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You forgot to mention the best part of "Remembrance of the Daleks": Ace opening up a can of whoop-ass on a Dalek with a BASEBALL BAT! And then, for an encore, firing a bazooka at one! Oh yeah!

Do I even need to mention that? That is Ace's defining moment in the fandom.

"SMALL HU-MAN FE-MALE SIGH-TED ON LEV-EL THREE!"

"Who're you callin' small?!"

Not only that, but it also inspired the creation of the Crowning Moment of Awesome trope on TV Tropes.

Even so, I also love how you get hints of Ace's backstory (later made explicit in Ghost Light and the novelisation of Remembrance) when she gets disgusted by the "NO COLOUREDS" sign and Mike Smith trying to justify his actions by giving her that sort of xenophobic cant. I'm surprised she didn't go for him with a baseball bat. That being said, in the New Adventures novel Legacy, the Doctor, who had by that time done some rather horrible things to Ace, albeit with the best of intentions, hears her beating the s**t out of a teddy bear in her room in the TARDIS and screaming obscenities at it. He believes, with some justification, that it is him whom she is angry at, but he later learns that the stuffed animal had the name 'Mike Smith' on it.

Anyway, only four stories to go. That's Battlefield, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric, and Survival. After that, I'll take a break, probably for a few weeks, and then come back with a catch-up of any serials I am yet to watch for this thing. Yes, the TV Movie will be included in that catch-up, simply because I don't have an era to put it into. The final stories to be put in the catch-up will be decided at a later date, but will include all special editions.

As for doing the new series, I still haven't decided. Once I finish my catch-up, I'll decide, one way or another. Hopefully, by the time that I decide to do the new series, the first half of series 6 will be out on DVD and available at the library and the rest of it will be recorded on my HD Recorder.

REVIEW: Battlefield by Ben Aaronovitch

SERIAL: 7N, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Doctor Who has dealt with parallel universes a number of times during its time on television. One of the first such forays was the Jon Pertwee story Inferno, and an alternate future where Sutekh devastated the Earth was seen in Pyramids of Mars. Ben Aaronovitch, having found success with Remembrance of the Daleks the previous season, was now brought in to write a story which ties the Doctor Who mythos in with the legends of King Arthur...

The Doctor and Ace intercept a distress signal at the same time that a UNIT nuclear missile convoy in the near-future has been stranded near Lake Vortigern in Carbury. Making himself known to Brigadier Winifred Bambera, the Doctor finds that a local archaeologist is obsessed with Arthurian legend. But legend soon turns out to be reality, when armoured knights from another reality begin fighting, and they seem to recognise the Doctor as Merlin, despite the fact that the Doctor never was. But he could be, in the future. Meanwhile, due to the Doctor's involvement, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is called out of retirement. There is a weird spaceship at the bottom of the lake. And Morgaine of the Fey is coming to this world, looking for a final reckoning with Arthur and Merlin. And if the Doctor and Lethbridge-Stewart aren't careful, this will be their last battlefield...

It's been noted that it's rather surprising that the series hasn't delved into Arthurian legend before, and to a degree, this works well in the favour of the story. Battlefield doesn't have quite as much fanw*** as Remembrance of the Daleks, but still has the Brigadier. Not only that, but it also has the Doctor confronting his own possible future as Merlin, and some nice anti-war themes.

Character wise, well, the Doctor, Ace, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart get some nice lines and performances by their respective actors. Brigadier Bambera is an interesting character, brought marvellously to life by Angela Bruce (a pity we couldn't see more of her), as is Ling Tai's role as Ace's friend Shou Yuing. Jean Marsh is an absolute delight as the complex character of Morgaine, a villainess who nonetheless is one of the most complex and morally ambiguous in the classic series (and, by the way, is the second time in the series that she has been on screen with Nicholas Courtney, though during that story, Marsh's character shot him). Christopher Bowen's Mordred, unfortunately, is just too theatrical and panto, especially with his insane laugh while summoning his mother. There isn't enough development of other characters, but this can be left to slide.

Production wise, the story is a little variable. The knights' blasters don't look right with their armour, and you can see Mordred's armour bending as if it were rubber (which, in all likelihood, it was). Some of the model shots are duff, and the sequence where Ancelyn is thrown into the air by a grenade's blast is just ludicrous. Some of the spaceship sets need work, too, to make it more organic-looking and not like a dance club. Still, there's some nice effects, especially of the Destroyer.

Battlefield, then, is a nice little story that's pretty good, but has a flaw too many. Still, anyone who said that Doctor Who died well before the McCoy era should look at this story and consider otherwise.



SCORE: 9/10

REVIEW: Ghost Light by Marc Platt

SERIAL: 7Q, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Of all the companions in the classic series, perhaps the most well-developed one was Ace. A delinquent from late 1980s Perivale, London, Ace had a lot of insecurities. While some of her character was explored in season 25 (with the implications of her intolerance of racism in Remembrance of the Daleks, and her fear of clowns in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy), it is in the final season of the show that her character gets explored most. Ghost Light was the last story to be made in the classic series, and the only script from fan Marc Platt. But in this story, we'd have even more exploration of the character of a companion than ever before...

Gabriel Chase, a mansion in a village in 1883, is home to controversial Darwinist and naturalist Josiah Samuel Smith, and he has received some visitors. The Reverend Earnest Matthews, out to debunk this Darwinist upstart, has arrived conventionally by the front door, while the Doctor, landing the TARDIS in an attic observatory, has brought Ace here for an initiative test. But the sinister house has secrets. In a basement lurks a monstrous prisoner, while none of the regular house staff will remain after dark. Josiah himself cannot stand the light, and is waited on by a Neanderthal servant. The explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper is searching the house for himself, deranged by a malevolent influence. The Doctor soon learns that Josiah is not human, that he has taken over Gabriel Chase for his own purposes. But for Ace, the revelations are worse: she burnt down this house a century in the future after feeling its influence in the aftermath of a personal tragedy, and the Doctor brought her here deliberately to confront her worst fears. While Ace grapples with the memories as well as the deranged inhabitants, the Doctor, in order to stop Josiah's plans, must enlist the grotesque Control to free their master, the angelic being known as Light. But perhaps the Doctor has miscalculated, a mistake which might cost the lives of every living being on Earth...

Having been trained in biology and enjoying reading about evolution, Ghost Light is a particular pleasure for me. While some people may not understand the concepts involved (Control is a literal scientific control organism, designed to remain the same while Josiah changes into the dominant life form) and some aspects of the story are obscure (partly because of substantial cuts made to the program), it is a story that one can come to time and time again and find something new. I once heard that this story is Doctor Who for the video generation, and while it is not alone in that regard (Warrior's Gate and Kinda come to mind), it is also an apt description. For a debut script, the only real fault is in its obscurity and one minor plot hole (what the hell is with Fenn-Cooper's snuff box? What is its significance?). As it is, it's an excellent horror story with lashings of black comedy (like Light 'dismantling' a maid, or Josiah calling Inspector Mackenzie, reduced to primordial soup, 'the cream of Scotland Yard').

The characters are all, without exception, excellent. The Doctor gets some dark moments, manipulating Ace into a situation she doesn't want to be in and manipulating Control, and Sylvester McCoy is really on the ball here. So too is Sophie Aldred as Ace, showing one of her best performances as she lambasts the Doctor for tricking her and suffering from flashbacks of the attack on Manisha, her friend. Ian Hogg is a delight as Josiah, Catherine Schlesinger as Gwendoline and Sylvia Sims as Pritchard do well, along with Carl Forgione as the Neanderthal Nimrod. Sharon Duce as Control and Michael Cochrane as Redvers deserve especial praise, as does John Hallam as the sinister Light, whose character could be seen as a satire of anti-Darwinian naturalists, even more so than Reverend Matthews.

The BBC really know how to do period drama, and the Victoriana setting works very well, as do the special effects. The husks seem more like an attempt to get a traditional monster into the show, but work well. I only wish Control was seen as more alien, at first, and that the picture at times wasn't so damned dim. But everything about this production seem rather spot on.

Ghost Light is one of the last real classics of the series, complex, multilayered, filled with references, and enjoyable. Ace and the Doctor's characters are developing well, as will be seen in the next story...


SCORE: 10/10

REVIEW: The Curse of Fenric by Ian Briggs

SERIAL: 7M, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With Ghost Light, Ace, thanks to the Doctor's manipulations, confronted one of her worst fears. But more about her past was about to revealed, by the man who wrote her debut story. Ian Briggs was commissioned to write a story originally titled The Wolves of Fenric, the culmination of the Doctor's darker manipulations, and another story in which Ace would get further developed in the most unexpected way...

Maiden's Point, Northumbria, during World War II. The Doctor and Ace land at a top-secret naval facility with unusually lax security. There, cryptologist and computer expert, Dr Judson, works on the Ultima Machine, an early computer used to crack the German U-boat codes. But the base's commander, Millington, seems obsessed, not only with understanding the German mindset, but also Norse mythology. The local vicar, Wainwright, has lost his faith due to British bombs killing German civilians. And a crack squad of Russian commandos, led by Captain Sorin and here to steal the Ultima Machine, has been decimated by a deadly unseen force. Ace makes friends with a woman called Kathleen Dudman, her friendship tempered somewhat by the fact that Dudman's baby girl is named Audrey, like Ace's own mother. And the Doctor is afraid that Millington, in his madness, is more than willing to use a new chemical weapon based on a natural poison harvested at Maiden's Point. And a local curse, dating back to a time when Vikings brought a stolen flask from the East, is stirring. Vampiric Haemovores rise from the sea, Millington is growing ever more unstable, and the evil being known as Fenric stirs. While the Doctor prepares for his last confrontation with Fenric, Ace must confront her own past in the most unexpected way, but at a terrible cost...

The Curse of Fenric is a dark, adult story, filled with lyricism, npoetic dialogue, and horror. It centers around Ace's maturing, as well as the culmination of the Doctor's manipulative tendencies. We even have some explanation for implausible events earlier in the series (like Ace's claim to have created a time storm, albeit accidentally, by an explosives experiment in Dragonfire, and Lady Peintforte's own time journey in Silver Nemesis). Themes of war and its horrors already explored in Battlefield are brought to their ultimate conclusion here, and we also have one of the most heartbreaking treatments of a companion by the Doctor when he destroys Ace's belief in him in order to save both of them. The only actual issue I have with the story is that it is never made completely clear what Millington's intentions are with his actions (especially with the chess sets). Is he helping Fenric, or is he trying to hinder him and prevent the end of the world?

Sophie Aldred goes through Ace's journey in this story, her brilliant acting culminating in her shattered faith in the Doctor and a friendship not only with a person who turns out to be her own grandmother, but also Captain Sorin. Sylvester McCoy's Doctor is perhaps at his darkest here, being forced to destroy Ace's faith in him so that his plan can succeed, and his agonising afterwards (as well as when telling Ace the story of Fenric's origins) is a sight to behold. The other guests are quite good. Alfred Lynch's Millington is a study in restrained mania, and both Dinsdale Landen's Judson and Tomek Bork's Sorin are great characters both before and after their possession by Fenric. I once read that Nicholas Parsons' casting as the Reverend Wainwright was treated with derision, but I feel that he is spot-on as the troubled priest. In fact, the only character I have issue with is the spinster Miss Hardaker, who is portrayed in such an unsympathetic matter that I am actually pleased when she gets her throat slit by the Haemovores.

The production is where things get a little dodgy. Weather varies from shot to shot, and even an inserted line by the Doctor doesn't quite cover the inconsistency. The Haemovores are a brilliant-looking creation, especially the Ancient One, but when Ace fights a pair of them on the church roof, you can clearly see one of their heads is wobbling. Otherwise, the production is actually quite good, matching up to the script in many regards.

The Curse of Fenric is one of the darker stories, but also one of the best of Doctor Who's final year. I have often said, if I wanted to deal with something that dealt with vampires and teenage angst, I'd prefer to watch The Curse of Fenric than Buffy the Vampire Slayer or read Twilight. A must-watch, despite the cracks. I mean, where else can you see a man hold off vampires, not with a crucifix, but with a Soviet hammer and sickle badge?


SCORE: 9.5/10

Only one more story to go. I'll be watching, and reviewing, Survival later on today. Then, I'll be taking a short break.

REVIEW: Survival by Rona Munro

SERIAL: 7P, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


All good things must come to an end. When Survival was being produced, there was very little to intimate that Doctor Who would be cancelled, with plans being made for the next season at the very least. But in the event, it was. Would Survival, the penultimate story produced in the season and the last to be transmitted, make a good finale for the Doctor in the end? Or would it make the classic series end on a whimper?

Ace asks the Doctor to take her back to Perivale, so that she can catch up with her friends. But though Perivale is meant to be, by Ace's standards, the dullest place in the universe, something very wrong is happening. Youths, including many of Ace's friends, have gone missing. Vicious black cats have been sighted, killing pet cats. And someone is watching the Doctor from far away. Both the Doctor and Ace are transported to the world of those responsible: the Cheetah People, hedonistic, wild hunters. But the Cheetah People have a new Master. And the Master desperately needs the Doctor's help for getting off the Cheetah People's planet. It is alive, it infects people, turning them into Cheetah People, and it is dying, on the edge of destruction. With Ace succumbing to the seductive lure of the planet, the Doctor find himself in a battle for survival against one of his oldest adversaries...

Survival is a nice, lyrical little number. It is rare for a female writer to write for the series (Barbara Clegg, and Jane Baker, who co-writes with her husband, spring immediately to mind), and yet, this is a story rich in imagery and themes, about survival, feminimity, and animal instinct. While it lacks the punch required for a really good finale, it is still a pretty good end to the series. It even prefigures the suburban elements used in the new series, grounding it in a kind of reality.

The characters are a little thinly written, but are good enough. The Doctor is, as always, well written, although for once, he is not manipulating but rather being manipulated, and Sylvester McCoy gives it his all. So too does Sophie Aldred as Ace, portraying many things, especially Ace succumbing to the influence of the Cheetah People world, as well as her developing relationship with Cheetah Person Karra, played well by Lisa Bowerman (later Bernice Summerfield in the audio stories). Anthony Ainley, for once, is allowed to give a more subtle performance as the Master, and it works, showing well the Master's despertaion. A pity his final story in the classic series isn't about some universe-threatening plan, but it's still a good denouement. Julian Holloway as Paterson, a self-defence teacher and blowhard TA soldier, is good, as is Will Barton as Midge and Sakuntala Ramanee as Shreela, and there's a nice cameo with Hale and Pace playing shopkeepers.

Production wise, well, this story varies. The music score is Dominic Glynn's best yet, and there's some impressive special effects transforming yet another quarry into an alien world. However, the animatronic Kitlings do not impress at all. The Cheetah People are good costumes, but a little too cuddly and not menacing enough. There's a pretty damn good explosion at the end during the motorcycle duel, and some pretty action-filled direction too, with some surreal emotional elements.

Survival was not the best finale the classic series could hope to go out on, but it can't be said that it isn't a ripping yarn, and a nice way for the show to go out. As the Doctor said...

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace — we’ve got work to do!"


SCORE: 9/10


I'll do a summary of the McCoy era, and of the classic series, later.

PROGRESS REPORT EIGHT: THE REIGN OF TURNER 4: THE CARTMEL MASTERPLAN

STORIES: Total for this era: 8

Cumulative total: 111. 14 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 17 Jon Pertwee. 36 Tom Baker. 19 Peter Davison. 11 Colin Baker. 8 Sylvester McCoy

TIME: Total for this era: 4 days

Cumulative total: 110 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 0/8, or 0%

Cumulative total: 37/111, or 33%


MILESTONES:

First significantly developed companion (Ace)

The destruction of Skaro

The Doctor hinting at a darker and mysterious past than usual (The Other?)

The game between the Doctor and Fenric

The end of the classic series



COMPANIONS: Mel, Ace


THOUGHTS:


Twenty-six years is a good age for any television series. That Doctor Who managed to last that long before it was finally cancelled was miraculous, considering that it came close to cancellation at least twice before. The final era of Doctor Who began with a rather staid season, with new special effects, but stories that seemed to be relatively traditional, ans Sylvester McCoy's Doctor seemed to be a mere variation on Patrick Troughton, albeit a good one. Once new script editor Andrew Cartmel got his feet on the ground, that would change.

With the approval of John Nathan-Turner, and the help of not only writers like Ian Briggs, Ben Aaronovitch, Kevin Clarke, and Marc Platt, but also the actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie 'Ace' Aldred, Cartmel began a plan to bring mystery and darkness back into the character. Later dubbed 'the Cartmel Masterplan' by fans, they intended to hint that the Doctor was possibly older than he led others to think, perhaps even a mysterious contemporary of Rassilon and Omega later dubbed The Other. They also gave the Doctor a darker, more manipulative streak.

And they also developed the companion Ace, granting her a psychological depth and complexity that was unmatched by most other companions seen previously. Indeed, much of the seasons was Ace growing up, particularly season 26, where Ace is made to confront her worst fears and feelings. It has been stated that, had Doctor Who continued for another season, the reason for the Doctor's apparent treatment of Ace would have become clear: he was training her to become like him, and that he was going to have her enrol on Gallifrey in the academy.

People mourn what could have been, and certainly the BBC's decision to axe the program just when it was beginning to become good again is baffling. But it is perhaps better that the program ended on such a high note, with some of the best stories in the series concluding the show.

In the years between, only one serious attempt to revive the show was made, and the 1996 television movie, while respectful to the continuity of the series, did not bring about the revival of the show. It would take almost another decade to do so, and when Doctor Who burst back onto the screens, it would smash preconceptions, and prove that it still has a place in the public consciousness...



BEST STORIES: Remembrance of the Daleks, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric

WORST STORIES: Time and the Rani, Silver Nemesis

Taking a break from this for a couple of weeks at least. But keep an eye on this space, and feel free to comment if you like.

In case anyone's still reading this, I want to ask a question. I have a DVD which has both Dalek movies from the 1960s and featuring Peter Cushing as Dr Who. That's Dr Who and the Daleks and Daleks Invasion Earth- 2150 AD. Want me to watch and review them? If that's the case, I'll watch and review them along with the special editions and with the TV Movie, making it a sort of movie sequence. Well?

No replies, so I'll just decide...

Hmmmm....

Okay, I'll do that.

So that means I'll be watching and reviewing over the next little while...

Dr Who and the Daleks

Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD

Enlightenment Special Edition

The Five Doctors Special Edition

Planet of Fire Special Edition

Battlefield Special Edition

The Curse of Fenric Special Edition

Doctor Who: The Movie

I actually won't review the special editions fully, only note the differences and whether they improve on the originals.

No comments?

Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD was one the first Doctor Who films I watched; a bundle of three DVDs ordered off the Internet back in 2004.

I do read this thread quite often, but I very rarely post these days. Just letting you know it isn't all going unread.

Thanks.

REVIEW: Dr Who and the Daleks by Milton Subotsky, from the serial by Terry Nation (with contributions by Max J Rosenberg and David Whitaker)

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


After the success of the Daleks, the British film industry tried to get in on the action. AARU Films adapted the first Dalek serial, bringing in noted Hammer alumnus Peter Cushing to play the Doctor. With a bigger budget than the TV serial, and being the first appearance of the Daleks in colour, would it be any good?

Eccentric scientist Dr Who has created, in his backyard, TARDIS, a time-space machine. But when Ian, the date of his eldest granddaughter Barbara, accidentally triggers the machine, Dr Who, Barbara, Ian, and Dr Who's other granddaughter Susan end up flung through time and space to a desolate world. There, they come across a petrified forest, and a vast metal city, inhabited by the cyborg race known as the Daleks. Dr Who and his fellow travellers soon find themselves in a conflict between the bellicose Daleks and the peaceful Thals, and at stake is the fate of the planet Skaro...

This was actually the first version of the first Dalek serial I watched, and I was entranced with it at the time. Now, looking back on it, I feel that a lot of the atmosphere was lost from the original serial. The petrified forest and swamps look eerie in colour, undoubtedly, and while cheap by today's standards, were a step up from what was seen on television. But the black and white TV gave it a more eerie edge, as did the music composed by Tristram Carey. And the Dalek city looks garish rather than bleak and eerie. The control room is impressive, though. The Thal make-up, I am ambivalent about. It makes some of the men look like drag queens, but it also gives them an alien look that was missing in the original serial.

Characterisation is a problem, especially when abridging a seven-part serial, and while changing the characters to some degree is to be expected, I'm not sure Jennie Linden's Barbara and Roy Castle's Ian work, especially with the latter being too much of a comic relief character. However, Roberta Tovey as a precocious and intelligent Susan is good, and Peter Cushing is a delight as Dr Who. If only he did it in the TV show, I'm sure he would have been brilliant. The Thals are okay, I guess, but the Daleks, the voices performed (uncredited) by TV regulars Peter Hawkins and David Graham are mostly good.

I feel that Dr Who and the Daleks was a brave attempt to bring the original serial to the screen. Unfortunately, while there were some elements that were good and improved, there was an overall decrease in quality. This is a not too bad film, mind, but it's more for the kids than even the original serial.


SCORE: 7.5/10


BTW, here's the trailers for Dr Who and the Daleks, and Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e98Ozg0yFSY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0MafSMrjkk[/youtube]