The start of this episode is where the Doctor is trying to
stop the gas from flowing and he collapse just as the gaps stops. This comes
across better in the book. It feels a bit close for comfort in the book whereas
it happens too quickly on TV and with the short running time, they could easily
have spent a minute cranking up the tension. There is a map called ‘the tree’
and the Doctor refers to it as the tree at the end of the world which sounds
more impressive in the book. On TV it looks a bit disappointing yet in my head
the book made it sound like a map that could have come out of the Lord of the
Rings films. Something that looks better than it sounded in the book is where
the Doctor, Leela and Idas floating and they just ‘push’. The book makes it
sound basic and on TV the CSO is used to quite good effect.
This episode runs to just over 21 minutes which I think is
slightly longer than the previous episode and like the previous epoisode there
was a fair amount of long shots. This is what frustrates me about this whole
story. There is a good story trying to fight its way out. I cant quite figure
out why they went with the idea of prolonged shots over expanding certain
elements of the story. I know that I am perhaps comparing the TV version
against a novelised version written two years after this aired and written by
one of the greatest writers for Doctor Who but I cant help think that if they
had asked Bob Baker and Dave Martin to pad it out that they could (and would)
have come up with something.
The cliffhanger is the best one that there has been so far
but that’s not really a compliment. I think that the story is slightly (and I
mean slightly) better than I had given it credit for in the past. I think that
the story is heavily flawed but there should be some credit to everyone
involved for managing to salvage something from this story and at least having
a go.
No comments:
Post a Comment