4/11/12
Current Doctor Who story of the day is the Curse of Peladon.
Again, another story I’ve watched before, but again, another story that I not
only love but enjoy considerably more in context. On its own, it’s absolutely
full of layers. One is its mix of science fiction and fantasy, which works
amazingly well. The culture of Peladon is one of the most detailed and in-depth
I’ve seen on the show so far – a planet caught between tradition and progress,
as the planet enters a conference to see if it is ready to join the Galactic
Federation.
Which leads me to another point about why I love this story
– allegory. Within the conference are a number of wildly different and mostly
convincing alien races, each with their own different cultures – including, to
the Doctor’s surprise, the Ice Warriors. It’s a really nice glimpse at how
difficult it can be to have people of such wildly different backgrounds get
along peacefully and without prejudice, especially when one such group doesn’t
have the most trustworthy of backgrounds.
It’s a wonderful aspect to this story that the Doctor has to
deal with such prejudice coming from himself, as he rather naturally remains suspicious of the Ice
Warriors throughout the story. It’s a wonderful twist that, unlike in previous
stories where the Doctor has been suspicious of an enemy behaving nicely, the
Doctor is actually wrong for once. For
the first time in the show’s history, a monster race from a previous story have
turned nice. The Ice Warriors have
moved on, and as such gain a lot more depth.
Something else this serial truly succeeds at is production,
and this is where watching it in context helps me to truly appreciate it. Over
the previous 3 years, all the stories set on an alien world have featured
plenty of exterior shots filmed in a quarry. The Dominators, the Krotons,
Colony in Space – every fucking one in a fucking quarry. Not all the time, there
was plenty of interior scenes, but none of the sets looked half as convincing
of showing a truly alien world as in this story. The exterior shots show a
castle built into a mountain, and the interior sets truly help to sell that,
with a mixture of dark, gloomy tunnels and pseudo-medieval architecture –
altogether, it looks absolutely glorious. On its own, it’s great, but in
context, the words “wonderfully refreshing” are a massive understatement.
There’s also some really good acting on display. Regulars
Pertwee and Manning are wonderful to watch as the Doctor and Jo, with the two’s
relationship having grown into a very close, almost paternal one. David
Troughton (son of Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor) appears here as the
young King Peladon, a man who wants to advance the civilization he rules over
while still feeling bound by tradition. The rather brief relationship he has
with Jo is also nicely handled.
After spending two seasons on Earth and a rather average
story unconvincingly set on an alien planet, The Curse of Peladon is a truly
welcome story. Multi-layered in both story and characters with some excellent
production to boot, this is a perfect example of just how good and completely
convincing a story set on another world can be at its very best. I hope I see
more such stories along the way. 10/10
***
Second story of the day is the Sea Devils. A sequel to
season’s 7 Doctor Who and the Silurians (yes, that’s the actual story title),
this one shares a very similar core idea: namely, that the attacking ‘alien
invaders’ actually aren’t aliens, but the people who ruled the planet before
man did. That was a truly fascinating idea that was fully explored in the
earlier story that was at times very dark, very gritty, with no black-and-white
answers. A truly wonderful and brilliant story, overall. So, the big question
is: can a sequel work?
Well, what we get here is less of a sequel and instead a
rather different take on the idea. This time, the Doctor has to deal with the
aquatic cousins of the creatures in the original story, only this time, the
Doctor has the Master to deal with as well. It’s like having a nice little
balance between the grittiness of the stories in Pertwee’s first season and the
purely fun stories of his second.
First things first: I love the look of the so called “sea
devils” in this story. A little bit rubbery, perhaps, but overall looking very
aquatic. It’s especially effective when it leads to one of the most memorable
moments of the classic series: the image of the sea devils coming out of the
sea, it’s very effective.
The story also provides some pretty cool moments, including
sword fights, hovercraft chases, and of course, the Master being completely
enthralled by children’s tv show the Clangers. (That moment in particular is a
joy to watch.) As for the overall story, while it lacks the ambiguity and
intensity of the original story, this is a pretty fun watch. 8/10
5/11/12
Well, it’s Guy Fawkes Night, which means lots of fireworks
and lots of noise. I’d like to say I’ve got plenty of exciting stuff planned,
but none of that’s really happening until Saturday, when tribute band Too Rex
(you can probably guess what they’re a tribute to if you’re a fan of 70s glam
rock bands) are playing at the local awesome venue. Very excited about that!
Hoping they are good. Love my funky 70s rock, and unlike the time I saw tribute
band Nervana a couple of weeks ago, I should hopefully know most of the songs!
Brilliant!
In other non-Who news, the book that I’m currently trying to
focus on is T2: Infiltrator, which will hopefully wash away any bad memories of
Terminator 3. That’s right: the T2 trilogy is, naturally, an alternative sequel
to the awesome Terminator 2. So far, it seems to be more of a spiritual sequel
than T3, capturing a lot more of the darkness and believeable characters
that I loved the first two films for. I’ll let you know what I think of it as I
go on.
Now, moving back to the whole point of this blog, the Doctor
Who story I’ve been watching today is The Mutants. Now, I read a comment earlier
today about the new series stories lacking depth due to being too short, which,
considering half the stories these days are 2 parters, I did find to be a bit
of an over-generalization. I must admit however that some single ep stories of
the new series could benefit from it, to give a story more depth. On the other
hand, there are some stories from the classic that could benefit from being
considerably shortened. 6 part story The Mutants is one such story. There's
moments of great depth, but mostly it's just padding. Overall, it’s a pretty bland
and forgettable tale. One thing that makes it boring to watch is how generic
the overall production looks, with pretty standard “futuristic” sets and an even
blander alien environment, with just a mixture of a misty quarry and loads of
caves. Maybe it’s because the Curse of Peladon, only two stories before, was so
successful in how it portrayed another world, from the history to its politics
to its very design, and so I ended up caring a lot about Peladon, both the
world and the King, among other characters. With the Mutants, I really don’t
get any sense of rich history that I got in Peladon. I know it’s the decline of
Earth’s Empire and that the planet in the story, Solos, is declaring independence,
but other than that, I didn’t get any sense of depth. That extends to the characters:
the Marshall is a villain because he’s mad, freedom fighter Kylo is pissed off
at how the Overlords (human beings, that is) have treated his people (I get this
sense from him because he does nothing
but complain about it the whole story), and…a whole host of characters that I
simply can’t remember, they're that dull.
I’m gonna stop going about this story, really. I don’t hate it as such, it’s just so incredibly
dull. Definitely the weakest in the season so far, and indeed the whole Pertwee era up to this point. 2/10
6/11/12
Ok, only a few days after I started season 9, and I’m
already on the final story: The Time Monster. Unlike all the others this
season, this is actually the first one I’ve never watched before. The
reputation of this story is that it isn’t exactly a popular one, but I must admit, while it’s
hardly a favourite of mine, I really have enjoyed this a fair bit, especially
after something as dreary as the Mutants. Now, I don’t think it’s as strong as
season 8’s finale the Daemons, but it is full of really nice ideas, including
gods of time, Atlantis, gadgets made out of tea cups and wine corks, people
rapidly turning into old men/young babies, knights on horses appearing out of
nowhere, and both the Doctor and the Master generally being awesome. It seems
to be a story of two halves, which certainly helps the 6 part structure a lot
more than the padded out Mutants, and indeed many other 6 parters, which I’m
generally not a fan of, as the story isn’t usually worth it. In this case
though, the story’s nicely divided between the 20th century Earth,
essentially telling a classic UNIT story, and ancient Atlantis, telling a
pseudo-historical/mythical story, and while the latter half doesn’t look
completely convincing at times, overall it’s not bad.
Speaking of what’s not convincing, the Time Monster himself,
Chronos, who, rather than a god or even a giant bird like creature, is a man in
a very dodgy costume and some dodgy sound effects to go with it. It’s also not
exactly the most compelling plot, but it is rather entertaining, I must admit.
One thing that helps is the high amount of humour and witty
dialogue, ranging from the Doctor and the Master talking about Jo’s coccyx, the
Doctor’s car Bessie’s rather amusing adjustments to her speed capabilities and
the Doctor trying to warn the Brigadier of a sighting he’d had of the Master…in
a dream. This isn’t a script that takes itself too seriously, and overall, it
certainly helps.
One other thing I’ve gotta say about the story: it also has
one of the most fascinating moments I’ve seen in the show so far – the Doctor
talking about a special memory from his childhood, telling everything and
nothing, as the Doctor talks about the blackest day of his life without saying
why it was the “blackest day” of course, just how a hermit made him look at
life differently through a single daisy. It’s a truly beautiful moment to
watch, with Pertwee being absolutely brilliant as we really get a sense of
wonder and mystery from his Doctor telling such a simple story. A wonderful,
wonderful moment really.
Overall, while I’d hardly consider it a classic, it’s a
rather fun bit of fluff that tries to be just a little bit epic. It doesn’t
quite succeed, but it’s an enjoyable romp, nonetheless. 7/10
I actually read a sequel to this, The Quantum Archangel,
which I really enjoyed. Like this story, a fun little romp, but without budget
limitations, a more successful one as it dealt with multiple dimensions and
even more gods on a far grander scale. Neither story is perhaps what Doctor Who
should be all the time, but both were fun, and fun is something I always like
to have in a good Doctor Who story, when possible.
By the way, before I finish for the night, here’s some last
thoughts on season nine. Overall, I’d say it’s a pretty successful season. Yes,
I complained about story the Mutants being far too dull and at least 5 episodes
too many, but all other stories I have had enormous fun watching. And that’s
essentially what this season has been about overall: fun. It doesn’t aim for
the gritty realism of season 7, or an invasion almost every week with 8.
Instead, it aimed for having a rather nice variety of stories: an epic
alternative future with Daleks for an opener, a monster mash on another world,
an alien invasion, only this time from the sea, an adventure in the future with
mutants, and then finally an epic chase across time for a finale. All said, it’s
gotta be admired for the sheer boldness of it all, really, and while one rather
long story didn’t work, the rest of it most certainly did.
There’s also something else I’ve noticed over this season: the
relationship between the Doctor and his companion Jo. This pair has really
grown on me, and despite the fact that Jo can be a bit of a ditz at times, it
hasn’t stopped her from becoming tremendously likeable, and is probably one of
my favourite companions so far. The Doctor has also clearly grown considerably
fond of her, as Jo has of the Doctor, and in fact is even learning from him.
The chemistry between Pertwee and Katy Manning truly is fantastic to watch,
really.
So, having finally finished season 9, and indeed my 3rd
season in as many weeks, I think it’s time for me to take a short break. Not
from Who entirely – I’ll still be posting plenty of thoughts in the meantime, including stuff on comics and spin-off series Dalek Empire –
but, with the 49th anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks, then
seems the perfect time to watch the show’s 10th season, which kicks
off with the Three Doctors. Now that is a season I’m looking forward to
watching.
Until the next post, laters!
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