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Dashing and Debonair

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Review of the Eighth Doctor’s era

1996
The Movie

Given that my first DVD review for the blog was of The Movie, a lot of what I have to say about this particular story has already been said. However, here it is my intention to focus less on the plot and more on the characterization of the Doctor and the production context of the piece, to be consistent with my other commentaries on the various Doctors’ eras.

First off, I love that even though it was primarily an American production, those involved did everything possible to maintain continuity with the pre-Hiatus series. In no particular order, these ties include the Seal of Rassilon throughout the TARDIS (as seen during the eras of Four, Five, and Seven, at least); the use of jelly babies (Four); the Doctor reading Wells’ The Time Machine (he met Wells as Six); the pseudonym John Smith (Two, Three); the appearance of a long, striped scarf while Eight is finding clothes (Four); a classic first reaction to the TARDIS’ dimensional transcendence (everyone); the need to give the TARDIS console a bit of a konk to make it behave (many Doctors); and, most importantly, the regeneration from Seven (which actually doesn’t come until ~20 minutes in).

Sure, there are plenty of things that don’t quite sit right. But that’s going to happen when there are so many fingers in the pie, and some of those fingers are trying to stir up a more “American” flavor (a “car” chase? in Who? hmmm…). I could point out plot inconsistencies (like why would there be a tour of the operating arena at 10pm?), but that’s kind of below the belt. All eras of Who have that; you just have to ignore it.

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Sly and Enigmatic

Review of the Seventh Doctor’s era

1987 – 1989
Time and the Rani
Paradise Towers
Delta and the Bannermen
Dragonfire		 Remembrance of the Daleks
The Happiness Patrol
Silver Nemesis
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy		 Battlefield
Ghost Light
The Curse of Fenric
Survival

For fans who liked the way Series Six wrapped up and the hints of where the show is going next (all that business with The First Question), Seven ought to be right up your alley. Part of the production team’s new vision during Seven’s tenure was to bring back a bit of the character’s innate mystery and make the show a little darker and more engaging thereby.

It really starts up during the 25th anniversary season’s opening story, Remembrance of the Daleks. Some of the Doctor’s word choices are suggestive of his presence in the time of Rassilon and Omega (possibly as The Other: “…and didn’t we have trouble with the prototpye”). In the following story (Silver Nemesis), he again elaborates on Gallifreyan history, mentioning Rassilon and Omega in the same breath once more. More tellingly, though, antagonist Lady Peinforte has learned the Doctor’s secret, taunting Ace with, “Doctor Who? Have you never wondered where he came from? Who he is?” before talking of the Old Time and the Time of Chaos on Gallifrey. Seven seems apprehensive until the moment passes, his secret safe. In yet a later story, he’s asked if he has any family. His quiet “I don’t know” makes the certainty of the upcoming Last Great Time War almost seem like a relief.

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Abrasive and Melodramatic

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Review of the Sixth Doctor’s era

1984 – 1986
The Twin Dilemma* Attack of the Cybermen
Vengeance on Varos
The Mark of the Rani
The Two Doctors
Timelash
Revelation of the Daleks		 The Mysterious Planet
Mindwarp
Terror of the Vervoids
The Ultimate Foe**
  *This was the last story of Season 21. Nearly 10 months elapsed before his next appearance in Season 22.
**Collectively, Season 23 is known as Trial of a Timelord, and is sometimes counted as a single story.

As devotees (are there any?) of the blog will know, Six is ~ahem~ not my favorite Doctor. However, he has his own peculiar charms, as I’ve come to appreciate over time, and I have to give Colin Baker props for doing as good a job as he did whilst getting shafted simultaneously by writers and by higher-ups at the Beeb.

Among the more objectionable characteristics of the Regeneration in my mind are his brash tone – he tends to repeat comments made to him incredulously to show his disagreement (reminiscent of Four, actually) – and his tendency to talk down to his Companions, particularly Peri. The poor thing gets told things like, “Do use your brain, my girl. Small though it is, the human brain can be quite effective when used properly” on a fairly regular basis. Pompous much?

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Ignore the Dinosaurs Behind the Curtain

Review of Invasion of the Dinosaurs (#71)
DVD Release Date:  10 Jan 12
Original Air Date:  12 Jan – 16 Feb 1974
Doctor/Companion:  Three, Sarah Jane Smith, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Stars:  Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story:  The Time Warrior (Three, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story:  Death to the Daleks (Three, Sarah Jane)

What can one really say about low-budget mid-70’s television dinosaurs? Certainly nothing flattering. I mean, I give them credit for trying – the script did rather present them with an impossible task, after all. Dinosaurs in Central London? Not something you can just “work around” and keep the story at all intact. That doesn’t disguise the fact that they’re rubber rubbish.

So if we are to take this story anything close to seriously, we need to get one thing straight right off the bat: the effects are heinously poor, but you have to pretend they’re good. Break out some mental steel cable to keep your disbelief willingly suspended if necessary, but make it work. Because behind those shoddy Cretaceous monstrosities is a pretty good science fiction plot.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are just returning from her first, unintentional adventure with him. When they land, they find London deserted. Eventually, they learn a veritable plague of dinosaurs has descended on the city and prompted a mass evacuation. From there, intrigues abound and chronobabble flows freely while, as they say, the plot thickens.

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Pub Kraal

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Review of The Android Invasion (#83)
DVD Release Date:  10 Jan 12
Original Air Date:  22 Nov – 13 Dec 1975
Doctor/Companion:  Four, Sarah Jane Smith
Stars:  Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen
Preceding Story:  Pyramids of Mars (Four, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story:  The Brain of Morbius (Four, Sarah Jane)

We don’t often get to see a non-Dalek Who story by Terry Nation, but this is one of those times. It’s clear he’s got a good sense of plotting, and loves a good action scene. He also does a lovely job with a rather unexpected twist (as well as a couple of obvious ones). So right off, there’s some pedigree to recommend The Android Invasion.

Then there are the androids themselves. Maybe because it’s one of those idyllic English villages at the center of things, but the creepy behavior of the “villagers” in the local pub can really get under your skin. I suppose there’s a bit of the Uncanny Valley at work. There is, of course, one very well-known doppelgänger to watch out for (if you aren’t familiar with the face-falls-off-the-android scene to which I refer, I won’t spoil it further for you), and the performances of the individuals who have to be androids are actually quite well done.

In contrast, the poor actors forced to play the Kraals (the aliens of the piece) have to put up with heavy rubber masks that had to have been nigh-impossible to move (let alone act) in. Their obvious artificiality scupper any credence the Kraals had as a force to be reckoned with, and stretch the believability of pieces of the larger plot thereby.

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Excitable and Exasperated

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Review of the Fifth Doctor’s era

1982 – 1984
Castrovalva
Four to Doomsday
Kinda
The Visitation
Black Orchid
Earthshock
Time-Flight		 Arc of Infinity
Snakedance
Mawdryn Undead
Terminus
Enlightenment
The King’s Demons
The Five Doctors (Special)		 Warriors of the Deep
The Awakening
Frontios
Resurrection of the Daleks
Planet of Fire
The Caves of Androzani

 

There’s a lot about Five that feels eminently Doctor-y to me. It could be that Ten is “my” Doctor, and Five was Tennant’s, so a lot of mannerisms and such carried over. But the way Five gets so excited about possible solutions to the problems he faces – almost frenetic at times – is very much part of what I consider “the Doctor.” He’s quick-witted yet fallible, and has great love for his Companions even as he gets irritated with them on a regular basis.

Nowhere is that more obvious than in his relationship with Tegan, one of the longest-running Companions. They constantly snark at each other, yet in threatening circumstances each strives to protect the other. When his off-kilter regeneration threatens his well-being, Tegan takes charge, keeping control of the situation with an “excuse me – I’m responsible for the Doctor!” Conversely, he often tries to bolster her courage with a “brave heart, Tegan!”

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The Caretaker, the Matriarch and the Disappointment

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Review of The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

Let me say right up front that this was my favorite Christmas Special to date. Despite being fully engaged and along for the ride almost the whole way through, though, I found myself ripped out of the moment and slammed back into my seat with my Critic’s Hat jammed tight on my head by the predictable and saccharine crowning plot twist. But I’ll get back to that later.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

TDtWatW got off to a strong start with a wonderfully irrelevant introduction sequence. It gave us yet another glimpse at what the Doctor gets up to when he’s not traveling with a Companion (or even just when we don’t see him on screen). Although it was patently ridiculous (as some of the best Who is), the Doctor’s “entrance” and our introduction to Madge give us a beautiful snapshot of her personality, and set us up to suspend our disbelief quite willingly through the rest of the hour.

Her eventual heartbreak at losing her husband (c’mon – that’s hardly a spoiler; the title says “Widow”!) and the way she choses to approach that with her children provide some of the most “real” and emotionally engaging television I’ve seen in a long time (again; more later). Thus we’re set up with another family separated by wartime, ready to walk into one of the Doctor’s good deeds gone wrong.

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Flippant and Compelled

Review of the Fourth Doctor’s era, Part 2

1978 – 1981
The Ribos Operation
The Pirate Planet
The Stones of Blood
The Androids of Tara
The Power of Kroll
The Armageddon Factor		 Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death
The Creature from the Pit
Nightmare of Eden
The Horns of Nimon
Shada*		 The Leisure Hive
Meglos
Full Circle
State of Decay
Warriors’ Gate
The Keeper of Traken
Logopolis
*Due to a labor strike, filming for this story was never completed.

 

During his later years, Four seemed to mellow a bit. There were no longer the angry outbursts that could occasionally surprise us with their vehemence; instead, he was jocular even to the point of flippancy. The silliness seemed especially rampant in his adventures with Romana II, perhaps because she seemed especially inclined to dish it back to him deadpan (after she gets past the residual helplessness that plagued her earlier Regeneration). As such, the second part of his run feels more light-hearted, up to the last season.

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Manic and Menacing

Review of the Fourth Doctor’s era, Part 1

1975* – 1978
Robot
The Ark in Space
The Sontaran Experiment
Genesis of the Daleks
Revenge of the Cybermen		 Terror of the Zygons
Planet of Evil
Pyramids of Mars
The Android Invasion
The Brain of Morbius
The Seeds of Doom		 The Masque of Mandragora
The Hand of Fear
The Deadly Assassin
The Face of Evil
The Robots of Death
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
Horror of Fang Rock
The Invisible Enemy
Image of the Fendahl
The Sun Makers
Underworld
The Invasion of Time
*Only the first episode of Robot aired before 1975, on 28 Dec 1974.

After a brief pause for Eleven, I got right back in the marathon saddle with Four. Three had had the longest run yet (five seasons), and Tom Baker was relatively unknown when he came into the role. People weren’t too sure they were going to like this new guy. Of course, as you probably already know, he went on to become the most popular Doctor of all time (until Tennant became Ten, if you believe certain polls), as well as the  longest-running, with a total of seven series to his credit.

From the get-go, Four was a bit off-the-wall (witness the costumes he presented to the Brigadier as possibilities before settling on his well-known look). With his huge, toothy grin and unruly curls, he came across as an even bigger clown than the Cosmic Hobo (Two), but there was steel beneath that outer veneer. We get frequent glimpses of the deep-seated rage that bubbles out more frequently in his post-Hiatus personas – Four is not afraid to let his exasperation with intolerance and incompetence turn to anger. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and it can be a bit frightening.

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The Impossible Series Plot

Review of The Complete Sixth Series
DVD Release Date:  22 Nov 11
Original Air Date:  25 Dec 2010 – 01 Oct 2011
Doctor/Companion:  Eleven, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song
Stars:  Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston
Preceding Story:  The Big Bang (Eleven, Amy, Rory, River)
Succeeding Story:  The Doctor, the Widow & the Wardrobe (Eleven)

Since the blog began with a review of the first episode included in this boxed set (A Christmas Carol), I won’t go into details about my views on each one. As a reminder, though, I’ll list for you the thirteen regular episodes of the series here, with links to the associated reviews:

Look back over that list and take a moment to think about what this series was. There was some great stuff (as The Doctor’s Wife), some stinkers (I’m looking at you, Rebel Flesh/Almost People), and some mixed bags (Good Man gave us both the scintillating Mdme. Vastra and the regrettable “kitchen sink approach to cameos”). Mostly, though, it was about something “inevitable” (the Doctor’s death) that we all knew was never going to happen. I’m not sure why Moffat decided to go that route. As I’ve said before, no one over the age of eight ever believed the Doctor was really and truly dead – or at least that he would really and truly remain so. That takes a heck of a lot of suspense right out the window along with your credibility. So I suppose in the end, it was all a question of how he’d get out of it, rather than of whether.

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