Doctor Who

[orokiah]

fenris said:

I thought 'Smith & Jones', the first episode of the third season, managed to juggle quite a few balls without dropping them - just. Predominately this story was about the introduction of new companion Martha, and in that respect it was much more accomplished than it's first season equivalent 'Rose'.

I really enjoyed it, and I thought Martha was great. Rose who?

Loved the none-too-subtle name of the consultant too - 'Mr Stoker'. Death by alien vampire was only fitting really.

[fenris]

Have to say that I thought yesterday's episode was below par.

It seems this third series of New Who is sticking rigidly to a formula established in the previous two seasons: the first season had an episode entitled 'The Unquiet Dead', in the Doctor and Rose travelled back in time, met a famous person (Charles Dickens) and encountered apparently supernatural beings (ghosts) whom actually turned out to be aliens intending to conquer Earth.
The second season had an episode called 'Tooth & Claw' in which the Doctor and Rose travelled back in time, met a famous person (Queen Victoria), and encountered an apparently supernatural creature (a werewolf) who actually turned out to a human infected by an alien presence which was intending to take over the British Empire and therefore the world.
Now, in the third season, the Doctor and Martha travel back in time, meet a famous person (William Shakespeare), encounter apparently supernatural beings (a trio of witches) who actually turn out to be aliens planning to release the remainder of their race from another dimension and conquer the world. Ho hum.

A lack of originality wouldn't be a problem if the story was any good, but it wasn't. A running joke from 'Tooth & Claw' (Rose repeatedly trying to get Victoria to utter the immortal phrase "We are not amused") is repeated here, with the Doctor constantly quoting lines from plays that Shakespeare hasn't written yet, and each time the bard saying "That's good - can I have it?" However, it wasn't funny in 'Tooth & Claw', just annoying, and to see it revisited here, purely in an attempt to get cheap and easy laughs, just smacks of lazy script-writing of the worst kind.

The fact that the villains of the piece - witches who look like hook-nosed crones, cast spells over a cauldron, and even ride broomsticks through the night sky (!) - are ultimately revealed as being aliens, and their magic explained as merely being a type of science, was another weakness. Wouldn't it have been far easier and less credibility-stretching if they had just been genuine witches with actual supernatural abilities, who were attempting to summon a demon or dramatically increase their powers? Where does it say that the Doctor has to fight aliens every week?

The 'old crone' make-up on the witches was also very fake, and basically looked quite silly. Surely it would have been far better to simply portray them as being three beautiful young girls?

There was also a gaping plothole during the climax: when Shakespeare tries to stop the play, the witches swiftly use their doll in his likeness to knock him out. So why didn't they simply do it again while he was ab-libbing the long, lengthy speech needed to close the portal?

On the plus side, the casting of our very own Christina Cole as the main witch was surely no coincidence, and an amusing nod to her Hexan past. And the final scene in which Shakespeare cheerfully revealed that he had worked out the Doctor was from another world and Martha from the future, was nicely handled. But that aside, this episode was unmistakably a dud.

[robgairey]

Many thanks fenris! I agree with you wholeheartedly about episode 2. I so much wanted to like it more than I did, especially with Christina Cole in a central role. The scene I did love was the Doctor / Lilith confrontation before the climax. But, I agree, the cliches and line quoting gags were just irritating - and the whole thing, despite the sumptuous look to the production, had a "seen and heard it all before" vibe.

It's the Deleks in Manhatten story I'm looking forward to most - that at least looks more inspired - particularly with Spooks' Miranda Raison doing a song and dance number as a New York showgirl!

[fenris]

A user on the SFX forum called Mr. Blinky posted the following about Christina's appearance on Who. It made me smile, so I hope he won't mind me cutting and pasting it here;

Doesn't the stunningly pretty Christina Cole have stunningly pretty hands? I'm not, like, a hand fetishist or anything, but they were pure digit porn!

Mr. Blinky also had this to say;

This news just in: following the success of 'The Shakespeare Code', Russel T. Davies has announced that filming has just wrapped on the pilot episode of new Doctor Who spin-off, Totally Close-Ups Of Christina Cole Just Smiling Seductively At The Camera For Forty-Five Minutes.

Initial B.A.R.B. data indicates that test audiences found the episode to be more captivating than Doctor Who, sexier than Torchwood and capable of evoking the same warm glow as The Sarah Jane Adventures, just not in the same place...

[fenris]

robgairey said:

It's the Daleks in Manhatten story I'm looking forward to most - that at least looks more inspired - particularly with Spooks' Miranda Raison doing a song and dance number as a New York showgirl!

Ooo. I quite like Miranda Raison. Dressed as a showgirl, you say? In that case, I'm looking forward to that episode as well!

[robgairey]

Just two weeks to go before "Daleks in Manhatten". That is, unless next week's football match scuppers it for an additional week. But, to whet your appetite...

[DreamDangerously]

As per usual I disagree. (what's new eh? ) I quite enjoyed the episode. I liked the quotes from the plays being a Shakespeare buff myself, (and after all, it worked pretty well in Shakespeare in Love as well) and the sycorax reference raised a smile - I love The Tempest. I thought it was apt that this mystic obsessed race of aliens would seek a suitable home in a superstitious Tudor England that explained science beyond their grasp with magic and religion.

I loved seeing the globe being used in the episode and if you think hard enough you can explain away any of the "magic" inconsistanies but what the hell, it's not supposed to be rocket science and lets not pretend that Doctor Who is a particularly consistant show when it comes to science and technology.

It was a fun episode and as per usual with Saturday night TV there is always the risk of over analysing what is, on the grand scheme of things, a show based on a pretty silly precept anyway when you think about it - time travelling alien fighter!

In my mind the three 'witches' looked like stereotypical crones for a good reason, the subtext kind of implies that this is where Shakespeare will get his inspiration for Macbeth as it's specifically mentioned that he hadn't written it yet. Not three nubile girls in that particular play I'm afraid and by the sounds of things there'd have been an outbreak of temporary blindness if they had been!

Having seen the third episode the formulaic nature of the second and third episode's locations have been explained in regards to Martha, the whole notion of her being a 'rebound' companion.

I was going to post about the third episode but I'll come back to that one later.

[orokiah]

fenris said:

There was also a gaping plothole during the climax: when Shakespeare tries to stop the play, the witches swiftly use their doll in his likeness to knock him out. So why didn't they simply do it again while he was ab-libbing the long, lengthy speech needed to close the portal?

Interesting... Good spot! Didn't notice that.

I agree that the 'let's quote Shakespeare to his face' conceit has been done to death...but it was so much fun! I always get a kick out of characters going back in time and somehow influencing Shakespeare to write his masterpieces. There's a really excellent original Trek story in a book called Strange New Worlds III that does much the same thing, except it's Uhura who inspires the dark lady sonnets and not Martha. Although I think the one this Shakespeare quoted was more of a pick-up line than anything.

The '57 academics just punched the air' line still makes me giggle too. Ruthlessly on target.

Enjoyed last night's third episode too, a total change of pace: the idea of congestion being so bad people were stuck in their cars for years on end could easily have strayed towards being preachy but I think it stayed just the right side of topical. The characters singing along to hymns could have been very cheesy indeed but it was actually quite moving. I did like the way the episode was bookended with the Doctor describing his homeworld to Martha - the last scene in particular was acted to perfection. And of course the kittens were cute too.

As much as I enjoy Who, in past series I could take it or leave it some weeks, to be honest; so far this is the first series that's really captured my attention week in week out.

[DreamDangerously]

orokiah said:

As much as I enjoy Who, in past series I could take it or leave it some weeks, to be honest; so far this is the first series that's really captured my attention week in week out.

I completely agree. I think the addition of Martha really has brought a bit more life to the show and allows for character development with The Doctor far more than the cutesy poo relationship with Rose really could.

[fenris]

Episode 3.03: 'Gridlock'.

Lots to enjoy in this episode, considering it was based on the rather slim premise of motorway congestion taken to it's ultimate extreme (and therefore reminiscent of the 'Judge Dredd' stories in 2000AD, in which overcrowding and living-space-shortages in Mega City One result in citizens living permanently on the move, in speeding auto-piloted motorhomes). Ardal O'Hanlon was a hoot as Brannigan, and the scene of the Doctor travelling from vehicle to vehicle and encountering a cross-section of New New York inhabitants in the process (including a naturalist couple - the first time there's ever been a hint of female nudity in Who) was well handled. I especially liked Brannigan remarking of the Doctor: "He's insane - and quite magnificent."

It was also nice to see the reappearance of Novice Hame, one of the well-meaning villainesses from last year's 'New Earth', who had found redemption by single-handedly keeping the Face of Boe alive for several decades - and therefore by extension saving the lives of everyone in the Undercity. The sight of her bursting upside-down through the roof of Brannigan's vehicle, brandishing a laser-rifle, was a highlight.

Incidentally, Hame and the Face of Boe weren't the only returning characters. Giant alien crabs the Macra had previously appeared in an Original Who story screened way back in 1967.

But (and I'm afraid there is a but), enjoyable though this episode was, the central concept totally falls apart upon any kind of examination. We are supposed to believe that the travellers on the motorway have all been stuck there for several years - or even a couple of decades - but in all that time they'd never been bothered by the total lack of communication with the city above, apart from the holographic traffic reports. True, some of the motorway inhabitants do look a bit uneasy when the Doctor starts asking if they've ever seen a police car or repair vehicle, as though he's voicing something that they've often suspected but won't admit to themselves. But if these people really have been cooped up in their confined vehicles for years, one thing they will have had plenty of time to do is think, and if you spend too much time thinking, trust me, you're soon be dredging up some pretty dark thoughts.

I just find it hard to believe that the motorway travellers had all managed to stay so calm, cheerful and sane, hadn't violently fallen out with the partners they were cooped up with, hadn't conjured up all kinds of conspiracy theories about why they were all stuck down there, and hadn't all had complete psychotic breakdowns.

Part of the problem is that while Original Who stories were usually 4 x 25 minute episodes, the stories in New Who (apart from the occasional two-parter) are only 45 minutes. In Original Who, the Doctor would arrive on some planet which had a seriously flawed, problematic society or system of government, and would often encounter (and/or join forces with) free-thinkers who were asking questions, or resistance fighters trying to bring down the old order.
But in New Who there's simply no time for that kind of backstory, and so instead the Doctor has to go around saving the day single-handedly.

Sorry if I sound too nit-picky. Bottom line is that 'Gridlock' was a lot of fun. Provided you don't think about it afterwards.

[DreamDangerously]

I agree with all the pluses of that particular episode.

I think what you see as a plot hole WAS tackled in the epsiode, quite clearly.

Firstly, and no there wasn't enough development of this but again it was there in the subtext, this is a religious socitey. The joint hymns demonstated that there is some kind of communal, strong faith going on. From there it's not a hop, skip and jump to the idea that these people believe that they're being guided to a better life. With most of the drivers you can see they've questioned the validity of their life themselves but blind faith wins out.

Also there's also the fact that most of them expressed the beleif that there was a government/police etc and if they just stuck to what they were told they'd get out. Most people will happily go about their lives not questioning the government and ignoring uncomfortable truths. Society in this country pretty much bares that one out!

But as i said in my previous post. At the end of the day it's a sci fi show and however much we debate and discuss them, they're all pretty silly underneath it all.

[fenris]

You raise some interesting and valid points, DD. I agree that the idea of the motorway travellers belonging to a strong faith-based society would partly explain their placid acceptance of their situation. Perhaps the fact that Novice Hame and the other cat-nurses from last year's 'New Earth' also appear to be (judging by their uniforms) part of a nun-like order is a further visual indicator?

I also agree though that this possible explanation needed substantially more development. As I suggested in my previous post, the enforced 45 minute running time is really hurting some of the New Who stories.


Anyway, onto this week's episode: 'Daleks in Manhattan.'

There was a pleasingly Original Who feel to this story. Being a two-parter, the setting, characters, and storyline all had time to develop without being rushed. We even got to see the Doctor and friends running down series of tunnels (an Original Who tradition). I loved the unexpected and surprisingly thoughtful scene in which one of the Cult of Skaro and their human minion looked out over New York and pondered about Mankind's ability to survive.

When I saw the trailers for this episode, I have to confess that Miranda Raison's Noo Yawk accent made my teeth grate, but happily once I'd heard it for about thirty seconds in the episode itself, I didn't really notice it. And wasn't Raison absolutely gorgeous?



I've always liked her in Spooks, but I'm not afraid to say that upon seeing her in that glittery angel costume, I've fallen madly in lust with the saucy minx. Does anyone know if she did her own singing in the song-and-dance number? If so, then I'm really impressed.

The only downer this week was the underwhelming cliffhanger. The Dalek/human hybrid looked as though it had wandered in from an old episode of Space Precinct.

[DreamDangerously]

fenris said:

There was a pleasingly Original Who feel to this story. Being a two-parter, the setting, characters, and storyline all had time to develop without being rushed. We even got to see the Doctor and friends running down series of tunnels (an Original Who tradition). I loved the unexpected and surprisingly thoughtful scene in which one of the Cult of Skaro and their human minion looked out over New York and pondered about Mankind's ability to survive.



The only downer this week was the underwhelming cliffhanger. The Dalek/human hybrid looked as though it had wandered in from an old episode of Space Precinct.

I absolutely agree on both counts.

The depression era in America is the perfect place for the Daleks to be hiding out, lots of poor and needy who are dispensable and they look so at home amongst the art deco behemoth of the Empire State Building!

The accents did bug me mostly just because they kind of jar you out of the suspension of disbelief and it can sound a bit A-Level theatre studies if you know what I mean. (except Ryan Carnes of course who is the gen-yew-ine article) It was the kind of thing you could mostly ignore though.

It was nice to see Andrew Garfield (Tom in Sugar Rush) making an appearance!

Oh but oh that human dalek was terrible! I would have rather the Dalek have just taken over the whole of the human's body rather than the strange squid on head affair. It looked just low budget and awful!

[orokiah]

Ah, Space Precinct...brings back some memories! Simone Bendix was the best thing about that show by a considerable distance. Whatever happened to her anyway..?

dreamdangerously said:

Oh but oh that human dalek was terrible! I would have rather the Dalek have just taken over the whole of the human's body rather than the strange squid on head affair. It looked just low budget and awful!

His mimicking of the Dalek voice, which is one of the most distinctive things about them anyway, was superb and would have been enough for me on its own. "I...am...a....human...Da-lek". Heh. I guess they wanted the frankly bizarre-looking visual to hammer it home but it was more laughable than it was scary!

I've seen a few unkind comments elsewhere suggesting Rose would have failed the Dalek intelligence test and been carted away to become a pig slave. Now I'm loving Martha but that's just mean. ;D

There was a pleasingly Original Who feel to this story. Being a two-parter, the setting, characters, and storyline all had time to develop without being rushed.

Totally agree. The story and the supporting characters needed and deserved time to develop and they got it in spades. This two-parter is shaping up to be excellent, far better than the Cyberman two-parter last series, and on the back of that I'd love to see them go for a three or even four part story next year; but it's never going to happen. At least we have 'The Infinite Quest' to make up for it.

[orokiah]

fenris said:

I've always liked her in Spooks, but I'm not afraid to say that upon seeing her in that glittery angel costume, I've fallen madly in lust with the saucy minx. Does anyone know if she did her own singing in the song-and-dance number? If so, then I'm really impressed.

Doing the dreaded double post to add that Miranda Raison was on 'Totally Doctor Who' this afternoon and apparently she did indeed do her own singing. Talented lady.

[Yup, I admit it, I record 'Totally Doctor Who'... In my defence though I do fast forward past the Team Totally bits. ]