(685) Battlefield - Part 4

It’s with a certain amount of sadness that I watch today’s episode because it’s the last time that we see Nicholas Courtney in Doctor Who. It’s his 107^th episode and the original plan was to kill him off and I am glad that they didn’t because it would have totally killed the vibe of the story. This is the episode where the Doctor finally gives up the idea that he’s Merlin although he does do a cheeky in-joke note from himself.

Mordred uses the end my life line which is what the Doctor used in The Happiness Patrol. It seems to carry more wait when its directed towards the Doctor because we all know that he wouldn’t do it even if he had to. Morgaine’s willingness to see let Mordred be killed was a great thing for the character to do. It just made her seem more like a loathsome person but there is always something that reminds me that its Jean Marsh so I do find her loathsome at all.

There’s a great moment where Lethbridge-Stewart knocks the Doctor out to destroy the destroyer. It’s a nice little moment because it means he gets to be the military hero. The moment where the Doctor thinks that Lethbridge-Stewart is dead is a lovely moment before Lethbridge-Stewart reveals he is ok. There is something quite impressive about Lethbridge-Stewart being the one that destroys the destroyer.

The big finale scene comes with the Doctor stopping the nuclear bomb from being set off. It leads to a great scene which allows Sylvester McCoy and Jean Marsh to shine and fight over an umbrella. It’s another example as to why McCoy is an underrated Doctor. The Doctor talks Morgaine into stopping the nuclear bomb from being detonated. Morgaine reaction when she learns that Merlin is dead is superb and Marsh makes us feel sorry for her.

The final scene set at Lethbridge-Stewart’s house is a lovely one. Doris goes out ‘with the girls’ as she, Ace, Bambera and Shou Yuing go off in Bessie. It’s a men doing the house work and the women having fun thing which is quite amusing. This has been a rather entertaining episode and it’s memorable because of several outstanding performances. This is the first story for quite sometime that has gone up in my estimation. It’s still not a classic by any means but I think that it’s a stronger start to the twenty-sixth season that I thought.

On a separate note. The character of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has been on our screens for close to thirty years. He is arguably one of the greatest character (apart from the Doctor of course) in the shows history. He has been an ally of the Doctor whilst keeping a militaristic point of view. It’s impossible to say that the character wouldn’t have lasted as long if it had been played by another actor but I don’t think that anyone else would have bought the charm to the role. It would have been nice to see Lethbridge-Stewart in New Who.

(684) Battlefield - Part 3

This is the episode where I think that it makes slightly more sense. I don’t quite know why but it felt more like a Doctor Who story than a Merlin story. It might have something to do with the fact there is less stuff about Merlin in it than normal. The beginning of this episode see the infamous moment with Sophie Aldred. It occurs when the glass cracks under the pressure of the water and as she is ‘ejected’ from the pod she is in fact being pulled out by members of the crew. It’s a rather worrying thought about what could have happened had Sylvester McCoy not told the crew to pull her out.

The sight of Ace coming out of the water with the sword is something that Aaronovitch must have thought of from the very beginning. It must have been quite hard to resist the temptation of having the Doctor appear with the sword. The first good thing that happens in this episode is how the snake thing is dealt with. I like that its Lethbridge-Stewart that saves the Doctor which isn’t the first time that’s happened. The first meeting of the two Brigadier’s is rather amusing though Bambera is the more active one. I suppose as she is the younger of the two, then it would make sense for her to be the one doing the shooting. Her comedy double act with Ancelyn is still quite amusing.

Morgaine does a wonderful job of being the strong threat that she is. I still think that Jean Marsh is fantastic. Firstly she stops a bullet and then grinds it into dust before killing Lavel and then resorting Elizabeth’s sight which is sending mixed signals in my opinion. If you want to come across as menacing then restoring someone’s sight isn’t the best thing to do. I think that the character Lavel was poorly served in this episode, she was quite good in the scenes with Lethbridge-Stewart so it seemed rather sad that she suffered such a disappointing death.

This episode marks the return of Bessie although I don’t think that this story really merited this. They even went to the trouble of changing the licence plate to WHO 7.

The best scene comes when the Doctor storms in between Ancelyn and Mordred. I don’t think that I have seen Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor be like this before. He has got close but never like this. It’s a great moment for McCoy. Despite nearly being killed, Sophie Aldred does a good job in this episode despite being asked to stand inside a chalk circle. I could still see Shou Yuing as a companion and that’s mainly due to her interaction with Ace.

The Destroyer is a very impressive creation. The mask is one of the finest that I can remember seeing in the show. I liked that we didn’t see it properly until the end because at first all we see is the silhouette and so the build up to what it looks like is done well. The revelation is a good cliffhanger and I am slowly starting to like this story much more than I use to.

(683) Battlefield - Part 2

After appearing to not get that he was Merlin in the previous episode, he is acting like its true in an attempt to fool Mordred. Later on there is an inscription in the ground which the Doctor says he put there. This is more implication that he has a secret identity. I don’t know whether I completely buy the whole idea that the Doctor could be Merlin. This is probably what is going to stop me from totally embracing the story. But as was shown in Remembrance of the Daleks, Ben Aaronovitch can write a good story so there is going to be enough on screen to maintain my interest.

Something that stood out from this episode is that it doesn’t waste anytime in getting going. It starts quickly and doesn’t really stop until the very end of the episode. Another thing that stood out to me is the humour that I don’t remember noticing in the past. There is a nice bit of comedy coming from Bambera and Ancelyn. This seems like Aaronvitch’s nod to Robert Holmes because this is an amusing double act.

Lethbridge-Stewart starts the episode in the helicopter and makes the oh so hilarious joke asking the pilot whether Bambera is a good chap. Lethbridge-Stewart does start the episode appearing to be an old fossil which isn’t how the Brigadier should be portrayed. Ok so I don’t expect him to be like he was during the Pertwee era but he should have been written better than this. I didn’t mention in yesterdays entry that it had been 80 episodes since Nicholas Courtney had last appeared in Doctor Who. After the helicopter has crashed, Lethbridge-Stewart encounters Morgaine and that is about all that he does in the episode. Morgaine (Jean Marsh) gets to become involved in the story and one of the first things she does is to shoot down Lethbridge-Stewart’s helicopter. She might not appear to be a nice person but there is one scene where she has a go at Mordred for dishonouring people. I found it amusing where Jean Marsh and Nicholas Courtney face each other because of course they played brother and sister in The Daleks Master Plan.

The Doctor and Ace find themselves underground and the sets used are very impressive because the lighting is rather low. They walk into a room where Arthur from another dimension and Ace pulls the sword out (sigh). This leads a weird snake like thing following them around the room. This story is somewhat infamous because of one scene where there is an accident that happens at the end of the episode where Ace walks into a tank and it is filling up with water (more on the accident in the next episode) but as a cliffhanger its rather good because there is no clear way of Ace being rescued because the Doctor is knocked out. I have commented on how I don’t like it when the regulars are put in peril because they are always going to be ok in the next episode but I think that this is a rather good cliffhanger and if I were watching in 1989 then I would have definelty tuned in for the next episode.

This has been a strong episode with the best thing being that Jean Marsh and Nicholas Courtney get into the story and more screentime. There are still things that I like about this story but I still think that things won’t go well for much longer. That pessimism isn’t a great as it was at the end of the previous review but it’s still there. As for ratings, this story is currently the fourth best McCoy story.

 

(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

(675) Silver Nemesis - Part 1

It would seem logical that in the silver anniversary of Doctor Who that the silver monsters would be used at some point. The last time that they made an appearance was back in season twenty-two in what I thought was the best Cyberman story if not one of the best. They made their last appearance nearly 50 episodes ago and boy has the showed changed in that time. There is a new Doctor, a new companion and a new attitude to the show. This episode aired on the 23^rd of November 1988 so it was effectively the anniversary story.

This is another story directed by Chris Clough and I make this his 6^th story out of the last nine stories to appear on TV. Not that it’s a bad thing because he has always directed the stories with a good amount of pace to them.

The story is that people are after the silver nemesis which is going to land (conveniently) on November 23^rd 1988. There are three villains after it, the first we see is De Flores (played by Anton Diffring). He is leader of a bunch of Neo-Nazi nutters. To be blunt, their involvement in the story is the one that I like the least because it do anything to the story. They rely on others doing all the dirty work for them. I like Diffring because he seems like a good actor but apart from that it’s a bit of a duff part of the puzzle.

Lady Peinforte (Fiona Walker) in 1638. She is quite a good villain and she’s good because of the way that she talks and also the way she moves. An odd thing to say I know but movement can lend a lot to a performance. I do find the moment when she and Richard suddenly appear in a tea room in 1988. Richard spends the entire episode afterwards being spooked by what he sees as Peinforte is taking everything in her stride. It’s good to see a female character that is a villain but not relying on men. She is using Richard as someone to act as a slave and it’s a refreshing change.

The Doctor and Ace don’t appear until we are in the fifth minute of the episode. There is a nice bit of build up so that when they appear. They do an awful lot of travelling in this episode. I think that they do more travelling in this episode than in the last season and a half.

Courtney Pine is the big name in the episode but to be honest I have never heard of him so if it is another piece of stunt casting then it doesn’t bother me. It was a nice little scene and its nice to have this sort of music in a 1980’s Doctor Who. It’s a refreshing change from the techno stuff that has been rife in the show.

The whole bit about filming at Windsor Castle does seem to be a little bit of an unnecessary narrative. Somebody is pretending to be the Queen for reasons that I don’t understand (apart from the fact that it’s one of her homes) but I just think that it’s silly. Apart from that there wasn’t very much in the episode that didn’t work. I like the nod to the very beginning of the show with the casting of Leslie French as the Mathematician who is killed early on. He turned down the role of the Doctor in 1963. I don’t know whether he regretted this.

The different villains isn’t a problem which is something that interests me because in a normal adventure this would be a problem. I don’t think that its due to this being the anniversary story but Kevin Clarke has done a good job of keeping the whole thing going along. The cliffhanger is nice because the very last shot is of a Cyberman standing in the middle of the screen. It’s a shame that they don’t appear until the end of the episode but its hard to argue that their return wasn’t dramatic.

(674) The Happiness Patrol - Part 3

The Happiness Patrol is a story is best described as average. It has some quite interesting political messages in these three episodes it is always forgotten because of the Kandy Man. It’s annoying that after all the good work done in Remembrance of the Daleks, that its that stupid Kandy Man creature that undermines it. This wouldn’t be so bad but it’s a monster that is put out of action by lemonade and a hot poker. No one takes it seriously and as a result I don’t take it seriously. The main threat from these three episode has always been Helen A and that is where the story is rescued.

The Fifi puppet looks quite good in this episode. It’s mobility is impressive given that it appears very little money was spent elsewhere. I know I was a bit critical in previous episodes but it suddenly made sense in this episode. It’s death was something that was going to have more of an effect on Helen A than on the viewer.

Helen A tries to leave in the shuttle but Gilbert M has beaten her to it. She doesn’t do much in the first half of the episode but Sheila Hancock shows us why she’s a great actress in the latter half of the episode. Helen A’s attempt to justify what she had done to the Doctor was a nice scene but it came way too late in the episode. It’s hard to not find something nice in Helen A’s desire to find somewhere that is happy all the time. Her sadness at the death of Fifi’s perhaps the nice way to end her time in the episode and it is perhaps the most that she deserves after what she has been doing.

The Doctor singing is something rather amusing. This is something that works well in this episode but I think that had this happened in the twenty-fourth season then I would be saying that it just adds to the problem but the idea that singing and music is helping in the uprising. Not one bullet was fired but the Doctor was still able to make change happen.

I remember a few years ago this story being part of a news feature on Newsnight about this story and its political satire. Watching this story hasn’t been a happy experience but it wasn’t as bad as I have thought of it in the past. I am not sorry that this story is over but I think that I have been harsher on this than I should have been. Still not convinced on the Kandy Man design though.

 

(673) The Happiness Patrol - Part 2

This is Sylvester McCoy’s 20^th episode as Doctor. The last three weeks have gone fairly quickly and there isn’t much time left in the McCoy era. This story continues its political stance and I think that its up to the viewer to decide how subtle it actually it. I hadn’t twigged this until watching this episode but the patrol the second group in the past two seasons of the show that have featured all women in a group.

The Kandy Man is temporarily stopped by the Kandy Man walking into some spilt lemonade. This is quite a creative way of escaping. Even though it’s a clever way of escaping it does show how rubbish the Kandy Man is and how he can’t really be seen as a visible threat.

The pipe people are introduced into this episode and as a design they look quite good. They are all played by kids and they fall over a couple of times which shows that is something that is rather unfortunate but the low lighting does mean that the

Fifi is an interesting creation but doesn’t really belong in the rest of the story yet its allowed to take some screen time in one of the endless pipe scenes. It’s good when Helen A is treating it like most people would treat a family pet but outside of Helen A scenes its just rather irrelevant.

The best scene comes quite late in the episode where the Doctor is talking to two people are basically snipers and he tries to goad one of them into killing him and yet the person with the gun cant go through with it. So the one without the gun is the one with the power and the gun is meaningless. Any doubts that people may have still had (even after Remembrance of the Daleks) should well and truly have disappeared after this scene. I always knew that this was the case but this scene is a great example of this.

John Norrington is the supporting star of the episode as he manages to deliver a superb performance with a character that is a stickler for bureaucracy. When I see him, I still think of his performance in The Caves of Androzani and even though this is a totally different character, its another example of how good an actor he is.

The episode ends with the Doctor looking at a poster of Ace who is about to enter a show. Next to that poster is another one with the letters RIP written on it (in pink paint obviously). It isn’t the greatest cliffhanger but I think that it’s been a disappointing episode really. Despite their being some sparks in this episode, it is a rather forgettable one with performances that are left to wander around with no real sense of urgency. Considering that there are only three episodes in this story I would have thought there would have been a greater sense of urgency.

(672) The Happiness Patrol - Part 1

The second story of the silver anniversary series continues with The Happiness Patrol which has to have the most ironic title in Doctor Who history. I think that this story is the first proper story that deals with a darker tone. Sadly this is one of those stories that is purely studio bound. I think that we were somewhat spoilt in the previous story. Terror Alpha is a place where being unhappy is a crime. Anyone who is unhappy is referred to as a Killjoy. At the very beginning of the episode someone is rumbled as a killjoy. I liked this opening as it pretty much told you everything that you needed to know about the current setting for this story.

The TARDIS gets painted pink for some reason. Pink is a colour scheme in this serial as everything from sets to costumes has something pink about them. The titular Happiness Patrol are basically the police force used to enforce happiness but I don’t think that they look right because their design is very 1980’s. Included in the patrol is Lesley Dunlop who can currently be seen in Emmerdale.

I like how there is a purpose for why the Doctor and Ace have arrived on Terror Alpha. Sometimes it’s good that the Doctor has planned something from the very beginning instead of stumbling across it. I would have liked to know how long in the past that the Doctor heard something about this planet. The Doctor and Ace spend several minutes trying to get arrested which is quite funny because in any other story this wouldn’t be a problem. The subtle humour that takes place in this episode is quite good and something that is written in well by Graeme Curry.

Sheila Hancock plays Helen A who is clearly as play on Margaret Thatcher who was nearing her time in office. There is an unnerving vibe from her performance and it’s one of the main things that I am liking about this story. It’s easy to see the parallels between Helen A and Margaret T. She doesn’t raise her voice but reigns with terror with the words that she uses.

Despite being rather impressed with several parts of this episode there is an elephant in the room. The big issue is with the serial is that of the Kandy man which looks a lot like Bertie Bassett. I seriously don’t believe that no one clocked onto the similarity. But the problems aren’t just with the look of the Kandy Man but also the voice. I don’t quite know what would have worked to make this monster work but the voice used just confounds the problem. The cliffhanger is slightly disappointing but does end with the Doctor trying to smile (in terror) but failing. That is more of the subtle/black comedy breaking through.

It’s not been a really strong episode but I think that the tone is just right and I don’t think that I am going to dread this serial as much as I thought that I would but compared to the previous story, this does lack some of the drama and more important sunlight.

 

(671) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 4

The episode really gets going from the very beginning with the Imperial Daleks leaving the shuttlecraft. I won’t go on about the fact that the size doesn’t look big enough to house everything that’s in it. After waiting for what has felt like an eternity we get some Dalek vs Dalek fighting. The first big scene between the two Dalek factions is fantastic and I love everything about it. One of the Imperial Daleks is destroyed in another huge explosion. That was until the Special Weapons Dalek appears and blow a Renegade Dalek up. I love the idea of a Special Weapons Dalek and this that this isn’t something that Terry Nation would have come up with.

There is a huge explosion at the base of the Renegade Daleks which is one of my favourite explosions in Doctor Who. I don’t know if you have a top 5 explosions in Doctor Who list but I sort of do and this one would go in at number one. I have gone on for most of these episodes about the explosions but it really does seem like a lot of effort when into making these explosions as big as possible after two and a half decades of rather limp bangs that its nice to have something to be wowed by.

The death of Ratcliffe does seem a bit of a shame really as he’s struck down by the girl. The death which is slightly more effective is that of Mike’s. His death seemed inevitable from the very beginning but he too is killed by the girl but it’s a far more violent and effective death. The girl is quite good in this episode and manages to rack up quite the body count. It is perhaps the wisest thing that she doesn’t die but stops being under the Dalek’s control.

The Doctor has his big scene with the Emperor/Davros in the basement. It’s quite unusual that the Doctor and Davros wouldn’t be in the same room but its because of Terry Molloy and Sylvester McCoy that this works as well as it does. McCoy shows us again why his Doctor is underrated as a Doctor in my humble opinion. Sophie Aldred really does go through all the emotions in this episode because she starts off quite loved up with Mike and then goes back to her normal self before being quite sad at the end.

Davros makes his return after last appearing in Revelation of the Daleks. In that story he had his hand blown off and so now all that appears is his head. Davros wants the hand of omega to transform Skaro’s sun into a source of power and over power Gallifrey. His appearance doesn’t come until the midway point of the episode. It’s short but sweet, he is tricked into using the hand of omega by the Doctor. Once he realises that the hand of omega is heading back to his ship he manages to live another day. It would be twenty years before Davros would appear in Doctor Who or mid-June in my marathon.

What the Doctor has done is effectively commit genocide and that is something that would have earned a trial two years before. It’s fair to say that this story doesn’t have the happiest of endings as pretty much everyone is dead and the final scene takes place during a funeral. No one can accuse the show at this time of being comedic.  

As a story, this has been rated as the best Dalek story ever and at the moment it’s the third best story ever and only the third story to ever get in the 8’s. Only Inside the Spaceship and The Deadly Assassin have managed this. It has been a wonderful adventure and its remarkable how my faith has been restored in the Seventh Doctor in just four episodes. This is the final appearance of the Daleks in the classic era. They have undeniably been a fantastic aspect of the show and a reason why the show is still going on in 2015. If the show hadn’t come back in 2005 then no monster could have asked for a better story than this one. It is perhaps the last good Dalek story but maybe time will tell.

(670) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 3

The penultimate episode of this story and this is one of those episode just gets better as the story progresses. The way that Ace was saved was perhaps not the strongest but after the previous episode’s start it was always going to be less dramatic. The effects used in the machine that the Doctor used on the Daleks doesn’t look very good and is the only thing that lets this early scene down. The action starts up quite quickly in this episode when the Doctor being strangled by a claw was a great moment and one that made me jump when I first saw it.

The Daleks conflict is given more credibility I think when we get a little explanation from the Doctor (to Ace) about why the hand of omega is so important. There is a bit of development from the Imperial side when we get to visit the Imperial Dalek’s spaceship we get to see the Emperor Dalek which was first seen in Evil of the Daleks although I use the word seen in its loosest sense. The set doesn’t seem quite big. I don’t know how they move around which is probably why I don’t think we do. I want to the Imperials to win just because of their colour scheme. I know that’s not the best reason but I like it a lot.

The girl from episode one makes another appearance in this episode appearing in the graveyard and again does a lot without doing very much. I am surprised with how effective a little girl can be. I do think that credibility is stretched a bit when it’s revealed that the little girl has been in the battle computer and Ratcliffe hadn’t noticed.  The fight between the two factions hasn’t happened really so far and they have kept out of each other’s way without firing a shot. Quite how this has happened I don’t know but it has. I love how Ratcliffe starts to learn the truth about his actions. He thinks that he is going to be in charge and he is sound bought down to earth with a bump.

The sight of Daleks gliding (or wobbling in some cases) through the streets of London is something that has surprisingly been lacking in previous Dalek stories and so it’s quite an effective sight, but there is one bit where a Dalek is coming to the camera and it looks like the top half is going to come off which is a bit unfortunate.  

Mike’s truth is revealed towards the end of the episode. I think that they had waited until the right moment to use this in the story. Ace’s reaction is what makes this work quite well as she had had a crush on him from the very beginning.

The cliffhanger is another great one with a proper size shuttlecraft landing in the playground. It wasn’t a dodgy CGI effect or model but an actual 100% real prop and that is what makes the arrival so good. The Doctor’s reaction is quite funny and it seems like this episode ended way too quickly. It’s been another superb episode and it is perhaps one of the best Dalek stories for quite sometime. In fact I would so far as to say that it might be the best one since Genesis of the Daleks.

(669) Remembrance of the Daleks - Part 2

I said yesterday that this story has a special place in my heart and todays episode is the one that started it all for me. I have a fuzzy memory of my early years but around the time that this story was on TV I was living in Doncaster and for reasons that I will never know, we ended up watching episode two of Remembrance of the Daleks at school. I loved it and because the school I attended was similar to the one in the story, I immediately went out into the playground and pretended there were Daleks everywhere.

Never in all the time that I have been doing this marathon have I enjoyed watching a cliffhanger replay so much. It still works superbly and how its solved is quite good because Ace recovers enough to attack the head teacher. The subsequent explosion of the basement door is another of the superb explosions.

The scene where the Doctor and Ace destroy the Dalek from the basement is a great scene as its short and intense. We go from a busy scene like that to a lovely quite slow scene with the Doctor and the new person running the café played Joseph Marcell. Marcell would go on to play the butler in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The discussion between them takes on a rather racial and philosophical tone which isn’t something that you would expect from Doctor Who.

Gilmore is a very good blueprint of the Brigadier. He’s reluctant to believe the Doctor because he doesn’t understand what’s going on and is willing to let military intelligence to do all the talking. This approach doesn’t come across as annoying because its balanced with Rachel and Alison who are more ready to believe (but just as confused).

The Doctor encounters the Hand of Omega and there is another nice scene where the Doctor goes to the undertaker and he is talking to a guy on the phone (the governor) who talks about the Doctor being “an old guy with white hair” a reference to William Hartnell. The effect of the Hand of Omega moving is very good and does still up a bit.

Michael Sheard is very good in this episode although he meets a rather sad ending when he gets into a scrap with Mike and is seemingly killed by the Daleks and his final resting place is in the cemetery. Peter Halliday is another old face that returns playing a blind vicar. It’s a brief role but one that is quite nice and I am reminded of all the previous appearances that he has made in the show.

There is a great scene where Ace is turning on a TV and whilst waiting for it to warm up. While she’s waiting for it to warm up there is a “No Coloureds” sign in the window which is an extraordinary thing to appear in Doctor Who because race had never really be a subject matter in the show before and this is another sign that the show is trying to come across as current by acknowledging these sort of issues.

There is a little joke when the TV warms up and the TV announcer introduces a new show called “Do” which is supposed to be Doctor Who but obviously doesn’t. I think that this is a joke that the story gets away with because there isn’t time to really think about it because the next scene does a great job in getting my attention.

Ace has decided to go back to the school to pick up her tapedeck (long before Ipods and MP3 players were invented) and this introduces a whole world of trouble for her. There is one shot where a Dalek appears round a corner and appears at the bottom of the stairs. Another great shot is the one where Ace batters a Dalek with a baseball bat. It is followed by her jumping through windows. It’s nice that Ace gets the cliffhanger this time as she is being approached by three Daleks who shout ‘Exterminate’ but don’t do it. It’s been another outstanding episode with some great performances and some wonderful directing. Bring on the next episode.

Before I finish for today, I never mentioned the colour scheme of the Daleks. I love the gold and white scheme and wished that it would be used from now on. Compared to the grey and black of the Dalek we saw in the previous episode, the new livery looks like breath of fresh air.

(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.

(661) Paradise Towers - Part 4

The final episode of this story again starts off with that stupid shot of the tower. I do wonder why they went to the trouble of setting this on another planet because it could easily have been set on earth in the future. To be honest that is just a minor problem with a story that starts off slightly frustrating before becoming more frustrating and that frustration receding a bit in this episode.

I had forgotten that Richard Briers isn’t killed by because he becomes the body for the monster. I didn’t think I would like the new Chief Caretaker would be any fun but after a while I sort of got use to it. I think that it was a mistake for this to happen but writer Stephen Wyatt has admitted that this is one of the things wrong with it. The performance that Richard Briers gives is something that I have enjoyed but in this episode he sort of goes into zombie mode and that is disappointing. It’s not often that someone of Briers’ calibre comes into Doctor Who but he did very well and was the best thing about this serial.

Mel seems to have forgotten about the troubles because she starts the episode by taking a swim and within seconds is attacked by a yellow thing and also has the double misfortune of being stuck with Pex. Despite this being the episode where Pex shows us he is a hero and even when he has given his life pushing the Chief Caretaker to the explosives. To be honest I just wasn’t fussed about the loss of the character.

A good portion of the episode takes place in the pool. The Rezzies (Maddy), The Red and Blue Kangs, Pex, Mel and The Doctor have a good scene where they all seem to join forces to fight the Chief Caretaker. This is the first time that people have worked together to try and defeat someone. It feels like a plan is forming and its actually building up to something. There have been several groups yet there has been no real connection between them. Also I found the introduction of the Rezzies in the pool scene to be rather ill thought out because there must be more than three rezzies in Paradise Towers.

I am really glad that I this serial is over. Admittedly this episode is by far the serial so far but to be honest its too little too late. There was pace, there was some drama and more importantly there was something to like. Watching one of the documentaries on the DVD, writer Stephen Wyatt revealed that he wrote the final three episodes in two weeks which shows in episodes two and three but the necessity to tie things up means that we don’t have people meandering around. Paradise Towers will be remembered for wasted opportunities and just want to move on.

(660) Paradise Towers - Part 3

Today is the 660^th episode of Doctor Who. 60 episodes ago I was watching The first episode of the Kings Demons, it’s surprising just how much a decline there has been in quality of stories. There is a distinct lack of energy in this episode than in the Kings Demons. I regularly visit the Den of Geek website which looks at a report from 1988 which gave Bonnie Langford an appreciation index score of just 34 (out of 100). Whilst I think that the character has taken a step backwards in the last few episodes but I think that she deserves a better score than 34. The willingness in which she decides to stay with Tilda and Tabby is probably part of the reason why 56% of people surveyed in the 1988 survey say that they wished that Mel had been eaten in this story.

I do like how Tilda and Tabby do the menacing thing quite well. Tabby is killed by whatever came up in the waste disposal chute although I do find it slightly implausible that she ca be pulled through in. Tilda is slightly more plausible. It’s amusing that Pex tries to make it seem like he saved Mel when in effect he had very little to do with it. Mel finally makes it to the top floor with Pex and it’s the nicest thing in the entire Tower.

The two standout supporting performances came from Judy Cornwell (Maddy) and Richard Briers (Chief Caretaker). They get a nice scene together where the Chief Caretaker bribes Maddy with Tilda and Tabby’s flat in exchange for remaining quiet. The performance that Cornwell gives is very similar to what she would play in Keeping up Appearances. Briers’ performance is brilliant from start to finish although his demise is somewhat disappointing. He was one of the best things in this story. I suppose that it’s a good thing that there is just one episode left.

I think that this episode was the first time since Sylvester McCoy became the Doctor that we saw the Doctor as most people remember his Doctor to be and like. There is a distaste for what is going on in Paradise Towers. It seems that McCoy is starting to get to grips with his role and what he wants to achieve with it. Even Bonnie Langford seems to be better in this episode although I do think some of this is sympathy because she is stuck with Pex.

It’s been a more watchable episode but I will still be glad when this serial is over with. It just hasn’t lived up to any of the potential. I still don’t like the shot of the tower at the beginning of the episode and think that they made a mistake getting rid of the Chief Caretaker but the worst thing apart from that about this episode is that it just isn’t connecting with me.

(659) Paradise Towers - Part 2

I think that any goodwill that I had with this serial has well and truly gone. My heart started to sink when the first thing that is shown is a picture of what Paradise Towers is suppose to look like. The inside definelty looks better than the outside. The Doctor is about to be killed by the Chief Caretaker but as luck would have it the Doctor is spared whilst the Chief goes somewhere else. There is a funny scene with the Doctor and the Deputy Caretaker. The Doctor uses his intelligence to outsmart him and the other guard. This is one of the few enjoyable moments in the entire serial.

The incidental music is rather good. This was apparently a last minute addition from Keff McCulloch as a previous contribution proved unpopular with JNT. I haven’t been a fan of McCulloch’s contribution in the past but the theme tune and the music in this episode have made me change my mind.

As well as Tabby and Tilda, we are introduced to Maddy who is played by Judy Cornwell. I know Cornwell from playing Rose in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. They are happier to see Mel return and I thought that this was slightly annoying because Mel has spent a long time running around trying to find the Doctor and just missing him. The backwards trend that the character is taking continues to frustrate me.

The Chief Caretaker seems to be working for a monster that has neon lights for eyes. It’s very much a 1980’s idea and one that doesn’t work. I think that they would have been better to not show him at all and just have the voice. Sometimes less is more.

Pex starts off the idea that he is an annoying prat but we learn that he is a bit of a scardey cat which makes sense. No one likes Pex and so I really cant understand why we are suppose to find him interesting or feel sorry for him when the Kang’s start to pick on him. I think if she had the chance, Mel would try and get rid of him. I think sitting with Tabby and Tilda would be preferable to spending time with Pex.

The cliffhanger is rather disappointing. It’s not just because its Mel but because I don’t feel like there is any danger or tension in the cliffhanger. It’s been an episode with lots of potential but sadly it is wasted. For a moment I thought that I was further in the story than I actually was and so was disappointed when I realised that I still had two more episodes left to endure. I am sure that at some point there will be something in this season that shows me that I was wrong about my original ideas about the twenty-fourth season.

(658) Paradise Towers - Part 1

Paradise Towers is a story that like most in this season isn’t one that I rate very highly. I don’t know why and hope that watching this serial over four days might shed some light on it. The Doctor and Mel are on their way to Paradise Towers which seems to be a lovely place to go but we get to see that it’s not as nice as they think. What I find amusing about the state that they find it in is that you have Mel as a perky bubbly person and yet finds herself in such a dump.

The Kangs are really annoying. The Red Kangs are the first group that we meet and the noticeable thing is that they are all women which isn’t something that has been seen in the show before. There is a bit of dancing that wouldn’t have come straight from Adam Ant’s Prince Charming music video if I didn’t know better. Another thing that doesn’t look quite so well is the cleaner which doesn’t seem to be interested in cleaning the tower block up but more interested in killing people and disposing of their bodies. Pex is introduced quite late in this episode and seems to be a sort of Rambo style character but unfortunately Howard Cooke who plays Pex is nothing like Sylvester Stallone and so I don’t believe that he is a tough guy. Even Mel isn’t impressed with him. It’s slightly disappointing the way that the role of Mel has been devalued in the past five episodes. She was quite inquisitive with Colin Baker’s Doctor and yet seems to have taken several steps back.

There are things that I think did work well in this episode. Firstly there is the idea that there is a tower block that has become a rather unpleasant place because it seemed to mirror the feelings of tower blocks at that time and perhaps even today. Richard Briers is another good thing for this serial because at first we don’t see him but just hear him and the character sounds like rather soulless individual. Briers is perhaps best known for appearing in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975-78) and an appearance in Torchwood. The Chief Caretaker assumes that the Doctor is the Great Architect.

Something that has changed in my opinion is that of Tilda and Tabby who seem like two nice old ladies but have a rather sinister dark side. A first clue is some bones on a table that Tilda tells Tabby to get rid of before Mel comes in. A question is raised when its clear that they are living in a rather nice apartment whereas everything outside of that apartment is horrible. How are they able to live like this and seemingly have a normal life?

As an episode it was a slightly (just) better than I remember it. There are things that are going to bring this story down and there are things that are going to maintain my interest. After being very underwhelmed with the last story, its good to report that things have got better. To be fair they couldn’t get any worse but there is a long way to go before the show can get back to where it was even at the previous series. I mentioned in a previous review that Doctor Who was now up against Coronation Street. The ratings for the first episode of Time and the Rani was 5.1 million whereas Coronation Street got 14 million. Now for this episode it was watched by 4.5 million and the Corrie episode was being watched by 15.5 million so it was clear who was winning this ratings war.