07/01

07/01/23 Doctor Who: The hand of fear
07/01/05 Doctor Who: The space pirates
07/01/01 Doctor Who: The wheel in space

07/01/23

Once again, taking a break from my usual subject matter to review the 'classic' Doctor Who serials that I have on DVD. Today: The hand of fear.

Doctor Who: The hand of fear

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast between 2nd - 23rd October 1976. A brief and not really spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Tardis lands in a quarry, where Sarah Jane loses consciousness and finds a fossilised hand.

'The hand of fear' is bad, self-referential, pretty good, less good and moving downhill, and rather sweet. In that order. (And beware, there are some spoilers ahead.)

Bad. The opening scene is among the worst Doctor Who that I've ever seen, with bad sets, ugly costumes and characters shouting gibberish at each other.

Self-referential. Things start to get better when the Tardis lands and our heroes step out. "Where are we?" "We're in a quarry." That bit of dialogue made me laugh out loud since - and if you're reading this you probably know this - many Doctor Who serials were filmed in quarries but this is the first that is actually set in one. It is a rather nice quarry too, and it is blown up in a rather spectacular explosion. You can't go wrong with rather spectacular explosions.

Pretty good. After the quarry the action moves to a hospital, and then to a nuclear reactor. We get some real tension here and the location work in the nuclear reactor is fantastic, even if it does make the serial seem to belong in Jon Pertwee's era rather than in Tom Baker's. One thing that didn't quite work for me here was the tone - at times the story seems to aim for pathos (professor Watson's phone call) or horror (Sarah Jane) but we also get the 'all goofiness all the time - nothing that happens in this story really matters' vibe of the later Tom Baker years.

Less good and moving downhill. Much of part four is set on the villain's home planet, and this part of the story is a bit disappointing. Part of this is caused by the polystyrene sets, which can only disappoint after the excellent location work in the preceding episodes. There's also the villain - who starts promising, but then transforms into a run-of-the-mill ranting Doctor Who monster complete with 'MWUHAHAHAHAAAA' evil villain laugh. The story is rather good but it does require quite a lot of exposition, and whenever I'm watching this my mind tends to wander.

Rather sweet. Even when Doctor Who was starting to become all goofy all the time, 'The hand of fear' manages to come up with a rather sweet farewell scene for Sarah Jane.

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

Not the best Tom Baker serial, but not bad either.

More Doctor Who reviews:
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The latest version of this review:
The hand of fear (1976)

07/01/05

'The space pirates' was the only incomplete Doctor Who serial I had left to review, and here it is. After this, it's on to complete serials, in colour. (And, in case you're wondering, we don't have a government yet. As far as I know the Christian-democrats, Labour and the small, Christian-fundamentalist Christen Unie, required to give the cabinet a parliament majority, are still negotiating.

Doctor Who: The space pirates

This was a six-part serial, first broadcast between 8th March 1969 - 12th April 1969. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in the wild-west of outer space, caught between pirates who capture space beacons so they can sell the precious material that they contain, and the lawmen who're trying to stop them.

What I've seen:

Part two. The other five episodes are lost.

This is a very early story by Robert Holmes, would go on to write great Doctor Who serials like 'Pyramids of Mars' and 'The caves of Androzani'. From what I've seen of it - part two, the other five episodes are lost - 'The space pirates' shares some of its strengths and weaknesses with another early Robert Holmes story, 'Carnival of monsters'. Like 'Carnival', 'Pirates' does an ambitious bit of world-building. Unfortunately, as in the parts of 'Carnival' that were set on Inter Minor, this is mostly conveyed through dialogue which means that, once again, much of the one remaining episode of 'Pirates' consists of characters spouting exposition at each other.

To start with the not-so-good bits:

not a lot happens in the one remaining episode
not only is there a lot of exposition, but also the story as a whole is 'told' rather than 'shown'

Going on to the good bits:

the 'wild west meets space opera' concept is cool
Milo Clancey, an old-timer exploring outer space in his antiquated spaceship, is a great character and we see quite a lot of him in part two
good incidental score
nice model work

My verdict:

Interesting.

Doctor Who fans may want to see this because it's an early work by one of the series' best writers. The one remaining episode isn't boring, exactly, but it's not that entertaining either.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The space pirates (1969)

07/01/01

First of all, a happy and healty 2007 to you all. 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 wheel in space - which leaves me with one more completely obscure, incomplete serial to review.

Doctor Who: The wheel in space

This was a six-part serial, first broadcast between 27th April - 1st June 1968. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and Jamie find themselves in the middle of another attempt by the Cybermen to first conquer a strategic space station - the Wheel of the title - an then the earth.

What I've seen:

Parts three and six. The other four episodes are lost.

Let's start with the not-so-good bits:

the two remaining episodes, particularly part three, don't really work stand-alone
the confusing script doesn't help. The Cybermen have been over-thinking things, which resulted in a plan that involves sneaking Cybermats onto the Wheel and having them destroy all supplies of some compound, causing a meteorite storm by making a star in a nearby star system go supernova, and, finally, invading the Wheel - and it's anyone's guess why they just didn't start with that last bit in the first place. The regulars get in their bit of bad planning as well. In part three, in an effort to keep the space station's personnel from destroying a rocket that has the Tardis on board, Jamie sprays liquid plastic onto one of the station's vital components - thus rendering the Wheel defenceless against the oncoming meteorite storm

Mixed feelings about:

the model work and visual effects. The exterior shots of the Wheel, and the space walks between the Wheel and the rocket are outstanding; the meteorites, the beams that the Cybermen use to 'zap' the crew, and the Cybermen's space walk are not
the story's uneven treatment of the still too-cute-to-be-menacing Cybermats. At one point a crew member spots one, decides it's cute and harmless and hides it in a closet to get it out of harm's way. Later on, another crew member sees one and immediately goes mad with fear - rightly so, as the Cybermat and its Cybermates end up killing him

The good bits:

the sound effects - it's easy to underestimate how much good sound can add to a story
the confrontation between the Doctor and two Cybermen in part six, which is very well-written and well-executed

My verdict:

Interesting.

Worth seeing for the confrontation between the Doctor and the Cybermen in part six. For better - and better preserved - 'base under siege' stories from the Troughton era, try 'The moonbase' or 'The seeds of death'.

More Doctor Who reviews:
Doctor Who reviews

The latest version of this review:
The wheel in space (1968)

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