06/09

06/09/24 Links
06/09/22 Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks
06/09/20 Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks
06/09/19 Doctor Who: The two Doctors
06/09/13 Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos
06/09/10 Doctor Who: The caves of Androzani
06/09/06 Doctor Who: The resurrection of the Daleks
06/09/05 Doctor Who: The five Doctors
06/09/04 Links
06/09/03 Doctor Who: Earthshock

06/09/24

Catching up on the link thing.

Unrelated linkage

White-hat hackers vs. RFID: the contest continues.
RFIDAnalysis.org: Analysis of the Texas Instruments DST RFID

Internet users vs. Big Brother: the contest continues.
EFF: How to keep your search history private

A search for the meaning of technology.
Kevin Kelly: The Technium

An atheist's tongue-in-cheek search for a god.
Atheist network forums: Rebecca's guide to choosing a god

A dog's search for an earworm.
Melodyhound

06/09/22

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: Remembrance of the Daleks. Yup, it's the Daleks again, this time in a story with the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy.

Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast between 5th and 26th October 1988. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the seventh Doctor and Ace travel back to London in 1963 where they find two Dalek factions competing for possession of the hand of Omega, an ancient weapon left there by the first Doctor. They join Group Captain Gilmore and his men in order to save the earth and the universe.

Some good things about this serial:

the pacing. The story keeps moving without a dull moment
there are lots of good action scenes and excellent explosions
good sets and nice location work
Ace is used well in this story
the little girl is nicely creepy
the cafe scene gives us a excellent performance from McCoy, showing us how good he could be in a quiet and pensive mode
the funeral at the end shows us that people's deaths matter, something that's easy to forget in an action story

Mixed feelings about:

the visual effects. The Dalek shuttle landing on the playground is terrific; the hand of Omega flying through space, Ace's enhanced baseball bat and the jelly-baby gun that the Doctor uses on the Daleks are awful
the anti-racism message which, though commendable, might have been more subtle

The not so good bits - and beware, some spoilers ahead:

since this is the first serial with the seventh Doctor that I'm reviewing and I might as well bring it up here: the 'look ma, I've got 3D-animation software now' title sequence
Group Captain Gilmore's gullibility. He seems willing to accept anyone - including the Doctor and Ace, and later Ratcliffe and his merry band of neo-Nazis - as part of the team without ever asking questions
the groupies. In this story the Doctor acquires three temporary companions: the Group Captain, professor Rachel Jensen and Alison. Rachel and Alison do little besides following either Gilmore or the Doctor around, and even at the rare occasions when they do allow the two of them out of their sight they do nothing that has any impact on the plot
the Dalek chasing the Doctor at the end of part one. It seems so impressed with its ability to climb a flight of stairs that it forgets to kill the Doctor once it's reached the top
the incidental score. Some of it is OK, but a lot is just plain wrong - like the up-beat elevator music that accompanies Ace being chased by three Daleks at the end of part two. The composer, while technically competent, seems tone-deaf to anything like mood or atmosphere
the design of the imperial Dalek, which gives us a nice saltshaker to go with the rank-and-file Dalek pepper pots
the black Dalek being talked to death by the Doctor. It's wobbling in place, like it needs to pee but is too polite to interrupt, and subsequently explodes - the message possibly being that even a Dalek can't ignore a call of nature forever

In this story, there are a number of references to the history of Doctor Who:

much of the action takes place at the same junk yard where two teachers found the Tardis in the very first Doctor Who episode 'An unearthly child'. Coal Hill school is were the first Doctor's granddaughter Susan, the unearthly child of the title, went to school
in 'Remembrance of the Daleks' Ace finds a book about the French revolution in one of the classrooms. In 'An unearthly child' one of the teachers lends Susan a book about the French revolution
in 'Remembrance of the Daleks' Ace is baffled by pre-decimal British money, as is Susan in 'An unearthly child'
Group Captain Gilmore and professor Jensen are clearly based on earlier companions Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Liz Shaw

The puzzling bits - with some spoilers:

why did the first Doctor leave the hand of Omega on earth?
if the ghetto-blaster being found by 1963 earthlings causes risks that even the Daleks aren't willing to take, why does the Doctor allow Ace to bring it in the first place?
why did Ratcliffe and his racist friends agree to help the Daleks? They want to protect their own against foreigners entering the country, but they're OK with aliens setting up shop around the corner?
why didn't the Doctor just tell the Hand of Omega to set course for Skaro and destroy the planet, rather than programming it, waiting for the Daleks to capture it and then tricking Davros into using it?

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

Not a great story, but pretty entertaining.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)

06/09/20

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: Revelation of the Daleks.

Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks

This is a two-part serial (in two parts of 45 minutes each) that was first broadcast between 23rd - 30th March 1985. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and Peri visit the Tranquil Repose funeral parlour on the planet Necros to pay their respects to professor Arthur Stengos, an old friend of the Doctor's. As hinted at by the serial's title, they find that on Necros not everything is what it seems...

The good bits:

it's weird and morbid. I like weird and morbid
the acting. Performances range from good to excellent, helped by excellent characterisation and great dialogue
the visuals. Except for floating Davros and some 1980s-state-of-the-art laser beams the visual effects are outstanding. The model work is great, as are the sets, the lighting and the direction
the fantastic incidental score
the pacing and sheer entertainment value

The not so good bits:

I found the subplot of "ugly woman unsuccessfully pursuing marginally less unattractive man" embarrassing rather than amusing. Then again, that may have been what the writer intended
the idea of killing someone by dropping their own tombstone on them, while excellent in theory, does not work well here
the gimmicky "rock and roll gun"
Orcini and the bomb. Spoiler ahead - he goes on about Davros being his last honourable kill, when it's obvious that Davros might escape the explosion while some innocent bystanders may not. This undermines the characterisation of Orcini as a master assassin with impeccable moral standards

The puzzling bits - and it's to the story's credit that these begin to bother you only with hindsight - beware, spoilers ahead:

how did the Doctor find out about Stengos' death? Or, rather, how did Davros make sure that the Doctor would find out, in order to lure him to Necros?
what, exactly, did Davros plan to do with the Doctor once he'd arrived on Necros - besides dropping a wobbly polystyrene statue on him?
how did Davros know what the sixth Doctor looked like? The dialogue suggests that their last encounter was in 'Resurrection of the Daleks', which would mean that Davros had met the fifth Doctor but had never met the sixth. Yet, the statue of the Doctor in the Garden of Fond Memories looks like the sixth Doctor, and one of Davros' white Daleks recognises him while the independent grey Daleks, who have met earlier incarnations of the Doctor, do not
where did the grey Daleks come from on such short notice?
how would the dead bodies of the "perpetually instated" at Tranquil Repose provide enough protein to feed even the planet's own populace, let alone an entire galaxy? The same goes for any protein from those "staff of life" weed plants with the decorative blue flowers

My verdict:

Brilliant!

A must-see serial. Don't let a few plot-holes stop you.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
Revelation of the Daleks (1985)

06/09/19

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: The two Doctors.

Doctor Who: The two Doctors

This is a three-part serial that was first broadcast between 16th February - 2nd March 1985. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: together with companions Peri and Jamie the sixth Doctor sets out to save the second Doctor, and the earth…

Of the multiple-Doctor serials, this is the best by far. Writer Robert Holmes uses the two Doctors, the two companions and various villains well, and adds a welcome dose of black humour.

The good bits:

the two Doctors. Both Patrick Troughton and Colin Baker are good here, and for once the interaction between the Doctors in a multiple-Doctor story actually works. This is partly because there is more chemistry between the two of them than there ever seemed to be between Pertwee and Throughton, and partly because the script doesn't repeat the mistake made in 'The three Doctors' of attempting to shoehorn both Doctors into the hero role
the interaction between the four leads, and their fairly equal contributions to the resolution of the plot
Shockeye. He's is an excellent villain, and the scene with him and the second Doctor sampling the local cuisine is hilarious
Oscar Botcherby, the unfortunate moth hunter and maitre d'. He's a great supporting character with some of the best dialogue and a poignant-but-yet-painfully-funny death scene

The somewhat less good bits:

the uneven quality of the three episodes. Most of the best bits are in part three
the story. There are some very good scenes, some great characters and some excellent dialogue, but the story as a whole is nothing to write home about
the visuals. Visually there's not a great deal to enjoy here, apart from the Spanish scenery and the absence of the sixth Doctor's clown coat

And there are the puzzling bits that plague every multiple-Doctor story in one form or another:

the dialogue indicates that, for the second Doctor and Jamie, the events in this story take place at some time before 'The seeds of death' and 'The mind robber'. We're supposed to ignore the fact that both actors look too old for this to be credible
if the events of the story did indeed take place in the second Doctor's past, it's unclear why the sixth Doctor wouldn't remember them. This is something else that we're supposed to ignore

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

An actually enjoyable multiple-Doctor story.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The two Doctors (1985)

06/09/13

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: Vengeance on Varos, the first serial that I'm reviewing with Colin Baker playing the Doctor.

Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos

This is a two-part serial (with two parts of 45 minutes each), first broadcast between 19 - 26 January 1985. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: looking for fuel for the Tardis, the Doctor and Peri find themselves on a former prison planet where torture and executions are the only entertainment, and where falling out of favour with the viewing public will get politicians killed.

The good bits:

the ideas behind the story
the pacing
the excellent cliff-hanger
the scenes with Arak and Etta responding to what they see on their television screen. They're done well, and are important in getting the story's points across
the scene where Quillam captures the Doctor. This is very entertaining, and gives an idea of the edgy kind of humour that Colin Baker could bring to the part

Mixed feelings about:

Sil, who is the villain of the piece (though most of the characters are pretty nasty). He looks and sounds great, but he's one-dimensional and fairly predictable
the Doctor. He has his moments, but they're interspersed with "ooooh, aren't I funny" bits that, well, aren't that funny. And, since this is the first serial with the sixth Doctor that I'm reviewing and I might as well get it out of the way, there's also That Bloody Costume
the acting. Martin Jarvis gives a great performance as the governor, Sil's fine, the Chief Officer and Colin Baker's Doctor have their moments, but everyone else is adequate at best - though they're not helped by the often clunky dialogue and weak characterisation

The not so good bits:

visually there's little to enjoy here. The sets look drab, and the way they're lit and shot is workmanlike but unimaginative
those silly, slow-moving carts. It's unclear why the guards use these, since any reasonably fit escapee could easily outrun them
the daft religious ceremony performed at the execution
those ridiculous-looking cannibals
the scenes inside the Tardis. Since the soap opera of the Davison era things haven't improved
the revelation of the hideous-face-behind-the-mask, which seems mostly there for old times' sake

The puzzling bits:

why would Sil's co-conspirators broadcast their top-secret communications to every screen in the control centre on Varos?
one character is apparently in prison for figuring out that Varos is a former prison planet and that the rulers are descendants of the former guards. Why is this such a closely-guarded secret, and how has this remained a secret throughout Varos' two-hundred-year history?
how does the Doctor know that touching certain plants means instant death, when the governor and several other locals apparently don't?

My verdict:

Nice!

Another tough call. The ideas behind it are interesting, but as entertainment it doesn't quite work. Then again, it is nice to see Doctor Who attempt something as new and different as this, even if it isn't entirely successful.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
Vengeance on Varos (1985)

06/09/10

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: The caves of Androzani, the last serial with Peter Davison playing the Doctor.

Doctor Who: The caves of Androzani

This a four-part serial, first broadcast on 8th - 16th March 1984. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: after landing on Androzani Minor the Doctor and Peri find themselves caught between warring factions who tend to shoot first and ask questions later. All of that becomes unimportant, however, when the Doctor finds out that he and Peri have caught a lethal disease, and that only he can save his young friend's life.

This is, basically, a story about what people want.

The Doctor wants Peri to live. That's it. Peter Davison and writer Robert Holmes show us a man who is haunted by the evil he's seen and the people he's lost, and who is desperate not to have this one more death on his conscience.
Sharaz Jek, one of the two villains of the piece, wants revenge on his archenemy Morgus, and sees the pile of the precious compound spectrox that he's sitting on only as a means to this end. Or rather, he wants his own suffering to end and believes that his revenge on Morgus will achieve that. When he first sees Peri and the Doctor, he wants them to remain with him as his prisoners in order to find relief from his pain and loneliness. As his journey progresses he is willing to let the Doctor go so that Peri can be saved, and in the end he only wants to die.
Everyone else just wants the spectrox, and the money and power that it gives them access to. Although Morgus realises that he has to get past Sharaz Jek to get to the spectrox, he doesn't care. His need is simply too great.

The good bits:

the Doctor. This is partly because of Robert Holmes' writing - his Doctor is edgier than Saward's, and the show benefits from that - and partly because of Davison's performance
the story
Sharaz Jek and Morgus. Sharaz Jek is a well-realised 'Phantom of the Opera' tragic hero, and Morgus is an almost Shakespearean villain
the acting. There isn't a bad performance in this serial, and there are several great ones
the direction
the incidental music
the visual effects (except for the magma creature)

The less good bits:

the magma creature. Suspension of disbelief is required to consider this awkward, armadillo-like creature with its stiff, chubby arms a serious threat. Luckily it's peripheral to the plot and we don't see a lot of it
the relentlessly tough and violent mercenaries. (They're bad-asses, we get it already…)
the cure for the disease that's killing Peri and the Doctor being bat's milk, as this conjures up some rather unfortunate mental images of the Doctor milking a bat
the revelation of the hideous face behind the mask. This is a common problem in Doctor Who: the face is always revealed rather than left to the imagination, and in spite of the make-up department's best efforts it's never quite hideous enough

The puzzling bits:

how did Sharaz Jek make those replicas of the Doctor and Peri in part one, and how and when did he make the switch?
why didn't Sharaz Jek send one of his androids down into the caves to get the bat's milk, as the lack of oxygen wouldn't bother it? And if an ordinary android wouldn't be up to the task, why didn't he whip up another replica of the Doctor and send that?

The silly bit:

Peri bouncing after falling into the spectrox nest

My verdict:

Brilliant!

A must-see serial.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The caves of Androzani (1984)

06/09/06

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: The resurrection of the Daleks.

Doctor Who: The resurrection of the Daleks

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast (as a two-parter) between 8th - 15th February 1984. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: in a London warehouse, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough encounter some new enemies and some old ones, and a lot of good people die.

The good bits:

Tegan gets two good scenes: the one where she's chased by the policemen, and her farewell scene at the end
good incidental score, especially Tegan's bitter-sweet theme
great visuals: good sets, mostly convincing model work, good lighting and a couple of rather nice explosions
good performances by Davison and a number of supporting characters, most notably Davros' assistant Kiston and the space station's doctor Styles

The not so good bits:

neither of the companions does anything useful in this story. Tegan mostly lies in bed for no apparent reason, and Turlough mostly skulks with no apparent purpose. Come to think of it, the Doctor is pretty useless as well
there is no soap opera scene, but there is some pretty bad dialogue
there is also some pretty daft-looking headgear
the loud noises and the high body-count can't hide the fact that the story makes little sense whatsoever

The puzzling bits - and I'm just picking a few at random here:

cannon-fodder anonymous. Just who are those policemen chasing in part one?
double trouble. Where did the replicas of Tegan and Turlough come from, and when and how did the Daleks make them?
free will. If Stien is a replica made by the Daleks, why is he able to to rebel against them? (There's an interesting theological debate in that, somewhere)

However, my biggest problem with this story is that Saward seems to be repeating himself here, and that this is basically Earthshock revisited. Let's have a closer look, shall we? (And beware, there are spoilers ahead.)

Earthshock: the Cybermen return.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the Daleks return.

Earthshock: nice, creepy opening scene with two androids killing people.
The resurrection of the Daleks: nice, creepy opening scene with three policemen killing people.

Earthshock: the androids are controlled by the Cybermen.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the policemen are controlled by the Daleks.

Earthshock: in part one the Doctor finds a bomb.
The resurrection of the Daleks: in part one the Doctor encounters objects that were initially thought to be bombs.

Earthshock: two of the people who were attacked by the androids join the Doctor and get to travel in the Tardis.
The resurrection of the Daleks: one person who was attacked by the policemen (Stien) joins the Doctor and gets to travel in the Tardis.

Earthshock: the Cybermen take over a spaceship as a small number of crew members attempt to defend it.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the Daleks take over a space station as a small number of (remaining) crew members attempt to defend it.

Earthshock: at a crucial moment, one crew member announces he's working for the Cybermen and betrays the rest of the crew.
The resurrection of the Daleks: at a crucial moment, Stien announces he's a Dalek agent and betrays the Doctor.

Earthshock: there's a confrontation between the Doctor and the Cyber Leader.
The resurrection of the Daleks: there's a confrontation between the Doctor and Davros.

Earthshock: the Doctor aims a gun at the Cyber Leader and kills him.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the Doctor aims a gun at Davros but fails to kill him.

Earthshock: Adric's attempt to break through the 'locks' that keep the spaceship on course is interrupted by a Cyberman.
The resurrection of the Daleks: Styles' attempt to break through the safeguards that keep her from destroying the space station is interrupted by the Dalek troops.

Earthshock: in the end the spaceship is destroyed, and Adric is killed while trying to save the earth.
The resurrection of the Daleks: in the end the space station is destroyed, and Stien is killed while trying to save the universe.

Earthshock: Adric dies.
The resurrection of the Daleks: Tegan leaves (and about everybody else dies).

My verdict - and this is another tough call:

Quite good, actually.

A good-looking and reasonably entertaining mess.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The resurrection of the Daleks (1984)

06/09/05

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: The five Doctors.

Doctor Who: The five Doctors

What I have on DVD is the 102-minute special edition. The original version, made for the series' 20-years anniversary, was first broadcast on 23rd November 1983 in the US, and on 25th November in the UK. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot…

…um…

…oh well, never mind. It's got five Doctors in it (though the fourth got stuck in traffic), five companions and cameos by several others, plus K9. Among the bad guys - of whom only the Master has a real reason to be there - there's the Master, a Dalek, a yeti and several Cybermen who are mostly cannon-fodder since, apparently, writer Terrance Dicks didn't like them much but script editor Eric Saward insisted on including them.

That's it, really. It's a Doctor Who catalogue, a Who Who's Who.

My verdict:

Interesting.

Something of a misnomer, since "interesting" is the one thing that this isn't. The one remarkable thing about it is that it isn't a total mess.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The five Doctors (1983)

06/09/04

Doctor Who wins Hugo, and (other) unrelated linkage.

Unrelated linkage

Excellent news.
Paul Cornell: Doctor who wins Hugo Award shock
Radio Times: Doctor Who beats Battlestar

Excellent discussion.
AskMe: Why the dearth of female philosophers?

A unique blog. May take some time to load on a dial-up connection (does anyone but me still use one of those?) but worth the wait.
My father's hand

Screenwriting blogged by one of the best in the business.
Jane Espenson
(via AskMe)

Good nuts-and-bolts discussion of website popularity metrics.
Evhead: Pageviews are obsolete
(via Plastic bag)

06/09/03

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: Earthshock.

Doctor Who: Earthshock

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast between 8th - 16th March 1982. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric take on the Cybermen and save the earth, though the dinosaurs don't make it. Not all's well that ends well, though.

The good bits:

nice, creepy first episode
excellent pacing, with never a dull moment
a fine performance by Peter Davison as the Doctor
I enjoyed seeing two characters that are usually played by males - the freighter's ruthless captain and the world-weary first officer - played by elderly women. In the captain's case this doesn't quite work, as she's simply cast too much against character, but the first officer does well
the writing for the companions is better here than in 'The visitation'. They're ciphers - Tegan plain-spoken and practical, Adric eager to learn and eager for approval, and Nyssa the scientist - but at least there's some differentiation between them

Mixed feelings about:

the use of the companions in this story. Adric and Tegan do things that are relevant to the plot, but Nyssa spends another serial mostly cooped up inside the Tardis

The not-so-good bit:

the obligatory soap-opera scene aboard the Tardis in part one

The puzzling bits - and it's to the story's credit that you only realise with hindsight how much of these there actually are. Beware, spoilers ahead:

location, location, location. Why are the androids and the bomb in that remote cave, and how did they get there? And what was the Tardis doing in that cave, again?
the captain, the first officer and the Tardis crew. Why does it look like the captain and the first officer are starting to trust the Doctor and Adric, even when they still suspect them of murder and they haven't yet found a common enemy in the Cybermen?
the freighter and the Cybermen. If the Cybermen are able to install a bomb and leave some androids in some remote cave, why do they need to crash a spaceship into earth in order to stop a conference? Why not just plant a bomb or let loose a couple of killer androids?
the dormant Cybermen. Why are there dormant Cybermen aboard the freighter? Wouldn't they, in their dormant state, be unnecessarily vulnerable in a potentially hostile environment?
unexpected time-travel. What causes the freighter to travel back in time? Is time-travel something that all freighters of the era can do? If not, how does it happen in this case?

The interesting bit:

the 'locks' that the Cybermen use to keep the freighter on course can be 'unlocked' by applying logic. In this, there are echoes of the use of symbolic logic in 'The tomb of the Cybermen'. I rather like this as I could imagine an alien, from a culture where locks are unknown, wondering why we use little three-dimensional puzzles to protect the things we value

My verdict:

Nice!

Another case of 'enjoy the ride, don't think about the story too much'.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
Earthshock (1982)

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