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"It feels different this time..." - The new Doctor Who Thread
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Horror of Fang Rock
"The localised condition of planetary atmospheric condensation caused a malfunction in the visual orientation circuits. Or to put it another way, we got lost in the fog."
In this serial, the Doctor and Leela find themselves near an English lighthouse in the early 20th Century. Entering, they find a body of one of the lighthouse keepers, who was electrocuted to death. The Doctor talks to the other two keepers, young Vince and older Reuben, who are understandably shocked and explain the electric power has been acting strangely. Soon, due to a problem with the lighthouse a ship crashes with three wealthy figures, one of whom is desperate to get to the city in the hopes of making a fortune. As the Doctor investigates the death, other figures are killed off one-by-one. Soon the Doctor realizes that Rueben was killed and is actually an alien shapeshifter. He calls the survivors to the top of the lighthouse to mount a defense. Soon he learns the killer is a Rutan, enemy of the Sontarans, who is plotting to launch a desperate counter assault on Earth that is sure to leave it destroyed regardless of who wins. The Doctor manages to outwit it and destroy the mother ship as it heads for Earth... but in the resulting carnage, the Doctor and Leela are the only survivors.
Horror of Fang Rock is a story I've seen before but I think coming back, despite the 11th hour apocalyptic stakes, it's a smaller, more intimate affair. Special effects light (and the effects that are there are charmingly chintzy), few big set pieces, instead, it feels like a small story. A bit of a slow burn. We don't even get to half the cast until they suddenly pop in with episode 2 and even though they get a lot of play, they don't matter too much to the main narrative aside from two small plot points. None of these things are complaints. It all fits into a rather moody story that feels less like the conventional monster horror of this series and something more like an M.R. James ghost story. There's an eeriness that pervades the story.
If anything, the scariest moment isn't the green slime monster, it's the sinister smile of the possessed Reuben. When you have good actors, that's the BEST kind of special effect. There's a decent enough story but that is tertiary compared to the solid acting (it's an actor's episode) and the general tone. I feel like the fact that the penultimate cliffhanger isn't a monster but a whisper from the Doctor shows this is a story that works in the little things. I feel like this is also a story that, in the latter half, works to the strengths of the character of Leela, having her be someone who is getting wiser but also has a long way to go as she taunts the death of an enemy. The Doctor gets a few laugh lines but here Baker is playing him less of a dynamic eccentric and a little more straight while still being undoubtedly the Doctor. He is taking the threat seriously and only has a few mean quips to his enemy by story's end.
Overall, this is a story that feels more akin to Sapphire and Steel, a BBC series in a very similar tone that is both science fiction and classic ghost story. In that series, the heroes sometimes did unheroic things to stop the threat or can only manage to kick the can down the road, merely delaying the threat for a century or two. Like Doctor Who it had that black box theatre look and didn't need a lot of effects to elicit a sense of dread. And that's the fun of this show. You can see a lot of wild big sci-fi stuff on the cheap or the show can lean into the lack of budget and instead focus on mood and character, with great results.
Best Cliffhanger:
The Doctor realizing the threat has been along them all along.
Next time:
"The localised condition of planetary atmospheric condensation caused a malfunction in the visual orientation circuits. Or to put it another way, we got lost in the fog."
In this serial, the Doctor and Leela find themselves near an English lighthouse in the early 20th Century. Entering, they find a body of one of the lighthouse keepers, who was electrocuted to death. The Doctor talks to the other two keepers, young Vince and older Reuben, who are understandably shocked and explain the electric power has been acting strangely. Soon, due to a problem with the lighthouse a ship crashes with three wealthy figures, one of whom is desperate to get to the city in the hopes of making a fortune. As the Doctor investigates the death, other figures are killed off one-by-one. Soon the Doctor realizes that Rueben was killed and is actually an alien shapeshifter. He calls the survivors to the top of the lighthouse to mount a defense. Soon he learns the killer is a Rutan, enemy of the Sontarans, who is plotting to launch a desperate counter assault on Earth that is sure to leave it destroyed regardless of who wins. The Doctor manages to outwit it and destroy the mother ship as it heads for Earth... but in the resulting carnage, the Doctor and Leela are the only survivors.
Horror of Fang Rock is a story I've seen before but I think coming back, despite the 11th hour apocalyptic stakes, it's a smaller, more intimate affair. Special effects light (and the effects that are there are charmingly chintzy), few big set pieces, instead, it feels like a small story. A bit of a slow burn. We don't even get to half the cast until they suddenly pop in with episode 2 and even though they get a lot of play, they don't matter too much to the main narrative aside from two small plot points. None of these things are complaints. It all fits into a rather moody story that feels less like the conventional monster horror of this series and something more like an M.R. James ghost story. There's an eeriness that pervades the story.
If anything, the scariest moment isn't the green slime monster, it's the sinister smile of the possessed Reuben. When you have good actors, that's the BEST kind of special effect. There's a decent enough story but that is tertiary compared to the solid acting (it's an actor's episode) and the general tone. I feel like the fact that the penultimate cliffhanger isn't a monster but a whisper from the Doctor shows this is a story that works in the little things. I feel like this is also a story that, in the latter half, works to the strengths of the character of Leela, having her be someone who is getting wiser but also has a long way to go as she taunts the death of an enemy. The Doctor gets a few laugh lines but here Baker is playing him less of a dynamic eccentric and a little more straight while still being undoubtedly the Doctor. He is taking the threat seriously and only has a few mean quips to his enemy by story's end.
Overall, this is a story that feels more akin to Sapphire and Steel, a BBC series in a very similar tone that is both science fiction and classic ghost story. In that series, the heroes sometimes did unheroic things to stop the threat or can only manage to kick the can down the road, merely delaying the threat for a century or two. Like Doctor Who it had that black box theatre look and didn't need a lot of effects to elicit a sense of dread. And that's the fun of this show. You can see a lot of wild big sci-fi stuff on the cheap or the show can lean into the lack of budget and instead focus on mood and character, with great results.
Best Cliffhanger:
The Doctor realizing the threat has been along them all along.
Next time:
Horror of Fang Rock is indeed great. Colin Douglas (Reuben in this) is fine here, but frankly he got acted off the screen by everyone around him in The Enemy of the World. He's actually the only weak point in that serial imo - he gets the tone and delivery wrong. He should be menacing and brutish, but he comes off as, well... kind of like a slightly grumpy but largely kind lighthouse keeper or something lmao.
In any case, strap the fuck in - as I'm sure you're well aware, there is some dodgy episodes coming up. Some good stuff too - it has issues, but I love The Sunmakers - but mostly rough stuff.
In any case, strap the fuck in - as I'm sure you're well aware, there is some dodgy episodes coming up. Some good stuff too - it has issues, but I love The Sunmakers - but mostly rough stuff.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Invisible Enemy
"Hahahaha! That was a good idea of mine, K-9, to blow it up!"
"Affirmative!"
"What do you mean, it was a good idea of yours? It was my idea!"
"What was?"
"To blow it up!"
"Then you should be feeling very happy."
In this serial, the Doctor and Leela find the TARDIS under attack by a mysterious entity that effects the Doctor. They land on Titan as an outpost is under attack by humans possessed by an alien virus. Worse, it turns out the Doctor is possessed by it's leader, the Nucleus. The Doctor manages to fight it off while Leela remains immune. The Doctor decides to slow the enemy from controlling him by putting himself in a self-induced coma . Leela takes the Doctor to a nearby hospital, unaware that an ally she took with her is also possessed. There she meets Prof. Marius and his dog-shaped supercomputer K9. Marius begins to investigate he and a temporarily roused Doctor deduce the virus targets highly intelligent people and that the more the Doctor thinks, the more likely he is to be taken over. As the virus' victims begin attacking the station and the Doctor is being more taken over, the Doctor has a plane, a cloning technique of the era which can produce doubles with full memory but with a short lifespan. Copies of the Doctor and Leela can enter the body to stop the Nucleus.
They enter the Doctor's body, travel through his mind and meet the Nucleus who reveals he is one step ahead. As the Doctor and Leela's copies die, the Nucleus takes their place, as they were planning to returned before they died, and the Nucleus is grown to human size. However, the Doctor was also one step ahead; Leela, immune to the virus, dying in the Doctor allowed the Doctor to absorb her immunity. And with that, the Doctor is able to create a cure and Marius begins to mass produce it. Meanwhile, the Nucleus begins to develop an army of human-sized viruses but the Doctor manages to kill them by blowing up their base. The Doctor is about to leave when Marius reveals he is leaving and needs someone to take care of K9, who enters the ship as the new companion despite some mild reluctance by the Doctor.
The Invisible Enemy is a very dumb serial but also rather watchable. Let me explain; it's dumb as fuck. But also, something is happening every episode. A lot of serials feel like they are stalling. To be fair, this does feel like it goes on an episode too long (I'll get into that), but every episode feels like it's doing one thing all it's own. The first is a classic siege story, then it switches location to a hospital and introduces a couple fun characters, then the next one is inside the Doctor, then it's a battle against big viruses. A lot of time, it feels like everyone is going back and forth to the same locations, even in some of the better ones so as dumb as it is, each "part" is it's own entity. And that every episode change means I am not bored, even if I'm mocking the silliness. And that counts for quite a bit, really.
But it does run out of steam at the end. The funny thing is I think it's almost as clever as it is stupid. I feel like the Nucleus revealing it got one up on the Doctor AND Leela's clones death being used to cure the Doctor are kind of clever as twist, in terms of structure. But in terms outside of that... why would this virus want to be bigger. It just means fewer resources and as a human-sized virus, he's much easier to catch and kill. Also, I don't think the immunity of Leela being absorbed (which is theorized as Leela being too instinctual but they also seem to kind of drop and it's mostly there to tease the character a bit when she's not even in the room) actually makes that much sense when you take a minute. And the last act is when it also feels least interesting.
When it is most interesting... is also pretty dumb. The biology of the Doctor being so easily traversable is very much three year olds logic of how you would move around inside someone if you were shrunk. But it also makes for a weird idea and I love the very silly effect of big hairy balloons as white blood cells. This is the show purely as Saturday morning cartoon. Quite a difference between the Gothic horror era. He might as well be fighting Cobra Commander, at this point (which I would pay to see). This also includes the Doctor's wacky scientist friend and, of course, new companion K9. I imagine there are some fans who were not happy about him. Same people who were not down with the Ewoks. But I grew up with both and liked them both. And I still like K9. But he is also a bellwether of a sillier show. Silly isn't necessarily a bad look for Doctor Who but after clever horror stuff, I imagine there are people with no patience for him.
Overall, this is an OK serial. It's not dull and it keeps moving but every time you stop to think about it, it kind of makes less sense. There's some ambition in being a wild story. It does side step some cool ideas, like not having enough of an evil/dangerous Doctor and let it be more of a Leela story. I do like in the future, all words are now spelled phonetically and the eye trauma station just has a big photo of an eye. Not even like a Saul Bass-looking abstraction, just a big eye photo. I can watch it like I can watch an episode of He-Man. And Baker is still giving a good performance and even a couple fun lines. But it also feels like something got lost in it's quest to be something parents wouldn't complain about as much...
Best cliffhanger:
The Doctor about to kill Leela
Next serial:
"Hahahaha! That was a good idea of mine, K-9, to blow it up!"
"Affirmative!"
"What do you mean, it was a good idea of yours? It was my idea!"
"What was?"
"To blow it up!"
"Then you should be feeling very happy."
In this serial, the Doctor and Leela find the TARDIS under attack by a mysterious entity that effects the Doctor. They land on Titan as an outpost is under attack by humans possessed by an alien virus. Worse, it turns out the Doctor is possessed by it's leader, the Nucleus. The Doctor manages to fight it off while Leela remains immune. The Doctor decides to slow the enemy from controlling him by putting himself in a self-induced coma . Leela takes the Doctor to a nearby hospital, unaware that an ally she took with her is also possessed. There she meets Prof. Marius and his dog-shaped supercomputer K9. Marius begins to investigate he and a temporarily roused Doctor deduce the virus targets highly intelligent people and that the more the Doctor thinks, the more likely he is to be taken over. As the virus' victims begin attacking the station and the Doctor is being more taken over, the Doctor has a plane, a cloning technique of the era which can produce doubles with full memory but with a short lifespan. Copies of the Doctor and Leela can enter the body to stop the Nucleus.
They enter the Doctor's body, travel through his mind and meet the Nucleus who reveals he is one step ahead. As the Doctor and Leela's copies die, the Nucleus takes their place, as they were planning to returned before they died, and the Nucleus is grown to human size. However, the Doctor was also one step ahead; Leela, immune to the virus, dying in the Doctor allowed the Doctor to absorb her immunity. And with that, the Doctor is able to create a cure and Marius begins to mass produce it. Meanwhile, the Nucleus begins to develop an army of human-sized viruses but the Doctor manages to kill them by blowing up their base. The Doctor is about to leave when Marius reveals he is leaving and needs someone to take care of K9, who enters the ship as the new companion despite some mild reluctance by the Doctor.
The Invisible Enemy is a very dumb serial but also rather watchable. Let me explain; it's dumb as fuck. But also, something is happening every episode. A lot of serials feel like they are stalling. To be fair, this does feel like it goes on an episode too long (I'll get into that), but every episode feels like it's doing one thing all it's own. The first is a classic siege story, then it switches location to a hospital and introduces a couple fun characters, then the next one is inside the Doctor, then it's a battle against big viruses. A lot of time, it feels like everyone is going back and forth to the same locations, even in some of the better ones so as dumb as it is, each "part" is it's own entity. And that every episode change means I am not bored, even if I'm mocking the silliness. And that counts for quite a bit, really.
But it does run out of steam at the end. The funny thing is I think it's almost as clever as it is stupid. I feel like the Nucleus revealing it got one up on the Doctor AND Leela's clones death being used to cure the Doctor are kind of clever as twist, in terms of structure. But in terms outside of that... why would this virus want to be bigger. It just means fewer resources and as a human-sized virus, he's much easier to catch and kill. Also, I don't think the immunity of Leela being absorbed (which is theorized as Leela being too instinctual but they also seem to kind of drop and it's mostly there to tease the character a bit when she's not even in the room) actually makes that much sense when you take a minute. And the last act is when it also feels least interesting.
When it is most interesting... is also pretty dumb. The biology of the Doctor being so easily traversable is very much three year olds logic of how you would move around inside someone if you were shrunk. But it also makes for a weird idea and I love the very silly effect of big hairy balloons as white blood cells. This is the show purely as Saturday morning cartoon. Quite a difference between the Gothic horror era. He might as well be fighting Cobra Commander, at this point (which I would pay to see). This also includes the Doctor's wacky scientist friend and, of course, new companion K9. I imagine there are some fans who were not happy about him. Same people who were not down with the Ewoks. But I grew up with both and liked them both. And I still like K9. But he is also a bellwether of a sillier show. Silly isn't necessarily a bad look for Doctor Who but after clever horror stuff, I imagine there are people with no patience for him.
Overall, this is an OK serial. It's not dull and it keeps moving but every time you stop to think about it, it kind of makes less sense. There's some ambition in being a wild story. It does side step some cool ideas, like not having enough of an evil/dangerous Doctor and let it be more of a Leela story. I do like in the future, all words are now spelled phonetically and the eye trauma station just has a big photo of an eye. Not even like a Saul Bass-looking abstraction, just a big eye photo. I can watch it like I can watch an episode of He-Man. And Baker is still giving a good performance and even a couple fun lines. But it also feels like something got lost in it's quest to be something parents wouldn't complain about as much...
Best cliffhanger:
The Doctor about to kill Leela
Next serial:
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Image of the Fendahl
"How do ye know so much?"
"I read a lot."
The Doctor and Leela land in Fetchborough, a small community where four scientists are studying what looks like a human skull that is somehow 12 million years old. A specialized scanner makes the skull glow, causing one member of the team Thea, to act strangely. Around the same time, a passerby is killed by strange creatures. The Doctor nearly is killed by a creature created by the skull and he and Leela save an older local woman, Martha Tyler, who practices witchcraft and has seen something that has caused her into a catatonic state. Clues lead the Doctor to believe the threat is a creature from the Doctor's mythology, the Fendahl, a horrifying gestalt entity made of 12 other creatures.
It is also revealed one of the scientists, Max Stael, is convinced the Fendahl shall make him a god, causing him and his followers to help the Fendahl come to power. It turns out the Fendahl astral projected to Earth, creating a time fissure that gave Martha ESP. It is also revealed that many Martha's superstitious tricks, particularly using rock salt, provides a way to destroy the creatures that make up the Fendahl. Thea is completely taken over as the Fendahl's human incarnation and begins killing the nearby humans (as the Fendahl drains all energy, effectively making it a life-vampire). The Doctor manages to destroy the lab and takes the Skull to throw it into a supernova rather than risking it escape in the explosion.
I was warned this was a dodgy season (not just Kazin but in seeing brief reviews referenced in the wikipedia pages of these arcs) but I'm having a great time so far. Horror of Fang Rock is an understated spooky tale. The Invisible Energy is dumb as can be but I find the sense of fun and the chemistry of the cast a bit fun. And Image of the Fendahl, is another surprisingly creepy episode that I thought the show was leaving behind. They were definitely aiming for that considering right after acquiring their kid-friendly sidekick, he is immediately broken so he doesn't need to provide a tension relief and break the eerie spell of the episode.
Is it perfect? Oh heavens know. If you care about plot, BOY does this become hard to follow in the latter half. I feel like it just keeps throwing shit and ideas at us to see what sticks. It's extremely Davies-ian in that regard. The monster's origin involves time loops and astral projection and altering human evolution and by episode four, it's just.... so much. I just couldn't follow any more. It's one thing to throw these crazy ideas out as asides, which would be a very Grant Morrison thing to do, but I feel like it's all supposed to be important and while I technically see the sequence of events, I'm not sure why they are so important.
On the other hand, the tone is perfect. It's a ghost story that turns into a Lovecraftian/Knealian cosmic horror. There's some memorable imagery like Thea in gold make up dancing around and the nasty looking monsters. It's a story that somehow never loses it's sense of dread despite how confounding the exposition gets as it goes on. The idea of a monster you can't look in the eyes is a classic monster thing but it somehow feels like one of those nightmares you have as a kid where the horror is slow but inescapable. And it gets shockingly dark, such as when the Doctor gives a gun a man to kill himself (along with a gentle apology for having to go through this). What it lacks in plotting it makes up for in atmosphere.
It also helps as confusing as it gets, the cast never feels like they are lost. Baker remains strong and gets some good lines (when he decides to break Martha out of her shock with tea and fruitcake, it really feels like the story has found it's feet again) and Daphne Heard is absolutely great as Granny Martha. If anything, while I think the whole cast is solid, I wish we got more of her and a little less of the scientists. I mean, the episode doesn't even acknowledge the tragedy of what happens to poor Thea. And it feels a little nasty to see her suffering as a captive and then that's kind of the end of her. Still, as the monster, she is really imposing. Overall, Fendahl starts strong and simultaneously gets better and worse at it goes on. It becomes to exposition heavy and is heavy on things to exposit that don't matter much beyond making the monster seem scary and weird. But it just feels creepy and somehow the jargon doesn't derail the real sense of tension by the story's end. Man, though... the show really has fallen into the habit of explaining cosmic threats and then simply blowing them up. That's three stories in a row!
Best cliffhanger: I kind of like the last one, where we see the giant monster. Simply but effective and not being able to move in its presence is nightmare stuff.
Next time:
"How do ye know so much?"
"I read a lot."
The Doctor and Leela land in Fetchborough, a small community where four scientists are studying what looks like a human skull that is somehow 12 million years old. A specialized scanner makes the skull glow, causing one member of the team Thea, to act strangely. Around the same time, a passerby is killed by strange creatures. The Doctor nearly is killed by a creature created by the skull and he and Leela save an older local woman, Martha Tyler, who practices witchcraft and has seen something that has caused her into a catatonic state. Clues lead the Doctor to believe the threat is a creature from the Doctor's mythology, the Fendahl, a horrifying gestalt entity made of 12 other creatures.
It is also revealed one of the scientists, Max Stael, is convinced the Fendahl shall make him a god, causing him and his followers to help the Fendahl come to power. It turns out the Fendahl astral projected to Earth, creating a time fissure that gave Martha ESP. It is also revealed that many Martha's superstitious tricks, particularly using rock salt, provides a way to destroy the creatures that make up the Fendahl. Thea is completely taken over as the Fendahl's human incarnation and begins killing the nearby humans (as the Fendahl drains all energy, effectively making it a life-vampire). The Doctor manages to destroy the lab and takes the Skull to throw it into a supernova rather than risking it escape in the explosion.
I was warned this was a dodgy season (not just Kazin but in seeing brief reviews referenced in the wikipedia pages of these arcs) but I'm having a great time so far. Horror of Fang Rock is an understated spooky tale. The Invisible Energy is dumb as can be but I find the sense of fun and the chemistry of the cast a bit fun. And Image of the Fendahl, is another surprisingly creepy episode that I thought the show was leaving behind. They were definitely aiming for that considering right after acquiring their kid-friendly sidekick, he is immediately broken so he doesn't need to provide a tension relief and break the eerie spell of the episode.
Is it perfect? Oh heavens know. If you care about plot, BOY does this become hard to follow in the latter half. I feel like it just keeps throwing shit and ideas at us to see what sticks. It's extremely Davies-ian in that regard. The monster's origin involves time loops and astral projection and altering human evolution and by episode four, it's just.... so much. I just couldn't follow any more. It's one thing to throw these crazy ideas out as asides, which would be a very Grant Morrison thing to do, but I feel like it's all supposed to be important and while I technically see the sequence of events, I'm not sure why they are so important.
On the other hand, the tone is perfect. It's a ghost story that turns into a Lovecraftian/Knealian cosmic horror. There's some memorable imagery like Thea in gold make up dancing around and the nasty looking monsters. It's a story that somehow never loses it's sense of dread despite how confounding the exposition gets as it goes on. The idea of a monster you can't look in the eyes is a classic monster thing but it somehow feels like one of those nightmares you have as a kid where the horror is slow but inescapable. And it gets shockingly dark, such as when the Doctor gives a gun a man to kill himself (along with a gentle apology for having to go through this). What it lacks in plotting it makes up for in atmosphere.
It also helps as confusing as it gets, the cast never feels like they are lost. Baker remains strong and gets some good lines (when he decides to break Martha out of her shock with tea and fruitcake, it really feels like the story has found it's feet again) and Daphne Heard is absolutely great as Granny Martha. If anything, while I think the whole cast is solid, I wish we got more of her and a little less of the scientists. I mean, the episode doesn't even acknowledge the tragedy of what happens to poor Thea. And it feels a little nasty to see her suffering as a captive and then that's kind of the end of her. Still, as the monster, she is really imposing. Overall, Fendahl starts strong and simultaneously gets better and worse at it goes on. It becomes to exposition heavy and is heavy on things to exposit that don't matter much beyond making the monster seem scary and weird. But it just feels creepy and somehow the jargon doesn't derail the real sense of tension by the story's end. Man, though... the show really has fallen into the habit of explaining cosmic threats and then simply blowing them up. That's three stories in a row!
Best cliffhanger: I kind of like the last one, where we see the giant monster. Simply but effective and not being able to move in its presence is nightmare stuff.
Next time:
Well, if you found a way to enjoy Image of the Fendahl, you might be alright over the next several serials lmao. I can't stand this era of the show - Tom Baker can't save it, and it's the last "new" Doctor Who I ever watched because I just found it a slog to get through, even over the Colin Baker and much of the Jon Pertwee eras. I really enjoy Tom Baker's last season and I'm a 80s Doctor Who defender (generally, anyway), but the Graham Williams era of Doctor Who just doesn't work for me nearly ever (I basically only like Horror of Fang Rock, The Sunmakers, The Ribos Operation, and City of Death).
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
BTW, there was a copy of the Mahogany Murderers at the library so I listened to it during a work out this weekend. Fun when the characters are bouncing off each other. The actual story peters out after a solid set up and it less interesting when it turns out to be setting up a series antagonist.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Sun Makers
"Oh, the taxes! My dear old thing, all you need is a wily accountant! Would you care for a Jelly baby?"
In this serial, the Doctor lands on Pluto in the distant future where humanity lives in a colony controlled by The Company, who forces the people to endure unfair taxation and crippling work hours. The Doctor and Leela decide to help one individual, Cordo, get to the underground, where the outcasts live to get away from the taxes. However, the Underground are opportunistic and cruel and holding Leela hostage coerce him into a mission. The mission turns out to be a sting the Underground has fallen for but the Doctor has gained the interest of the Gatherer, who is convinced the Doctor is a criminal. He lets the Doctor go in hopes of finding his contacts but Leela escapes the Underground and their leader with feat of clay and no interest in helping others, Mandrel.
Leela is captured but not before freeing a prisoner named Bisham, whom the Doctor previously met and who informed him of the chemical compound called PCM released into the atmosphere to control everyone. Bisham and Cordo return to the Underground to inform the Doctor. The Doctor plans to start of revolution by attacking the machine controls the PCM. He rescues Leela from a public revolution and decide to visit the palace of the Collector, who controls the world, to send false messages of successful revolution to inspire the real one. The Doctor learns from him that he is of a predatory race of toxic fungi and causes him to admit defeat when the Doctor messes with his computer, convincing him of economic apocalypse. The humans take over once again and begin planning their trek back to Earth.
The Sun Makers is not subtle satire by any stretch but as a story, it's so cartoonish in it's approach, it largely works. It has some missteps. For a story so intentionally goofy, I wish the set design was more inspired. I suppose you could make an argument for the endless corridors of bureaucracy, it's not nearly cartoonish enough, or interesting to look at. It requires the scenery chewing actors to sell most of it, which they thankfully do. I also think not all of the characters work for me, particularly Mandrel. I wish his change of heart has felt more palpable, for him to cast off his selfishness in a more interesting way. I'm kind of glad he doesn't die mostly because it's the predictable narrative move for a character who is so selfish to demonstrate self-sacrifice but they kind of replace that move with... nothing. He's just another revolutionary. I feel like his arc never lands in an interesting spot.
The villains are super broad but I don't mind. I don't think Richard Leech does a terrible job but by the point he's just groveling at the heels of the real villain, he kind of feels worn out. I think the comeuppances for them aren't bad, per se, but I really wanted more of the Doctor turning their own unfair rules and games back at them. There's not enough of that. I also wish there was more Cordo and Bisham. The actors are OK and I think they both have great starting points emotionally but I think they, like Mandrel, feel like they don't go to interesting places. Perhaps part of it is the fact that the story had to be sanded down as not to be controversial but I think all of the human characters becoming revolutionaries isn't quite as interesting as I'd hope.
Still, I had a good time with this one. It knows how silly it is and actually feels like the kind of story I associate with Seventh Doctor stories where the cartoonish villains mirror real and ugly societal evils. It also breezes along pretty quickly despite having one of the series more standard story padding standards of characters going back and fourth between the central sets of the story (really that's mostly around episode 2, really). I think my issue is that it's a story that I feel could have been more. Yes, it is silly but that's not the same as fun and I think if it had more of the Doctor cleverly dunking on the Gatherer and the Collector, Bugs Bunny-style, using his wits to turn the rules against them in narratively satisfying ways, I would have had more fun with it.
Also, why is this called the Sun Makers. It's not a big part of the story. Maybe it's a cultural reference that is lost on me but I think an American cultural reference would have been better. Death and Taxes.
Best cliffhanger: I do like the sillier death traps, like an attack by an ATM.
Next time:
"Oh, the taxes! My dear old thing, all you need is a wily accountant! Would you care for a Jelly baby?"
In this serial, the Doctor lands on Pluto in the distant future where humanity lives in a colony controlled by The Company, who forces the people to endure unfair taxation and crippling work hours. The Doctor and Leela decide to help one individual, Cordo, get to the underground, where the outcasts live to get away from the taxes. However, the Underground are opportunistic and cruel and holding Leela hostage coerce him into a mission. The mission turns out to be a sting the Underground has fallen for but the Doctor has gained the interest of the Gatherer, who is convinced the Doctor is a criminal. He lets the Doctor go in hopes of finding his contacts but Leela escapes the Underground and their leader with feat of clay and no interest in helping others, Mandrel.
Leela is captured but not before freeing a prisoner named Bisham, whom the Doctor previously met and who informed him of the chemical compound called PCM released into the atmosphere to control everyone. Bisham and Cordo return to the Underground to inform the Doctor. The Doctor plans to start of revolution by attacking the machine controls the PCM. He rescues Leela from a public revolution and decide to visit the palace of the Collector, who controls the world, to send false messages of successful revolution to inspire the real one. The Doctor learns from him that he is of a predatory race of toxic fungi and causes him to admit defeat when the Doctor messes with his computer, convincing him of economic apocalypse. The humans take over once again and begin planning their trek back to Earth.
The Sun Makers is not subtle satire by any stretch but as a story, it's so cartoonish in it's approach, it largely works. It has some missteps. For a story so intentionally goofy, I wish the set design was more inspired. I suppose you could make an argument for the endless corridors of bureaucracy, it's not nearly cartoonish enough, or interesting to look at. It requires the scenery chewing actors to sell most of it, which they thankfully do. I also think not all of the characters work for me, particularly Mandrel. I wish his change of heart has felt more palpable, for him to cast off his selfishness in a more interesting way. I'm kind of glad he doesn't die mostly because it's the predictable narrative move for a character who is so selfish to demonstrate self-sacrifice but they kind of replace that move with... nothing. He's just another revolutionary. I feel like his arc never lands in an interesting spot.
The villains are super broad but I don't mind. I don't think Richard Leech does a terrible job but by the point he's just groveling at the heels of the real villain, he kind of feels worn out. I think the comeuppances for them aren't bad, per se, but I really wanted more of the Doctor turning their own unfair rules and games back at them. There's not enough of that. I also wish there was more Cordo and Bisham. The actors are OK and I think they both have great starting points emotionally but I think they, like Mandrel, feel like they don't go to interesting places. Perhaps part of it is the fact that the story had to be sanded down as not to be controversial but I think all of the human characters becoming revolutionaries isn't quite as interesting as I'd hope.
Still, I had a good time with this one. It knows how silly it is and actually feels like the kind of story I associate with Seventh Doctor stories where the cartoonish villains mirror real and ugly societal evils. It also breezes along pretty quickly despite having one of the series more standard story padding standards of characters going back and fourth between the central sets of the story (really that's mostly around episode 2, really). I think my issue is that it's a story that I feel could have been more. Yes, it is silly but that's not the same as fun and I think if it had more of the Doctor cleverly dunking on the Gatherer and the Collector, Bugs Bunny-style, using his wits to turn the rules against them in narratively satisfying ways, I would have had more fun with it.
Also, why is this called the Sun Makers. It's not a big part of the story. Maybe it's a cultural reference that is lost on me but I think an American cultural reference would have been better. Death and Taxes.
Best cliffhanger: I do like the sillier death traps, like an attack by an ATM.
Next time:
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Underworld
"You're just another machine with megalomania, heh, another insane object! Another self-aggrandizing artifact! You're nothing! Nothing but a mass of superheated junk with delusions of grandeur!"
In this serial, the Doctor encounters a ship from Minyos and crew on a 100,000 year journey. Using Time Lord technology, the crew sustained their life for the journey and now is focused on nothing but their quest obtain the missing "race banks" (which was being shipped across the universe) of their people to help rebirth them. The Doctor reluctantly leads them through a spiral nebula where the matter around them is attracted to their gravitational pull, forming a planet. They escape from the planet forming around them and crash land on another nearby planet, disturbing a dystopian society living in the Earth.
It turns out the ship the Minyans were looking for similarly turned into a planet and generations later, the planet's people is controlled by a mad computer jealously guarding the race banks. When the Minyans begin winning, the computer tries to trick them by giving them bombs that look like race banks. The Doctor outwits the computer (called the Oracle) and steals the real race banks. He then warns the crew of the bombs only for K9 to determine the power is way greater than expected. At the Doctor's behest, the crew takes on as many of the slave class as he can while leaving the evil rulers with the bombs. The explosion helps the ship escape and the Doctor leaves the Minyans to complete their mission.
While this season seems to be considered a bit of a weak one, I do feel I've been generous with even the weaker stories. Even when it is silly, there's a sense of fun and colour and even a bit of a return to the creepiness. When it is dumb or needlessly convoluted, usually it is in an entertaining way. However, this ends with Underworld, a story that has the tiniest hints of an interesting story lurking in the periphery but quickly becomes the most generic kind of Doctor Who story except uglier and duller. We've seen all kinds of "slaves controlled by overlords" stories and there's next to nothing to differentiate them from any other except it's just bad. Oh and also for some reason it takes place on a green screen that makes most of story look like it's set in a colon. Considering how often the show uses chintzy cave sets (and even a filmed in actual caves), I have no idea why they bothered doing this. Are fake rock sets prohibitively expensive in 1978? And heck, I probably would forgive the terrible effects if we weren't just staring into a muddy tunnel.
The other problem isn't just that it's basic, it's that it throws out some idea but everything seems really underbaked. I'm not really sure why the computer is jealously gaurding the race banks or who the dystopia was born or why it was just a big deal that some of the people are robomen (the non-Dalek-related kind). To be fair, I nearly fell asleep a few times through episode 2, so maybe something was explained that makes this hold together beautifully but I have my doubts. The antagonists barely feel like their there. The Doctor turning the gas against the villains would have been cathartic in the Sun Makers, but here it's more of a shrug. In fact, this is so underdeveloped, I think the recaps from the previous episode cliffhangers feel extra long. Waiting for the Doctor to be knocked out by the fumigation AGAIN was agony.
So what works? Very little. The cast is pretty weak and for the most part we don't get the sense of weariness of people who lived so long for a mission, they've lost sight of what it all means. The closest is when Herrick is stumbling after gaining what he believed to be the race banks and I wish there was more of that. I think I would have preferred the Doctor be trapped with a tragically unhinged crew driven mad by time, forced to help finally complete their mission. And that is an IDEA that also relates to the villain who doesn't seem to be keeping the race banks for any other reason than to keep them. But it's not explored in any real insightful way and considering how much of this is a chore, I think the story would need a massive overhaul to be actually enjoyable and interesting.
Best Cliffhanger: I guess the first because being turned into a planet's core is certainly a unique way to die.
Next time:
"You're just another machine with megalomania, heh, another insane object! Another self-aggrandizing artifact! You're nothing! Nothing but a mass of superheated junk with delusions of grandeur!"
In this serial, the Doctor encounters a ship from Minyos and crew on a 100,000 year journey. Using Time Lord technology, the crew sustained their life for the journey and now is focused on nothing but their quest obtain the missing "race banks" (which was being shipped across the universe) of their people to help rebirth them. The Doctor reluctantly leads them through a spiral nebula where the matter around them is attracted to their gravitational pull, forming a planet. They escape from the planet forming around them and crash land on another nearby planet, disturbing a dystopian society living in the Earth.
It turns out the ship the Minyans were looking for similarly turned into a planet and generations later, the planet's people is controlled by a mad computer jealously guarding the race banks. When the Minyans begin winning, the computer tries to trick them by giving them bombs that look like race banks. The Doctor outwits the computer (called the Oracle) and steals the real race banks. He then warns the crew of the bombs only for K9 to determine the power is way greater than expected. At the Doctor's behest, the crew takes on as many of the slave class as he can while leaving the evil rulers with the bombs. The explosion helps the ship escape and the Doctor leaves the Minyans to complete their mission.
While this season seems to be considered a bit of a weak one, I do feel I've been generous with even the weaker stories. Even when it is silly, there's a sense of fun and colour and even a bit of a return to the creepiness. When it is dumb or needlessly convoluted, usually it is in an entertaining way. However, this ends with Underworld, a story that has the tiniest hints of an interesting story lurking in the periphery but quickly becomes the most generic kind of Doctor Who story except uglier and duller. We've seen all kinds of "slaves controlled by overlords" stories and there's next to nothing to differentiate them from any other except it's just bad. Oh and also for some reason it takes place on a green screen that makes most of story look like it's set in a colon. Considering how often the show uses chintzy cave sets (and even a filmed in actual caves), I have no idea why they bothered doing this. Are fake rock sets prohibitively expensive in 1978? And heck, I probably would forgive the terrible effects if we weren't just staring into a muddy tunnel.
The other problem isn't just that it's basic, it's that it throws out some idea but everything seems really underbaked. I'm not really sure why the computer is jealously gaurding the race banks or who the dystopia was born or why it was just a big deal that some of the people are robomen (the non-Dalek-related kind). To be fair, I nearly fell asleep a few times through episode 2, so maybe something was explained that makes this hold together beautifully but I have my doubts. The antagonists barely feel like their there. The Doctor turning the gas against the villains would have been cathartic in the Sun Makers, but here it's more of a shrug. In fact, this is so underdeveloped, I think the recaps from the previous episode cliffhangers feel extra long. Waiting for the Doctor to be knocked out by the fumigation AGAIN was agony.
So what works? Very little. The cast is pretty weak and for the most part we don't get the sense of weariness of people who lived so long for a mission, they've lost sight of what it all means. The closest is when Herrick is stumbling after gaining what he believed to be the race banks and I wish there was more of that. I think I would have preferred the Doctor be trapped with a tragically unhinged crew driven mad by time, forced to help finally complete their mission. And that is an IDEA that also relates to the villain who doesn't seem to be keeping the race banks for any other reason than to keep them. But it's not explored in any real insightful way and considering how much of this is a chore, I think the story would need a massive overhaul to be actually enjoyable and interesting.
Best Cliffhanger: I guess the first because being turned into a planet's core is certainly a unique way to die.
Next time:
Underworld was done like that because the producer had gone on a scheduled vacation, and upon return, he found that this serial was going to cost triple it's designated budget given what the staff had got up to while he was gone, so rather than build full sized cave sets, they built models and used CSO/greenscreen to put the actors into those scenes. It was a spectacular failure lmao but I understand the reasons they attempted it. From what I can recall, the show never is again as cheap looking as Underworld, though it's a very long show so I might soon be proven wrong haha
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Invasion of Time
"Guard of honour? You're not fit to guard a jelly baby! Would you like a jelly baby?"
In this serial, the Doctor has a clandestine meeting with an alien ship and quickly returns to Gallifrey. He abruptly insists on staking his claim to the Time Lord Presidency, which the others agree to. Soon he begins behaving erratically, even trying to have Leela exiled. The Doctor has his private room lined with lead and makes other strange decisions. The Doctor soon reveals that he has been paving the way for Gallifrey to be invaded by the powerful psychic alien race The Varda. However, this is a triple-cross, as the Doctor, who has been coerced by the Varda for a long time, has been planning to turn the tables on them. Eventually, he does with the help of Leela (who he sent away to protect her, allowing her to return with the disenfranchised of Gallifrey).
However, this is revealed to simply be an opening salvo; the real invaders were the Sontarans, who simply used the Varda as part of a plot to get past security. The Sontarans attack and the Doctor and friends escape. The Doctor manages to find the Great Key from his mentor Borusa and must keep this and his royal paraphernalia (which contain great power together) away from the Sontarans. They hide in the Tardis with the Sontarans in hot pursuit. Eventually the Doctor takes a dangerous weapon he created to defeat the Sontarans. However, it also comes at the cost of his memories of his adventure. Leela decides to stay with K9, having found love.
Ooof. This one. This was one that makes less and less sense as it goes on. There's a solid starting point; the Doctor, "for reasons", must pretend to be mad AND the villain in order to outmaneuver some aliens. It's not a bad idea, in theory. Having the Doctor be "the villain" with Leela on the run really amps up the states. Companion vs. Doctor is a good idea, one that has been toyed with in the Nu Who era a time or two. And a place where the Doctor is an all-powerful tyrant of the most powerful empire in the universe is a scary idea. As is a powerful psychic race that could have the Doctor under his thumb. But it all feels false. It really feels like the Silver Age Superman comics where they came up with the cover first asking "Superman... EVIL?!" and then working backwards to come up with a contrived reason he was acting evil.
And as ridiculous as that is, you could sell this with an interesting villain. And there are THREE potentially interesting threats; a powerful alien race, a wily race waiting for the first enemy to fall and a sneaky opportunist. If anything. the more interesting version of this is juggling all three threats with the audience asking "which of these is going to get closest to their goal." In practice, it's a big nothing. The Varda are generic nothings that get even more ridiculous when they turn out to be guys in suits. I 100% cannot believe that the Doctor feared them enough for some ridiculous long-game (or they had the Doctor under their thumb for even a minute) when they are completely incompetent. Also, if they were that powerful, why would the Doctor even let their foot get in the door? Because he's afraid for his own life? Leela's fate isn't even mentioned.
Speaking of, holy shit was she done so dirty. They make lip service to the two having a deep trust in each other but it never actually plays out like that. Instead, she meets the outsiders of Gallifrey, a good idea that feels terrible inert. I don't give a shit about these people. They are just generic barbarians. Then she is mostly running around (as is most of the cast really). Then she decides to stay on Gallifrey. Her journey has mostly been about her learning to be more worldly and wise and civilized. So why does she stay? To learn from the wisest, if stagnant, race in the universe? To lead the outsiders of Gallifrey to show that there's another way for Gallifrey beyond cultural and societal fossilization? Nope, she got a boyfriend. We barely met him, those characters barely talked and I have no fucking idea what they have in common or see in each other. Apparently the actress wanted her to die. This would have been less of a bummer than the ending she gets and even then I'm not in love with it (again, I feel like heroic self-sacrifice is in her nature but not really where her arc with the Doctor wants to head).
Oh, right, the other villains. I'm not a big Sontaran fan but there's an idea of having a big, seemingly unstoppable threat emerge and then revealing they were just the opening act for a classic villain. If anything, the Sontarans using a more powerful race to win actually seems like both a good idea and presenting the evil military race as not just strong but wily. But they basically just say "these guys were working for us!" How? They are supposed to be powerful psychics and somehow the guys with guns boss them around. Look, the Sontarans have good tech. Just give us an explanation. Nope! Nothing. And they are clearly JUST as incompetent as opponents this ride out. Kelner could be interesting as someone who actually gets power but waiting for the right time, without actually having to be that smart or tough and threatening to be a childish bully who gets close to ultimate power (which, let's face it, is just our world right now). He's the closest thing to interesting and he is dull.
The last two episodes should be when everything comes together but it's when it feels like it makes the previous episodes make less sense. Even worse, there's an idea I always like, actually spending time and exploring the Tardis and it's an ugly brick building used for padding. It's funny because considering how much deep lore this series has, probably too much, I feel like the Tardis and Tardises in general are weirdly underexplored outside of a few episodes (The Doctor's Wife, Journey to the Center of the Tardis). At least from what I take in from the series. But this episode makes it look like a fucking eyesore. Usually I find the shitty effects of this era kind of charming but here it is just unpleasant on a visual level.
The Invasion of Time is a mishmash of underbaked ideas where nothing ever comes to fruition. Even Baker's performance doesn't click and it's one that seems to work in his favour; overacting and chewing the scenery. And his mad laugh in the second cliffhanger is great but like everything else, it's not holding together. I think the character of Borusa is halfway to being an interesting character, a sort of stodgy Time Lord who represents everything the Doctor can't stand, except for his wisdom and underlying humanity. It's the closest thing that comes to working but it doesn't do well enough. Also, the ending is bullshit; the Doctor wins by building a terrible weapon but it's OK because... his memory is gone... because... I don't know. Really, when it started I didn't hate it so much as it felt like "neat idea, dull execution". Then is just sort of melted into so much narrative goo.
Best cliffhanger: There are two good cliffhangers. The Doctor madly cackling as he brings in the invasion force and the reveal that the story, which seemed to be wrapped up and all of the Doctor's hands are played, now finds himself checkmated. However, I'm going to say the first is better because the last promises more story when it could have mercifully ended.
Next Time:
"Guard of honour? You're not fit to guard a jelly baby! Would you like a jelly baby?"
In this serial, the Doctor has a clandestine meeting with an alien ship and quickly returns to Gallifrey. He abruptly insists on staking his claim to the Time Lord Presidency, which the others agree to. Soon he begins behaving erratically, even trying to have Leela exiled. The Doctor has his private room lined with lead and makes other strange decisions. The Doctor soon reveals that he has been paving the way for Gallifrey to be invaded by the powerful psychic alien race The Varda. However, this is a triple-cross, as the Doctor, who has been coerced by the Varda for a long time, has been planning to turn the tables on them. Eventually, he does with the help of Leela (who he sent away to protect her, allowing her to return with the disenfranchised of Gallifrey).
However, this is revealed to simply be an opening salvo; the real invaders were the Sontarans, who simply used the Varda as part of a plot to get past security. The Sontarans attack and the Doctor and friends escape. The Doctor manages to find the Great Key from his mentor Borusa and must keep this and his royal paraphernalia (which contain great power together) away from the Sontarans. They hide in the Tardis with the Sontarans in hot pursuit. Eventually the Doctor takes a dangerous weapon he created to defeat the Sontarans. However, it also comes at the cost of his memories of his adventure. Leela decides to stay with K9, having found love.
Ooof. This one. This was one that makes less and less sense as it goes on. There's a solid starting point; the Doctor, "for reasons", must pretend to be mad AND the villain in order to outmaneuver some aliens. It's not a bad idea, in theory. Having the Doctor be "the villain" with Leela on the run really amps up the states. Companion vs. Doctor is a good idea, one that has been toyed with in the Nu Who era a time or two. And a place where the Doctor is an all-powerful tyrant of the most powerful empire in the universe is a scary idea. As is a powerful psychic race that could have the Doctor under his thumb. But it all feels false. It really feels like the Silver Age Superman comics where they came up with the cover first asking "Superman... EVIL?!" and then working backwards to come up with a contrived reason he was acting evil.
And as ridiculous as that is, you could sell this with an interesting villain. And there are THREE potentially interesting threats; a powerful alien race, a wily race waiting for the first enemy to fall and a sneaky opportunist. If anything. the more interesting version of this is juggling all three threats with the audience asking "which of these is going to get closest to their goal." In practice, it's a big nothing. The Varda are generic nothings that get even more ridiculous when they turn out to be guys in suits. I 100% cannot believe that the Doctor feared them enough for some ridiculous long-game (or they had the Doctor under their thumb for even a minute) when they are completely incompetent. Also, if they were that powerful, why would the Doctor even let their foot get in the door? Because he's afraid for his own life? Leela's fate isn't even mentioned.
Speaking of, holy shit was she done so dirty. They make lip service to the two having a deep trust in each other but it never actually plays out like that. Instead, she meets the outsiders of Gallifrey, a good idea that feels terrible inert. I don't give a shit about these people. They are just generic barbarians. Then she is mostly running around (as is most of the cast really). Then she decides to stay on Gallifrey. Her journey has mostly been about her learning to be more worldly and wise and civilized. So why does she stay? To learn from the wisest, if stagnant, race in the universe? To lead the outsiders of Gallifrey to show that there's another way for Gallifrey beyond cultural and societal fossilization? Nope, she got a boyfriend. We barely met him, those characters barely talked and I have no fucking idea what they have in common or see in each other. Apparently the actress wanted her to die. This would have been less of a bummer than the ending she gets and even then I'm not in love with it (again, I feel like heroic self-sacrifice is in her nature but not really where her arc with the Doctor wants to head).
Oh, right, the other villains. I'm not a big Sontaran fan but there's an idea of having a big, seemingly unstoppable threat emerge and then revealing they were just the opening act for a classic villain. If anything, the Sontarans using a more powerful race to win actually seems like both a good idea and presenting the evil military race as not just strong but wily. But they basically just say "these guys were working for us!" How? They are supposed to be powerful psychics and somehow the guys with guns boss them around. Look, the Sontarans have good tech. Just give us an explanation. Nope! Nothing. And they are clearly JUST as incompetent as opponents this ride out. Kelner could be interesting as someone who actually gets power but waiting for the right time, without actually having to be that smart or tough and threatening to be a childish bully who gets close to ultimate power (which, let's face it, is just our world right now). He's the closest thing to interesting and he is dull.
The last two episodes should be when everything comes together but it's when it feels like it makes the previous episodes make less sense. Even worse, there's an idea I always like, actually spending time and exploring the Tardis and it's an ugly brick building used for padding. It's funny because considering how much deep lore this series has, probably too much, I feel like the Tardis and Tardises in general are weirdly underexplored outside of a few episodes (The Doctor's Wife, Journey to the Center of the Tardis). At least from what I take in from the series. But this episode makes it look like a fucking eyesore. Usually I find the shitty effects of this era kind of charming but here it is just unpleasant on a visual level.
The Invasion of Time is a mishmash of underbaked ideas where nothing ever comes to fruition. Even Baker's performance doesn't click and it's one that seems to work in his favour; overacting and chewing the scenery. And his mad laugh in the second cliffhanger is great but like everything else, it's not holding together. I think the character of Borusa is halfway to being an interesting character, a sort of stodgy Time Lord who represents everything the Doctor can't stand, except for his wisdom and underlying humanity. It's the closest thing that comes to working but it doesn't do well enough. Also, the ending is bullshit; the Doctor wins by building a terrible weapon but it's OK because... his memory is gone... because... I don't know. Really, when it started I didn't hate it so much as it felt like "neat idea, dull execution". Then is just sort of melted into so much narrative goo.
Best cliffhanger: There are two good cliffhangers. The Doctor madly cackling as he brings in the invasion force and the reveal that the story, which seemed to be wrapped up and all of the Doctor's hands are played, now finds himself checkmated. However, I'm going to say the first is better because the last promises more story when it could have mercifully ended.
Next Time:
Yeah The Invasion of Time is a mess. It's the classic series equivalent of a bad Russell T Davies finale, actually - it goes out of its way to promise HUGE reveals, BIG twists, and they all fall flat. The returning classic enemy lands with a damp squib. The writing makes no sense.
Unlike a lot of RTD finales, though, I have to agree with you on Leela - they did her super dirty. Marrying her off, the Doctor leaving her on Gallifrey so she can learn to be "civilized", killing her off... None of these are good options, imo (and they were the three considered, as far as I know). Leela, like pretty much every single classic series companion, deserved better. Far better.
(I cannot believe you found an image that says "Ribos" in it that does not have to do with Doctor Who lmao)
Unlike a lot of RTD finales, though, I have to agree with you on Leela - they did her super dirty. Marrying her off, the Doctor leaving her on Gallifrey so she can learn to be "civilized", killing her off... None of these are good options, imo (and they were the three considered, as far as I know). Leela, like pretty much every single classic series companion, deserved better. Far better.
(I cannot believe you found an image that says "Ribos" in it that does not have to do with Doctor Who lmao)
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Yeah, and I think the problem is she gets dealt a better hand in many other serials, through her whole run the Doctor keeps calling her a savage and it feels telling towards how the writers approach her in the macro-sense.
I think the best option is Leela decides she's learned enough to return to the Sevateem to lead them with wisdom and empathy as well as strength.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Ribos Operation
"My name is Romanadvoratrelundar."
"I'm so sorry about that, is there anything we can do?"
In this serial, The Doctor finds himself reluctantly tasked by an entity named the White Guardian. He tells the Doctor he must find and assemble the 6 pieces of the Key of Time. He must also avoid the White Guardian's opposite number, the Black Guardian. To this end, he is given a new companion; fellow Time Lord Romana. The duo hunt the first part of the key to the planet Ribos. There, two conmen, Garron and Unstoffe, arrive on a pre-space travel planet to swindle an exiled Emperor, the Graff Vynda K. The Emperor is planning to pay for the chance to mine the planet for jethrik, a rare element that makes long distance space travel possible. However, the planet contains little to know jethrik and the appearance of the element in the throne room is part of the con.
However, that piece of jethrik is the first piece of the Key of Time. The Doctor and Romana find themselves in competition with Garron and Unstoffe and eventually find themselves aligned with them after Vynda K realizes he's been conned and wants revenge. Unstoffe meets Binro, a heretic who doesn't believe in the superstitions of his people. Unstoffe befriends Binro and confirms the correctness of Binro's scientific theories. Binro helps Unstoffe reunite with Garron while Garron, the Doctor and Romana are hiding from Vynda K in the caves under the castle. Vynda K employs an oracle who assures him that only one will emerge from the cave alive from his party. Still he proceeds and sure enough things go wrong, with the only survivor being the Doctor, disguised as a guard. The Doctor leaves Garron and outwits him in one last attempted swindle.
The Ribos Operation was a story I wasn't quite expecting, in terms of tone. It really feels like a historical. Perhaps it should have been. Most of the sci-fi stuff feels like window dressing. Unstoffe's relationship with Binro feels like in the Hartnell years it would have been Ian and a medieval serf. Baker's gonna Baker but apart from that it really feels like a quiet story compared to most of the era. Very little bombast, though there are some big characters. That's actually where the story shines. The funny thing is a lot of these stories start with a lot of promise, but this one starts kind of uninterestingly but gets to some more interesting character moments by the end. Particularly with Binro and Unstoffe, these one off characters unrelated to the main cast.
If anything, while the Doctor gets a few small good moments (mostly playing off of Garron, who the Doctor clearly genuinely loves even though he knows he will betray him if necessary) this feels like the lead is almost a secondary character. That's not necessarily a bad thing sometimes and I think it works here. The villain mostly left me cold except in the last episode where they try to get all Shakespearian with him. I kind of wish that played as well through the rest of the story but mostly he seems like a generic bad guy with his lament for his fallen grace leaving me pretty cold. I think the last two episodes are stronger with these small characters really bringing to life a tale I feel was a little underdeveloped. When Binro show's up, I'm finally interested in the planet a bit because there's this plight of this poor old dude. Then it allows Unstoffe to be more human in that moment.
I will say, I wish this was a historical. It didn't have to be tied to a specific event in history but it could go to an era where we catch up with a fallen conqueror at the end of his rope getting conned by some loveable rogues. This barely needed to be outer space, outside of moments like "can you believe this guy sells planets?" It's a bit slow and I think that having a stronger sense of place, that the historical could give it, would give us a bit more of a shortcut to be interested in what is going on. As is, it's kind of OK, a more mature and somewhat sedate adventure that really comes to life every so often with some good character turns.
Best Cliffhanger: None of them really worked for me. I guess the generic "Oh no, monster" moment.
Next Time:
"My name is Romanadvoratrelundar."
"I'm so sorry about that, is there anything we can do?"
In this serial, The Doctor finds himself reluctantly tasked by an entity named the White Guardian. He tells the Doctor he must find and assemble the 6 pieces of the Key of Time. He must also avoid the White Guardian's opposite number, the Black Guardian. To this end, he is given a new companion; fellow Time Lord Romana. The duo hunt the first part of the key to the planet Ribos. There, two conmen, Garron and Unstoffe, arrive on a pre-space travel planet to swindle an exiled Emperor, the Graff Vynda K. The Emperor is planning to pay for the chance to mine the planet for jethrik, a rare element that makes long distance space travel possible. However, the planet contains little to know jethrik and the appearance of the element in the throne room is part of the con.
However, that piece of jethrik is the first piece of the Key of Time. The Doctor and Romana find themselves in competition with Garron and Unstoffe and eventually find themselves aligned with them after Vynda K realizes he's been conned and wants revenge. Unstoffe meets Binro, a heretic who doesn't believe in the superstitions of his people. Unstoffe befriends Binro and confirms the correctness of Binro's scientific theories. Binro helps Unstoffe reunite with Garron while Garron, the Doctor and Romana are hiding from Vynda K in the caves under the castle. Vynda K employs an oracle who assures him that only one will emerge from the cave alive from his party. Still he proceeds and sure enough things go wrong, with the only survivor being the Doctor, disguised as a guard. The Doctor leaves Garron and outwits him in one last attempted swindle.
The Ribos Operation was a story I wasn't quite expecting, in terms of tone. It really feels like a historical. Perhaps it should have been. Most of the sci-fi stuff feels like window dressing. Unstoffe's relationship with Binro feels like in the Hartnell years it would have been Ian and a medieval serf. Baker's gonna Baker but apart from that it really feels like a quiet story compared to most of the era. Very little bombast, though there are some big characters. That's actually where the story shines. The funny thing is a lot of these stories start with a lot of promise, but this one starts kind of uninterestingly but gets to some more interesting character moments by the end. Particularly with Binro and Unstoffe, these one off characters unrelated to the main cast.
If anything, while the Doctor gets a few small good moments (mostly playing off of Garron, who the Doctor clearly genuinely loves even though he knows he will betray him if necessary) this feels like the lead is almost a secondary character. That's not necessarily a bad thing sometimes and I think it works here. The villain mostly left me cold except in the last episode where they try to get all Shakespearian with him. I kind of wish that played as well through the rest of the story but mostly he seems like a generic bad guy with his lament for his fallen grace leaving me pretty cold. I think the last two episodes are stronger with these small characters really bringing to life a tale I feel was a little underdeveloped. When Binro show's up, I'm finally interested in the planet a bit because there's this plight of this poor old dude. Then it allows Unstoffe to be more human in that moment.
I will say, I wish this was a historical. It didn't have to be tied to a specific event in history but it could go to an era where we catch up with a fallen conqueror at the end of his rope getting conned by some loveable rogues. This barely needed to be outer space, outside of moments like "can you believe this guy sells planets?" It's a bit slow and I think that having a stronger sense of place, that the historical could give it, would give us a bit more of a shortcut to be interested in what is going on. As is, it's kind of OK, a more mature and somewhat sedate adventure that really comes to life every so often with some good character turns.
Best Cliffhanger: None of them really worked for me. I guess the generic "Oh no, monster" moment.
Next Time:
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Pirate Planet
"It's an economic miracle! Of course it's wrong."
In this serial, the Doctor and Romana plan to land on Calufrax but instead land on Zanak, a planet where the leader, only known as the Captain, controls the planet as a fascist leader, constantly bringing prosperity and occasionally announcing new ages of prosperity. There are also psychics called Mentiads, which are generally feared by the populace. The Doctor learns the Captain, a cyborg pirate, actually pilots the entire planet of Zanak, dematerializing and materializing around smaller planets and mining all of their resources. It is revealed that the Mentiads are birthed from the energy (and trauma) released from the actions and begin forming a gestalt entity with plans to defeat the Captain.
The Doctor later learns about Xanxia, the former power-mad queen of the planet who once waged war on the universe itself. In fact, the Doctor learns she is still alive, controlling the Captain while disguised as his assistant. Her real form is slowly aging to death in "Time Dams", which slows the flow of time to incredible levels. It turns out the resources plundered are primarily to power these dams. The Doctor also begins to realize the blustering captain is a scientific genius himself and has been working on a way to defeat Xanxia himself so he would no longer be under his thumb. the Doctor uses and corrects his plan using the energy of many fallen worlds (now compressed into paper weight sized orbs) to defeat Xanxia's plot. The Captain dies attempting to kill Xanxia and Xanxia dies when the Doctor blows up her base, leaving the people of Zanak free.
The Pirate Planet is the first Douglas Adams story on the series, airing half a year after the premiere of his legendary radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In many ways, the series are similar but the Hitchhiker's Guide is even more whimsical with theyt character of Ford Prefect being essentially "what if Doctor Who was your drinking buddy". It's interesting to know that Hitchhiker's had already come out by then because I feel like that is a more confident work for the former Monty Python writer. This is a good outing but it also feels like it has a lot of great ideas that aren't fully explored enough.
For example, I love the idea that The Captain was trying to play the main villain by playing the fool while actually being more clever. But I feel like the performance is TOO one dimensional until the last act and it doesn't make the turn or his tragedy satisfying. I don't know if it's the writing doing too much not to hint at this twist or the actor just not being able to carry it (it's certainly a game performance but I kind of wish the Captain was more charmingly evil, like a Long John Silver type). I wish I felt his sadness toward the death of his first mate more considering he's been exclusively yelling at everything. I also feel like the plans are interesting and sound but there's almost too much technobabble act as connective tissue and it doesn't quite hold together. Plus the Doctor just ending it with "blow it up" isn't satisfying enough. It would be more cathartic if she got a more poetic end, like being forced to "live forever" so she is forced to watch the universe speed up until she saw the heat death of the universe.
I also wish the Mentiad's where more interesting. I think of Adams is someone who makes memorable and fun characters and these feel like the generic druid mystic types. For someone who worked in comedy, he's missing the comic and character potential of a group of humans acting as one human (which is done so well in the fantastic Pluribus to both creepy and comedic effect). The Metiads are shockingly boring. Like, I feel like they are similar to other "mystic psychic" types we've seen in the series so being that generic is a missed opportunity.
But this is getting the bad out of the way. While certainly he has done better, we are seeming some of the stuff from Adams works that I like. The best stuff is the big wild ideas. A planet that eats other planets. Shrinking planets into super condensed balls of terrifying power. A planet that only knows an economy that is good and no one ever questioning it. A cyborg pirate with a robot parrot (truly shocking it doesn't talk). Despite my issues with technobabble, there's still good plotting and storytelling in here and an overall sense of fun. I also didn't talk about Mary Tamm in the last serial but in both she is doing good to play a comedic counterpoint. And there are the kind of fun witticisms that Adams excelled in. It's not his best work but its a solid little adventure story and overall a good time, though I wish the Captain was just... more sympathetic in practice than in theory.
Best Cliffhanger: I think episode 1 was the funnier one because it happens, then the Doctor makes it happen again immediately. Still, having the third one just straight up be "walk the plank" is pretty fun.
Next time:
"It's an economic miracle! Of course it's wrong."
In this serial, the Doctor and Romana plan to land on Calufrax but instead land on Zanak, a planet where the leader, only known as the Captain, controls the planet as a fascist leader, constantly bringing prosperity and occasionally announcing new ages of prosperity. There are also psychics called Mentiads, which are generally feared by the populace. The Doctor learns the Captain, a cyborg pirate, actually pilots the entire planet of Zanak, dematerializing and materializing around smaller planets and mining all of their resources. It is revealed that the Mentiads are birthed from the energy (and trauma) released from the actions and begin forming a gestalt entity with plans to defeat the Captain.
The Doctor later learns about Xanxia, the former power-mad queen of the planet who once waged war on the universe itself. In fact, the Doctor learns she is still alive, controlling the Captain while disguised as his assistant. Her real form is slowly aging to death in "Time Dams", which slows the flow of time to incredible levels. It turns out the resources plundered are primarily to power these dams. The Doctor also begins to realize the blustering captain is a scientific genius himself and has been working on a way to defeat Xanxia himself so he would no longer be under his thumb. the Doctor uses and corrects his plan using the energy of many fallen worlds (now compressed into paper weight sized orbs) to defeat Xanxia's plot. The Captain dies attempting to kill Xanxia and Xanxia dies when the Doctor blows up her base, leaving the people of Zanak free.
The Pirate Planet is the first Douglas Adams story on the series, airing half a year after the premiere of his legendary radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In many ways, the series are similar but the Hitchhiker's Guide is even more whimsical with theyt character of Ford Prefect being essentially "what if Doctor Who was your drinking buddy". It's interesting to know that Hitchhiker's had already come out by then because I feel like that is a more confident work for the former Monty Python writer. This is a good outing but it also feels like it has a lot of great ideas that aren't fully explored enough.
For example, I love the idea that The Captain was trying to play the main villain by playing the fool while actually being more clever. But I feel like the performance is TOO one dimensional until the last act and it doesn't make the turn or his tragedy satisfying. I don't know if it's the writing doing too much not to hint at this twist or the actor just not being able to carry it (it's certainly a game performance but I kind of wish the Captain was more charmingly evil, like a Long John Silver type). I wish I felt his sadness toward the death of his first mate more considering he's been exclusively yelling at everything. I also feel like the plans are interesting and sound but there's almost too much technobabble act as connective tissue and it doesn't quite hold together. Plus the Doctor just ending it with "blow it up" isn't satisfying enough. It would be more cathartic if she got a more poetic end, like being forced to "live forever" so she is forced to watch the universe speed up until she saw the heat death of the universe.
I also wish the Mentiad's where more interesting. I think of Adams is someone who makes memorable and fun characters and these feel like the generic druid mystic types. For someone who worked in comedy, he's missing the comic and character potential of a group of humans acting as one human (which is done so well in the fantastic Pluribus to both creepy and comedic effect). The Metiads are shockingly boring. Like, I feel like they are similar to other "mystic psychic" types we've seen in the series so being that generic is a missed opportunity.
But this is getting the bad out of the way. While certainly he has done better, we are seeming some of the stuff from Adams works that I like. The best stuff is the big wild ideas. A planet that eats other planets. Shrinking planets into super condensed balls of terrifying power. A planet that only knows an economy that is good and no one ever questioning it. A cyborg pirate with a robot parrot (truly shocking it doesn't talk). Despite my issues with technobabble, there's still good plotting and storytelling in here and an overall sense of fun. I also didn't talk about Mary Tamm in the last serial but in both she is doing good to play a comedic counterpoint. And there are the kind of fun witticisms that Adams excelled in. It's not his best work but its a solid little adventure story and overall a good time, though I wish the Captain was just... more sympathetic in practice than in theory.
Best Cliffhanger: I think episode 1 was the funnier one because it happens, then the Doctor makes it happen again immediately. Still, having the third one just straight up be "walk the plank" is pretty fun.
Next time:
City of Death and to a lesser extent Pirate Planet are the only worthwhile ones, imo. He script edited a bunch of others but I am not a fan of pretty much any of them. I am also a Shada hater (a partially produced serial he wrote that later got animated to finish it, although there was an adaptation of it on audio for the 8th Doctor like 20 years ago and several different novelizations. Don't worry about it, they all suck imo).
If you only watch one, make it City of Death. That's attributed to David Fisher but it was rewritten extensively by Adams and the producer at the time, Graham Williams. It is transcendently good.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Stones of Blood
"Now remember. Give it thirty seconds and then ‘pow!’"
"‘Pow’?"
"Yes, ‘pow!’ Pow – pow’s a technical expression, Professor, it means all the microcircuits have been fused in one great ‘gyuh!’ of molten metal."
In this serial, The Doctor and Romana arrive in modern day England to a stone circle called the Nine Travellers. There they meet Prof. Emilia Rumford and her assistant Vivian Fay. They also learn about a mysterious group of druid academics who are in fact a druidic cult who worship an old Celtic god, the Cailleach. The cult is fractured when they try to kill the Doctor, believing him to be a sacrifice. Soon it is discovered the stones of the stone circle itself are roaming the countryside, killing people. They also learn that the Cailleach is actually Vivian Fay in disguise.
Meanwhile Vivian kidnaps Romana to make sure the Doctor doesn't act against her and her Ogris, the stones in fact being aliens that live on blood. The Doctor finds she's been hiding in a ship located in hyperspace and finds a way to arrive there. He rescues Romana but while searching for clues, he unwittingly unleashes the Megara, a sentient cloud of nanotech dedicated to justice... and believe that in freeing them, the Doctor has committed a time worthy of execution. The Doctor prolongs the trial in order to trick the obstinate Megara into seeing that Vivian is a real criminal. She is sentenced to eternal imprisonment as a stone. Before they turn their attentions to the Doctor, he manages to send them away and acquires the third stone.
The Stones of Blood is a weird little serial, one that has a LOT of good stuff in it but also stumbles a lot. So let's start with the negative; it's kind of a mess. I'm not certain of what the villain's end game is, why it involves large blood-drinking rocks and her cult just straight up leave the story very early. As a mystery, it falls apart the more we find out and it seems like it is trying to cover it up by moving to the next thing. The monsters being large rocks is actually a plus. I kind of love the dopier monsters but it is a shame that it really doesn't amount to anything.
On the other hand, I like the last episode turn with the Megara. The problem is it is such a left field turn from Gothic supernatural horror to wacky sci-fi comedy that it feels like they gave up on what came before. But the Megara are kind of a silly challenge for the Doctor, a cross between NOMAD from Star Trek and the Judges from 2000 AD. They feel very much like a Douglas Adams-type complication and I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing some re-writing in there (or David Fisher was reading what Adams was doing and adding an Adams-like turn to his own script). I just wish it wasn't used as a hand-wave. It's fun but I almost think it could have been the whole serial, a wacky, weird legal drama where everyone else is insane robots (that said, if they did it, it probably should have been a two parter).
But the real strength comes from Prof. Rumford. Doctor Who has had a few quasi-companions, characters who come in and out. Mostly the 2005 series with characters like Nardole or Wilford Mott who never really hung out on the TARDIS. I can't imagine the show having an older companion, at least without also allowing for a younger one to be our point of view character. But it's a shame because I would have loved Mott to hang around and travel a bit. Similarly, Prof. Rumford would have been a stellar companion. Beatrix Lehman is so good in the roll, making the character feisty, smart and having a sort of arrogance similar to the Doctor but with a bit more overt compassion. She has great chemistry with Baker has he needs to go into the techno babble and actually manages to really ground these exposition scenes, giving them charm to what is essentially laying groundwork. She is the real strength of the story and I think I would have liked to see more of her. Though sadly, the actress would pass the following year, I will remember her as one of the strongest one-off allies to the Doctor, even if the story is really silly.
Best Cliffhanger: I would have liked the episode 3 cliffhanger if it didn't feel so... off? Like, I feel like the cliffhanger should have been she blows up the device. But then she goes on the ship to spell out the cliffhanger to the Doctor. OK, fine. But then there's a shot of the ship and it kind of sits there. Maybe the intent is to show that the are trapped in isolation forever or something but it doesn't really track. Still, it's the one I like best.
Next time:
"Now remember. Give it thirty seconds and then ‘pow!’"
"‘Pow’?"
"Yes, ‘pow!’ Pow – pow’s a technical expression, Professor, it means all the microcircuits have been fused in one great ‘gyuh!’ of molten metal."
In this serial, The Doctor and Romana arrive in modern day England to a stone circle called the Nine Travellers. There they meet Prof. Emilia Rumford and her assistant Vivian Fay. They also learn about a mysterious group of druid academics who are in fact a druidic cult who worship an old Celtic god, the Cailleach. The cult is fractured when they try to kill the Doctor, believing him to be a sacrifice. Soon it is discovered the stones of the stone circle itself are roaming the countryside, killing people. They also learn that the Cailleach is actually Vivian Fay in disguise.
Meanwhile Vivian kidnaps Romana to make sure the Doctor doesn't act against her and her Ogris, the stones in fact being aliens that live on blood. The Doctor finds she's been hiding in a ship located in hyperspace and finds a way to arrive there. He rescues Romana but while searching for clues, he unwittingly unleashes the Megara, a sentient cloud of nanotech dedicated to justice... and believe that in freeing them, the Doctor has committed a time worthy of execution. The Doctor prolongs the trial in order to trick the obstinate Megara into seeing that Vivian is a real criminal. She is sentenced to eternal imprisonment as a stone. Before they turn their attentions to the Doctor, he manages to send them away and acquires the third stone.
The Stones of Blood is a weird little serial, one that has a LOT of good stuff in it but also stumbles a lot. So let's start with the negative; it's kind of a mess. I'm not certain of what the villain's end game is, why it involves large blood-drinking rocks and her cult just straight up leave the story very early. As a mystery, it falls apart the more we find out and it seems like it is trying to cover it up by moving to the next thing. The monsters being large rocks is actually a plus. I kind of love the dopier monsters but it is a shame that it really doesn't amount to anything.
On the other hand, I like the last episode turn with the Megara. The problem is it is such a left field turn from Gothic supernatural horror to wacky sci-fi comedy that it feels like they gave up on what came before. But the Megara are kind of a silly challenge for the Doctor, a cross between NOMAD from Star Trek and the Judges from 2000 AD. They feel very much like a Douglas Adams-type complication and I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing some re-writing in there (or David Fisher was reading what Adams was doing and adding an Adams-like turn to his own script). I just wish it wasn't used as a hand-wave. It's fun but I almost think it could have been the whole serial, a wacky, weird legal drama where everyone else is insane robots (that said, if they did it, it probably should have been a two parter).
But the real strength comes from Prof. Rumford. Doctor Who has had a few quasi-companions, characters who come in and out. Mostly the 2005 series with characters like Nardole or Wilford Mott who never really hung out on the TARDIS. I can't imagine the show having an older companion, at least without also allowing for a younger one to be our point of view character. But it's a shame because I would have loved Mott to hang around and travel a bit. Similarly, Prof. Rumford would have been a stellar companion. Beatrix Lehman is so good in the roll, making the character feisty, smart and having a sort of arrogance similar to the Doctor but with a bit more overt compassion. She has great chemistry with Baker has he needs to go into the techno babble and actually manages to really ground these exposition scenes, giving them charm to what is essentially laying groundwork. She is the real strength of the story and I think I would have liked to see more of her. Though sadly, the actress would pass the following year, I will remember her as one of the strongest one-off allies to the Doctor, even if the story is really silly.
Best Cliffhanger: I would have liked the episode 3 cliffhanger if it didn't feel so... off? Like, I feel like the cliffhanger should have been she blows up the device. But then she goes on the ship to spell out the cliffhanger to the Doctor. OK, fine. But then there's a shot of the ship and it kind of sits there. Maybe the intent is to show that the are trapped in isolation forever or something but it doesn't really track. Still, it's the one I like best.
Next time:
Nardole was actually in the TARDIS a lot, to the point where the Doctor would force him to stay there while he and Bill went out and had fun lol.
It's one of the rare occasions where Big Finish does better than the TV show in this regard: Evelyn Smythe is a 55 year old companion of the Doctor (mainly the 6th) and she's fantastic. She counterbalances 6s... anger issues and loudness wonderfully, and is not held back in any way due to her age. She's in some good arcs, too (as always Big Finish, they're not all hits, but Evelyn does better than most, at least of what I heard since I stopped listening to much BF years ago).RIP to Maggie Staples, who voiced her.
I'm enjoying reading your entries and I hope you're having a good time. This is an era of the show I find hard to care about much at all. I've seen the Stones of Blood I believe 3 times, and I barely remember it. Late Tom Baker is mostly not for me.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Androids of Tara
"Would you mind not standing on my chest? My hat's on fire."
In this serial, the Doctor and Romana arrive on Tara to collect the fourth segment of the Key of Time, but the Doctor decides to take a little break first. An impatient Romana decides to track it down herself and quickly does. Soon she finds herself accosted by a monster. She is saved by Count Grendel but only because Romana is identical to a princess he has kidnapped. Meanwhile, the Doctor is asked by a prince, Reynart, to help repair an android body double to help draw fire so the real Reynart may ascend the throne. The Prince is soon kidnapped so the Doctor decides the robot shall ascend the throne until the real Reynart can be freed. Grendel is stymied and tries to lure the Doctor into a trap involving an android Romana but he manages to escape.
Later, under guise of a temporary truce, Grendel destroys the android. He then tries to get Romana (pretending to be a princess) and Reynart to marry so he may kill Reynart, marry his widow (now the Queen) and take the throne. The Doctor manages to sneak in and upset his plans, as well as opening the gates of the castle to let in Reynart's army. Grendel flees and Reynart falls back into the hands of it's rightful ruler.
The Androids of Tara is a pretty forgettable story in plotting. Despite a last minute attempt to overplot (involving back-to-back weddings which was always the plan and seems overly complex, especially since his initial plan of just being handed the throne is nice and simple), it's a story were everything is kind of underwritten. It's one of those stories where the characters are running back and forth between their bases and characters are kidnapped and re-kidnapped. But it never takes the title element, Android doubles, and does anything cool with them. When you are dealing with dopplegangers controlled by both the heroes and the villains, it feels like it should be more of a shell game with reveals and clever tricks. But mostly it's Romana shooting lasers from her belly button (which the Doctor accidentally dodges with a somewhat low duck).
It does have it's bright spots. It may lack cleverness but it is unabashedly trying to be an old-fashioned swashbuckler. It's another story that could have easily been a historical. It wants to be a Dumas tale and actor Peter Jeffrey is truly game to play an old-fashioned, sassy, scenery chewing villain. In some ways, he's got the energy the Captain from the Pirate Planet should have had. Less yelling and more smugness and bon mots. Jeffrey is doing what he can, though the villain is pretty forgettable despite feeling like a Blackadder character and he's really not a match for the Doctor for even a second. Even as a physical threat he just gets schooled by the Doctor in a pretty dull sword fight.
It's not a hard watch. The story moves pretty quick and everyone's commitment to a silly old-school adventure tale helps things along. But the story is pretty forgettable and I wish if this was going to be a story with copy robots, than they should find fun things for them to do. There is even the promise of farce with the Doctor's android threatening to break down any second and they really don't play with that enough. It's a very light, airy episode and while that's not a bad thing (it's nice to have something that isn't the end of the world), it doesn't have the wit to make it the grand time they are aiming for.
Best Cliffhanger: They are all pretty weak. I guess the first one? Just because at least we get to see the villain gloat a bit.
Next Time:
"Would you mind not standing on my chest? My hat's on fire."
In this serial, the Doctor and Romana arrive on Tara to collect the fourth segment of the Key of Time, but the Doctor decides to take a little break first. An impatient Romana decides to track it down herself and quickly does. Soon she finds herself accosted by a monster. She is saved by Count Grendel but only because Romana is identical to a princess he has kidnapped. Meanwhile, the Doctor is asked by a prince, Reynart, to help repair an android body double to help draw fire so the real Reynart may ascend the throne. The Prince is soon kidnapped so the Doctor decides the robot shall ascend the throne until the real Reynart can be freed. Grendel is stymied and tries to lure the Doctor into a trap involving an android Romana but he manages to escape.
Later, under guise of a temporary truce, Grendel destroys the android. He then tries to get Romana (pretending to be a princess) and Reynart to marry so he may kill Reynart, marry his widow (now the Queen) and take the throne. The Doctor manages to sneak in and upset his plans, as well as opening the gates of the castle to let in Reynart's army. Grendel flees and Reynart falls back into the hands of it's rightful ruler.
The Androids of Tara is a pretty forgettable story in plotting. Despite a last minute attempt to overplot (involving back-to-back weddings which was always the plan and seems overly complex, especially since his initial plan of just being handed the throne is nice and simple), it's a story were everything is kind of underwritten. It's one of those stories where the characters are running back and forth between their bases and characters are kidnapped and re-kidnapped. But it never takes the title element, Android doubles, and does anything cool with them. When you are dealing with dopplegangers controlled by both the heroes and the villains, it feels like it should be more of a shell game with reveals and clever tricks. But mostly it's Romana shooting lasers from her belly button (which the Doctor accidentally dodges with a somewhat low duck).
It does have it's bright spots. It may lack cleverness but it is unabashedly trying to be an old-fashioned swashbuckler. It's another story that could have easily been a historical. It wants to be a Dumas tale and actor Peter Jeffrey is truly game to play an old-fashioned, sassy, scenery chewing villain. In some ways, he's got the energy the Captain from the Pirate Planet should have had. Less yelling and more smugness and bon mots. Jeffrey is doing what he can, though the villain is pretty forgettable despite feeling like a Blackadder character and he's really not a match for the Doctor for even a second. Even as a physical threat he just gets schooled by the Doctor in a pretty dull sword fight.
It's not a hard watch. The story moves pretty quick and everyone's commitment to a silly old-school adventure tale helps things along. But the story is pretty forgettable and I wish if this was going to be a story with copy robots, than they should find fun things for them to do. There is even the promise of farce with the Doctor's android threatening to break down any second and they really don't play with that enough. It's a very light, airy episode and while that's not a bad thing (it's nice to have something that isn't the end of the world), it doesn't have the wit to make it the grand time they are aiming for.
Best Cliffhanger: They are all pretty weak. I guess the first one? Just because at least we get to see the villain gloat a bit.
Next Time:
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Power of Kroll
"Well, I've had a good life, can't complain. Nearly 760. Not a bad age."
Eh, I don't feel like writing a recap today. Let Wikipedia do it.
This one is a weak one. In every area, this one is a clunker. Down to the Doctor just... having ducks on his clothes? This feels like we are heading into the area where the producers give the Fifth Doctor celery or the Sixth Doctor a clown suit. Needlessly whimsical appointments that start to make the show seem like it is trying too hard. Which is interesting because this is a story that doesn't try hard enough. It has the ingredients. Tackling colonization, abuse of indigenous peoples, religion and who gets to decide what God wants, the environment. But it doesn't do anything with them. They just sit there like a little limp squid toy.
The Swampies are nothing. Generic "native" types and though we know intellectually they are being abused, they are mostly made of villains and slightly objecting characters. Every force in this kind of sucks and while some stories can make that work (the Caves of Androzani), this means I am uninterested in every one. Rohm-Dutt is the closest to an interesting character, a scumbag who has no loyalties except money and is trying to live through a war he inserted himself in, and then he's just killed off. I really don't care what happens to these people. The Swampies don't even seem to have children to humanize them and despite some having different names and even characters who question the will of Kroll, they all pretty much run together.
Kroll itself is kind of a charmingly dumb monster but it never leads to anything bigger. The Swampies make claims about what Kroll wants and that seems like a great opportunity to explore how some people twist religious teachings and facts to fit how they want the world to be but it never pans out. Kroll should be a benevolent but dangerous ecological force like the worms from Dune but nope, he's just a big monster that needs destroying. Robert Holmes brings out all the themes just ACHING for exploration and it's clear he either doesn't want to or the story is so rewritten to be more about "monsters" and "tribes".
This is probably the weakest of the season so far. It really feels like they were desperate to fill the hours. Androids of Tara ad Stones of Blood have flaws but at least it feels like the show wants to do pastiches or try something different. The only thing here is it wants to get those poor actors to have to trudge through some mud. It's nearly 1980 at this point and even by way of metaphor having "natives" so thinly drawn seems like it must have been a culture crime even then. Yeah, I know I'm underestimating 70s shittiness but still, I feel like some other Doctor stories with tribal "savages" felt a little more nuanced, if not good.
Best Cliffhanger: The third one is so weird because before the big monster shows up, it is established how to survive it. Why do that then. It robs the cliffhanger of a punch or suspense. So I'll go with the tentacle pulling a man through a tube.
Next Time:
"Well, I've had a good life, can't complain. Nearly 760. Not a bad age."
Eh, I don't feel like writing a recap today. Let Wikipedia do it.
This one is a weak one. In every area, this one is a clunker. Down to the Doctor just... having ducks on his clothes? This feels like we are heading into the area where the producers give the Fifth Doctor celery or the Sixth Doctor a clown suit. Needlessly whimsical appointments that start to make the show seem like it is trying too hard. Which is interesting because this is a story that doesn't try hard enough. It has the ingredients. Tackling colonization, abuse of indigenous peoples, religion and who gets to decide what God wants, the environment. But it doesn't do anything with them. They just sit there like a little limp squid toy.
The Swampies are nothing. Generic "native" types and though we know intellectually they are being abused, they are mostly made of villains and slightly objecting characters. Every force in this kind of sucks and while some stories can make that work (the Caves of Androzani), this means I am uninterested in every one. Rohm-Dutt is the closest to an interesting character, a scumbag who has no loyalties except money and is trying to live through a war he inserted himself in, and then he's just killed off. I really don't care what happens to these people. The Swampies don't even seem to have children to humanize them and despite some having different names and even characters who question the will of Kroll, they all pretty much run together.
Kroll itself is kind of a charmingly dumb monster but it never leads to anything bigger. The Swampies make claims about what Kroll wants and that seems like a great opportunity to explore how some people twist religious teachings and facts to fit how they want the world to be but it never pans out. Kroll should be a benevolent but dangerous ecological force like the worms from Dune but nope, he's just a big monster that needs destroying. Robert Holmes brings out all the themes just ACHING for exploration and it's clear he either doesn't want to or the story is so rewritten to be more about "monsters" and "tribes".
This is probably the weakest of the season so far. It really feels like they were desperate to fill the hours. Androids of Tara ad Stones of Blood have flaws but at least it feels like the show wants to do pastiches or try something different. The only thing here is it wants to get those poor actors to have to trudge through some mud. It's nearly 1980 at this point and even by way of metaphor having "natives" so thinly drawn seems like it must have been a culture crime even then. Yeah, I know I'm underestimating 70s shittiness but still, I feel like some other Doctor stories with tribal "savages" felt a little more nuanced, if not good.
Best Cliffhanger: The third one is so weird because before the big monster shows up, it is established how to survive it. Why do that then. It robs the cliffhanger of a punch or suspense. So I'll go with the tentacle pulling a man through a tube.
Next Time:
I will never forgive The Power of Kroll for giving a role so weak to Philip Madoc that he never returned to the show. God dangit, Power of Kroll.
Though I will say, fandom generally bags on the effects in this one (and fair enough, they're often not great), but I've always liked this shot of Kroll itself:
Though I will say, fandom generally bags on the effects in this one (and fair enough, they're often not great), but I've always liked this shot of Kroll itself:
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Yeah, I like that as cheap as it is, there's scale to it.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The Armageddon Factor
" I've stopped the universe. Still, they'll never notice. Just imagine, somewhere someone's just slipped on a banana skin and he'll be wondering forever when he's going to hit the ground."
In this serial, The Doctor and Romana arrive on Atrios to recover the final segment to the Key of Time. Atrios is at eternal war with the planet Zeos but is losing. Though the Princess Astra rules in name, she is more a figurehead with the war being run by The Marshal, an unhinged warhawk convinced that victory is around the corner despite the planet being on the verge of losing. To this end, Astra and her lover, a field doctor named Merak, are plotting to contact Zeos covertly to try to end the war. However, Zeos seems to be impossible to communicate with. And no prisoner has ever been caught. In fact, is seems no one on Atrios has ever met a Zeon.
The Doctor finds this strange, as well as the Marshall constantly consulting a black wall. The Marshall pretends to comply with the Doctor, convinced he will help end the war and bring the Marshall glory. He traps the Doctor of Zeos, where he realize has no population, just a computer designed to wage war and soon self-destruct, taking the Atrios with it. It is revealed the entire war was orchestrated by The Shadow, a powerful agent of the Black Guardian. While the Doctor was seeking the other pieces, the Shadow was waiting on his planet with the knowledge of the final piece, a long game ambush. The Shadow even takes control of Astra and K-9 and attempts to force the Doctor and Romana to give up the other pieces of the Key. The Doctor manages to gain the help of Drax, a Time Lord engineer trapped by the Shadow and forced to make his super computer. The Doctor learns the final key is Astra. She sacrifices herself to join the key and while the Shadow is about to take it as it is complete, the Doctor manages to use a size changing device to ambush the Shadow, take the completed key and trick the Marshall into destroying him. The Doctor and Romana are confronted by what seems like the White Guardian but when he notices his indifference to a single human life, he realizes it's the Black Guardian. He scatters the key once more, gaining the Black Guardian's ire. To escape, he decides to build a location randomizer in his Tardis, so no one, not even the Doctor, knows where they will go next.
I'm going to be honest, when the story first started, I was actually aboard for it. I think the Marshall is a great scummy villain (John Woodvine strides a nice line of humourlessness and hamminess) and the premise of a planet at war with an unseen enemy that might not exist is very interesting. It feels like it has a lot of potential to be interesting and having a vain, petty, pathetic human as the Black Guardian's tool makes a lot of sense. It's when the Shadow enters the picture and all his machinations are laid bare that things begin to fall apart. It feels like as it was written it made sense to the writers but when you pull the threads, it makes increasingly less sense as a plan and also muddies and interesting commentary on warhawkism falls to the wayside.
I feel like there's some good stuff. I like the Marshall and Schapp is an interesting frenemy for the Doctor for the serial, at least until he falls to the wayside. Instead, he more or less gets replaced by Drax, a character too silly by a half for this story. I think that is, in part, the point, an attempt to add more levity to a high stakes apocalyptic adventure but he's far more irritating than fun and his entry into the story feels really clumsy. I think adding fun into the story is a good idea to change gears but this felt like a bad direction. And by the end, you must ask "wait, what was even the point of this loose arc?" The whole thing becomes more clearly a mess as it goes on.
It's a shame because I think the conceit is the perfect start. Not the Shadow stuff. He's kind of a cool, if stock, villain but again, it feels like it derailed a more interesting mystery. If the Black Guardian is the evil side, it's more interesting if he is interesting to tempt the Doctor away from his nature. Putting him in charge of a planet's military seems like a promising start, even though not much comes from it. And The Marshall, cruel, foolish and inhumane, is a much better counterpoint and representative of a more "real" evil than the skulking Darth Vader-type. I was really excited about the mystery of a one-sided war by it feels like it never amounts to much. Instead of the Shadow's false flag, it would be more interesting if the Zeos set up the evil computer and it killed them all because they didn't matter in winning the war. And that's it, the enemy should want to win and the Doctor should want to create peace. And it never amounts to much.
Best Cliffhanger: I do kind of like the reveal of K-9 being controlled by the bad guy. Sadly, it never comes to an interesting threat, especially since we've seen K-9 pretty much takes out any physical threat he comes in contact with.
Next Time:
" I've stopped the universe. Still, they'll never notice. Just imagine, somewhere someone's just slipped on a banana skin and he'll be wondering forever when he's going to hit the ground."
In this serial, The Doctor and Romana arrive on Atrios to recover the final segment to the Key of Time. Atrios is at eternal war with the planet Zeos but is losing. Though the Princess Astra rules in name, she is more a figurehead with the war being run by The Marshal, an unhinged warhawk convinced that victory is around the corner despite the planet being on the verge of losing. To this end, Astra and her lover, a field doctor named Merak, are plotting to contact Zeos covertly to try to end the war. However, Zeos seems to be impossible to communicate with. And no prisoner has ever been caught. In fact, is seems no one on Atrios has ever met a Zeon.
The Doctor finds this strange, as well as the Marshall constantly consulting a black wall. The Marshall pretends to comply with the Doctor, convinced he will help end the war and bring the Marshall glory. He traps the Doctor of Zeos, where he realize has no population, just a computer designed to wage war and soon self-destruct, taking the Atrios with it. It is revealed the entire war was orchestrated by The Shadow, a powerful agent of the Black Guardian. While the Doctor was seeking the other pieces, the Shadow was waiting on his planet with the knowledge of the final piece, a long game ambush. The Shadow even takes control of Astra and K-9 and attempts to force the Doctor and Romana to give up the other pieces of the Key. The Doctor manages to gain the help of Drax, a Time Lord engineer trapped by the Shadow and forced to make his super computer. The Doctor learns the final key is Astra. She sacrifices herself to join the key and while the Shadow is about to take it as it is complete, the Doctor manages to use a size changing device to ambush the Shadow, take the completed key and trick the Marshall into destroying him. The Doctor and Romana are confronted by what seems like the White Guardian but when he notices his indifference to a single human life, he realizes it's the Black Guardian. He scatters the key once more, gaining the Black Guardian's ire. To escape, he decides to build a location randomizer in his Tardis, so no one, not even the Doctor, knows where they will go next.
I'm going to be honest, when the story first started, I was actually aboard for it. I think the Marshall is a great scummy villain (John Woodvine strides a nice line of humourlessness and hamminess) and the premise of a planet at war with an unseen enemy that might not exist is very interesting. It feels like it has a lot of potential to be interesting and having a vain, petty, pathetic human as the Black Guardian's tool makes a lot of sense. It's when the Shadow enters the picture and all his machinations are laid bare that things begin to fall apart. It feels like as it was written it made sense to the writers but when you pull the threads, it makes increasingly less sense as a plan and also muddies and interesting commentary on warhawkism falls to the wayside.
I feel like there's some good stuff. I like the Marshall and Schapp is an interesting frenemy for the Doctor for the serial, at least until he falls to the wayside. Instead, he more or less gets replaced by Drax, a character too silly by a half for this story. I think that is, in part, the point, an attempt to add more levity to a high stakes apocalyptic adventure but he's far more irritating than fun and his entry into the story feels really clumsy. I think adding fun into the story is a good idea to change gears but this felt like a bad direction. And by the end, you must ask "wait, what was even the point of this loose arc?" The whole thing becomes more clearly a mess as it goes on.
It's a shame because I think the conceit is the perfect start. Not the Shadow stuff. He's kind of a cool, if stock, villain but again, it feels like it derailed a more interesting mystery. If the Black Guardian is the evil side, it's more interesting if he is interesting to tempt the Doctor away from his nature. Putting him in charge of a planet's military seems like a promising start, even though not much comes from it. And The Marshall, cruel, foolish and inhumane, is a much better counterpoint and representative of a more "real" evil than the skulking Darth Vader-type. I was really excited about the mystery of a one-sided war by it feels like it never amounts to much. Instead of the Shadow's false flag, it would be more interesting if the Zeos set up the evil computer and it killed them all because they didn't matter in winning the war. And that's it, the enemy should want to win and the Doctor should want to create peace. And it never amounts to much.
Best Cliffhanger: I do kind of like the reveal of K-9 being controlled by the bad guy. Sadly, it never comes to an interesting threat, especially since we've seen K-9 pretty much takes out any physical threat he comes in contact with.
Next Time: