Day 292: The Claws of Axos Episode 4

I was sceptical of this story, to begin with. But then I realised something fantastic was happening in Episode 3. The Master had been held captive by Axos and needed to escape. He attempts to do so, but is captured by UNIT. he then helps UNIT in exchange for his freedom. It's weird seeing the Master work with his enemies, and yet there's an element of realisation of the stakes that we are up against, that even the Master acknowledges that the work that is being done is wrong and needs to be stopped. And not only that, but in Episode 4 we get the Doctor and the Master willingly working together to reach a common goal. The escape from Earth. Of course the Doctor needs to stop the Axons beforehand, because he's the good guy in the scenario, but it's still a moment filled with awe as we see these two enemies working together for a common goal.

There's also a very nice moment when the Doctor appears to abandon Earth forever, leaving them to all die horrifically. What makes this nice is the fact that it's never explicitly stated by the Doctor that he's actually bluffing and that he's going to save the day once again, instead we just see him leave with the Master. So the audience is left only with the trust of what they think the Doctor will do, and so the trust that has been built up over the past 292 episodes is put into full effect as we believe that the Doctor will do the right thing. And of course he does. Because he is the Doctor and he makes things better. He makes this show better, because otherwise it would be the misadventures of Bill Filer. He makes society better by drawing to attention real life issues that we need to solve. And he can make people's lives just that little bit happier, because of the simplest things...

Day 291: The Claws of Axos Episode 3

Bill Filer. He's an American agent tasked with tracking down the Master. In principle, he represents a fantastic idea. It's exploiting the fact that the Master is becoming more well known and allows for his menace to grow exponentially. However, there is one small problem. American action heroes can come across as a little dull. Filer comes across as nothing too special, a carbon copy of every other American action hero that we've seen. He'll occasionally get into tussles, crack a few jokes here and there, and come across as a remarkably cool guy. (I should stress that this is all the character as written. In truth, the actor playing Filer is not really that cool and creates a highlight of the serial as we see just how poor some of the casting decisions can be). But the point of Filer is to represent the other side of action heroes, a foreign body in the UNIT family. We don't like him because he lacks the certain something that makes up the ragtag group of UNIT people, whether it's the eccentric Doctor who can often find himself arguing morally with the Brigadier, despite both fighting on the same side or Jo who isn't the best character in terms of strength but more than makes up for it in enthusiasm. In essence then, Filer represents the very sort of character that we don't normally want in Doctor Who, just because they're just too dull, with no real character behind some tussles and some wisecracks.

Day 290: The Claws of Axos Episode 2

Quick one today as I'm writing to a deadline and I've had to scrap my original plans for what I was going to talk about as unintentional hilarity two days in a row may be a little too much. So instead, I'm going to talk about Axonite. Axonite represents the solution to so many of the world's problems. It is an apparently limitless source of enrgy, and can grow or shrink anything in the world. I'm reminded, as I write this, of the novel Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants. Like Axos, it too concerned itself with such a device. And also like Axos, it was later used for far more nefarious purposes. However, there exists a difference in the motive of why it is used. In the Captain Underpants book, it is used for evil due to Professor Poopypants wanting revenge on all those who have made fun of his name, taking a simple revenge plot. In Axos however, the motive is a little more complex, as they wish to drain the Earth of its energy. In this way, it acts as a nice mirror to the hope in which they place in humanity, with offering them unlimited energy, hiding the fact that whilst energy is on the menu, it isn't necessarily aimed for humanity. So there's a hidden aspect to this plot, and we'll probably come to discuss it later. But tomorrow, I think I might as well have a good old laugh at how stupid this episode can come across sometimes..,

Day 289: The Claws of Axos Episode 1

Some days I sit down to write about a Doctor Who story with a vague idea of the themes that we'll be discussing. And some days, I'll find that similar themes that I thought would occur do occur, although there is still some room for surprises here and there. An example is, for instance, The Mind of Evil. I knew that there would be elements of fear and a prison setting, however I was not aware of the Master's plan nor the secret behind the Keller Machine. But the point is that sometimes these surprises can be lovely little things for me as I voyage across the entire history of Doctor Who, one episode at a time.

All of that, of course, was me getting around the fact that I laughed for a full minute at the image at the top of this blog post. There are so many things to find funny about it. For a start, it's labelled 'top secret'. This lets people know that it's a top secret file, which would be handy if any enemy agents or anything were to sneak into a room and look for a top secret file, as they would certainly have an idea of where to look. But it's not just that, as it's all in lower-case as well. This makes it feel like a relaxed top secret file. It's not that worried with being strict and terrifying, and makes you feel comfortable with the fact that you're reading information that could be dangerous to the public when released. This is backed up by the font, which could only be improved if it were in Comic Sans, allowing for the reader to think of this file as a fun, relaxed file, that wants to just chill. The colour as well is a pale blue, reflecting the calming nature of the file.

But it's more than all of that. It's the fact that I've just come off The Mind of Evil, a relatively straight story. to be thrust into a scene with this much relative silliness proved too much for me, and I couldn't take the juxtaposition any more. My only release was through laughter, and so I laughed for a minute at the supreme silliness of what I was seeing before me. And if there's one thing that I want to take away from doing this blog, it's this moment of pure unadulterated laughter.

Day 271: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 7

"I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty. You do understand, don't you?"

These are the last words said by General Carrington, the villain of this serial, before he is taken away into custody. Villain is perhaps too harsh a word, given that he is very misguided, and did everything in this story for the wrong reason. He was placed in a scenario where he made first contact with an alien race. They killed one of his crewmembers and so he swore revenge, believeing them to be a hostile force. He captured some of them and used them for his own purposes, hoping to reveal to the world that these creatures are dangerous, and to implore for help in dealing with them, by destroying them all completely.

But he was wrong. The aliens came in peace. They were unaware of the fact that when they touched people, they caused them to die. Carrington was catastrophically misguided, seeking war instead of a peacful solution. In this regard, the story makes for a perfect duo with Doctor Who and the Silurians. The conclusion of both stories is about the misguided nature of humanity, how we can occasionally jump to conclusions and cause widespread destruction. But where Silurians ended with the Brigadier doing the wrong thing, this time it is quite clearly averted. Everyone from UNIT soldiers to Carrington's henchmen are standing against him. Because they all realise what harm they could do, and that sometimes peace is the only option.

But in response to Carrington's question, he was somewhat in the right. It's not hard to ser how he came to the conclusions that he did, and it's quite clear that he began to realise his mistakes at the end of the serial. But the fact still remains that it wasn't an alien species that caused all of the havoc this serial. It was a misguided man.

Day 270: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 6

The story of how this episode came together is quite interesting. Essentially, it was decided that the story as delivered by the original writer, David Whitaker, was unsuitable, meaning that it would have to be heavily rewritten and edited by Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke. In this regard, it's interesting to compare this to The War Games, and the way in which that story progresses, due to both being by the same writing team. The War Games was a success due to the way in which the story progressed. Each episode brought a new development to how the story is unfolding, so that it could keep to the same plot, but make each episode feel different enough such that viewers don't get bored. To compare this to Ambassadors is interesting. There's development of the plot, however the majority of the storyline is hidden, left to be revealed at a slower rate. This has two effects. On the one hand, it's frustrating, as the viewer is being kept in the dark and it's only around episode 6 that you begin to get the whole plot spelt oht to you. But on the other hand, it's engaging because it keeps a strong amount of mystery to the story. The viewer is engaged because they need to discover what has been going on, and that is what makes this story so enjoyable.

Day 269: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 5

Sometimes, when you watch a Doctor Who story, there's a character that jumps out at you as interesting, above everyone else. Most of the time, it's a regular. Sometimes it's the villain. Sometimes it's the Doctor's primary ally. And sometimes it's just a side character. We get such a case here in the character of Lennox. He's a scientist who has been forced to work for the villainous group who are using the titular ambassadors, in order to find a way to control them. He's an excellent character because of his opinions, but also in the way in which he chooses to put these opinions across. He's a man who is opposed to the nature of the work that he is doing, and desperately wishes to get help to escape, however he is trapped by the fact that there is nowhere else for him to go. He expresses this not as much through dialogue, but through his neuroticism which comes across remarkably well from Cyril Shaps, the actor who plays him. This creates a memorable character for whom the audience can easily feel empathy for, and it means that the story feels better because we can care about more of the characters. This, in turn, is possibly due to Malcolm Hulke who, as previously mentioned, is a wonderful writer of character and can make things instantly memorable.

Day 268: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 4

Have I praised Michael Ferguson here before? It's because he clearly stands out as an excellent director here (although all across Jon Pertwee's first series are excellent, and we'll certainly mention direction for the next serial). But let's talk about why he's an excellent director. Aside from the obvious thongs, like getting strong performances and choosing camera position to fully utilise everything in shot, he's also masterful at editing. Take, for instance, a scene wherein a man has been given a bomb to explode the Doctor with. The scene is edited in such a way to emphasise the stress on his end, frequently cutting back to him above the Doctor, who remains calm, unaware of what is due to happen. The bomb unexpectedly explodes, and Ferguson decides to cut away two seconds after the explosion. We get an explosion, a scream and then another scene. This sudden moment allows for a far more effective piece and a genuine feeling of surprise on the viewer's part. It also means that we are spared the annoyance of having a man screaming for too long, as this is something that could appear a bit hammy and take the viewer out of the mostly realistic serial so far. All in all, it's a well directed story and Ferguson is certainly a director to admire across the series.

Day 267: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 3

I bumped into a friend of mine yesterday whilst having lunch, and during our conversation, I mentioned that I was due to watch The Ambassadors of Death over the course of that day. He praised the story, and pointed out to me that the image of malevolent spacesuits is one that has appeared in Doctor Who on a couple of occasions, most notably in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. So what actually makes these things scary? It's not that we have some sort of cultural mistrust of astronauts, far from it. We acknowledge them as pioneers and travellers to the stars, who go forth and discover a whole new world up there in the sky. Personally, I think that it's in the face. Or to be more precise, the lack of a face. We can't see the inside of the helmets, leading mistrust as we don't have the basic human ability to see the familiar. Instead, we see a suit, with no sense of familiarity attached. This can be compared with the Library two parter, where the unfamiliar is made more so by the addition of a skeleton inside, revealing the bitter truth of what lies beneath. Or indeed, we can compare to the Impossible Astronaut two parter, where the unfamiliar is made suddenly familiar by the addition of a small girl within the suit, allowing for the juxtaposition of the two presences to make for a more creepy experience. But the major thing to take away from this is that The Ambassadors of Death is providing us with a remarkably creepy monster, showing us that this new series is certainly able to bring us a strong ability to terrify children.

Day 266: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 2

Once again, this episode is wonderfully action packed. This time, instead of being a warehouse shoot-out we have a hold-up of a truck carrying a spaceship. The major thing that I took away from it was a sudden realisation that I actually have no idea what is going to happen in this episode. This has two meanings. One is that I have never seen this episode before, hence I don't have an idea of the plot and so on. The other is a consequence of the longer serial length. Due to having a longer serial, it means that we need to stretch out the plot, leave key revelations of things such as motivation of the villains until later, such that the writers don't run out of story by episode 5. It's similar to The War Games in this regard, and it's a truly fascinating experience to get to experience this story for what is essentially the first time, and have no idea of what is ahead of us...

Day 265: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 1

Today's entry is the convolution of so many things. Some of you may notice that it's remarkably close in time to yesterday's entry, and there's a reason for that. My general technique for watching episodes is to go about my day to day business, then at 10 o'clock pm (Australian Time) I'll go to the TV and put on the episode. I'll spend some time writing the blog entry and then post it by 11 o'clock. Sometimes, however, I will be aware that I won't be at home late at night, and so I have to watch the episode during the day. And sometimes I'll be equally busy during the day, so I'll have to watch it at night. Today, the Venn diagram of business reached the point when I was at a loss, and considering getting up early in the morning to sit down for some Pertwee fun. Until I realised that I had given myself a 24 hour period to watch each episode. So it came to pass that at midnight, I went across and put on The Ambassadors of Death Episode 1 and sat down for some 1970's action.

Action is the key word here, in particular Action by HAVOC. They're the new stuntmen for Doctor Who and they represent the new era that the series is going into. It's no longer acceptable to just have monsters bursting into rooms or ray guns pointing at people to intimidate them. Audiences need to be satiated with properly set-out action. It has to be exciting and packed full of danger. HAVOC are more than able to provide in this regard. Their scene about halfway through this episode consisting of UNIT performing a raid on a warehouse is remarkably well set out. Each moment is filled with tension as we, the audience, truly believe this both to be realistic, but also exciting. Guns being fired and people falling into boxes may not seem like much, but compared to what's come before and cpupled with some excellent direction from Michael Ferguson, then we've got a remarkably exciting scene, hopefully the first of many.

Day 237: The Seeds of Death Episode 6

Unfortunately the series finale of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is not as strong as the Ultron two parter meaning that I have to talk about The Seeds of Death once more. But it's not actually that bad an episode. I mentioned very briefly about Michael Ferguson's direction being quite effective in the last entry, but that was a large understatement. Whereas I will praise other directors for their use of camera angles, or the performances that they get out of their cast members, Ferguson is a master of cutting from one camera to another. Take, for instance, in the last episode, where we transition from a scene on Earth to a scene on the Moon. Ferguson achieves this by having a monitor on Earth showing the events on the Moon, then zooming in to the monitor. It then near seamlessly transitions from Earth to the Moon giving a sense that the events are concurrent and making the story feel more complete. You can also see Ferguson's work when the Ice Warriors are attacked, as he cuts violently from various camera angles, creating a disconcerting effect for the viewer and showing the effect that the attack is having, something that could not just be achieved through just turning the picture negative. All in all, it's a good story, mostly due to Ferguson's direction.

Day 236: The Seeds of Death Episode 5/Ultron-5/The Ultron Imperative

Michael Ferguson had a particularly good scene in this where we only see the characters in shilouette. It's quite effective.

Yes, I know that the above was terrible. However, there's a reason for that. A few weeks ago, I got a craving to re-watch a wonderful television program called The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I've been binging on episodes on and off for the past couple of days, and today I reached my two favourite episodes of the series: Ultron-5 and The Ultron Imperative. They are both incredibly strong and draining episodes, and they are all that is going through my mind, hence I'm going to babble on about them for a bit here. I don't think that this will become a regular feature, but we'll see how well the series continues and whether I'm able to prepare myself for what's coming ahead.

To begin, some background. The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (EMH) was a cartoon series that I happened upon one day when I was about 16 or 17. With the Avengers fresh in my mind after their very successful films, I watched it with interest. It was unlike most other shows that were around of the same genre at that time. Plot arcs developed, and characters did as well. The characters presented weren't just stereotypical heroes to save the day, they also had other facets to them, in particular Hank Pym AKA Ant-Man/Giant-Man.

Hank's portrayed as a pacifist with a keen eye for science. When fighting Wonder Man in Everything Is Wonderful (another excellent episode), he both tries to talk Wonder Man down instead of fighting him directly and at the same time geeks out over Wonder Man's powers, intrigued by their capabilities. His character was one that instantly related to the 17 year old me. Everything about him seemed to mirror my life, and I grew to have the character as a hero.

Things change when the episode Ultron-5 comes along. The story begins with the Avengers fighting the Serpent Society. Hank tries to reason with them, but everyone else just wants to fight. Hank's attempt to solve things peacefully ends with the Serpent Society getting away and Hawkeye being injured as a result of Hank's actions. Hank, therefore, realises that he has no place in this world and so he quits the Avengers. Already I admired this character for their morals and their belief in what is right for the world. He's someone who hates the idea of punching people to solve problems and so when he is forced into this eventuality, he realises that his life needs a change. He talks this over with Ultron, a robot that he created. Ultron is a peacekeeping robot that Hank developed to try and rehabilitate criminals. So far in the series, Hank has had to reluctantly teach Ultron the concept of violence, in order to help fight a time travelling conqueror known as Kang. Ultron then knocks out Pym and proceeds to attempt to destroy the Avengers.

What follows is some incredibly intense action. It's shocking to see our heroes fail at almost every opportunity when attempting to attack Ultron, Eventually, Ultron is defeated by Pym teaming up with the Hulk to destroy Ultron's body. Once again forced into solving problems by punching people, Pym is depressed. But not just that, because he's had to fight the thing that he created to create peace and a peaceful society. All of his attempts at peace have ended in failure, and it's all his fault.

Ultron survives the encounter as The Ultron Imperative begins. The action again is incredible as we see Ultron effortlessly take over the world's nuclear missiles and simultaneously launch them at Earth, aiming to destroy the planet. The efficiency of Ultron is terrifying, showing how hopeless everyone is in this scenario. And at the heart of it all, Hank Pym lies. He solves the problem by using logic, telling Ultron that, as he is based on humanity, he cannot destroy all humanity as that would involve destroying himself. Ultron shuts down, in a mirror to the beginning of the two-part episode. Whilst before Pym was unable to save the world by talking things through and coming to an agreement, here he has finally achieved his goal. It's not enough though as he is now constantly reminded of how it's his fault. Not just from his peers, but from himself as well. The episode ends with him walking away from the Avengers, and although the character does return in future episodes, Hank Pym never rejoins The Avengers.

It's a draining episode. It's intense at every angle and brings to a head tension that has been bubbling away between the characters over the past series. And at the heart of it all, a 17 year old who had finally found a character that was exactly like him on TV had his heart broken as he saw his favourite character get destroyed over the course of 45 minutes. It's my favourite episode of The Avengers: EMH, and I wholeheartedly recommend that you watch the whole series. Meanwhile, I've got Work to Do!

Day 235: The Seeds of Death Episode 4

One of the most exciting scenes to occur in this serial is when the Doctor is being transmatted into space, thus killing him. Tension is high and it is increased by Michael Ferguson's directing, which is able to kick this story up a notch and make it somewhat memorable. What's really noteworthy, though, is that Troughton doesn't actually appear in this scene. Instead, a body double is used for him as he was on holiday. This shows how well the story has been edited, given that Troughton's disappearance, in the hands of another script editor, could stick out like a sore thumb, however Terrance Dicks is able to allow for the character of the Doctor to still be central to the plot, just less active than the other characters in the story

Day 234: The Seeds of Death Episode 3

One of the interesting threads in this story is the fact that Brian Hayles, the writer, seems to be encouraging people to not forget the past. This is seen in the fact that Earth is stated as being completely reliant on the system known as T-Mat, a transmat system. It's so reliant on this that it has abandoned all other forms of travel, meaning that once the T-Mat is down, then Earth's only hope is some old rocket-ship that they've got lying around. Logical problems with the story aside, the sentiment is sound. Perhaps we as a society do throw away the past too often, failing to realise the fact that sometimes the old ways can co-exist with the new ways. It's a nice idea, but to be honest, it could have been put a lot better as we delve into the halfway point for The Seeds of Death.

Day 233: The Seeds of Death Episode 2

One must consider why the Ice Warriors were brought back. Because when they first appeared, in The Ice Warriors, they didn't come across as one of the more innovative villains that had appeared in Doctor Who so far. They were essentially just another alien species that we've encountered on our wandering through the fourth dimension. They haven't yet had anything to make them stand out amongst other villains, unlike the Cybermen, which represent a twisted view of humanity's future, or the Great Intelligence, which has a being that is unlike anything else encountered before. The Ice Warriors' titular story wasn't even interesting because of them, it was instead interesting because of the scientists working on the station. So why were they brought back? Clearly, it's because either the writer, Brian Hayles, had a soft spot for his creations, or the production office happened to have the costumes and they wanted to get their money's worth out of them. But there's also the opportunity for the characters to be expanded upon, and plus the audience already knows them so there's already a connection that has been made to exploit for dramatic purposes. So perhaps anything that I've got against the Ice Warriors is just me being cynical, and there could end up being something there that I'm just not seeing.

Day 232: The Seeds of Death Episode 1

The major thing that I took away from this episode was in the way in which the villains were revealed. As has been mentioned several times on this blog, the tradition is to keep the monster hidden for the majority of episode 1, with the episode 1 cliffhanger being the revelation of the monster, sending children scurrying down behind their sofas. This episode finds an interesting spin on that scenario. It chooses to keep the monster hidden, not by keeping them behind a door, but instead through carefully choosing the camera angle at which the action is shot. Suddenly, all we have to associate the monster with is its voice, which hisses orders at its captives. It's an entertaining spin on the concept as it allows for enough action to occur for the story to continue, whilst simultaneously building tension about what is going to happen due to the monsters attacking. It also means that when the monsters are revealed, in this case the Ice Warriors, it means that the cliffhanger is not relying on the memories of the children watching to recall a monster that last appeared over a year ago.

Day 126: The War Machines Episode 4

45 days. That's how long it's been since I started series 3 of Doctor Who. Through that time I have seen companions, producers and script editors all come and go, not to mention all the writers and directors who showed their take on this series. Reflecting on series 3 as a whole, it has been variable. Not in terms of quality, but instead in terms of storytelling. Compare the first and last serials of this series. Galaxy 4 is a morality tale set in space, where we learn not to judge a book by its cover, meet a megalomaniacal villainess, and meet some robots who could become replacements for the Daleks. It is a simple idea for a story firmly set in science fantasy, your basic dose of escapism and fun adventure. But throughout the series, things have been getting darker and more realistic, even the traditional comedy historicals have rougher edges to them. And so we culminate with The War Machines, which is an urban adventure where we fight computers, and learn about the dangers of technology. It's not so much a dose of fun adventure as it is watching an action serial with danger at every turn. There's still fun, yes, but danger is more prevalent and fun is slowly being moved away from as we grow up and get more serious. But for all that seriousness, we still have robots introduced who could be replacements for the Daleks. We continually search for things that will drive the audience back because they have tired of seeing just the same thing week after week. The Daleks are less popular than they once were, and the production team is still mindful of trying to find a replacement for them to keep people interested. Because while the show is changing to make it better, it's also changing to allow for audiences to return. We just have to find a way for this to happen.

Day 125: The War Machines Episode 3

The third act of this episode is extraordinary, showing us something that we haven't seen before in Doctor Who, but we will see for the next several years: the army fighting a useless battle. It feels clichéd but here it's a shock to see the things that we rely and trust fail at the horrors of the future. Every action sequence before this has been grounded in the realms of fantasy, or history, showing us the stuff that dreams are made of. But again, in keeping with the modern tone of this episode, we get to see a vaguely gritty and realistic battle with an unstoppable force. But as the chaos ensues, the Doctor shines wonderfully. To the right, you will find one of the best cliffhangers in Doctor Who, as the Doctor stands firm against the War Machine. It works, not because we are afraid for the Doctor's safety, but because we want to know what will happen next. The Doctor has mainly been a background figure in this story, but here he is firmly in the foreground, taking full charge when others fail. That's the beauty of this, because he is a figure standing up against the otherworldy menace, and even though he's mildly out of place here, representing a television character who has visited the modern world for a change, he is still the protector and will still fight. And that is truly brilliant.

Day 124: The War Machines Episode 2

This episode sees the departure of Dodo. Her departure scene is completely unlike anything we've ever seen before, in that it is less of a departure scene and more of a closing of a plot point. The summary is that she was hypnotised in order to lure the Doctor to the evil supercomputer WOTAN. The Doctor realises this in this episode, breaks her out of her hypnotic state, and then puts her to sleep. And that is the last we ever see of the character. But, to be honest, I wasn't expecting anything better, because the fact of the matter is that she was a poor character. Of her stories, she only existed to be introduced in The Massacre, and she only brought influenza to The Ark, a mild amount of compassion to The Celestial Toymaker and almost nothing to The Savages. She only exists as a function of the plot, a character for viewers to recognise. But even then, she doesn't quite work because of the inconsistent way in which the character is portrayed, moving from mildly annoying hip youngster to just another screaming girl. She fails to connect with the audience, doesn't do too much and is generally unmemorable as a companion. Her departure scene represents the way she was treated on the series, not as a character who had potential, but as another plot point to be used within the next couple of episodes. Because sometimes she could have potential, and The Gunfighters shows us a character who was enjoyable and watchable, the only problem is that they needed to throw things out and start again. Perhaps with something that will connect to the audience more...