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REVIEW: Night Terrors by Mark Gatiss

SERIAL: PB1, 6.4, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


A decision was made during production to swap two episodes of the sixth series, Night Terrors and The Curse of the Black Spot, in production order, in order to give a certain variety of stories in the first half of the series. This meant that Night Terrors would eventually be transmitted in the second half of the season. Written by new series regular writer Mark Gatiss, this story would explore childhood fears...

George is the eight year old son of Alex and Claire, living in a housing estate, and terrified of many things. So much so that somehow, his pleas for help to save him from monsters reach the Doctor's psychic paper. But as the Doctor finds George, Amy and Rory, who are still looking for George, end up somehow in an old 18th century house, but with the weirdest additions. And as people around the housing estate begin to disappear, the key to the mystery may be George, and what he hides in his cupboard...

As a story, this is very reminiscent of the new series 2 episode Fear Her. A child with unnatural powers, able to trap people in an otherworld? Here, though, the story is a lot more psychological, but it doesn't have quite as much meat as it should. There were some missed opportunities, as other reviewers have noted, about children overcoming their fears, and it feels a bit thin on the ground, but there's a nice twist at the end, even if there is little mention of the story arc.

The regulars do fine, with Matt Smith getting more of the juicy stuff as the Doctor with his 'old eyes' speech. Daniel Mays, who previously played the diabolic Keats from Ashes to Ashes, transforms himself into worried father Alex quite well, and Andrew Tiernan plays a particularly vile landlord. While George is written okay, I find myself not impressed with James Oram's acting. It seems rather flat, and if I didn't know any better, I would have said he didn't look very frightened at all.

The production is dark and atmospheric, but not particularly distinctive. The dolls are creepy, but don't seem quite malevolent enough, despite their abilities, to be taken seriously. More eerie is the lullaby used throughout the episode. There's some excellent special effects, though, such as when the landlord sinks into the floor of his flat. But otherwise, the story feels rather run-of-the-mill.

Night Terrors is an interesting, but ultimately average story. The potential was there to make it great, but in the end, it is average by Doctor Who standards.


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Girl Who Waited...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCm-ff5Hqec[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Girl Who Waited by Tom MacRae

SERIAL: PB5, 6.10, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


I have to confess that Amy is one of my least favourite companions in Doctor Who. And there are times that I wonder why Karen Gillan was cast in the role. After all, Arthur Darvill seemed to be a better actor as Rory. But then came a story that changed my position on Amy, and more specifically, on her actress...

Heading to the planet of Apalapucia for a much-needed holiday, the Doctor and his companions end up in a medical facility used to quarantine patients of Chen 7, a disease that affects beings with two hearts. The Doctor and Rory end up in the area for the visitors, while Amy ends up in an area for the patients, with her time compressed and moving faster. With the Doctor unable to enter the patient's area, it's up to Rory to track down Amy and help rescue her. After all, the medical robots present only have medicine for aliens, and if she's given the medicine, she'll die. But the Doctor got his calculations wrong. Rory has arrived 36 years of compressed time too late, and Amy, while alive and kicking, is an embittered woman who holds a grudge against both of them for not rescuing them...

The Girl Who Waited has an inventive story, involving interesting usage of time travel, and a good plot device to keep the Doctor out of the action. There's even the Doctor being at his most alien for some time, and the story is filled with wonderful sentiment with a heartbreaking ending. But like the not dissimilar A Christmas Carol, it has one major flaw that brings it down badly: it is hard to give a flying f**k about older Amy. If they had written her much more sympathetically, then the story would have been so much more better, despite other flaws (can't the Two Streams facility have safeguards against accidental visiting by alien visitors, for example?).

This story is very much that of Amy and Rory. Karen Gillan, although she had some good moments in previous stories, shows in this story that it is not her acting ability that is at fault, but rather, the material given to her. It is hard to feel any sympathy for the older Amy, especially as Rory had to put up with far worse as 'the Last Centurion', as Amy is supposed to have a virtually unshakeable faith in the Doctor, and to have that and go into this old b***h mode is rather jarring. Gillan, however, still invests a lot of effort into the character, and it shows. Arthur Darvill as Rory is, as usual, excellent, getting a great scene where he calls the Doctor out on the reckless nature of his time travel. Matt Smith gets to be at his most alien as the Doctor, having to lie to his companions in order to get what needs to be done, done.

The direction is rather good, if flashy and sentimental. The design is stark and simplistic, and suits the nature of this story, being set in a hospital, with the only blip being wherever they filmed the 'reception' sequences, which looks more like an airport than a hospital. The Handbots are creepy, but something about them doesn't have quite the right scare factor needed.

It's a real pity that the character of older Amy wasn't handled better, because if she was, then The Girl Who Waited would have been much more than it is. But it goes to show that the problem with the character of Amy is not the actress at all, but rather, her material...


SCORE: 8/10


And now, the next time trailer for The God Complex...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPaqUSqA91M[/youtube]

BTW, I've been mispelling Karen Gillan's surname as Gillian. Oops.

REVIEW: The God Complex by Toby Whithouse

SERIAL: PB5, 6.11, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Fear is a pivotal part of many of the most successful Doctor Who stories. In The Mind of Evil, the Doctor struggled against a machine containing an alien creature that externalised people's fears. In The Deadly Assassin, Chancellor Goth assaulted the Doctor with primal fears while they were fighting in the Matrix. And losing his fear was the Doctor's weapon in defeating the Mara in Snakedance. So, a hotel filled with the worst fears of everyone should be a winner, right?

Arriving in what appears to be a dodgy Earth hotel, the Doctor and his companions soon learn that they are trapped there, along with a group of frightened people, including medical intern Rita, conspiracy theorist Howie, cowardly alien Gibbis, and the now possessed gambler Joe. The hotel's rooms are filled with the worst fears of people who had been trapped there before, and there are rooms for every new arrival. And something deadly stalks the corridors, something that seems to feed on fear. The Doctor makes it his mission to try and save everyone, but can he save everyone from themselves?

I actually enjoyed this episode. Not only was it an interesting premise that seems to owe something to Mark Danielewski's novel House of Leaves, but it's weirdly atmospheric, and also pinpoints the fact that the Doctor has a God complex (in that he has to try and save evryone). It's an exploration of faith and fear, with an unexpected nod or two to Doctor Who's past, such as the Nimon being a cousin of the story's Minotaur, or the Doctor breaking Amy's faith in him in a softer, but similar manner to the way he did to Ace in The Curse of Fenric. The plot may be a little thin, but it's done in a way that it is unobtrusive and enjoyable.

The regulars all get some good stuff to do, and the farewell is nicely done with a good rationale, even if a little abrupt. Amara Karan is excellent as Rita, and Dimitri Leonidas as Howie and Daniel Pirrie as the deranged Joe are good as well. Gibbis is a rather singular and uninteresting character who fails, even if his inclusion is good for a fear-based plot, but David Walliams nonetheless acts well in the role.

The direction doesn't quite play up the psychological horror angle as much as it really should, but otherwise managed to get it down enough. The sets all look normal enough for the horror to work. The Minotaur is both threatening and ugly in appearance, but it is nonetheless not malevolent-looking enough to prevent sympathy being felt when it dies. Gibbis' make-up also works well in giving the character a timid-looking edge.

The God Complex is one of the best stories in this era, in my opinion. A blip too many prevents it from being perfect, but hey, it's a good story, an exploration of the Doctor's nature, and an interesting end to Amy and Rory's travels with the Doctor...


SCORE: 9.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for Closing Time...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlyRHbl-fvQ[/youtube]

REVIEW: Closing Time by Gareth Roberts

SERIAL: PB6, 6.12, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


After The Lodger from series 5, Steven Moffat decided to bring back Gareth Roberts to write a sequel story, featuring the Doctor before he finally decides to face his fate. But The Lodger was a story that didn't require a sequel. Could a sequel actually work? Or would it drag down the ending episodes of series 6 of the new series down?

Now free of Amy and Rory, and preparing to meet his end in Utah, the Doctor heads to Colchester as part of a farewell tour. There, he calls upon Craig Owens, who now has a baby boy, Alfie. Although the Doctor resists the temptation to interfere when he learns of disappearing people and electricity centred on a nearby department store, he eventually gives in. With Craig's help, he investigates, finding that the Cybermen are involved. But why are they only draining energy from a department store when they could presumably access a nuclear power station? And can the Doctor prevent Craig and Alfie from being killed?

The Lodger, as I said, doesn't require a sequel. But this story, while not actually great, is a nice one. It's nice and sentimental, with a bit of nice humour, and the Doctor showing how close he is to his end. Unfortunately, not only does it feel like a repeat of the plot of The Lodger in a few respects, but it also doesn't use the Cybermen as well as it could have. And the ending was a bit of an ass-pull, to be perfectly frank. Okay, Cybermen are affected by emotions, that's been established as far back as The Invasion, but you'd think that they'd be able to stop one man's paternal instincts from harming them.

Matt Smith as the Doctor does well, as he usually does, showing the sadness and fear he has at his approaching demise. James Corden makes a welcome return as the hapless Craig Owens, struggling to be a good father, and Lynda Baron makes an unexpected return to the series as the shop assistant Val. It's not a great story for characters per se, but it's still a decent one.

The production values are decent. Not outstanding, just average for Doctor Who. The Cybermen look suitably damaged, and we have a hint (in the form of the lack of a Cybus logo) that these may be Mondasian Cybermen who have adopted the look of the Cybus Cybermen. The return of the Cybermats is also welcome, with a new redesign that manages to combine cuteness and horror. Otherwise, it's rather average.

Closing Time is beginning to close the series out now, and while not spectacular or brilliant, it does do its thing. But now we come to the Doctor's death, and the falling of the Silence...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the next time trailer for The Wedding of River Song...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LN6LBteGmA[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Wedding of River Song by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: PB7, 6.13, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


In Moffat's previous season finale, space began to collapse, with history never happening due to the Doctor being imprisoned in the Pandorica. But now comes the season final, a single part story that is meant to wrap up all the disparate plot threads of the past couple of seasons, like the Silence, the death of the Doctor, and the fate of River Song. But in just one episode, could Moffat pull it off?

It is 5:02 pm on the 22nd of April, 2011. And it is always that time. Pterosaurs are pests, Charles Dickens is discussing his latest Christmas special on BBC morning shows, and Winston Churchill is the Holy Roman Emperor with a royal mammoth, a Silurian doctor, and a soothsayer he locked in the Tower of London called the Doctor. Summoning the Doctor to him, he demands to know why the Doctor is saying that there's something wrong with time, and the Doctor relates the tale of how he intended to die. How he tracked down agents of the Silence, as well as the Teselecta and the head of Dorium Maldovar, and how Dorium revealed that the Silence want the Doctor dead. The Silence believe themselves to be guardians of history, and want to prevent the Doctor from uttering the answer to the First Question, which he is fated to do in the future. The Doctor goes to his death, but River, his erstwhile assassin, has other ideas. But her interference in a fixed point in time causes time to collapse and disintegrate, with all of history happening at once. The only hope for history to get back on track is for the Doctor to die, but River is willing to sacrifice all creation to prevent herself from murdering the man she loves...

While somewhat rushed and not exploring all of the implications of time collapsing, The Wedding of River Song is still a good season finale. It certainly wraps up enough of the storylines, as well as showing that, despite the Doctor needing to die, he is (contrary to what River stated in A Good Man Goes to War, albeit to explain why Melody Pond was abducted) still beloved by many in the universe. There's a lovely poignant scene where the Doctor learns that the Brigadier, stalwart friend, has died. We also finally have an explanation of the First Question hinted at in Let's Kill Hitler, hidden in plain sight. The question? Doctor who? It's a good hook for seasons to come, as well as an oblique hearkening back to the Cartmel Masterplan, designed to bring some msytery back to the Doctor. And we have the Teselecta being used as the copy to save the Doctor. I expected a Ganger (or rather, for the original Doctor to die and the Ganger to take his place, potentially getting around the looming regeneration problem), but it's still a good surprise.

The regulars, as usual, do well with characterisation, though Amy and Rory are a little sidelined. Amy does get a nice moment where she deliberately puts Madame Kovarian back into a lethal situation, as well as a nice moment of shock when she realises that she is the Doctor's mother-in-law. Alex Kingston as River is perhaps at her best in this story. There was a wasted opportunity to bring some more backstory to Madam Kovarian, but Frances Barber still does well. We also have welcome returns from Simon Callow and Ian McNiece as Dickens and Churchill respectively, as well as Mark Gatiss as new character Gantok and Simon Becker-Fisher as Dorium.

Production-wise, the story is fine. Not impressive. There's some nice special effects, though some don't work, and others are cheesy. But the direction helps this story where it needs to. The music is used fine, but does get a little too bombastic in the opening scenes, making that sequence rather cheesy. Other sequences are quite atmospheric though, particularly in the pre-Lake Silencio sequences.

The Wedding of River Song is a very good finale to the sixth series of the new Doctor Who. Not perfect, but it certainly gets things done, and drops some hints for the future...


SCORE: 9/10

PROGRESS REPORT FOURTEEN: NEW SERIES SIX: SILENCE WILL FALL

STORIES: Total for this era:

Cumulative total: 164. 15 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 17 Jon Pertwee. 37 Tom Baker. 20 Peter Davison. 11 Colin Baker. 9 Sylvester McCoy. 1 Paul McGann. 1 Spin-Off. 10 Christopher Eccleston. 36 David Tennant. 22 Matt Smith


TIME: Total for this era: 13 days

Cumulative total: 197 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 0/12, or 0%

Cumulative total: 43/185, or 23% (Possibly not accurate, please wait...)


MILESTONES:

First appearance of the Silence

Revelation of River Song's identity


COMPANIONS: Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song


THOUGHTS:

After the more tentative feel of the fifth new series, having the season start with a bang, almost literally, was the best way to go. Within two episodes, we have the Doctor dying in the future, a mysterious astronaut, the Silence appearing as an alien species, and a plotline revolving around a mysterious girl and a potential pregnancy as Amy. Overall, this plot arc for the season feels better done than some previous seasons, even if the revelation of River Song's identity and her target was rather predictable. I had hoped that they would reveal it to be someone other than Melody Pond.

Even so, there's some stories that excel. Neil Gaiman's first contribution to the series was a superb one, revising what we know about the TARDIS and 'her' relationship with the Doctor. We have the uncertainty of identity of the Gangers, and of fears both adult and childhood. We have many of the oldest adversaries of the Doctor fighting alongside him to save Amy and Melody, and we have River both berating the Doctor for becoming a fierce warrior, and yet also, even at the epicentre of the destruction of time, that he is still beloved by the universe, even if some fear him. And we have the beginnings of what might very well be a new question about the Doctor, the oldest: Doctor who?

It seems that Moffat has finally found his feet as showrunner. It's still a very different flavour to the Russell T Davies era of the new series, and may not be for everyone, becoming ever darker, but it's beginning to clamber back into favour. Time will tell whether Moffat will bring it to ever greater heights, or whether silence will truly fall...

BEST STORIES: The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, The Doctor's Wife, The God Complex

WORST STORIES: A Christmas Carol, The Girl Who Waited

Anyway, before long, I will be reviewing the next lot of stories to catch up on, which will be: The Daemons, The Face of Evil, Nightmare of Eden, Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol, and The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe.

So, as a sneak peek, here's the trailer for The Daemons...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLe084pddBM[/youtube]

Actually, I may not be reviewing those stories just yet. I'm sort of ovr this review thread for the moment, so I'll revive it a little later, when I have the motivation...

Okay, so I thought that I wasn't going to do a catch-up. Don't worry...

REVIEW: The Daemons by Guy Leopold (pseudonym for Barry Letts and Robert Sloman)

SERIAL: JJJ, 5X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Doctor Who owes a lot to the Quatermass serials, as I have noted before. Nigel Kneale was not happy with this, either. Three times in the classic series, Doctor Who had adapted the third, and many consider to be the best, serial, Quatermass and the Pit. The first time was the first time that producer Barry Letts would write for the program, along with another writer, Robert Sloman. But a producer can't write a story, not officially. So the story went out under a pseudonym. But would this story hold up?

Devil's End, a small village in Wiltshire. Already at the centre of a bad reputation, it is steadily getting worse as an archaeological dig, headed by Professor Horner, cuts into the barrow known as the Devil's Hump. Local white witch Olive Hawthorne is determined to stop the dig, but the villagers believe her to be a lunatic, and the new priest, Reverend Magister, is determined to stop her. The Doctor, when he hears the name Devil's End, rushes off to the village to stop the dig, with Jo in tow, and Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton following not long after. But he is too late. Magister is really the Master, and as he holds a black magic ceremony to call up the Devil, the Devil's Hump is opened, and Horner is killed. And while Benton and Hawthorne investigate, they narrowly avoid death at the hands of a beast that looks like the Devil himself. The Doctor, however, finds his worst fears confirmed. The Master has summoned up a very real alien entity whose appearance emulates devils and demons, because the Daemons have influenced humanity since the beginnings of their evolution. Azal, the Daemon formerly sleeping beneath the Devil's Hump, is the last of his kind, and either he will pass on his powers to someone he deems worthy of them, or, if the experiment of the Earth ends in failure, he will destroy the world...

I consider this story to be one of the finest ever written for the Pertwee years, and certainly one of the best of that time never written by Malcolm Hulke. The parts are tailor-written to each character, and this is the series' definitive look at the themes presented in Quatermass and the Pit: that aliens influenced our development and mythology. There are some minor flaws, like how the Doctor knew what was at Devil's End, the Doctor calling Hitler a mere 'bounder', the defeat of Azal, and what the man in the first scene actually saw, but these are very small cracks in an excellent story, showing the triumph of science over superstition.

The regulars, as always, shine, with Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning getting a lot of things to do, and Richard Franklin as Yates and John Levene as Benton getting more to do than usual. Although the Brigadier doesn't get to do much, he does get to utter the immortal line: "Chap with the wings there: Five rounds rapid!" Roger Delgado is excellent, as always, as the Master. Stephen Thorne is over the top as Azal, but it is a role that requires this sort of thing, while Damaris Hayman is good as the spirited white witch Hawthorne.

The story has some of the best location filming in the series, the village of Aldbourne making a good Devil's End. The music, despite it being a little jarring to modern ears, is still excellent. The design of Azal is intimidtaing and excellent, while Bok, while at times a little too obviously a man in a suit, is nonetheless an inspired creation. The direction is just right for the story.

The Daemons, then, is at the pinnacle of the Pertwee years, a favourite with cast, crew, and fans all alike. It makes the second season of Pertwee's Doctor go out in style, with hints of things to come...


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next story, The Face of Evil...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP9hSO40gv8[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Face of Evil by Chris Boucher

SERIAL: 4Q, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


This story was the first by Chris Boucher, originally titled The Day God Went Mad. A real pity that they failed to keep this title, as it's quite a good one. This was the story that would introduce Leela, one of the Doctor's more proactive and physically aggressive companions. But would this tale of the consequences of the Doctor's travels work?

The Doctor, travelling alone, lands on another world, only to encounter Leela, a young woman cast out from the Sevateem, a tribe of savages. Leela had spoken out against Xoanon, denying his existence, and that of the Evil One. And yet, the Doctor appears to be the Evil One in the flesh, the face of evil, incarnate. Working against the machinations of shaman Neeva, the Doctor and Leela work to unravel a mystery. Soon, the Doctor deduces that either the Sevateem were once visited by space travellers, or are the descendants of such travellers themselves. And soon, he remembers what happened. Has the Doctor been here before? If so, what happened? And why does Xoanon, the god of the Sevateem, have the voice of the Doctor?

While the story of an insane computer is nothing new on Doctor Who (The War Machines and The Green Death come to mind), this nonetheless proves an excellent twist, and the warring tribes being descendants from old colonists is a good one as well. There are hints of The Forbidden Planet in here as well, like in the previous season's Planet of Evil. And there's one of the most bizarre and chilling cliffhangers where Xoanon denies the Doctor's existence, and tries to kill the Doctor with a mental assault, culminating in Xoanon screaming "Who am I?" in a child's voice. It's also a good vehicle to introduce Leela. A pity it's not quite made clear what the test of the piranha-like Horda is all about, though, but it does set a moment for the Doctor to be not only awesome (for passing it), but also a little uncharacteristically violent (he throws a Horda onto a man's shoulder, albeit because said man slapped Leela)...

Tom Baker as the Doctor is on fine form, and Louise Jameson gets off to a good start as Leela, though she shows a little more fear here than she does in later stories. The Sevateem are characterised quite well for the most part, with Brendan Price's Tomas, David Garfield's fanatical Neeva, and Leslie Schofield's scheming Calib deserving the most praise. The Tesh aren't as good written, and they are acted competently, at best. Tom Baker gets to play the villain for once as one of Xoanon's many personalities, with Rob Edwards and Pamela Salem also doing well as Xoanon's personality fragments.

Production-wise, this is not unlike Planet of Evil in many respects, except that the jungle and the spacey costumes are even less convincing. The jungle looks alien enough to be sure, but it also doesn't look as verdant or as real as the one in the former story. That being said, the costumes for the Sevateem work well, as does the set design for both the Sevateem and the Mordee ship. And the special effects are decent enough for this point in the program, with Xoanon's phantoms and his image in episode 4 looking suitably menacing.

While not the best of the season, The Face of Evil is nonetheless an excellent debut from Chris Boucher, as well as Louise Jameson as Leela. And it looks like good times ahead for the Doctor...

SCORE: 9/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next story, Nightmare of Eden...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDG11TJO4kc[/youtube]

REVIEW: Nightmare of Eden by Bob Baker

SERIAL: 5K, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


For most of his writing career on Doctor Who, Bob Baker had always written stories in partnership with Dave Martin. Under their partnership, they created Omega and K9, and became affectionately known to the production team as 'the Bristol Boys'. But the partnership ended, and Bob Baker, for his last story for the program, would be writing alone, with one of the more thought-provoking stories of the otherwise lighthearted 17th season of Doctor Who...

The spaceliner Empress, thanks to some bad navigating by its curiously apathetic navigator, ends up colliding, and partially materialising into, another ship, the Hecate. The hyperspatial collision has rendered parts of the ships combined in dangerous interface zones. The Doctor, Romana, and K9 arrive, only to find the situation more complicated. Captain Rigg of the Empress, and Dymond of the Hecate are arguing over fault. Professor Tryst and his assistant Della have a unique machine, the CET Machine, containing holographic samples from many planets, including the mysterious jungle world Eden. Vicious monsters now roam the corridors of the Empress. And in all of this, someone is smuggling the drug vraxoin, a highly addictive substance whose only known source was destroyed. But it seems that someone has found another source. Pursued by monsters and overzealous customs officials, the Doctor and Romana find that it all centres on the CET Machine, and the fact that it doesn't just record data from planets, but takes whole swathes from them. And it's a nightmare of Eden that may prove to be the key to the mystery...

Like the story immediately afterwards, The Horns of Nimon, Nightmare of Eden is an excellent story let down by crappy production values. However, Nightmare of Eden is also strong enough that it manages to stand on its own two feet. The collision between two spacecraft in mid-hyperjump is an excellent one exploited quite well. The drug theme is a mature one for the series, even if it isn't handled as subtly as I would like, and there's enough twists and turns to keep one interested. And the humour here at least feels a little more of a piece, rather than dominating the story, with one or two notable exceptions ("Oh my everything!").

The regulars do well as usual, and while Tom Baker may go a bit panto in one of the last scenes, he more than makes up for it with an understated dismissal of Tryst's excuses. Most of the characters are decently written, with the exception of customs agent Fisk, who has got to be one of the most ridiculously overzealous idiots with authority ever in the series. I have no complaint with the other characters (with especial praise going to David Daker as Rigg, Jennifer Lonsdale as Della, and Barry Andrews as Stott), with the exception of Lewis Fiander's performance as Tryst. The character has some good dialogue, but why Fiander did it with a cod German accent, I have no idea.

If there was an element where Nightmare of Eden stuffed up, it'd be the production area. The story was notorious amongst cast and crew due to the friction between the director, Alan Bromly, and everyone else, friction that led to Bromly quitting and producer Graham Williams directing the remainder. Given that, and the fact that this story is bleeding budget like a haemophiliac, it's a miracle that it's even decent. The Hecate crew and passenger costumes are rather strange, as are the customs officers uniforms, but Tryst and his comrades' costumes are fine. The Mandrels look good in darkness, and they certainly look alien, but they just don't look vicious enough, which is a real pity. The sets for the spacecraft are average at best, but the sets for Eden are amongst the best and most atmospheric in the show, especially for a jungle set. This is a low budget story, and that it manages to entertain regardless is a bloody miracle.

Despite the silliness and the dropping budget, this story remains one of the few good ones of this season. It's only this, and City of Death. Even so, a strong, mature story helps salvage what could have been a nightmare to watch, and not just a nightmare to produce...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next stories, Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQwFKVDUs2Q[/youtube]

REVIEW: Dragonfire by Ian Briggs

SERIAL: 7G, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes

The 24th season of Doctor Who was very much one of transition. A new Doctor, a new script editor, and a new lease of life, albeit on stories that were becoming ever more campier. But one cannot deny the entertainment value in them, and the next seasons would herald in, even as the classic series drew to a close, dark and interesting stories. A new companion was to be brought in to replace Mel, and Ian Briggs, a new writer to the series, was brought in to write the finale for the season in which the new companion, initially named Alf but later renamed Ace, would arrive...

Iceworld, a trading colony on the perpetually frozen dark side of the planet Svartos. The Doctor and Mel arrive to check on a mysterious signal and the legend of a dragon, only to encounter old acquaintance Sabalom Glitz. Glitz has run afoul of the ruler of Iceworld, the cold-hearted (in all senses of the term) Kane, and he needs to pay off his debt fast. The Doctor and Glitz decide to team up to find the legendary Dragonfire, a treasure guarded by the legendary dragon of Iceworld, while Mel falls in with rebellious teenage waitress Ace, who is surprisingly from 20th century Earth. But Kane is orchestrating the treasure hunt, and he has his own plans for the Dragonfire. What are Kane's plans? What treasure is the dragon actually hiding? And what does this have to do with the far-off world of Proamon?

Dragonfire is actually quite a decent debut story from Ian Briggs, nicely lyrical in parts. It is hampered by a number of problems. For example, why do the Doctor and Mel show any inclination to help Glitz after he sold his crew into Kane's service? Why did Kane wait so long to attack the dragon (unless he didn't know exactly where the Dragonfire was)? Why did Kane blow up the ships? (The novelisation answers that: he didn't want any witnesses to him freeing himself from his exile) And finally, why did the Doctor clamber over a precipice for no obvious reason? (Of course, the intent was that there was a path below that he fails to reach safely, but come on, couldn't that have been shown?) It's a nice, fairly straightforward story with some nice bits that add. A bit thin in the end, and hampered by the aforementioned problems, but hey, it's not bad. And there's a hilariously higbrow sequence when the Doctor distracts a guard with a philosophical discussion. I kid you not.

Sylvester McCoy gets some good bits as the Doctor, becoming darker, although the cliffhanger of episode 1 has some of the silliest acting from him ever. Bonnie Langford as Mel is okay, but doesn't get much material. More promising is Sophie Aldred as Ace, who, while not quite completely developed, gets some great moments in the story. Tony Selby makes a welcome return as Sabalom Glitz, and while I did mention the problem about him selling the crew and still being an ally of the Doctor's, it still is within character. Edward Peel is a good Kane, managing to understate his villainy at times, with some pathos that foreshadow his gruesome end. Patricia Quinn as Belasz and Tony Osoba as Kracauer are decent enough as Kane's underlings.

Production-wise, this feels like a lower budget story than usual. Some sets are quite impressive, like Kane's control complex, while others (particularly some of the lower levels) seem a little cheap. The costumes range from the extravagant to the yawn-inducing, with little middle ground. Special effects are fairly impressive, particularly the model sequences of Svartos. The dragon should have kept to the shadows more, but it's still quite an excellent design and execution, which is more than can be said about the statue of Xana, Kane's dead lover. But perhaps the best special effect is the surprisingly gruesome sequence of Kane melting at the end. Dominic Glynn's score was a memorable one for me.

Dragonfire was not the best possible end to the season, but it's nonetheless a decent end, as well as a decent introduction to the character of Ace. It's average by the standards of Doctor Who, but it's not bad at all...


SCORE: 8.5/10

REVIEW: The Happiness Patrol by Graeme Curry

SERIAL: 7L, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Although Doctor Who often gets bogged down in monster of the week formats, sometimes, it gets into higher concept territory. Sometimes, political satire plays a role. A colony based on perpetual happiness with a dark secret is nothing new to the series, with The Macra Terror being a notable entry. But with one of the 25th season's entries, things were about to get even more bizarre...

The Doctor and Ace land on Terra Alpha, a human colony far in the future, where the Doctor has heard disturbing rumours of a brutal dictatorship cloaked in euphemisms and secrecy. The ruler of Terra Alpha, Helen A, has decreed that happiness shall prevail above everything else, and that anything unhappy, from attitudes to music, is punishable by death. The Doctor and Ace set out to topple the dictatorship overnight. They may have allies in psychology student and blues musician Earl Sigma, and discontented Happiness Patrol member Susan Q, not to mention the original natives of Terra Alpha, but they have many adversaries against them. There's the Happiness Patrol itself, instrument of Helen A's will, Helen A's vicious Stigorax pet Fifi, and the Kandy Man, a psychotic robot who is Helen A's pet executioner, as well as a sadistic confectionary artist. Can the Doctor and his allies topple Helen A's regime at all? Or will happiness prevail, even if it's shallow and crooked?

On the surface of it, The Happiness Patrol is a bizarre, but quite excellent story that features the Doctor taking a more proactive stance than usual, toppling a saccharine sweet empire. It even has a moral, that happiness is meaningless without sadness or other emotions. And yet, surprisingly for a story only three episodes long (although Ghost Light did something similar), it's multi-layered. Some commentators have noticed gay rights in the subtext, something which I only noticed in a few scenes years after first watching it. There's a significant amount of political satire, which is supposed to apply to Thatcher Britain, but can also apply to really any government that tries to BS its way out of things. And it has some nice moments, including a scene where the Doctor talks down a sniper from killing him.

The regulars are excellent, as usual, with the Doctor and Ace getting equal things to do. Sheila Hancock is wonderful as Helen A, as is Lesley Dunlop as Susan Q and Richard D Sharp as Earl Sigma. There's a little too much campiness in the other roles for the most part, though this arguably fits with the tone of the story and the nature of Terra Alpha. David John Pope as the Kandy Man is a bizarre, but otherwise excellent villain, with the high-pitched voice and strange body (despite the resemblance to a candy mascot) working to create one of the strangest but chilling villains in the series.

Production-wise, it's not too bad. The gloomy nature of Terra Alpha help set the scene, but there's not enough of the falsely-happy atmosphere. It looks too gloomy for Helen A to have done this properly, and the sets of the streets of Terra Alpha look a little cheap too. Even so, the atmosphere is wonderful and bizarre. The Kandy Man is a wonderful example of this, looking menacing, even if he is made of sweets. Not so sure about the costumes of the Pipe People, though, and Fifi, while menacing looking, is a bit dodgy in terms of animatronics. Dominic Glynn, for his music, does very well, especially for his bizarre but threatening Kandy Man theme.

The Happiness Patrol may be a story that most people might avoid, if only because it's a bizarre concept and rather campy. But stick around, and you might discover that one of the best stories in the series lurks within.


SCORE: 9.5/10

This will be, in all likelihood, the last review for a few months, and is the last catchup.

REVIEW: The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: 7.X, 60 minute special

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


A Christmas Carol took its literary cues from the Charles Dickens story of the same name, and so it shouldn't be of any surprise that another literary source is used for the second Doctor Who Christmas special to be done by Steven Moffat. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, once adapted long ago by the BBC, would soon become the next basis for a Christmas special. But would it be any good?

Saving Earth from an alien invasion in 1938 is par for the course for the Doctor, even if he ends up plummeting to Earth in a spacesuit that will stop him from getting killed in the fall. All the same, he is grateful for the help given to him by Madge Arwell, a local who helps him get back to the TARDIS, although she never sees his face. Three years later, during World War II, he decides to return the favour. Her husband has disappeared, presumed dead, while flying his bomber over the Channel, and Madge is at her wits' end, unable to think about what she will do, or say to her children. So the Doctor becomes the caretaker of a house owned by one of Madge's relatives, and decides to give Madge and her children a Christmas to remember. But the Doctor's good intentions may backfire when one of the children opens the oversized present left for them prematurely, and enters a snowbound world. Between walking and possibly hostile trees, acid rain, and a squad of trigger-happy Harvesters from Androzani Major, the Doctor, Madge, and her children may be in for a dangerous Christmas...

This story, while it takes a few cues from its part-namesake (the snowbound forest, the doorway within an innocuous object), is really less about a battle between good and evil, and more of a story about sentiment and the good and bad things about Christmas. The main faults being is that the threats aren't built up enough to be threatening before being subverted, with either the sentient trees, or the Androzani Harvesters. In a way, it's the opposite problem to the previous year's special, whose fault was not the story, but the characterisation. Here, it's mostly the story, which is nice sentimental waffle, but not quite as good as it should be.

The Doctor is wonderful as usual, with Matt Smith clearly enjoying himself. Madge Arwell is a fairly good character, and Claire Skinner is fine enough. Of the children, I found Maurice Cole's Cyril irritating both as character and as acted, while Holly Earl's Lily is better acted and written. The Androzani Harvesters are wasted here, as they could have been written a lot better, and Bill Bailey in particular is squandered here, in a guest role that is about as meaty as a vegetarian meal.

The story is directed as it should be, with plenty of magic involved. I have virtually no problem with the special effects in this story, and the realisation of the tree people, while hearkening back to the more immobile rubber suit monsters of the classic series, is still quite good. They look threatening when they have to, and yet are ambiguous enough to seem like good guys. Design is quite good, if blatantly Narnia-esque for the forest.

The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe is a fine production marred by some weak plot and a couple of dodgy characters. But there is enough sentiment in it to make it enjoyable, and one shouldn't completely discount it...


SCORE: 8/10

Okay, some things that need talking about.

The next reviews I will be doing will probably be the five episodes of series 7 of Doctor Who. That is, Asylum of the Daleks, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, A Town Called Mercy, The Power of Three, and The Angels Take Manhattan. These reviews will be done after transmission, starting from the Australian air dates (September 9 onwards).

After that, I will have accumulated enough classic series DVDs for a catch-up. In transmission order, they are: Planet of Giants, The Krotons, The Ambassadors of Death, Death to the Daleks, and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

And now, the reviews of the first half of series 7 begins with...

REVIEW: Asylum of the Daleks by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: 7.1, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)

In the right context, the Daleks can be scary and horrifying. Whether it be when they first emerged from the darkness of their city, to when they successfully manipulated the Doctor into creating one of their most potent weapons, from when they were made from human remains, to where one could tear through a base filled with human soldiers without hassle. But the Daleks, like many a recurring villain, can fall prey to formula. After all, how can the most feared race in the universe keep getting beaten by the same being? Steven Moffat pledged to bring fear back into how the Daleks are seen, but will he succeed?

The Asylum: a legendary planet where the Daleks dump their most deviant and insane members. A human ship has crash landed, causing problems with the forcefield preventing escapes. Afraid of the insane Daleks within, the Daleks turn to their greatest enemy. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory are kidnapped by slaves of the Daleks. The Doctor's mission is simple: remove the forcefield from the planet so that the Daleks can destroy it. Transported down to a world where the very air contains nanomachines that make Dalek slaves, the Doctor, Rory, and Amy begin their task, aided remotely by Oswin Oswald, the survivor of the crash. But Amy and Rory were divorcing before they were kidnapped, their relationship snapped. Can the Doctor save Oswin, not to mention Rory and Amy's marriage, AND escape the Asylum before the Daleks destroy it?

If there is one major flaw in the storyline of Asylum of the Daleks, it's that Amy and Rory's relationship issues seem a little forced, in order to bring a little drama between the two companions. After all, everything seems hunky-dory again by the end of the episode, even if the fears expressed by them are very real. Other than that, the flaws are actually minor, with some elements that should have been expanded upon, and the fear factor of being trapped with a bunch of insane Daleks. But the story is actually quite a good one, with more of Dalek culture being expanded upon (the Daleks do not kill the insane ones, given that they consider the insane hatred to be beautiful), and a new and very creepy expansion of both the Robomen/Dalek controlled people, as well as...but I can't spoil that. Oh, and the mentions of places where the Doctor has encountered, and conquered, Daleks.

The regulars are good enough, though I am not sure about the way the script is written for them. The character of Oswin is intriguing, especially considering that she is played by new companion actress Jenna-Louise Coleman, and while a bit too flat at first, her final fate is heartbreaking. Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks also gets to show off his acting chops, putting a variety of different Dalek voices ranging from normal, to authoritative, to insane, and even pitiful.

The production values are pretty bog standard for a new series story. Not great, not bad, just fairly average. However, the Asylum is pretty damn atmospheric, as are the damaged Daleks (with some notably being from past episodes, a great nostalgia trip for eagle-eyed fans), and with a great hallucinatory sequence that really adds a layer of horror that the story badly needed. However, the final push wasn't quite there, which is a shame, really. It could have made a really good story near-perfect.

Asylum of the Daleks is a good start to the season. A pity it was quite as good as last year's premiered, and it does have many flaws, but it still adds quite a bit to the Dalek mythos, and is certainly the best Dalek story of Matt Smith's era...


SCORE: 9/10