(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.

(667) Dragonfire - Part 3

The final episode of this season manages to salvage some of the problems that this season has had. For the first few minutes it didn’t seem like much was happening. This was made clear by the fact that there was a scene where Mel wants to play Eye Spy and the look on Ace’s face pretty much says everything that needs to be said. I want Ace and Mel to be getting stuck in not playing a child’s game.

The little girl that appeared in the first episode returns in this episode and is given an awful lot of screen time and at one point seems to befriend the dragon. I really don’t see what she has to bring to the story considering she had been a peripheral character and so the reason for her to appear so much time is a mystery.  

I like the model that appears when the colony is revealed as a spaceship. It’s one of the few model shots in the serial and it looks rather good.

The death of Kane is quite possibly one of the most gruesome deaths in Doctor Who. It’s very similar to the one that happens in the first of the Indiana Jones films. It’s one of those things that if it had happened in the Colin Baker era then it would have really caused controversy but its not given the same reaction nowadays. I think that its somewhat foolish for Kane to look out of a window rather than a computer screen.

Mel’s goodbye does come a bit out of the blue. Quite why she chose now to leave. The Doctor’s reaction is rather sad and it’s the first time that McCoy’s Doctor has had the opportunity to show this side. Mel decides that she is going to be travelling with Glitz for no clear reason. It’s a shame that this happened because it seems to be similar to how Leela left in The Invasion of Time. Ace’s start in the TARDIS happens quite close to the end but that’s perfectly fine.

As an episode, it was one that was took an awfully long amount of time to get going. Once it did then it was a lot of fun and this three part adventure is easily the best thing in the 24^th season but that is sort of damning with faint praise. In any other season, this would still be a good story. Yes it has some serious problems in terms of narrative and character development but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have a soft spot for it.

Season 24 has been the disappointment that I was expecting. This is the worst part of the McCoy era over with an now I can look forward to some really good stories and this is where Sylvester McCoy shows us what he can do as the Doctor and the show’s slow improvement starts now. The change of companions is the last that would occur in the original run and it’s weird to think that there is just three weeks’ worth of the classic era left. It’s starting to fly by.

(666) Dragonfire - Part 2

The thing I didn’t point out in yesterday’s review and that is this is the 150^th story of Doctor Who. Technically its not, technically it’s the 147^th but I count the four parts of the Trial season as separate stories so this is the 150^th and that’s the end of it. Today is the 666^th episode of Doctor Who so this is the episode where bad things should happen.

The way that the Doctor’s silly decision to go over the railing to produce the shows first real cliffhanger takes about four minutes to solve thus proving that it wasn’t quite as dramatic as it should have been. The decision was made even more ridiculous when Ace comes along a few minutes later with a far more practical roll up ladder.

Ace and Mel’s troubles come from trying to hide from the zombie like mercenaries that follow them around everywhere. There is a nice scene between Ace and Mel when we learn a bit more about Ace. I like it because we have learnt more about Ace in these two episodes than we have ever learnt about Mel. She also reveals that here real name is Dorothy which is why she calls herself Ace. Nothing wrong with Dorothy in my opinion but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I am impressed with how good Sophie Aldred is because her performance has a nice mixture of freshness yet familiarity. Contrast that with the performance that Bonnie Langford which doesn’t seem to have much life to it. I think back to her debut story and just how much energy and vitality there was and how much has changed in such a short amount of time.

Belazs is a rather contradictory character because she wants to be rid of Kane and away from Iceworld but then points a gun at Glitz and the Doctor. Her death at the hands (literally) of Kane was a bit of a disappointment. I think that it would have been good for her to be free in the next episode or even sacrifice herself to help the Doctor. That is perhaps the thing that doesn’t quite work in the episode.

The Dragon which turns out not to be a dragon is visually an impressive design. The headpiece alone is impressive. It is more important to the story that previous thought. It’s clear that a lot of time and money went into it and it shows.

The production values have been rather impressive in this serial which after being let free with the outdoor story of Delta and the Bannermen. The sets are impressive because I believe that they are in a cold environment although its not cold enough for it to show when they are breathing.

The cliffhanger obviously going to be better than episode one’s but only just the episode ends with Kane announcing to no-one but himself that “After 3000 years, the Dragonfire will be mine”. This was another episode where the show took a step in the right direction. Two episodes in and my ratings are the highest of the McCoy era and at the moment it’s the first McCoy story get in the top 100. As a season it is tied with season 2 as worst so it will be interesting to see how the final episode of this story will affect that.

(665) Dragonfire - Part 1

Dragonfire is the final story of what has been the worst season ever in Doctor Who. To be frank there is very little in the way of positives that I can talk about. Even though the season is fourteen episodes, its felt like more than that. This story won’t have to do very much to be the best of the season but things look good when I remember that Sophie Aldred joins the show as Ace. Ace is the template for what Billie Piper would play in the new era. The opening scene already showed that things were going to improve. It was lit right, it had the right amount of tension and it was just better than the previous three episodes combined. Kane is a good villain. His first appearance sees him kill someone by placing his hands on their face. His treatment of Belazs is something that somehow makes his totally loathsome. It was smart to cast Edward Peel in the role because he plays it pretty much spot on and like Don Henderson in Delta and the Bannermen, is one of the best things in this serial.

There is talk of a dragon which seems to excite the Doctor although I don’t quite know why. Another thing that is slightly confusing is the café which has a weird amount of different alien races. Two people appear in this set which have some involvement in this serial.  Glitz makes a return in this episode. I don’t quite know why Glitz has been bought back but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t glad to see him back. Tony Selby brings a nice bit of comedy to the serial. He has a map that everyone is interested but I am more interested in his unexpected chemistry with Sylvester McCoy because they work very well together. Ace is introduced in a rather understated way but as the episode progresses we get a nice bit of back story and we learn that she is feistier than a lot of companions we have had recently. She says Ace a lot and calls the Doctor Professor which is pretty much are the things that Ace is remembered for. It’s a very confident performance from Sophie Aldred and she sort of shows how low the character of Mel has sunk in such a short space of time.

What ruins this episode is one of the worst cliffhangers ever in Doctor Who. It is literally a cliffhanger because for no reason the Doctor decides to go over a railing and hand off the edge of a cliff hanging onto just his umbrella. This is just totally bizarre and no matter how many times I watch this story, I just don’t know what the purpose of it was. That said it still better than some of the episodes that I have seen during this season. There are steps to introduce Ace and phase out Mel but the thing that stands out for me is the big improvement in quality.

(664) Delta and the Bannermen - Part 3

I am grateful that this wasn’t a four part adventure because I don’t think I could stand another episode of the antics at the Shangri-La. I am getting slightly bored of pointing out the same problems that have appeared in each of the three episodes.

Billy had been taking something to turn him into a Chimeron. He ends the episode by going away with Delta and the kid who looks about 13 or 14 and just goes off with them. Kohll could easily have dropped Billy from the story and it wouldn’t have made much difference. What made it even worse is that Ray is left pretty much heartbroken. This is not perhaps the best ending to an episode there has ever been.

Gavrok doesn’t get to be very good in this episode because he spends the entire episode looking rather foolish. First of all he is defeated by stumbling into the force field that he created that comes after he and his guards are attacked by bees and honey. I think that Don Henderson deserved a better ending because he has worked very well during the three episodes.

The incidental music is normally something that works quite well in these stories but on this occasion it just doesn’t work. It’s possibly the first time that Keff McCulloch has put a foot wrong. When I remember how he saved the day with the in the previous story but that means that this story suffers.

There is a bit in the episode where there is about 10 of them working together. So much for the Doctor looking like the one that saved the day in Paradise Towers yet somehow falls short during these three episodes. I think I remember watching a documentary on Paradise Towers and McCulloch said that he was told to put this story to one side and that shows.

Delta and the Bannermen is only the second story of the 1980’s to be rated in the 6’s. At the moment it was ninth from bottom. The other 1980’s story was The Horns of Nimon so its in pretty good company. This story has been a bit of a disaster. Very little worked in this serial and I think that some of that should be placed at the feet of the writer because he hasn’t got a grip of what a Doctor Who story should be. Yes they deserve some credit for trying to do something different but they just messed up with this. Thankfully

(663) Delta and the Bannermen - Part 2

You know how I was saying that with the serial being three episodes it means that there is less padding and more opportunities for the pace to pick up. Well this episode pretty much blows that theory up in to thousands of pieces. This episode is about 90% padding and 10% relevant narrative. For the first time in a few episodes, Bonnie Langford wasn’t the most annoying aspect of the episode. But that is because of the facts that she had very little to do and also the fact that there were far more obvious annoying aspects of the episode.

The baby that looked gross at the end of the previous episode looks even worse when it sitting in Delta’s arms. There is a scene where Billy walks in and seems to accept the situation when he walks in. A few minutes later the baby had turned into a real baby that has the bad luck of having its face painted green. It’s the acceptance that Billy has that is something that doesn’t make any sense. I like the character of Delta and Belinda Mayne plays the role very well and I believe that she is a Queen. It’s just a shame that she is forced to spend the episode being mother and having to deal with Billy who is one of the worst characters in the entire serial and possibly even one of the worst supporting characters in Doctor Who.

I think the root of the problem with this serial is that there is an uneven mix of humour and non-humour. Weismuller and Hawk continue to be annoying in this episode and their only good moment comes when they meet Gavrok. Sadly Gavrok doesn’t wipe them out. Speaking of Gavrok, I think that Gravrok saves this episode and Don Henderson was a masterful piece of casting. His final scene where he is munching away at a piece of meat is a great moment in the episode.

Of the central performances, Sylvester McCoy has the better time but only just. He spends a little bit of time showing Burton inside the TARDIS for no real reason. Then he gets on Rachel’s bike and spends an awfully long amount of time riding around looking for Delta and the dopey one. His best moment comes when he encounters Goronwy played by the wonderfully delightful Hugh Lloyd. I wonder if Hugh Lloyd counts as stunt casting considering he appearing in countless episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour and lots of other shows between 1957 and this point.

The final scene with the Doctor and Gavrok is by far the best scene in the entire episode. It’s the first time that I have felt that it was Doctor Who which is a worrying thing considering that the show is suppose to be showing its good side. There seems to be way too much time given to bike trips and nonsensical relationships. At least there is only one episode left.

(662) Delta and the Bannermen - Part 1

After being somewhat disappointed with Paradise Towers, I wasn’t looking forward to this story because it’s never been one of my favourites. One of the arguments that people use to critisce John Nathan Turner is the use of ‘stunt casting’. One of the examples used for this argument is this story where it features the appearance of Ken Dodd. This is the first three part story since Planet of Giants (1964) and the three episode format will become commonplace during this period of the show and an advantage of the three episodes is that there isn’t going to be a much padding and that will mean there is a faster pace to proceedings.

The action starts pretty much from the moment that the titles finish. There are explosions and there is a nice gun battle. Sadly there are some green creatures who look like the toy soldiers from the Toy Story movies. That does somewhat devalue the moment. What does work in these scene is Gavrok. Gavrok is played by Don Henderson and was perhaps the big name in this serial and definelty not considered to be stunt casting.

The Doctor and Mel arrive in a huge hanger deck and I like how this freaks the Doctor out and he wants to leave but then trouble appears. Whilst I don’t agree with the argument that Ken Dodd was stunt casting, I do think that his first appearance is rather poor. It is just cheesy and totally not what the show should be about. Somehow the Doctor and Mel are the 10 Billionth people to visit. Even the Doctor is surprised that 10 billion people have use the shuttle. The introduction of the pilot leaves me rather downhearted because I think that this is an example of just how tired the show appears because it’s hard to believe that this would have taken place even just a few years ago. When they start singing Rock Around The Clock, I start to get frustrated because it just seems to add fire to people’s arguments against JNT. Hawk and Weismuller are a double act that appear quite early on. They are a couple of Americans. I know that they are American’s before they open their mouths because Weismuller is wearing a New York Yankees jacket. Then they proceed to look like a couple of inept spies. Imagine Jago and Litefoot but without any of the charm and they are treated as a duo that are being kept out of the way. Sadly they are in our way.

Delta escapes from her planet and leave on a ship and lands by the Doctor then manages to get on the coach before it takes off which seems rather odd and then blurts out who she is when she is supposed to be keeping a low profile.

The story takes place in a holiday village which doesn’t look like the nicest place to visit. I have never visited such a place and have never really seen the appeal of them. Then there is a ‘getting to know you dance’ which just seems horrible to me.

Billy is a rather bland individual who for some reason decides to fall for Delta instead of Rachel. This is just what the story doesn’t need, a love triangle. Rachel could have been a companion if JNT had not chosen Sophie Aldred. I don’t think that she would have worked as a companion but in the context of this story I thought that she worked quite well. There was something rather charming about Sara Griffiths’ performance.

Delta’s baby is perhaps the most disgusting thing that I have ever seen in Doctor Who before or after. I know that I have commented on how horrible some effects look when an aliens head ooze but this is way beyond what I think is acceptable in a Doctor Who story.

This isn’t a story that I truly hate but I am really struggling to find something positive in this episode. I think that this being three episodes long is something that is going to work in the serial’s favour but as I continue through this season I am convinced that nothing will change my opinion of this season and at the moment it’s the worst season in terms of average ratings. Season 2 has the lowest average rating which shows how bad this season has gone so far.

On a ratings note, this episode was watched by 5.3 million people whereas 16.3 million people were watching Coronation Street. That’s the widest margin since the season started.