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Nu-View #3: Foray Into Five

The Visitation (Story #120, 1982)
Viewed 19 Apr 2011, 21 Jun 2011

Doctor/Companion:   Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan
Stars:  Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding
Preceding Story:  Kinda (Five, Adric, Tegan)
Succeeding Story:  Black Orchid (Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan)
Notable Aspects:

  • demise of the sonic screwdriver, which would not be seen again until The Movie in 1996

I found it difficult to decide at what point in his tenure to trot out Five for the Ladies’ viewing. Eventually, I decided I wanted one that involved the classic trio of Adric, Nyssa and Tegan, and settled on The Visitation because it gave a good sense of the three of their personalities. I’d have used Castrovalva, but I wanted to save that as the denouement of the whole regeneration arc for another time.

Due to various scheduling conflicts, the Ladies had to watch this one in shifts. Each time we had at least one n00b and one veteran (here I include myself). Among other things, it was entertaining to hear the first impressions of appearances. One initiate commented that she wasn’t sure about Five’s outfit (to which jE immediately responded, “wait’ll you see the next one!”). The other thought he reminded her of Chevy Chase. Everybody commented on the ’80s-ness of the episode, from make-up to hair to costuming (jO thought Nyssa “would have looked so amazingly cool in 198[2]”) to the TARDIS herself. There was also some consternation – coming from those accustomed to the modern “just swap ’em out” era – that the poor sonic screwdriver would disappear from the Doctor’s toolbox for nearly a decade and a half after its destruction at the hands of the Tereleptils.

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Confession #13: I’m Mad at Eccleston

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Looking at the title of this Confession, you might be under the mistaken impression that I don’t like Nine. In fact, just the opposite is true. While my affections were eventually transferred firmly to Ten, Nine was the Doctor who brought me into the fold, and he truly was fantastic. I love him to pieces, and was definitely left wanting more.

So why the grumpy face? Simple. Christopher Eccleston, the actor who so brilliantly portrayed the Doctor’s ninth incarnation, never really bought into the whole bonkers culture that surrounds Who. It wasn’t for him. I suppose I can’t really fault him for that (I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea), but if you’re not going to buy in, why put yourself in that position? Why take the role and then bail at the first available opportunity?

I rewatched the BBC Breakfast interview included in the Series One extras the other day, and you can tell he’s trying hard to head the critics off at the pass. He was always very complimentary to the fan base, saying that he appreciated the loyalty to the old show and the encouragement he got from the Whovians he had met while filming. Doing his best to avoid coming out with the biggest spoiler of that series (that he would, in fact regenerate at the end), Eccleston still chose to emphasize how what he’d done (“to date!” I’m sure all the viewer were thinking at the time) was already the equivalent of two series on the old show, when they did 25-minute episodes instead of 45-minute ones. You keep tellin’ yourself that, mate…

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Pearls Before Time

Review of Time and the Rani (#145)

DVD Release Date:  14 Jun 11
Original Air Date:  07 – 28 Sep 1987
Doctor/Companion:  Seven, Melanie Bush
Stars:  Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford
Preceding Story:  The Ultimate Foe (Trial of a Timelord) (Six, Mel)
Succeeding Story:  Paradise Towers (Seven, Mel)

It was with mixed trepidation and excitement that I awaited the release of this particular title. As a regeneration story, it ranked high in my want-to-see list, but knowing the history behind this particular change of Doctors (Colin Baker, who played Six, was canned – the scapegoat for falling ratings; unsurprisingly, he was none too keen to return to do a regeneration scene), I was wary of the event itself. Sadly, this is the one instance in which a YouTube viewing does not detract from the in-context regeneration. We get no more explanation than the TARDIS hurtling through space, with Companion Mel and the Doctor both unconscious on the floor of the control room. Upon landing, the Doctor is rolled over by a Tetrap minion, triggering the regeneration process. Even the magic of television can’t hide the fact that Six is just Seven in a bad wig and old costume. In that sense, this story starts out extremely disappointingly.

The rest of it, though, is surprisingly entertaining. I say “surprisingly” because, knowing ahead of time that the Rani (one of my all-time favorite foils for the Doctor) would be impersonating Mel, I was ready to cringe. However, even those sections came across relatively well. They were saved, of course, by the brilliance of Kate O’Mara (the Rani) and the perfect tone she kept while being simultaneously ingratiating and condescending (the unintentionally one-sided snarking between the Rani and the Doctor is great fun). Once she got out of Mel’s atrocious outfit (and the equally atrocious ginger wig), I was able to enjoy her performance fully.

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Nothing New Under the Earth

Review of Frontios (#133)

DVD Release Date: 14 Jun 11
Original Air Date: 26 Jan – 03 Feb 1984
Doctor/Companion:   Five, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough
Stars:  Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson
Preceding Story:  The Awakening (Five, Tegan, Turlough)
Succeeding Story:  Resurrection of the Daleks (Five, Tegan, Turlough)

Coming, as I always do, from the perspective of the post-Hiatus series, I often find elements I’ve seen in those more recent episodes when I watch ones from earlier eras. Such is the case with Frontios. I was so strongly reminded of The Hungry Earth I kept having to remind myself that that story was some 26 years away. (Coincidentally, two stories before Frontios, the Silurians made their last appearance before cropping up again in Hungry Earth.) On the surface, there’s very little connection between the two, but the common element of danger from below – that “the earth was hungry” (in so many words, even) – kept cropping up.

It’s also not the only story to involve the “last” colony of humanity trying to survive (see, for example, The Ark or Utopia for two examples from opposite ends of the new/old spectrum). Here they are, having been at war for decades (The Armageddon Factor), the TARDIS is apparently destroyed (Journey’s End), and the Doctor is mistaken as the culprit responsible for all their woes (take your pick). To top it all off, despite knowing better (The Waters of Mars), the Doctor knowingly and willingly breaks the Time Lord policy of non-interference, and entreats the people of Frontios not to tell the Time Lords (as it’s gotten him in hot water before; The War Games).

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Confession #12: I Adore Delgado’s Master

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When I first started thinking about why the original Master was such a delicious villain, I thought in terms of his characteristic muahaha!!  He seemed like a wonderfully campy nemesis for the Doctor, and though I don’t know that the character ever literally said, “they laughed at me at the Academy!” I really felt he should have.

As I went back over some of the Master’s stories I’ve seen so far (remember that I haven’t seen them all) and watched the DVD extra on Frontier in Space about his career and tragic death, I realized that what Katie Manning (who played Companion Jo Grant) said of him was true: “he never camped it up.” The character itself is something of a caricature, but Delgado always played the Master straight.

His Master was intelligent, polite, charming, sharp-witted, suave, persuasive (even without the hypnosis), and completely evil. He cared not one whit for what damage his plans might do to the universe or any minor players, as long as he got a thrill from it – and showed up the Doctor. With the easy way he could arch his eyebrow with disdain, he had me at “universally.”

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The Cat’s (Partly) Out of the Bag

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Review of A Good Man Goes to War
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

This one was a real mixed bag for me. Sure, it was a huge-scale production, with epic tie-ins where the Doctor called in favors from across time and space. But it all felt a bit too much. Also – the Spitfires? I ~edit~ hate the Spitfires-in-Space (…which you’d already know if I’d been blogging last year and had published the scathing review I wrote of Victory of the Daleks)! So take out a few of those called-in favors to make it feel less cobbled together (seriously, it has the kitchen sink feel of some of RTD’s most egregious I’m-trying-too-hard ventures), and the story will drive it just fine.

There is, after all, plenty of drama. Will our heroes recover the baby? What is the real motivation behind her abduction? How far will the Doctor go down the path to the Dark Side? (How far can Moffat take a religious order created via an off-the-cuff text message?) Oh, yeah – and who’s River Song?

The episode started out on a wonderful high. I thought it was a lovely twist how Amy talked up the man who was coming for Melody, making the viewers think she was referring to the Doctor (“he’s the last of his kind”; “he looks young, but he’s lived for hundreds and hundreds of years”). That misdirection made for a wonderful skip-a-beat moment when she said that man was Melody’s father, and in turn gave a slightly different meaning to the episode’s title, if one cares to interpret it that way. Not only that, but it bolsters our view of the Amy/Rory relationship and gives the ring of truth to his assertion that “she always knows that I am coming for her!” in Day of the Moon. God, how I love Rory the Badass Roman!

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Confession #11: I Miss the Serial Format

Is it possible to be nostalgic for a time when you weren’t even paying attention? If so, then that’s my situation. I never watched any of the pre-relaunch stories when they were current (not having grown up watching Who), and yet I’ve got a little it-was-better-in-the-old-days-itis.

From the very beginning, when the Doctor reluctantly kidnapped his first Companions to keep them from exposing him, it’s been about a story unfolding gradually over a matter of weeks, with occasional one- or two-episode arcs (though, admittedly, An Unearthly Child had very little to do with the three other episodes that immediately followed). I miss that continuity of episodes, the way one led directly into the next (even the last one of a story often set up the next story, at least very early on) – and the little cliffhangers every half hour. Among other things, the serial format allowed for more extended storytelling.

I think that’s actually a large part of why Torchwood: Children of Earth was so much better than first two Torchwood series, for example. An in-depth plot that doesn’t have to be wrapped up in 45 minutes makes it possible to give the same kind of rise and fall (maybe I’ve been watching too many dance shows lately…) that we find in the best literature. Writers (and cast) can explore the nuances of character relationships and motivations. It can also reduce the necessity for the kind of deus ex machina that has so irritated some fans (go ahead: add your favorite love-to-hate deus ex machina moment to the comments!). There’s time to give a slow buildup to a big reveal, and then yet more time to build tension while the Doctor devises a solution. Time can really be your enemy in a modern episode.

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The Almost Plot

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


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

OK, I’ll be honest:  the specifics of the ending surprised me.  As for the general shape of it, though, I totally called it (see my previous speculation regarding the Creepy Eyepatch Lady). That part wasn’t as heavily telegraphed as the events of either the previous episode or this one, but it’s all there if you go look for it (“breathe, Pond”).

What was just as obvious as in The Rebel Flesh was the “mistaken” identities. I already pointed out last time that there were almost certainly two Ganger Jennifers (poor Rory – finally grew a pair, only to discover he’d been led around by them). The further hints laid out here were again copious (e.g., the machinery won’t recognize her as a valid operator), but hardly more so than the hints that Amy was saving her affection for the “wrong” Doctor. I’m not even sure how we were supposed to get fooled by that, since just about the only time we see the “distinguishing” shoes is the initial close-up on them; all we have to go on is the other characters’ reactions to the supposed DoppelDoctor. The only surprise would have been if they hadn’t mixed them up. After all, what’s more cliché than the Beast really being a Prince (unless it’s the inverse)?

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End of an Era

Review of Planet of the Spiders (#74)

DVD Release Date: 10 May 11
Original Air Date: 04 May – 08 Jun 1974
Doctor/Companion:   Three, Sarah Jane Smith, with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Stars:  Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, with Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story:  The Monster of Peladon (Three, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story:  Robot (Four, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier)

The last story I reviewed was all about firsts.  This one’s rather the opposite, as Three’s swan song. I’d heard lots about it for that reason, and even seen the final regeneration scene a couple of times on YouTube (it’s so much better in context). I’m really pleased finally to have the opportunity to see the whole thing. I suspect that if I’d been soaking in it at the time (you know… if I’d been a Brit, and old enough to watch tellie), it would’ve been even more of a thrill to watch.

As it is, I can kind of watch it from two perspectives:  Historic Story (HS) and Standard Fare (SF). As HS, it’s got lots of portent, what with the whole Cho-je/K’anpo/Doctor dynamic that only comes to a head in the last episode or two; it’s nice seeing a little more of the Doctor’s personal history. There are also little nods all over the place to the entire Pertwee era – from the Metebelius crystal coming back to UNIT from Jo (who’s off galavanting in the jungle) to the redemption of Mike Yates (former Capt. with UNIT, who turned traitor in a previous story) to the fabulous Sgt. Benton almost blithely offering to risk his life in the Doctor’s stead (“Wouldn’t it be better for me to have a go first? I mean, I’m expendable and you’re not.”).

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A Beautiful, Um, Friendship?

Review of Terror of the Autons (#55)

DVD Release Date: 10 May 11
Original Air Date: 02 – 23 Jan 1971
Doctor/Companion:   Three, Jo Grant, with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Stars:  Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, with Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story:  Inferno (Three, Liz Shaw, the Brigadier)
Succeeding Story:  The Mind of Evil (Three, Jo, the Brigadier)

How can you not love stories that you know in retrospect to be The Start of Something?  At the beginning of Three’s second season, having been stranded on Earth sidekicking for UNIT for a year now, the Doctor needs a new “assistant” – and a new challenge.  Enter three new regulars:  Jo Grant, Capt. Mike Yates, and the Master.  I wonder if anyone at the time had any idea how big an impact their new villain would have…

This story is full of win. Not only do we get the aforementioned introductions (including the Master’s hypnotic control of others, and his Tissue Compression Eliminator), but we get some key “rare appearances,” too. For example, we have only seen another Time Lord or another TARDIS a couple of times before (in The Time Meddler and The War Games), and the Autons last appeared in Three’s first adventure (Spearhead from Space). There’s also lots more of the same things we’ve already come to love (e.g., the Brigadier and the Doctor snarking at each other with some glee).Aside from all these classic, eminently Whosome moments (running up and down exterior stairs! a twisted ankle!), there are also a few lovely flash-forwards to modern episodes. The fact that the Autons are controlled by a large, round radio telescope (“Danger: Keep Clear of Radio Telescopes,” reads one sign; Four obviously had forgotten that advice) immediately makes Nine’s search for a transmitter in Rose a more obvious task. Later, when Three and Jo discover their driver is actually an Auton, I couldn’t help but think of Runaway Bride.

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