(682) Battlefield - Part 1

Battlefield marks the beginning of the final season in the classic era. The beginning of the end so to speak. If you’re a regular reader of my blog then you will know that I love stats and the gap between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth seasons is the shortest since the season fifteen and sixteen break. That’s 245 days if you’re interested. Back to the episode and this episode marks the final appearance of Nicholas Courtney in Doctor Who. No I am not counting the 1993 Dimension in Time special or the 2008 Sarah Jane Adventures story. The Brigadier was last seen in the twentieth anniversary special and has now left UNIT.

Battlefield is another story that I think has a bit of a bad reputation. I for one have had many problems with this story over the years. Only watching it because it’s the last Brigadier story. I think that one of the problems that I have is all the business with the Doctor being Merlin or the suggestion of such a thing. This episode also sees the final TARDIS scene in the classic era and it’s very dimly lit which is what makes the scene atmospheric. The Doctor is in less than a humorous mood at the beginning of this episode. This is confirmed with the line of “It has a graveyard stench is which he gives when he looks at the UNIT site. Sylvester McCoy has really become very good as delivering.

When the Brigadier realises that the Doctor is around, you can almost see the sparkle in his eye. It really doesn’t take long for him to get back into his uniform. There is a nice scene between him and Doris where she basically says that he cares more about playing soldier than the home they have. It’s weird seeing the Brigadier’s wife Doris. After years and years of her name been mentioned it’s nice to be able to put a face to the name.

It would be wrong of me not to mention the return of Jean Marsh who played Sara Kingdom in The Daleks Master Plan in 1965. We don’t see much of her sadly but I think she is such a good actress that even when she is just a face on a screen she can act just as good as everyone else. Angela Bruce has the unenviable task of playing the new Brigadier. Although she is sharing the role later on she is the one in charge and I think that she does a sound job in this episode. I like how she uses the word shame to clearly hide an expletive that couldn’t be used even when everyone is watching Corrie. Ling Tai plays Shou Yuing who for all intents a purposes seems to be a ready-made companion. She gets on well with Ace from the get go, has the same attitude and she has very good on screen presence.

The cliffhanger is quite good as it comes after an intriguing scene about the Doctor being thought of as Merlin.  Overall it’s a perfectly good opening episode. There is plenty to like but I get the feeling that things wont keep going well for long. Maybe that’s the pessimist in me but time will tell.

 

(681) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 4

Today’s episode is the final episode of the season but due to scheduling problems it is the first episode of 1989 which is the final year of the original run. Ratings wise, this was watched by 1.7 million more than had watched the previous episodes on December 28. There is more plot development in the first couple of minutes of this episode than there has been in the previous three episodes. The thing that has worked quite well is that director Alan Wearing has done a relatively good job in keeping me distracted from the fact that nothing substantial has been happening.

The family finally show us what they are really about. They are actually the Gods of Ragnarok who are visually very impressive and are made out of rock (obviously). All they want is to be entertained and the Doctor does several tricks to try and amuse them and it’s extraordinary that this is happening in the final episode. One thing I don’t like about this section is the incredible number of rolling r’s that the Doctor uses. I must say that I am slightly disappointed with what happened here. After waiting for a long time for this encounter, it seemed that this was just a bit of padding which again is odd considering that it’s the final episode.

Captain Cook has been the unexpected star of the episode because he is just superb from the very beginning. There was always something fun every time he was on screen. Even when he was being horrible to people there was something to enjoy about him and T.P. McKenna has been a very good piece of casting. That’s not to say that Jessica Martin (Mags) and Ian Reddington (Chief Clown) haven’t been just as good but in this episode I thought that the Captain was the stronger of this trio.

The performances from the regular have been quite good although neither have been particularly outstanding. That is probably harsh bearing in mind that Sylvester McCoy does do his magic trick routine well and if Britains Got Talent were around in 1988 then he wouldn’t get buzzed by Simon Cowell.

The explosion that happens as the Doctor leaves the tent is fantastic and its made even better when you take into consideration that McCoy doesn’t flinch. It kind of makes up for the disappointment of the Ragnarok/Doctor encounter. The ending is quite nice because it sees Kingpin and Mags going off to set up a new circus. All’s well that ends well and I haven’t hated the last four episodes as much as I was expected. I thought that there were good things but there is something in it that I find underwhelming. Despite my reservations it was a good ending to what has been a vastly improved series and I think that the show in back going in the right direction.

(680) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 3

Today is a very important day in Doctor Who fandom (not that you need reminding of course). 10 years ago today the show that seemed dead and buried returned. I remember going to my friend’s house somewhat nervous about what I was about to see. Little did anyone know that the show would go on the journey that it has done since then. I would watch Rose today to celebrate but I must stay strict and watch it in the correct order.

The episode doesn’t start in a particularly good way as it takes several minutes to get going. It seems slightly odd that in the penultimate episode of the story that things are moving a bit more quickly. The thing that does seem to happen early on in the episode is that the clowns seem to be more in the story than before. There is something quite good about these clowns and something that does back up the theory that clowns are creepy.

The writing hasn’t been particularly strong because there wasn’t anything that really stood out in terms of dialogue. The leading stars don’t really do anything that has been on the same level as has been seen during this season.

For the first time all of the supporting performances were quite good. Mags is starting to change into a werewolf. It hasn’t really been suggested up until this episode that she may be a werewolf. It’s alluded to at the beginning of the episode but doesn’t really get addressed until the very end of the episode where it forms part of the cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is rather good and it’s the strongest one so far. There are some good scenes between Ace and Bellboy which suggests that a romance could have possible. I have underrated Christopher Guard’s performance as Bellboy because he really showed me in this episode how good he is. The performance from Chris Jury as Deadbeat was another good one because there is something slightly unnerving. The Captain continues being totally unlikeable by letting the geek to go and perform before him. At least the geek go to explain how he came to be there. When he enters the ring to do his performance he walks in with a cocky attitude. I really couldn’t wait for him to be wiped out by the family. The family spend a long time sitting bored as no one is put in front of them. The three people that play the mother, father and the child are quite chilling and I think that they would have been quite an effective villain. Ian Reddington continues to impress so I won’t say much more cause I have spent two episodes praising him.

Things are building up nicely. I don’t know exactly what to but I think that the story is starting to get going. I still think that this is one of the stories that should have been put in the three episode slot because there isn’t enough to fil four episodes. There was a lot of not very much happening. It took a long time for the episode to get going and took even longer for someone to appear in the ring.

(679) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 2

This episode was broadcast just before Christmas 1988, its hardly the most christmassey episode that there has ever been but after not enjoying the previous episode a great deal it was nice to know that things improve greatly in this episode. I still maintain that the cliffhanger from the previous episode is appalling bad. However its all forgotten when the Chief Clown suddenly appears and convinces the Doctor and Ace to enter the Circus tent.

I like how there is a bit more information about the Psychic Circus when Morgana talks about how the Circus went from place to place but have made home on Segonax and is then stopped from saying by who. This means that they suddenly become good guys because they are being repressed by a mystical force and also by the Chief Clown. There is something odd about the family that are just sitting in the stands of the circus. Obviously I know their involvement in the story but there is a nice mystery about them.

The Doctor gets handpicked by the Ringmaster and it’s clear that it’s a trick. There are moment where the Doctor knows that something is going on and is letting himself been manipulated so that he can get to the centre of it. The manipulative Doctor starts to show more of itself in this serial and in this episode. He wants to meet the people but doesn’t say so although his face tells us this. McCoy really starts to own the role in this season and its this aspect of the character that he seems to thrive in.

The geek that was annoying in the previous episode is still annoying in this episode and it’s explained that he has come of his own choice but it’s not clear whether this is a known thing on earth and who told him about it. He gets to perform in the circus much to his shock. I am happy about this because that this means his time on the show is going to be shorter. Another character that bugged me in the previous episode Nord is also back in this episode but I didn’t find him annoying, it seems that the reigning in happened between episode although he doesn’t last long as he’s killed in the centre of the circus.

The tent set is very good and I think that lends something that wouldn’t have been achievable in a studio set. None of the interior sets are spacious and all of them mean that the characters are all up close and personal. I even like the exterior filming (although I didn’t mention in the previous episodes review), it helps that they were filming during lovely weather as this makes the quarry filming not seem like it was filmed in the endless number of quarries that the show has visited over the previous twenty-five years.

The cliffhanger is much better than the previous one and as a whole the episode is much better than the opening one. The writing is stronger and the performances are much better. It’s funny to think about the production problems that the show was having during this time and if you didn’t know this then you would be able to tell on screen because the whole thing works. The rating for this episode is back in the sevens and the average rating for the story is in the sevens although its still one of the lowest rated McCoy stories. Half way through and the story itself is still something that is puzzling me because again there are things that quite good but its still not a great story. I worry that the next two episodes wont really change anything but maybe I will be proved wrong.

(678) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 1

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is one of those stories that I cant make my mind up about. On the one hand there are things that are quite good but then there is something that bugs me about this story. This is a story that was mainly filmed in a carpark due to asbestos being found in a BBC studio. Stephen Wyatt returns to writing duties having penned the previous season’s Paradise Towers. There were interesting things about that story so its perfectly plausible that the same could happen in this adventure.

I think one of the first problems that I have is with Nord who from the moment he appears on screen is rather annoying. It’s largely down to Daniel Peacock’s performance because I think that it could have been reigned back. I have recently watched Peacock in an episode of Only Fools and Horses and he is playing pretty much the same character (minus the bat helmet) so I don’t find the character to be interesting. Another problem is the fanboy that appears to be a rip on Doctor Who fans. Even if there is an argument that it’s not a fan, I think that it’s just another annoying character. The character just doesn’t make any sense in the context of the story and there is no explanation as to where he has come from.

There are good things that work in this episode. One of the successes of this story is that of the Chief Clown who is played superbly by Ian Reddington. There is something very chilling from the moment that he appears on screen. He doesn’t say much with his mouth but his face and hands do all the talking and that is what makes the character so good. I like the idea that he is travelling around in a hearse because there is quite dark and sinister about that and the whole imagery works. I do like the Stallslady because I think there is something lovely about her. She seems to be the only one in the entire piece that it talking sense.

Captain Cook (T.P. McKenna) and Mags (Jessica Martin) are two interesting characters. There is something weird about the Captain but Mags is more normal and she is the one that I find less annoying. There is something interesting about Mags and she is one of those characters that could easily have found her way inside the TARDIS.

This is one of the final stories to feature the interior of the TARDIS. It still doesn’t seem right for some reason that the Seventh Doctor has any TARDIS interior scenes. The purpose of this scene is lure the Doctor and Ace to Segonax. Bearing in mind that Ace doesn’t like clowns it seems somewhat cruel of the Doctor to try and persuade Ace that it would be nice to visit the Psychic Circus.

The cliffhanger is terrible. I don’t think that I have seen a worse end to an episode. Even the cliffhanger where the Doctor is hanging off a cliff is better than this one. Ace’s reluctance to enter the Psychic Circus would not be enough to make me tune in the next week. I still have my reservations about this story but have the feeling that something may make me like the next three episodes. Sadly my rating for this episode is 6.97 which is the first time since episode three of Delta and the Bannermen but that’s only because the cliffhanger got 4/10.

(677) Silver Nemesis - Part 3

With the season only being fourteen episodes long, it means that there are two four part stories and two three part stories and sadly Silver Nemesis is one of the three part adventures. I think that the four part slot given to The Greatest Show in the Galaxy should have been swapped with this story.

There is a nice scene early on where Ace admits that she’s scared and the Doctor apologises. What is weird though is how she then decides that she wants to carry on. Ace get to do quite a lot of action stuff in this episode. She spends a good portion running away from a Cyberman with the worst aim in history. There is a nice panning shot where the camera follows Ace along a gantry. There are a couple of good directing shots. Chris Clough has directed these three episodes really well and to give him credit he always directs his stories well and strives to go that extra mile even if things don’t work out as he would have liked.

When the Doctor arrives at the crypt of the statue with the Cybermen it’s a nice quick scene that seems to happen in one take and despite their being little room it is surprising when the Nemesis rises and explosions occur around her. Speaking of the statue/nemesis, it’s a good design and its use to destroy the Cyber fleet is a good use for the character although there is a lot of mystery about its co-operation with the Doctor. It’s a bit of a thankless task being the Silver Nemesis but it’s a good idea of Kevin Clarke’s and he has done a good job in writing a lot of things into just three episodes. I wish that he had written more stories

There is the beginning of a long term story arc where the Doctor is playing Chess. This is something that will be referred to in future stories. It doesn’t look like much at this point but the benefit of seeing all these stories before means that it’s quite a significant moment in the show. The question of who the Doctor is raised in this episode and begins the mystery of the character that Andrew Cartmel tried to bring back to the character. Peinforte knows the secret and threatens to tell Ace about the Doctor

Lady Peinforte and Richard try and hitch a lift and sadly they come across Mrs Remington who is an American cliché and it’s only worth it to see the look on Richards face when Mrs Remington tells her it took just 40 minutes to get from London. Its another instance of something being put in an episode when it doesn’t need to be there. I thought that Lady Peinforte’s death was quite good and considering that the Nemesis looked like her it made sense that they would end up as one. De Flores has been totally pointless in this episode. In fact he has been pointless in this entire story because Lady Peinforte has been entertaining and the Cybermen have been worthwhile as always but what has De Flores bought to the story.

The different journeys of De Flores, Lady Peinfote, the Doctor and the Cybermen meet up in the one place and it’s a very dramatic scene. The Cybermen haven’t felt like supporting monsters and were well used in this anniversary story.

The final scene takes place in 1638 with Richard with a bit of Lute playing with Ace asking just who the Doctor is with the Doctor responding with putting his finger against his lips. This episode has hurried along at a great pace but I think that it finished at the right point and I didn’t feel short changed. I don’t know whether Silver Nemesis is the greatest Cyberman story but it was an enjoyable story and that’s two stories out of three that I have enjoyed very much.

(676) Silver Nemesis - Part 2

The ratings (people who watched as opposed to what I gave out of 10) for this season haven’t been that bad. I mean they haven’t been great either but the first episode of this story was watched by 6.1 million people whereas the previous best was episode two of Remembrance which got 5.8 million. The average season ratings have been in the 5.3 million which is what this episode and the next episode got. Something else that I forgot to mention in yesterday’s review was that this is technically the 150^th story in Doctor Who although they clearly class the Trial of a Timelord as a single story (which I don’t)

The Cybermen really get involved in this episode after a blink and you’ll miss it appearance in the previous episode. They pretty much get their backsides kicked by De Flores at first but then gain control of the Silver Nemesis. The Cybermen seem to be quite good as comedy because the Leader believes that Peinforte is going to go mad and when she reacts badly (not madly) then one of the Cybermen asks the leader if this is a sign of madness in what I thought was clearly a comedic line.

De Flores tries to form an alliance with the Cybermen and its rather tiresome seeing humans think that they can work with the Cybermen and in effect control them. It’s a trick that started with Eric Kleig in Tomb of the Cybermen back in 1967. There is an interesting bit where Lady Peinforte and Richard are followed through Windsor by two skinheads which were common place in the 1980’s. The one of them thinks that Peinforte and Richard are social workers. They are quite clearly stupid skinheads. There is a funny moment where Richard looks at some Llama’s and is terrified by them.  

The Doctor and Ace are doing more travelling as they get back in the TARDIS and do a lot of walking afterwards. I like the bit where Ace blows up the ship and the guards were then killed and her reaction is really good as she clearly takes responsibility for their deaths despite the Doctor’s reassurances that they were dead already.

There is a scene towards the end where the Doctor attempts to try and link its arrival near/on earth with terrible events in history during the 20^th century. It’s first appearance was in 1913 the year before the first world war, the next time was in 1938 which was the year when Hitler annexes Austria and then it arrived in 1963 which was the year Kenned was assassinated. The last two of these points were valid but it’s hard to think that in one instance something bad happened the year after it arrived whereas the other times it arrived in the same year.

The cliffhanger is the reveal that there are thousands of Cyber War Ships in space which have been hidden. I quite like this also it doesn’t quite have the impact that the previous cliffhanger did. The whole episode is pretty much like the previous one and that it has a lot of things going on and manages to keep it going very well. It’s not the greatest Cyberman story but it feels a bit more of a modern day Doctor Who story