Okay, so I didn't quite make it through season 5 before The Impossible Astronaut hit our screens but last week wasn't a good week for Who fans and things distracted me. So only slightly later than planned... probably the best episode of the series.
Everything about this episode cries out "good old fashioned entertaining Who". There's a superb pre-credits teaser (yes, the Doctor's line into the theme is terribly cheesy and fourth wally but who cares, I love it) and I can't think we'd ever see the Doctor having to drop back in on a happily pregnant Amy with husband Rory after having dropped them back on earth.... I mean thank goodness it's all a dream :) We even get a "Space Museum" reference, how cool is that! Oh, okay, don't answer that one.
Just a shame that the superb cold opener is still followed by that theme music/title sequence.
Anyway, one of the greatest characters from season 5 (and, actually, quite a few of the recent seasons) is the Dream Lord. Twisted, bitchy and played to absolute perfection, the Dream Lord really was one of the highlights of the year's episodes. Part of me would like a re-match but I'm not sure how they'd go about doing it now that we know all about him. Well, I say "him", we know nothing really about the Doctor and this is one of the few times that any attempt to look inside the Doctor's mind has thrilled me but this story mostly hangs on us not knowing his true identity till the very end and now we know his way of working as well... oh well, as a one off he was great. Other things that are stunning about this episode include the ice covered console room (oh how I love the look of it, I wonder if when they do another console room we could have an ice themed one?), the CGI TARDIS freezing over and the fact the script doesn't feel like an old Tennant knock off, it actually starts to show the Smith Doctor as actually having his own traits. Completely inappropriate ones admittedly but the self harm line still raises a smile whenever I hear it (the town I live in isn't quite as dull as the dream scenario but oh boy does it come close). I love Rory's practical nature, I think the Doctor building a generator out of a whisk is inspired and death by dissolving into sand is also pretty grim.
As with pretty much everything in season 5 though, it's a story about perception and what's real/what's not. I am starting to get just a little tired of this and Amy is REALLY starting to irritate me now. When this was shown and Amy and Rory finally realised that they were made for each other I really and truly hoped that this would push Amy back to the background and let us concentrate more on the Doctor... we'll see how that panned out when I face the next two parter.
"Amy's Choice", absolutely superb. I know quite a few people didn't like it but this, to me, is how a Doctor Who love story should be done. Creepy, surreal and with possessed OAPs being hit with bits of wood. I just wish it could all have been like this.
Showing posts with label goodwho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goodwho. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Good Who - Exhibit E
The science is pure baloney.
It has a plot that's rather obviously hacked to pieces and stitched back together.
It's internally inconsistent.
But oh how I do love thee..... "Planet of Giants".
For some reason this story always fascinated me. From the first snatches I read about it in the pages of Doctor Who Monthly (as it was back then) through to the Target novelisation I always absolutely adored this one. Then came that day that every fan faces, the opportunity to see it on bootleg video. The picture wobbled, the sound distorted and there was hiss in every silent moment yet it still lived up to my expectations. I can't think of a single other Who that managed to do that. The VHS came out, almost crystal clear picture quality and superb sound and I still adored the story. 2|Entertain have announced they've got the DVD well underway and I'm sure that when I get it I will love it even more. It's just one of those stories that delights me every time I see it.
I can't quite put my finger on it. It could be the sets, superbly re-created miniatures that almost match the regular size ones. It could be the deadly seriousness that the regulars give the dialogue, doubly important as they're almost single handedly carrying the three episodes. It could be the fantastically English sub plot about insecticide and murder. It could be all of the above and more rolled into one glorious 75 minute package. Whatever it is, when I'm feeling down then this is one of the stories I turn to. By my own criteria I really shouldn't like it but I do. I love it, I adore it, I want to see modern Who try and do a story this simple but with this much charm because I don't think they could do it.
Right, the science is complete nonsense and inconsistent but they do try so hard. They try and make the sounds deep enough to be from giants BUT they do it by slowing the tapes down so that a single gunshot lasts for several seconds. With digital audio it would be so much easier to redo it and get it spot on but I don't care. There's the mystery of just exactly how they've been shrunk down (have they lost mass? if not then how does the plug chain support them? if they have then where has their missing mass gone?) and there's the few major cockups between the worlds (the matchbox is in the crazy paving in the small world but on the grass in the large one) but I really don't care. I sit there watching and I'm completely drawn in to the danger and the plotting. Yes, at the end my brain re-engages and I think "but that's not how it would be!"... then my spirit of fun kicks in and tells my brain to be quiet. I know that if the seed shrinks down in the final scenes then so should the mud on their faces and they should be left spotless. I know that Ian shouldn't need to worry about climbing 30 feet down a plug chain he should be able to just jump down into the sink with no ill effects and I know that all the evidence suggests that they should be doing serious damage to every surface they walk across but it just doesn't seem to matter. It's "Planet of Giants", it's fine, it's allowed.
Episode three does come across as rather hacked around, with good reason of course. I would kill for the DVD of this to magically find the footage to make it a 4 parter again. I'd love more of the telephone exchange sluthery. I want more plugs that jump from sink to work surface. I want more "I'm going to conveniently tell you how to dispose of my body" moments but I know I won't get them. I know I'll get even better picture quality and even better sound. I know it means that the giant cat will more obviously be on film, I know I'll see the grass painted on canvas blow around even more. I know I'll see the joins in the set with crystal clarity but it really won't matter. I'll still be in awe of the giant fly that menaces Barbara. I know I'll still love puzzling over the physics of the plug scene. I know I'll adore the magic self repairing scanner at the end.
"Planet of Giants" is one of those stories that really can't do any wrong in my mind. If anyone really wants I'll happily go into detail of how the science is bad and some of the many possible ways to correct it. I'll happily sit here wishing I had diet breaking quantities of popcorn to treat this like a Sunday morning romp in the style of Flash Gordon and watch as the TARDIS doors swing open in flight, something they've never done before (not since Edge of Destruction anyway). I will sit there wishing I had a giant model ant in my flat being menaced by a creepy looking giant fly. When this story comes out on DVD I will love it to pieces more than I have done my VHS. "Planet of Giants" I salute you, 75 minutes of pure cobblers that I'm so happy survived the purge. Long may you reign as the height of small scale Who.
It has a plot that's rather obviously hacked to pieces and stitched back together.
It's internally inconsistent.
But oh how I do love thee..... "Planet of Giants".
For some reason this story always fascinated me. From the first snatches I read about it in the pages of Doctor Who Monthly (as it was back then) through to the Target novelisation I always absolutely adored this one. Then came that day that every fan faces, the opportunity to see it on bootleg video. The picture wobbled, the sound distorted and there was hiss in every silent moment yet it still lived up to my expectations. I can't think of a single other Who that managed to do that. The VHS came out, almost crystal clear picture quality and superb sound and I still adored the story. 2|Entertain have announced they've got the DVD well underway and I'm sure that when I get it I will love it even more. It's just one of those stories that delights me every time I see it.
I can't quite put my finger on it. It could be the sets, superbly re-created miniatures that almost match the regular size ones. It could be the deadly seriousness that the regulars give the dialogue, doubly important as they're almost single handedly carrying the three episodes. It could be the fantastically English sub plot about insecticide and murder. It could be all of the above and more rolled into one glorious 75 minute package. Whatever it is, when I'm feeling down then this is one of the stories I turn to. By my own criteria I really shouldn't like it but I do. I love it, I adore it, I want to see modern Who try and do a story this simple but with this much charm because I don't think they could do it.
Right, the science is complete nonsense and inconsistent but they do try so hard. They try and make the sounds deep enough to be from giants BUT they do it by slowing the tapes down so that a single gunshot lasts for several seconds. With digital audio it would be so much easier to redo it and get it spot on but I don't care. There's the mystery of just exactly how they've been shrunk down (have they lost mass? if not then how does the plug chain support them? if they have then where has their missing mass gone?) and there's the few major cockups between the worlds (the matchbox is in the crazy paving in the small world but on the grass in the large one) but I really don't care. I sit there watching and I'm completely drawn in to the danger and the plotting. Yes, at the end my brain re-engages and I think "but that's not how it would be!"... then my spirit of fun kicks in and tells my brain to be quiet. I know that if the seed shrinks down in the final scenes then so should the mud on their faces and they should be left spotless. I know that Ian shouldn't need to worry about climbing 30 feet down a plug chain he should be able to just jump down into the sink with no ill effects and I know that all the evidence suggests that they should be doing serious damage to every surface they walk across but it just doesn't seem to matter. It's "Planet of Giants", it's fine, it's allowed.
Episode three does come across as rather hacked around, with good reason of course. I would kill for the DVD of this to magically find the footage to make it a 4 parter again. I'd love more of the telephone exchange sluthery. I want more plugs that jump from sink to work surface. I want more "I'm going to conveniently tell you how to dispose of my body" moments but I know I won't get them. I know I'll get even better picture quality and even better sound. I know it means that the giant cat will more obviously be on film, I know I'll see the grass painted on canvas blow around even more. I know I'll see the joins in the set with crystal clarity but it really won't matter. I'll still be in awe of the giant fly that menaces Barbara. I know I'll still love puzzling over the physics of the plug scene. I know I'll adore the magic self repairing scanner at the end.
"Planet of Giants" is one of those stories that really can't do any wrong in my mind. If anyone really wants I'll happily go into detail of how the science is bad and some of the many possible ways to correct it. I'll happily sit here wishing I had diet breaking quantities of popcorn to treat this like a Sunday morning romp in the style of Flash Gordon and watch as the TARDIS doors swing open in flight, something they've never done before (not since Edge of Destruction anyway). I will sit there wishing I had a giant model ant in my flat being menaced by a creepy looking giant fly. When this story comes out on DVD I will love it to pieces more than I have done my VHS. "Planet of Giants" I salute you, 75 minutes of pure cobblers that I'm so happy survived the purge. Long may you reign as the height of small scale Who.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Good Who - Exhibit D
Can you tell I'm putting off watching Attack of the Cybermen? :)
Anyway, after a rough few days (short version, I've been ill, long version, I've been ILL) I thought I'd make a start on Revisitations 2 as an excuse to head back to another wonderfully daffy story from the stables of Who. You may, in time, notice a theme about the stories I like, there's an element of silliness to them and this one combines frothiness with potentially a very bleak ending (more of which in time). Yup, it's spring and in need of a colourful boost I started with "Carnival of Monsters".
In the extras, Terrance Dicks describes Robert Holmes as the best writer Doctor Who had. To be honest, I can't think of any way to dispute this (even if you include The Space Pirates) and Carnival really highlights everything that is good about "great" Who. There's the great plot based mystery set up in the opening episode (how does 1926 tie in with an alien world) along with unexpected dinosaur attacks (do you know, I don't even object to the special effects!), some absolutely toppingly spiffing 1920s acting (Ian Marter essentially using this as an audition piece for the role of Harry a season or two later) and a Doctor who is as baffled as we are, even with the extra clues he spots for himself. On the alien world you've got Vorg and Shirna (more faultless performances) along with the grey-but-scheming officials (slightly dodgy bald wigs but otherwise superb). Anyone watching episode one must have marvelled at the combination only for episode two to throw in marshland, a circuit board runaround and the most fearsome glove puppets the show would ever see. Yes, I do actually think the Drashigs look good. There, I've said it. Quite frankly there aren't many other things this story could throw into the mix though, with budget, I'm sure there would be things they'd find. Oh yes, we get a cyberman as well.
I'm not saying the story is faultless. The production subtitles do point out a few problems with scale in this story (namely how everything fits in the scope given the information we've got about various sizes) but, with this being such a charming story, my brain simply rationalises it as "Well everything's got a different compression depending on where it is in the scope". Drashigs get quite a bit of compression because they're thick, humans get virtually lossless compression and Vorg's hand just changes its size depending on which part of the system its in. Relative dimensions and all that waffle. Yes, the puppet work isn't seamless but it is damn fine given the era and the budget (by the end of episode two most other shows would have given up by now and gone "let's just go back to the earth based stories again, shall we?") and the masks on the functionaries are ummmmm a little cheap looking but who cares? This is Carnival of Monsters and you get what the name suggests. It's a side show full of diversion to keep you away from looking at the mechanics too much. Slightly dodgy shot of the drashig? Never mind, it's followed by slick dialogue and nifty plot twists so you forget you saw it. Until you get to the ending...
I'm in two minds about the ending and even on a day when my spirits are high I still have nagging doubts. You see this could be (and I do say could, not definitely is) the bleakest ending to any Doctor Who story. The SS Bernice went missing on April 4th 1926 according to the Doctor, an incident that made it as famous as the Marie Celeste. Only at the end of the story the ship's returned to the Earth as though it had never been away. So you've got two choices, an upbeat happy one or a heartbreaking one. Option one is the upbeat one. The ship really has been returned to the Earth and the Doctor has, essentially, completely changed time. Large numbers of people are alive that now shouldn't be and who knows what effect it will have on things (perhaps this is one of the reasons that the Who universe is so different to our own?). Option two... the ship got returned and the crew settle down for the night having finished their books and had one last gin. But the ship shouldn't be back on the earth and the web of time needs preserving. Somewhere between nightfall and Singapore something must happen to the ship to ensure that time isn't changed. Tidal wave? Lone dinosaur? Who knows but, if you believe that time can't be changed then "Carnival of Monsters" has to have the more tragic ending where even though the Doctor got the ship back to the earth, something else lay in wait for it.
Carnival of Monsters is an upbeat, highly colourful and extremely flamboyant example of Who at its showmanlike best. I've loved this story since I saw it on the Five Faces re-run and dread the day I don't enjoy watching it.
Anyway, after a rough few days (short version, I've been ill, long version, I've been ILL) I thought I'd make a start on Revisitations 2 as an excuse to head back to another wonderfully daffy story from the stables of Who. You may, in time, notice a theme about the stories I like, there's an element of silliness to them and this one combines frothiness with potentially a very bleak ending (more of which in time). Yup, it's spring and in need of a colourful boost I started with "Carnival of Monsters".
In the extras, Terrance Dicks describes Robert Holmes as the best writer Doctor Who had. To be honest, I can't think of any way to dispute this (even if you include The Space Pirates) and Carnival really highlights everything that is good about "great" Who. There's the great plot based mystery set up in the opening episode (how does 1926 tie in with an alien world) along with unexpected dinosaur attacks (do you know, I don't even object to the special effects!), some absolutely toppingly spiffing 1920s acting (Ian Marter essentially using this as an audition piece for the role of Harry a season or two later) and a Doctor who is as baffled as we are, even with the extra clues he spots for himself. On the alien world you've got Vorg and Shirna (more faultless performances) along with the grey-but-scheming officials (slightly dodgy bald wigs but otherwise superb). Anyone watching episode one must have marvelled at the combination only for episode two to throw in marshland, a circuit board runaround and the most fearsome glove puppets the show would ever see. Yes, I do actually think the Drashigs look good. There, I've said it. Quite frankly there aren't many other things this story could throw into the mix though, with budget, I'm sure there would be things they'd find. Oh yes, we get a cyberman as well.
I'm not saying the story is faultless. The production subtitles do point out a few problems with scale in this story (namely how everything fits in the scope given the information we've got about various sizes) but, with this being such a charming story, my brain simply rationalises it as "Well everything's got a different compression depending on where it is in the scope". Drashigs get quite a bit of compression because they're thick, humans get virtually lossless compression and Vorg's hand just changes its size depending on which part of the system its in. Relative dimensions and all that waffle. Yes, the puppet work isn't seamless but it is damn fine given the era and the budget (by the end of episode two most other shows would have given up by now and gone "let's just go back to the earth based stories again, shall we?") and the masks on the functionaries are ummmmm a little cheap looking but who cares? This is Carnival of Monsters and you get what the name suggests. It's a side show full of diversion to keep you away from looking at the mechanics too much. Slightly dodgy shot of the drashig? Never mind, it's followed by slick dialogue and nifty plot twists so you forget you saw it. Until you get to the ending...
I'm in two minds about the ending and even on a day when my spirits are high I still have nagging doubts. You see this could be (and I do say could, not definitely is) the bleakest ending to any Doctor Who story. The SS Bernice went missing on April 4th 1926 according to the Doctor, an incident that made it as famous as the Marie Celeste. Only at the end of the story the ship's returned to the Earth as though it had never been away. So you've got two choices, an upbeat happy one or a heartbreaking one. Option one is the upbeat one. The ship really has been returned to the Earth and the Doctor has, essentially, completely changed time. Large numbers of people are alive that now shouldn't be and who knows what effect it will have on things (perhaps this is one of the reasons that the Who universe is so different to our own?). Option two... the ship got returned and the crew settle down for the night having finished their books and had one last gin. But the ship shouldn't be back on the earth and the web of time needs preserving. Somewhere between nightfall and Singapore something must happen to the ship to ensure that time isn't changed. Tidal wave? Lone dinosaur? Who knows but, if you believe that time can't be changed then "Carnival of Monsters" has to have the more tragic ending where even though the Doctor got the ship back to the earth, something else lay in wait for it.
Carnival of Monsters is an upbeat, highly colourful and extremely flamboyant example of Who at its showmanlike best. I've loved this story since I saw it on the Five Faces re-run and dread the day I don't enjoy watching it.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Good Who - Exhibit C
It's a love story, it's a war story, it's got stunning music and awesome makeup. It looks the 80s equivalent of a million dollars and I can't begin to say how much I adore "The Leisure Hive". Yes, it's stupidly short. Out of the four episodes (three of which only just break the twenty minute barrier) there's about an episode's worth of recap (along with nearly two minutes of audacious panning shot across Brighton beach). The Doctor doesn't really get involved in any meaningful way till about 17 minutes in to episode one. Yes the foamasi are a little ridiculous but I don't care.
This is a true triumph of style over substance. I just wish I could have been a fan when this was first shown, to see the stunned look on other people's faces when the music slammed its way through a starfield. To see how others responded to the glorious computer effects (I don't really remember much Who after this ever looking so wonderful). To witness the rising madness of Pangol first hand. Every performance is glorious. Tom isn't too insane (his "Arrest the scarf then" is delivered brilliantly, a season or so previous and it would have been so over the top), Lalla oozes charisma and every guest artist seems to really believe in what they're doing. Did I mention the music? Not just the high energy opening theme but the drum heavy score that lifts this story from being just plain wonderful to being simply gorgeous. The science in the story is openly presented as being beyond anything we could possibly understand and therefore makes brilliant sense within the story itself. The randomiser from the previous season has a purpose. We get fat aliens in thin bodies with no fart jokes. K9 blows up at the slightest drop of sea water and guards are defeated by high mathematics.
I adore this story. I love every daft fleeting moment of it and, the sign of a truly wonderful Who in my opinion, I want to go back. I want to see how things turned out. I want a sequel. I already want to watch it again.
This is a true triumph of style over substance. I just wish I could have been a fan when this was first shown, to see the stunned look on other people's faces when the music slammed its way through a starfield. To see how others responded to the glorious computer effects (I don't really remember much Who after this ever looking so wonderful). To witness the rising madness of Pangol first hand. Every performance is glorious. Tom isn't too insane (his "Arrest the scarf then" is delivered brilliantly, a season or so previous and it would have been so over the top), Lalla oozes charisma and every guest artist seems to really believe in what they're doing. Did I mention the music? Not just the high energy opening theme but the drum heavy score that lifts this story from being just plain wonderful to being simply gorgeous. The science in the story is openly presented as being beyond anything we could possibly understand and therefore makes brilliant sense within the story itself. The randomiser from the previous season has a purpose. We get fat aliens in thin bodies with no fart jokes. K9 blows up at the slightest drop of sea water and guards are defeated by high mathematics.
I adore this story. I love every daft fleeting moment of it and, the sign of a truly wonderful Who in my opinion, I want to go back. I want to see how things turned out. I want a sequel. I already want to watch it again.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Attack on the Cybermen 06 - Revenge of the Cybermen
Okay, okay, the effects are terrible, the music "different", the science absolutely lousy but... do you know what... I really enjoy watching Revenge of the Cybermen. I will now wait a short while for you to recover from shock. Yes, that's right, I said it. I actually enjoy watching Revenge. Goddess only knows how I'm going to be able to put this one into words as it's just one of those "things" but I've just spent a very happy (and quite a fast moving) 100 minutes or so wishing that every story could use the words "glitter gun" or maybe even have one on screen.
It's also quite weird writing about this as, by my own "criteria", I should loathe this one. So let's get the negative out of the way first of all. You'll know most of these already as it's one story that everyone seems to spout off the problems (probably because it's so easy and they're not up to the challenge) but there might be a few new ones in here as well. There's Voga, asteroid with an atmosphere and gravity. And water. And plants. And hell, sod all about it seems to follow any physical laws (something that the story itself points out near the start). Then there's the unlikelihood of actually having a planet type thing mostly made of gold. Then there's the rocket that's a cheap model kit in some shots and carries the American flag in others. The planet at the end which looks like what it is, a knobbly brown stick being rotated very fast. The cybermen seem to have emotions or some kind of emotional response. They have projectile weapons on a space station. The technology looks old fashioned even by the standards of the early seventies. Oh, and the dead bodies in the corridor are shop dummies. That's at least eight major problems that should make me end up wanting to throw things at the screen, shout obscenities and grind my teeth so hard that they break. Yet none of these happened. I just wish I understood why as, if I did, I might be able to write stuff myself that could get away with things.
Let me try and put down a few ideas, some of them total fanwank and others with at least a hint of support in the story. Firstly, Voga. Near the start of episode three we get told that it was once a survival chamber. Now this doesn't sound like the sort of thing that would normally crop up on a regular planet. Given that no-one really knows where Voga came from, could it be that it's actually the result of some other catastrophe and it's a chunk of planet that got converted into a habitat in its own right? This might also explain the gravity and atmosphere, if you've got a survival chamber then you're going to want to make damn sure that it's worth surviving and it's clear that, in the not too distant future, even mankind has artificial gravity (just look at the difference between the inside and outside of The Moonbase, everyone inside acts as though they're on earth). Taking Moonbase as our guide, it must be quite simple to create localised gravity as it does seem to be very much a "step over a certain line and the gravity fails" type scenario. So could there be pockets of gravity created (and might that be why shafts were widened etc?). Next we have the mystery of the cybermen. By this stage in their history they've been pretty much totally defeated and they're skulking around the galaxy trying to survive. To survive they would need to adapt. Could the basic emotions in this story be an admittance that being emotional isn't a complete weakness after all and they're toying with new things? Or perhaps they're so beaten up that their emotional inhibitors have failed? Actually, in this story they come across as being pretty much pure machine creatures (rather than a converted human or two) so perhaps it's a programming thing to fake emotions and put their enemies off their guard?
One thing that this story has a lot to answer for is the whole cybermen/gold thing. However, in this story it's no different to (say) radiation in the Tenth Planet or gravity in The Moonbase. They're a different type of cyberman, they work in a totally different way (in The Moonbase they didn't need to breathe yet here gold clogs up their breathing apparatus. In overcoming other weaknesses (in The Invasion the UNIT troops shot them down "easily" but here they shrug off bullets) have they introduced new ones? To me, gold is just the gimmick of the week here. Nothing for Who to be ashamed of and vaguely sort of just about explainable.
What else went through my mind whilst watching? Well it moved along really quickly (I got through all four episodes in the time that the first two of The Invasion seemed to take) and the cyberplot mostly made sense. Find something that could be used as a weapon, use it as a weapon to destroy things that could be used against you. If you're low on numbers, get someone else to do the dirty work for you. Use the virus that you've used effectively before (the links with Moonbase were appreciated in this one as that aspect of their plan worked well, so why not re-use it in some form... plus it's a really neat effect again) and learn from your mistakes. Kill the unwanted humans rather than hypnotise them. It's a simple, basic and almost logical plan. And when something unforeseen forces them to change it, they simply come up with a new one. I loved the cliffhanger to episode two (and also weirdly appreciated the fact that the cybermen were talked about right from episode one, thus sparing us the "...of the daleks" cliffhanger where the shock cliffhanger is the appearance of the daleks) and even the new look cybermat doesn't offend me.
It's just one of those stories I guess. You can write out great long lists of why it shouldn't work. You can even fumble your way through trying to explain why it does (even though it doesn't). Yet at the end of it... I feel happier than when I started. How could Who be better than that?
It's also quite weird writing about this as, by my own "criteria", I should loathe this one. So let's get the negative out of the way first of all. You'll know most of these already as it's one story that everyone seems to spout off the problems (probably because it's so easy and they're not up to the challenge) but there might be a few new ones in here as well. There's Voga, asteroid with an atmosphere and gravity. And water. And plants. And hell, sod all about it seems to follow any physical laws (something that the story itself points out near the start). Then there's the unlikelihood of actually having a planet type thing mostly made of gold. Then there's the rocket that's a cheap model kit in some shots and carries the American flag in others. The planet at the end which looks like what it is, a knobbly brown stick being rotated very fast. The cybermen seem to have emotions or some kind of emotional response. They have projectile weapons on a space station. The technology looks old fashioned even by the standards of the early seventies. Oh, and the dead bodies in the corridor are shop dummies. That's at least eight major problems that should make me end up wanting to throw things at the screen, shout obscenities and grind my teeth so hard that they break. Yet none of these happened. I just wish I understood why as, if I did, I might be able to write stuff myself that could get away with things.
Let me try and put down a few ideas, some of them total fanwank and others with at least a hint of support in the story. Firstly, Voga. Near the start of episode three we get told that it was once a survival chamber. Now this doesn't sound like the sort of thing that would normally crop up on a regular planet. Given that no-one really knows where Voga came from, could it be that it's actually the result of some other catastrophe and it's a chunk of planet that got converted into a habitat in its own right? This might also explain the gravity and atmosphere, if you've got a survival chamber then you're going to want to make damn sure that it's worth surviving and it's clear that, in the not too distant future, even mankind has artificial gravity (just look at the difference between the inside and outside of The Moonbase, everyone inside acts as though they're on earth). Taking Moonbase as our guide, it must be quite simple to create localised gravity as it does seem to be very much a "step over a certain line and the gravity fails" type scenario. So could there be pockets of gravity created (and might that be why shafts were widened etc?). Next we have the mystery of the cybermen. By this stage in their history they've been pretty much totally defeated and they're skulking around the galaxy trying to survive. To survive they would need to adapt. Could the basic emotions in this story be an admittance that being emotional isn't a complete weakness after all and they're toying with new things? Or perhaps they're so beaten up that their emotional inhibitors have failed? Actually, in this story they come across as being pretty much pure machine creatures (rather than a converted human or two) so perhaps it's a programming thing to fake emotions and put their enemies off their guard?
One thing that this story has a lot to answer for is the whole cybermen/gold thing. However, in this story it's no different to (say) radiation in the Tenth Planet or gravity in The Moonbase. They're a different type of cyberman, they work in a totally different way (in The Moonbase they didn't need to breathe yet here gold clogs up their breathing apparatus. In overcoming other weaknesses (in The Invasion the UNIT troops shot them down "easily" but here they shrug off bullets) have they introduced new ones? To me, gold is just the gimmick of the week here. Nothing for Who to be ashamed of and vaguely sort of just about explainable.
What else went through my mind whilst watching? Well it moved along really quickly (I got through all four episodes in the time that the first two of The Invasion seemed to take) and the cyberplot mostly made sense. Find something that could be used as a weapon, use it as a weapon to destroy things that could be used against you. If you're low on numbers, get someone else to do the dirty work for you. Use the virus that you've used effectively before (the links with Moonbase were appreciated in this one as that aspect of their plan worked well, so why not re-use it in some form... plus it's a really neat effect again) and learn from your mistakes. Kill the unwanted humans rather than hypnotise them. It's a simple, basic and almost logical plan. And when something unforeseen forces them to change it, they simply come up with a new one. I loved the cliffhanger to episode two (and also weirdly appreciated the fact that the cybermen were talked about right from episode one, thus sparing us the "...of the daleks" cliffhanger where the shock cliffhanger is the appearance of the daleks) and even the new look cybermat doesn't offend me.
It's just one of those stories I guess. You can write out great long lists of why it shouldn't work. You can even fumble your way through trying to explain why it does (even though it doesn't). Yet at the end of it... I feel happier than when I started. How could Who be better than that?
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Good Who - Exhibits A and B
Sorry for the break.... for those who want to know why I've been a bit tied up for the last few weeks I'll simply say "Ofsted" and leave it at that. Anyway, I'm now back to having a life and can get blogging again. What better way to start (especially as I've been accused of being negative in the past) than by putting together a few comments about some good Who stories.
The science in Doctor Who can, despite what some people think about me, be complete tosh and I can still enjoy the story. Step forward Exhibit A, "The Three Doctors". It's a complete load of cobblers scientifically about anti-matter, black holes and faster than light travel. The plot is a little weird, Omega draining the energy from our universe into his, first laws of time, multi-coloured Time Lords and Jo Grant's knickers but do you know what? I LOVE watching it. It rolls along at a cracking pace with only one obvious scene of padding (Tyler's corridor runaround) and the gell guards are so hysterically bad that my mind fills in a zillion and one reasons why they look so awful (involving Omega having been on his own so long he's forgotten what a practical animal looks like). Omega rants like a loon but that's completely likely given how long he's been on his own. The Brigadier (Nick Courtney always 100% brilliant) flips and turns into silly Brig BUT look at what he experiences in the story... multiple Doctors, the TARDIS interior, a monster made from a feather boa, naturally his mind's going to go a little loopy. The relationship between Pertwee and Troughton is an absolute delight (Troughton playing the comic side of the 2nd Doctor rather than the serious side) and Jo blondes her way through the story with complete charm. It's nonsense, it's loony and it's brilliant.
Exhibit B is "Kinda", freshly released on DVD. There used to be an unwritten rule that no story could be perfect. There always had to be at least one element that made fans curl up and die from embarrassment. The rat in Talons, the fly in Green Death... the snake in Kinda. However, thanks to a mix of CGI and serious talent from all those involved in it, Kinda doesn't have a giant plastic snake in it anymore but one that whizzes around the screen, twisting reality as it struggles to pass mirrors and looks damn fine. Throw in pitch perfect performances from pretty much every member of the cast (yes, even Adric does reasonably well out of this one), a spine chilling set of cliffhangers (all three of them are utter corkers and episode three was one of only two times the show ever gave me nightmares) and high concept story telling. I'm not a huge fan of the new CGI in old Doctor Who but in this release it's been done so superbly and keeping in the spirit of the story that it's the only time that I've even entertained the idea that it should have been the main version.
We'll pick up with Exhibits C onwards in future posts with some classics that I like and a few more surprising ones en route...
The science in Doctor Who can, despite what some people think about me, be complete tosh and I can still enjoy the story. Step forward Exhibit A, "The Three Doctors". It's a complete load of cobblers scientifically about anti-matter, black holes and faster than light travel. The plot is a little weird, Omega draining the energy from our universe into his, first laws of time, multi-coloured Time Lords and Jo Grant's knickers but do you know what? I LOVE watching it. It rolls along at a cracking pace with only one obvious scene of padding (Tyler's corridor runaround) and the gell guards are so hysterically bad that my mind fills in a zillion and one reasons why they look so awful (involving Omega having been on his own so long he's forgotten what a practical animal looks like). Omega rants like a loon but that's completely likely given how long he's been on his own. The Brigadier (Nick Courtney always 100% brilliant) flips and turns into silly Brig BUT look at what he experiences in the story... multiple Doctors, the TARDIS interior, a monster made from a feather boa, naturally his mind's going to go a little loopy. The relationship between Pertwee and Troughton is an absolute delight (Troughton playing the comic side of the 2nd Doctor rather than the serious side) and Jo blondes her way through the story with complete charm. It's nonsense, it's loony and it's brilliant.
Exhibit B is "Kinda", freshly released on DVD. There used to be an unwritten rule that no story could be perfect. There always had to be at least one element that made fans curl up and die from embarrassment. The rat in Talons, the fly in Green Death... the snake in Kinda. However, thanks to a mix of CGI and serious talent from all those involved in it, Kinda doesn't have a giant plastic snake in it anymore but one that whizzes around the screen, twisting reality as it struggles to pass mirrors and looks damn fine. Throw in pitch perfect performances from pretty much every member of the cast (yes, even Adric does reasonably well out of this one), a spine chilling set of cliffhangers (all three of them are utter corkers and episode three was one of only two times the show ever gave me nightmares) and high concept story telling. I'm not a huge fan of the new CGI in old Doctor Who but in this release it's been done so superbly and keeping in the spirit of the story that it's the only time that I've even entertained the idea that it should have been the main version.
We'll pick up with Exhibits C onwards in future posts with some classics that I like and a few more surprising ones en route...
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