Doctor Who review blog...

Post Reply New Topic

REVIEW: The Green Death by Robert Sloman (with Barry Letts, uncredited)

SERIAL: TTT, 6X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


Many Doctor Who stories are memorable for many reasons, like if they introduce a new monster, or are a strong story with an old one. Some are remembered for the location work done overseas, and others because of a strong storyline concept. How unfortunate, then, that The Green Death is remembered, primarily, as 'that one with the giant maggots'...

In the Welsh town of Llanfairfach, a confrontation is arising between a group of eco-warriors and researchers led by Professor Cliff Jones, and the oil-refining company Global Chemicals, led by Dr Jocelyn Stevens. At stake is a new oil refining process said to be more efficient than any other, but which Jones is sure will produce more waste than ever before. While the Doctor is occupied with a brief trip to Metebelis 3, Jo and the Brigadier both head to Wales. Jo intends to join Jones, while UNIT is dealing with an incident at an abandoned mine where a man died from an infection which left him glowing green. When the Doctor returns from Metebelis 3 with nothing to show for it save for a blue sapphire, he becomes embroiled in the investigation. Why is Stevens so determined to prevent anyone from investigating the abandoned mine? What has caused the growth of gigantic maggots and a deadly green slime? And who is the BOSS, Stevens' enigmatic superior? The Doctor must find out, before all is lost...

This is probably one of the most strongly environmentally-themed Doctor Who stories ever made, with a hippy eco-warrior commune on one side, and a ruthless petroleum company on the other, and stuck in the middle are some rather unfortunate Welsh coal miners. And while the viewer is left in no doubt as to whose side you should be on, the characterisation is worthy of a script by Malcolm Hulke (ironic considering that he didn't write the story, though he wrote the later novelisation). Professor Cliff Jones is portrayed as moral, but quixotic and a little quick to lose his temper at Jo's clumsiness, and none of the personnel at Global Chemicals, with the exception of Stevens and his security chief, are portrayed as evil until they are brainwashed.

The acting is well done, and especial credit must go to John Dearth as BOSS, one of the few computers in the series to be actually imbued with an interesting personality. While menacing and megalomaniacal, he can be funny at times, making BOSS a far more interesting adversary for the Doctor than your usual artificial intelligence with attitude. The other cast members, particularly Stewart Bevan as Professor Jones, Jerome Willis as Stevens, and Tony Adams as Elgin, do well. The regulars are at their prime here, with Jo, the Brigadier, Benton, and especially Yates being given chances to shine.

The main arc of this story is the build-up of Jo leaving the Doctor to be with Professor Jones, and while their romance is somewhat whirlwind, it is still built up well enough throughout the story, with an emotional farewell scene, very poignantly done, where the Doctor silently leaves an impromptu party where Jo and Jones are celebrating their engagement. Very well done, and signposting the end of an era.

Unfortunately, the story is let down by some pretty dodgy special effects. While the maggots themselves are an exemplar of what happens when things go right, as is the titular 'green death', there are too many dodgy CSO shots throughout the story, along with an ambitious but ultimately failed 'giant dragonfly' effect. I also feel that there were some faulty reasonings in Stevens and BOSS' thinking about how to deal with the mine and UNIT, as it would only serve to make them more suspicious.

Still, The Green Death is obviously one of the best of the Pertwee era. It goes to show, even being called 'the one with the giant maggots' doesn't mean it's not a good story.


SCORE: 9/10

BTW, forgot to add the DVD coming soon trailer for The Time Warrior. And yes, the DVD does have CG effects as an option, the original story doesn't look as good...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdnvBLd1V0Y[/youtube]


REVIEW: The Time Warrior by Robert Holmes

SERIAL: UUU, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


With Katy Manning having left the series, and Roger Delgado dead thanks to a car crash, the UNIT family was beginning to come to an end. Jon Pertwee was beginning to feel that it was about time to move on. But there was one more season of Doctor Who to do, and Terrance Dicks commissioned it from Robert Holmes, who would create one of Doctor Who's most infamous foes, and introduce one of its best companions...

Research scientists are disappearing, and the Doctor is asked by the Brigadier to try and help find them. The Doctor encounters at a special research station Sarah Jane Smith, a journalist masquerading as her virologist aunt, and Sarah is convinced that the Doctor is the on responsible for the disappearances. But in reality, it is a Sontaran, Linx, who crash landed on Earth in the Middle Ages, and who is using primitive time travel to kidnap scientists to work on his ruined spaceship. But the Doctor finds that the Sontaran is guilty of more than kidnapping, for he is arming a local robber baron with guns and android knights to use against his noble but weak neighbour, Sir Edward, Earl of Wessex. Will Sarah believe that the Doctor is not a villain? Can the scientists be returned to their own time? And can the Doctor stop Linx before he disrupts the course of history?

This is before what I consider to be Robert Holmes' golden age on Doctor Who. The Time Warrior is a fairly straightforward romp with a few interesting characters, notably the Sontaran Linx, robber baron Irongron, and Irongron's deputy, Bloodaxe. We also learn the name of the Doctor's homeworld for the first time. However, it is mostly a vehicle for getting the Doctor a new companion, journalist Sarah Jane Smith.

I am fairly sure that not since Sara Kingdom from the events of The Dalek Masterplan has a companion been so suspicious of the Doctor and his motives, but it is done in an extraordinarily believable way. After all, the Doctor likes to keep his cards close to his chest, and from Sarah's point of view, it is a little reasonable for her to be suspicious, even though she is wrong. Elisabeth Sladen is a delight, even if sometimes Sarah's feminist values come on just a little strong once or twice. She is certainly a more realistic and certainly more initiative-taking companion than some. As always, Pertwee is a delight as the Doctor.

Of the guest stars, David Daker as Irongron, John J Carney as Bloodaxe, June Brown as Lady Eleanor and Jeremy Bulloch as Hal stand out. Unfortunately, Donald Palmear as Rubeish is more comic relief than he should and is a major plot hole in himself (how does he remain well fed, or fool Linx into thinking that he was hypnotised?), and Alan Rowe as Sir Edward is pretty flat.

However, of particular note is Kevin Lindsay as Linx, the first Sontaran in Doctor Who. Despite the apparent heart condition Lindsay had to deal with, he gives a fine performance as the squat, militaristic alien soldier. The costume and makeup is very well done, giving the appearance of an absolute SOB of an alien.

Besides the characters, simple plot and plot holes mentioned above, one of the major faults of The Time Warrior is the special effects. While I was able to watch this story with optional CGI effects, there was a reason that option was added in the first place. Between stock footage and naff electronic effects even for the day, it's a pleasure to watch it with CG effects.

Overall, The Time Warrior is a good enough story that introduces an alien race and a comapnion that would end up with the program for years to come. But the best of Robert Holmes, and of Sarah Jane Smith, are yet to come...


SCORE: 8.5/10

The next story will be The Monster of Peladon, the last Jon Pertwee story currently available on DVD in Australia.

Personally, I don't think the Sontarans ever looked as good as Lynx again. The new series ones are good but there was something about the original Lynx costume that worked really well.

Of course, when they modified it for the Sontaran Experiment, it looked awful - and don't get me started on the soggy heads in the Two Doctors - what a choice of climate to film rubber masks in.

Blame JNT for that. He wanted The Two Doctors in Spain (originally, he wanted New Orleans). But the Sontarans still look fairly good throughout the series.

Kevin Lindsay as Linx and Styre was pretty good, as is Clinton Greyn as Stike. Christopher Ryan plays pretty definitive Sontarans as well. I thought his casting was a stunt, really, but he plays it really well. In fact, I love the way he plays Staal's line in The Poison Sky, "The planet's going nuclear!" He sounds like he is part amused, part eagerness for glory.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrxWhF2ok3Y[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Monster of Peladon by Brian Hayles

SERIAL: YYY, 6X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


Direct sequels are surprisingly rare in Doctor Who, Dalek and Cybermen stories notwithstanding. But the makers of Doctor Who during Jon Pertwee's time considered The Curse of Peladon a success, and for Pertwee's final season as the Doctor, commissioned a sequel. Unfortunately, this wasn't the success that they hoped for...

Fifty years after the Doctor's last visit to Peladon, he returns with Sarah Jane Smith in tow. Things have changed, and not all for the better. Peladon is now ruled by Queen Thalira, the daughter of King Peladon. The Galactic Federation is at war, needing vast quantities of trisilicate mined on Peladon, and there is conflict between the nobility, and the miners whose leader, Gebek, is trying to hold back the hot-headed Ettis and other rebels. With Thalira's chancellor Ortron determined to keep the status quo, the situation is bad enough, but when an apparition of Aggedor, sacred beast of Peladon, appears and kills miners and offworld technicians alike, the situation gets worse. Accused of being saboteurs, the Doctor and Sarah must work with old friend Alpha Centauri and mining engineer Eckersley trying to prevent civil war, but soon, the situation is going from bad to worse. A peacekeeping force of Ice Warriors land to restore order, but are their heavy-handed tactics part of the Federation's war-footing, or are they acting of their own accord?

Let's get the good stuff out of the way. The production design and special effects for this story are pretty damn good, and the plot proper looks good on paper. Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and (the now, unfortunately, recently deceased) Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah do well. The Ice Warriors are a welcome addition to the story and help give it some life. And Alpha Centauri, as well as the mining engineer Eckersley, are also done well.

The problem is, though, that this is an overstretched and poorly characterised story. Of the Peladonian characters, only Gebek holds much interest and even any degree of complexity. Queen Thalira is even more useless than her father, although given that she has grown up Queen in an intensely patriarchal and misogynistic society, that can be forgiven, a little. Ortron, however, while having initial promise, is a fool who seems to believe that he is in charge on Peladon, with only his character post-Ice Warrior invasion showing any improvement. Even his predecessor, Hepesh, while dogmatic, had better reasons than being suspicious of every alien or lower class miner, and was a pragmatist, mostly. And Ettis is just a raving lunatic idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The plot would have served four episodes better than six, and even then, it would still have been stretched. There's no real politics in this story, just stupidity on both sides of the mining dispute. While this was meant to be an analogy of the coal strike at the time, I don't think that Brian Hayles' heart was quite in it when he wrote this story. There were some good concepts here, and if a lot more effort was put into it, it could have been an excellent story. As it is, it is somewhere between 'average' and 'mediocre'.

The Monster of Peladon isn't abysmal. If only it was written better, and some good characterisation was put in, it could have surpassed its predecessor. Instead, it fell victim to a bad case of sequelitis, and as such, falls below average. A pity, then, that this is the last Pertwee story that I review.


SCORE: 7/10

And now...


PROGRESS REPORT TWO: IN LIVING COLOUR! OR, THE ONLY PRISON WITH 'TIME ON' FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR

STORIES: Total for this era: 15

Cumulative total: 34. 13 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 15 Jon Pertwee.

TIME: Total for this era: 38 days

Cumulative total: 51 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 5/15, or 33%

Cumulative total: 12/34, or 35%

MILESTONES:

First colour episode

First appearance of the Silurians/Sea Devils

First appearance of the Master (not available on DVD yet)

First multi-Doctor story

First appearance of Omega

Lifting of the Doctor's exile

First appearance of Sontarans

Three Doctors down, four to go...

Five years (1970-1974)

COMPANIONS: The Brigadier, Liz Shaw, Sergeant Benton, Mike Yates, Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith

THOUGHTS: According to the late Barry Letts, when he and Terrance Dicks tried to leave the program after a few years, and were rebuffed in order to maintain the production team during a successful period, Dicks was heard to mutter by Letts that this was the only prison where you get 'time on' for good behaviour. And yet, Letts and Dicks, after a brief period of transition, took a show that was in danger of cancellation, brought it into colour, and made it a success, thanks, in part, to the inspired choice of Jon Pertwee for the role of the Doctor.

This is perhaps the least represented era of Doctor Who on DVD of stories that are intact in the archives, which is a pity. Maybe it was because they chose mostly high-quality stories for the releases so far, or Letts and Dicks mostly got good stories in. But the decision to reign the Doctor in by confining him to Earth, while restricting the imagination somewhat (Malcolm Hulke once did say to Dicks that there would only be two types of story in the Earthbound Who format: mad scientist or alien invasion), work well to create interesting and relatable drama that is, at times, surprisingly adult.

Malcolm Hulke's stories are the highlight of this era, with complex characterisation and sympathetic non-humans, but both Robert Holmes and the writing team of Bob Baker and Dave Martin contribute enjoyable stories. Barry Letts also tries his hand at writing, albeit uncredited and in collaboration with Robert Sloman. While The Daemons isn't out on DVD yet, it is perhaps the best of their work, but The Green Death comes a very close second.

While the special effects can often be dodgy in this era, sometimes they can work wonders. The Claws of Axos and The Monster of Peladon have special effects that can stand up even today. Production design, at times, can really work wonders, even if a few futuristic stories' production values fall flat.

Overall, this is the time when Doctor Who truly became a success. But the golden age of Doctor Who is yet to come...


BEST STORIES: Anything by Malcom Hulke reviewed, Inferno, The Green Death

WORST STORIES: The Time Monster, Planet of the Daleks, The Monster of Peladon

Actually, the Monster of Peladon at least moves along at a reasonable pace considering it's a six parter. When I was young it frightened the life out of me (watching those ice warriors cutting through the polystyrene door). Now that I'm older, it's the hairstyles of the miners which frighten me the most. How do they keep those white hairs so clean down in the mines?

I dunno about how they keep the white streaks white, but the reason why they wear their hair like that, according to the New Adventures sequel I skimmed once called Legacy, it's to keep the dust out of their face. I intend to read Legacy fully for my next book-reading blog, as I have never read it all the way through.

The story itself has reasonable pace, and it had good concepts, but it felt too stretched out. Not to mention the characters were crappy, for the most part.

I'm strongly considering finishing this blog, at least for the time being. If I do resume the blog, I will start from the earliest Doctor Who story available on DVD that I haven't watched, which will be in all likelihood The Ark. I just don't feel up to much more DVD watching at the moment.

That's perfectly understandable. Even something as awesome to the hilt as DW has a saturation point where you need a bit of a break, hehe.

Take your time. I and other Whovians will probably be here.

I think you're making the classic mistake of trying to watch them all at once.

They're supposed to be watched slowly, one episode per week over a 40 year period.

Thanks. I had finished the first episode of Robot, but it was getting a bit depressing watching Sarah Jane do her thing with Liz Sladen dead.

Besides which, I've pretty much watched everything from the Holmes/Hinchcliffe era, with the exception of The Masque of Mandragora. The Graham Williams era, particularly the Key to Time season, I have watched less of. Most of the Doctor Who stories from the end of Tom Baker's time as the Doctor I have watched in one form or another, even if only on early morning ABC television when I was young.

Out of Peter Davison's stories, the only ones that I can honestly say that I haven't watched all the way through are Castrovalva, Four to Doomsday, Snakedance, Enlightenment, The King's Demons, Frontios, The Awakening, and Planet of Fire. I've watched pretty much every Colin Baker story (although The Twin Dilemma is only a very faint memory, as is Mark of the Rani and Timelash) and every single Sylvester McCoy story.



I'm not sure that I'll live that long. But it put things into perspective, watching them in order. You can see many things developing.

Hi, I'm new here and just wanted to say I read this whole thread and loved your reviews. I've been a big Doctor Who fan since I was a teen in the 80s and am loving the revamped show, now, too. It's been fun reading back through the stories I saw so long ago. I look forward to seeing more after your break.

Michelle

Thank you. I may not be reviving the blog until after June, if not later. I hope, by then, to obtain the new releases of Mannequin Mania (the Revisited version of Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Autons) and Planet of the Spiders. Then, I will review (before I start on Tom Baker's era) The Ark, Terror of the Autons, and Planet of the Spiders.

Well, I'll be looking forward to it whenever you are able. Some day I'd like to get all those DVDs. All I have are old copied off TV ones. Better than nothing, I suppose, but the DVDs sound really nice, especially with those CGI options.

Michelle

I may be reviving this soon.