(671) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 4

The episode really gets going from the very beginning with the Imperial Daleks leaving the shuttlecraft. I won’t go on about the fact that the size doesn’t look big enough to house everything that’s in it. After waiting for what has felt like an eternity we get some Dalek vs Dalek fighting. The first big scene between the two Dalek factions is fantastic and I love everything about it. One of the Imperial Daleks is destroyed in another huge explosion. That was until the Special Weapons Dalek appears and blow a Renegade Dalek up. I love the idea of a Special Weapons Dalek and this that this isn’t something that Terry Nation would have come up with.

There is a huge explosion at the base of the Renegade Daleks which is one of my favourite explosions in Doctor Who. I don’t know if you have a top 5 explosions in Doctor Who list but I sort of do and this one would go in at number one. I have gone on for most of these episodes about the explosions but it really does seem like a lot of effort when into making these explosions as big as possible after two and a half decades of rather limp bangs that its nice to have something to be wowed by.

The death of Ratcliffe does seem a bit of a shame really as he’s struck down by the girl. The death which is slightly more effective is that of Mike’s. His death seemed inevitable from the very beginning but he too is killed by the girl but it’s a far more violent and effective death. The girl is quite good in this episode and manages to rack up quite the body count. It is perhaps the wisest thing that she doesn’t die but stops being under the Dalek’s control.

The Doctor has his big scene with the Emperor/Davros in the basement. It’s quite unusual that the Doctor and Davros wouldn’t be in the same room but its because of Terry Molloy and Sylvester McCoy that this works as well as it does. McCoy shows us again why his Doctor is underrated as a Doctor in my humble opinion. Sophie Aldred really does go through all the emotions in this episode because she starts off quite loved up with Mike and then goes back to her normal self before being quite sad at the end.

Davros makes his return after last appearing in Revelation of the Daleks. In that story he had his hand blown off and so now all that appears is his head. Davros wants the hand of omega to transform Skaro’s sun into a source of power and over power Gallifrey. His appearance doesn’t come until the midway point of the episode. It’s short but sweet, he is tricked into using the hand of omega by the Doctor. Once he realises that the hand of omega is heading back to his ship he manages to live another day. It would be twenty years before Davros would appear in Doctor Who or mid-June in my marathon.

What the Doctor has done is effectively commit genocide and that is something that would have earned a trial two years before. It’s fair to say that this story doesn’t have the happiest of endings as pretty much everyone is dead and the final scene takes place during a funeral. No one can accuse the show at this time of being comedic.  

As a story, this has been rated as the best Dalek story ever and at the moment it’s the third best story ever and only the third story to ever get in the 8’s. Only Inside the Spaceship and The Deadly Assassin have managed this. It has been a wonderful adventure and its remarkable how my faith has been restored in the Seventh Doctor in just four episodes. This is the final appearance of the Daleks in the classic era. They have undeniably been a fantastic aspect of the show and a reason why the show is still going on in 2015. If the show hadn’t come back in 2005 then no monster could have asked for a better story than this one. It is perhaps the last good Dalek story but maybe time will tell.

(670) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 3

The penultimate episode of this story and this is one of those episode just gets better as the story progresses. The way that Ace was saved was perhaps not the strongest but after the previous episode’s start it was always going to be less dramatic. The effects used in the machine that the Doctor used on the Daleks doesn’t look very good and is the only thing that lets this early scene down. The action starts up quite quickly in this episode when the Doctor being strangled by a claw was a great moment and one that made me jump when I first saw it.

The Daleks conflict is given more credibility I think when we get a little explanation from the Doctor (to Ace) about why the hand of omega is so important. There is a bit of development from the Imperial side when we get to visit the Imperial Dalek’s spaceship we get to see the Emperor Dalek which was first seen in Evil of the Daleks although I use the word seen in its loosest sense. The set doesn’t seem quite big. I don’t know how they move around which is probably why I don’t think we do. I want to the Imperials to win just because of their colour scheme. I know that’s not the best reason but I like it a lot.

The girl from episode one makes another appearance in this episode appearing in the graveyard and again does a lot without doing very much. I am surprised with how effective a little girl can be. I do think that credibility is stretched a bit when it’s revealed that the little girl has been in the battle computer and Ratcliffe hadn’t noticed.  The fight between the two factions hasn’t happened really so far and they have kept out of each other’s way without firing a shot. Quite how this has happened I don’t know but it has. I love how Ratcliffe starts to learn the truth about his actions. He thinks that he is going to be in charge and he is sound bought down to earth with a bump.

The sight of Daleks gliding (or wobbling in some cases) through the streets of London is something that has surprisingly been lacking in previous Dalek stories and so it’s quite an effective sight, but there is one bit where a Dalek is coming to the camera and it looks like the top half is going to come off which is a bit unfortunate.  

Mike’s truth is revealed towards the end of the episode. I think that they had waited until the right moment to use this in the story. Ace’s reaction is what makes this work quite well as she had had a crush on him from the very beginning.

The cliffhanger is another great one with a proper size shuttlecraft landing in the playground. It wasn’t a dodgy CGI effect or model but an actual 100% real prop and that is what makes the arrival so good. The Doctor’s reaction is quite funny and it seems like this episode ended way too quickly. It’s been another superb episode and it is perhaps one of the best Dalek stories for quite sometime. In fact I would so far as to say that it might be the best one since Genesis of the Daleks.

(669) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 2

I said yesterday that this story has a special place in my heart and todays episode is the one that started it all for me. I have a fuzzy memory of my early years but around the time that this story was on TV I was living in Doncaster and for reasons that I will never know, we ended up watching episode two of Remembrance of the Daleks at school. I loved it and because the school I attended was similar to the one in the story, I immediately went out into the playground and pretended there were Daleks everywhere.

Never in all the time that I have been doing this marathon have I enjoyed watching a cliffhanger replay so much. It still works superbly and how its solved is quite good because Ace recovers enough to attack the head teacher. The subsequent explosion of the basement door is another of the superb explosions.

The scene where the Doctor and Ace destroy the Dalek from the basement is a great scene as its short and intense. We go from a busy scene like that to a lovely quite slow scene with the Doctor and the new person running the café played Joseph Marcell. Marcell would go on to play the butler in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The discussion between them takes on a rather racial and philosophical tone which isn’t something that you would expect from Doctor Who.

Gilmore is a very good blueprint of the Brigadier. He’s reluctant to believe the Doctor because he doesn’t understand what’s going on and is willing to let military intelligence to do all the talking. This approach doesn’t come across as annoying because its balanced with Rachel and Alison who are more ready to believe (but just as confused).

The Doctor encounters the Hand of Omega and there is another nice scene where the Doctor goes to the undertaker and he is talking to a guy on the phone (the governor) who talks about the Doctor being “an old guy with white hair” a reference to William Hartnell. The effect of the Hand of Omega moving is very good and does still up a bit.

Michael Sheard is very good in this episode although he meets a rather sad ending when he gets into a scrap with Mike and is seemingly killed by the Daleks and his final resting place is in the cemetery. Peter Halliday is another old face that returns playing a blind vicar. It’s a brief role but one that is quite nice and I am reminded of all the previous appearances that he has made in the show.

There is a great scene where Ace is turning on a TV and whilst waiting for it to warm up. While she’s waiting for it to warm up there is a “No Coloureds” sign in the window which is an extraordinary thing to appear in Doctor Who because race had never really be a subject matter in the show before and this is another sign that the show is trying to come across as current by acknowledging these sort of issues.

There is a little joke when the TV warms up and the TV announcer introduces a new show called “Do” which is supposed to be Doctor Who but obviously doesn’t. I think that this is a joke that the story gets away with because there isn’t time to really think about it because the next scene does a great job in getting my attention.

Ace has decided to go back to the school to pick up her tapedeck (long before Ipods and MP3 players were invented) and this introduces a whole world of trouble for her. There is one shot where a Dalek appears round a corner and appears at the bottom of the stairs. Another great shot is the one where Ace batters a Dalek with a baseball bat. It is followed by her jumping through windows. It’s nice that Ace gets the cliffhanger this time as she is being approached by three Daleks who shout ‘Exterminate’ but don’t do it. It’s been another outstanding episode with some great performances and some wonderful directing. Bring on the next episode.

Before I finish for today, I never mentioned the colour scheme of the Daleks. I love the gold and white scheme and wished that it would be used from now on. Compared to the grey and black of the Dalek we saw in the previous episode, the new livery looks like breath of fresh air.

(668) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 1

Remembrance of the Daleks has a special place in my heart as it was the very first Doctor Who story that I saw. Today’s episode wasn’t the first that I saw but more of that in episode two. I bought this story along with The Chase in a special boxset about 22 years ago. After surviving the twenty-fourth season, its nice to start with such a strong story and I think that it will be the number one story of the season when I finish watching the final episode. The episode starts off with a pre-title sequence much like Time and the Rani but this one is much better as it has several brief clips of important speeches. The story takes place at Coal Hill School which isn’t such a weird thing nowadays but in 1988 it was a big thing in the shows 25^th anniversary year.

The first big scene comes in a junkyard at Totters Lane which is of course where the whole story started. Gilmore blows something up thinking that he’s sorted but the Doctor knows what is inside and this is the beginning of the Doctor always being one step ahead of everyone else which some might see as frustrating but I like it. It’s returning a bit of mystery to the role. Anyway the Doctor blows up the Daleks and bemoans to Ace that it’s the wrong Dalek.

This story sees the introduction of Group Captain Gilmore, Rachel Jenson and Allison who appear in the Big Finish series Counter Measures. As its 1963 and several years before UNIT where formed, this is the best way to get around having a military involvement that doesn’t feature the Brigadier. Sadly there is the inevitable ‘shoot first and ask questions later’.

Ratcliffe comes across as someone with alterative motives from the moment he appears on screen. Those moments become more obvious when its clear he is working for the Daleks or a battle computer. How did he get into the situation is the first question that comes to mind with this character but one thing is common in this story and that is people seem to be working for other people and have secrets.

This is the first proper story for the Doctor and Ace and a duo. It is surprising still how well Sophie Aldred has settled into the role. It’s like she has been in the role for years not five episodes. McCoy seems settled in the role now and knows what he wants to do with it. This is the beginning of the mysterious Doctor and McCoy thrives in this style. Michael Sheard makes his last appearance in Doctor Who. His first was in 1966. He plays the headmaster who is being controlled by an unseen force. It seems a shame that he has to play this sort of role because Sheard is a rather dependable actor and knowing what happens to him I just want him to be left alone by the Daleks.

Whilst the Doctor and Ace go around the school there is a great build up. There is something about this school and the studio sets that work very well. The effects used in the transmitter that is in the basement where the Daleks appear is very cutting edge for 1988 and by 2015 standards it still holds up. The basement set is a very good and its lit perfectly.

The cliffhanger is one of the most iconic in Doctor Who. It’s the first time that a Dalek is seen floating in the air. Even today it is still impressive and one of the strongest cliffhangers for many years. I don’t think that there has been such a strong ending to an episode since The Caves of Androzani. I think that I am really going to enjoy the next three days because I don’t think that there is anything that is going to change my opinion.

(657) Time and the Rani - Part 4

It’s a welcome relief that this is the final episode of the story. Despite this being the final episode, there isn’t the sense of it being the big ending and that is due to the writing really but that isn’t the fault of Pip and Jane Baker but unfortunately its their names on the credits.

The Tetrap’s design is still something that I find impressive. This is the episode where they start to turn against the Rani. This leads to a rather amusing scene at the end where they have the Rani tied up in her TARDIS. It does seem odd that they haven’t made an appearance in a Big Finish story because I think that there is something good about them.

The Doctor is using his mixed sayings to annoy the Rani and so doesn’t spend too long in the cubicle.  I think that Sylvester McCoy plays the Doctor in the way that perhaps the way that the Doctor should be straight after the regeneration and the only thing that stops me from writing of Sylvester McCoy is that I know how good he becomes in future series. Bonnie Langford was rather disappointing in this story because I am struggling to think of what she did that was noteworthy. After the good start that had in the previous series, it is somewhat disappointing that she was reduced to pretty much supporting status.

The Rani finally reveals that she want to put right what went wrong with civilisations which doesn’t seem the sort of thing that the Rani had a better plan in her previous story. I think that this wasn’t the best story for Kate O’Mara but she still manages to give an entertaining performance. There aren’t many people in television that would shun sunny Hollywood and want to spend time in a wet grey quarry in Britain.

Despite all the problems with this story there are some positives. Firstly there is the music. Keff MucCulloch’s incidental music is rather good in this episode and even though its very much of the period, it still seems a lot more modern than the music that had been used the previous series.  Another thing that worked quite well were the models. The models used towards the end of the episode are rather good but I wish that there were more in this story.

The scene where the Doctor is in the TARDIS is one which is unusual because I cant recall many scenes that Sylvester McCoy would have in that set. It’s an odd thing to point out but McCoy’s Doctor is the one spends more time out of the TARDIS than in it.

It’s fair to say that this isn’t the greatest Doctor Who story that there has ever been and I wish I could write that this was the only blip in the season but things are about to get worst. There is always the possibility that now the opening story is over and done with that things can start to settle down but at the moment I don’t think so.

(656) Time and the Rani - Part 3

The first few seconds of the theme tune always get me excited but then I remember that I am watching Time and the Rani and that excitement goes away a bit. Admittedly the problems that there were in the previous episodes weren’t as evident in this episode but the problem that is now on screen is that I just find myself bored with what is on screen which is surprising when you consider that the Rani’s plan is starting to take shape. Kate O’Mara does do a good job in still performing in a rather underwhelming character. The Doctor is more active in this episode and seems more like the Doctor that McCoy would play. It’s a rather comforting performance from McCoy and even though the Doctor is easily fooled with a fake Mel.

One of the few successes involve the Tetraps. I thought that the idea that they are quite vocal which isn’t something that I would expect from a monster in this situation. Normally they would have grunted or stayed silent. I also like that the eyes moved around and one had an extended tounge as this has to be one of the best created monsters for quite some time.

A new set is used in this story. Centre of Leisure is where the Lakertyans relax but it seems to be not the nicest place to be. This is made evident when the Rani unleashes a weapon which kills several. After being somewhat impressed with the sets and the use of the quarry I was quite disappointed with this centre set because it just rather lame and it doesn’t look like much thought went into it.

We finally get to see what was behind the door seen I the previous episodes and it is a giant brain. I don’t know whether many people were disappointed with this or not but it makes sense because it would have to be something unusual for the Rani. This is why I think that the Rani is in some ways better than the Master because the Rani has a specific purpose which seems throughout whereas the Master’s plans tend to be not as well thought out and usually designed to destroy the Doctor.

The episode ends with the Doctor’s brain about to be used to help the giant brain and that is about it. To be honest it’s a case of one step forward and two steps back because the fact that there wasn’t much to like about this episode. This was the second episode in a row that scored in the low 7’s but as a story its still in the 6’s. Now its 6.99 as opposed to the 6.90 at the beginning of this story. At the moment it’s the lowest scoring of the opening Doctor stories which doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

(655) Time and the Rani - Part 2

The thing I didn’t mention in yesterday’s review was that the show had been moved from its traditional Saturday night slot again and placed on Mondays against the little watched show Coronation Street. Sorry, when I said little watched I meant to say ratings juggernaut. If you wanted to bury a show, this was the best way of doing it. It was nice also in the previous episode that didn’t have a close up of the Doctor’s face and so the reprise started off in a better way than usual.

Sadly the problems that appeared in the first episode continue in this episode. Ultimately the problem is that the Lakertyans aren’t particularly interesting and so I find myself wondering why I should care about their current predicament. Despite Wanda Ventham (Image of the Fendahl and Benedict Cumberbatch’s mom) and Donald Pickering (The Faceless Ones), best efforts the character are hampered by their rather silly movements and also the fact that the Lakertyans don’t seem to have a backbone and just seemed to crumble at the power (or perceived power) of the Rani.

All the time that Kate O’Mara and Sylvester McCoy were on screen, I was interested in the story but whenever they weren’t on screen then I found myself just watching all the problems with the serial. Mel finally gets to interact with Sylvester McCoy and the Doctor thinks that Mel is the Rani. Their first interaction is a mixture of comedy and frustration. Mel also thinks that the Doctor isn’t the Doctor because she didn’t see the regeneration. Once they realise that both of them are who they say they are it leads to a lovely bonding moment.

The Rani’s attempt at being Mel thankfully comes to an end in this episode because once the Doctor twigs what is going on the ruse is ended. It must have been slightly frustrating for Kate O’Mara. She went from being the quite interesting character in The Mark of the Rani to having to be Bonnie Langford. Despite having to dress like Mel, Kate O’Mara does her best but its not the best use of the character.

The cliffhanger does feel a bit silly because whilst in terms of drama it works quite well, he basically puts himself by going into the situation. It has been a much better episode than the first one but that isn’t much of a compliment due to that episode being rather poor. I have rated this episode 7.07 which as an average still has this story in the 6’s which at the moment places it 11^th from bottom (137^th place). I feel more confident about this story improving in the final two episodes than in the previous episode. It’s not a perfect story by any means and its current placing is deserved but I can’t help think that the transition period had been better handled that this story (and series) would have worked out differently.

(654) Time and the Rani - Part 1

Ok so I enter the final stage of the original run of Doctor Who. This has come really fast because at the beginning of the year I was halfway through the Peter Davison era. It’s weird to think how much the show has changed in that short amount of time. During the 1970’s we only had one regeneration and during the 80’s we have now had three. So with Colin Baker having being sacked by JNT Michael Grade, the search was on for a new Doctor and JNT chose Sylvester McCoy. Unfortunately McCoy’s time doesn’t get off to the best of starts because Colin Baker refused to film a regeneration scene which is fair enough but it means that the ‘regeneration’ scene is one of the worst.

The way that Andrew Morgan managed to avoid showing us Colin Baker’s face is well done right up until the point where we see Sylvester McCoy in a blond wig. I suppose some credit should go towards production team for at least giving it a go. When McCoy has his first speech it starts off ok but I think the buffoonery to be rather ill-judged. Bonnie Langford is also badly served in this episode as she basically spends the entire episode either tied up or running everywhere.

We get new a new title sequence in this episode which is really good and is a breath of fresh air after six years of the same star filled one. One of the many problems with this serial is the preposterous idea that the Rani decides to pretend to be Mel to try and fool the Doctor. The purpose of this is that the Rani needs the Doctor’s help but thing is that it requires Kate O’Mara to dress, talk and act like Bonnie Langford which is a huge stretch of believability. The only good moment came when the Rani tries to convince the Doctor that Mel is dressed the same as her.

There are things that worked quite well in this episode. The bubble that is created whenever people trip an explosion is rather well done and one of the few effects that work well in this episode. Another good thing are the Tetraps which look good as a design and also serve a purpose in serving the Rani. The idea that Rani needs the Doctors help is something that works on a narrative level but I  don’t think that this was given enough screen time which is a shame.

The traditional trying of new costumes for the Doctor is something that seems to be as humorous as when Tom Baker costume change in Robot. We saw the costumes from Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison and Patrick Troughton’s coat before we get the costume that McCoy wears. I think that it’s a much better outfit than the one Colin Baker wore and the only thing I would change is the question mark jumper. His performance is perfectly fine given that the material he is given isn’t the strongest. It’s never a wise thing to judge a new Doctor on their first story because it is usually the weakest of their stories.

There are very few positives to take from this episode and I have rated this episode 6.90 which is the first time that I have rated an episode in the sixes since episode three of The Horns of Nimon. I should say that I don’t think that the flaws with this story have anything to do with Pip and Jane Baker or Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford. I think that circumstances behind the scenes meant that this story had zero chance of being anything other than poor. I do hope that the next three episodes will improve because things cant get any worse.

I am going to end on a stat by saying that this is the 129^th episode to be produced by John Nathan Turner and now overtakes Barry Letts as the longest serving producer in Doctor Who history.