Overview: Doctor Who Classic: Season 22

Six and Peri got better. Eventually.

Doctor Who - Season 22 (1985)
Written 26/4/12

Season 22 is derided by so many fans that I almost feel sorry for it. Even I, a Sixie fan, felt a little intimidated by the sheer hatred with which both The Twin Dilemma and Timelash are treated. For me, this examination of Season 22 has been a real opener about both how good Who can be across its run, but also how much I'm prepared to forgive and forget when it comes to fandom.
     So what does it do so well? Tone is certainly something that Season 22 excells at with relish, and these six stories are incredibly laden with thick atmospheres filled with dark humour as well as a thick satirical streak. This season challenges what Who can do, trying to turn it into a fully-focussed social tool. Vengeance on Varos warns against video-nasties, The Two Doctors preaches about Vegetarianism. This is a season that wants to be a lot more than it manages, and I have to at least acknowledge that effort.
     If there is a major fault in all this, it's the very fact that despite being so great at atmosphere, the stories end up being a bit fluffy. The 45-minute format was in its teething stages, and the writers' inability to give stories the same pacing as before left the series with many saggy areas. The Two Doctors is one of the most egregious examples, its three episodes being so fluffy that with swift editing one could condense them down to a single hour of television and not loose anything particularly important. However, the stories are still enjoyable, and for me that's really what's important.
    So, as a change from the usual Overview style, I'm gonna do some best and worsts.

Molloy's Davros has his best performance.

Best Story
This is difficult, but really it has to be the incredibly thick and atmospheric Revelation of the Daleks. Molloy's smooth take on Davros, combined with Saward's standard multi-thread yarn means that this is 90 minutes of pure Doctor Who darkness, taking the grotesque nature of everyday life and exposing it for all to bear, along with some gallows humour and searing satire. That said, a close contender is Vengeance on Varos, whose dark commentary on our obsession with Television in all aspects of life makes it the one thing in the season that really stands out above the rest. Both of the these stories are definitely worth your time, even if you dislike Six.

The Cybermen get a bit carried away.

Worst Story
There aren't really any stories in this season that I hate, but if I had to pick a worst story, then it would be Attack of the Cybermen. It breaks my heart to say so considering how much I love it, but Attack suffers the most heavily from its lack of direction and after spending the first half building up, it wanders off into nonsense quite quickly. The ending is totally anti-climactic and even the worst recesses of Androzani weren't so depressingly bleak. Marks are also lost from The Two Doctors for that bit of fluff with Oscar Botcheby.

The Rani is just awesome.

Best Villains
In a season filled with Daleks and Cybermen, this is another difficult choice. At the end of the day,  I have to say that The Mark of the Rani gets it by an inch. The Rani is an intrigueing character and she really makes her story stand out from the norm. She's not a cackling villain bent on world domination; she's simply a scientist with very little moral conscience, and that strikes a chord against the rest of the villains (the Master especially) in the rest of the Saward Era.

Why are you here?

Worst Villains
Campy Cybermen aside, the worst monsters of this series had to be the Sontarans from The Two Doctors. Robert Holmes, the original creator of the Sontarans, arrived to give them a decent send-off, but they're here for sheer uselessness. They help the Androgums take over the space-station, ponce about a bit and are then killed by Chessene rather ungracefully. They're not here because of their execution, like in The Invasion of Time - rather, they just didn't need to be anywhere near. Special mention goes to Timelash for the rather unfortunate Morlox creatures, but the story's central villain The Borad is actually quite good. 

Best Guest Star
Points again go to The Mark of the Rani for the wonderful Kate O'Mara, who brings a lot of life to the role. Better, however, is the Governor from Vengeance On Varos, played by Martin Jarvis. His performance is one of the story's highlights - the official who is slowly realising the corrupt nature of the system he's in and has to try and decide between preserving the old ways and making real change. The Governor is a character who we have to slowly warm to, even when we see that his own system tortures him for sport, and Jarvis' performance is spot-on. Mentions go to Timelash's Paul Darrow and Revelation of the Daleks' Clive Swift and Alexei Sayle. And Patrick Troughton, of course.

Worst Guest Star
Never has a significant historical figure resembled Adric as much as in Timelash, where young HG Wells was given such treatment. It wasn't really David Chandler's fault; the character just seemed to be a tad irritating - always disobeying the Doctor's clear orders and nearly getting him killed. From Revelation of the Daleks, Jenny Tomasin's Tasambeker is often quite whiny despite how much I feel for the character. She's the story's only downpoint, really.

Season 22 is one of my favourite seasons so far in my examination of Classic Who, regardless of how much that may astonish some other fans. It's a brilliant, brilliant collection of stories that showcase Colin Baker's Doctor and has a metric tonne of excellent performances, musical scores and atmospheres. I love it, and if you give it a chance, then I think you might too.

Thanks.

Review: Resurrection of the Daleks (Revisited)

See here for my previous, much more general, look at this story.

The Doctor is judge, jury and executioner upon his old enemy.

Doctor Who - Season 21, Story Four - Resurrection of the Daleks (Revisited)
Written 5/5/12
"I can't stand the confusion in my mind!"

It's not easy to describe Resurrection as anything other than a mess. Saward's multi-storyline technique saw its first outing here, and the result is not pretty in any sense of the word. The story is completely and utterly schizophrenic, and is almost unbearable in the way it jerks from plot to plot with gay abandon. This, however, does not ruin the story completely, and there's still some entertainment to be had from decent acting, expansive design and a true return-to-form from Davros and The Daleks. Plus, it's Tegan's last story. Rejoice!
     Following directly on from Frontios, the TARDIS is dragged by a Dalek time-tunnel to the midst of 1984, where a prison ship carrying a deep-freeze Davros is attacked by the Dalek Forces, desperate to find a cure to the deadly virus created by their enemy, the Movellans. The Doctor is dragged into the fray when the Dalek machinations start affecting 1984 London, and he becomes part of their many schemes. As Davros plots his revenge under the Daleks' watchful eyes, the machines plot to create duplicates of high-ranking political figures - especially The Doctor. In the end, Tegan is sick of Season 21's death and destruction, and so opts to stay behind in 1984.
     This story sees the first appearance of Saward favourite Commander Lytton, played by Maurice Colburne. He doesn't get as much characterisation here as he does later on in Attack of the Cybermen, but he's certainly one of the story's standout characters. This is also the first appearance of my favourite none-Wisher Davros, Terry Molloy, whose fine balance of the original with his own take on the role lends this incarnation a much more manipulative and yet slightly insane quality - justified, in this case, by having been frozen in stasis, fully conscious, for 90 years. Finally, Rodney Bewes is rather interesting as the character of Stien, whose mind is as confused as the plot is.

Lytton makes his first appearance.

     Saward's previous story was Earthshock, and you can tell in the way the story is styled. This is best seen in the first episode, which is quite similar to that of that prior story in terms of the way it builds and actually manages to sustain suspense very well. The slow collapse of power as the group invades the ship makes the first 25 minutes fast-paced and exciting, and it feels contently self-contained. It's after this point, where we get to nonsense about duplicates and invading Galifrey, that the rot starts to set in.
     If anything else can be said, it's that Saward doesn't waste the opportunity to use the Daleks well. While Davros does stand out, the Daleks are given a lot more screen time and don't do silly things like strapping bombs to themselves. Although we've seen a loose dalek before, this story provides one of the key examples of how dangerous the Dalek Mutant can be outside the shell. Saward was having fun with his first Dalek story and to be frank, who can blame him?
     Resurrection of the Daleks starts out well, and always has good intentions in mind. It's a damn-site better than the previous Dalek story, but its plot becomes very confused and very-much stuffed with unnecessary fluff. When the story finally decides upon a plot, though, it's very well executed and the characters stretch what really is a bit of a mess into something entertaining.

Thanks.

NEXT MONDAY: I Overview Season 22.

Review: GHTTB: Ashes To Ashes 1.7

Gil Hollis did lots for charity - too much.

Ashes To Ashes - Series One, Episode Seven

In the 80s, TV had a much bigger role in people's lives, both for charitable aims and uncharitable ones. If I'm honest, 1.7 feels like a breather despite its serious ending, and that's very much in the court of this week's guest star, Matthew McFadyen, who happened to be Keeley Hawes' husband. Ultimately, 1.7 is a tragic tale of how selflessness can morph into bitterness.
     Well-known charity mascot Gil Hollis (Matthew McFadyen) claims to have had his charity money robbed by two thugs, and this is reported on a TV Appeal in a funny reconstruction. While watching this on TV, Alex gets a hallucination where The Clown, now a symbol of Death, tells her that one of her team is going to die. The next morning, and Gene asks Alex out for a meal. Alex thinks she can advance the investigation by taking Hollis back to the crime-scene and releasing locked memories. Hollis isn't productive, and at the scene he is mocked by some yobs. Getting nowhere, Alex chats further with Gil, and later suggests to Gene that they do a personal appeal. It goes ahead, and of course Gene cocks it up, and is quite bitter.
     Having an epiphany, he realises that the yobs must be witnesses and takes them all in. Discovering that their story differs, Hollis is brought back in. Gene believes that Hollis is telling a tale, and Alex is convinced otherwise. His story makes no sense; he claimed to have had a wee near the scene and yet the ground is undisturbed. When he attempted to pick out the robber in a line-up, he chooses Shaz. Gene goes way OTT, and locks up Hollis. Alex goes to her godfather Evan, a lawyer. Following his advice, Hunt is reported to the Powers That Be - Hollis is released, and Gene is put on leave. For this betrayal, the entire team stonefaces her. She turns to Evan for comfort, and remembers that it was he who saved her from the explosion that killed her parents.

Investigations aren't productive.

     Gene pops back in and points out a new piece of evidence, which is then passed onto Alex. She traces the gun back to a chemical toilet at the crime scene. Accepting that Gene was right, they go to Luigis and explain Gil's entire plan to him - Gil drove to the scene, shot himself in the arm and then replaced the incriminating Garfield plushtoy on his window. Gil arrives at Luigis and begins to fire upon them. He explains to Alex and Gene that he became bitter about his charity work that seperated him from his family. Hollis escapes, but Shaz runs after him. After a tumble, Shaz is accidentally stabbed. Shaz sees Death, but she lives to fight another day.
     Hollis is quite funny, really. Once one knows the truth, his entire persona throughout the episode is completely and utterly paper-thin. But through it, you can see the motivations for his crime - the loneliness, the anger. His thick Brummie accent transforms from being a quirky aspect of the character into a deranged slur that represents Gil's descent from the light. You could tell that both McFadyen and Hawes had real fun, espcecially in their solo scenes where Gil's memories of his family stir Alex's issues. 
     The final scene, in which Shaz dies and is revived by Alex, is still incredibly powerful for me because it's another example of what the series can do at its best. It came at the end of a plot that felt rather bloated and stuffy. Had this been the typical differential from the start, with Gene refusing to believe anything that Hollis said, and it probably would have made a more focussed drama. However, Gil Hollis is an excellently written character and his tragic story makes the episode.

The Clown is a symbol of Death - as we'll see in blinding detail next week.

     Episode 1.7 was another great from the series before the big finale, and it featured some more powerful moments. These past two episodes really have been highs for Ashes To Ashes, and Episode 1.7 had the nerve to back that up. It was a little stuffy in the middle, but where it mattered it delivered, and spectacularly.

Thanks.

NEXT TIME: The Finalé.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: Revelation of the Daleks (Revisited)

Colin and Nicola don't get much to do, but their
characterisations are better.

See here for my inital look at this story.


Doctor Who - Season 22, Story Six - Revelation of the Daleks
Written between 22nd and 24th April 2012

And so we bookend Season 22 with a story from Eric Saward, delivering what will come to be known as his best script for the series. Revelation is gothic and dark, positively dripping in black humour and an air of the grotesqe. The direction by Graeme Harper changes what may have been a depressing script into one of the most captivating stories of Six's era. It isn't a story that gives The Doctor and Peri a lot to do, but the story is so packed full of other interesting characters that you don't really care.
     One of the things you immediately notice is Graeme Harper's direction. The man who brought us the phenomenal Caves of Androzani knows exactly what to do and unlike the white-washed sets of the rest of the era, every scene is atmospheric and moody, from the freezing cold exterior to the deep, dank bunker at the heart of Tranquil Repose. Adding to this immensely is the music, which despite being a heavy techno slur is instantly iconic and sets each scene well. Pre-Murray Gold, this is by far one of the best scored stories in Who history.

Glass Daleks! It's every nerd's
dream!

     The story has its fair share of interesting and well-acted characters and subplots, which all compliment the subject's themes. The slightly creepy Jobel (Clive Swift, Keeping Up Appearances) is the dark horse here, as well as his desperate female aide Tasambeker and his underling Tarkis, who remain healthily skeptical of their "Great Healer" Davros. Davros himself is here in his Terry Molloy incarnation, which after Michael Wisher's original is by far my favourite, if only for the fact that he spent so much time studying and perfecting the role. Revelation shows the Molloy Davros at his very, very best - manipulative, scheming and constantly aware of the million plans that his enemies use against him. Also of note are Eleanor Bron's Kara, Davros's rebellious business partner, her assistant Vogel (Hugh Walters, in his campest role yet), the badass bounty hunter Orcini (William Gaunt) and the weird and wonderful DJ (Alexei Sayle) who sarcastically comments upon the fates of those in suspended animation below him. Altogether, Saward spins about five different strands at once, and for once, it all works.
      The Doctor and Peri, despite being a small part of those five storylines and only arriving on-set in the second half, are much more amicable towards one another than in previous stories in the season, and Colin is the most pleasant he's ever been. The character development angle that they were going for at the end of Season 21 actually bloody worked, and it's such a shame to know that instead of the original Season 23, we got the shambles that was the Trial. One bit that really got me was a strange sequence where the two are required to get over a wall, and the two talk about something vaguely euphemistic before it's revealed that Peri has broken the Doctor's pocket watch. It's strange, and yet it really displayed a good sense of chemistry between the characters that would continue and be a lot more obvious in the next two stories.
      But the thing that everyone remembers the most about Revelation? The grotesque style that the serial embodies is both instantly memorable and immediately close-to-home. For the first time we see Davros slowly transforming a human into a Dalek, and the scene where grave-robber Natasha has to euphemise her half-transformed father is chilling and gruesome in a close-to-the-nerve way. Much mention is made of corpses and their various states of decomposition; one grave-robber worries that their corpse will collapse into a puddle, while Jobel makes mention of the President's wife "beginning to froth." There's something in almost every scene that acts upon our fear of body-horror, but not enough to de-sensitise us to it in the way that maybe Attack of the Cybermen or The Two Doctors does. At the end of the day, the tone really works well in making the final Revelation - that Davros has been turning the corpses in Tranquil Repose into high-protein food - that bit closer to home.

Yes, this image is from the original review. What of it.

     Revelation is an instant classic and is one of the only stories that the era's haters can get behind. As someone who adores Colin's era, I think that Revelation is the cherry of the top of a brilliant season and deserves more credit as one of the most humourously dark stories in all of Who. The first time I reviewed Revelation I looked at it as a Dalek story, and now I look at it as a story in its own right I can see just how exquisitely well-written it is.

Thanks.


NEXT WEEK:I round off Season 22 with an overview.
THIS FRIDAY: I review my last Saward story when I revisit Resurrection of the Daleks.

Review: Electra Heart

Sometimes I do music reviews. Written 29/6/12.
Electra Heart - Marina and the Diamonds (2012)

I loved Marina Diamandis's first album. I really did; there was an experimental theme to her first album. It was cheeky, it was satirical and it felt very different from everything else out there. The singer's sophomore album seems to form part of a recent trend in satirising and glorifying Americana, alongside artists like Lana Del Ray. While it's certainly bad by no stretch of the imagination, the album does suffer from problems on both a conceptual level and on a song-by-song basis. It feels as if the originality presented by the original album has been channelled into this theme, and it really hasn't payed off.
     The biggest change is the move into mainstream pop and electronica, which while still keeping hold of Diamandis' characteristic charm, is a lot more brash and forgetable than the indie waves of the first album. This ties into the theme of the album, which is supposedly a Greek-style tragedy set in 70s Americana, "an ode to dysfunctional love." The main problem with that is that "dysfunctional love" isn't a very original concept, and only a few of the songs on the album adhere to that original concept. The result is an album that flickers between vindicative, personality-driven ballads and standard pop ditties.
     And then, on a ground level, there are... issues. Simple little things here and there just throw the whole thing off kilter: the horrendous spoken verses on Homewrecker, the obnoxious double rhyme of role on Starring Role. The more conventionally structured songs don't take advantage of Diamandis' vocal talents, and the songs end up being a mix of annoying and generic. That's not to say that there aren't any good songs on the album, of course. I love the pace and energy of the hedonistic Primadonna, the raw emotion of Fear and Loathing, and the slightly demented yet incredibly catchy Radioactive, which was released in promotion of the album and yet only appears on the Deluxe edition. The best song on the album for me is probably Fear and Loathing or Teen Idle, which manages to act as a perfect balance of both of Diamandis' styles past and present.
      However, on a base level Diamandis continues her wonderful brand of irony and satire and the album is well produced. On a few songs there are some crippling problems, and the main theme of the album, which I can tell she worked on, doesn't really shine through in the way it was intended to. I suppose that ultimately any unpleasantness caused by the album is really a sign of its cultural success; as a tale that warns against the excesses of pop culture and the danger of hubris, it has certainly made a mark upon its fans.

Thanks.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: Frontios

The evil Gravis rules over the Tractators under Frontios.

Doctor Who - Season 21, Story Three - Frontios
Written 5/5/12
"As a weapon, the TARDIS is about as dangerous as a chicken vol-au-vant"

This is it. After Frontios, I'll have seen all of the stories in the Saward Era. I don't know whether to be saddened or relieved. As you can tell by the mumbo-jumbo single-word title, this is a return to the series by former script-editor Chris Bidmead, whose last efforts had enough dodgy science to embarrass a classroom of schoolchildren. Frontios is not pretending to be something it's not, however, and with that in mind it balances a well-thought-through concept with clever characterisations to make what is, bar Androzani, the best story of the season.
     The behind-the-scenes in this story is rather creepy. Designer Barrie Dobbins committed suicide while working on the story, and well-known character actor was returning from work on this story when he was brutally murdered by an unknown figure. This hasn't, however, affected the quality of the serial. The set design is absolutely brilliant, with a mix of creepy corridors (with one of the first instances of the "all these corridors look the same" joke) and large expansive rooms. The story has an immediate atmosphere of mystery and suspense, which is only increased as the serial goes on.
     Set at the same time as the First Doctor serial The Ark, the story is set on Frontios, a human colony where the remnants of Humanity have escaped to after the Sun expanded and made Earth uninhabitable. The people of Frontios are all ruled by the secretive group around Captain Rivere and his son Plantagenete, who hide the fact that corpses too often sink into the earth, disappearing without trace. Ever since they've set up shop, they've been regularly attacked by aimed asteriod showers, and it's one such shower that brings down the TARDIS and buries it beneath the Earth, leaving the Doctor and crew to try and help without breaking the laws of time. Fighting off suspicions from the ruling class, the threesome must dig towards the truth, and save the Human race from the creatures that lie beneath them.

Hatstands are useful tools.

     Bidmead was told by JNT that this had to be a monster story, which is a particular change from his particular style of high-concept sci-fi like we saw at the beginning of the era. Luckily he's able to make it work, and even mixes in some high concepts anyway. Doctor Who has done this style of human-refugee story many times before, but Frontios is a particularly raw and bare example of the genre. Unlike, say, Outcasts, it doesn't faff about with the economics of how the settlement works and instead sets up immediate conflict between characters instead of the world around them. Yes, the inhabitants are stressed by the mysteries of Frontios - the disappearing bodies, the aimed asteriod strikes on their colony. But at the story's heart the problem lies within human paranoia and secrecy, without which the Tractators' plan never could have worked.
     As a monster, the termite-like Tractators are a little plastic, but the atmosphere gives them an earthy, gritty quality. Unlike Warriors of the Deep, where a single-colour fade-in looked very silly, the Tractators' gravity effect actually becomes quite good during the third episode or so. The machine carrying the semi-living body of Captain Rivere is really well-executed, and the third-episode cliffhanger in which it appears is one of the season's most chilling. Body horror like this wouldn't be used again until Season 28's Girl In The Fireplace, which takes a lot from this story's original intentions.
      Frontios' witty dialogue is ultimately the thing that saves it from boredom, as well as it's great character work. Bidmead really seems to understand all of these characters, and both Tegan and Turlough are significantly improved from the status quo. Turlough's ancestral memory of the Tractators was a great way of getting to know his character, especially in one of his last stories. Also, he wields a hat-stand as a weapon. Awesome. The Doctor is also a lot more clever than normal, and his final ruse is absolutely brilliant. The article quote is perhaps one of my favourite quotes from Five this season, and the story is a veritable cornucopia of witty lines.

The Doctor tricks the enemy.

      Bidmead's final contribution to the series, and my last new Saward-era story, is one of this season's best. I was wrong to ignore it as much as I have done, because it's a really distinctive story with great performances from everyone involved, well-made, atmospheric sets and, best of all, a script that gets the characters and does something interesting with them. Frontios is an absolute gem, and the first place you should go when looking for Five gold in Season 21.

Thanks.

NEXT MONDAY: Revelation of the Daleks finishes off Season 22
NEXT FRIDAY: Resurrection of the Daleks (Revisited) finishes off the Saward Era.

Review: GHTTB: Ashes To Ashes 1.6

Chas Cale appears innocent.

Ashes To Ashes - Series One, Episode Six

Bit-part actor Phil Davies may have killed Uther, but four years before that he was a gangster. Episode Six was really an examination of getting older, whether that meant entering adulthood or leaving it. It was also a very good use of the series' key directoral features, and a sign that the series is beginning to seperate itself from its 70s sister. Thus, it was the series most enjoyable episode yet.
     Alex wakes up feeling sick. She believes that she's in the inital stages of death, as she is feeling shivery and can't remember things. A post-office is raided by two thugs, and the MO stinks of one of Gene's old catches. He is shaken, however, when Chas Cale (Phil Davies) is revealed to be an aged epileptic, confined to the restaurant trade. Alex goes to "say goodbye" to her mother, and attempts to tell her of her true nature, but doesn't get the chance. This spurs her on to try and survive, and so she leads the investigation to find the robber. Soon her condition sends her back to her flat.
     As Gene makes amends for being a dick, Ray and Chris find the suspect in a pub. They advance the investigation, but the suspect is soon found dead. To find out info from the suspect's eight-year-old nephew (Kenneth Asa Butterfield, one of the most talented child actors of our time) they give him a meal at Luigi's. The boy reveals that the suspect was working for Chas. When Alex visits, it soon appears that while Chas committed the robbery, it was his wife that killed the suspect. When Gene arrives, Chas has another fit. Gene smashes his way in, saving Alex in the nick of time and bringing her back to life.
      This is the first time in Ashes To Ashes where I actually felt Alex's pain. The scene where she is apologising to Molly for not getting back was touching and poignant, and struck a much more vibrant chord than the constant, never-ending repetition of scenes from the pilot. Although here the hallucinations were used a lot better; they were pretty psychadelic at the beginning, and there's an increasing theme of the Clown as the symbol of Death.

Keeley's best performance so far.

     All of the characters were written splendidly, and all with a great deal of maturity, as if the Reality Engine has just been fired up again. Alex in particular felt a lot more real than her awkward dialogue in the beginning of this series suggested, and the UST with Gene felt a lot less gimmicky. Overall the characters were in fact characters and not just stereotypes as they often are in the bonanza.
     Episode Six was incredibly fun and was just on a completely new level for the show. It's really beginning to exploit what it lacked in comparison to its predecessor, taking Life On Mars' relatively mature attitude and taking that to a hell of a lot of new places. 1.6 may not be particularly memorable, but for me it's been the most enjoyable to review.

Thanks.