06/10

06/10/31 Doctor Who: The underwater menace
06/10/30 Doctor Who: The celestial toymaker
06/10/26 Doctor Who: The Daleks' master plan
06/10/23 Doctor Who: The crusade
06/10/22 Doctor Who: Marco Polo
06/10/19 Doctor Who: The edge of destruction
06/10/18 Doctor Who: The Daleks
06/10/15 Doctor Who: An unearthly child
06/10/11 Links
06/10/10 Doctor Who: The TV movie
06/10/08 Doctor Who: The curse of Fenric
06/10/02 Doctor Who: Ghost light
06/10/01 Links

06/10/31

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today another really obscure incomplete serial from the 'Lost in time' boxed set.

Doctor Who: The underwater menace

This was a four-part serial that was first broadcast between 14th January - 4th February 1967. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and his companions find themselves in Atlantis, where mad scientist Zaroff has promised the locals that he will raise their city to the surface. What the Atlanteans don't know is that Zaroff is deceiving them: in fact, he wants to go down in history as the maddest of all mad scientists by destroying the world. There's a lot of other stuff going on - humans being surgically altered so that they can breathe under water and supply food for the Atlanteans, human prisoners who are being forced to work in the Atlanteans' mines, an impending food shortage because the plankton that is the Atlanteans' main source of nourishment goes bad after one or two days - but you may as well forget about all that, since none of it seems vital to the plot.

What I've seen:

Part three. The other three episodes are missing.

This is one serial that might actually benefit from there only being one episode left. Some good bits:

the Atlanteans' make-up, costumes, music and religious customs, which are all marvellously silly and over the top
Zaroff's performance, the actor playing the B-movie 'mad scientist' with considerable gusto
the scene where we see the surgically altered Fish People swimming and going about their business. It's pretty long and doesn't seem to have much relevance to the rest of the story, but it's nicely done

The not so good bits:

the story doesn't seem to make much sense - though in this case, this may be a feature rather than a bug
there are three companions in this story, and they're joined by a couple of miners who've been held prisoner by the Atlanteans. As a result there seem to be companions all over the place, mostly travelling in packs since there's not enough story to keep them all occupied on an individual basis

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

Twentyfive pretty entertaining minutes.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The underwater menace (1967)

06/10/30

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today another completely obscure, incomplete serial from the Hartnell era.

Doctor Who: The celestial toymaker

This was a four-part serial, first broadcast between 2nd April - 23rd April 1966. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Dodo and Steven find themselves in the realm of the Toymaker, an omnipotent being who plays games in order to relieve his boredom. To regain their freedom, the Tardis crew must play against the Toymaker and win - though winning may not be enough to save their lives.

What I've seen:

Part four. The other three episodes are missing.

The good bits:

it's a clever story

The not so good bits:

the one remaining episode of this serial is surprisingly dull. We spend most of the episode watching Dodo and Steven play a life-size but less-than-exciting board game with one of the Toymaker's minions, while the Doctor solves a logic puzzle and has a less-than-exciting conversation with the Toymaker
apart from the story idea there's no wit or whimsy here, and although we know that the Toymaker can destroy the Tardis crew or keep them prisoner forever, there's very little real sense of danger. (The latter remark may be a bit unfair since I've only seen part four. The experience of someone seeing this episode after having listened to the audio versions of the first three episodes may be different.)
Hartnell tries to make the most of it but everybody else's performance is mediocre, not helped by the script
though this isn't particular to this particular serial, Steven and Dodo aren't the best of companions. Dodo is a feather-brained female on a par with Jo Grant, while Steven comes across as one of those well-meaning incompetents in a P.G. Wodehouse novel

My verdict:

Interesting.

Seen in isolation, the one surviving episode of 'The celestial toymaker' is disappointing. Listening to the audio versions of the first three episodes first, might improve the experience.

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The celestial toymaker (1966)

06/10/26

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 Daleks' master plan, another incomplete serial on the 'Lost in time' DVDs.

Doctor Who: The Daleks' master plan

This was a twelve-part serial, first broadcast between 13th November 1965 - 29th February 1966. Since the three surviving episodes are more or less incomprehensible without some knowledge of the story, I'm going to discuss the plot in considerably more detail than usual. And yes, there are spoilers ahead.

At the start of part two the Doctor, companions Steven and Katarina and space security agent Bret Vyon, their temporary ally, are in the jungle on the planet Kembel. They can't get to the Tardis, since this is surrounded by Daleks. When the Daleks set the jungle on fire, they seek refuge in the planet's main city. There they learn that the Daleks have built an ultimate weapon, the time destructor, and that Mavic Chen, guardian of the solar system and leader of all humans, is in league with the Daleks. The Doctor manages to steal the taranium core of the time destructor, thus disrupting the Daleks' plans.
In the now missing parts three and four our heroes are chased by the Daleks and Mavic Chen's minions. Mavic Chen sends Sarah Kingdom, another space security agent and Bret Vyon's sister, after the fugitives. She kills her brother at the end of part four. Katarina is also killed in part four.
In part five the Doctor, Steven and Sarah Kingdom, who is still in hot pursuit, find themselves in the middle of a scientific experiment and are accidentally transported to a far-away planet, together with some white mice. They're menaced by invisible dinosaurs and eventually captured by the omnipresent Daleks, who also exterminate the mice. (Boo. Hiss.)
Between the end of part five and the beginning of part ten our heroes presumably escape, followed by more chasing. At some point the Meddling Monk, another Time Lord and the villain of an earlier serial, joins the fray.
In part ten the Tardis crew are in ancient Egypt, as are Mavic Chen, the Meddling Monk and, yes, more Daleks. Chen and the Daleks take Steven and Sarah hostage, and get the Doctor to hand over the taranium core in exchange for their release. The Doctor steals a component from the Meddling Monk's Tardis that he needs to mend his own, and tricks Chen and the Daleks into pursuing the Meddling Monk. The Doctor, Steven and Sarah set course for Kembel to thwart the Daleks' plans.
Eventually the Doctor vanquishes the Daleks by turning their own time destructor against them, but Sarah Kingdom is killed in the process.

What I've seen:

Parts two, five and ten. As far as we know now, the other episodes were lost.

The good news:

the surviving episodes, particularly part two, are quite enjoyable in themselves

The not so good news:

what we have here are some tantalising parts of a possibly very good story, nothing more

My verdict:

Interesting.

If you're a hard-core fan, you'll want to see this. If not, it may not be worth your time.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The Daleks' master plan (1965 - 1966)

06/10/23

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 crusade.

Doctor Who: The crusade

This was a four-part serial, first broadcast between 27th March - 17th April 1965. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Tardis crew find themselves in the Holy Land. Barbara is kidnapped by Saladin's Saracens while the Doctor, Ian and Vicki find themselves at the court of Richard Lionheart, who's trying to negotiate peace by marrying off his sister to Saladin's brother.

What I've seen:

Parts one and three of the serial. Parts two and four are missing, but the soundtracks still exist and are included on the 'Lost in time' boxed set.

The good bits:

it's a good story, and the pacing of the two surviving episodes is excellent
there are some fine performances, both from the regulars and the guest cast
the serial is well-directed
the story gives us remarkable nuance in its view on history, showing Saladin as a strong ruler - though also a ruthless one

The less good bits:

Vicki gets little to do in this story, apart from being cute and endearing
the Saracens are British actors in black-face, as was common practice at the time

A couple of notes on this particular version of the serial:

to someone who's trying to follow the story as a whole, the soundtracks of the second and fourth episode aren't very helpful. You hear music and dialogue, but you mostly don't have a clue who's addressing whom or what's going on on-screen. Even some basic on-screen notes taken from the script ("A Saracen jumps out from behind the bushes and overpowers Ian...") would be a great improvement
there are spoken introductions by William Russell (Ian Chesterton) for each episode, which give a brief summary of the story. Unfortunately these are a kind of Easter egg, and you can only view them by choosing the 'Play all' option on the DVD

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

Even though this serial is incomplete, there's much to enjoy here.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The crusade (1965)

06/10/22

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: Marco Polo, the first of a number of reconstructions and incomplete serials.

Doctor Who: Marco Polo

This was a seven-part serial, first broadcast between 22nd February - 4th April 1964. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and his companions find themselves travelling with Marco Polo to the court of Kubla Khan. What they don't know is that Marco intends to give the Tardis to the Khan as a gift, in exchange for permission to go home, to Venice. What they also don't know is that there's a traitor in their midst.

What I've seen:

A 30-minute reconstruction, using still images and sections of the soundtrack. This version is included on the 'The edge of destruction' DVD in the 'The beginning' box-set. The entire story has been lost, though I understand the soundtrack for all seven episodes still exists.

The good bits:

the reconstruction is very well done, convincingly using still images to give us an impression of what the serial must have looked like
the story, as presented here, is compelling, and what we see of the sets and costumes looks great

The not so good bits:

from the reviews that I've read of this serial (which appear to be based on the sound tracks that have been published by the BBC and / or an earlier reconstruction by Loose Cannon) the story is relatively low on action and high on character development and interaction. Inevitably, a great deal of that is lost in a 30-minute condensed version
for someone who isn't familiar with the story, it's occasionally unclear what, exactly, is going on. For instance, I found it confusing to see Tegana, the villain of the piece, poison Marco's water supplies in one scene and pouring them out into the sands of the Gobi desert in the next, as the two actions seem to cancel each other out

My verdict:

Interesting.

As a reconstruction, this is great. However, the target audience for this kind of reconstruction is bound to be limited to Doctor Who fans with an interest in the programme's history.

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Marco Polo (1964)

06/10/19

Still reviewing the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today's is a pretty unusual one: The edge of destruction.

Doctor Who: The edge of destruction

This is a two-part serial, first broadcast between 8th - 15th February 1964. A brief and not really spoiler-ish summary of the plot: after the Tardis breaks down the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara all start to behave strangely...

This serial was a last minute addition to the first season. It was inserted either to bring the total number of episodes to thirteen (the number of episodes that had been approved by BBC management) or to fill a gap that was caused by a delay in creating the sets and costumes for the subsequent serial 'Marco Polo'. In any case, it had to be made with no money, which meant that only the regulars could be in it and that they couldn't leave the Tardis.

The good bits:

it's a weird story. Susan runs with scissors, Ian makes half-hearted attempts to strangle both the Doctor and Barbara, and the Doctor threatens to throw Ian and Barbara off the Tardis - into outer space, if necessary
the serial shows us the Tardis as, to some extent, sentient and intelligent. This idea would be expanded upon in the TV Movie and in the new series
the serial is important to the relationships between the four regulars, who have started to trust each other at the end of part two. In part two there are some particularly good scenes between the Doctor and Barbara where the two sort out their differences

The less good bits:

the serial aims for psychological horror, and misses. What we get in stead, particularly in part one, is characters acting weirdly without provocation and hysterically overreacting to insignificant events. Part two, where the four leads start acting rationally again and working together to figure out what's going on, is a great deal more enjoyable
throughout the serial William Hartnell gives a good performance as the Doctor, but in part one we get a great deal of 'insanity' acting from the others that probably shouldn't have made it out of the rehearsal room. In part two everyone does better, especially Jacqueline Hill as Barbara

My verdict:

Interesting.

If you're a fan you should see this. If not, you might as well give it a miss.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The edge of destruction (1964)

06/10/18

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 Daleks.

Doctor Who: The Daleks

This is a seven-part serial, first broadcast between 21st December 1963 - 1st February 1964. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor pretends that the Tardis is broken when it isn't, in order to explore an unknown city, and the Tardis crew have their first encounter with the Daleks.

The good bits:

the story
nice set design, good visual effects
the Daleks are excellent villains. (The British public thought so too: a large number of people started watching Doctor Who while this serial was on, and apparently the Daleks received lots of fan mail)
the characters of the regulars, and the relationships between them, continue to develop here

(It's remarkable how effortlessly serials from this era seem to handle three companions, while the three-companion stories from the Davison era always seem overcrowded. One major reason might be that Ian and Barbara are adults while the regulars from the fifth Doctor's era, including the Doctor himself, come across as quarrelling teenagers.)

The less good bits:

part of the story is action adventure, a genre that has changed a great deal since the 1960s. Modern action adventure stories tend to be roller-coaster rides - while this isn't. The sedate pace has its charm, though, as has the serial's attention to detail and character development
the Thals, the Doctor's main allies in this story, are a bit boring. This seems partly due to the direction which tries to characterise them as noble savages by having them. Speak. In. Short. Sentences. Which. Are. Always. Uttered. In. A. Slow. And. Deliberate. Manner
the ending is a bit anti-climactic

'The Daleks' was written by Terry Nation, who would also write 'The Dalek invasion of earth' and 'Genesis of the Daleks'. The split-up and the missing object, two elements that we see in 'The Daleks', would recur in Nation's writing for those later serials. (Beware, there are spoilers below.)

The split-up. In 'The Daleks' we see the Doctor and Susan with one group of Thals journey to the Dalek city via one route, while Ian, Barbara and the four remaining Thals take another. Similar split-ups happen in 'Genesis of the Daleks', where Sarah-Jane gets separated from the Doctor and Harry, and in 'The Dalek invasion of earth'.
This can be a useful plot device. On the one hand, it can add material to the story by having different characters, or different groups of characters, have different adventures within the same time frame. On the other hand, it can make the story more interesting to the audience by having the different characters or groups discover different pieces of information that are important to the story.
In 'The Daleks', the split-up doesn't work well. The script makes little use of the plot device's potential, showing us only Ian, Barbara and their Thal companions making their way to the city. Also, by giving us the impression that the Doctor, Susan and company reached the city without incident, the script rather undermines the ordeal that Ian, Barbara et al went through to get there - with two of their companions getting killed en route - by making it seem entirely unnecessary.

The missing object. We get two of those: the serum against radiation sickness that one of the Thals leaves near the Tardis, and that Susan has to go and collect, and the fluid link that is taken from Ian by the Daleks, and that needs to be retrieved before the Tardis can leave Skaro. Nation would use this same plot device in 'Genesis of the Daleks' where we have the time ring, that the Doctor and his companions need to retrieve in order to be able to leave Skaro (sound familiar?) and the tape recording of the Doctor telling all about the Daleks' weak spots.
I'm not really fond of this plot device, since it tends to come across as, well, a plot device.
In 'Genesis', both objects seem to go missing with no other purpose than to provide padding for the seven episodes that Nation had to fill.
In 'The Daleks', Nation's use of the missing objects is more elegant. The retrieval of the serum shows us a different side of Susan by having her display some courage under fire. It also introduces the Thals, and it triggers the Daleks-nuking-Skaro plot-line by having the Daleks unsuccessfully trying to use the serum to cure themselves of radiation sickness. The missing fluid link helps to show the audience the Doctor's ruthlessness, as he's removed it from the Tardis as an excuse to explore the Dalek city rather than take Ian and Barbara home. The others' reactions when they find out the truth, and the Doctor's regrets once he sees the consequences of his actions, change the relationship between the four of them. And, of course, the need to retrieve the fluid link starts the debate between the Doctor, Ian and Barbara about whether or not to involve the Thals - again showing us different sides of the characters and further developing their relationships - and sets the whole defeating-the-Daleks plot-line in motion.

My verdict:

Brilliant!

A must-see serial.

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The latest version of this review:
The Daleks (1963 - 1964)

06/10/15

I'm still taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: An unearthly child, the very first Doctor Who serial.

Doctor Who: An unearthly child

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast between 23rd November - 14th December 1963. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: teachers Ian and Barbara follow a strangely precocious student home, and find that 'home' is a police box in a junk yard. But things only get really weird when they meet her grandfather...

Actually, this is a one-off episode followed by a three-part serial. In part one the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan, the two unwilling companions Ian and Barbara and the Tardis are introduced. In the remaining three episodes the four of them travel back to prehistoric times and have their first adventure.

Part one is terrific. The direction and the camera work give it a remarkably modern look and feel, the story is intriguing and unfolds at a steady pace, the acting is excellent and the characters and the relationships between them are nicely established.

The subject matter for parts two, three and four doesn't look promising - let's face it, it's about cavemen, and grunting people dressed in furs tend to look and sound daft. I understand that even the BBC itself had some reservations about the idea. Still, these episodes aren't bad at all.
On the one hand, we get more character development for the four regulars. The Doctor is fairly ruthless at this point. He's kidnapped Ian and Barbara at the end of part one to keep them from telling the rest of the world about him, and in these episodes he seems quite willing to bash in an injured cavemen's skull in order to save his granddaughter and himself. Ian and Barbara don't trust the Doctor but depend on him to get them home, Susan is caught in the middle, and it's interesting to watch how relationships between the four of them develop.
The cavemen story, with the Tardis crew getting caught up in the quest for fire and a power struggle between two would-be tribal leaders, is pretty good. The cavemen speak the same archaic English that the writers would use for the Aztecs in one of the later serials, and they're probably more eloquent than their historical counterparts, but the whole thing never gets unbelievable. The cavemen's performances are outstanding, with everyone keeping the whole thing from becoming silly by playing their parts with total and utter conviction.

My verdict:

Nice!

Part one is essential viewing for any Doctor Who fan. The other three episodes aren't bad, either.

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The latest version of this review:
An unearthly child (1963)

06/10/11

Catching up on the links thing, again.

Unrelated linkage

Understanding on-line interaction.
Stowe Boyd: Efficiency v belonging - the real heart of social tools
Aaron Swartz: Who writes Wikipedia?
Unsought input: Why YouTube works
(via Plastic bag)

... dedicated to the proposition that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare authorship page
(via MeFi)

Good discussion of grading and the (mostly US) school system in general.
MeFi: Making the grade without being graded

One man's view on poetry.
Text etc.
(via MeFi)

The truth is out there.
AskMe: What is this creepy site advertising?

06/10/10

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 TV movie. This is the 32nd Doctor Who review that I'm writing, and it concludes my first trek through 26 years of Doctor Who history. After this I'll be restarting with the very first Doctor Who serial, 'An unearthly child'.

Doctor Who: The TV movie

This is a TV movie that was made for both the US and the British market. It was first broadcast on BBC1 on 27th May 1996. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the seventh Doctor is charged with taking the remains of the Master to their final resting place. But, in stead, he ends up in 1999 San Francisco where, even after death, he has to fight for his remaining lives.

The good news:

Paul McGann gives an outstanding performance as the eighth Doctor, helped by excellent scriptwriting
there's a great deal there that seems aimed at pleasing the fans of the original series. They get Sylvester McCoy as the seventh Doctor, a regeneration scene, a fantastic-looking Tardis, the Master, and also some small stuff like the sonic screwdriver, jelly-babies and the fourth Doctor's scarf
good incidental music. I liked how they integrated the theme tune of the original series into the score
good direction, excellent production values and special effects

The not so good news:

the story doesn't make much sense
a lot in this movie feels derivative, like we've all seen it before and since

To expand on that last bit - and beware, there are spoilers ahead:

the redheaded, female, sceptical, medical doctor sidekick; the unearthly parasite that sneaks aboard the ambulance and takes up residence inside the paramedic: The X-files
the non-super heroine's growing sense of wonder as she's being introduced into the superhero's world; the big, festive media event that unfolds while, behind the scenes, the superhero and his none-super side-kicks work frantically to save the world: your average comic-book superhero story
the old hero who accidentally gets caught in gangland crossfire, just when he's about to retire (though this is given an interesting twist here); the Asian street-punk sidekick; the character watching a horror movie on TV while, unbeknownst to them, something paralleled by the events in the movie is happening right behind their back: take your pick, they've been done again and again

The TV movie set itself the seemingly impossible task of appealing to two entirely different audiences. On the one hand there were the existing Doctor Who fans, who were familiar with - or at least aware of - the 26 years of history of the series and were yearning for a continuation after the series went on hiatus in 1989. On the other hand there was the brand-new US audience that the BBC and Fox were trying to get interested in the series.

Does it succeed? Well, sort of.

I'm sure that the existing fan-base would have enjoyed the new Doctor, the regeneration scene, the jazzed-up Tardis and the other familiar things. At the same time, what's missing from the TV movie is much of what was unique about the original series. Serials like, to pick some from the much-maligned 1980s, 'Ghost light', 'The curse of Fenric' or 'Vengeance on Varos' were trying to do things that hadn't been done on TV before. Earlier serials like 'Pyramids of Mars', 'The robots of death' or 'The talons of Weng-Chiang' were taking the conventions of existing genres and twisting them into something new. To me, everything that makes Doctor Who what it is, that whole sense of play, of adventure and experimentation, is lacking from the TV movie.

Since the TV movie was broadcast on US TV at the same time as an episode of the sitcom 'Roseanne' that drew a great deal of interest, it never had a real chance on the US market. Would it have succeeded otherwise? Nobody knows, of course. For what it's worth - which may not be a lot - I don't believe that trying to fit into mainstream US entertainment, as the TV movie seems to be trying to do, is the best strategy, since the amount of US-produced mainstream entertainment is already overwhelming. There is a market in the US for off-beat television that experiments and takes risks, like 'Twin Peaks', 'Buffy the vampire slayer', 'Carnivale', 'Lost' or '24'. In my opinion that's the market that Doctor Who should be aiming for, and it has the best chance of succeeding if it stays true to itself.

My verdict:

Nice!

An entertaining anomaly.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The TV movie (1996)

06/10/08

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 curse of Fenric.

Doctor Who: The curse of Fenric

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast between 25th October - 15th November 1989. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and Ace travel back in time to the 1940s, where their discovery of some Viking runes leads to a final battle between the Doctor and one of his oldest enemies.

On the plus side:

it's an intriguing story
the serial is well-directed and looks fantastic, with great sets, costumes and location work and excellent special effects
the incidental score by Mark Ayres is outstanding as usual
there are good performances by all involved

On the minus side:

I thought the first three episodes were brilliant, but I found myself losing interest while watching part four. I believe the problems with the final episode have to do with the plot. This is difficult to discuss without spoilers, though

And so, on to the spoilers.

After re-watching the serial, I think the problem with part four is two-fold. One problem is that we have a layered and complicated plot (and the pudding may have been over-egged here) that's been set up in the first three episodes and requires a great deal of plot resolution in part four. We have, in no particular order: the Doctor's history with Fenric and the confrontation between the two of them; the final confrontation between the British and the Russians; commander Millington's demise and the resolution of the 'final solution' plot-line; the introduction of the Ancient One and his relationship with Fenric, and the confrontation between the two of them; the demise of the Haemavores; Ace's budding sexuality and the end of her romance with Sorin; the vicar suffering the consequences of losing his faith; Ace losing her faith in the Doctor and regaining it; and the resolution of the baby plot-line. That's a great deal of plot to deal with in a 25-minute programme, and the other problem is that several plot-lines - particularly the Ancient One's story and the relationship between Fenric and the Doctor - require a fair amount of exposition. This leaves us with a final episode that has oddly little emotional impact, being so crammed with information that nothing in the story has room to unfold and breathe.

The puzzling bits - all of which have to do with the massive plot resolution exercise in part four:

why does Ace seem genuinely sorry that she can't tell Judson / Fenric the solution to the Doctor's chess puzzle, and why does she rush back in once she's figured it out so she can blurt out the solution to the first person she encounters? (Maybe she's under the influence of her Viking heritage, though the serial never makes this clear, or perhaps she's just forgotten that Fenric is supposed to lose the game)
why does Fenric's victory in his game against the Doctor have so little impact on anything? Shouldn't it release him from whatever that's holding him captive, or end the world, or something?
how does the Doctor know that the Ancient One will kill Fenric once he's released from the hold that Ace's faith has over him?
why does it matter to Fenric that Ace, Sorin and several of the others are descendants of the Vikings who brought the flask ashore? If he managed to do - whatever it was that he did - to the Vikings while he was already trapped in his flask, why couldn't he do the same to any of the current-day characters? This is especially puzzling in Ace's case, since she found the flask and carried it around in her rucksack for some time. Then again, without the need to create a Viking lineage for Ace we would have missed out on the oh-so-clever baby plot-line
what did happen to the Vikings, anyway? (My guess is that they got caught up in the 'time storm' that Fenric used to bring back the Ancient Haemavore from the future and became the Ancient One's first victims, but this is pure speculation)
what compelled the Haemavores to remain lurking near the wreck of the Viking ship for all those centuries? We know they're able to leave the ship and come ashore, so why didn't they do so before?
what is the role of the Ultima machine? Decrypting the runes is apparently supposed to trigger something in it, and there seems to be a connection to Fenric's ability to possess people and to continue his game with the Doctor, but what exactly is going on is anyone's guess
and - hell, while I'm at it - why chess? Why is it always chess in these battles of wits that span the centuries?

My verdict:

Nice!

The first three episodes are brilliant, too bad about part four.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The curse of Fenric (1989)

06/10/02

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

Doctor Who: Ghost light

This is a three-part serial, first broadcast between 4th - 18th October 1989. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and Ace travel back in time to a haunted house where an alien learns about evolution and Ace meets some ghosts from her past.

It's impossible to discuss this story without spoilers, I'll start with the bits that I can discuss without spoilers.

The good bits:

it's an intriguing story that gets better with repeated viewing
Ace is good in this, and the Doctor is outstanding. There's a very strong supporting cast
it's a Victorian period piece, and the BBC is even doing a better job than usual
the visuals are fantastic. The direction and the lighting are terrific
there's a great deal of excellent dialogue
the incidental score is great

The potentially less good bits:

you may have to watch this serial more than once to get a grip on what's going on
you may not be rewarded for your efforts, since I'm not convinced that the plot entirely makes sense

When watching this story, there's one piece of advice I can give you:

keep your eyes on Ace. She's as much of an audience stand-in as you're going to get in this story
you'll need to pay attention, though. She figures things out for herself rather than have the Doctor spoon-feed her information

Right. On to the spoilers.

What's going on - as far as I understand it: there's a spaceship in the mansion's basement. Apparently it has got there by the power of thought, and it can enter and leave without tearing down the entire building. The spaceship has three passengers: Light, a surveyor who's cataloguing the earth's life-forms, and two of his agents. Light sends one of these out into the world to evolve into the planet's dominant life-form, while the other, called Control, is kept inside the spaceship for comparison purposes. In the serial we meet one of the agents as Josiah, the master of the house - as it turns out he's killed the house's owner or, as it's called in this story, 'sent him to Java', and he's brainwashed the real owner's wife and daughter. We first see the other agent, Control, as a madwoman who's being kept locked-up in the basement.

One problem that I have with this story, is that Light's experiment seems to make no sense. The puzzling bits:

we're told that Light can't deal with the concept of change. And yet, his experimental set-up with Control and whatever-the-other-one's-called is designed to monitor change, sending one agent out into the world to evolve, while Control remains isolated for comparison purposes. Huh?
Control is never really isolated. She is in the same house as the other agent, breathes the same air, is subjected to the same gravitational forces, is being fed the same food and even gets the local newspaper delivered to her door. (How she ever learned to read or developed an interest in current events is anyone's guess.) Why does Light assume that none of this would cause any change in her? In fact we do see her change, as being locked-up is driving her as mad as a hatter and she decides she wants out
why does Control evolve into a normal-looking human in only a few hours, and why does she already look fairly human right after her escape from the spaceship, while the other agent apparently spent years going through a sequence of non-humanoid evolutionary stages before turning into a passable human?
why do these non-humanoid evolutionary stages include insects and other creatures that aren't part of man's actual ancestry?
what's the point, anyway? What does Light expect to learn from the experiment?

And, while I'm at it, I might as well get another puzzling bit out of the way:

during the daytime, the house is staffed by servants who seem friendly and fairly sane, and who all take care to leave the house before nightfall. Just who are these people, what is their relationship to the entities that have taken over the house, and why do they keep coming back in the mornings in spite of their fears?

My other problem with the serial is that Light and Control work as ideas, but not as characters. I'm not sure whether it's the script, the acting, the costume and make-up or a combination of these that's to blame. Maybe it's just that these characters are impossible to do believably even if you do get everything right. Then again, there's a Neanderthal butler who actually works as an interesting character with several poignant moments, which goes pretty much against all odds.

My verdict:

Brilliant!

Another tough call. On the one hand, I'm not quite sure that this serial succeeds at what it's trying to do. On the other hand it has a great deal going for it, and it does show how different and off-the-beaten-track Doctor Who can be. Even though I didn't love this serial right from the start, it's been growing on me.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
Ghost light (1989)

06/10/01

Old-school animation, tasty research and other stuff that you can find on-line.

Unrelated linkage

Old-school animation.
Art on paper: Lotte Reiniger's paper animation
(via SvN)

Building trust on-line.
Trustmojo
(via Plastic bag)

Blogging research.
Tasty research

Another blog that looks interesting.
Edward Champion's return of the reluctant

And another one.
Chrononautic log?

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