Hello dear reader,
I've had far too much to do lately, moving house mainly, so I've been short on time to tome! The place I'm moving to is quite small. One of my vexing dilemmas space wise is that it's been hard to find a place that is out of view of visitors but also rapidly accessible at a nervy nerd's notice to store my idiosyncratically labelled Dr Who VHS collection. I'm happy for the official BBC DVD's to be on view, for reasons I'll explain later, but my VHS collection is another matter.
At some point in the late 80's, I decided it was a good idea to colour code my VHS tapes by Doctor. I already had a folder with the contents of each tape fastidiously documented, so it seemed the next natural slash painfully anal & obsessive step towards perfection. I ran a strip of electrical tape down the spine of each tape cover & in black texta wrote the appropriate Doctor's name & the number of tape for that Doctor i.e. William Hartnell #4 or Tom Baker #27, each Doctor starting from #1 for their era.
My grand plan was for each Doctor to have his own individual colour, until I realised that I only had 4 colours & that Dad was never going to drive his uber geek son to the supermarket to buy electrical tape for Dr Who video catalouging purposes. And of course being a kid I also had to do it all NOW!! So, some doctor's had to share colours, but they had to have at least one other colour between them otherwise it just wouldn't do for the sake of easy differentiation. Hartnell was green, Troughton white, Pertwee red, Tom Baker green, Davison yellow, Colin Baker red & McCoy yellow. Hartnell was green because I randomly started with that colour, but Troughton was the sole 'white' Doctor as he is my favourite. I felt he deserved to stand alone & not share his colour. In fact, he's so cool he got a tone instead. The others were chosen based on my 'must be separated by another colour' manifesto. I think I also vaguely factored in how much of each colour tape I had, knowing that I would need a full roll of one colour, if not more, to complete the voluminous 32(?) tape Tom Baker collection. I must have had a big roll of green.
As luck would have it, all the colours lasted, but there was very little left of each & I think I copped a stern 'Oh Lucozer!! really!!!' the next time Mum or Dad needed electrical tape. I was very proud of my handiwork & they all looked rather grand lined up on my pine book shelf. It was much easier to grab for the correct tape using the number codes from my book & my splendid spine labels rather than craning my neck sideways & straining to read my tiny handwriting on the spine that would say, for example..
Robot 4/4
Ark In Space 1,2,3,4/4
Sontaron Experiment 1,2/2
As fans, I won't have to explain the numerical code to you. The eagle eyed will spot that 'Robot' (the first Tom Baker story) is missing parts 1,2 & 3. Were they therefore on the end of the previous tape with Jon Pertwee's swansong 'Planet Of Spiders' I hear you ask? I also hear you ask whether that awkward 'mixed Doctor' tape would then be considered the final Jon Pertwee tape or the first Tom Baker tape? (or both?) Well, the two doctors on one tape problem did trouble me. I usually decided that whichever Doctor had the the most episodes on the tape could claim it for their colour. Jon would win in this marvellous theoretical case. However, this theoretical tape didn't in fact exist as for some reason I didn't tape the first few parts of Robot. Tom Baker Tape 1 started with Robot part 4.
There was an exception to this 'most episodes' rule though, a case where I had a tape with 'Revelation Of The Daleks' parts 2,3 & 4 followed by 'Ark In Space' 1,2,3 & 4 (again), which I inexpicably taped twice, perhaps by uncontrollable compulsion. It was also inexplicable that the ABC followed one with the other in 1993 during the infamous 4.30am screenings. Anyway, I decided that because Colin Baker only had a very meagre 6 tapes & because I had 'Ark In Space' in its correct place, even though this out of place 'Ark In Space' was in better condition than the one on Tom Baker #1, Colin's 3 episodes would trump Tom's 4.
Other problems emerged with the passing of time. I would buy or record off telly a new story & have to painfully insert it into my inflexible system. Oh how I gnashed my teeth & grimaced! At first I changed each bit of spinal tape onto the next tape & changed the number in my book to accomodate the insertions. Jon Pertwee 6 would become Jon Perwtee 7 with the new one taking the formers number & so on etc etc. This proved intensely frustrating & time consuming, but my obsessive ways would not let me submit to the easy, lazy ignominy of, say, having a Jon Pertwee 6A! It was, to quote the wonderful Stephen Fry, "a thundering nuisance, I don't mind telling you!".
More time passed & through lack of having the correct colour electrical tape when I needed it &, thankfully, eventually getting a life, I ended up with a few 'vanilla' spines. Tapes without tape!? that were merely inserted in the correct chronological position. At this point, I decided to turn them all around to face the tapes own label outwards again. This way, they all looked blandly similar, could have been any old movie or tv show to the casual observer & did not look geekily arranged in any way.
Now, at this time of moving house, they just look a bit too ratty & hodge podge to be on display. Also, the few official BBC tapes look incongruous amongst my far more numerous 'taped off the telly' tapes & also give away my long time fanboy status. The BBC DVD's are ok, they look slick & tidy & don't suggest such an arch obsession. Several have now replaced their VHS counterpart in my affections. Also, the new series has leant the old series a quaint, ironic, post-modern cool. Phew! But only in retrospect though mind you!! VHS really does give the game away. NERD BOY!
I really don't care what people think. I'm being overly silly for effect. But tell me loves that you don't feel a tiny little squirm inside when a new partner looks at a whole bookshelf devoted to your slavish love for a show that more often than not has been sub par & sometimes downright embarrasing over its huge life span. Tell me you don't immediately go into defensive mode & feel the need to madly justify & qualify.
Back to unpacking boxes. Damn. How nice it was to procrastinate for a moment...
xx Lucozer..
Showing posts with label PATRICK TROUGHTON. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PATRICK TROUGHTON. Show all posts
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Peter Davison in 'Time Crash' - the hard stats!
There are so many reviews around for 'Time Crash', many of which cover the same ground & many of which have already covered in blushing detail the ground I would cover, so I think it would be painfully redundant at this point to add another generic review to the slew!
What I have decided to do instead is crunch some numbers relating to Time Crash & Peter Davison in particular, hopefully in a fabulously insightful & didactic manner that will contextualise Davison's return to Dr Who & his performance in Time Crash in a fresh & enlightening fashion...Then I will loudly sigh, smoke a cigarette, roll over & go to sleep with my stuffed yeti...
Anyway,
Peter Davison returns to the role 23 years after his last regular appearance in 1984's 'Caves of Androzani' (no I'm not counting his 90 seconds of inane running around in that dog's dinner 'Dimensions In Time'). I also don't count the 'Big Finish' stuff; not because it's not great or because I contest its canon status (actually I do - but another time!), but because the voice is only half the performance, maybe even less. Davison slots his voice AND his body into the canon, as the 5th Doctor, for the first time in 23 years.
Why am I harping on about 23 years??. Well, it is by far the longest gap between drinks from the furry gallifreyan cup??!! (both as it were AND so to speak) for a returning Doctor. Believe it or not, in the case of Patrick Troughton, the previous record span holder, there was (only) a span of 16 years!! between his last regular appearance in 'War Games' (1969) & his third & final return in 'Two Doctors' (1985). Seven years short of Peter's mammoth 23 years & broken up twice. Pat's gap was divided thus, 3 years forward to the 'Three Doctors', ten hence to 'Five Doctors' & finally a brief 2 years to the 'Two Doctors'. In terms of 'keeping his eye in' as the Doctor, Pat's longest break without dusting off his giddy aunt & stroking his recorder was just 10 years.
The only other returning Doctors, Hartnell & Pertwee, had relatively brief spans of 7 years ('Tenth Planet' in '66 to Three Doctors in '73) & 9 years ('Planet of Spiders' in '74 to 'Five Doctors' in '83) respectively. This seems really quite bizarre to me. At the time of Pertwee's return in 'Five Doctors', it must have seemed aeons since he was the incumbent (let alone Troughton!), years stretching back through the two seasons of Davison & the entire Tom Baker era. 9 years is but a blink compared to Peter Davison's 23 year span. Whoops, I forgot the return of Sylv (a mere 7 years: Survival '89 to 'The Movie''96)...but who cares? The movie was shizen & after watching 'Silver Nemesis' last night, I don't want to think about Sly McCoy at the mo anyway.
Where is all this going? Well I guess I'm saying that for Pat & Jon to have been wonderful & effortlessly slip back into the role was not really such a feat. They were both superb of course, but it really shouldn't have been any other way. They had much shorter times away from the role & were always 'older' Doctors, so the change was never going to be too jarring. Davison however, who through his era embodied youth, vitality & often naive innocence in a refreshing slant on the character, is stuck with the problem of trying to authentically capture the same youthful spirit, 23 years on, lumbered with a (albiet well kept) 56 year old body. The tough question is how to pitch it? By far the youngest Doctor cast in the role in the original series (29 years in 1981), he is now one year older than William Hartnell was when Hartnell, the all-time oldest doctor at the time of his casting, was originally cast in the role. Considering all this, Peter does pretty well with the help of a mostly pretty tidy bit of fanboy fluff from S Moffatt.
The 'time differential' explanation was deftly tossed off so that it didn't seem too pointedly the fix up the 'older doctors' solution that it was. Perhaps with the 'time differential-ed' older body & older voice came the (somewhat out of character) grumpiness as well. I feel Davison's vibe was more 'impotent frustration' than 'stern grumpiness' when under stress during his tenure. However, considering his newly flagging middle aged hormones & 'greying' cells, Maybe the 5th Dr couldn't help being crabby & cantakerous when thrown into a desperate paradox situation with Tennant's charming (in this instance at least) boggle-eyed geek blabbing at him. It was also good to see the character stretched & developed just a little, rather than having it stunted by continuity fascism & the variable & limited writing of the 5th Doctor's own era. Such things should never be allowed to get in the way of good TV & more importantly, good Dr Who. Apart from having to say 'TARDIS' about five times too many for a 7 minute vignette & his first few technobabble lines seeming a bit forced through his smokers husk (not sure if he does?), Peter settles nicely & I smiled broadly watching Dr's 5 & 10 huddle over the console together in feverish Doctorisheness!
If Davison's 5th Doctor was a few yards of scarf & a few teeth & curls short of iconic prior to Time Crash (pretty much only Tom is truly iconic in the role, with the 'twee a distant second) he is now, at least in Britain. The biggest small-screen star in Britain, David Tennant (although I'd listen to you if you argued Davison himself is, or perhaps 'best loved' is more his mantle?), deliciously fetishised the 5th Doctor before the eyes of a mammoth 11 million viewers. He reminded us of Davison's very own 'teeth & curls'; "the hat, the coat, the crickety-cricket stuff, the stick of celery". This was done very pointedly. Moffat (ably helped by Mr Harper) has now lovingly established the 5th Doctor, his own favourite, as the charming british flavoured small screen sci-fi icon that he wasn't quite. Probably I didn't need quite so many qualifiers, 'Iconic' is perhaps enough on its own now when it comes to Davison's 5th. All done in just over 7 minutes.
Well done loves. The Doctor AND the TARDIS!! Congratulations & well played!!
What I have decided to do instead is crunch some numbers relating to Time Crash & Peter Davison in particular, hopefully in a fabulously insightful & didactic manner that will contextualise Davison's return to Dr Who & his performance in Time Crash in a fresh & enlightening fashion...Then I will loudly sigh, smoke a cigarette, roll over & go to sleep with my stuffed yeti...
Anyway,
Peter Davison returns to the role 23 years after his last regular appearance in 1984's 'Caves of Androzani' (no I'm not counting his 90 seconds of inane running around in that dog's dinner 'Dimensions In Time'). I also don't count the 'Big Finish' stuff; not because it's not great or because I contest its canon status (actually I do - but another time!), but because the voice is only half the performance, maybe even less. Davison slots his voice AND his body into the canon, as the 5th Doctor, for the first time in 23 years.
Why am I harping on about 23 years??. Well, it is by far the longest gap between drinks from the furry gallifreyan cup??!! (both as it were AND so to speak) for a returning Doctor. Believe it or not, in the case of Patrick Troughton, the previous record span holder, there was (only) a span of 16 years!! between his last regular appearance in 'War Games' (1969) & his third & final return in 'Two Doctors' (1985). Seven years short of Peter's mammoth 23 years & broken up twice. Pat's gap was divided thus, 3 years forward to the 'Three Doctors', ten hence to 'Five Doctors' & finally a brief 2 years to the 'Two Doctors'. In terms of 'keeping his eye in' as the Doctor, Pat's longest break without dusting off his giddy aunt & stroking his recorder was just 10 years.
The only other returning Doctors, Hartnell & Pertwee, had relatively brief spans of 7 years ('Tenth Planet' in '66 to Three Doctors in '73) & 9 years ('Planet of Spiders' in '74 to 'Five Doctors' in '83) respectively. This seems really quite bizarre to me. At the time of Pertwee's return in 'Five Doctors', it must have seemed aeons since he was the incumbent (let alone Troughton!), years stretching back through the two seasons of Davison & the entire Tom Baker era. 9 years is but a blink compared to Peter Davison's 23 year span. Whoops, I forgot the return of Sylv (a mere 7 years: Survival '89 to 'The Movie''96)...but who cares? The movie was shizen & after watching 'Silver Nemesis' last night, I don't want to think about Sly McCoy at the mo anyway.
Where is all this going? Well I guess I'm saying that for Pat & Jon to have been wonderful & effortlessly slip back into the role was not really such a feat. They were both superb of course, but it really shouldn't have been any other way. They had much shorter times away from the role & were always 'older' Doctors, so the change was never going to be too jarring. Davison however, who through his era embodied youth, vitality & often naive innocence in a refreshing slant on the character, is stuck with the problem of trying to authentically capture the same youthful spirit, 23 years on, lumbered with a (albiet well kept) 56 year old body. The tough question is how to pitch it? By far the youngest Doctor cast in the role in the original series (29 years in 1981), he is now one year older than William Hartnell was when Hartnell, the all-time oldest doctor at the time of his casting, was originally cast in the role. Considering all this, Peter does pretty well with the help of a mostly pretty tidy bit of fanboy fluff from S Moffatt.
The 'time differential' explanation was deftly tossed off so that it didn't seem too pointedly the fix up the 'older doctors' solution that it was. Perhaps with the 'time differential-ed' older body & older voice came the (somewhat out of character) grumpiness as well. I feel Davison's vibe was more 'impotent frustration' than 'stern grumpiness' when under stress during his tenure. However, considering his newly flagging middle aged hormones & 'greying' cells, Maybe the 5th Dr couldn't help being crabby & cantakerous when thrown into a desperate paradox situation with Tennant's charming (in this instance at least) boggle-eyed geek blabbing at him. It was also good to see the character stretched & developed just a little, rather than having it stunted by continuity fascism & the variable & limited writing of the 5th Doctor's own era. Such things should never be allowed to get in the way of good TV & more importantly, good Dr Who. Apart from having to say 'TARDIS' about five times too many for a 7 minute vignette & his first few technobabble lines seeming a bit forced through his smokers husk (not sure if he does?), Peter settles nicely & I smiled broadly watching Dr's 5 & 10 huddle over the console together in feverish Doctorisheness!
If Davison's 5th Doctor was a few yards of scarf & a few teeth & curls short of iconic prior to Time Crash (pretty much only Tom is truly iconic in the role, with the 'twee a distant second) he is now, at least in Britain. The biggest small-screen star in Britain, David Tennant (although I'd listen to you if you argued Davison himself is, or perhaps 'best loved' is more his mantle?), deliciously fetishised the 5th Doctor before the eyes of a mammoth 11 million viewers. He reminded us of Davison's very own 'teeth & curls'; "the hat, the coat, the crickety-cricket stuff, the stick of celery". This was done very pointedly. Moffat (ably helped by Mr Harper) has now lovingly established the 5th Doctor, his own favourite, as the charming british flavoured small screen sci-fi icon that he wasn't quite. Probably I didn't need quite so many qualifiers, 'Iconic' is perhaps enough on its own now when it comes to Davison's 5th. All done in just over 7 minutes.
Well done loves. The Doctor AND the TARDIS!! Congratulations & well played!!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Doctor Who & the 'Web of jolly-well-not-very Clear'!!!
Oh that it were true! That 'Web of Fear' could be returned to the BBC vaults from where it was so cruelly cast out back in the late 70's!
Even if this rumour turns out to be a particularly nasty hoax, I am amazed at the timing of it. Reason being that the Co-Pilot & I, a mere 5 nights ago, sat down to watch the two (until now?) remaining Yeti episodes together. We had never watched those episodes paired in a 'Yeti fest' sense. In fact, of the two eps, the only one we'd seen together was Abom 2 & that was about 15 years ago on 'The Troughton Years' VHS. Our little Yeti moment may now be followed by a Yeti bonanza!! Pure chance?, spooky coincidence?, or something much more fabulous?? who knows!!
A few thoughts on:
Abominable Snowmen 2 -
Fairly slow moving but marvellously atmospheric. Well acted, superb set design. The outdoor film shots look superb; so crisp. An underrated, quiet gem.
Web Of Fear 1 -
Some great moments. The Hammer Horror style scenes in the museum are striking. Pat, Frazer & even Deb are all on good form. The tunnel scenes look superb. The letdowns are Jack Watling's wretched 'huffing old man' turn & the stilted scenes in the military base. I'm sad to say the episode overall is a middling effort from the otherwise masterful Mr Camfield. I hope it gets better after the somewhat shaky start & I certainly hope we will soon find out!!
The Lucozer (plugging up his fan boy saliva ducts, but hoping to soon let them flow!)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Lucozers' DVD release wish-list
Doctor Who stories that should be released on DVD asap (with asterisks to indicate pressing urgency of release!!)
** Decent story. A worthy addition to the DVD shelf
*** Good story. slightly surprising it has been passed over thus far
**** Get it the #%&* out on DVD already!!! &*^%# to the wall classic!
In chronological order...
TIME MEDDLER **
A snappy little 4 parter & it would be the first full Steven/ Vicki release
WAR MACHINES **
A modest charmer & the only complete Ben/ Polly adventure
ICE WARRIORS ***
With animation (or preferably CGI) for the missing episodes 2 & 3
WAR GAMES ****
The extra star for the lavish packaging & bonus feature possibilities. The story perhaps only worthy of 3 & a half
THE SILURIANS ****
!!!!! My most anticipated release at the moment
TERROR OF THE AUTONS/ MIND OF EVIL/ CLAWS OF AXOS/ COLONY IN SPACE/ DAEMONS ****
A masterful Master box set. He appeared in every story in Season 8 so it makes perfect sense. A fitting tribute to wonderful Rog. This is really the only way I would buy Axos & the best way to flog off the dreary Colony
FRONTIER IN SPACE/ PLANET OF THE DALEKS ***
As the double header it really is, this 12 part space opera would be a superb anorak filler
DEATH TO THE DALEKS ***
Can't wait to hear the striking incidental music restored!
TERROR OF THE ZYGONS/ ANDROID INVASION ****
Linked by being the final two appearances for both Benton & Harry & also the final UNIT story proper (not including the brief scenes in 'Seeds Of Doom'). Zygons contains some of the finest incidental music in the shows history, as does the wonderful...
SEEDS OF DOOM ****
All hail Geoffrey Burgen! Best TB story not out on DVD as yet
FULL CIRCLE/ STATE OF DECAY/ WARRIOR'S GATE ***
A superb set that would be more than the sum of it's parts. The only way I would buy Full Circle
MAWDRYN UNDEAD/ TERMINUS/ ENLIGHTENMENT ***
A fab triple set of the Guardian trilogy. Enlightenment is the only individual story I'd rush out for, but together they are almost a match for the E-Space trilogy
PLANET OF FIRE **
A modest story. A polished production if a little bland. Certainly one of Ainley's best showings
TRIAL OF A TIME LORD ***
The bonus features & packaging will lift this one above its station
HAPPINESS PATROL ***
This should be considered the 'Rocky Horror' of the Who canon. People should have dress up parties to watch it & lay on hors d'oerves & champers!
Cheers, The 'Cozer
Oh..and as for the Animated/CGI Hartnell/ Troughton missing story reconstructions. GET MOVING BEEB!!!!PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
Power, Evil, Masterplan, Fury, Web...the palette waters!!!
** Decent story. A worthy addition to the DVD shelf
*** Good story. slightly surprising it has been passed over thus far
**** Get it the #%&* out on DVD already!!! &*^%# to the wall classic!
In chronological order...
TIME MEDDLER **
A snappy little 4 parter & it would be the first full Steven/ Vicki release
WAR MACHINES **
A modest charmer & the only complete Ben/ Polly adventure
ICE WARRIORS ***
With animation (or preferably CGI) for the missing episodes 2 & 3
WAR GAMES ****
The extra star for the lavish packaging & bonus feature possibilities. The story perhaps only worthy of 3 & a half
THE SILURIANS ****
!!!!! My most anticipated release at the moment
TERROR OF THE AUTONS/ MIND OF EVIL/ CLAWS OF AXOS/ COLONY IN SPACE/ DAEMONS ****
A masterful Master box set. He appeared in every story in Season 8 so it makes perfect sense. A fitting tribute to wonderful Rog. This is really the only way I would buy Axos & the best way to flog off the dreary Colony
FRONTIER IN SPACE/ PLANET OF THE DALEKS ***
As the double header it really is, this 12 part space opera would be a superb anorak filler
DEATH TO THE DALEKS ***
Can't wait to hear the striking incidental music restored!
TERROR OF THE ZYGONS/ ANDROID INVASION ****
Linked by being the final two appearances for both Benton & Harry & also the final UNIT story proper (not including the brief scenes in 'Seeds Of Doom'). Zygons contains some of the finest incidental music in the shows history, as does the wonderful...
SEEDS OF DOOM ****
All hail Geoffrey Burgen! Best TB story not out on DVD as yet
FULL CIRCLE/ STATE OF DECAY/ WARRIOR'S GATE ***
A superb set that would be more than the sum of it's parts. The only way I would buy Full Circle
MAWDRYN UNDEAD/ TERMINUS/ ENLIGHTENMENT ***
A fab triple set of the Guardian trilogy. Enlightenment is the only individual story I'd rush out for, but together they are almost a match for the E-Space trilogy
PLANET OF FIRE **
A modest story. A polished production if a little bland. Certainly one of Ainley's best showings
TRIAL OF A TIME LORD ***
The bonus features & packaging will lift this one above its station
HAPPINESS PATROL ***
This should be considered the 'Rocky Horror' of the Who canon. People should have dress up parties to watch it & lay on hors d'oerves & champers!
Cheers, The 'Cozer
Oh..and as for the Animated/CGI Hartnell/ Troughton missing story reconstructions. GET MOVING BEEB!!!!PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
Power, Evil, Masterplan, Fury, Web...the palette waters!!!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Doctor's Favourite Companions!! (Hartnell/ Troughton Years)...for Peter Haining
Ian Chesterton - A charming & hunky antidote to Hartnell's coughs, cobwebs & mothballs. Steadfast, perceptive, quietly intelligent & stylish in a subdued way. I'd wear his cardigan any day (or Enoch on his wood perhaps?)...9/10
Barbara Wright - A smart & strong willed yet also warm & motherly figure. I would like Ms Wright to mop my brow & tell me it'll be alright after being paralysed from the waist down by a Dalek ray (if Ian wasn't available that is). I hope she & Ian got married & had lots of little Chesterton-Wright's...8.5/10
Susan Foreman - A painful & un-dimensional companion despite the writers best efforts to imbue her with mystique & alien-ness. A dreadful characterisation inhabited by a forced & clunky performance. Tripping (too often literally) at every wretched turn, I'd have no regrets, tears or anxieties if I never came back!...5.5/10
Vicki - An elfin cutie! I like her black & silver collar too. She had a relaxed & charming rapport with Barbara & Ian. Clever, curious, adventurous, woefully underrated & a vast improvement on Susan. For mine, she is the 'new black' where companions are concerned. Maybe that's overstating it a bit, but anyway...8/10
Steven Taylor - Not the poor man's Ian of repute, though initially he may have had to deal with a few scripts intended for Ian. He is passionate & heroic & Mr Purves gave it lots of gusto. His voice is a bit dorky, but his shoulders however..sf00khu...8/10
Sara Kingdom - C'mon. 6/7? episodes in the middle of one story (admittedly a Barrowman sized one). Not a PROPER companion surely?...N/A/10
Katarina - I've only watched Part 2 of 'Dalek's Masterplan' once & that was ages ago. So if I'm to be a serious critic, I'll have to award her the temporary pardon of another not very descriptive...N/A/10
Dodo Chaplet - If she was fired after a miserly five adventures because of, reputedly, 'terrible acting', then Ms Ann Ford's services deserved to have been terminated half way through her bus trip to the audition (sorry, that's probably a bit harsh) Dodo's not great, but she's competent & I think quite likeable. Lumbered with a dorky name, she suffered a dorky exit from the show too; written out half way through a story with no goodbye indeed! Tut-tut Innes...6.5/10
Polly Wright - Quite a looker. Would have set a few pimply fanboys pulses racing & a few dads might have poked their heads in too. Into the LOUNGEROOM that is! Not a great actress, but quite competent & a whole lot of sweetie. I'd go checking out the sailors & go-go dancing with her down at the Inferno...7.5/10
Ben Jackson - Originally cast to be the 'tough' for the ailing Hartnell. Fraze soon moved in, lifted the sporran & quickly showed who was going to be Pat's 'heavy'. Despite little character development & a broad accent that could make any dialouge wince in terrible pain, he did reasonably well. I'd buy him a pint...7.5/10
Jamie McCrimmon - A superb foil for the 2nd Doctor with whom he established a smashing rapport. Charming innocence, cheekiness & undying loyalty. What wondrous qualities. Oh how well he wore that long sleeve black T-shirt in the echoing white void. I'd quite like to be him, failing that, I'd really just like to...give him a whopping ...9/10
Victoria Waterfield - I wish Polly had stuck around & been developed further. She & Jamie would have made a foxy team, the pretty swinger & the simple, sexy Highlander. Alas, we have here the archetypal damsel in distress/ screamer. A thankless role played competently at best; not a good combination. She improved towards the end, but not enough to have me handing her a trophy for 'most improved'...6.5/10
Zoe Herriot - Not much character development here either, typical of the time I guess. At least they let her be a braniac even if not a very liberated one. Most of the time she just huffed & puffed & put her hands on her hips as impotent riposte to Jamie's sexist needlings. Zoe was charmingly played though & you can't argue with the curves in the catsuit or those doe eyes. The Co-Pilot would give her a lusty grrrrowwl if he were here. I'd give her half a growl too. I might just turn (on a spinning the TARDIS console) for zesty Zoe...8/10
That's it for now...stayed tuned for the Pertwee & Tom Baker years...
Love hurts, Lucozer...
Barbara Wright - A smart & strong willed yet also warm & motherly figure. I would like Ms Wright to mop my brow & tell me it'll be alright after being paralysed from the waist down by a Dalek ray (if Ian wasn't available that is). I hope she & Ian got married & had lots of little Chesterton-Wright's...8.5/10
Susan Foreman - A painful & un-dimensional companion despite the writers best efforts to imbue her with mystique & alien-ness. A dreadful characterisation inhabited by a forced & clunky performance. Tripping (too often literally) at every wretched turn, I'd have no regrets, tears or anxieties if I never came back!...5.5/10
Vicki - An elfin cutie! I like her black & silver collar too. She had a relaxed & charming rapport with Barbara & Ian. Clever, curious, adventurous, woefully underrated & a vast improvement on Susan. For mine, she is the 'new black' where companions are concerned. Maybe that's overstating it a bit, but anyway...8/10
Steven Taylor - Not the poor man's Ian of repute, though initially he may have had to deal with a few scripts intended for Ian. He is passionate & heroic & Mr Purves gave it lots of gusto. His voice is a bit dorky, but his shoulders however..sf00khu...8/10
Sara Kingdom - C'mon. 6/7? episodes in the middle of one story (admittedly a Barrowman sized one). Not a PROPER companion surely?...N/A/10
Katarina - I've only watched Part 2 of 'Dalek's Masterplan' once & that was ages ago. So if I'm to be a serious critic, I'll have to award her the temporary pardon of another not very descriptive...N/A/10
Dodo Chaplet - If she was fired after a miserly five adventures because of, reputedly, 'terrible acting', then Ms Ann Ford's services deserved to have been terminated half way through her bus trip to the audition (sorry, that's probably a bit harsh) Dodo's not great, but she's competent & I think quite likeable. Lumbered with a dorky name, she suffered a dorky exit from the show too; written out half way through a story with no goodbye indeed! Tut-tut Innes...6.5/10
Polly Wright - Quite a looker. Would have set a few pimply fanboys pulses racing & a few dads might have poked their heads in too. Into the LOUNGEROOM that is! Not a great actress, but quite competent & a whole lot of sweetie. I'd go checking out the sailors & go-go dancing with her down at the Inferno...7.5/10
Ben Jackson - Originally cast to be the 'tough' for the ailing Hartnell. Fraze soon moved in, lifted the sporran & quickly showed who was going to be Pat's 'heavy'. Despite little character development & a broad accent that could make any dialouge wince in terrible pain, he did reasonably well. I'd buy him a pint...7.5/10
Jamie McCrimmon - A superb foil for the 2nd Doctor with whom he established a smashing rapport. Charming innocence, cheekiness & undying loyalty. What wondrous qualities. Oh how well he wore that long sleeve black T-shirt in the echoing white void. I'd quite like to be him, failing that, I'd really just like to...give him a whopping ...9/10
Victoria Waterfield - I wish Polly had stuck around & been developed further. She & Jamie would have made a foxy team, the pretty swinger & the simple, sexy Highlander. Alas, we have here the archetypal damsel in distress/ screamer. A thankless role played competently at best; not a good combination. She improved towards the end, but not enough to have me handing her a trophy for 'most improved'...6.5/10
Zoe Herriot - Not much character development here either, typical of the time I guess. At least they let her be a braniac even if not a very liberated one. Most of the time she just huffed & puffed & put her hands on her hips as impotent riposte to Jamie's sexist needlings. Zoe was charmingly played though & you can't argue with the curves in the catsuit or those doe eyes. The Co-Pilot would give her a lusty grrrrowwl if he were here. I'd give her half a growl too. I might just turn (on a spinning the TARDIS console) for zesty Zoe...8/10
That's it for now...stayed tuned for the Pertwee & Tom Baker years...
Love hurts, Lucozer...
Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Lucozer's 'Top 5 Most Criminally Underrated Doctor Who Stories'
Aaahh....the quest to find the 5 most criminally underrated stories in the whole of Doctor Who....
I hope to bring some much needed & long awaited attention to some neglected gems that have fallen on hard times. These gems, through no fault of their own, have found themselves trolling the dives & seedy bars at the lower end of critical opinion & 'favourite story' lists.
On occasion they have found themselves in the unsavory company of the likes of 'Delta & The Bannermen', 'Nightmare Of Eden' & 'The Twin Dilemma' (shudder) having to resort to lewd acts of Xoanan knows what to get by in the vicious, unforgiving world of Doctor Who fandom. I was propositioned by 'Death To The Daleks' in a dark alley just last night! Death has fallen on the hardest of times. Times that will change if I have owt to do about it!! "Death" said I, "you need not offer me that, I would be glad to take you home for a viewing!"......
First up (chronologically), from 1968, another hungry undernourished slice of 'Death'!
1) 'Seeds of Death' (Troughton/1968)
Granted it's no 'Evil' or 'Web', but what it is is jolly good. There is a grand sense of adventure in this eminently enjoyable tale. The rocket trip to the moon & T-Mat stuff are a little kitsch, but still fabulous fun. The character of Fewsham I find most intriguing; his struggles with his guilt & his conscience are beautifully written & quite gripping to watch.
The Ice Warriors are genuinely frightening in the claustrophobic confines & shadowy corridors of the Moonbase & the Weather Control Station. The shots of the Ice Warrior stalking through the foam covered park are creepy & superb. I would argue this is their finest showing from four starts. Alan Bennion as Slaar is particularly wonderful, bringing depth & great menace to a character stuck in a stiff plastic suit, daft helmet & silly cape & having to rely mostly on his sinister voice & heavily made up lips to do it.
Seeds never drags as badly as some of its six part counterparts do (though it is often criticised for padding) & it has some truly great moments of suspense & dialouge. The line "your leader will be angry if you kill me, I'm a genius" is one of the most oft quoted in the history of the show & deservedly so. It is a marvellous synthesis of the 2nd Doctor's manner & wits into one small moment.
The 'T-Mat nerve centre' prop & daft costumes are the obvious cons, but they are just cosmetic. The Pat, Frazer & Wendy team are in smashing form & Seeds is a big cut above the underachieving drabness of the 'The Dominators' & 'The Krotons' from early in the uneven 6th season. Dudley Simpson's frantic, percussive incidental music is stunning; it adds hugely to the tension & drama. Perhaps the finest of the Troughton era bar the marvellous score for 'The Invasion'.
Seeds is a great pulpy romp, certainly lacking the depth & finesse of a true classic, but a super example of 'monster invasion/ base under seige' Doctor Who. Never self importantly absorbed in excessive exploration of characters or sci-fi/fantasy wank, it purely sets out to be entertaining action/ adventure. The 'wrong signal' ploy to see of the Ice Warriors is a simple & charming conclusion. Nice one Seeds!
2) 'Death To The Daleks' (Pertwee/1974)
Sure it looks a tad shabby at times, but it has a palpably tense & sinister feel to it. That's what I'm after in Doctor Who dammit! Part one is superb; the promise of sunny, effervescent 'Florana', the TARDIS being drained of all power & then the Doctor & Sarah both wandering alone in the darkness…shivers & tingles! The unnerving stillness & sense of impending trouble in these scenes & in the moments before the Exxilon arrow attack is fantastic.
The startling incidental music in 'Death' probably bows only to the 'Sea Devils' in the whole of the Pertwee era. It is marvellously evocative & has been unfairly maligned by some over the years. The sound the city beacon makes & the moment Sarah first sees it are indelibly stamped on my memory. The Doctor's 'wonders of the world' line as the city crumbles at the end is a lovely touch.
The Daleks losing power renders them vulnerable & allows us to see their true resourcefulness & cunning; perhaps more than ever before. The sweet Bellal is sensitively played & quite charming. He has a touching rapport with Jon as they explore the city. Dr #3 is marvellous when he meets new beings such as Bellal for the first time. He shows great sensitivity & respect. His first meeting with a Silurian in the cottage in 'The Silurians' is another fine example.
There is clearly more inspiration & effort in this script than 'Planet Of The Daleks'. 'Death' is gritty, atmospheric, involving, tightly plotted & full of wonderful moments. A few flat guest performances & lack of overall production polish aside, criminally underrated.
3) 'Leisure Hive' (T. Baker/ 1980)
'Leisure Hive' marks the brilliant beginning of the greatest re-invigoration of Doctor Who in the show's history. Only 'Spearhead' comes close, though it's 'new stylings' were foreshadowed by 'Web Of Fear' & 'Invasion'. The new series you might say? Well that only really hit its stride with 'Unquiet Dead'. This amazing about-turn in Leisure was surely a huge shock on the heels of Season 17 dross like 'Nightmare' & 'Nimon'. It was an immediate & self assured creative success (if not a success in the ratings up against 'The A-Team').
The new title credits & Peter Howell's new version of the theme tune are striking. One can only imagine how exciting it must have been for long term fans to have seen them for the first time back in 1980. After 6 seasons with unchanging credits, it must have been a wonderful surprise, up there with the unheralded revelation of the Cybermen after a 7 year absence in 'Earthshock'. These credits still excite nearly 30 years on.
All of a sudden the show seems to have become 'adult' again. It has an invigorating urgency about it & has regained the earnestness it had so palpably lacked through the Williams reign. The new production team seems to be hungry & eager. There is innovation & ambition evident in every department. JNT is widely criticised for the way the show developed (some say degraded) during his reign, but at first & throughout the whole of season 18 he got it mostly right.
The design & production polish throughout season S18 are so far superior to S17 it is mind boggling. The scripts generally were several cuts above as well. JNT also pulled off the seemingly impossible & pulled the by now almost unquestioned & dictatorial TB back from the lazy self parody & excessive humour that had contributing hugely to eroding all the credibility the show had. In 'NOE' & 'CFTP' I would go so far as to say it had none.
JNT's team gave the Doctor a sumptuous new look & his vision of the Doctor is that of a quite grave & world weary man with a sparing dry & melancholy humour about him. This major shift in the Doctor's mood & manner gave us back a true sense of his long history; hundreds of years of experiences, littered with more than his share of death & loss. You wouldn't have known it from the scene chewing silliness that prevailed from '77 to '79. Good riddance to the casual flippance that had no relation to the Doctor we knew! Tom is a brilliant & charismatic actor & he was using his full range once again.
Leisure has many evocative & memorable moments. The Doctor ageing in the Tachyon machine...all the Pangols marching out...The story itself is merely good, but the whole of 'Leisure' is executed with such style, swagger & joy that I can forgive its minor shortcomings & silly plot holes. The guest cast are generally strong too; no more of the season 17 cardboard extras! The incidental music is absolutely gobsmacking; at turns marvellously rousing & at others tender & almost tear inducing.
Lalla & Tom are absolutely wonderful together. With the lead duo taking things seriously again, the sense of drama & our interest return with full force. 'Leisure' is a bold & wonderful first step by the JNT regime.
4) 'Mysterious Planet' (C. Baker/ 1986)
This story will always have a special place in my heart. For a long time it was the only Dr Who story that I had on tape (I'm mystified as to why that happened?) & for an even longer time it was the only Colin Baker story I had in my collection full stop. Colin's stories were not repeated in Australia until 1993 & even then were on at 4.30am!! Despite the nostalgia factor, I actually would pick this story if I could only have one Colin Baker story in my collection now. I honestly believe it is the best Colin Baker story of all. Better even than the patchy & flawed 'Revelation OTD' (more on that another time) It is also the only story that my sister, a devout non-fan, actually asked if we could watch one day! Go figure!
There are flaws certainly, the Humker & Tandrell silliness, the mystery of the planet being all but solved in the first 10 minutes, some sketchy design choices; but on the whole it looks polished & is pulled of with a fair amount of style. The story barrels along at a cracking pace & never forgets it primary duty to entertain. Robert Holmes script gives Colin some lovely passages that he delivers well; "planets come and go, stars perish, matter disperses, coalesces & reforms into other patterns, other worlds, nothing can be eternal" etc. There are also lovely touches such as the sacred texts. I thought the 'UK habitats of the Canadian Goose' scene blushingly daft as a child, but now I think it is brilliantly quirky & inspired.
The shifty double act of Glitz & Dibber are a treat. I adore their casually sinister banter as they peice together their guns in the first episode. It is a shame though that Glitz is rapidly softened from unconscionable thug at the start of the story to (almost) loveable rogue by the end (& in subsequent appearances). The season 23 'more comedy' mandate seems to have come into effect HALF WAY THROUGH the first story. This change is most evident in the court scenes, initially unsettling & credible, they rapidly degenerate into panto-ish silliness & repetition despite the valiant efforts of Jayston & Bellingham.
I can't state strongly enough how wonderful the first few minutes are, in fact most of the first episode. It is genuinely mysterious & engrossing & there is very little to fault. The stupendous first shot of the spacecraft & the time scoop, the TARDIS being dragged down the beam, the Doctor's first chilly exchanges with Michael Jayston's exquisitely malevolent Valeyard in the half light. All wonderful stuff that could stand proudly against any era of the show. I couldn't say that about many other episodes from season 22 or 23 sadly.
A crucial factor in the ultimate success of the story is that Colin is the most 'Doctor-ish' we have seen him to this point & more sympathetic & likeable than ever before. He is genuinely concerned for others, endearingly curious & generally dry humoured rather than the often cringeworthy buffon of prior stories. Colin gives the most relaxed, assured & natural performance of his reign. The same can be said for Nicola. Even when Col does slip back into mugging arrogance; "this is my best side", (delivered to Drathro's security camera), it is mercifully brief.
The rapport between Colin & Nicola has vastly improved from season 22. Their scenes together wandering through the forest & exploring Marble Arch are their finest bar none. There is genuine affection & SUBTELTY in the performances! It is such a shame that just as they were finally building a mature & believable rapport, they struck the craggy 'shitberg' that was 'Mindwarp' & that was that. In this though, albeit briefly, most of the the childish bickering & over acting is gone.
Gone too are the indescribably bad stabs of synthesizer incidental music that had made their wretched tiffs seem even more forced & painful ('Timelash' & 'Attack Of The Cybermen' being just two of many examples). In fact, the incidental music is the finest of Colin's era. It is generally tasteful & suitably dramatic at the right points. It responds appropriately to the mood of each scene. Genius! You'd think it was rocket science looking at its forebears.
Of the other support cast, Joan Sims gives the most uneven performance; wavering from tender & subtle in her scenes with Peri in the hut to awkward & OTT in her 'rousing' battle speeches. Probably she was miscast. It was almost another 'Beryl Reid', but she actually copes pretty well in comparison. Tom Chadbon as Merdeen is very laid back (some might say too laid back), but I would say his performance is dry & laconic rather than wooden. Merdeen lives a shitty existence in underground tunnels ruled by an megalomaniac robot, so I think his performance is quite apt. The naive, dorky Balazar is also quite well realised.
'Mysterious Planet' is a qualified success & began 'Trial Of A Timelord' with great promise that was all too quickly squandered. As Robert Holmes last contribution to the show, it is a solid if not spectacular farewell, with Colin & Nicola at their all too brief peak.
5) 'Happiness Patrol' (McCoy/ 1988)
Why does this divide people so? I am happy (& glad!) to see some champions for it amongst the Gallifrey One reviews, but a hell of a lot of people still seem to think it is embarrassing rubbish & the finest (or worst?) example of the daft camp & pantoesque leanings of the late JNT era.
The best way I can tackle reviewing this story is to first mention the way I saw it on first viewing as an 11 year old kid. I thought it was horribly gaudy, woefully overacted, painfully unbelievable & much too bizarre. The way I saw it then is pretty much the way a lot of people still see it now. It has taken several further viewings, several years more experience & an understanding of Graeme Curry's intent to change my perspective. I now feel it is an unfairly maligned (by some) & widely misunderstood minor classic. I should also point out that I am no push-over for the mid to late McCoy era. I feel that amongst its contemporaries, 'Rememberance' is very good, but overrated (thanks Keff!) & 'Silver Nemesis'is absolute rubbish.
There is much to applaud in 'Happiness'. There are lovely (gulp) 'Kafka-esque' touches such as the 'Waiting Zone'; where pointless, head spinning beauracracy prevails ("You're not under arrest but... step over that line & you're a dead man") & also in the impersonal & dehumanising doling out of letters to denote rank & worth (the icy, iron fisted Helen 'A' & the ambitious 'heavy' Priscilla 'P' for example). The scene where Silas P attempts to grovel his way up the alphabet is fantastic, as is Helen A's swift, clipped retort "Not quite, the very top, I hope, Silas P?". In this society, your worth ultimately comes down to your letter. Climbs up & slides down the alphabet ladder are desperately desired & fearfully dreaded respectively. As an 11 year old I had no idea what beauracracy was let alone being able to tell when someone was satirising it. I just thought it was all far too odd. Several years on though, I feel the 'clever social satire' credentials are in good order & I enjoy the story very much on this level.
Although the McCoy/ Aldred team is on fine form & has some lovely moments (could have done without McCoy's singing & "laughing" victory though!) I find the Doctor & Ace to be the least fascinating players in this most curious grotesque. They are sidelined somewhat by a wealth of intriguing, well written & finely textured support characters. The troubled, melancholy Susan Q, the droll, theatrical & shifty Gilbert M, the seemingly dotty & submissive but ultimately duplicitous Joseph C. Were he & Gilbert M on together for years? They seem to have had a lot of practice with their little barbs at one another. All three characters are beautifully played with nuance & delicacy. The distinction between the artifice that each character is forced to maintain under Helen A's regime & their true inner selves is intriguing to watch played out in these & many other characters.
What I read as over-acting as a young whippersnapper, I now see as characters either valiantly struggling with the artifice & fearing death for failure in maintaining it (Susan Q) or on the other hand, so practiced at it that they have forgotten how sickeningly false they appear (Priscilla P, Daisy K). The same goes for the design. Yes, clearly it is hideously colourful & garish. Surely that's the point though? The artifice of the design is ugly because all true emotion has been sucked out & it is presenting what is really fake, uninspired happiness.
The Kandyman is a joy to watch "It's all in there somewhere; caramel, sherbet, toffee, marsipan". Never did a list of sugary sweeties sound so terrifying. He is genuinely intimidating & his voice drips with malice. His demented nursery rhyme 'theme' adds to his impact too. All the "Fondant Supreme" stuff is marvellous. The Co-Pilot & I are big suckers for it. It makes us giggly school girls. I also really like the overhead pipe design in the Kandy Kitchen.
Sheila Hancock is just superb. I hang on every poisonous word that falls from her pursed lips. She can change gears in half a blink. Her rants about the miserable drones & such are masterfully delivered & perfectly cold & callous. Helen A sets the tone for the whole story. Hancock has the gravitas in this central performance to give the whole thing a big shot of credibility. If she hadn't taken it seriously & played for laughs, the whole thing could have fallen apart. The rest of the cast follow her lead & thankfully for the most part play it straight. Helen A is no cardboard villain. She has incredible depth & mystery to her. The final scene of her cradling her beloved Fifi in her arms as the incidental music swells is a gem & I genuinely feel for the twisted, misguided old bitch.
A fourth episode could have allowed for fleshing out of the Pipe People side-story a little, but in three parts it may have been wiser ultimately to excise them all together. With the brisk way they are brushed over & their drab design & muffled voices it is hard to engage with them in their plight. Despite a few dubious design choices (not all of them can be excused as 'for effect') & mercifully brief silly moments, this is captivating & intriguing to watch. Intelligent & innovative Doctor Who that is stretching for new ideas & new frontiers.
So that's it, thanks for reading!
The Lucozer
I hope to bring some much needed & long awaited attention to some neglected gems that have fallen on hard times. These gems, through no fault of their own, have found themselves trolling the dives & seedy bars at the lower end of critical opinion & 'favourite story' lists.
On occasion they have found themselves in the unsavory company of the likes of 'Delta & The Bannermen', 'Nightmare Of Eden' & 'The Twin Dilemma' (shudder) having to resort to lewd acts of Xoanan knows what to get by in the vicious, unforgiving world of Doctor Who fandom. I was propositioned by 'Death To The Daleks' in a dark alley just last night! Death has fallen on the hardest of times. Times that will change if I have owt to do about it!! "Death" said I, "you need not offer me that, I would be glad to take you home for a viewing!"......
First up (chronologically), from 1968, another hungry undernourished slice of 'Death'!
1) 'Seeds of Death' (Troughton/1968)
Granted it's no 'Evil' or 'Web', but what it is is jolly good. There is a grand sense of adventure in this eminently enjoyable tale. The rocket trip to the moon & T-Mat stuff are a little kitsch, but still fabulous fun. The character of Fewsham I find most intriguing; his struggles with his guilt & his conscience are beautifully written & quite gripping to watch.
The Ice Warriors are genuinely frightening in the claustrophobic confines & shadowy corridors of the Moonbase & the Weather Control Station. The shots of the Ice Warrior stalking through the foam covered park are creepy & superb. I would argue this is their finest showing from four starts. Alan Bennion as Slaar is particularly wonderful, bringing depth & great menace to a character stuck in a stiff plastic suit, daft helmet & silly cape & having to rely mostly on his sinister voice & heavily made up lips to do it.
Seeds never drags as badly as some of its six part counterparts do (though it is often criticised for padding) & it has some truly great moments of suspense & dialouge. The line "your leader will be angry if you kill me, I'm a genius" is one of the most oft quoted in the history of the show & deservedly so. It is a marvellous synthesis of the 2nd Doctor's manner & wits into one small moment.
The 'T-Mat nerve centre' prop & daft costumes are the obvious cons, but they are just cosmetic. The Pat, Frazer & Wendy team are in smashing form & Seeds is a big cut above the underachieving drabness of the 'The Dominators' & 'The Krotons' from early in the uneven 6th season. Dudley Simpson's frantic, percussive incidental music is stunning; it adds hugely to the tension & drama. Perhaps the finest of the Troughton era bar the marvellous score for 'The Invasion'.
Seeds is a great pulpy romp, certainly lacking the depth & finesse of a true classic, but a super example of 'monster invasion/ base under seige' Doctor Who. Never self importantly absorbed in excessive exploration of characters or sci-fi/fantasy wank, it purely sets out to be entertaining action/ adventure. The 'wrong signal' ploy to see of the Ice Warriors is a simple & charming conclusion. Nice one Seeds!
2) 'Death To The Daleks' (Pertwee/1974)
Sure it looks a tad shabby at times, but it has a palpably tense & sinister feel to it. That's what I'm after in Doctor Who dammit! Part one is superb; the promise of sunny, effervescent 'Florana', the TARDIS being drained of all power & then the Doctor & Sarah both wandering alone in the darkness…shivers & tingles! The unnerving stillness & sense of impending trouble in these scenes & in the moments before the Exxilon arrow attack is fantastic.
The startling incidental music in 'Death' probably bows only to the 'Sea Devils' in the whole of the Pertwee era. It is marvellously evocative & has been unfairly maligned by some over the years. The sound the city beacon makes & the moment Sarah first sees it are indelibly stamped on my memory. The Doctor's 'wonders of the world' line as the city crumbles at the end is a lovely touch.
The Daleks losing power renders them vulnerable & allows us to see their true resourcefulness & cunning; perhaps more than ever before. The sweet Bellal is sensitively played & quite charming. He has a touching rapport with Jon as they explore the city. Dr #3 is marvellous when he meets new beings such as Bellal for the first time. He shows great sensitivity & respect. His first meeting with a Silurian in the cottage in 'The Silurians' is another fine example.
There is clearly more inspiration & effort in this script than 'Planet Of The Daleks'. 'Death' is gritty, atmospheric, involving, tightly plotted & full of wonderful moments. A few flat guest performances & lack of overall production polish aside, criminally underrated.
3) 'Leisure Hive' (T. Baker/ 1980)
'Leisure Hive' marks the brilliant beginning of the greatest re-invigoration of Doctor Who in the show's history. Only 'Spearhead' comes close, though it's 'new stylings' were foreshadowed by 'Web Of Fear' & 'Invasion'. The new series you might say? Well that only really hit its stride with 'Unquiet Dead'. This amazing about-turn in Leisure was surely a huge shock on the heels of Season 17 dross like 'Nightmare' & 'Nimon'. It was an immediate & self assured creative success (if not a success in the ratings up against 'The A-Team').
The new title credits & Peter Howell's new version of the theme tune are striking. One can only imagine how exciting it must have been for long term fans to have seen them for the first time back in 1980. After 6 seasons with unchanging credits, it must have been a wonderful surprise, up there with the unheralded revelation of the Cybermen after a 7 year absence in 'Earthshock'. These credits still excite nearly 30 years on.
All of a sudden the show seems to have become 'adult' again. It has an invigorating urgency about it & has regained the earnestness it had so palpably lacked through the Williams reign. The new production team seems to be hungry & eager. There is innovation & ambition evident in every department. JNT is widely criticised for the way the show developed (some say degraded) during his reign, but at first & throughout the whole of season 18 he got it mostly right.
The design & production polish throughout season S18 are so far superior to S17 it is mind boggling. The scripts generally were several cuts above as well. JNT also pulled off the seemingly impossible & pulled the by now almost unquestioned & dictatorial TB back from the lazy self parody & excessive humour that had contributing hugely to eroding all the credibility the show had. In 'NOE' & 'CFTP' I would go so far as to say it had none.
JNT's team gave the Doctor a sumptuous new look & his vision of the Doctor is that of a quite grave & world weary man with a sparing dry & melancholy humour about him. This major shift in the Doctor's mood & manner gave us back a true sense of his long history; hundreds of years of experiences, littered with more than his share of death & loss. You wouldn't have known it from the scene chewing silliness that prevailed from '77 to '79. Good riddance to the casual flippance that had no relation to the Doctor we knew! Tom is a brilliant & charismatic actor & he was using his full range once again.
Leisure has many evocative & memorable moments. The Doctor ageing in the Tachyon machine...all the Pangols marching out...The story itself is merely good, but the whole of 'Leisure' is executed with such style, swagger & joy that I can forgive its minor shortcomings & silly plot holes. The guest cast are generally strong too; no more of the season 17 cardboard extras! The incidental music is absolutely gobsmacking; at turns marvellously rousing & at others tender & almost tear inducing.
Lalla & Tom are absolutely wonderful together. With the lead duo taking things seriously again, the sense of drama & our interest return with full force. 'Leisure' is a bold & wonderful first step by the JNT regime.
4) 'Mysterious Planet' (C. Baker/ 1986)
This story will always have a special place in my heart. For a long time it was the only Dr Who story that I had on tape (I'm mystified as to why that happened?) & for an even longer time it was the only Colin Baker story I had in my collection full stop. Colin's stories were not repeated in Australia until 1993 & even then were on at 4.30am!! Despite the nostalgia factor, I actually would pick this story if I could only have one Colin Baker story in my collection now. I honestly believe it is the best Colin Baker story of all. Better even than the patchy & flawed 'Revelation OTD' (more on that another time) It is also the only story that my sister, a devout non-fan, actually asked if we could watch one day! Go figure!
There are flaws certainly, the Humker & Tandrell silliness, the mystery of the planet being all but solved in the first 10 minutes, some sketchy design choices; but on the whole it looks polished & is pulled of with a fair amount of style. The story barrels along at a cracking pace & never forgets it primary duty to entertain. Robert Holmes script gives Colin some lovely passages that he delivers well; "planets come and go, stars perish, matter disperses, coalesces & reforms into other patterns, other worlds, nothing can be eternal" etc. There are also lovely touches such as the sacred texts. I thought the 'UK habitats of the Canadian Goose' scene blushingly daft as a child, but now I think it is brilliantly quirky & inspired.
The shifty double act of Glitz & Dibber are a treat. I adore their casually sinister banter as they peice together their guns in the first episode. It is a shame though that Glitz is rapidly softened from unconscionable thug at the start of the story to (almost) loveable rogue by the end (& in subsequent appearances). The season 23 'more comedy' mandate seems to have come into effect HALF WAY THROUGH the first story. This change is most evident in the court scenes, initially unsettling & credible, they rapidly degenerate into panto-ish silliness & repetition despite the valiant efforts of Jayston & Bellingham.
I can't state strongly enough how wonderful the first few minutes are, in fact most of the first episode. It is genuinely mysterious & engrossing & there is very little to fault. The stupendous first shot of the spacecraft & the time scoop, the TARDIS being dragged down the beam, the Doctor's first chilly exchanges with Michael Jayston's exquisitely malevolent Valeyard in the half light. All wonderful stuff that could stand proudly against any era of the show. I couldn't say that about many other episodes from season 22 or 23 sadly.
A crucial factor in the ultimate success of the story is that Colin is the most 'Doctor-ish' we have seen him to this point & more sympathetic & likeable than ever before. He is genuinely concerned for others, endearingly curious & generally dry humoured rather than the often cringeworthy buffon of prior stories. Colin gives the most relaxed, assured & natural performance of his reign. The same can be said for Nicola. Even when Col does slip back into mugging arrogance; "this is my best side", (delivered to Drathro's security camera), it is mercifully brief.
The rapport between Colin & Nicola has vastly improved from season 22. Their scenes together wandering through the forest & exploring Marble Arch are their finest bar none. There is genuine affection & SUBTELTY in the performances! It is such a shame that just as they were finally building a mature & believable rapport, they struck the craggy 'shitberg' that was 'Mindwarp' & that was that. In this though, albeit briefly, most of the the childish bickering & over acting is gone.
Gone too are the indescribably bad stabs of synthesizer incidental music that had made their wretched tiffs seem even more forced & painful ('Timelash' & 'Attack Of The Cybermen' being just two of many examples). In fact, the incidental music is the finest of Colin's era. It is generally tasteful & suitably dramatic at the right points. It responds appropriately to the mood of each scene. Genius! You'd think it was rocket science looking at its forebears.
Of the other support cast, Joan Sims gives the most uneven performance; wavering from tender & subtle in her scenes with Peri in the hut to awkward & OTT in her 'rousing' battle speeches. Probably she was miscast. It was almost another 'Beryl Reid', but she actually copes pretty well in comparison. Tom Chadbon as Merdeen is very laid back (some might say too laid back), but I would say his performance is dry & laconic rather than wooden. Merdeen lives a shitty existence in underground tunnels ruled by an megalomaniac robot, so I think his performance is quite apt. The naive, dorky Balazar is also quite well realised.
'Mysterious Planet' is a qualified success & began 'Trial Of A Timelord' with great promise that was all too quickly squandered. As Robert Holmes last contribution to the show, it is a solid if not spectacular farewell, with Colin & Nicola at their all too brief peak.
5) 'Happiness Patrol' (McCoy/ 1988)
Why does this divide people so? I am happy (& glad!) to see some champions for it amongst the Gallifrey One reviews, but a hell of a lot of people still seem to think it is embarrassing rubbish & the finest (or worst?) example of the daft camp & pantoesque leanings of the late JNT era.
The best way I can tackle reviewing this story is to first mention the way I saw it on first viewing as an 11 year old kid. I thought it was horribly gaudy, woefully overacted, painfully unbelievable & much too bizarre. The way I saw it then is pretty much the way a lot of people still see it now. It has taken several further viewings, several years more experience & an understanding of Graeme Curry's intent to change my perspective. I now feel it is an unfairly maligned (by some) & widely misunderstood minor classic. I should also point out that I am no push-over for the mid to late McCoy era. I feel that amongst its contemporaries, 'Rememberance' is very good, but overrated (thanks Keff!) & 'Silver Nemesis'is absolute rubbish.
There is much to applaud in 'Happiness'. There are lovely (gulp) 'Kafka-esque' touches such as the 'Waiting Zone'; where pointless, head spinning beauracracy prevails ("You're not under arrest but... step over that line & you're a dead man") & also in the impersonal & dehumanising doling out of letters to denote rank & worth (the icy, iron fisted Helen 'A' & the ambitious 'heavy' Priscilla 'P' for example). The scene where Silas P attempts to grovel his way up the alphabet is fantastic, as is Helen A's swift, clipped retort "Not quite, the very top, I hope, Silas P?". In this society, your worth ultimately comes down to your letter. Climbs up & slides down the alphabet ladder are desperately desired & fearfully dreaded respectively. As an 11 year old I had no idea what beauracracy was let alone being able to tell when someone was satirising it. I just thought it was all far too odd. Several years on though, I feel the 'clever social satire' credentials are in good order & I enjoy the story very much on this level.
Although the McCoy/ Aldred team is on fine form & has some lovely moments (could have done without McCoy's singing & "laughing" victory though!) I find the Doctor & Ace to be the least fascinating players in this most curious grotesque. They are sidelined somewhat by a wealth of intriguing, well written & finely textured support characters. The troubled, melancholy Susan Q, the droll, theatrical & shifty Gilbert M, the seemingly dotty & submissive but ultimately duplicitous Joseph C. Were he & Gilbert M on together for years? They seem to have had a lot of practice with their little barbs at one another. All three characters are beautifully played with nuance & delicacy. The distinction between the artifice that each character is forced to maintain under Helen A's regime & their true inner selves is intriguing to watch played out in these & many other characters.
What I read as over-acting as a young whippersnapper, I now see as characters either valiantly struggling with the artifice & fearing death for failure in maintaining it (Susan Q) or on the other hand, so practiced at it that they have forgotten how sickeningly false they appear (Priscilla P, Daisy K). The same goes for the design. Yes, clearly it is hideously colourful & garish. Surely that's the point though? The artifice of the design is ugly because all true emotion has been sucked out & it is presenting what is really fake, uninspired happiness.
The Kandyman is a joy to watch "It's all in there somewhere; caramel, sherbet, toffee, marsipan". Never did a list of sugary sweeties sound so terrifying. He is genuinely intimidating & his voice drips with malice. His demented nursery rhyme 'theme' adds to his impact too. All the "Fondant Supreme" stuff is marvellous. The Co-Pilot & I are big suckers for it. It makes us giggly school girls. I also really like the overhead pipe design in the Kandy Kitchen.
Sheila Hancock is just superb. I hang on every poisonous word that falls from her pursed lips. She can change gears in half a blink. Her rants about the miserable drones & such are masterfully delivered & perfectly cold & callous. Helen A sets the tone for the whole story. Hancock has the gravitas in this central performance to give the whole thing a big shot of credibility. If she hadn't taken it seriously & played for laughs, the whole thing could have fallen apart. The rest of the cast follow her lead & thankfully for the most part play it straight. Helen A is no cardboard villain. She has incredible depth & mystery to her. The final scene of her cradling her beloved Fifi in her arms as the incidental music swells is a gem & I genuinely feel for the twisted, misguided old bitch.
A fourth episode could have allowed for fleshing out of the Pipe People side-story a little, but in three parts it may have been wiser ultimately to excise them all together. With the brisk way they are brushed over & their drab design & muffled voices it is hard to engage with them in their plight. Despite a few dubious design choices (not all of them can be excused as 'for effect') & mercifully brief silly moments, this is captivating & intriguing to watch. Intelligent & innovative Doctor Who that is stretching for new ideas & new frontiers.
So that's it, thanks for reading!
The Lucozer
Saturday, March 31, 2007
PATRICK TROUGHTON - 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH - MARCH 28TH 2007
I remember it quite vividly. It was April 1st, 1987. The Co-Pilot & I were both in Year 6 at Primary School. I think it was recess time & we were standing next to some play equipment made out of old tyres hung on a metal frame. It was a warm morning & there was dappled sun through the pine trees above. I remember the ground was covered with dying rust coloured pine needles & scattered pine nuts that everyone called 'monkey nuts'.
The Co-Pilot told me that Patrick Troughton had died. I didn't believe him at first. I desperately didn't want it to be true. He knew Pat was my favourite Doctor, so I thought it had to be some sort of sick joke, even though I knew he wouldn't do that to me. I soon twigged that it was April 1st. 'Aaah, very funny, you got me!' I thought. Alas no, it was old news The Co-Pilot told me, it had happened a few days ago & Co-Pilot Snr had read it in our local newspaper 'The Advertiser'. No April Fool's sadly.
I still couldn't quite believe it. I rushed home after school that night & scrambled through the old newpapers. I found it in the March 30th paper I think, the news had taken a few days to filter through. It was buried deep in the paper on page 19 or thereabouts. The briefest of obituaries. 3 or 4 lines at most in tiny print in the 'World News' section with a small heading; 'Dr Who Dies'. A pitiful rememberance of a legend. I was upset by that almost as much as his death. He was my favourite Doctor in my favourite show & the first hero of mine that had died during my life time. Come to think of it, my first hero full stop.
I had been treated to two return appearances to the show by Pat since I began watching Dr Who only 4 years earlier, back in 1983 ('Five Doctors' in late '83 & 'Two Doctors' in '85) I had also seen him in a subsequent repeat of 'Five Doctors' & a repeat of 'Three Doctors' during that period. I had even been lucky enough to witness very rare Troughton era repeats when the ABC screened 'The Mind Robber' & 'The Krotons' just prior to a full run of Pertwee repeats in Jan/ Feb 1986. It was a wonderful & relatively generous introduction to the man & his marvellous talents. Considering that this was before the days of the VHS releases, DVD & the Internet; the Co-Pilot & I got to see a fair bit of Pat during that magic time. English fans have, until recently, always been starved of Doctor Who repeats. Not so in Australia at that time. The show was rarely off air until 1990 & we revelled in it.
What exactly was the appeal of Pat & his Doctor to me as a 7 year old (or so)?. Hard to nail that down, but here's a few ideas...His 'naughty' anti-authority stance perhaps? "Me!, not allowed!, I'm allowed everywhere". His witty one liners, particularly at the expense of the 3rd Dr; "mine was pretty unpromising too" (& thrown away with comic precision). The fact that he often showed he was scared, which kids could relate too, but he was courageous & heroic when he needed to be? Maybe it was his youthful wonderment, exuberance & curiosity despite The Doctor being a hugely intelligent, several hundred year old alien being? Perhaps it was also his endearing scruffiness & 'man of the people' touch? He was the only Doctor who looked like he might sit down in the sandpit with you, pick up a bucket & spade, listen to what you have to say & start digging! It was all these things & many more I'm sure. In Pats' return appearances, we got to see him as a 'Doctor on holiday' sort-of. Removed from his usual time stream, we see a more relaxed & fun loving Doctor, perhaps without the darker & more manipulative edges of the 2nd Doctor's reign. He was very easy to engage with as a young kid & there has been so much more to him to enjoy since then.
Since his death I have gradually seen every remaining episode from Pat's sadly depleted reign as The Doctor & have listened to many of the audios. Very recently I have been been getting into the fan reconstructions of Troughton stories on youtube. So far I have watched 'Fury From The Deep' & 'The Highlanders' & enjoyed them immensely. 'Macra Terror' is next on the agenda. Pat's work is still giving me great enjoyment 20 years on. So sad though that he was a relatively young 67 when he died. He would have been 87 yesterday. Still young enough to be alive & giving his marvellous performances. His subtlety, his intensity, his deft comic touch & brilliant use of body language all capped off by his marvellous, unmistakable voice, put him up with the greats.
RIP Pat!...The Lucozer
The Co-Pilot told me that Patrick Troughton had died. I didn't believe him at first. I desperately didn't want it to be true. He knew Pat was my favourite Doctor, so I thought it had to be some sort of sick joke, even though I knew he wouldn't do that to me. I soon twigged that it was April 1st. 'Aaah, very funny, you got me!' I thought. Alas no, it was old news The Co-Pilot told me, it had happened a few days ago & Co-Pilot Snr had read it in our local newspaper 'The Advertiser'. No April Fool's sadly.
I still couldn't quite believe it. I rushed home after school that night & scrambled through the old newpapers. I found it in the March 30th paper I think, the news had taken a few days to filter through. It was buried deep in the paper on page 19 or thereabouts. The briefest of obituaries. 3 or 4 lines at most in tiny print in the 'World News' section with a small heading; 'Dr Who Dies'. A pitiful rememberance of a legend. I was upset by that almost as much as his death. He was my favourite Doctor in my favourite show & the first hero of mine that had died during my life time. Come to think of it, my first hero full stop.
I had been treated to two return appearances to the show by Pat since I began watching Dr Who only 4 years earlier, back in 1983 ('Five Doctors' in late '83 & 'Two Doctors' in '85) I had also seen him in a subsequent repeat of 'Five Doctors' & a repeat of 'Three Doctors' during that period. I had even been lucky enough to witness very rare Troughton era repeats when the ABC screened 'The Mind Robber' & 'The Krotons' just prior to a full run of Pertwee repeats in Jan/ Feb 1986. It was a wonderful & relatively generous introduction to the man & his marvellous talents. Considering that this was before the days of the VHS releases, DVD & the Internet; the Co-Pilot & I got to see a fair bit of Pat during that magic time. English fans have, until recently, always been starved of Doctor Who repeats. Not so in Australia at that time. The show was rarely off air until 1990 & we revelled in it.
What exactly was the appeal of Pat & his Doctor to me as a 7 year old (or so)?. Hard to nail that down, but here's a few ideas...His 'naughty' anti-authority stance perhaps? "Me!, not allowed!, I'm allowed everywhere". His witty one liners, particularly at the expense of the 3rd Dr; "mine was pretty unpromising too" (& thrown away with comic precision). The fact that he often showed he was scared, which kids could relate too, but he was courageous & heroic when he needed to be? Maybe it was his youthful wonderment, exuberance & curiosity despite The Doctor being a hugely intelligent, several hundred year old alien being? Perhaps it was also his endearing scruffiness & 'man of the people' touch? He was the only Doctor who looked like he might sit down in the sandpit with you, pick up a bucket & spade, listen to what you have to say & start digging! It was all these things & many more I'm sure. In Pats' return appearances, we got to see him as a 'Doctor on holiday' sort-of. Removed from his usual time stream, we see a more relaxed & fun loving Doctor, perhaps without the darker & more manipulative edges of the 2nd Doctor's reign. He was very easy to engage with as a young kid & there has been so much more to him to enjoy since then.
Since his death I have gradually seen every remaining episode from Pat's sadly depleted reign as The Doctor & have listened to many of the audios. Very recently I have been been getting into the fan reconstructions of Troughton stories on youtube. So far I have watched 'Fury From The Deep' & 'The Highlanders' & enjoyed them immensely. 'Macra Terror' is next on the agenda. Pat's work is still giving me great enjoyment 20 years on. So sad though that he was a relatively young 67 when he died. He would have been 87 yesterday. Still young enough to be alive & giving his marvellous performances. His subtlety, his intensity, his deft comic touch & brilliant use of body language all capped off by his marvellous, unmistakable voice, put him up with the greats.
RIP Pat!...The Lucozer
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