The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 4

This opening story hasn’t been the best as far as I am concerned. I think that it’s fair to say that it’s been a bit of a damp squib. Louis Marks might not be the most successful writer in the show’s history but I think that he has written solid stories in the past. Sadly this isn’t one of his best. Despite not really caring or understanding what was been talked about. I did find the performance and directing to be enough to find some good stuff in it.

I remember during some of the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton stories where I would have quite happily skipped that story if I wasn’t so determined to watch/listen to every Doctor Who story. Whilst I haven’t felt like whilst I have been watching the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker era, I came pretty close during this story. I think the main stumbling block has been that it is a classic case of style of substance.

The idea of a ball featuring in the final episode does make it seem like it’s a final episode because it’s such a grand thing and its done very well indeed. The BBC has a reputation for doing good costumes in period dramas and that is definelty the case during this episode and in fact the previous episodes. I got the feeling that this episode doesn’t have much of a fast end of episode pace to it that I would expect. I still like the ball that happens but I think that the pace doesn’t really change in this episode compared to the previous ones.

The way that the whole thing was dealt with was rather good but I wasn’t really bothered by what happened to the mandragora helix. This episode wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it could have been but I still think that this story was a disappointment. The next story is the final one to feature Elisabeth Sladen and it’s a shame that her penultimate story is such a weak one. I was watching the extras and this story was due to the success of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ which is a pseudo historical story. The difference between that story and this one is that the Mars story was a more traditional Doctor Who story that had something to it and this one this one doesn’t and so it wont go down as one of the finest Tom Baker stories.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 3

The thing about this story is that part of me likes it but then part of me is totally frustrated with it. The opening episode is always the best one because it sets things up and its usually the cliffhangers in future episodes that make the thing work. The previous cliffhanger was total disappointing and so the episode started off in a slightly disappointing way. Not even Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen can get me excited.

I will be honest and say that the whole sacrificing angle to be rather tiresome and as a result I thought that the whole episode was a massive disappointment for this reason. The thing is that unless this sort of thing interests you then you are not going to be that excited by things. That’s not a critiscm of Louis Marks or of Philip Hinchcliffe but just that this story isn’t working for me. There are probably people who aren’t fans of stories that I like such as ‘Inside the Spaceship’. Doctor Who attracts different sorts of fans and some will like sacrificing.

I haven’t mentioned until now that Tim Pigott-Smith and that’s largely because he has been up against Gareth Armstrong’s Giuliano and in this episode he does have a few scenes on his own but it does seem like he is a bit wasted in this story and the role could have gone to someone else and Pigott-Smith could have had a meatier role which would befit his talents.

The bit where Federico unmasks Hiernoymous only to see a glowing sphere where his face use to be was the only good moment in the entire episode and that was the cliffhanger. I think that I have finally lost patience with this story and its probably lucky that the next episode is the final one because this is a story that has failed to grip me in any way. I think had it not been for the costumes and the location filming then I would have been really annoyed with this story.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 2

The Doctor uses humour to get out of feeling the chop from the executioner. It’s the future as far as Doctor Who during Tom Baker’s time is concerned. After escaping he manages to run around the set of the Prisoner which is worth it because it does look beautiful.  Sarah spends the first part of this episode about to be sacrificed. She is rescued by the Doctor just in the nick of time. There cant be many more ways that Sarah can be put in significant peril so its just as well that it does last too much into this episode.

There is a small bit of interest in what is going on between Giuliano and Federico. Giuliano is worried that if Federico is ruler he will stifle learning. I like Jon Laurimore and think that  his performance is just behind Norman Jones’. Gareth Armstrong’s Giuliano is a bit wetter but due to Armstrong’s performance its not as wet as it could be. Norman Jones returns to Doctor Who as Hieronymous, he had previously appeared as Major Baker and here he is just as intense as he was in the story. His performance is somewhat overshadowed by his huge beard. That is a beard and a half that he wears in this story.

It’s not an episode that feels like it has a lot of padding but I would be at a push to try and describe any of the major points of this episode. The whole thing plods along at a good pace and I thought that the performances of several people helped make this more interesting. I don’t find any to do with predicting the stars and horoscopes and all that stuff so that’s maybe why I have never found this story to be particularly interesting. However it does have a small charm to it and I am still looking forward to the final episodes.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 1

The first episode of ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ is the start of the fourteenth season of Doctor Who and also the third with Tom Baker as the Doctor. It is also the penultimate adventure for Elisabeth Sladen and this is a story that I haven’t really thought that highly of in the past. I have often thought that it’s a rather dull story.

Sad of me I know but I quite like the change in font used to list the title and episode number. That not the only thing that’s new in this fourteenth season. I think that it’s a nice opening scene with the Doctor and Sarah wandering through the TARDIS corridors. It ends with Sarah and the Doctor walking into the second control room. This is the first time that we have seen anything other than the bright white console room. It’s a nice relatively small console room and has atmosphere and character in the sort of way that the main room just doesn’t have.

Something of interest is that the location scenes were filmed in Portmeirion which is where they filmed the original version of ‘The Prisoners’. The location work is just as good as it was when Douglas Camfield directed the previous story. Rodney Bennett returns to the show and uses what he does very well.

Federico is like Chase in the previous adventure, its clear that he is a nasty piece of work from the moment that we see him. Giuliano comes across as the exact opposite of Federico. It seems at first like this is just going to be a family dispute. This continues a bit more before Federico is talking to the Doctor. I like the line when the Doctor says he cant see Federico’s future because he doenst have one. This is the 47^th episode for Tom Baker as the Doctor and whilst at times during the previous story that he was a bit cross more times than would be expected of him but here he’s a lot more calm and confident than he has seemed in the past.

The way that the episode ends is one of those that slightly frustrates me because it ends with the Doctor about to have his head lopped off but the camera focuses in on the sword and it ends just before it goes in. I always think that this sort of thing is rather silly cause we all know that he makes it as the departure of a Doctor always makes the news so it wasn’t going to be his last episode and I cant even think of a reason why I should really be worried about that. The only reason that anyone would have to tune in the next week is to see how he gets out of it. I like this opening episode as it has a fresher feel to it than the previous stories. Whether this good feeling will continue for the rest of the story will be seen but I am looking forward to find out.

The Sontaran Experiment - Episode 2

Despite lacking a Sontaran or anything approaching an experiment, there was cause to be more optimistic within the first five minutes that things would change. Another thing that changes in this episode is the role of the humans. In the previous episode, I commented that they were rather dull and that I didn’t care about them very much but thankfully due to the introduction of the Sontaran it means that the humans are basically bit part players and that’s a good thing. I still don’t find the robot to be very menacing. Apart from pulling people along it’s a rather poor thing and should really have been left behind in the opening episode.

It’s implied that the Sontaran that we saw at the end of this episode is not Linx as seen in ‘The Time Warrior’ but is in fact called Styre and this is the first time really that we understand that Sontarans look the same. For the first time we see more than one Sontaran when we see The Marshal (both played by Kevin Lindsay. It’s a different headpiece that Lindsay wears compared to ‘The Time Warrior’. I don’t think that this headpiece is as good as the previous one and think that it looked rather poor in comparison. That said I still think that the Sontaran was a good creation and Kevin Lindsay was a very good Sontaran though he died shortly afterwards it’s quite good that he was able to leave such a mark on what is a rather inferior alien compared to others in the show. It would be until Dan Starkey in the new era that an actor would have some a good run with the character.

I really like the bit where Sarah is scared many times by Styre. The performance from Elisabeth Sladen is brilliant and makes up for the rather downturn in how strong the character has been written for in recent episodes. This episode sees a good fight sequence between Styre and the Doctor. However Tom Baker famously got injured during recording and so many of the shots during this fight are filmed far away to hide the fact that Terry Walsh doubles for Tom Baker. To be fair to Baker, he gives a good speech just before the fight happens and he acts like nothing has happened after it becomes clear that he holding himself in a particularly way. I think that Ian Marter does suffer in this episode and I didn’t really miss him when he wasn’t on screen.

This is definelty a more interesting episode than the first. I like how the way to defeat Styre is quite a simple way and one that benefits the two episode running time. I think that despite this story serving no other purpose than to bridge the gap between ‘The Ark in Space’ and ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. It’s clear that this would not have stretched to a four part and this is probably one of the better Sontaran stories and I think that it complements the series rather well.

The Sontaran Experiment - Episode 1

The Sontaran Experiment is the first two part story since ‘The Rescue’ back in 1965. The bonus of having a two part adventure is that there isn’t the need to find things to fill the story to keep the running time to four episodes. This story was done because they couldn’t make ‘The Ark in Space’ last six episodes (which is a fair point). As a result we have a two part story which doesn’t have any studio filming, one Sontaran and a couple of supporting characters. The fact that this is the only story at this point to be filmed entirely outside is one of the big selling points of this story and it’s a nice sequel for the Sontarans. So at the end of the last episode, the Doctor was going to find out what earth was like for everyone on the ark.

It doesn’t take long for the no human’s thing to be shown as wrong when there are a group of humans with South African accents. On their first encounter with the Doctor they decide to shoot him first and ask questions later. The thing about the regulars is that they all get into trouble at various points of the episode and both Ian and the Doctor fall victim to the unexpected hole in the ground. Only Sarah doesn’t get this treatment which is normally the one person that I would have guaranteed to fall. However whilst she doesn’t do this she does get captured.

Whilst we don’t see the Sontaran, we do get a robot which glides along and I cant believe that this poses any kind of threat and yet everyone seems to be scared to death of it. It doesn’t fire anything or say anything so something dreadful must have happened before this story began. Maybe it didn’t invite the humans around for robotic tea when they first landed there.

It takes fifteen minutes before the Sontaran or the experiment part of the title becomes relevant. Even then it’s a small shot of the Sontarans hand that we see. It isn’t until the end that we see the Sontaran come out of the sphere which we all saw in ‘The Time Warrior’ and out comes Linx and that is how the episode airs. Whilst I enjoy the fact that this is a story that takes place outside the problem with the episode is that not a lot really happens. I don’t think that the colonists are particularly interesting and that’s going to be a major problem in the next episode and I think that considering this episode must have been thrown together at the last minute, this could have been a lot worse but it’s the holding story until we get to the Daleks.

The Ark in Space - Episode 4

The final episode of this story has to do a lot in 25 minutes. I liked the previous cliffhanger and I didn’t mention it in yesterdays review. The effect that is used to show that the wirrn is Noah is rather good. I think that the voice for the wirrn is rather good and it teams up well with the costume (worn by Stuart Fell). This opening scene is a great one to start with and it’s the first time that the Doctor has had proper contact with the wirrn. The ultimatum of leave the ark or die is one that could have been made earlier in the story instead of at the beginning of the last one. This does mean that there is a quick dash to the end of the story and the plan to try and defeat the wirrn.

Elisabeth Sladen is the most active that she has been during this entire serial when she gets to go through the vent. It’s a nice scene where the Doctor uses emotional tactics to try and get Sarah Jane to go through the final yards of the vent. This does become a tactic that the Doctor uses on some of his companions over the years and the most significant one happens during ‘The Curse of Fenric’. Tom Baker has been on fine form over the last couple of episodes and any doubt he may have had about how he was going to play the role were dismissed with the story and he has made me get over the departure of Jon Pertwee. I think that Elisabeth Sladen has done well in the previous four episodes with a character that has been watered down a bit but Sladen does the best she can. She has a better time of things compared to Ian Marter who doesn’t seem to do a great deal in this episode.

There is an interesting use of letting us see the wirrn crossing the ark and its by a small screen. They did look quite good but I suspect that had we seen a full screen then it would have looked a bit poor. That was a wise choice by Rodney Bennett who has directed his debut Doctor Who story rather well. It’s not been terribly spectacular but I think that he has done the best that he can with what is a pure studio story.

Rogin’s punch at the Doctor looked a bit weak. I thought that the sound effect made it seem more diluted than it would have been normally. That is my only real issue with this episode which shows how well it worked. There aren’t any issues with special effects as the wirrn costume works well due to how Rodney Bennett choses to shoot them. The main difference about this story to the previous one is that there is no CSO which is something that Barry Letts would have used. Even the model shot used in this episode wasn’t particularly bad.

Noah’s goodbye as the wirrn is quite good and shows that there were some of Noah left in the wirrn. I thought that the character of Noah actually became more interesting when he got infected and I like how there seemed to be a battle in his head as to who would win. I think that Kenton Moore has been one of the best things about this story and its one of the reasons why I cared about what happened to the other because of how they reacted to Noah.

There is a nice link to the next story when the Doctor, Harry and Sarah go down to Earth and it ends the episode rather well because even though Vira and the rest wont be returning, it does feel like its part of one relatively long story arc (forgive the pun). As an episode, it works rather well and has the nice build up to the final scene. The wirrn are a good alien and its surprising that it took Big Finish to bring them back because it is possible to have made more stories. As a four part adventure, it’s the first time that the story has felt like a Tom Baker adventure as opposed to a Jon Pertwee story. Philip Hinchcliffe’s first story has ended in triumph and I feel like the season has found its feet and the combination of Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter has settled down and long may the good run continue.

The Ark in Space - Episode 3

When Noah hears the voice, I thought that it was just his madness taking hold. There is a sign that the wirrn haven’t taken complete control of Noah when he bashes his bubble wrap hand on the control unit. I like how after a brief moment of fighting it, he starts to become less Noah. It’s a great start to the episode and its good that it isn’t the Doctor, Harry or Sarah that take centre stage but Kenton Moore. Noah’s gradual development is quite impressive. The stage that Noah is at when Vira and the Doctor encounter him looks good even though its bubble wrap. Speaking of bubble wrap, there is one shot where a vent cover is filled with large bubble wrap and it just doesn’t have quite the dramatic weight that perhaps they were hoping for.

There is a lot more movement in terms of story development and Vira becomes the one who takes charge and she seems to have warmed up a lot in just the last episode and a bit. More and more of the ‘residents’ start to pop up but there are still a small number of characters and normally I wouldn’t care too much about them but due to Robert Holmes, I find myself not being 100% caring about them but I still want them to make it to the end of the story. I like how two of them basically regret going on the ark and not taking their chances on earth. They work out that they would be better off on earth and would be dead by now. It’s a particularly dark moment in what is still a family show.

There is a nice bit where we learn how the wirrn got on board the ark and what has caused all of this. It at least it gives us a bit of backstory which is what the story needed at this point having had nothing substantial in the previous episodes. It’s a shame that the there are two aspects of the wirrn that have mixed results because as I have mentioned the bubble wrap side is an issue but the actual full sized wirrn is quite impressive and even though there is just the one that we see it’s the better part of the wirrn and the thing that makes the whole story work.

There is a moment which seems terribly clichéd and it comes when they are trying to transport people from one part of the ark to the other and it happens just before Sarah is due to go. I just think that this seemed a bit silly and it was the one thing that slightly let the episode down as far as I was concerned. Apart from that I thought the performances were very good and the action moves along at a good pace and I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and the new era of Tom Baker continues to pick up.

The Ark in Space - Episode 2

After the regulars only episode, this episode sees the character numbers increase slightly. First of all that there is to comment on is the cliffhanger reprise. I was slightly disappointed with the fact that the wirrn didn’t fall onto Harry. I’m sure that this would have led to a funny early start to what is otherwise a dark(ish) episode. The first person that we meet who isn’t a regular is Vira (played by Wendy Williams). The way that she is bought into the story was clever and made sense. There is another dig by the Doctor aimed at Harry when he quips that Harry is only able to practise on sailors.

Vira is a cold person at first and says she is a doctor and comes out with a fantastic line of “either she will live or die” presumably she would have spent several years at medical school for that sort of training. The introduction of Noah was quite wise even though the name was a tad bit silly. Neither Vira nor Noah are particularly nice to the Doctor, Harry or Sarah. Noah didn’t last long before being infected by the green blob. Pretty much instantly, his starts to become affected. Due to the fact that this is a four parter there isn’t the time for a gradual change and so the quick transformation is something to enjoy. I thought that Kenton Moore was a bit ordinary until he started to become infected.

The pacing of the story doesn’t seem to be particularly fast as there is a lot of time spent in trying to revive people. Its nearly halfway into the episode before Sarah is revived and by the end of the episode only four people have been revived and one of those is killed by Noah. Whereas the previous episode was about the regulars getting from one problem to another this episode saw the plot move along to something but not making it clear as to what.

The main thing about this episode is that the main threat is introduced and the first shot that we get of the monster is a sort of green blob with what appears to be an eye. It’s very different to what we would have seen during the Pertwee and Letts era of the show. This is another example that the show has changed and that the age has matured very quickly in the relatively short time since Jon Pertwee handed the reigns over to Tom Baker.

The blob is an issue as far as many people are concerned. Now to a lot of people its silly that bubble wrap is used as a monster but considering that it wasn’t as common as it is now, it’s a critiscm that is a bit harsh. I work in a stationery shop and so I can’t look at bubble wrap now without thinking about this story. Sprayed green, the bubble wrap hand/claw that Noah looks at in horror in the cliffhanger is quite impressive. There is a slight sound of the bubble wrap but on the whole the revelation is well done. It’s an episode which takes the next step of the journey and it’s good that the Doctor, Sarah and Harry get to interact with other people and move around more.

The Ark in Space - Episode 1

The Ark in Space marks the first story with Philip Hinchcliffe as producer. It also marks the beginning of the gothic era of the show and this particular episode is the first time since ‘Inside the Spaceship’ that only features the regulars. I am watching this with the CGI effects used to replace the somewhat poor model shots.  The CGI effects are impressive and the opening moments of this episode show that this is going to be a different story from ‘Robot’. Due to the fact that there aren’t any other people in this episode, the drama has to come from the problems that the regulars find themselves in. Firstly it’s trying to get the oxygen supply working, then it is trying to get past the automatic guard.

It takes Sarah just over three minutes to get into trouble. Instead of sticking with Harry and the Doctor, she decides to go looking in another room which doesn’t have a great deal of oxygen. Sadly as I mentioned in the previous review, the feminism journalist side of the character has gone and replaced with a normal female companion. Her next unfortunate moment comes when the Doctor and Harry place her on a bed and when she wakes up finds herself being freaked out. There is the line where the Doctor responds to Harry by saying “There are only two of us here and your name is harry”.

It’s very rare that I comment on the sets but it looks very impressive and I like how there is a bit of continuity for a future story. Ok so the entire serial is a studio based one but when the sets look as good as these do then it doesn’t matter. The best set comes with the chambers which are holding all the crew of Nerva.

As there aren’t any other performances to speak of then I will have to talk about the central ones. Tom Baker really has got to grips of this story. He seems so different in this story to the last (probably because several months had passed since this story and ‘Robot’ were recorded). I am not sure whether I like the way that he talks to Harry. It just doesn’t seem very much like the Doctor and even William Hartnell’s Doctor wouldn’t have spoken to Ian, Steven or even Ben in the way that Tom Baker’s Doctor talks to Harry. I like how Harry is taking his first trip into space in his stride. There are moments when the posh twit aspect of the character comes into play and with this story being the way that it is, its needed to have a bit of light entertainment. I think that Ian Marter does his best with what is rather a flimsy role. That doesn’t mean there is something charming about Harry but its clear that his time on the show is going to be a little bit short. Elisabeth Sladen must have been disappointed that her role had been somewhat watered down since she started. In this episode along she’s been put in peril on three occasions. Sadly she suffers in this episode and gets the short straw out of the three regulars.

The cliffhanger is very good and very creepy. The wirrn falling towards the camera (from Harry’s POV) is a great way to end the episode and the episode on the whole has been rather good. I would have liked more from Sarah Jane but that aside I think that the proper start to the Tom Baker era has kicked off in tremendous manner and I am very confident about the future of this season and think that when the supporting characters get introduced to the story then things will start to pick up even more.