Image of the Fendahl - Episode 4

I am watching this episode after just seeing Peter Capaldi’s first episode as the Doctor. First of all I thought that Deep Breathe was really good and I think that they made the right choice. The sight of a Dinosaur in London sort of does a great deal to make up for ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’. Now its back to business as I watch Tom Baker’s 84^th episode and the thing about these episodes is that I honestly couldn’t tell you what was going on. There is a lot of great things going on but I would be hard pressed to come up with an explanation. Image of the Fendahl is a case of style over substance.

The effect of transforming Thea into the gold lady was done quite well and also the effect of raising her up so she would be vertical was also a good effect. To be honest I think that this was a bit of a waste for Wanda Ventham because she’s a very good actress and she’s reduced to cameo status which is perhaps the worst thing that I can think of in this episode.

The performances from Tom Baker and Louise Jameson have been really good and the lack of K9 has definelty been a plus point. The writing has been good but its George Spenton-Foster who has really showed what can be done. If I was being picky then I could argue that the directing has been so good that it got in the way of me following what was actually going on because I was enjoying what I was looking at.

The idea that Max kills himself is quite a bold thing for a family show. It does fit in quite well with the dark theme of this story. We don’t see the death which perhaps makes it more grim than if we had seen it on screen.

The ending of the episode is rather odd because the priory explodes and we don’t have final scene with the surviving characters and before we know whats going on, the story moves back to the TARDIS where Leela’s hair is totally different. This has been a better story than I have thought in the past but it’s one that is slightly confusing and the fact that its been this baffling whilst entertaining shows how good a writer Chris Boucher was. The setting probably helped a lot but as I approach the next story I know that I am not too far away from one of my least favourite stories and I fear that this improving attitude to stories wont continue. As it is, Image of the Fendahl is a better story than ‘The Invisible Enemy’ but not as good as ‘Horror of Fang Rock’.

Image of the Fendahl - Episode 3

Despite the story being in the third part, I couldn’t actually tell you a great deal about it. The cliffhanger was quite good and it’s resolved in a good way. The Doctor and Leela are reunited very quickly in this episode and Leela starts off by saving the Doctor.

Max doesn’t seem entirely convincing in his current role as the baddie. He just comes across as a little bit wet. Wanda Ventham doesn’t really do very much in this episode so it falls to Adam and Dr Fendelman to be the supporting characters moving that part of the story. Mrs Tyler becomes more important to the story. She is the only bit of comedy in this story and she’s in her prime during this episode. With the Doctor preoccupied with other things, he can’t pretend that liquorice allsorts are jelly babies and do other funny things.

The running theme of these episodes has been that not a great deal has been happening but stuff has been going on to keep me entertained. This is going to be one of those short reviews because despite this being a well written and well directed episode (along with the other two), I cant really say a great deal about this episode.

This episode doesn’t really get going until the final few minutes of the episode when the Fendahl creature appears. It looks a lot better than the swarm/nucleus thing that we saw in the previous story. It’s a shame that it waited until the end of the episode for this to happen as I would have liked this more than Max attempting to do the whole baddie thing. This perhaps isn’t the strongest episode but it’s not a terrible episode by any means. It’s good that there has been some progression as far as activity is concerned and I still can’t get past the fact that I am enjoying this story far more than I thought.

 

Image of the Fendahl - Episode 2

There was a feature on one of these DVDs that looks at cliffhangers and this is one of those featured an its featured because it’s a bit of a confusing cliffhanger. I believed this and have thought since then that it was a slightly odd ending but I was wrong about the cliffhanger because it seems perfectly fine. I think its more down to the editing that it might not be the most straight forward of moments but I think that the DVD feature gives it a reputation that it doesn’t deserve. The episode manages to keep the Doctor and Leela apart for the entire episode which is good because it means that they have can have to different (yet equally good) plot strands.

This episode features another former soap star as Geoff Hinsliff who appears as Jack Tyler in this episode and would go on to play Don Brennan in Coronation Street from 1987 to 1997. He represents the cobbles whilst Derek Martin represents the dreary soap Eastenders. I cant make my mind up about Jack Tyler because there is something not quite right about him. He seems like he’s a nice character but Hinsliff plays the role in such a way that it comes across more like he’s hiding something and that is a bit off putting.

The episode continues its good work from the previous episode. The creepy vibe which does seem like it’s a Philip Hinchcliffe story but this is credit to Chris Boucher and George Spenton-Foster. Spenton-Foster’s directing is particularly special but it works for what Boucher has written. Things were going so well that I didn’t notice that Leela’s hair is weird and even better, I didn’t reliase that K9 wasn’t in the episode. Oh yeah I’m a K9 hater. Deal with it J

Fendelman comes across as a slightly mad individual. I suppose he’s one of those mad but brilliant scientists. The thing is that he’s just as barmy as the others now because Wanda Ventham’s Thea is behaving oddly but it is Max is the one that really has become influenced. I think that this is clever because Max really was in the background whilst Fendelman and Thea took centre stage.

The cliffhanger is perfectly fine and it starts with a bit of humour as the Doctor comes across the skull. The Doctor offers it a jelly baby but I think eagle eye fans will know that it wasn’t a jelly baby that he offered but a liquorice allsort. The Doctor becomes possessed and ends up with his hand on the skull. It’s going to be interesting the remind myself how this gets resolved in the next episode but this is the second time in as many episodes that the Doctor has been possessed and it’s the same fate that seemed to follow Sarah Jane if memory serves me correctly.

The story manages to keep things going again whilst not actually doing anything. It’s a solid enough episode and I am still enjoying this story and I am surprised by this. Hopefully the second half of this serial wont disappoint and let it down.

Image of the Fendahl - Episode 1

Ok so I was quite surprised that I enjoyed ‘The Invisible Enemy’ as much as I did and I thought that I would be more likely to enjoy this story as a result. However its amazing what a night’s sleep can do and my enthusiasm for this story has waned ever so slightly. It’s perfectly possible that this would work in the same way as enemy but only time would tell. Chris Boucher has written this story following his double header at the beginning of Louise Jameson’s time on the show. George Spenton-Foster makes his debut as a director. The thing that this story has in its favour is that its an earth story and also is quite atmospheric which is very much like the Philip Hinchcliffe era.

Fun fact: This story features Benedict Cumberbatch’s mom (Wanda Ventham) and also Raquel’s dad (Denis Lill) from Only Fools and Horses.

Fun fact #2: This is the 20^th story for Tom Baker as the Doctor. He is just one behind Patrick Troughton (21), Four behind Jon Pertwee (24) and nine behind William Hartnell (29).

The first six minutes or so show me why I may have been wrong about this story. It’s very atmospheric, creepy and well performed. The story is set in some research house where a group of scientists are doing work and not understanding what they are doing (like most scientists in tv drama). Due to the fact that Denis Lill (Fendelman) and Wanda Ventham (Thea Ransome) are the more familiar faces, these are the two more interesting performances.

Louise Jameson is sporting a new costume (one for the dads clearly) and a new hairdo which just looks weird and I think is going to be a distraction during these stories. This is her 23^rd episode and whilst she’s been in the show a while it doesn’t feel like the character has settled into the show. I don’t know whether this is because the Doctor hasn’t warmed to her but there is just something that doesn’t quite work. It’s funny because if you listen to Louise Jameson on the Big Finish audios (especially with Tom Baker), she’s a lot better and that’s because the writing is better.

The Doctor and Leela spend a lot of time walking around the woods nearby and don’t interact with anyone else. This is a Boucher trait because if you think about it for a large chunk of his previous stories, the Doctor doesn’t interact with anyone. It didn’t take very long for K9 to be written out of the story because in the first scene with the Doctor and Leela, he is in pieces. Good.

I wont pretend to understand what was going on but in a way that doesn’t really matter because the whole episode moved along and was pitched in just the right way that I could just go along with it and enjoy it. I think that this episode doesn’t really want to get too bogged down in what’s going on but just create a lot of intrigue and mystery about the setting and the people who are messing with forces they don’t understand.

Now this episode features one of those cliffhanger in Doctor Who that doesn’t quite make sense. I’ll talk about it more in the next episode but as it is here, the Doctor is frozen to the spot with something coming towards it and Leela is about to meet the end of a shotgun. As cliffhanger’s go it has to be one of the best in this season so far and if I were watching this in 1977 then I would definelty be wanting to know what happens next Saturday as it is, I will have to wait just 24 hours (maybe a bit more due to work commitments) but at least the entertainment is there. Maybe I will like this as much as I enjoyed the previous story. Season fifteen is surprising me and I quite like that. I knew Horror of Fang Rock was going to be a good one but that’s three stories in a row where the quality has been high. Maybe Graham Williams is a better producer of the show than I had previously given him credit for.

The Robots of Death - Episode 4

I’m going to start on a totally random note and start with the target novels. I am working my way through them and was tempted to start on Robots of Death. It’s quite a fun thing to do where you read the novelisation of the TV story and see the difference between the two versions. I think that Robots of Death is one of those that will be better than the TV version but at the moment I am reading ‘The Deadly Assassin’. Now back to the main bit of business. The final episode is one that I hope isn’t going to disappoint me. It’s funny because I have seen all of these stories countless times and yet I am still unsure sometimes whether I am going to like the episode or not.

The reprise is still good and its resolved when Uvanov kills V4 in quite a violent way by stabbing it in the back of the head. The fact we don’t see it is perhaps worse than if we had seen him stab V4. This is another example of the tone being somewhat stronger than it would have been during the Letts’ era. There is a shot of the robots surrounding the Doctor and Uvanov and I thought that this was a great sinister moment and credit for this moment as well as other moments go to Michael E Briant who shows yet again why he is perhaps the most underated director in Doctor Who.

Taren Capel is the mad scientist who has changed the robots behaviour. He’s also known as Dask and the revelation that he’s wearing the robots costume and has similar face paint on is quite well done because its revealed quickly even though Dask hasn’t been in the story too much and yet when we see him back it seems like a perfectly normal thing. David Ballie’s performance has been really good and in fact all the performances from the surviving supporting cast members have been really good and the annoying ones bit the dust early which is the right way.

The Doctor uses helium gas to change Capel’s voice and this leads to Capel being killed by SV7. Killed by his own creation which seemed like the most sensible way for the story to be wrapped up. I thought that it was ended in a perfectly fine manner and the only thing that I take issue with is that the build up seemed to lack the sort of build up that I would have expected. That said I thought that this was a perfectly fine end to a really good story and I am really looking forward to the next story but I will talk about that a bit more in the next episode review.

The Robots of Death - Episode 3

After the cliffhanger was resovled, I thought that the sinking of the mining ship was going to take longer than it did. I think had the story being underrunning then this might have taken more than a few minutes. As it is, the story doesn’t really waste much time and hits the ground running. The conversation why Leela asks why they do what they do on the mining ship is a nice one because it shows the sadness that the crew face whilst they may not want to admit it. This is where the purpose of Leela starts to make sense because due to the primitive nature of her mind she can puncture the pomposity and absurdity of certain situations and ask the sort of questions that most people probably wouldn’t want to ask.

The shot of SV7 with black eyes that turn red is a very creepy shot and it’s a simple and yet effective shot. This is when Doctor Who is at its best, its when it manages to make the most simplest thing scary. It’s something that works with the weeping angels in the new series but in the classic era its not that regular occurrence. The question of who is making the robots go bad is given a nice bit of mystery when the person is seen on screen yet he is wearing a hood type thing so the closest we get is a close up of his face on a TV screen. The robots start to go a bit mad and go on to kill everyone but they aren’t very good at it and it almost seems like a half-hearted idea.

I like how the Doctor befriends D84. D84 is the ‘dumb’ one so it allows the Doctor to treat him childlike. The humour that D84 brings is perhaps the only bit of humour in the entire episode and story because there are several shots which are quite graphic such as blood appearing on a robots hand, the mangled head of a robot, a robot pulling its hand off after its stuck in the door. I could go on for ages but I wont. After being bereft of anything dark in the previous story,  

It takes 22 minutes for Uvanov to make an appearance. Due to the fact that the story was so good, I forgot that he was even in the story. He arrives just moments before the cliffhanger and the episode ends with one of the robots trying to strangle the Doctor. This is the second time in nine episodes that the Doctor has been strangled. This one is less graphic than when Goth did it in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. It’s still a good end to a good episode. I think that this is one of those rare instances where the story could have been extended, not by much (maybe an episode) but this is definelty the better of the two by Chris Boucher.

The Robots of Death - Episode 2

The cliffhanger deserves a mention as its quite a good one with the Doctor and some unnamed extra being buried by what are suppose to be bits or ore. The Doctor survives because he somehow has a snorkel with him and uses that is a bit more comedy that is starting to creep in. The Doctor and Leela spend this episode being accused of committing murder which considering they spent most of the previous episode not to speaking to anyone, its quite the turnaround for them.

Uvanov runs the risk sometimes of stealing the show because Russell Hunter does a great job of seeming to be totally bonkers. He is the rather clichéd boss who cares more about his bank balanace than he does about his crew which is fine but there is something about Hunter’s performance which makes him stand out. Unlike David Ballie’s performance which knowing what most people who have seen this story before, is very underrated and is deliberately so. This means that we don’t suspect him an when the big reveal comes it will be a great moment.

The finger of suspicion gets pointed at a lot of people and its done to clearly prolong the time before the culprit is revealed. Two more people meet a sticky end and Zilda is one of those which is actually one of the positives that I take from this episode. As annoying characters go, she is one of the most annoying and I was glad when she seemed to have been killed. When you have Pamela Salem and Louise Jameson on the show, you don’t really need any other female performers on the screen. Tom Baker has been somewhat……I don’t want to say ordinary because there is nothing ordinary about Tom Baker but it has been like he currently on autopilot. It’s not surprising really as this is his 64^th episode as the Doctor and Robots of Death is his 16^th story and he is very confident in the role and whilst sometimes the comedy is unnecessary, its hard to deny that he commands your attention.

The cliffhanger is ok with the miner about to meet an unfortunate end. This episode has worked rather well because it’s done a lot of distracting to keep the story going until Chris Boucher is ready to reveal who is actually behind all this and with two more episodes to go I think that this could be the second best story of the season which might not sound like a compliment but considering the number one story is ‘The Deadly Assassin’ then that’s not a bad thing.

The Robots of Death - Episode 1

This is the 444^th episode of Doctor Who and this is the second story in a row to be written by Chris Boucher and I cant recall a time when an author has written two different stories and had them transmitted next to each other. Ian Stuart Black had two stories during the 1960’s and I think Robert Banks Stewart had the same treatment during previous season but not one after the other. I need this story to pick me back up after enduring Leela’s opening story. This story has a nice base under siege vibe with it which is something that I always approve of. Like the previous story this is another studio bound story but whereas the previous story suffered from this I think that not having any location filming actually helped it.

I have always liked Robots of Death and this has been one of the stories during the Tom Baker era that I have been looking forward to. The Doctor and Leela’s scene in the TARDIS is a good one because the Doctor starts his educating of Leela by explaining why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside. This is slightly ruined by Leela replying with the line “that’s silly”. This episode also marks the last time we see the wooden console room which I think is a shame because it looked very nice and much more visually impressive than the white one we would be stuck with for the rest of the classic run.

Dask is played by David Baille and some people will know him for playing the Celestial Toymaker in a couple of Big Finish plays. Another familiar name is Pamela Salem (Toos) who would appear in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ but plays the only other female character (apart from Leela) that isn’t annoying.

This story is essentially a murder mystery spread over four episodes and even though its clear who (or what’s doing the killing) it’s fun watching everyone on the mining ship turn against each other. To be honest most of them are fairly annoying and it will be a good moment when they meet a sticky end or have to endure some misery. The robots themselves are very creepy and I think that its down to the fact that they don’t have any facial expressions and have that rather cold tone to their voice. That’s why they are an effective creation.

This was a cracking opening episode and I have enjoyed this 25 minute episode more than the previous four episodes. It does what an opening episode should do and it does it very well. Ok some of the supporting characters are a bit clichéd and the outfits look rather silly but those are minor issues with what I am sure will be a return to form for the show.

The Face of Evil - Episode 4

When watching the early moments of this episode the thing that strikes me is that there isn’t any real indication as to what the story is building up to something. It’s difficult when there isn’t a physical villain like there was in the previous story or most stories. The story also suffers from the fact that the people the Doctor does encounter to be disruptive are slightly ridiculous and don’t offer any proper menace. I still can’t get over how ridiculous the green costumes are. The savages are the better of the two but it’s only been in this episode that I have thought this.

It does take about ten minutes for the Doctor to come up with what sounds like a plan and that is to try and wipe his memory print from xoanan and that feels like a bit of an anti-climax. One of the better things in this episode is when the Doctor and Leela go to Xoanan after the Doctor has woken up. It seems to end things quite nicely and the voice of Xoanan is different enough to indicate that things have been sorted.

The scene where Leela joins the Doctor in the TARDIS is a strange one because its clear that the Doctor doesn’t really want Leela to join him and gets annoyed when she runs into the TARDIS. I don’t think the Doctor has been so unkeen on someone in the TARDIS since Harry was on the show. I think that as a story this one was disappointing because there wasn’t much that I really liked and I think that Leela’s first adventure wasn’t her best. Thankfully she will get better stories as her time on the show progresses but this all studio story lacked anything that could be classed as top rate.

This is another short review and the shortness of this review should be enough to show how much I haven’t warmed to this.

The Face of Evil - Episode 3

As this is the penultimate episode I really hope that something happens in this episode that really makes me re-evaluate the entire story. This is traditionally where the story should get interesting as all the build up had already been done. This is the first episode where I think that the Doctor and Leela are working on the same team. I was so underwhelmed with the cliffhanger that I didn’t really comment on it and I’m not going to do so here but I at least wanted you to know that I at least acknowledge this.

After a few moments I am hit with the realisation that this might be getting better pretty quickly as the story goes back to the Doctor and Leela who are in the Doctor’s mouth (strangest line I’ve ever written. The CSO that is used to show the Doctor and Leela walking through a wall is quite good. It shows an improvement on what we use to get during the Barry Letts era. Even in the big chamber where there are a few CSO screens, it looks pretty good and its used to good effect.

I like the idea that the Doctor’s actions have consequences and the people and setting he encounters is because of him. We are given a bit more information about what the Doctor did and it done in a clear way and it makes sense. It’s always nice to go to somewhere that the Doctor has visited before but the viewer hasn’t.

The action finally moves to somewhere a bit more interesting in this episode. After being stuck in the savages den and in the forest and now it goes somewhere a bit more modern. Most of the drama take places on a spaceship and this is where we are introduced to the Tesh’s who are dressed in this god awful green costume. Another problem is the corridor sets are too bright and whilst this will be a problem in future stories it’s the worst thing that I can come up with in this part of the story.

The cliffhanger is much better in this episode because its such a barmy and mad way to end the episode. The final shot is of the Doctor saying “Who am I?” but with someone else’s voice. I still haven’t been won over with this story but this is the first time that I have thought anything positive about one of the episodes.

The Face of Evil - Episode 2

I’ve done something different with todays episode and that is I am watching it and then leaving it a few hours before I write this review. I was hoping that it was have a good effect on me but I’m afraid to say that this didn’t happen. As much as I am enjoying what I am seeing in this episode. I would be lying if I said that I thought that it was particularly good. I think that as normal adventure its perfectly fine but its nothing spectacular. This is the first episode where the name Xoanon becomes part of the plot and a bit more explanation is made about why the Doctor has had the impact he has had on this planet.

I still think that Louise Jameson is giving the character a good try and being involved in the story and I like how she hasn’t screamed or really done anything stupid. As much as I dislike the outfit that she is wearing, I cant fault what is being done with the character in terms of what would be considered classic companions traits such as screaming but whereas in the past it would be annoying that the likes of Jo and Jamie would ask stupid questions, its sort of expected from Leela as she is being introduced as someone who isn’t that smart.

The effect of the Xoanon Doctor appearing was rather good and it was only made good because Tom Baker pulls the most extraordinary face which does look quite scary. Tom Baker’s humour does show itself again in this episode but this time it feels like its more at the expense of the locals. There is one bit where the Doctor is using a cricket metaphor which in the scene that he uses it is a bit odd.

The thing is that this story really is struggling to maintain my interest and I think even if you watched this long after ‘The Deadly Assassin’, this story would look a bit slow and I worry that the final two episodes will be hard to watch. It’s a shame because as I mentioned earlier, its not a terrible thing to watch because there are things in it that are making it watchable but I think that it is just lacking that final punch to make it a well like story.

The Face of Evil - Episode 1

This is the first appearance of Louise Jameson as Leela. After Elisabeth Sladen, it was perhaps a wise idea to go in a different direction with the character that would assist the Doctor and its fair to say that this is definelty the case with Leela. This was the first episode of 1977 and it returns after a month long holiday (last episode was November 20), so fans would have been intrigued with seeing what happens next.

Louise Jameson is the first face that we see when the credits end and it doesn’t take long for her to show her defiance and how she might be a bit like Sarah. Leela was one of those characters that was created ‘for the dads’. She wore very little and couldn’t be labelled as a feminist but starts off her time with the Doctor by calling him the evil one. There is an aspect of this story that I’m not a huge fan of and that the whole idea of following voices or higher beings. There will be a sound purpose for this being in the story but at the moment its not a great part of the story.

The threat the Doctor uses when he says he will kill someone with a jelly baby is another bit of humour that seems to be creeping in. Also the part where it looks like he is talking to a tree. Now at the moment these comedic moments are slight and nothing to get really bothered about but over the course of the next few seasons, it will be more of an issue.

Janice Thorn is a weapon that Leela uses and is instantly a source of conflict between the her and the Doctor. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Doctor and Leela’s relationship is the relationship between Tom Baker and Louise Jameson. Nowadays it’s very good in their Big Finish stories but back then its clear that there was a bit of resentment so Louise Jameson was the unwanted companion and that means the friendship that the Doctor and companion should have just isn’t there like it was when Elisabeth Sladen was on the show. For her first episode I think that Jameson does a good job and shows that there is some strength to the character. Whilst she might be like Sarah she is still a stronger character than some that have come before her. If only the could change the costume.

The cliffhanger is a good one because for most of the episode we have been teased with the idea of ‘the evil one’ and it appears that the Doctor has been on the planet before. The final shot is of a massive sculpture of the Doctor’s face. His is the face of evil which a nice way to end the episode. I think that following the previous episode was always going to be a tough job and its not a critiscm but I think that this story does look a bit pedestrian compared to ‘The Deadly Assassin’.