06/07/31 Doctor Who: The mind robber
06/07/27 Doctor Who: The web planet
06/07/25 Doctor Who: The Aztecs
06/07/21 Doctor Who: Misc.
06/07/17 Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars
06/07/14 Doctor Who: The ark in space
06/07/10 Doctor Who: The green death
06/07/06 Doctor Who: Carnival of monsters
06/07/03 Doctor Who: The three doctors
Today: The mind robber, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a five-part series, first broadcast between 14th September - 12th October 1968. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: when the Tardis is being engulfed by boiling lava the Doctor pulls the emergency switch and our heroes find themselves… nowhere. Or, rather, nowhere real. Lost in a world of fiction the Doctor gets pinched by a group of riddling children, Zoe vanquishes a comic book super hero and Jamie fights the British all over again, only to find that this time they're toy soldiers. In the end, the Doctor and his companions have to engage in a battle of wits with an evil brain to find their true selves again.
Very few Doctor Who series have had so many problems during production. The preceding series turned out one episode shorter than planned, which meant that 'The time robber' had to have five episodes and start a week early. It also meant that the first episode had to be made on a sixth-episode budget, with no extra money for new sets or props. As if that wasn't enough, Frazer Hines, who played Jamie, got chicken pox and a temporary replacement had to be brought in. (Luckily, this is the kind of story where it seems quite possible that a character suddenly has a different face.)
Miraculously, in spite of these problems, 'The mind robber' is simply very, very entertaining. The added-on first episode is terrific. Patrick Troughton, whose clownish Doctor doesn't quite seem to fit the more straightforward science fiction stories that I've seen from this era, is simply wonderful in this. The story is excellent, with good pacing and many clever little details, and both companions are used well. The sound effects are marvellous and the visual effects, even when pushing the boundaries of what was possible at the time, come off well.
The series has some weaker points. The robots, which had been 'comical robots' in another series and were reused in Doctor Who to save money, never become menacing. The bird's eye view of the forest of letters isn't convincing. None of this matters, however.
My verdict:
A marvellous fantasy tale in the tradition of Lewis Caroll and L. Frank Baum.
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Today: The web planet, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a four-part series, first broadcast between 13th February - 20th March 1965. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: when the Tardis lands the Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara find themselves caught between two warring alien races, the ant-like Zarbi and the moth-like Menoptera. They also encounter the Animus, a malign spider-like creature that is the story's villain. At the end of the last episode all is well: the Animus is dead, the Zarbi are vanquished and the exiled Menoptera, the planet's original inhabitants before the bad guys moved in, are free to come back home.
Let's start with the good points about this series. It's clear that the makers were attempting to create a truly alien world inhabited by non-humanoid creatures with their own history and culture, and that kind of ambition is to be applauded.
Some of what the makers are doing here works surprisingly well. The use of lens filters and Vaseline is remarkably effective in creating the illusion of an atmosphere that is nothing like the earth's. The use of sound effects and the occasional fragment of almost atonal music, very different from the usual Doctor Who score, works well and is the one thing that I truly enjoyed about this series.
The series' biggest problem isn't that the aliens are clearly people in bug-suits. The aliens in 'The ark in space' are clearly people in bug-suits, and still many people like the series.
The real problems are the pacing and the storytelling. The pacing is very, very slow, and there's little action. Much of the dialogue, like Vicki and Barbara discussing the virtues of Aspirin, seems pointless - doing nothing to either entertain or move the story forward. At the same time the story contains a number of different, seemingly under-developed story-lines that are easy to lose track of, leaving the viewer both bored and bewildered as a result.
My verdict:
It tried. It failed.
Related links:
Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
Outpost Gallifrey: DVD review
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Today: The Aztecs, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a four-part series, first broadcast between 23rd May - 13th June 1964. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: when the Tardis lands the Doctor and his companions Susan, Ian and Barbara find themselves among the ancient Aztecs. In this story Barbara is venerated as a goddess, even if in the end her followers lose faith and she fails to get the Aztecs to abolish human sacrifice, and both the Doctor and Susan get engaged though neither ends up married.
The story is a common one in children's fiction: present-day characters returning to some historical period and changing - or, as the case may be, failing to change - history.
To a modern audience, this series' main flaw would be its age. It's black and white, it's low on action and high on dialogue (though the action that is there is quite effective), it's got people wearing a 1960s designer's interpretation of ancient Aztec garb and it uses somewhat stilted English to denote the language of the Aztecs.
However, if you're willing to look past all that, you'll find a story that is well-written and well-paced and that gives us some memorable, well-rounded characters.
My verdict:
Not a must-see series, but quite enjoyable.
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Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
Outpost Gallifrey: DVD review
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Today: some Doctor Who-related stuff.
Last week I happened to pick up Steven Johnson's Everything bad is good for you, which, among other things, makes some interesting points about television. What Johnson says is that, over the years, television programmes have become more complex with more different stories to follow, more characters with their relationships to keep track of, more instances where the audience is deliberately left in the dark, and more obscure references to popular culture. He offers two main reasons for this: people enjoy complexity and figuring things out, and since nowadays syndication and publication on DVD generate more income than the initial broadcast of a programme, there's an incentive to produce complex shows that people are going to want to watch more than once. He also mentions the role of fan sites and discussion forums in establishing a programme's reputation and lowering the complexity threshold for more casual viewers. Johnson says this all a lot better than I'm doing here so if you have a chance, do check out his book.
Steven Johnson's weblog:
Steven Berlin Johnson
A longish and somewhat meandering article from the London Review of Books about Doctor Who that mentions Johnson's book:
London Review of Books: Across the Tellyverse (Jenny Turner)
A couple of thoughtful blog posts by Andrew Rilstone about the new series:
Andrew Rilstone: Doctor Who - Notes
Andrew Rilstone: Episodes 12 and 13 of new series 2
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Today: Pyramids of Mars, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a four-part series, first broadcast between 25th October - 15th November 1975. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: when the Tardis lands the Doctor and Sarah Jane find themselves in the headquarters of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, as planned - at the time of queen Victoria, which wasn't quite what they had intended even if Sarah Jane did happen to be dressed for the occasion. The cast of characters that they encounter includes a possessed Egyptologist, a mysterious Arab and various Victorian gentlemen, none of whom make it to the end of episode four. At one point even the Doctor seems ready for his next regeneration - though, as it turns out, Peter Davison would be waiting in the wings for another five years or so.
I find this series hard to critique, as I'm simply very fond of it. Let's start with the weak points. The series has a couple of plot points that I haven't been able to make sense of, even after repeated viewing. There are also some weak visual effects, most notably the masked villain's remarkably unthreatening 'true form' and a floating Tardis key that is clearly held aloft by bits of string. These flaws are minor, however, when compared to the series' strong points. The sets and costumes are excellent, and so is the acting. The script is well-written and tension is nicely maintained throughout all four episodes.
There's something about this story that seems typical of Doctor Who in the Tom Baker era. On the surface, what we have here is a 'Hammer House of Horror' style 'Curse of the Pharaohs' tale, complete with sarcophagus lids covering dark secrets and mummies lurching about killing innocent bystanders. Digging deeper we find ourselves watching a science fiction story, with a mad scientist building a rocket to free an ancient evil that has been imprisoned on Mars, and mummies that are automata rather than walking dead. And yet the series is neither, as the conventions of both genres are continually being subverted by the presence of the Doctor with his 1950's police box, his scarf and his jelly-babies.
My verdict:
One of those Doctor Who stories that I love beyond reason.
Related links:
Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
Outpost Gallifrey: DVD review
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Today: The ark in space, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a four-part series, first broadcast between 23rd January - 15 February 1975. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and his companions Harry and Sarah Jane find themselves aboard a space station, among humans who are in deep, cryogenic sleep and giant alien insects who are very much awake. Though in this adventure Harry loses his shoe, the Doctor loses part of his scarf and Sarah Jane almost gets stuck in an air duct, the true heroes are the two crew members who lay down their lives in order to give the remainder of the human race a chance of a new life on earth.
Because of the series' flaws (more of which later) it is easy to overlook how good the story actually is. On one side we have the alien bug queen setting out into space and breaking into the space station in order to give her brood a chance to live, sacrificing herself in the process. On the other side we have a couple of rousing canned speeches from the British queen… excuse me… Prime Minister, commending the crew for their willingness to set out into space and risk their lives in order to save the human race as it is about to become extinct. The series makes it quite clear that both sides are willing to both die and kill in order for their race to survive, and that there's no real moral high-ground to be found.
The main flaw - or maybe we shouldn't even call it that - is that the visual effects in 'The ark in space' haven't aged well. The designers' decision to use bubble-wrap for the alien larvae and for the human-to-alien transitions has something to do with that, as even though bubble-wrap may have been virtually unknown at the time, it is instantly recognisable today. The main problem, however, is something else that nobody could have foreseen in 1975. Four years later a movie called 'Alien' would come out - another story about humans trapped on a space vessel invaded by bug-like aliens, though this time made on a big-movie budget. Its visual effects, even if they were achieved without the help of CGI, set a standard that made everything that came before it look quaint in comparison. Even without the bubble-wrap, the poor bugs from Doctor Who never had a chance.
My verdict:
Tough call. There's a lot to enjoy about this series, but suspension of disbelief is required.
Related links:
Filmsite: Visual effects and CGI time-line
Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
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Today: The green death, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a six-part series, first broadcast between 19th May - 23rd June 1973.
A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: Global Chemicals, a multi-national corporation with friends in high places, think they've found the solution to the world's energy problems. There is a downside, however. The company causes social upheaval by closing down the local coal mine, and also produces some green, gooey waste-product that kills humans on contact though maggots appear to thrive on it. Aided by a merry band of hippie geniuses the Doctor, Jo and the super-secret United Nations Intelligence Taskforce save the day.
It's in this series that the Doctor finally gets to visit the fabled blue planet Metebilis III that he had been enthusing about for quite some time and finds that, as is often the case with those must-see tourist destinations, the place is overrated. He does bring back a cool souvenir, though.
It's also in this series that Jo finds another guy who's far more intelligent than she is, who will boss her around and promises to take her places. Since this time the guy is human and seems actually willing to commit to a relationship, Jo immediately says 'yes' when he pops the question and they live, we assume, happily ever after.
The main flaw of this series is that the story is a parable, and a rather simplistic one at that. Global Chemicals is evil, the high-IQ hippies are good, and the locals are dialect-speaking simpletons with their hearts in the right place who got caught in the middle. There are also some bad visual effects and a couple of serendipitous solutions that stretch the audience's suspension of disbelief to the very limit. These are minor flaws, however.
The script for this series is tight and well-written, we get some memorable characters even among the bad guys, the giant maggots are cool, and we also get several explosions which is always nice. One of the best things about this series is Pertwee's performance. He's in top form here, and shows us the different layers of the Doctor's reaction to Jo's departure - the petulance of a vain and self-centred man losing a prized asset, the mixed feelings of a father-figure seeing his protege go out into the world, and the existential loneliness of a near-immortal who knows that he will see everyone he cares about grow old and die - with great clarity.
My verdict:
A good, solid series.
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Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
Outpost Gallifrey: DVD review
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Today: Carnival of monsters, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a four-part series, first broadcast between 27 January - 17 February 1973. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Tardis lands and the Doctor and Jo find themselves aboard the SS Bernice, making its way to Bombay in 1926. As the ship seems stuck in a time loop and suffers repeated attacks by a dinosaur, the two realise that things are not what they seem.
This is a very clever story, and for the most part it's been worked into a pretty good script. There's quite a lot to enjoy about this series. Even the monsters work rather well considering this is 1970s Doctor Who. Since it's difficult to critique this series without major spoilers, you may want to stop reading here if you haven't seen this yet.
Right. In this series, the Doctor and Jo find themselves caught inside some sort of alien ant-farm, that is owned by a travelling showman named Vorg and his assistant Shirna who have set up shop on a planet called Inter Minor. During episode one and part of episode two, the Doctor and Jo think they're on the aforementioned SS Bernice crossing the Indian Ocean. Episode one switches between scenes set on the SS Bernice and Inter Minor, and it's only at the end of the episode that we realise what's going on.
The big problem with this series is that the scenes set inside the ant-farm are so much better than the ones set on Inter Minor. On the SS Bernice and inside the rest of the ant-farm we get action that moves the plot forward, dialogue that sounds like something that could actually occur between living humans, sets that look right and monsters that don't look too badly wrong. On Inter Minor we get polystyrene sets, make-up and costumes that are conceptually interesting but don't quite seem to work, wooden acting and characters who mostly stand around spouting exposition at each other. The fact that this is rather interesting exposition - with class struggle and political infighting going on - helps somewhat but doesn't save the day. It's only when the Doctor escapes from the ant-farm at the end of episode three that things pick up, and in episode four Vorg and Shirna actually acquire personalities and help bring the story to a happy end.
My verdict:
It's pretty good. It could have been better.
Related links:
Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
Outpost Gallifrey: DVD review
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Today: The three doctors, yet another Doctor Who review.
This is a four-part series, first broadcast between 30th December 1972 - 20th January 1973. It marked the 10th anniversary of Doctor Who, and both the first and the second Doctor made an appearance in it (hence the title).
A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the existence of the universe is threatened by a multi-coloured visual effect that steals stuff and kidnaps people, a band of mobility-impaired pyromaniac creatures that look like over-decorated Christmas trees and a renegade Time Lord called Omega who's trapped in a black hole. The other Time Lords decide that reuniting the Doctor with his two former selves is the only thing that will stop Omega from destroying the universe, though the reasoning behind this is never explained to anyone's satisfaction.
Yes, it is as silly as it sounds, but one thing that frustrates me is that even with all that silliness going on it could have been so much better.
It could have given us interaction between the three Doctors that was not only entertaining, but also gave more depth to the character of the Doctor. In the renegade Time Lord Omega, it could have given us a great villain. Omega is a Prometeus-like figure who invented time travel and was subsequently betrayed by the other Time Lords, and eventually became a god in his self-created world. He could have been great, or at the very least interesting. The betrayal of Omega might also have caused the Doctor to re-examine his relationship with the other Time Lords, again adding more depth to him as a character.
Unfortunately, we don't inhabit the timeline where that particular version of the series got made.
Instead, we get endless bickering between the second and the third Doctor, who seem to be competing for the same niche within the story. Omega, in spite of his nifty mask, never fulfils his potential, mostly because during his confrontations with the third Doctor both actors appear to be phoning it in.
There were some things that I actually liked. I liked the look and feel of Omega's world. Yes, I know that the exterior was Another Damned Quarry and the interior sets were prime examples of Christmas Decorating Gone Overboard, but it was a rather nice quarry and I happen to like tinsel. The fight between the third Doctor and Omega's dark side, though making very little sense plot-wise, is nicely done. On the DVD the boys and girls at the BBC have gone completely over the top with the production subtitles, providing, among various other goodies, an earlier version of the story that never made it to the screen though one can't help wishing it had. And, last but not least, the series gave William Hartnell, the first Doctor who was already very ill at the time and died not long afterwards, a chance to revisit the part one last time which apparently meant a great deal to him.
My verdict, nevertheless:
It's a mess, only of interest to hard-core fans.
Related links:
Outpost Gallifrey: episode review
Outpost Gallifrey: DVD review
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