Day 647: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 8 - Mindwarp Part 4

The general conceit of Mindwarp is that, at the end of Part 1, the Doctor undergoes a sudden brain trauma that leaves him on the side of evil rather than good. It's distressing to watch, particularly as events proceed in such a manner to suggest that we may have passed the point of no return, and that all might be lost. Fortunately, however, halfway through Part 3, the Doctor regains his full mental faculties and begins to create a resistance movement. He also has to now save Peri, who is now facing the prospect of having her entire mind wiped and replaced with that of Kiv, Sil's boss.

And, 10 minutes from the end of Part 4, it would appear that all is proceeding as planned. But then the Time Lords capture the Doctor, and take him away to be put on trial. And, after that, everything goes wrong. Peri dies. The transplant between Kiv's mind and her mind was successful, and her entire consciousness ceases to be. There are rare moments when the series gets as dark as this, where the Doctor's companion and friend dies as a result of the Doctor's negligence and inability to save them.

But this moment had to happen, to show the impact of the Doctor's actions, and how it could perhaps lead to moments such as this. And, for a brief second, we understand fully why the Doctor is on trial, and leads us to the conclusion that perhaps he should be found guilty, because if he caused this, then maybe he should be punished.

Day 646: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 7 - Mindwarp Part 3

A small thing grabbed my attention when I first watched this episode, and is, in my opinion, one of the most absolutely lovely parts of the story. Now, there exists a character called Crozier, who is currently trying to perform a brain transplant for Kiv, an alien creature who acts as Sil's boss. Now, at one point in the story, Crozier is standing around in his lab, having a cup of tea, whilst observing Kiv. His assistant then notices something odd and asks for Crozier's opinion. Crozier, remaining spookily calm, begins to say what the problem is, finishes his cup of tea, and then completes his sentence, saying that Kiv is going into cardiac arrest.

It's a small moment in the story, but it's an example of why I'm so fond of the character of Crozier. He's clearly a mad scientist, but he underplays his insane side so much that one could see him as perfectly normal. The only problem is, the work that he is doing is so abnormal that it reveals his true madness. It's all thanks to the performance by Patrick Ryecart, who underplays everything so well that it creates a truly believable mad scientist (unlike, say, Professor Zaroff in The Underwater Menace), which greatly improves the quality of this story and helps me to enjoy it again once more.

Day 645: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 6 - Mindwarp Part 2

Yesterday, I mentioned how unnerving this story is, and how I struggled to find much fun in it. For the most part, this continued for this episode, as I was frequently unnerved, and on one occasion thoroughly frightened by what was on screen in front of me. But, there was one thing which I'd somehow neglected to think about when considering whether this story had much fun within it. That thing is, of course, BRIAN BLESSED.

BRIAN BLESSED is one of those actors who instantly improves anything that he appears in, through his charismatic and loud portrayals of various characters such as Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon, Boss Nass in The Phantom Menace (a thoroughly underrated film, in my opinion) and of course King Yrcanos in Mindwarp. Every scene that he is in involves him shouting his dialogue before threatening violence on someone. And whilst this may not be a fully fleshed out 3-dimensional character, it is still something that you can't quite draw your eyes away from. It vastly improves this story, and helps to remind me of why I fell in love with it in the first place.

Day 644: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 5 - Mindwarp Part 1

There's a large part of me that finds the process of watching Mindwarp rather odd. Because, after watching it for the first time at the age of 18, I believe that this was my favourite Doctor Who story of all time. Now, this isn't the case at the moment (I'd give that honour to either Kinda, The Ribos Operation or Frontier in Space), so I'm watching this story being fully aware that I once loved it, and I'm struggling to see why.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that this story is bad. I actually think it's rather good, it's just that I can't really see the parts of this story that made me love it a couple of years ago, compared to now. For a start, everything is remarkably dark in tone, with everything feeling just that bit more serious and slightly unnerving, such as Peri's reaction to meeting Sil again where she gets noticeably more worried and frightened of this creature. And whilst this is well played, it doesn't quite make me love this story, instead it leaves me rather distressed. But I'm still curious to see more of this adventure, and I'll see whether I can rediscover the point where I fell in love with this story.

Day 643: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 4 - The Mysterious Planet Part 4

The dichotomy at the heart of the climax of The Mysterious Planet is one which reflects the nature of Doctor Who at the moment. Around five minutes in, Queen Katryca gets horrifically killed, with the end result being that her entire body gets covered in blood in a rather nasty experience. This is contrasted later on in the story when Balazar, another ally of the Doctor's gets covered in a green gunge, as if he's just won the Kids' Choice Award on Nickelodeon. The dichotomy present is that between the two ways in which Doctor Who is produced at the moment: a world of blood and a world of gunge.

You see, the world of blood is often violent, serious and gritty, while the world of gunge is far lighter, with more fun and happiness thrown into the mix. Both of these methods can produce good stories, but it's apparent that these two methods cannot co-exist, in particular because a portion of the audience wants more stories like The Caves of Androzani, while others want more stories like City of Death, and there isn't that much crossover between those two adventures. So the production team has to decide on the style of programme that they wish to make, one that's serious and gritty or one that's light-hearted and fun. On the basis of The Mysterious Planet, I'd say that they're leaning towards the gunge option, although the next adventure, if memory serves me right, is really very bloody indeed.

Day 642: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 3 - The Mysterious Planet Part 3

One of the major criticisms levelled at The Trial of a Time Lord is its trial. The general conceit of the story is that the Doctor has been placed on trial by his own people for breaking various laws. As part of this trial, evidence is being shown from some of the Doctor's adventures, as claims are made as to his conduct. Criticism is levelled at this idea for generally intruding on the adventures, as every five minutes a scene where the Doctor is forced to explain himself is added into the story, which doesn't improve the 'flow' of the story.

And yet, I actually really like it. I like it because the writers have the sense to use this concept and play with some aspect of it. Holmes, for instance, chooses to have certain parts of this story removed, as they are not deemed safe enough to be put on the public record and thus are censored for the purposes of the trial. This introduces a small mystery to the events, and makes for a slightly more intriguing adventure. It's a nice introduction of a story arc and gives a sense of continuity across the whole story, which improves the story immensely, in my opinion.

Day 641: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 2 - The Mysterious Planet Part 2

One of the things that I really love about The Mysterious Planet is the above screen grab. This story was made in 1986, and thus things like computer graphics weren't that great. But, they were better than nothing, and people would jump at the chance to use them, even in situations where a practical effect would work just as well and give a better result. In this instance, computer effects have been used in order to add a wooden stick into the frame, giving the impression that you are looking out from the window of a hut. But this effect doesn't entirely work as intended, unfortunately.

It looks like someone has taken a picture, imported it into MS Paint, and then gotten their 5 year old child to draw a stick on top of it. It looks unrealistic, cheap, and completely fails to achieve this relatively simple effect (indeed, on first viewing, I was perplexed as to what it was meant to be representing). And yet, I love it for all of those reasons. These are people who aren't afraid to try new things, and who don't shy away from their failures. Sure, it's not the best effect in the world, but it has a fair amount of charm behind it, and at the very least, it gives me a lot of nostalgia for when I was 5 years old and mucking about on MS Paint, creating alien vistas, majestic buildings, and unrealistic sticks.

Day 640: The Trial of a Time Lord Part 1 - The Mysterious Planet Part 1

I love The Trial of a Time Lord. It's actually one of the stories that I was most looking forward to covering in this blog, as I really enjoyed the experience of watching it the last time I saw it, which was just after finishing my final exams in high school. I needed something to get my mind away from all of the doom and gloom that's associated with waiting for results. Thankfully, 'Trial' delivered that in spades, providing stories that were about having fun, as well as more complex stories that grab the audience's attention with some interesting character moments.

Of these two story types, The Mysterious Planet is chiefly in the 'fun' section, in my opinion. It's written by Robert Holmes, but it's not the serious Holmes that wrote The Caves of Androzani, instead it's a lighter tale, akin to The Ribos Operation. The distinction can be best shown in the way in which the characters are drawn. For Caves, all of the characters were written with a slightly evil streak to them, and whilst this made them more complex, it also meant that you could never find yourself to really like any of them, which, given the tone of Caves, works to the story's advantage. For The Mysterious Planet, on the other hand, all of the characters are given a wit and warmth that, even if they appear to be antagonists, you can still clearly enjoy their company. Two examples of this are Glitz and Dibber, where they are rogueish characters who may have tried to kill the Doctor, but we're also allowed to make jokes with them about prison psychologists or the phrase "Take me to your leader".

It all creates a nice atmosphere, that I actually really appreciate. And whilst it may not be the best thing for the series at the moment, I still utterly love it.

Day 639: Revelation of the Daleks Part 2

There's a lot to talk about with regards to Revelation of the Daleks. There's the brilliant idea behind Davros' plan to save the Universe, where he solves the problem of food shortage in the Universe by selling human bodies as food. There's the questionable acting of Jenny Tomasin, who portrays what could have been the slightly worrying character of Tasambeker too over the top, making her scenes less tragic and more laughable. There's also the implication of a Dalek Civil War, which will be elaborated upon in the next Dalek story, which we'll cover in around a month or so. But in the end, the main thing that draws attention is the ending.

The Doctor and Peri are having a discussion of where they'll go next. He suggests somewhere peaceful, she wants somewhere fun. He's about to suggest a location for the next story, when the camera suddenly freeze-frames and we cut to the credits. There was, it turns out, going to be an ending to that sentence but the audience was destined never to hear it as this was to be the last Doctor Who episode broadcast for eighteen months. This is the first break that the series will undergo, before another one four years later, effectively killing the series. This is the beginning of the end for Doctor Who.

And it's a shame to see it go. Over the past few stories, there have been some misfires of great magnitude (Timelash, The Twin Dilemma) but there have also been some stories that I personally adore, such as The Two Doctors, Vengeance on Varos, The Caves of Androzani, or even this very story, Revelation of the Daleks. There have been some great ideas that have been well executed, but the only problem is that sometimes thing can slip through the cracks, leaving stories that are less than desired. And it's hard to watch Warriors of the Deep and say that this is a television series that deserved to be made.

But the important thing to remember is that this is a break, and maybe it will allow for the production team to come back, refreshed and ready to take on new challenges with a new desire to do well. And even is the show is doomed, I'd much rather see it go out in a blaze of glory with some truly fantastic and ground-breaking stories, than let it fester with some less than desired adventures. We can but hope.

Day 638: Revelation of the Daleks Part 1

Revelation of the Daleks is a story that feels like it should be something else. It's a Dalek story written by Eric Saward (Resurrection of the Daleks, Earthshock), so you get the idea that it's going to be a simple action story, without too much plot but with enough going on to prevent the audience from getting bored. But it subverts those expectations massively, and proves to be something quite different.

What we get is Eric Saward trying to write a Robert Holmes story, and actually succeeding. It's filled with witty dialogue and memorable characters such as the assassin Orcini, who states of his squire, Bostock, that "the only philosophy practised by Bostock is to do as little about his personal hygiene as possible". It shows that Saward is showing an interest in changing what he does as a writer, and also the real influence of The Caves of Androzani, that allows for him to realise that perhaps what the audience wants is a well written story through characters, plot and dialogue, and not through action scenes, special effects and returning monsters.

I mention that last point because, even though this story does feature the Daleks, it really doesn't at all. The focus of the story is clearly on Davros and his plans, and not on the work of the Daleks. Indeed, I can't recall them even firing their guns at anyone in this episode, least of all the Doctor, who hasn't even met them yet. It all comes across as the Daleks being somewhat of an obligation to have in this story, and that what Saward really wants to do is focus on the character of Davros and his motivations. And, you know what, all power to him. Because I'm actually rather enjoying the direction that this story is taking and it's making me look forward to the future work by Saward in Series 23. But we've still got one more episode to go, so we'll wait a little bit to see what happens in tomorrow as Revelation of the Daleks comes to a conclusion.

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 635: The Two Doctors Part 3

Whilst I do rather enjoy The Two Doctors, I will admit that it does have a few issues with it that prevent it from being a truly great story. Looking at the issues in detail, however, it's clear that one of them is oddly one of the story's highlights, whilst the other represents a low point for the series.

The first thing that I wish to talk about is the Sontarans. Their role in this story is to generally act as another party with respect to the work being done by Dastari and Chessene, with a keen interest in their work with time-ships. However, they don't really make that much of an impact on the plot. Aside from an attack on the space station at the beginning, the vast majority of work that the Sontarans do in this story is stand around and plan to double cross their allies, until they find that they themselves have been double crossed. It's kind of a waste of a good race of aliens, and leaves me with the impression that the story might have been better without them.

Which is a bit of a shame as it's actually one of the best depictions that we've had of the Sontarans. This is to be expected, given that they are being written by their creator, Robert Holmes, who brings them a return to their militaristic roots. It feels like all of their discussions are of battle plans, fighting and war. This is carried through to the production, with Peter Moffatt directing the Sontarans to be full military caricatures, having them march into scenes and continue to stand up straight like the officers that they are. It's also present in the music by Peter Howell, as can be heard above, which is a nice effective march, getting across the general notion of the Sontarans in around 30 seconds of music. So what we end up with is a story that doesn't need the Sontarans, but ends up having them as one of the highlights.

The same cannot be said, however, for the other major downfall of this story. Towards the climax, Shockeye, the villain desperate to taste human flesh, begins a hunt for the Doctor. This culminates in the Doctor putting a cloth that has been doused with cyanide over Shockeye's mouth, causing him to convulse, before dying. The Doctor then delivers a quip about the death and moves on. This is another awful moment for the Doctor, as he kills another being in cold blood, and although Shockeye was unrelentingly evil, it still doesn't excuse the fact that he killed him. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth after a rather good story, and serves as a constant reminder of why I can't really look upon this era of Doctor Who and say that it's one of my favourites.

Still, at the very least, at least there's been nothing too bad so far this series. The Two Doctors has certainly been very fun, Vengeance on Varos had a good concept and at least Attack of the Cybermen and The Mark of the Rani were watchable. What could possible go wrong?

Day 634: The Two Doctors Part 2

I think that the writing of The Two Doctors is easily the strong point, and that's thanks to Robert Holmes, a returning writer for Doctor Who, who has worked for the series off and on since The Krotons, and previously wrote the acclaimed story The Caves of Androzani. Here, he's given a challenge, where he has to shoehorn in two Doctors, two companions, a returning enemy, a new enemy, a foreign location and make it all into a palatable piece of television. He succeeds, in part thanks to the return of an old friend to the series, or what could be seen as an old enemy, the longer story.

Longer stories have been part of Doctor Who since the second serial, which was 7 parts long in duration. That said, they aren't perfect, and they can occasionally grow boring as it becomes apparent that there's only enough plot to fill an episode for four episodes and now it is being stretched out to six or more (e.g. The Daleks, The Monster of Peladon). However, they tend to allow for a story of more depth, allowing more time for character development or more complex plots (e.g. Doctor Who and the Silurians, The War Games). In this case, it is quite apparent that it is needed for a story of this scale, in order to make it worth watching and not a large mess, but there's also the underlying issue of keeping the audience interested throughout the adventure.

Holmes manages this with aplomb, through various methods. For a start, he ensures that the characters are all worth watching and have their own motivations that are interesting enough to hold the story in their own right. There's Chessene, a genetically modified being with delusions of grandeur, or Dastari, the person who augmented her and wishes for her to be made into a godlike creature. There's also Oscar Botcherby, an actor who has a dramatic turn of phrase but a wish to not really get into trouble, or Shockeye, the alien cook who wishes to taste human flesh.

The villains are also given enough menace to make them believable and somewhat frightening as well, such as can be seen in the cliffhanger to this episode where Shockeye's hands move towards Peri in a point of view shot, giving a truly creepy and disturbing feeling to the cliffhanger and making him feel like a tangible threat. This is clearly one-up to The Mark of the Rani, which felt that you could make a good villain by just giving them good dialogue. That's not to say that there's any shortage of good dialogue here, with plenty of witty exchanges between the characters, that are given just the right turn of phrase by the actors playing them that they can turn from a slightly odd thing to discuss to something weirdly hilarious, such as Shockeye's desire to eat human flesh. It all keeps the story interesting, which is something that is certainly needed as this is an awfully long story.

But, I'm rather happy to spend all of this time with this story, as it's clear that it's being written by a master of his craft, in the form of Robert Holmes. I'm actually quite glad that he's now seemingly returned to the programme for the long term, and I look forward to future work from him, as it seems like he's never been away.

Day 633: The Two Doctors Part 1

The Two Doctors is an interesting story. It represents a weird mix of both the old and new of Doctor Who, with various elements of the past returning for no specific reason other than it should make for a fun story. These returning elements are all quite different, but they're all quite interesting, and show just how much Doctor Who has changed over the past 22 series.

The most obvious returning element is Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, alongside Frazer Hines as Jamie. The reason for their return is because the production team enjoyed working with Troughton so much during The Five Doctors that they decided to invite him back for a return story, and to be honest I can hardly blame them. Amongst the many wonderful things about The Five Doctors (and indeed The Three Doctors), Patrick Troughton's performance as the Doctor is easily one of the highlights. As can be seen in this episode, he steps into the role as if he were never away, playing at equal parts the clownish figure who wanders throughout the universe, or the deadly serious man who fights to protect the Universe from all sorts of horrors. This is best seen in the scene where he encounters Dastari where he goes from joking with him in an attempt to show that he is a friend to be trusted, whilst also telling him that he wants his work to be shut down, to getting progressively angrier with him as he realises the short-sightedness of Dastari and that he doesn't realise the implications of his work and how dangerous it could be.

There is, however, the question of continuity. This story has the Second Doctor working for the Time Lords, alongside Jamie, as they sort out the issues with Dastari. But the only problem with this is that the Second Doctor never really worked with the Time Lords, indeed he spent much of his time as the Doctor running away from them. No explanation is given in this story as to why this is happening, although fans have developed a theory revolving around the Doctor being taken away after his trial to work as a rogue agent for the Time Lords. But all of this brings forth a tiny little issue that I have with this, that this isn't the sort of thing that the Second Doctor did during his tenure, and so we're not really getting a true representation of his wonderful time as the Doctor.

But maybe that's just the point, that we can't really return to things just as they used to be. Instead, we return and find that they've developed and changed whilst we've been away, and we're not entirely sure about how to deal with that. But I suppose that that's just the very nature of life itself.

Day 632: The Mark of the Rani Part 2

The Mark of the Rani, as I said yesterday, is a story that i don't really think is great. But that doesn't mean that I think it's terrible either, and there are certainly strong things to find within the episode.

For a start, there's the concept behind the villainous Rani. The Rani is a renegade Time Lord, much like the Doctor or the Master, but her defining feature is that she is a scientist. And, as a scientist, she therefore disregards all human life as worthless and so uses it as part of grand experiments to further her own scientific knowledge. It's an interesting motivation, and certainly one which is true (I know of several friends studying science who would very easily take over the world because of a general hatred for all human life), and it also leads to a way for some cool concepts to be shown on screen. For instance, there are some landmines that The Rani has created that turn whoever steps on them into a tree. It makes for a nice and memorable effect, and helps to give a sense of menace to this villain.

The only problem is, however, that The Rani doesn't really get that much menace to her. Instead, much of the episode is spent with her, The Doctor and The Master (and occasionally Peri) delivering witty dialogue to each other as they insult and constantly one-up one another. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, and the dialogue is one of this story's strong points. The major problem, however, is that so much focus is put on the dialogue that there's no real sense of danger when dealing with either The Master or The Rani. Instead, we just accept that these characters are in opposition and move on with out lives. The climax to this story, for instance, is just The Master destroying a pillar in an old mine shaft, causing it to slightly collapse. There's no need to be worried about what will happen to our heroes, which crucially means that there's no reason to feel triumphant at the end of the stlry that the protagonists have defeated the villains. Because of this, the story just feels like it ends with a whimper, which doesn't help the overall quality of the story.

And with all of these good points and bad points, it just feels like they all cancel each other out in my mind and leave me completely apathetic to this story. Which is a shame, as there's plenty to be opinionated about here, it's just that I can't quite allow myself to point one way or the other with regards to this story's quality. That is, of course, except for the final scene, which features a beautiful pun and is almost enough to make me want to like this story. But, sadly, not quite enough.

Day 631: The Mark of the Rani Part 1

I've got an odd relationship with The Mark of the Rani. It's a story that seems to be completely average for me, and yet there is so much within it and within my relationship with it that I either want to get an appreciation for it or dislike it intensely, but I can't find it in my heart to do either.

I suppose I should begin with my personal relationship with this episode. It was the second Doctor Who story I ever watched, however, unlike the other Doctor Who stories that I watched in that first wave of discovery, I don't have any real emotional connection to it. There isn't the fear that I experienced with Inferno, the reappraisal that I found with Frontier in Space, or the joy that I got from either The Curse of Peladon or The Five Doctors. The Mark of the Rani is instead, for me, a story that I just watched and kind of enjoyed.

And that, for me, is the heart of the problem, in that I want to have an emotional connection about watching it, and yet it doesn't provide it for me. Any memories that I have of this episode are rather mundane, such as a scene with the Doctor and Peri in the TARDIS, or a scene where the Doctor disguises himself by throwing dirt all over his face. I want to remember laughing at the surprisingly witty dialogue or getting thrilled at the rather exciting cliffhanger, and yet these things didn't have that much impact on me as a child, so the episode leaves me feeling cold instead of feeling the warmth that I really want to receive from it.

In the end, I suppose that that is why I kind of dislike this episode, and yet, by watching it, I'm surprised too find little things that make me rather pleased, as we'll discuss tomorrow.

Day 630: Vengeance on Varos Part 2

The best part of Vengeance on Varos is clearly the enemies which it uses, in particular the work of one nasty little creature from Thoros Beta, known as Sil. Sil is at first an odd accompaniment to the rest of the cast, appearing as the other villains discuss the executions and getting rather excited at the prospect of death and torture. This excitement is actually rather disturbing, rubbing himself all over in such a fashion that it looks like he's getting an almost orgasmic thrill from all the events that are taking place.

But the real reason why Sil is so good is the motivation behind his actiions. He's actually a businessman, pure and simple. His role on Varos is to find a stock of Zeiton-7 and buy it from them, at a price that suits Sil but not the people of Varos. His comeuppance comes at the end of the episode when Thoros Beta informs him that they are running low on Zeiton-7 and they are to accept it at any price, something which the Governor of the colony relishes in informing Sil about, as he more than doubles Sil's original price for the Zeiton-7.

But what's immediately clear about Sil is that, even though he looks like a fantastical alien from some distant planet, he is one of the most realistic threats that is dealt with in this episode. Sil's interest is not conquest by force, but instead conquest through business and making deals with other planets. One can easily imagine certain aspects of Sil's persona being desirable traits for a high reaching businessman, seeking to make as much profit as they can possibly muster. It's also quite pertinent for the time, given that this was written in the 1980's, an era of "Greed is good" and seeking to make money at all costs. It's little wonder, then, that Sil was successful enough to be one of only two enemies in the Colin Baker era of the programme to return for another appearance. The second is one that we shall deal with tomorrow, as this odyssey continues.

Day 629: Vengeance on Varos Part 1

After the heavy action violence of Attack of the Cybermen, we get a different sort of violence in Vengeance on Varos. This violence has thoughts and ideas behind it, instead of just happening mindlessly and to please the average punter. But in a way, it's meant to be pleasing to the average punter.

The story is about a society where they have developed an interesting way of keeping the public under control. They are forced to watch television every single day, which mainly consists of torture of the rebels who dare to fight against the system, with occasional executions if they are lucky. They are, however, granted the right to vote. This happens when the planet's governor presents policies to them. If they like them, then the governor gets a chance to implement them. If not, then the governor is himself tortured for their failings, and it is quite clear that if they don't please the public enough then the torture will become too much to handle and the governor will die.

It's all very obviously a commentary on modern society. This story puts forward the notion that all that people really want is senseless violence, and that this is the ideal method to keep the populace under control. This is easily reflected in the viewing habits of audiences at the time, and indeed today, where mindless violence will nearly always triumph over sensitive dramas. Indeed, this is a truth that can be seen all the way back in ancient times, where Romans would have sacrifices and gladiator battles to entertain the masses, the only difference between then and now is that there is somewhat less death that occurs now, and it's all confined to screens, be they television, cinema or on mobile.

 It's an interesting theme for the story to have, in particular at a time when Doctor Who could easily be accused of going down the same route, with action stories like Earthshock or Resurrection of the Daleks being key highlights of the past couple of series. Still, this sort of writing from Philip Martin (a new writer to the series) shows great promise and makes me somewhat keen to watch the conclusion to Vengeance on Varos.

Day 628: Attack of the Cybermen Part 2

As of this moment in time, there are five Doctor Who stories that have garnered an M rating in Australia, advising that the content should be suitable for audiences aged 15 or older. In most of these instances, it's easy to see why this has occurred. The Waters of Mars is an incredibly violent and frightening story, and isn't the most child-friendly of Doctor Who episodes. Another story that gets this classification is Attack of the Cybermen, and it does most certainly deserve it.

This story, as well as having a sizeable contribution from Ian Levine, also wears its contribution from Eric Saward on its sleeve. It's a thoroughly violent episode with guns being fired, Cybermen having their heads blown off, massive explosions occurring at various points, and characters feeling the true power of the Cybermen's hands by having them crush various objects such as Lytton's hands in the scene depicted above. Now, a portion of the credit of this should go to Matthew Robinson, the director, who makes the scene feel truly gruesome with blood coming from Lytton's hands, showing the true pain that he's going through and adding to Maurice Colbourne's excellent performance. But I can't help but feel that there's something not quite right about it.

Maybe it's the fact that Doctor Who, in my opinion, needs to have a feeling of the fantastical about it that differentiates it from other series in the genre. The Waters of Mars, another story that is intended for mature audiences, certainly has a lot of violence and horror in it, but that all comes from water zombies. Yes, it's frightening, but it's also a little bit weird and worth watching anyway. But that argument doesn't exactly work, because there are other stories that are more realistic and violent that I absolutely love, like The Robots of Death or The Caves of Androzani that don't necessarily have that element of the fantastic about it but still engage me as an audience member. Adding to the counter-point against that argument, this story does actually have elements of the fantastic within it, like a race of creatures that had their home invaded by the Cybermen because they wished to use the cryogenic tombs that they had developed because they can't survive above around 0 degrees. This is a wonderful little concept, and shows that there are good ideas that Saward can bring to the series.

Perhaps it's not the violence, then, but who is dishing it out. There's a scene where the Doctor, after being suddenly attacked by the Cyber-Controller, picks up a gun and shoots the Cyber-Controller several times before it dies. It feels odd and not like the Doctor, in my opinion, with such violence occurring and, more to the point, it being glorified so much. Contrast with Deep Breath, where even the possibility that the Doctor killed the Half-Face Man was dealt with very seriously and became an underlying emotional crux of the rest of the series. But this is what we now have to deal with with the era of Doctor Who that is the Eric Saward era. An awful lot of violence, coming from the Doctor, that leaves an uneasy feeling in one's stomach.