Doctor Who review blog...

Post Reply New Topic

REVIEW: Revelation of the Daleks by Eric Saward

SERIAL: 6Z, 2X45 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


The 22nd season of Doctor Who was perhaps its most controversial, with the violence of the stories rising, and the Doctor a less heroic character. Starting the season with a story with Cybermen, the season was to end with the second Dalek story penned by Eric Saward. But how would this story turn out? As Davros puts it in-story, it could be a box of delights or a box of hate...

Hearing of the death of old friend Professor Arthur Stengos, the Doctor and Peri land on the planet Necros, intending to visit the cryogenic repository of Tranquil Repose, where Stengos is being held in suspended animation. But not all is well. They are attacked by a mutant whose dying words blame the experiments of the Great Healer, a scientist whose base is at Tranquil Repose and, teamed with businesswoman Kara, has solved famine problems in this part of the galaxy. But Tranquil Repose has secrets. Stengos' daughter, Natasha, is driven by a lack of satisfaction in the courts to get her father back to effectively bodysnatch her father, only to find him mutating in the shell of a Dalek. The Tranquil Repose staff not only have feuds of their own, but as those in suspended animation are mostly those in authority, they have to keep the bodies here to keep safe the positions of the living in power. And Kara has hired mercenary Orcini to assassinate the Great Healer, whose true name is Davros. In a web of deceit and death, can the Doctor and Peri stop Davros?

As a story, Revelation of the Daleks is pretty macabre and grim, but compared to Resurrection of the Daleks, it is much better. It has a strong undercurrent of dark, sardonic humour and wit that could have come from the pen of Robert Holmes. And while some complain about the lack of direct participation the Doctor and Peri have in the first half of the story, I actually reckon this works in the favour of the story. There's also some excellent dialogue that counterpoints the more dark undertones of the story (like Davros' line about "consumer resistance", easily the most blackly comic line in the series, a funny dialogue between the Doctor and Peri about breaking his watch that could be more of a comment about the Doctor's, uh, *ahem-ahem*, Stengos' agonised speech as a Dalek creature, or Orcini waxing lyrical about his work).

The characters are all written and, with one egregious exception, acted decently or very well. The sixth Doctor and Peri are both written and acted well, though the Doctor's rather bitchy comments about her weight seem to be out of line. Davros is perhaps at his finest written here, subtle, and even possessed of an extremely dark sense of humour, and Terry Molloy plays to that excellently. Alexei Sayle is a delight as the DJ, showing that he can play a role quite straight when he needs to, and his (albeit brief) friendship with Peri is very touching. Eleanor Bron as Kara and Hugh Walters as her secretary (and implied lover) Vogel are great, as is William Gaunt as Orcini and John Ogwen as Bostock, his squire. The only really bad performance is Jenny Tomasin's frankly abysmal and over-the-top performance as Tasambeker, which is a shame, as the character was written well enough, but one doesn't feel any sympathy for the character as acted.

Production wise, this story is dead-on, except for a confusing sequence involving the deaths of Grigory and Natasha. Graeme Harper once more returns to the series and does things so right, it's no wonder that he came back to the new series. The atmosphere is appropriate and consistent, the music by Roger Limb is great, and the special effects go down well after some others from earlier.

Revelation of the Daleks is the perfect Doctor Who story with an adult tone. With undertones of death, sexual harassment, and "consumer resistance", this is perhaps the most mature story of the entire classic run.



SCORE: 10/10

And the trailer for the next epic, Trial of a Time Lord.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epfjv3EkRGU[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Trial of a Time Lord, Segment 1: The Mysterious Planet by Robert Holmes

SERIAL: 7A, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes

(For the purposes of this review, The Trial of a Time Lord will be split into four segments: The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids, and The Ultimate Foe. However, a summation of the serial as a whole will be made in the summary for the Sixth Doctor's era)


Put on hiatus for 18 months by Michael Grade (although the original intent may have been to cancel the show, though protests prevented that), the show, when it came back, would not only have to tone down the violence, but be back for a reduced run of 14 25-minute episodes. John Nathan-Turner and Eric Saward embarked on an ambitious plan: an epic season-spanning story where the Doctor is put on trial for his life, made from three separate stories and a conclusion to the trial. Whether putting the Doctor on trial in fiction at the same time that he was in reality was a good thing remained to be seen...

Drawn to an isolated space station, the Doctor finds himself in a supposedly impartial inquiry into his meddling with the affairs of other planets and civilisations. The prosecutor, the Valeyard, opens his case with the Doctor's past adventure on the planet Ravalox, a mysterious planet not unlike Earth. In fact, as the Doctor and Peri soon find as they investigate, it IS Earth, devastated by a fireball and moved, along with the Solar System, light years away from its place. But Ravolox is far from dead. The criminals Sabalom Glitz and Dibber are on the planet, searching for stolen secrets, secrets guarded by the robot Drathro. Drathro, meanwhile has kept an oppressive society deep underground, marked by rationing and culling, and its black light power system is beginning to fail catastrophically. But while the Doctor of the past struggles to prevent a catastrophe on Ravolox, the Doctor of the present is in very real danger. The Valeyard makes the inquiry into a trial, and at stake is the Doctor's life. But why is the Valeyard so eager for the Doctor's life? And where is Peri at this time? And why are segments of evidence removed at the insistence of the High Council? The Doctor has to find out, before his lives are forfeit...

The Mysterious Planet is not Robert Holmes' finest work, but it's still pretty good, considering that he was nearing the end of his life. The Ravolox segment lacks a little punch for a variety of reasons: the main villain is a hubris-filled robot, the story lacks a certain complexity, and some of the characters aren't as good as they could be. The trial segments, too, lack a certain something. The Doctor seems more prone to bluster and snark than intelligently attack the Valeyard's arguments. But that being said, the framing device, while intrusive, does well, and there's some good dialogue on both sides of the story.

The characters aren't Robert Holmes' best, but they do well. The Doctor and Peri seemed to have settled down finally, and have a more playful relationship, and it is to my utter relief that the Doctor is less abusive and more of a moralistic figure, making me warm much more to Colin Baker's interpretation of the role. Sabalom Glitz is an interesting figure, a combination of comic relief and, when necessary, menace, and Tony Selby plays him well. So too does Tom Chadbon as Merdeen, and Joan Sims, while a little awkward as Katryca, plays the role with gusto. However, Drathro is a rather disappointing villain in terms of character, being basically a selfish, hubristic robot (though the concept of a robot with hubris is an interesting one). But the costume, while unwieldy, is impressive, and Roger Brierly's voice suits it well. The other Ravolox roles range from decent to, well, meh. On the trial side, Michael Jayston is an excellent Valeyard, and Lynda Bellingham is a good Inquisitor.

The production seems rather glossier than before, with a famous motion control sequence of the space station opening the serial. The sets within the shelters are decent, though the abandoned frontage of Marble Arch is more impressive. The location work is good too, and there's some pretty good special effects all around. Costumes, or more precisely those of the underground dwellers, are the only real disappointment. What is with those cloth helmet things? And that skullcap Merdeen wears, ugh.

While not the most promising of beginnings, The Mysterious Planet is a good start to the story of The Trial of a Time Lord. With questions needing answering and a new style, it holds promise for this season...


SCORE: 8.5/10

REVIEW: The Trial of a Time Lord, Segment 2: Mindwarp by Philip Martin

SERIAL: 7B, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Of the segments of The Trial of a Time Lord, none have been so controversial as the second, Mindwarp. With its portrayal of the Doctor and everything in the story up for grabs for fan interpretation, it is a story that provokes debate to this very day. But what of the production proper? With Nicola Bryant as Peri leaving partway through the epic overarching story, how would her role be written out?

The Valeyard present his second piece of evidence, and, as it turns out, his most damning one yet. For this was the very adventure the Doctor was engaged in when he was taken out of time, and the Valeyard claims that this will prove his assertion that not only is the Doctor a meddler, but a danger to all around him. Not long ago, the Doctor and Peri were investigating arms dealing perpetrated by the Mentors of Thoros Beta, whose number include the repulsive Sil, whom they encountered on Varos. But arms dealing isn't the worst of what goes on in the depths of Thoros Beta's caverns. The eminent and unethical scientist and physician Crozier is working for Sil and Sil's leader, Lord Kiv, trying to find ways to extend Kiv's life. He is also working on pacifying the barbarian warlord of Krontep, King Yrcanos. But during an interrogation, the Doctor's mind is affected. He seems to betray Yrcanos and Peri to the Mentors, but is it really a ruse as the Doctor claims? Or is the Valeyard right, and the mindwarping process merely brought out the true colours of the Doctor? The problem is, whether willingly or as a ruse, the Doctor might just give Crozier the power to cheat death, and the Time Lords won't stand for that...

The actual story of Mindwarp, while hard to watch (understandably, given what happens to the Doctor and Peri), is nonetheless lacking in faults. It has a humour about it that was lacking in the televised version of Philip Martin's previous story, Vengeance on Varos, and we actually get a feel for the Mentors as a culture rather than as just villains. The story also has enough ambiguity that, given claims made later in the series, we might be able to consider to what degree the story is true. I personally feel that the story itself is true, but grossly exaggerated to paint the Doctor in the worst possible light. The trial sequences, unfortunately, are the worst part of this show, too intrusive, with the Doctor showing little of his true mettle, resorting to claiming amnesia for what happened, but the ending is palpable, and the Doctor's dismay at what is apparently Peri's demise rings true.

The characters are quite well written for the Mindwarp sequences, and while performances vary, they're never really bad. Colin Baker blatantly relishes the opportunity to play a villainous, or at least highly deranged Doctor (and his sorrow at what happened to Peri is undeniable, as is the hard looks he give the courtroom at the end of the serial), and Nicola Bryant as Peri not only does well, but when she plays Kiv in Peri's body, it is chilling to watch. Some people may think that Brian Blessed is the wrong actor to play Yrcanos, but frankly, I reckon he is perfect, if a little too willing to ham it up. A slightly more subdued performance would have worked. However, his nice little touches of strange hisses and whistles to Yrcanos' alien speech actually works. Nabil Shaban plays Sil so well, it's unbelievable, and Christopher Ryan makes his Doctor Who debut as Lord Kiv, playing him different to the obnoxious and obsequious Sil. There is an even comedic performance of an unnamed Mentor that is written and performed well by Richard Henry. Patrick Ryecart as Crozier, Trevor Laird as Frax and Alibe Parsons as Matrona Kani round off the better performances. In the trial sequences, while not written as well as they could have been, Michael Jayston as the Valeyard and Lynda Bellingham as the put-upon Inquisitor are still good.

Production wise, this story is actually quite good. The surface of Thoros Beta, thanks to Paintbox work, is one of the most impressive alien planets ever done, especially considering that it was filmed near Brighton. The sets are all fairly good, as are the costumes, though there are a few dodgy elements here and there, like the thankfully barely-seen Raak costume and the inflatable rock.

Mindwarp would have been a great standalone story, but the trial sequences and a few dodgy elements spoil it. And it's also rather painful to watch, if only because the Doctor apparently goes bad. Still, I feel it's an underrated segment of the overall epic.




SCORE: 9/10

Now, as I'm reaching the end of the classic series, I am going to take a break before I do my catch-up. How long that will be depends of circumstances. However, I can confirm that I can add Frontios to the catch-up list.

Whether I go onto the new series, I am yet to decide.

REVIEW: The Trial of a Time Lord, Segment 3: Terror of the Vervoids by Pip and Jane Baker

SERIAL: 7C (part 1), 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Of the segments of The Trial of a Time Lord, perhaps my favourite in terms of actual entertainment was the third segment, where the Doctor conducts his defence. Terror of the Vervoids is a Christie-style mystery in space, introducing a new companion, and a new foe. But is it actually any good, when seen in context?

Still severely traumatised by the news of Peri's death, the Doctor nonetheless resolves to conduct his own defence. With the Valeyard having presented adventures from the Doctor's past and near-present, the Doctor presents an adventure from his own future. Travelling the universe with bubbly programmer Mel, the Doctor intercepts a distress call directed at the TARDIS from the spaceliner Hyperion III, requesting his help in identifying a traitor before the Hyperion III, travelling from the planet Mogar, reaches Earth. But not long after they arrive, a man disappears, apparently murdered, after being mistaken for an investigator. The Commodore of the Hyperion III, wary of the Doctor's reputation for being at the site of death and destruction, nevertheless allows the Doctor to investigate, hoping that the murderer will be flushed out. But the Doctor, aware that he may be being used as a diversion for a real investigation, is a little reluctant. But as the death toll mounts, the Doctor and Mel investigate. It isn't just a human murderer at work. Each of the passengers and crew, from the acid-tongued agronomist Lasky, to put-upon security officer Rudge, have a secret, but it is Lasky's pods, held in a hydroponics centre, that contain the deadliest secret of all. And while they watch event unfold in the courtroom, the Doctor is finding that his own evidence has been distorted, and that the Valeyard, even if the Doctor can prove himself innocent of deadly meddling, has a devastating trump card up his sleeve...

Terror of the Vervoids' trial scenes are a marked improvement. No longer is the Doctor reduced to childish outbursts, but rather, he seems more confident and in control, and the battle between the Doctor and the Valeyard seems as it should be. The trial scenes are still not as good as they can be, but as I said, a marked improvement, but one wonders if this adventure was a good choice for the Doctor to show in his defence, and did he think he would be able to find a loophole when accused of committing genocide against the Vervoids? The story itself is a nice little mystery in the style of Agatha Christie, and while the characters may not be up to snuff all the time and there are a few loose ends (was Hallet really investigating Lasky and Doland, and was it Doland, the murderer, who put the electric booby trap on the gate for the hydroponics centre?), it's still a cracking good yarn with lots of flowery dialogue.

The characters are, for the most part, fine, if a little thin. The Doctor is as he should be, full of bluster and arrogance, but far from mean or petty. However, while Bonnie Langford does try, Mel is rather cardboard and a little irritating, not to mention precocious. Peri, admittedly, was irritating, but at least she had a little character. Honor Blackman is a surprisingly good Professor Lasky (whose ambiguity is written so well, it is hard to tell whether she is the murderer, or just merely proud and arrogant until the reveal), and Michael Craig's Travers does well as the suspicious Travers. David Allister's Bruchner is one of the more understated and better done performances.

The production itself seems a little garish at times, but considering that it takes place on a luxury spaceliner, this is to be expected, and the special effects are pretty much without reproach. However, the costumes of the Vervoids, while generally fine from a distance, look rather too rubbery close up, though their voices are effective, as is the gruesome mutation make-up first seen at the end of the second episode of this segment. The music is intrusive at times. The direction can be atmospheric, especially when set in the hold of the Hyperion III, but is otherwise functional.

Terror of the Vervoids is a great production marred by one too many flaws, but it is one that helps improve, if nothing else, the overall quality of the trial scenes. Mel's debut, unfortunately, is not the best for the character, but this story still stands as how the sixth Doctor should really have been portrayed.


SCORE: 9/10

REVIEW: The Trial of a Time Lord, Segment 4: The Ultimate Foe by Robert Holmes and Pip and Jane Baker

SERIAL: 7C (part 2), 2X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


As a concept of multiple stories within a self-contained story arc, The Trial of a Time Lord, admittedly, must be considered a failure. But taken individually as self-contained serials, the actual stories are quite good. But the concluding two-part story, originally titles Time Inc., suffered a multitude of production problems. Robert Holmes died after writing a draft of the first episode, and Eric Saward, who wrote the original version of the conclusion, fell out with John Nathan-Turner, and his original ending, which would have seen a cliffhanger with the Doctor and the Valeyard fighting to the death in a time vent for all eternity, was scrapped because the producer thought that that would be all the excuse needed for the BBC to cancel the show for good. Pip and Jane Baker were brought in at the last minute to provide a conclusion, but would it work?

The Keeper of the Matrix has been brought in to refute the Doctor's suggestion that the Matrix has been tampered with. The only way the Doctor can proceed further is to provide witnesses to independently verify his side of events, but just as he begins to despair, help comes from an unexpected quarter. Sabalom Glitz and Mel are sent to the space station, and by the most unexpected of saviours: the Master. Not only does the Master prove that the Matrix can be independently entered and tampered with, but he reveals shattering information: the trial was a set-up, to get rid of the Doctor, as he had blundered upon Ravolox as really being Earth, and Earth had been shifted through space by order of the High Council in order to stop the Andromedans who had stolen secrets from the Matrix. But worst is yet to come: the High Council chose a singular man to be their prosecutor. The Valeyard is the Doctor's evil personified from his own future, and he has been promised the Doctor's lives so that he may pursue an independent existence. Fleeing into the Matrix, the Valeyard ensnares the Doctor and Glitz in a surreal nightmare world, while the Master gloats, preparing for not only the destruction of the Doctor and the Valeyard, but also his own ascendancy. The Doctor is up against the ultimate foe, and he may not be able to stop his dark side from winning...

Considering what happened, the fact that The Ultimate Foe works at all is astonishing. That it feels relatively consistent throughout is a miracle. While feeling a little rushed, and the particle disseminator a rather sudden revelation, the whole thing is actually quite a satisfactory resolution to the Trial storyline. Many things are explained, especially the box of secrets from The Mysterious Planet. And for the first time in years, the Master's appearance not only comes as a pleasant surprise, but his motivations for appearing make perfect sense! And while it is a rather disappointing conclusion to the era of the sixth Doctor, it wasn't intended that way. Peri's death being retconned into her surviving and marrying Yrcanos is rather ambivalent. I don't think she deserved to die, but it was still drmaatic and good.

The characters are, with the exception of Bonnie Langford's Mel (who is, if anything, even worse than she was in Terror of the Vervoids, shrill and paper-thin), pretty good. Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor gets one of his most noteworthy speeches when he condemns the Time Lords as being even more corrupt and evil than even the Daleks or Cybermen, something that would resonate even more strongly given events in the new series, and it shows what a waste his era was. Michael Jayston as the Valeyard finally gets to spread his wings, and Anthony Ainley puts in a relatively subdued performance as the Master that is far more effective than many of his previous ones. Sabalom Glitz is well written (with one of my favourite lines being Glitz telling the Doctor that Glitz is a small time crook with small time ambitions, one of which was staying alive), and so is the strange Mr Popplewick, though the revelation of his true identity is a little disappointing.

Production wide, this story is pretty good. The scenes in the Matrix make use of good location work that add to the eerie atmosphere within that realm, and the direction helps keep the viewer ill at ease. Occasionally, the music is rather obtrusive, but otherwise, things rock along nicely.

The Ultimate Foe is a good conclusion to an epic that is, taken together, rather overwrought. But individually, the serials are strong. Leaving aside Mel and the rather rushed conclusion, this is a good story.


SCORE: 9/10

PROGRESS REPORT SEVEN: THE REIGN OF TURNER 3: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

STORIES: Total for this era: 11

Cumulative total: 103. 14 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 17 Jon Pertwee. 36 Tom Baker. 19 Peter Davison. 11 Colin Baker.

TIME: Total for this era: 7 days

Cumulative total: 106 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 1/11, or 9%

Cumulative total: 37/103, or 36%

MILESTONES:

Most unstable regeneration

First appearance of Sil

First appearance of the Rani

Final multi-Doctor story of the classic series

Final overseas location filming for classic series

Largest Doctor Who serial ever (14 episodes)

First (and, to date, last) appearance of the Valeyard



COMPANIONS: Peri, Mel


THOUGHTS:

Okay, I'll be honest. The sixth Doctor is actually the worst of the lot. This is not the fault of Colin Baker, whose performance cannot be faulted, really. Rather, this is the fault of the script writers. The concept of an initially unlikeable Doctor is a sound one, but on a serial that could very well be one bad step away from cancellation, it's not a good idea. The violence in the stories also rose as well, not always a bad thing (as the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era showed), but it went too far at times.

And yet, I feel that this is an era in serious need of reevaluation. While The Twin Dilemma was a stinker, and Attack of the Cybermen mindless action fare with lavishes of continuity porn, there were many other stories of high quality. Vengeance on Varos is a good story, as is the darkly comic Revelation of the Daleks. Timelash was a seriously flawed production, but has a good script behind it nonetheless. And both The Mark of the Rani and The Two Doctors have something in them that is good enough.

But with the near cancellation subsequently sublimated into an 18-month hiatus, we lost promising stories, such as The Nightmare Fair, Mission to Magnus, The Ultimate Evil, and, if location filming in Singapore managed to work, Yellow Fever. When it came back, JNT and Eric Saward would make the decision to bring the show back as a single story, made of four serials.

As an overarching story, The Trial of a Time Lord is disappointing. The trial scenes eat into the action and keep interrupting. The Doctor and the Valeyard cannot rise above sniping at each other childishly, and the whole procedure is a farce. It could have been better, especially in light of the revelation of the Valeyard as the Doctor's dark side, a role for which he was not utilised to the full. But as each separate serial, the serials themselves are actually quite good, with interesting concepts and a much-improved characterisation of the Doctor.

Despite this good stuff, it is already clear that Doctor Who, as a show, was beginning to shuffle towards the end of its life. The rot had set in, and what was to be done later to save it was unfortunately too late to stop the slow demise. Even so, this era should not be overlooked, as it does have some of the best of the series after all...



BEST STORIES: Vengeance on Varos, Revelation of the Daleks, The Trial of a Time Lord (individual serials)

WORST STORIES: The Twin Dilemma, Attack of the Cybermen, Timelash, The Trial of a Time Lord (overall execution of overarching concept)

Last edited by Quatermass on 15 Aug 2011, 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I think if they had better writers, Doctor Who might not've been put on hiatus right in the middle of the Colin Baker era. And to be honest, I loved the outfit! So what if it's so tacky? I mean, the Doctor's always had a bizarre costume, even today. It's part of his personality.

Actually, Colin Baker wanted either a dark suit or a black leather jacket (a la Christopher Eccleston) to suit his dark personality as the sixth Doctor. In fact, there's a CGI simulation over a clip from The Twin Dilemma on a documentary on the DVD for The Twin Dilemma. It was thanks to JNT's meddling that we had the 'symphony of bad taste' thing.

The writers are not completely at fault. I don't know how much input Eric Saward had into making the sixth Doctor unlikeable and how much input either JNT or Colin Baker (who did say he wanted his Doctor to be rather like Mr Darcy, in that you didn't like him at first, but as you got to know him, he'd get better), but it was multifactorial.

I think part of the problem was his relationship with Peri. If they didn't spend as much time verbally abusing each other (watch Peri in The Two Doctors when he tells her that the human brain, while small, can be capable of amazing things in a rather condescending tone: she mouths something that could very well be 'you a**hole'), it would have been much better. That, and if they bothered to develop her character more.

BTW, I forgot to include the DVD trailer for the next story, Sylvester McCoy's debut, Time and the Rani.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQgaWiXZcZc[/youtube]

REVIEW: Time and the Rani by Pip and Jane Baker

SERIAL: 7D, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


It was eventually decided, in order to refresh the series, that a number of changes had to be made to the series. Eric Saward had already departed the series after a dispute with John Nathan-Turner, and now, a command came from on high: Colin Baker was sacked. His replacement was a relative unknown, a Shakespearean actor and stunt performer with the Ken Campbell Roadshow born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith, but long since known by the stage name Sylvester McCoy. But would this unknown factor bring life back into the program?

The TARDIS is forced down on the planet Lakertya. Mel escapes with being made unconscious, but the crash landing has apparently caused the Doctor to regenerate, something that is serendipitous for his abductor: the Rani. The Rani requires the Doctor to help her with her work, and thanks to drugs, post-regenerative trauma, and an impersonation of Mel, she manages to get an uneasy cooperation. Meanwhile, Mel has been taken out of the TARDIS by Lakertyan rebel Ikona, who, after a case of mistaken identity, cooperates with her. But even though the Doctor manages to get things working and recover his memory, he still has a role to play in the Rani's schemes. Aided and hindered by the reluctant Lakertyan collaborators Beyus and Faroon, the Doctor must find out why the Rani has kidnapped geniuses from all over time and space, and why she has reserved a place for the Doctor...

As a story, Time and the Rani is disappointing. The kidnapping geniuses plot seem to be something out of a second-rate comic book (and why is Louis Pasteur included? He isn't a physicist), and while the Rani's eventual scheme seems to bring it all together, she seems rather megalomaniacal, a far cry from her amoral, twisted character in The Mark of the Rani. Maybe the Master's ideals infected her, somehow. And while rushing around and padding is part and parcel of the series, here, it doesn't work. I have heard that this was originally a sixth Doctor story, changed to become the seventh Doctor's debut, but even so, it could have been done better. However, I can (just about) believe that the Doctor was fooled by the Rani's impersonation of Mel (she did give him drugs and he was still suffering from the after-effects of the regeneration) and Lakertyans mistaking Mel for the Rani (it is strongly implied that they haven't met any other aliens before the Rani arrived, and they simply may not be able to tell the difference). It is also a pity that the indolent society of the Lakertyans (strongly implied by the Rani and by Ikona) isn't developed as well, and I wish the director went to the original intent of the writers.

Sylvester McCoy's Doctor is perhaps the best character in the whole serial, and it is his portrayal of the newly regenerated as, while at times a little arrogant, an at turns doleful and comic figure, that sets this story apart from the abysmal The Twin Dilemma. He is entertaining and endearing, which is more than you can say for Bonnie Langford's Mel. However, that being said, she is improved since The Trial of a Time Lord, being a little less shrill and precocious, and thus a little more bearable (sorry, Bonnie). Kate O'Mara manages to pull off some of the most ridiculous dialogue and make it menacing as the Rani, campy as her performance might have been. The Lakertyans are unfortunately not well done character-wise, and the only one of note performance-wise is Wanda Ventham's Faroon.

The production values, ironically, are pretty damned good. There's a veritable smorgasboard of impressive special effects, ranging from the very first true CGI effects ever used in the series to portray the TARDIS being intercepted, to impressive model effects and explosions used for both the bubble traps and the Rani's lair. And while Lakertya looks like the inevitable quarry often used in the series, it actually looks visually impressive. The Tetrap costumes are repulsive-looking, although a bit rubbery in close-shots, making them a decent monster. The only real howler is a couple of dodgy electronic effects, like the killer insects in the Centre of Leisure.

Time and the Rani, then, is a disappointment, especially considering that this was meant to be the very beginning of the seventh Doctor's reign. Still, the character of the seventh Doctor shows promise, even if he does seem to be a variation on Patrick Troughton, and the effects are wonderful...


SCORE: 6.5/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next story to be reviewed, Delta and the Bannermen (warning, flashing images)...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bWzeMfC448[/youtube]

I'm eagerly awaiting the stories with Ace. She was one of my favorite companions! Why can't we have more companions that cool?

And one of the better developed ones. She's probably got the most developed backstory for a companion in the entire classic series.

REVIEW: Delta and the Bannermen by Malcolm Kohll

SERIAL: 7F, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


The first season of Sylvester McCoy's tenure as the Doctor is one of the most controversial, with many labelling it the worst in the series' history. Personally, I disagree. Time and the Rani, despite its crappy storyline, has some of the most impressive special effects and costumes in the series. Paradise Towers and Dragonfire (both yet to come out on DVD in Australia) may seem camp, but are actually rather dark and unsettling stories. And then, we come to a rather unusual story inbetween those two stories, Delta and the Bannermen...

The Bannermen, a group of feared evil soldiers under the command of the bellicose Gavrok, have been waging a war of extermination against the Chimerons. Only the Queen, Delta, and a sole remaining egg, have survived to hijack a Bannerman spacecraft and flee, arriving at a galactic toll station at the same time that the Doctor and Mel have won a trip to Disneyland, 1959. Escaping with the Navarino tourship, Delta is far from safe. A satellite recently launched by the Americans knocks the tourship off course, and only the Doctor's quick thinking allows it to land safely at a holiday camp in Wales. Mel and the Doctor notice that Delta is on edge, and it is little wonder. Gavrok has sworn to kill every last Chimeron, and a bounty hunter on tour with the Navarinos has just betrayed Delta's position. With the help of feisty Welsh mechanics Billy and Ray, holiday camp owner Major Burton, and American agents Hawk and Weismuller, the Doctor and Mel must try and stop the conflict between Delta and the Bannermen...

Delta and the Bannermen is a rather simple and simplistic story, with a hint of the absurd about it (not to mention at least one glaring plot hole: if the cry of a young Chimeron Princess can incapacitate the Bannermen, wasn't there anyway the Chimerons could replicate it if they didn't have a Princess to hand to beat off the Bannermen) and what could be considered too much comedy. The guest characters, too, are rather simplistic and thin, with the exception of Ray, Delta, Murray, and Goronwy the beekeeper. And yet, despite all this, the story is actually great fun, a celebration of the 1950s and of Doctor Who.

Despite being rather thinly written, the characters are still all very entertaining. Sylvester McCoy has found himself as the Doctor, carrying himself with enough authority that he can verbally spar with Gavrok, and live. Mel is far less irritating than she usually is, and more assertive. Finally, she has come into her own in the character. She actually has the balls to trick Gavrok, and also tries to get Delta to open up about her troubles, and this is probably Bonnie Langford's finest hour in the show, showing that she can be more than a precocious screamer. Kevin Dodd as the Tollmaster is blatant stunt casting, but he pulls off the role well enough. The other stunt cast, Don Henderson as Gavrok, is easily one of the finest roles in the show. He takes a one-dimensional villain and plays him utterly straight and with such believable menace and repulsiveness that you take him utterly seriously. Belinda Mayne as Delta plays the hardened Chimeron Queen quite well, as does David Kinder as Billy, Sara Griffiths as Rachel 'Ray' Defwydd (a potential companion at one stage before Ace was used), Johnny Dennis as put-upon Navarino tourship driver Murray, Richard Davies as Major Burton, and Hugh Lloyd as enigmatic beekeeper Goronwy.

The production itself is pretty good. There are some rather duff special effects at times (the model bus and the satellite and its rocket are frankly crap, the thankfully briefly-seen Navarino costume looks rather crap too, and the tour bus exploding seems a little underwhelming), but there are also some good ones (like the Bannermen spacecraft taking off and landing, some decent, for the time, digital bees, and the Chimeron Princess growing). The 50s vibe is well-maintained throughout, although Keff McCulloch's music (although an improvement on the intrusive tunes used for Time and the Rani) sometimes goes from good to campy too often. But it's a slick and pacy production nonetheless.

Delta and the Bannermen, while obviously not going to be one of the ultimate classics, is nonetheless one of the overlooked stories of this era, which is a real shame. Fun and slick, you'll enjoy it, despite the comedic and sometimes camp overtones. After all, it knows when to be comedic, and when to be dramatic...


SCORE: 8.5/10

REVIEW: Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch

SERIAL: 7H, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


For Doctor Who's 25th anniversary season, John Nathan-Turner decided on a slightly more low-key celebration than before. The Daleks were coming back in the season opener, and the Cybermen coming back in a later story. But a more substantial change was at hand behind the scenes. Andrew Cartmel, the script editor, was now well in hand to begin an audacious scheme designed to bring mystery back to the Doctor, a scheme called later by fans the Cartmel Masterplan. The beginning of this would be seen in fan writer Ben Aaronovitch's debut story, Remembrance of the Daleks...

Arriving in 1963 London, the Doctor and Ace soon find themselves embroiled with a special military force led by Group Captain Gilmore, who, with scientific advisor Professor Rachel Jenson, are investigating two separate sources of unusual radiation emissions, one at Coal Hill High School, and the other at the IM Foreman junkyard at Totter's Lane. And at the junkyard emerges a Dalek. The Doctor, however, has been expecting the Daleks. What he didn't expect was military involvement, as well as two competing factions of Daleks, the Imperial Daleks led by the new Emperor Dalek, and the Renegades, allied with scrap merchant and fascist organisation leader Ratcliffe. The Daleks' goal is the Hand of Omega, a Gallifreyan stellar manipulator and potential superweapon left on Earth by the Doctor in his first incarnation, and the Doctor wants the Imperial faction to get it. But why? Who is the mysterious girl watching the Doctor and the activities of Ratcliffe? And has the Doctor miscalculated, badly?

Now, there are stories where fanw*** is written in where things threaten to collapse under the weight of previous references. And there are some where the references, while heavy, still manage to work and work well. Remembrance of the Daleks, then, is the latter. We're beginning to see the signs of a darker, more proactive and manipulative Doctor, and while his action of destroying the Dalek homeworld (whether he actually commits complete genocide into the bargain is debatable, though it is still mass murder by proxy) is a rather dark act, it almost feels right for this Doctor, as if he has finally had enough of the Daleks' taste for destruction. It seems to be foreshadowing (unintentionally) the events of the Time War. The themes of racism and xenophobia are everywhere, with not only the Daleks getting in on the act with two competing factions, but also Mr Ratcliffe and his fascist Association, as well as Mike Smith, who, while charming and nice, later turns out to be a racist.

Sylvester McCoy shows himself to be far more than a comic actor, and his seventh Doctor, by this point in time, is getting darker and more assertive. Sophie Aldred in her second story as Ace shows much, especially her reaction to a sign marked "NO COLOUREDS" in Mike Smith's house and her reaction to Mike Smith's betrayal and attempted justification of his actions, hinting at backstory that would be later revealed in Ghost Light. The guest cast is pretty good all around with the minor exception of child actress Jasmine Breaks (playing the Dalek Battle Computer girl), though it's more in the delivery of her lines than her physical acting.

Production-wise, this is astounding. While there are a few dodgy digital effects of the shuttle in-flight, the shuttle landing has got to be one of the most impressive physical effects ever done for the series, and there's plenty of explosions to go around. The Daleks look a little wobbly at times, but still manage to be dangerous-looking after being put on the backburner for the past few Dalek stories, with a new Emperor Dalek and the intimidating Special Weapons Dalek being added to the lineup.

Remembrance of the Daleks is the last classic series story to deal with them, and they go out with a big bang. Not only that, but we have the first real hints of the Cartmel Masterplan, when the Doctor has one slip of the tongue too many...


SCORE: 10/10

And now, a DVD trailer for Revenge of the Cybermen, and the next story to be reviewed, Silver Nemesis.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRhqPKda58[/youtube]

REVIEW: Silver Nemesis by Kevin Clarke

SERIAL: 7K, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes (or at least the VHS extended version)


One Doctor Who story that has stuck in my mind was the 25th anniversary story, Silver Nemesis. I couldn't understand, at the time, why it had such a bad reputation. But then again, I had, at the time, the extended version on videotape. Unfortunately, while the DVD does have the alternate scenes, it doesn't have that extended version, and what remains is the transmission version. Is this version any worse? I'll soon find out...

Learning that a planet somewhere faces imminent destruction, and narrowly avoiding an assassination attempt, the Doctor and Ace soon find out that it is Earth under threat, and the Doctor soon remembers why. The year is 1988, and 350 years ago, the Doctor launched a statue called Nemesis out into space. Nemesis is made from a living metal, validium, and is a deadly weapon from Gallifrey. But competing factions are looking for the statue, along with the necessary components to reactivate the Nemesis: a group of neo-Nazis led by Herr de Flores has a validium bow, and Lady Peinforte, a royalist from the 1600s and in whose image the statue was made, has a validium arrow. Peinforte makes her way to the 20th century using the arrow. De Flores arrives in England with his group of paramilitary soldiers. And now an advance party of Cybermen have arrived to claim Nemesis. It's a three-way battle for the statue, with the Doctor and Ace caught in the middle. And Lady Peinforte has what she believes is the ultimate trump-card: knowledge about the Doctor's dark past...

Silver Nemesis, on the face of it, is a decent story overall, but it is marred by rather badly done elements. The Cybermen can be killed easily by gold-tipped arrows or gold coins, the neo-Nazis are a laughable group with no real menace when fighting the Cybermen, and the whole thing, frankly, feels derivative of Remembrance of the Daleks, done earlier this season. Some parts of the story were better explained in scenes not actually transmitted, but otherwise, well, meh.

The characters are done okay, I guess, mostly through performance than the writing. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred do the best with their roles, and Fiona Walker, despite ridiculous dialogue, plays the insane Lady Peinforte well. Anton Differing as De Flores is rather flat, a shame, that. David Banks does his best as an admittedly poorly written Cyberleader.

It seems to me like the production really screwed this story over, and even though this was done at a time when the BBC studios were closed due to an asbestos scare, I remember that The Greatest Show in the Galaxy did much better under pressure. There is also some dicky editing, and the fight scenes seem rather anemic. But some of the special effects, such as of the Cybership, are actually quite good, and the Cybermen costumes are rather sleek.

Silver Nemesis benefitted greatly from the scenes cut out being put back in. As it stands now, it's a disappointingly mediocre aping of a far superior story.


SCORE: 6.5/10

And now the DVD trailer for the next story to be reviewed, and the last DVD trailer chronologically in the series, Battlefield.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug3K2Z5Z7_k[/youtube]