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A Tale of Two Reactions

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Review of The Rings of Akhaten
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

This one’s an odd one, and no doubt. The whole way through, I couldn’t decide if I thought it was wondrous or horrible. (Also – can I just tell you all how much the name of the place messes me up? I seriously keep thinking there should be an n after the initial A.)


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2013 BBC

I still can’t decide, and it looks like I’m not alone. There is no “fan consensus” about this episode, and I find that almost as weird as my own dual reactions. Complicating matters is the fact that I can’t pinpoint what I don’t like about it. All I can say is that somehow it rubs me the wrong way.

Let me begin, then, with a few niggling irritations. First, there’s the leaf. I like the story of “the most important leaf in human history” (though the Doctor’s being a bit stalker-y, which makes me vaguely uncomfortable); every happy couple should have some story about how they met that makes them smile years down the road. What bugs my detail-oriented self is that it’s not the same leaf we saw in the previous episode. I’m not sure what kind this one is – it looks a bit too broad to be an aspen, though that’s the closest I could come, with my limited knowledge of botany – but the one from The Bells of Saint John is most definitely a maple. This one’s supposed to be a maple, too, based on the tree from which it fell, but it’s not. And I’m completely unreasonably put off by it.

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Retro-View #10: The Lure of an Arc

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The Ribos Operation (Story #98, 1978)
Viewed 12 Mar 2013

Doctor/Companion: Four, Romana I
Stars: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm
Preceding Story: The Invasion of Time (Four, Romana I)
Succeeding Story: The Pirate Planet (Four, Romana I)

Now I’ve done it. I should’ve known better than to start G on a story arc. She has a hard enough time with episodic cliffhangers that I suppose I should’ve expected her to tell me to pop in the next story of The Key to Time once we’d finished the first, but somehow I didn’t.

In the opening moments, I realize G hasn’t met K-9 yet. We pause while I explain the general concept. Then the White Guardian (who G understandably thinks looks like Colonel Sanders; “he’s even drinking a mint julep!”) begins his little chat with the Doctor. No sooner has this dialog begun, though, when I have to pause again to explain about the dog bite (see the Story Notes). It’s so much better than the herpes G had been assuming was the issue…

Once we get to Ribos, G thinks Garron and Unstoffe look like Tibetans or Mongolians (and that Romana looks like the Good Witch of the North). We get tied up enough in the story that there are barely any more comments until Romana blindly walks into the shrivenzale’s chamber. “Well look down, sweetie. Good god.” Sometimes even the most willingly suspended disbelief gets stretched too far.

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London Calling

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Review of The Bells of Saint John
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I really want to give Clara’s “no, this time we mean it!” introduction story an enthusiastic thumbs-up, but I can’t quite.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2013 BBC

Like most Moffat-penned scripts, it zips along at such a fast pace that it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and come out saying, “Wow! That was great!” But Bells (and what the hell sort of irrelevant title was that, anyway, based on an utterly toss-off portion of the story from 1207?) also suffers from the common problems that plague Moffat’s stories.

To begin, we’ve got the usual casual misogyny, like when the young monk asks if the Doctor is speaking with an evil spirit and when he’s told “it’s a woman,” he crosses himself. This one I’m willing to let slide because, OK, it’s 1207 and the dude’s a monk who’s probably not supposed to have any contact with women. But it’s still in rather poor taste.

More irritating to my mind is the way the Doctor insists that Clara repeat The Question to him three times. I never used to think of the Doctor as a pure narcissist – a bit overly proud of his intellect, perhaps, but not full of himself – but that’s how that scene presented him. The Doctor seems to be exhibiting an ever-increasing number of troubling character traits these days (and I’m not just talking about some “fall into darkness” he might be experiencing), and I find myself watching with more trepidation all the time.

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Nu-View #13: Setting the Standard

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Dalek and The Long Game
(Series One, Eps. 6-7; 2005)
Viewed 12 Mar 2013

Doctor/Companion: Nine, Rose Tyler
Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: World War Three (Nine, Rose)
Succeeding Story: Father’s Day (Nine, Rose)

I distinctly remember my Original Who Mentor watching my face avidly for my reaction when the trailer for Dalek ran at the end of the previous episode. Not having grown up in the UK, and not having been one of “those people” growing up, I’d never even heard of a Dalek before. He was, needless to say, somewhat disappointed.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2005 BBC

It was an entirely different sort of expression I was anticipating on the Ladies’ faces when we watched this the other night. This episode has become one of my all-time favorites, and certainly my favorite of Series One. So I was hoping for some “oh, yeah – I remember this!” looks of pleasant surprise as the details slowly dug their way out of foggy memories.

However, things were even foggier than I’d feared. “I don’t even remember this one,” jO said confusedly as the opening credits rolled. Not that it got in the way of our enjoyment. It’s a bloody brilliant episode, and I’m not sure Eccleston’s ever better in the role. First, when he encounters the Dalek in its “cage,” the consternation and terror are plain to read on his face. Once he realizes the Dalek isn’t, shall we say, fully functional any more, he does a beautiful job going off the deep end. The Doctor really is insane in those moments, and you see it in his eyes. Later, his “I killed her. … She was nineteen years old” speech is one of the best deliveries he gives throughout his tenure. Writer Rob Shearman gave Eccleston plenty to sink his teeth into, and did he ever run with it!

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Off to a Helluva Start

Review of The Ark in Space: SE (#76)
DVD Release Date: 12 Mar 13
Original Air Date: 25 Jan – 15 Feb 1975
Doctor/Companion: Four, Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
Stars: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter
Preceding Story: Robot (Four, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story: The Sontaran Experiment (Four, Sarah Jane, Harry)

For someone who didn’t grow up with Doctor Who, especially when watching out of sequence or without paying specific attention to such details, it can be hard to remember that Ark in Space was so incredibly early in Tom Baker’s tenure (only his second story to be broadcast). He has already so thoroughly settled into the role, and the whole TARDIS crew – Harry only just having joined in the final moments of the preceding serial – has such a wonderful rapport, it feels like they’ve been together forever.

The only thing that doesn’t feel quite right is the holdovers from Pertwee’s characterization when Sarah Jane tries to tell the Doctor something, and gets thoroughly shushed: “Doctor, look!” “Not now, Sarah.” or “Doctor, will you listen?” “Sarah, we’re trying to make a plan.” Clearly even a writer as skilled as Robert Holmes didn’t yet know how to write for this new Doctor.

In retrospect, this story is an odd combination of the wonderfully timeless and the terribly dated. The general plot, the horror of a man’s body and mind being taken over while he is powerless to stop it, the brilliant set and lighting design, and the unbeatable characterizations and acting all fall in the former category. Some of the effects (most notably the bubble wrap) and the choice of “microfilm” for the storage of the sum of knowledge from human history are among the latter. To give it its due, though, the green painted bubble wrap would have worked well at the time, as hardly anyone in the general public knew what it was yet. It simply makes for an unfortunate effect decades on. (One has to wonder how bad Tennant’s episodes will look to viewers in the 2040’s.)

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A History Worth Preserving

Review of The Aztecs: SE (#6)

DVD Release Date: 12 Mar 13
Original Air Date: 23 May – 13 Jun 1964
Doctor/Companion: One, Susan, Ian, Barbara
Stars: William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill
Preceding Story: The Keys of Marinus (One, Susan, Ian, Barbara)
Succeeding Story: The Sensorites (One, Susan, Ian, Barbara)

I’ve mentioned several times before how fond I am of this story, and I don’t mind saying it again. I have to admit, though, that when I got the Special Edition DVD and looked at all the extras two things went through my mind. The first was, “Wow – this disk is all about the extras!” The second was, “When am I ever going to find time to watch all these extras?”

The story itself is a lovely little four-parter that follows the TARDIS crew to 15th C. Mexico, taking up about 100 minutes of viewing time. By contrast, even ignoring the minor entries like the ubiquitous Photo Gallery, the extras comprise more than twice that much material. That certainly presents a challenge for the reviewer, but it’s a challenge I’m willing to undertake for your sake, gentle readers.

I can hardly praise The Aztecs highly enough. So early in the history of Our Show, it introduces – or at least hammers home – the idea that history is not to be trifled with lightly. It’s also one of the earliest remaining stories that can really show us how much the Doctor has mellowed to these humans who – let’s call a spade a spade – he kidnapped in order to keep them from exposing him and his granddaughter as the aliens they were. Not only that, it shows a more tender side of him, as he quite frankly falls in love with a human for the first time we see (yes, Rose, we all know you thought you were special).

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Retro-View #9: Return of the Fan

The Robots of Death (Story #90, 1977)
Viewed 07 Mar 2013

Doctor/Companion: Four, Leela
Stars: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Preceding Story: The Face of Evil (Four, Leela)
Succeeding Story: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Four, Leela)

Regular readers may recall that when I first saw Robots, I was not particularly enamored of it. Only after repeated viewings did I come to appreciate it, and now count it among my favorites. Thus, I was particularly interested to see how G would react.

Perhaps everything just clicked properly this day – no family members or pets in ill health, no project deadlines pending – but G was back on her usual upbeat form, appreciative of everything the show had to offer. It doesn’t hurt that she’s taken quite a shine to Four.

Her first impression of Robots is one of delighted nostalgia: “Look at that computer!” The visuals continued to impress her throughout, from costuming (“Ooh, I love the hats.” and “They’ve got great costumes, don’t you think?”) to some of the directorial decisions (“We get to see from the robot’s point of view. This is kinda cool.”)

As for the new Companion and general characterizations, she loves both Leela’s and the Doctor’s evasive answers when SV7 questions them. (I love that Leela’s already figured out that discretion is the better part of valor.) She also thinks Commander Uvanov is “a bit of a boor.” When he uses someone else’s argument against a third party, huffily demanding, “Ever heard of the double bluff?” she adds (as Uvanov), “I just learned about it thirty seconds ago!”

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A Bold New Direction

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Review of The Doctors Revisited – Second Doctor

At the end of February, BBC America viewers were treated to the second installment of the “Doctors Revisited” series. This time, it’s all about Patrick Troughton’s era.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2012 BBC

The format is the same as it was for Hartnell’s Doctor, covering first the character of the Doctor himself, then reviewing his Companions and how they influenced the flavor of the show, and finally covering the key “monsters” the Second Doctor had to face.

Interviewees in this installment are primarily the same as before, as well; Moffat, Skinner, Gaiman, Tennant, and Barrowman all make appearances. The change comes in the Companion department, where instead of Ian and Steven, who were exclusively One’s Companions, we hear from Wendy Padbury, who played Two’s Companion Zoë Heriot.

Fans unfamiliar with Troughton’s work as the Doctor might be surprised to hear how much credit these folks give him for turning the show into what we know and love today, but it’s quite true. Had he not been able to convince the audience at the time that he really was the Doctor – despite how very different his version of the character’s personality is – it would have died then and there. And, as Tennant points out, essentially everyone since has done their own version of Troughton, carefully balancing the Doctor’s roles as both man of action and comic relief. That’s one of the reasons I personally love him so much; he comes across as a big goof, but he’s still sharp, clever, and a little bit scheming underneath.

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Retro-View #8: The Blossoming of a Fan

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Genesis of the Daleks (Story #78, 1975)
Viewed 07 Dec 2012, 26 Feb 2013

Doctor/Companion: Four, Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
Stars: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter
Preceding Story: The Sontaran Experiment (Four, Sarah Jane, Harry)
Succeeding Story: Revenge of the Cybermen (Four, Sarah Jane, Harry)

Life kind of got in the way of our little experiment. In December, G’s family suffered the loss of two loved ones while my family was juggling schedules around not only the holidays but my dad’s medical treatments. January involved both of us regaining equilibrium, and by the time G was ready to get together again, I was on my way to Gally.

Once we finally managed to mesh our schedules again, two and a half months had passed between our viewing of the first half (Episodes One through Three) and the second half of the story. Thanks to the wonders of the TARDIS Data Core (formerly TARDIS Index File), I was able to recap those vaguely remembered episodes in detail for G so we were both up to speed on where we’d left our intrepid heroes before jumping back into the tale.

And what a place into which to jump! We’re getting into the big time here. To hear many fans tell it, this early part of T. Baker’s tenure is the start of the Golden Age of Who, and Genesis in particular is often cited as a stone cold classic. While G and I both enjoyed it (“It’s a good story. A very good story,” she proclaimed at the end), I don’t think it’s quite to my Top Ten (pre-Hiatus) list. Regardless, there’s plenty to enjoy.

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Gally 2013 Recap

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It’s a week later, and if my Twitter feed is any indication, I am very much not alone in my feelings of ennui at no longer being at Gally. There’s even a hashtag (#PostGallyBlues). I’ve seen a few good reviews of the weekend as a whole, though most of them seem to be, like my posts, recaps of personal experiences rather than analyses like I saw last year.

Since I’ve promised various people I would, then, I’ll keep my own “recap” to photos of my own forays into cosplay and my Saturday panel. We begin with Friday, and my femme!Three. Not as many people as I’d hoped recognized my costume for what it was, but those who did seemed appreciative. In return, I really appreciated seeing other cosplayers in costumes of related eras. When I saw someone dressed as the Brigadier, I had to ask for my photo with him. Then a Sarah Jane Smith (in her reporter guise) got in on the act.

Later, I saw someone dressed as SJS as she had been when sneaking into Irongron’s castle as a servant in her debut story The Time Warrior. Needless to say, we had a bit of fun fangirling at each other.

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