointing that much of this is revealed in exposition between the Doctor and Romana though, as it feels like it needs a scene where the Captain reveals his true colours to our heroes and we can feel more sympathy for him.

But that doesn't mean that the story doesn't do this in other ways. The Captain has had, throughout the story, one man at his side, his assistant Mr Fibuli. The Captain appears to dislike Mr Fibuli throughout the story for various reasons, such as things not running as efficiently as they could have been. But when Mr Fibuli dies halfway through this part, we see a moment of sadness on the Captain's face. He acknowledges him as a good man, and then proceeds to attempt to take down Queen Xanxia single handedly. It's a simple quiet moment that reveals much about this previously one-dimensional character.

And this is really only scratching the surface when we come to The Pirate Planet. Through various time constraints I haven't been able to talk about things like the Mentiads, the Polyphase Avatron or the vast array of Physics jokes throughout the story that made me laugh far too much. This is actually a fantastic story, and thankfully it won't be the last work we'll see from Douglas Adams in Doctor Who.

Day 486: The Pirate Planet Part 3

There's a scene in the centre of this episode that sticks out completely as the highlight of the story. The Doctor has been kidnapped by the evil cyborg pirate Captain and is led around his domain. The key stopping area is his collection of planets, planets which he has mined by de-materialising his own planet from where it currently is and re-materialising it around another, slightly smaller, planet, then crushing it for all that it is worth. A fantastic idea, both on the part of Adams and on the part of the Captain, but the Doctor is perplexed. A fair chunk of these planets were inhabited, and the Captain destroys them, it would appear, without thought. The Doctor asks the Captain in a rage "What's it for?!". This works on different levels. For a start, it shows that the Captain is clearly a maniac, conquering worlds if only to look at and appreciate them, not realising the lives that have been destroyed in order to get his small amount of appreciation. It also works because Adams is playing with the notion of the Doctor Who villain. The Captain is so one-dimensional in his approach that he doesn't even have a fully fleshed out motive, and Adams sees fit to play with that idea, revealing his inadequacy to the full audience. On top of all that as well, it's a scene with a fantastic performance from Tom Baker, showing that his performance is very easily one to be appreciated.

Day 485: The Pirate Planet Part 2

The Pirate Planet does succeed in certain areas. One such area is the way in which it uses the Doctor Who mythos. You can easily tell that Adams has seen the show before, because he is able to play with some of the common tropes of the series. For instance, the story plays around with jellybabies an awful lot. Famed for being the sweet of choice for the Fourth Doctor, previous appearances in the series have been generally put at brief one-liners. In this case, Adams is able to use them in such instances as a distraction for a guard, by having the Doctor throw the bag in such a way that the guard goes to investigate, only for the Doctor to sneak past. By including things such as this, it shows that Adams knows how the series works, and put a bit of effort into making what happens on screen to be recognisably part of the series.

Day 484: The Pirate Planet Part 1

We begin this new story with a new writer: Douglas Adams. A name which is known to millions of people worldwide, famous for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently, and a vast array of other projects, it would appear that at one point he wrote a bit of Doctor Who on the side. It's interesting to watch this episode then, seeing how this fantastic writer started out. To be honest though, this episode has a fairly normal beginning. We've got a bit of a mystery with a planet that's disappeared, there's a cyborg pirate, a group of psychics, and the streets have precious gems lying about the place, but aside from these things, the great ideas that characterise Adams's later work aren't present, instead we get ideas that for any other writer would be rather good. Perhaps it's just that we've been spoilt by having experienced better things from Adams such that we don't fully appreciate what has been laid out in front of us. Still, it's only Part 1 and I'm sure that there will be bigger and better things to come as The Pirate Planet continues.

Day 469: The Sun Makers Part 4

The Sun Makers is an interesting story, as it appears to directly advocate for a revolution. We get an oppressed society that is encouraged to rise up againt their oppressors by the Doctor, which they do with aplomb. One of the highlights of the story, for instance, is watching the development of the character Cordo go from a mild mannered character to a ravolutionary fanatic, joyously proclaiming the need for revolt.

There's another interesting scene where a group of civilians, after Gatherer Hade (the secondary villain for this story) tells them off for being on top of a building. They respond to this by picking him up and throwing him off the building. They follow this by some gleeful cheering and laughter. What's interesting about this is it has an underlying question: 'is this too far?'. Hade was a minor character, relatively inneffectual. Did he deserve to be punished? Yes, but to be killed is another matter entirely. And it's more than just killing him, we are supposed to rejoice in this death, which seems to me to be a step too far. This is coupled with the fact that only moments later we see the Doctor cheerily saying goodbye to the rebels, and wishing them well, even though it's blatantly obvious that they have been killing people left, right and centre.

All of this encourages discussion of whether these actions were justified or not, making the story more interesting as it allows for a conversation to be set up amongst viewers, directly engaging with the audience and showing that Doctor Who is still a strong piece of television.

Day 468: The Sun Makers Part 3

It's interesting to look at the role of Leela within this story. In previous adventures, she has been fairly attached to the Doctor, i.e. they both tend to be together throughout the story. This is different here, where a series of events causes them to be separated for much of the story. What this means is that we can appreciate her character more as she is on her own, instead of appreciating her chracter in relation to the Doctor's. Take, for instance, the scene where she meets the villainous Collector. Instead of getting a scene where the Doctor is able to be witty towards the villain (perhaps with a number of supporting characters in the background) we get one that is just Leela against the villain. This scene shows Leela at her best, being combative against the Collector, stating that his time will come in no uncertain terms. It's in part due to the writing from Robert Holmes that the character works so well in this scene, however I would put a lot of it down to Louise Jameson, the actress playing Leela, who brings true strength to the part and never makes us doubt that Leela is fully capable of killing most of what can be thrown at her. In short, Leela is a wonderful character, and The Sun Makers is an excellent demonstration of why this is the case.

Day 467: The Sun Makers Part 2

The Doctor Who production team is quite clearly faced with a dilemma. K9 is an incredibly popular character, and is appealing to children massively. However, his introduction wasn't completely planned, which means that scripts don't necessarily need K9 within them to work. In Image of the Fendahl, for instance, he only appeared in the opening and closing scenes, thus meaning that no rewrite would be necessary for the story. This story, on the other hand, has had the advantage of time, and can thus work K9 almost seamlessly into the plot. Thus, he spends much of Part 1 waiting for the Doctor, and much of Part 2 wandering around with Leela and occasionally attacking guards. Whilst this may very well appeal to children, because of the sheer novelty of seeing a robot dog on TV, it doesn't necessarily appeal to a wider audience, particularly as K9 had a fair bit more character within his opening story. All of that said though, the opening scene in Part 1 featuring K9 is incredibly fun, as he plays chess against the Doctor, and gives hints that the writers haven't forgotten of why we love this tin dog so much. So whilst K9 might not entirely succeed at the moment, I think it's fair to say that we wait and see whether he'll turn out to be a good dog.

Day 466: The Sun Makers Part 1

Instantly, this story is different from what preceded it. Instead of being in the gothic surrounds of Image of the Fendahl, we find ourselves in the future, with vast cityscapes and intruiging designs. As we proceed further into the story, we realise that the contrast between the two episodes is far deeper than just design. Whereas Image of the Fendahl was a dark and frightening piece, this story comes across as funnier, and more satirical. We have entered a world where tax and bureaucracy reign, reflecting the real world as these are common parts of our society. Robert Holmes, the writer, then uses satire and comedy in the story to make a point, given that he has grown to be fed up with the taxation system for a wide variety of reasons. We thus get a series of great exchanges of dialogue such as this:

"These taxes, are the like sacrifices to tribal gods?"

"Well, roughly speaking, only paying taxes is more painful"

The above dialogue both makes fun with the situation whilst revealing the honest point behind the joke. It's nice to see comedy being used in Doctor Who in such a way, to both make a point, and make laughter at the same time.

Day 443: The Face of Evil Part 4

It's worth mentioning something, or rather someone, that we haven't touched upon yet in The Face of Evil. Leela is a tribe member of the Sevateem, and by the end of the episode she has become the Doctor's new companion. In her first story she easily sets herself apart from all companions who have come before her. For instance, she is more violent than her predecessors, actively fighting and occasionally killing various people that she comes up against. This is an interesting tack to go along for the new companion, particularly as it introduces an area of conflict between her philosophy and that of the Doctor, something which future episodes can play with to some extent.

However it wouldn't do to just have a violent savage aboard the TARDIS, so Leela must have some other side to her character that will help her fit into some mould of companion for the series. In this case, it is her curiosity and willingness to learn. The Doctor has begun to teach her about technology and the ways of the future, as can be witnessed when she knowingly refers to the place where they met with Xoanon as a computer complex. Her curiosity can also be seen at the very conclusion of the story where she sets the TARDIS into flight, pressing buttons without a care in the world.

And so it's for these reasons, amongst others, that I can be sure that Leela will be a companion to enjoy over the next little while, as the ongoing adventure that is Doctor Who continues...

Day 442: The Face of Evil Part 3

One of the working titles for this story was 'The Day God Went Mad'. It refers to the computer Xoanon, one which at some point received help from the Doctor who reprogrammed it but got something slightly wrong. He hadn't realised that the computer was actually alive, the first of a new species, and thus when he connected his brain to it (for reasons) the computer took the Doctor's personality along with it. Xoanon then developed its own personality, thus sending it mad. This is all exposed in the lead up to the Part 3 cliffhanger, as seen above. It's a fascinating idea because it explores the capabilities of computers, relatively new pieces of hardware for 1977, hypothesising on their intelligence and personality, whether they have minds and could be considered to be alive. It also allows us to build up to another fantastic cliffhanger, this time more on the psychedelic as voices from all around deny the existence of the Doctor, building up to a child's voice shouting "Who am I?" repeatedly. It's strange, and begins to convey the full amount of insanity that is going on inside of Xoanon, which we shall continue to explore as The Face of Evil reaches its conclusion.

Day 441: The Face of Evil Part 2

The next great idea to come out of The Face of Evil is one of the setting. We arrive on a planet that is a weird hybrid of both the future and the savage. The thrones where the chieftain of the Sevateem sits is adorned with wires and tubing, in one instance a gong is quite obviously a refined metal sheet, and the helmet that the shaman Neeva uses to communicate with Xoanon is clearly from a different age than the surrounding area of crossbows, hunting, and animal skins used as rudimentary clothing. What this represents is the way in which a society can easily devolve, when cut off from its surrounds. It also shows, by using the futuristic equipment, that this is a problem that transcends time, and that even the future will be affected by this issue. And aside from everything else, it is clear that the juxtaposition of technology with the wild ways of the Sevateem makes for an interesting image visually, and engages the viewer in the ongoing story. So as The Face of Evil continues, so too do the continuing mysteries of the serial.

Day 440: The Face of Evil Part 1

This story is one that introduces itself with some fascinating ideas, one such idea being the Face of Evil. The Doctor arrives on this unknown planet and is almost immediately taken away and sentenced to death. The odd thing about this is that they seem to recognise the Doctor as the 'Evil One', showing that they have possibly met the Doctor before, or someone who looks like him. This brings forth several questions for the audience, which continue as one of the natives of the planet suddenly hears Tom Baker's disembodied voice in the form of their God, Xoanon. This scene works because it draws up more questions as to the nature of this 'Evil One', representing to the audience yet more questions about the Doctor's true involvement with the story. This all comes to a head when we reach the cliffhanger, showing the face of the Doctor carved into the side of the mountain. This shows once and for all that the Doctor's prior involvement in this story will be paramount to how things will unfold, and giving a strong hook to get the audience to continue with this story. As has been shown the first part has thrown up enough questions for us to want to watch the next episode, balancing it with just enough evidence to make us feel like we have an idea of what might be going on with no real idea of the answer to the underlying questions in the story keeping the audience well and truly engaged.