Day 288: The Mind of Evil Episode 6

I'm going to spend this entry saying farewell to two minor players in the history of Doctor Who, who have nevertheless made an impression on the series.

One of these is the writer Don Houghton. He wrote the episodes Inferno and The Mind of Evil, and while these episodes aren't the most important in the history of Doctor Who, they are certainly remarkably good. They're able to feel like modern scientific thrillers through using odd science fiction ideas and expanding on them, to create new stories where they are explored and investigated. Take, for instance, The Mind of Evil which concerns a machine that can rewrite people's minds by removing their evil thoughts. But by doing so, it means that most of the characters in the story are left vulnerable to attack, and shows the frailty of the human endeavour to always be good, due to the evil thoughts that perpetuate our minds. Houghton uses this idea well, and it will be a shame not to see more of his writing in the future.

Also, we say farewell to Tim Combe, the director of The Mind of Evil and Doctor Who and the Silurians. Both stories are remarkably well directed, with a flair for interesting camera movements. Take the scene where the Keller Machine escapes in Mind, for instance. Instead of just having some special effects around it, he also decides to violently shake the camera from side to side, creating the illusion of great desturction occurring. However, he was removed from Doctor Who for going spectacularly over budget, which is a shame as it would certainly have been nice to see what pther things he could have done for the programme.

Day 287: The Mind of Evil Episode 5

There's another fantastic scene here. But this one's fantastic for different reasons. Whereas the last scene that I mentioned was fantastic due to the duality between the Doctor and the Master, this one is just fantastic because it features the Brigadier mounting an assault on a castle with a handful of UNIT troops. It's the sort of mindless action sequence that we wouldn't normally get in Doctor Who about 50 or so episodes ago, however now the show has changed enough such that we're able to have sequences in the series and not bat an eye-lid. And most importantly of all, it's remarkably fun. The Brigadier decides to inform the people who he's about to shoot at of this fact by shouting at them through a megaphone. They then shoot the megaphone out of his hand, at which point the Brigadier begins to fight the bad guys. As written, it comes across as cheap, however as shot, there's an element of believability and also an element of excitement associated with it, not to mention the fact that it's well directed by Tim Combe. And above all else, this action interlude helped liven up what would have otherwise been a remarkably dull Episode 5 of a story, so in that regard this evolution in how Doctor Who is made is certainly welcome.

Day 286: The Mind of Evil Episode 4

There's a fantastic scene at the start of this episode. Last week's cliffhanger was the Master putting the Doctor under the Keller Machine, with the Doctor under extreme pain because of this fact. The cliffhanger is resolved by the Master turning off the machine and walking over to the Doctor. He feels the Doctor's hearts and discovers that one of them has stopped beating. So the Master resuscitates him and then attempts to convince him both that he should help with the Master's nefarious scheme and also that the Doctor has the power to control the machine. This reveals the complex Doctor-Master relationship, as we see that both are not in complete opposition, instead they are two characters who are keen to convince the other of the virtues of their way of life. And at the end of the day, they both care for each other too much to let the other one truly suffer, instead just leaving them to be prisoners whilst they carry out their own plans. It's a fascinating dynamic, and shows the power of the new villain that we've got in the series.

Day 285: The Mind of Evil Episode 3

The villain in this story is The Master, making a return appearance. A running theme across much of our time with the Master is the issue of him recurring, an event which occurs regularly across the show.  But for now, it makes sense. The Master has been introduced as a force for evil on the Earth, and by having him be free at the end of Terror of the Autons, this could leave an uncomfortable hole in the fact that there is a force for evil loose on the Earth and the Doctor is doing nothing to stop this. By having the Master be the villain here, it reminds the audience of the fact that this person is serious and that he will be a constant pain in the Doctor's side. But I'll reserve judgment on whether his continued appearance is a good thing until after he's come back a few more times.

Day 284: The Mind of Evil Episode 2

The Mind of Evil concerns a machine known as the Keller Machine. It has the annoying side affect of forcing a person who is afflicted by it to live out their worst nightmare. This has caused a man to be drowned in a room with no water, and another to be attacked by rats with none present. But what's remarkably interesting is what happens to the Doctor when he is pitted against the Keller Machine. He sees flames. Flames of a world that he once visited that had a horrible disaster occur. A disaster that he was unable to prevent. It's not explicitly stated, but I interpret this as a reference to the previous adventure written by Houghton, Inferno. It makes sense, because it represents the Doctor's greatest fear. He was forced to watch that world burn despite the fact that he could have saved it. But the damage had already been done and now he was powerless to stop it. It's a nice touch of continuity, as we realise the fact that the show is not one of unconnected adventures and that there are knock-on effects for the Doctor as a course of the actions that he partakes in.

Day 283: The Mind of Evil Episode 1

So begins a new story: The Mind of Evil. It's instantly familiar, because it's written in the style of what we've previously seen for 'modern day' stories. A new scientific discovery has been made, but the Doctor and companion are unsure of what this actually is. In some ways, this isn't very engaging, due to the fact that we've seen several variations on this formula over the years, and it could be time for a change. And yet, it's somewhat comforting because the previous story, Terror of the Autons, marked a jump away from the style of storytelling that was used in Series 7, one that worked, in my opinion. So it's nice to see that the old ways aren't being abandoned, and that the production staff know how to use good methods when they come across them. And that's not forgetting the fact that the storytelling methods may have evolved, so we'll see how they have evolved as the story has developed.

Day 264: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 7

This episode has one of the most chilling endings that we will encounter. The Silurians have been sent back into hibernation, and all looks as if it will be well. The Doctor is busy fixing Bessie, his car, when he notices an explosion going off in the distance. The Brigadier, fully aware of the threat that the Silurians pose, has decided to ensure that they will never wake from their slumber. He has destroyed an entire intelligent life form, just because of an incident which was blown to uncomfortable levels due to some extremists. There are two points to take away from this. One is that the Brigadier was wrong to do this. An intelligent live form has just been destroyed with no prior warning. It stands to reason that peaceful talks could have occurred, that hopes could have been made for an existence where there was no need to resort to violence. However, humanity has to resort to primitive behaviour in order to get its own way (interestingly though, the Silurians also exhibited primitive behaviour, indicating that both species may be more alike than first thought). It serves as a chilling reminder of the poor decisions that humanity can make in the course of society.

But more than that, it's the Brigadier who does this. The Brigadier is a friend of the Doctor's, a trusted ally. To see him err morally is distressing, and it goes to show how good a writer Malcolm Hulke is. He is not afraid to show heroes in shades of grey, as he understands that that doesn't reflect real life as well. But most importantly, he introduces enough doubt for people to understand why this decision was made. Hulke's ability to deal with character makes him a writer whose work on Doctor Who we shall follow with great anticipation. And that anticipation may be resolved sooner than expected...

Day 263: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 6

Doctor Who, as a science fiction series, has a knack of being able to show visions of the future, mostly ones that reflect themes of the time. So far, we've had space empires, post nuclear wastelands and computers which are taking over our lives, despite being mostly useless (but not this wonderful computer on which I'm writing this now and I for one will welcome our new computer overlords). This episode has a rather lovely thing in that it is able to have a science fiction concept that is still present today: a plague killing off people in urban areas, as we see people dying all around you. It lovely, because it shows us that this particular hasn't actually aged, and that there are certain elements of the plot that still resonate today. It's actually a rather chilling scene as shot, in particular due to Coombe's use of fade between people dying as the Doctor and co. desperately try to do something to stop things from getting worse.

I also wanted to make a quick mention of Dr. Lawrence as played by Peter Miles. He essentially undergoes a mental breakdown in this story due the effects of the plague of the Silurians. What this causes him to do is to regress mentally, as he physically attacks the Brigadier to try and keep things the way in which he wants them. What this does is serve as a handy metaphor for the outlying themes of this story. Essentially: the Silurians are a race from before the dawn of man. They treat human beings as mere animals and will not really take them seriously. To see Dr. Lawrence behave in this manner serves as a reminder that perhaps the Silurians are right, and we are nothing more than animals. This is certainly something that will be raised in tomorrow's entry as we look at the finale to Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Day 262: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 5

Here's something new: we have men in rubber suits arguing with each other about the state of affairs. This is done incredibly convincingly and I remarkably enjoyed the work that was done here. But who do we thank for the work here? For a start, there's the fantastic script by Malcolm Hulke. His ability to write characters with differing motivations may seem like small praise, but it's his complete strength. Every character by Hulke is able to have their own motivations and thus their driving force is able to be subtly spelt out to us. And it's not a case of aliens trying to take over the world, it's a case of some aliens trying to take over the world whilst others disagree with this notion. Hulke is able to clearly, but subtly, introduce us to the warring political factions when it comes to this matter, in much the same way in which he was able to treat matters with respect to the UNIT forces being in occasional opposition to the Doctor.

Seriously, they managed to make this
give emotion!

But it's not just Hulke who is behind the brilliance of being able to make this seem convincing. Tim Combe, the director, as well as the voice behind the Silurians, Peter Halliday, and the various actors playing the Silurians: Dave Carter, Nigel Johns and Pat Gorman. It takes a sheer amount of talent to be able to make a rubber suit seem convincing, and to be able to express emotion through these circumstances is truly remarkable. Each one is imbued with a certain character, meaning that the audience is able to easily and readily distinguish between the major Silurians. Contrast with, say, The Dominators where, even when we can see their faces, it's still difficult to distinguish between the characters. So, in response ot my fears exhibited in my first entry for this story, it would appear that even if some elements of the visuals do not live up to my expectations, there are others that somehow manage to surpass them.

Day 261: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 4

I'm half tempted to write this blog entry about the credits. Not because there's not much to write about in this story (because there most certainly is), but because they're slightly wrong. The music, you see, runs for slightly too long. It means that the music comes to a natiral end when the credits are only 7/8 of the way to the end, meaning that some meaningless filler music has to be added to the end of the credits, lessening the impact tof the show's signature tune. I'd normally pass this over as just a minor production issue, however it betrays a certain something about the way in which the show has undergone such a drastic change. The series has not only gained a new Doctor, a new setting and a new method of storytelling, but it has also gone into colour and changed so much of how the series is run as a result of this. What this means is that the new production team is left somewhat awkwardly runnign about dealing with problems that they've never really experienced before. Cracks begin to show, but we can accept them as teething troubles. It's not the best, but the story is alright, and if there are mild issues with the production as long as the story is good, then all is reasonably well.

But that said, I am bloody annoyed that they named this story Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Day 260: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 3

There's an interesting character in this story, Dr Quinn. He appears to be in league with the titular Silurians and, as a result of the prospective length of this story, one can easily expect that his story will develop over the course of the following episodes. We expect that the Doctor will find himself fighting against him, or perhaps ally himself with him. At the very least, he is set to be a major character over the course of the story, in much the same way that Tobias Vaughn was in The Invasion. However, he is dead at the end of this episode. This is a fantastic development because it clearly indicates a shift in the tone of the story, from one plotline to another (as yet unknown) plotline. Also, it indicates that Malcolm Hulke, the writer, is keenly aware of how stories normally develop and is making a conscious decision to not go along that pathway, indicating him as one of the more interesting Doctor Who writers.

Day 259: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 2

So one of the interesting things about how the series works now, and something that I hinted at as I talked about when we covered the new regulars in Spearhead From Space, is that a new dynamic has formed between the Doctor and his companions, which is to say that one of his companions most definitely isn't. The Brigadier comes across as a man who, while still being on the same moral side as the Doctor, uses different methods, ones that the Doctor might not necessarily approve of. Take, for instance, a scene wherein some UNIT soldiers, along with the Doctor and the Brigadier, are investigating the caves. One UNIT solider comes across something that he doesn't recognise, prompting him to shoot it and cause it to run away. The Brigadier approves because one of his soldiers may have been in danger, however the Doctor disapproves because the danger was not necessarily present and that it may have been better to discuss problems than shoot at them. It's these moral dilemmas that will form much of how the series will develop over the UNIT years.

Day 258: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 1

"Oh dear". These were the first words that I remarked upon viewing Episode 1 of Doctor Who and the Silurians for the first time, about half an hour ago. To explain, when it comes to Doctor Who episodes, they generally gall into two categories: 'ones that I've seen' and 'ones that I haven't seen'. However, there exists a special category that this and one other story fits into: 'ones that I've only heard'. Four or five years ago, I listened to the audio of this episode, and I found it quite interesting. What I really enjoyed was the fact that I was actively trying to visualise what it all looked like, and I looked forward to seeing it on screen to see how close I was to the actual fact. Take, for example, the opening scene, which is set in a cave. Only listening to it, I pictured a location shoot in an actual cave, with some moody lighting and a wholly realistic atmosphere. What I got instead was a studio set, which looked incredibly fake. I was so disappointed because it shattered my views of what the story looked like. Fortunately though, that only accounts for half of the episode, so we'll just have to wait to see whether my memory is cheating with respect to the actual story itself.