Day 203: Fury From The Deep Episode 6

The weed creature is defeated, and for once, everybody lives. It's a story that deserves it, because it is based entirely on people being taken over, innocent and ordinary people being forced to do things by a malevolent weed. By allowing everyone to live, it allows for the audience to feel legitimately happy at the end of a story, because we've finally moved away from the dark and gritty feeling that has overshadowed the series, because people are finally allowed to have a good time for once.

But that's all over because Victoria has realised that all she's required to do is scream. And she doesn't particularly like screaming at every monster that comes her way, so she's decided to leave the TARDIS crew. I'm not particularly fond of the character myself, but her departure here is remarkably well done. It's not a snap decision, instead one that has been strongly considered over the course of the story, and the last ten minutes become purely devoted to her decision as to whether she should stay on the TARDIS, or leave. It's disappointing that we can't see this episode, as it would be lovely to see Deborah Watling (the actress who plays Victoria) give her performance as one gets the feeling that she is able to fully carry the weight of this decision on her. I'm not a fan of the character, but it's still slightly sad to see her leave as there was always the feeling that more could have been done with Victoria that could have occurred over her period on the show.

Day 202: Fury From the Deep Episode 5

So in this episode, it's implied that the bad guys want Victoria, and Victoria specifically, because they see her as a threat. At this point, you're probably thinking that it's because she's incredibly clever, and that she's sorted everything out already. Except it's actually because they're affected by sound waves, and that Victoria's screams are hurting them. So to recap, Victoria's primary function in this story is to scream, and that becomes an advantage. It's disappointing that this is her 'time to shine' because the female companions that have preceded her have generally been incredibly strong willed, intelligent women, who provide a good role model for the little children who are watching the proceedings. And while Victoria may react to things in a realistic way, it doesn't do much for showing kids someone to look up to. It's a disappointing route that Victoria has gone on, when we discover that all that she's truly good for is screaming her head off.

Day 201: Fury From the Deep Episode 4

One of the things that characterises this point in the history of Doctor Who is the use of the formula of 'base under siege'. The premise of this is that monsters are attacking a closed room that is filled with some stock characters. The audience grows to know these characters over the month or so that they spend in their company, and also to fear the monster as it forms a presence over all that proceeds over the course of the episode. An example of this can be seen in The Ice Warriors, for instance, where a group of scientists were being held hostage by the evil Martians. Another example is here, where some oil rig technicians are being held hostage by weed. It's a nice set-up, because it allows for money to be saved on sets and actors, and it's also an effective way to create tension, by focussing not on simple scares of seeing monsters in front of your eyes (like has been done in previous episodes such as The Web Planet), but by instead keeping the monsters to a presence that controls the episode, the tension is able to be shown through the performances, writing and directing, which feels more realistic instead of relying on weird creature designs to see you through the remainder of the story.

Day 200: Fury From the Deep Episode 3

Day 200! Hurrah! I was only just looking at the date today and I realised how I never actually thought that I'd make it this far in. But enough shock at how far we've made it, let's look back at the last 100 episodes and see what changes have been made. Episode 100 was in the middle of 'The Daleks Master Plan', a 12 part epic adventure that featured the Daleks flying off through time and space as they fought the Doctor. It was nice and fun, but with a horrifically dark ending, a characteristic of the production era of the time to feature horrific endings to stories, be they reasonably pleasant or otherwise. It was also firmly within the realms of science fantasy, focussing on the joys of seeing alien worlds and the horrors that lurked within, instead of searching for realism. The current story, 'Fury From the Deep' is remarkably different, as despite the fact that the Doctor and co. are fighting a weed-like menace, the story is far more realistic, featuring a setting that is more 'real' than outer space, or Ancient Egypt, being a simple oil rig. The characters have changed as well, the Doctor becoming more of a heroic figure as the actor changes from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton. The current production team have their hearts currently set on producing some simple terrifying little science fiction adventures with a realistic tone. It's thoroughly different to what we've had 100 days previously, and it just goes to show what difference 100 days can make.

Day 199: Fury From The Deep Episode 2

As can be seen in the video to the left, this episode features one of the most horrifying scenes in the history of Doctor Who. Every aspect of this scene feels disturbing, even if the stuff that it consists of may seem fairly incongruous, which is due to how well this scene has been constructed by the direction. I'd go into this entry more, but I genuinely feel that this one clip will suffice for this entry so just watch and be terrified.

Day 198: Fury From the Deep Episode 1

It's an odd thing, when you find the beginning of a well known joke, the first moment when you see something and you realise that it works differently to how you thought it would. Such a point arrives here when we see the introduction of the Sonic Screwdriver. It unscrews some screws and is then put away, treated as a little space-age tool that the Doctor carries around with him. We're used to it being a joke nowadays, but back when it was introduced, it was just a throwaway remark. They couldn't have known how well known this little object would become, and it's funny that of all the things that Doctor Who is trying to make into a household name, it is this that sticks the most in the minds of people, with this little sonic device. It'll detonate mines, disable Cybermats and be used as a metaphor for the Doctor's love life, but it all began with a pen shaped object that unscrewed screws, sonically.

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 191: The Enemy of the World Episode 6

And as this serial comes to an end, the Doctor and Salamander finally come face to face. It's an encounter that takes place in the TARDIS, something which feels inherently wrong as, and I'm fairly sure that I'm right about this, no other character that wasn't either the Doctor or a companion has fully entered the TARDIS before (although a Zarbi did walk through the doors, it was forced out again rather quickly). This is able to show just how serious things have become with this villain, that they have been placed in a position that only the good guys have previously had, being in control of the TARDIS.

It doesn't last long though, as there's a brief punch-up between the Doctor and Salamander culmunitating in Salamander being thrown out of the TARDIS doors whilst the ship is in flight. A lesser director would have handled this badly, but Barry Letts has an eye for action, using some impressive quick cuts to keep things pacy and ensure that it feels like no other episode before it. Letts is a name that we will definitely return to in the future, and it's wonderful to see that his first impact on Doctor Who came off so well, being a wonderfully directed action thriller that clearly shows him as a name to keep an eye on.

And someone making their last impact on Doctor Who is the producer of this serial, Innes Lloyd. He brought with him a serious science fiction style to the series, moving it away from the fantastical adventures that the Doctor would have into the enthralling and slightly more realistic adventures that he encounters. As well as that, he cast Patrick Troughton, who has quickly made the role his own, to such an extent that it's hard to imagine anyone else being the Doctor besides him. Lloyd also had a good eye for finding things that people would be interested in, bringing us terrifying monsters such as Cybermen and Ice Warriors to frighten small children so that people had a reason to watch the program beyond it being a nice little story, it was also a nice little story that would send you running behind the sofa. When he came into the series, I will admit that I was skeptical of his work, because I had quite enjoyed the fantasy that had been brought by his predecessors in the role, but he proved me wrong by showing that serious science fiction can be just as enthralling, and although some lightness of touch was required to make everything bearable, it still comes across as a wonderful piece of work that is definitely worth checking out. So this blog says thank you to Innes Lloyd for giving us so much to the history of Doctor Who.

Day 190: The Enemy of the World Episode 5

It's worth talking about some of the other supporting characters within this story, as they're all really very interesting. Astrid Ferrier, for instance, is your typical Emma Peel style action woman, but what makes her interesting is watching the effect that the Doctor has on her. I'm going to skip ahead to tomorrow's episode (mainly because I've already got a lot to discuss tomorrow), because there we see that she chooses to solve a problem through using her wits, instead of just resorting to violence, showing that the Doctor has made an impact on how this character goes forth into the world.

Also of note is Benik, Salamander's deputy, purely because of how insanely sadistic he is. There's a scene in the previous episode that I didn't get around to mentioning wherein a woman is shot, and he goes over to her and tortures her to get the information that he requires. He knows that she's already dead, but he also knows that he can cause her pain and make her last moments as painful as possible, just because he can. Even though he's not the main villain of this piece, he's still a remarkably nasty piece of work.

Day 189: The Enemy of the World Episode 4

Around this point, your traditional 6 part story would begin to lag. Things take on a slower pace and padding takes charge, making things duller and duller by the minute. Fortunately, Whitaker has come up with the perfect way to fight this, by introducing one of the single most bonkers and beautiful twists in the history of the series. It's so amazing that I recommend that you go out now and watch the story itself, it's spectacular, and this episode has an amazing scene about halfway through that shows some incredibly powerful acting from the supporting cast. But the twist is so beautifully unpredictable that I don't want to spoil it for you, so go and seek this story out, if you don't want to be spoiled about what happens.

SPOILERS AHEAD

It turns out that Salamander, in his spare time, is a leader of a post apocalyptic colony. Whitaker has been able to introduce a completely new story running parallel to the one that we've been watching for the past while, and this new story changes everything. Suddenly Salamander's motives become more complex, and we get to see another side to this character. And the audience is now forced to sit up and pay attention, because now things have developed to a point where it is no longer as predictable as before. Previously the audience was expecting a generic near future run around with some gritty action set pieces and a 'double' plot. But now, things are completely different to how people could imagine this story playing out, meaning that the curse of a lull in a 6 part story has been beaten, by changing the story entirely, everything becomes absolutely wonderful.

Day 188: The Enemy of the World Episode 3

This episode has one of my absolyte favourite supporting characters to appear in Doctor Who: Griffin the Chef. He's a depressive Australian chef, who constantly finds things wrong with the world. He's such a good character because he's able to effectively tell the background to his character and the world that he lives in without going into exposition. He shows that the world has gone badly for him, that Salamander leads an oppressive rule and that people don't necessarily work for him with any degree of choice, by which I mean being forced to choose between a paying job and living on the streets. But the best thing about him is the way in which he deals with the concepts that he's dealt with. A soup that isn't up to scratch leads him to consider that he might be fired, or better yet, shot. But he can't get his hopes up, for they'll probably miss him. It's a fun character and makes this story yet more interesting to see play out.

Day 187: The Enemy of the World Episode 2

Now that we've got over the fact that this episode actually exists, let's have a look at the basic premise of the plot. It's a simple idea: the Doctor happens to bear a striking resemblance to the enemy of the week, and so one side wishes for him to impersonate the enemy, a man called Salamander, in order to save the world, or something like that. It's an idea that's been covered before, as we saw in The Massacre, where William Hartnell played the villain as well. But there, the story was based around the audience not knowing whether this was the Doctor or not, whereas now the distinction is clear. This allows for the story to become more of a thriller rather than a contemplative piece, and so the story is able to continue moving without having any annoying scenes of doubt of who is who. And while this idea is a cliché, it's still being dealt with in a really interesting way, and so the audience just wants to see how this story will unfold.

Day 186: The Enemy of the World Episode 1

I remember the day well. I'd been hearing rumours for some time, but never quite believed that they were true. Events escalated and I discovered that the rumours were, in some form, true. And as I walked into my French class, I quietly opened up Google Chrome and searched for what was found. Because a man called Phil Morris had found 9 episodes of Doctor Who, not seen since the 1960's. The Enemy of the World was now completed, and The Web of Fear was almost complete. I spent the rest of the day in ecstasy. All I could do when I was with my friends was giggle with glee at fianally getting a chance to see these once lost episodes, now found for all to view. And with good reason, because there are so many elements of this story that just wouldn't translate to the audio version. Troughton is full of little moments, his face is able to find so many subtelties within the script, and he is also able to act as two completely different characters within a short space of time, but they are so distinct that you don't actually notice that they're being played by the same actor. There's also some wonderful direction from Barry Letts, who has one of my favourite camera movements of all time as he attaches the camera to the back of a helicopter and then films the action packed scene from which the Doctor and co. need to be rescued from disappearing out of sight. It's difficult to describe, but it's easy to see now. And that fills me with all sorts of happiness 9 days out of 10

Day 185: The Ice Warriors SIX

One of the lovely things about this journey throughout Doctor Who is that I get to experience some stories that I've never seen before. When I say that, I don't so much mean getting to watch stories that I've heard about for years meaning that I finally get to actually see events that everyone else has been going on about for yonks. Instead, I mean that I get to see stories and be surprised by how much I'd overlooked this story because it's actually quite good. This is something that I've experienced with The Ice Warriors. Previously, I've considered it to just be another Second Doctor story, with the first appearance of the eponymous Martians, but now, I'm able to recognise it as a scientific story. It takes science and shows it all the ways in which it is used, whether it be through misunderstanding of how science works with the bad science present in this story, showing the fact that computers are not the be all and end all of modern science, and that there are other methods that others may prefer, and finally allowing science to save the day in the end. It's a good story, and vastly underrated, and I'm thrilled that this first viewing of this story was so pleasurable for me. And tomorrow, we encounter a story that also gave a very pleasurable first viewing for myself and several others, mainly because we never thought that it would ever happen...

Day 184: The Ice Warriors FIVE

For some reason, the Ice Warriors have been deemed important enough for me to feel the need to devote today's episode to talk about how they're used in this story. This is because they're going to return a couple more times over the course of the series, including in the post 2005 era as well, and so they have an associated aura of 'classic monster' with them that begs for them to be discussed. But I haven't talked about them so far because they aren't really that interesting. The design is nice, being a simple alien monster design that is able to stick in the minds of young children, and their voice, much like the Daleks before them, is instantly imitable, meaning that each little youngster in the playground can be a Martian, asssssss long assssssss they hisssssss the letter ssssssssssss. Their motivation, however, is weak. They're your basic invading alien force, with not much else to say about them. They were most likely brought back because the writer, Brian Hayles, enjoyed having an alien race of his own, and the Ice Warriors will be fleshed out wonderfully in coming stories, it just so happens that, at the moment, they're just another monster, with nothing to elevate them beyond a ssssssssssssupremely cool sssssssssspeech pattern.