(564) Kinda - Part 3

The third episode of this story is one that is a bit difficult to really but not because its boring or uninteresting but just because I found a lot of it on a level that I don’t understand. The episode starts off with us finding out the contents of what was in the box and some might be disappointed with it just being a puppet but I thought that in the context of the episoe that it was quite a fun resolvement. The thing about this episode is that it features very little of Tegan. In fact apart from a couple of quick shots of her on the floor asleep, she plays no involvement in the development of the plot which I thought was a rather bizarre thing to do for a character that has been so integral to the plot.

Adric spends his time trying to get out of playing games with Sanders and Hindle. Speaking of Hindle, he continues to be fantastic in this episode and what makes his performance so strong is that he gets to act against Todd who is just as barmy and I just think that this is the sort of double act that Big Finish could make a series out of these two. Adric is great in this episode and I thought that despite not actually doing anything he somehow manages to keep himself busy. The Doctor spends his time with Todd and they seem to steer the narrative of the episode and by the end they find themselves in sort of weird psycadelic world where they are watching over events. It’s another barmy moment but visually its an impressive sight and there isn’t a moment which I found myself bored with what was going on.

A big improvement came in the form of Aris who in the previous episode wasn’t convincing as the Mara but in this episode I thought that he was much better in this episode and was believeable as a baddie. This episode saw the introduction of the Trickster who I (and maybe you) have seen as the Landlord in the BBC sitcom ‘Bottom’ and as a teacher in ‘Grange Hill’ from 1990 to 2002. The Trickster is a character that fits in very well with this story.

I really liked the episode and though that it was building up to a thrilling conclusion. The performances were strong and the whole thing was directed very well and the thing about this story is that despite it being filmed entirely in a studio and there being things talked about that I either don’t understand or don’t care about, I still think that this is one of the strongest stories of the season so far after the wobble that was ‘Four to Doomsday’ its clear that the new series is going to survive not just a new Doctor but a new style in transmitting.

(563) Kinda - Part 2

The thing about this story is that whilst I may not understand all the bits and pieces about whats going on I can still say that I am enjoying it. This second episode is still just as bonkers as the first. The episode introduces two new characters who are quite integral to the story (well one of them anyway). The first is Panna who according to the information text on my DVD, appeared in the original version of ‘The Prisoner’. Anyway as Panna, she gives a rather dignified yet mesmorising performance and I liked her as a character. She was with Karuna who is a young girl and is basically Panna’s eyes. They are only really in the episode in order to give Sanders a box. The effect used when he looks inside the box is very good although I thought that Sanders’ contribution was a bit flat.

There are two performances which really stand out but before I mention them I have to talk about Nyssa because due to what is going on from start to finish, I didn’t think about Nyssa until I was writing this review. It shows just how unnecessary having three companions is. The two performances were Janet Fielding and Simon Rouse. Both give fantastic performances for different reasons. Fielding’s performance is great because it starts off as a rather scared Tegan where she is talking to herself (quite literally) and then by the end she has become the human form of the Mara. When she wakes up back on Deva Loka, she gives one of her best performances ever and she seems to be having the time of her life. The performance that Rouse gives is arguably one of the greatest in Doctor Who. His madness is unlike anything that has really been seen in Doctor Who before or since.

If I had to make one critiscm of the episode it would be that I didn’t find Aris convincing when he had the Mara on him. Considering he spent the previous episode and most of this episode as a mute then it would have been best to keep him that way because he just doesn’t really work as anything else. That is really as bad as it got because the cliffhanger wasn’t bad. The fact that Todd ended the episode screaming might be a bit bad but I thought that considering she hasn’t done it up until this point means that whatever is in the box really is terrifying (obviously I know different). But it works as a cliffhanger and ends the episode in a good manner and complimented the episode.

So two episodes in and my opinion of the story is that its working well and all the characters have something to contribute and others really stand out amongst a good group of performances.

(562) Kinda - Part 1

Ok so After not being bowled over with ‘Four to Doomsday’, it was time to get ready for this story which is one of those that I really disliked when I first watched when I bought it on VHS many years ago but in recent years I have started to appreciate the story. I have to say that on the basis of this episode I am going to like the story more than ever. This is a story that is Nyssa-lite and that’s because the problem with having a crowded TARDIS is evident and after a brief scene, she is hurried into the TARDIS and that is it until episode four. This story is a Tegan story because she features in it so much.

Tegan’s story is one that is very interesting because its all in the mind. She first comes across Anatta and Annica (Anatta played by Eastenders star Anna Wing). They are playing chequers which is mirroring what Nyssa and Adric were doing at the beginning of the episode and I think that was really clever and a nice thing by writer Christopher Bailey. The next interesting figure she encounters is Dukkha (played by Jeff Stewart). The three characters that Tegan meets are very striking and its hard to find something terrifying in their performances and how they look.

It’s not just Tegan that’s getting some good stuff to do in this story as Adric and the Doctor encounter the colonists. They are all brilliant with Simon Rouse being the best of the trio as Hindle. He starts off the episode as a bit of a whinger but by the end of the episode he is going to kill the Doctor and so has clearly gone barking mad. The next character that is fun to watch is Richard Todd who plays Sanders. He might as well be called Colonel Sanders because his views do seem somewhat outdated and really all that you can do is just laugh at his backward thinking.  Nerys Hughes plays Todd and is the only one out of the three that has any sense to her character. She is the one that actually treats the Doctor properly so is the one that will the fans will be liking.

The episode is a great opening one that tells two sides of the story well and sets things up nicely. I will be honest and say that I haven’t missed Nyssa despite being a big Nyssa fan but I think that just shows how well Christopher Bailey has written the story and how well Peter Grimwade has directed a story that moves along well and at no point was I bored during the course of this episode which wasn’t the case at all during the previous four episodes.

(561) Four to Doomsday - Part 4

So there is a small possibility that there would be something in this episode that elevated it above the previous three and then I remembered that there is one moment that is usually used when talking about Peter Davison’s time on the show and that is the moment when he plays cricket outside of the ship. I forgot to write in the previous review and say that it got 6.88 which is the first time that an episode got under the sevens since part three of ‘The Horns of Nimon’. One reason why I was worried that this episode would get another under seven score when the dancing returns because as I may have mentioned before, I don’t really like the dancing because it doesn’t really add anything to the story.

I did notice in the early stages that the tempo was very low and there didn’t feel like an urgency which was odd considering that this was the final episode. Tegan also spends most of the episode in the TARDIS so it seemed like this was her episode to do very little. The episode seems to be building up to the great moment where the Doctor is trying to get to the TARDIS and is cast adrift and uses a cricket ball to give him momentum to get to the TARDIS. Now obviously, scientifically speaking this nonsense but as a piece of entertainment its great because it just looks awesome. On an effects level it was very good because it still looks good compared to todays standards.

The final few minutes of the episode are quite good and I like how the Doctor shows a more aggressive side when he throws the virus at Monarch which leads him to shrink and thus ends his plans. It does happen literally without about a minute left to go and then they board the TARDIS. It’s a shame that this happened towards the end of the final episode instead of the first episode. If this had been the case then I would have been a bit more positive towards the story and also Terence Dudley. As it stands I think that this story has been utterly disappointing and I would be surprised if this story isn’t the weakest story of the season. Another plus point (lets end on a positive note), is that the cliffhanger with Nyssa fainting for no reason. Kinda is up next and that will be an interesting experience.

(560) Four to Doomsday - Part 3

So this story is one that is never going to rank highly in my Doctor Who ratings but at least this story is consistent, consistently bad but at least it was consistent. The problems with this episode continue from the previous episodes and that there is a lot of talking and stuff happening but I would be at a loss to explain what I thought happened. What I would say about this episode is that there was one thing that I did actually like. You might want to have a sit down for a moment but there was something more substantial that the cliffhanger to write about.

The thing that was a positive for this episode was the development of Adric. He does seem to be back to the Adric that we saw in ‘State of Decay’ because he’s quite conniving and not a team player. I thought that this was something that worked well in the favour of adding some conflict between the four regulars. Unfortunately, Nyssa is the one that’s given the short straw in this serial and suffers the fate of being put under. She only becomes useful towards the end asking the Doctor for his sonic screwdriver and a pencil.

The purpose of what Monarch was doing is explained but to be honest I was so distracted from the story that I neither understand nor care really about what was going on. The thing about Monarch is that he likes to act like the big man but the moment that he is questioned by Enlightenment and Persuasion then he throws a bit of a hissy fit. That’s slightly frustrating although I would say that the visual of the three of them in the chamber is quite good and that’s the only reason for having those scenes in it.

It’s another poor episode and the sooner that I finish watching the next episode the better so I can get on with some better stories. The commentaries of the Peter Davison DVD’s are fantastic if you get the chance to listen to them because they rip these stories to shred (some warrant it more than others) and I was so bored with this story that I was tempted for a while to actually listen to that instead.

(559) Four to Doomsday - Part 2

So its clear that this story isn’t going to improve in my opinion and the problems with this story are even more evident in this episode. I think that Terence Dudley has not really grasped what makes a Doctor Who story because he has written a story that manages to fill the entire running time and yet only have one 10 second moment which has something interesting in it. The problem would normally be that the writer doesn’t know what the new Doctor is going to be like but on this occasion Terrence Dudley has totally missed the mark.

First thing that comes to mind about just how wrong he got it came with the dances. Now its not just one brief moment of dancing but there are several minutes of this and the Doctor and Adric are watching them. It’s nice to know that there isn’t any great rush to sort things out. The other problem is that in between these pointless but visually nice moments, there is a mystery about the ship that isn’t given nearly enough screen time.

The mystery about what the title actually means is something that doesn’t really get resolved. It was mentioned in the reprise that they are four days left before they get to earth. No real detail is given as to what will happen when they get to earth but the word doomsday in the title could have done with a bit of explanation instead of one of the dances.

The only time there is anything interesting is when Bigon reveals that he is infact an android but sadly this comes so late in the episode that I had lost any real excitement about it but I will say that this was a much better cliffhanger than the first one. This is one of those short reviews because so little happened that I just cant be bothered to write anything else so that’s that for today.

 

(558) Four to Doomsday - Part 1

Four To Doomsday was actually the first story that Peter Davison recorded as the Doctor and it was written by Terence Dudley who becomes the 50^th credited writer of Doctor Who and becomes the first person to be credited as a writer and a director. On this occasion I have to say that this story has never been one of my favourites and I am afraid that on the basis I can’t say that the opinion is going to change. I don’t think the reason is because it was Peter Davison’s first story but because the story isn’t very interesting.

The problem ultimately with the episode is that very little happens. The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan & Adric arrive and spend a while having a look around before coming across the Monarch and his associates who call themselves Enlightenment and Persuasion. They looked quite good as a creation and I thought that Stratford John is a good piece of casting. Sadly they don’t look the same for long as after a drawing from Tegan Enlightenment and Persuasion become a bloke and a woman. This revelation comes forms a cliffhanger. I can’t say that this was a particularly good cliffhanger because if I were watching in 1982 then I wouldn’t say that there would be much of an incentive to watch the next episode.

Whilst I cant say anything positive about the story I can at least say something good about the TARDIS crew. They seem rather friendly with each other considering that in later stories they don’t seem quite the cohesive unit in future stories. This episode starts the season running gag about Tegan trying to get back to Heathrow in 1981 begins here. Considering that she outlasts both Adric and Nyssa, its weird to see her fretting about getting back. Even though she’s told repeatedly that she could get back just moments after leaving in Logopolis, she still keeps banging on about wanting to get back. I get the feeling that this is going to be a problem during the course of this season. As for Adric and Nyssa, they don’t have much to do in this episode. Peter Davison seems to be having fun in this episode and its perhaps no surprise considering this was really his first episode as the Doctor.

As I mentioned this was a bit of a disappointing episode and the next three episodes are going to be a bit of a tough watch. Maybe there is something that is going to pop out and show me I am wrong. I meant Burt Kwouk is in this story so that must mean something.