06/11

06/11/26 Dutch general elections
06/11/19 Doctor Who: The enemy of the world
06/11/14 Doctor Who: The abominable snowmen
06/11/13 Links
06/11/07 Doctor Who: The evil of the Daleks
06/11/06 Doctor Who: The faceless ones
06/11/01 Doctor Who: The moonbase

06/11/26

On November 22nd there were general elections in the Netherlands.

The Dutch general elections

Here's a picture. I'll post more on the subject later this week.

Visual representation of the election results

More Dutch politics and current events:
Dutch politics in 2006

06/11/19

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 enemy of the world, yet another incomplete and completely obscure serial.

Doctor Who: The enemy of the world

This was a six-part serial that was first broadcast between 23rd December 1967 - 27th January 1968. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria find themselves on earth sometime in an '1984'-like future, and encounter a would-be dictator who looks oddly familiar.

What I've seen:

Part three. The other five episodes are lost.

The good bits:

the story, socio-political science-fiction, is unusual for Doctor Who
Patrick Troughton plays both the Doctor and the main villain, and does so with obvious relish

The not so good bits:

part three doesn't work as a stand-alone episode. It's obvious that the Doctor-look-alike Salamander is the main villain, but for a clue about anything else you're going to need an episode guide or the audio version
in terms of tone, the one surviving episode is all over the place. There's a jarring contrast between some of the more light-hearted or even downright farcical scenes and the remainder, where the serial seems to aim for '1984'-style science-fiction

My verdict:

Interesting.

Seeing Troughton as the villain is cool, and it's an unusual story for Doctor Who. Nevertheless, if you're not a fan you might as well give this a miss.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The enemy of the world (1967 - 1968)

06/11/14

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 abominable snowmen, another incomplete serial.

Doctor Who: The abominable snowmen

This was a six-part serial, first broadcast between 30th September 1967 - 4th November 1967. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: accompanied by Jamie and Victoria, the Doctor visits a Tibetan monastery in order to return a sacred bell that had been given to him for safekeeping during an earlier visit. The Tardis crew don't receive the warm welcome that they expect. The abominable snowmen of the title - the yetis that have always lived peacefully in the mountains surrounding the monastery - have turned into killers, and evil lurks in the monastery's inner sanctum...

What I've seen:

Part two. The other five parts are lost.

The good news:

it's a good, unusual story
part two works surprisingly well as a stand-alone episode. It's not too difficult to get at least some idea of what's gone before: the Doctor has been locked up by the monks, who've grown distrustful of strangers, and Jamie and Victoria were separated from the Doctor and have just escaped being killed by a yeti. In part two we get a great deal of plot development. We see the Doctor return the sacred bell and learn about his earlier visits, we learn about the yetis' changed behaviour and discover a possible explanation, and we find out that the abbot is under the influence of something that lurks in the monastery's inner sanctum. Although with four more episodes to go there's no plot resolution, the episode does end with a nice cliff-hanger
the sets, costumes and location work are excellent
there are good performances by both regulars and guests

The somewhat less good news:

the yetis are too cute to be believable foes. Then again, so are grizzly bears
there's the usual 'Asian characters being played by British actors' thing that was common in the 1960s, though in this case there's no glaringly obvious yellow-face makeup

My verdict:

Nice!

Another singleton that's worth seeing.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The abominable snowmen (1967)

06/11/13

Life after Borat, Lynndie England and other unrelated linkage.

Unrelated linkage

Life after Borat.
AskMe: Life after unwanted celebrity status?
MeTa: Followup

The living past.
Boing Boing: Two historical documents from two World Wars
(via MeTa)

England speaks. (In case you haven't seen it yet.)
Marie Claire: Lynndie England - a soldier's tale
(via MeFi)

Perfect isn't always better.
SvN: The power of rough edges

Wrong season, but interesting anyway.
AskMe: Ol'Scratch and Easter

06/11/07

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

Doctor Who: The evil of the Daleks

This was a seven-part serial, first broadcast between 20th May - 1st July 1967. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: at the end of the previous serial, 'The faceless ones', the Tardis has been stolen. At the beginning of part two, the only episode still in existence, the Doctor and Jamie are still searching for the Tardis and are lured into a trap by antiques dealer Edward Waterfield, whose daughter Victoria is being held hostage by the Daleks. They're forced to take part in an experiment that the Daleks are performing in order to find the human element - the one thing that has always defeated the Daleks in the past.

What I've seen:

Part two. The other episodes are lost.

With only one of the original seven episodes still in existence, this is among the most incomplete of all incomplete serials. From this one episode it's hard to get an idea of the story as a whole, and yet it's oddly satisfying. It's well-directed, there are good performances from everyone, and even if you're not sure what exactly is going on you realise that you're watching something very good indeed.

My verdict:

Nice!

Watching the one remaining episode made me want to hear the audio version of the entire serial.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The evil of the Daleks (1967)

06/11/06

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 faceless ones, yet another incomplete serial from the 1960s.

Doctor Who: The faceless ones

This was a six-part serial, first broadcast between 8th April - 13th May 1967. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Jamie, Polly and Ben find themselves on a runway on Gatwick airport where they discover that some tour operators are not what they seem.

What I've seen:

Parts one and three. Parts two, four, five and six are missing.

The good bits:

it's an unusual and pretty good story
the use of location is effective, and the (then) contemporary airport setting makes for some interesting period detail
there are good performances by both regulars and guests
Samantha, a young girl looking for her missing brother, works well as a temporary companion (and she's played by Pauline Collins, who also played queen Victoria in an episode of the new series)

The not so good bits:

part one feels padded, with the Tardis crew spending most of their time skulking around the Chameleon Tours hangar, the airport's main building and some parked aeroplanes
the last three episodes, which should contain the resolution to the mysterious developments in parts one and three, are missing
Jamie appears to have won the 'which of the companions is going to fill the young action man slot' contest, and Ben seems superfluous to the story. Ben and Polly leave the series at the end of this serial, and Ben's departure is probably a good thing

My verdict:

Interesting.

The surviving episodes are quite entertaining, but what they offer is all plot build-up and no resolution. It might be more satisfying to see them in conjunction with a reconstruction or an audio version of the entire serial.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The faceless ones (1967)

06/11/01

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 moonbase, another of the incomplete serials on the 'Lost in time' DVD.

Doctor Who: The moonbase

This was a four-part serial, first broadcast between 11th February - 4th March 1967. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and companions Polly, Ben and Jamie find themselves near a weather station on the moon. When the station personnel contract a mysterious disease and start disappearing, the stage is set for the Doctor to meet some old enemies.

What I've seen:

Parts two and four, and soundtracks of parts one and three.

The good bits (warning, spoilers ahead):

it's an early example of a Doctor Who 'base under siege' story, and it's not bad at all
the soundtracks of parts one and three are surprisingly enjoyable. There's enough dialogue to give you at least a rough idea of what's going on, and when there's no dialogue there are a good incidental score and interesting sound effects to listen to. The music even gives you some clues about what's going on, since the Cybermen, the 'converted' crew members and the exterior shots of the moon base all have their own themes

The less good bit:

as in more serials from the same period, we see companions Ben and Jamie both trying to fill the 'young action man' slot in the story. 'The moonbase' solves this problem rather nicely by having Jamie incapacitated for much of the serial

The really not good bits:

the scenes in part two where the Doctor tries to figure out what's wrong with the sick station personnel are a bit lame. Though the Doctor eventually succeeds it takes quite a long time, and his methods don't seem to make much sense. (Stealing people's boots?!)
the people operating the graviton, the device used on the weather station to avert hurricanes by influencing earth's gravity, wear some of the most ridiculous headgear ever seen in Doctor Who

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

Soundtracks can be fun.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The moonbase (1967)

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