Doctor Who review blog...

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Actually, I may not be reviewing those stories just yet. I'm sort of ovr this review thread for the moment, so I'll revive it a little later, when I have the motivation...

Okay, so I thought that I wasn't going to do a catch-up. Don't worry...

REVIEW: The Daemons by Guy Leopold (pseudonym for Barry Letts and Robert Sloman)

SERIAL: JJJ, 5X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Doctor Who owes a lot to the Quatermass serials, as I have noted before. Nigel Kneale was not happy with this, either. Three times in the classic series, Doctor Who had adapted the third, and many consider to be the best, serial, Quatermass and the Pit. The first time was the first time that producer Barry Letts would write for the program, along with another writer, Robert Sloman. But a producer can't write a story, not officially. So the story went out under a pseudonym. But would this story hold up?

Devil's End, a small village in Wiltshire. Already at the centre of a bad reputation, it is steadily getting worse as an archaeological dig, headed by Professor Horner, cuts into the barrow known as the Devil's Hump. Local white witch Olive Hawthorne is determined to stop the dig, but the villagers believe her to be a lunatic, and the new priest, Reverend Magister, is determined to stop her. The Doctor, when he hears the name Devil's End, rushes off to the village to stop the dig, with Jo in tow, and Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton following not long after. But he is too late. Magister is really the Master, and as he holds a black magic ceremony to call up the Devil, the Devil's Hump is opened, and Horner is killed. And while Benton and Hawthorne investigate, they narrowly avoid death at the hands of a beast that looks like the Devil himself. The Doctor, however, finds his worst fears confirmed. The Master has summoned up a very real alien entity whose appearance emulates devils and demons, because the Daemons have influenced humanity since the beginnings of their evolution. Azal, the Daemon formerly sleeping beneath the Devil's Hump, is the last of his kind, and either he will pass on his powers to someone he deems worthy of them, or, if the experiment of the Earth ends in failure, he will destroy the world...

I consider this story to be one of the finest ever written for the Pertwee years, and certainly one of the best of that time never written by Malcolm Hulke. The parts are tailor-written to each character, and this is the series' definitive look at the themes presented in Quatermass and the Pit: that aliens influenced our development and mythology. There are some minor flaws, like how the Doctor knew what was at Devil's End, the Doctor calling Hitler a mere 'bounder', the defeat of Azal, and what the man in the first scene actually saw, but these are very small cracks in an excellent story, showing the triumph of science over superstition.

The regulars, as always, shine, with Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning getting a lot of things to do, and Richard Franklin as Yates and John Levene as Benton getting more to do than usual. Although the Brigadier doesn't get to do much, he does get to utter the immortal line: "Chap with the wings there: Five rounds rapid!" Roger Delgado is excellent, as always, as the Master. Stephen Thorne is over the top as Azal, but it is a role that requires this sort of thing, while Damaris Hayman is good as the spirited white witch Hawthorne.

The story has some of the best location filming in the series, the village of Aldbourne making a good Devil's End. The music, despite it being a little jarring to modern ears, is still excellent. The design of Azal is intimidtaing and excellent, while Bok, while at times a little too obviously a man in a suit, is nonetheless an inspired creation. The direction is just right for the story.

The Daemons, then, is at the pinnacle of the Pertwee years, a favourite with cast, crew, and fans all alike. It makes the second season of Pertwee's Doctor go out in style, with hints of things to come...


SCORE: 10/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next story, The Face of Evil...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP9hSO40gv8[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Face of Evil by Chris Boucher

SERIAL: 4Q, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


This story was the first by Chris Boucher, originally titled The Day God Went Mad. A real pity that they failed to keep this title, as it's quite a good one. This was the story that would introduce Leela, one of the Doctor's more proactive and physically aggressive companions. But would this tale of the consequences of the Doctor's travels work?

The Doctor, travelling alone, lands on another world, only to encounter Leela, a young woman cast out from the Sevateem, a tribe of savages. Leela had spoken out against Xoanon, denying his existence, and that of the Evil One. And yet, the Doctor appears to be the Evil One in the flesh, the face of evil, incarnate. Working against the machinations of shaman Neeva, the Doctor and Leela work to unravel a mystery. Soon, the Doctor deduces that either the Sevateem were once visited by space travellers, or are the descendants of such travellers themselves. And soon, he remembers what happened. Has the Doctor been here before? If so, what happened? And why does Xoanon, the god of the Sevateem, have the voice of the Doctor?

While the story of an insane computer is nothing new on Doctor Who (The War Machines and The Green Death come to mind), this nonetheless proves an excellent twist, and the warring tribes being descendants from old colonists is a good one as well. There are hints of The Forbidden Planet in here as well, like in the previous season's Planet of Evil. And there's one of the most bizarre and chilling cliffhangers where Xoanon denies the Doctor's existence, and tries to kill the Doctor with a mental assault, culminating in Xoanon screaming "Who am I?" in a child's voice. It's also a good vehicle to introduce Leela. A pity it's not quite made clear what the test of the piranha-like Horda is all about, though, but it does set a moment for the Doctor to be not only awesome (for passing it), but also a little uncharacteristically violent (he throws a Horda onto a man's shoulder, albeit because said man slapped Leela)...

Tom Baker as the Doctor is on fine form, and Louise Jameson gets off to a good start as Leela, though she shows a little more fear here than she does in later stories. The Sevateem are characterised quite well for the most part, with Brendan Price's Tomas, David Garfield's fanatical Neeva, and Leslie Schofield's scheming Calib deserving the most praise. The Tesh aren't as good written, and they are acted competently, at best. Tom Baker gets to play the villain for once as one of Xoanon's many personalities, with Rob Edwards and Pamela Salem also doing well as Xoanon's personality fragments.

Production-wise, this is not unlike Planet of Evil in many respects, except that the jungle and the spacey costumes are even less convincing. The jungle looks alien enough to be sure, but it also doesn't look as verdant or as real as the one in the former story. That being said, the costumes for the Sevateem work well, as does the set design for both the Sevateem and the Mordee ship. And the special effects are decent enough for this point in the program, with Xoanon's phantoms and his image in episode 4 looking suitably menacing.

While not the best of the season, The Face of Evil is nonetheless an excellent debut from Chris Boucher, as well as Louise Jameson as Leela. And it looks like good times ahead for the Doctor...

SCORE: 9/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next story, Nightmare of Eden...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDG11TJO4kc[/youtube]

REVIEW: Nightmare of Eden by Bob Baker

SERIAL: 5K, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


For most of his writing career on Doctor Who, Bob Baker had always written stories in partnership with Dave Martin. Under their partnership, they created Omega and K9, and became affectionately known to the production team as 'the Bristol Boys'. But the partnership ended, and Bob Baker, for his last story for the program, would be writing alone, with one of the more thought-provoking stories of the otherwise lighthearted 17th season of Doctor Who...

The spaceliner Empress, thanks to some bad navigating by its curiously apathetic navigator, ends up colliding, and partially materialising into, another ship, the Hecate. The hyperspatial collision has rendered parts of the ships combined in dangerous interface zones. The Doctor, Romana, and K9 arrive, only to find the situation more complicated. Captain Rigg of the Empress, and Dymond of the Hecate are arguing over fault. Professor Tryst and his assistant Della have a unique machine, the CET Machine, containing holographic samples from many planets, including the mysterious jungle world Eden. Vicious monsters now roam the corridors of the Empress. And in all of this, someone is smuggling the drug vraxoin, a highly addictive substance whose only known source was destroyed. But it seems that someone has found another source. Pursued by monsters and overzealous customs officials, the Doctor and Romana find that it all centres on the CET Machine, and the fact that it doesn't just record data from planets, but takes whole swathes from them. And it's a nightmare of Eden that may prove to be the key to the mystery...

Like the story immediately afterwards, The Horns of Nimon, Nightmare of Eden is an excellent story let down by crappy production values. However, Nightmare of Eden is also strong enough that it manages to stand on its own two feet. The collision between two spacecraft in mid-hyperjump is an excellent one exploited quite well. The drug theme is a mature one for the series, even if it isn't handled as subtly as I would like, and there's enough twists and turns to keep one interested. And the humour here at least feels a little more of a piece, rather than dominating the story, with one or two notable exceptions ("Oh my everything!").

The regulars do well as usual, and while Tom Baker may go a bit panto in one of the last scenes, he more than makes up for it with an understated dismissal of Tryst's excuses. Most of the characters are decently written, with the exception of customs agent Fisk, who has got to be one of the most ridiculously overzealous idiots with authority ever in the series. I have no complaint with the other characters (with especial praise going to David Daker as Rigg, Jennifer Lonsdale as Della, and Barry Andrews as Stott), with the exception of Lewis Fiander's performance as Tryst. The character has some good dialogue, but why Fiander did it with a cod German accent, I have no idea.

If there was an element where Nightmare of Eden stuffed up, it'd be the production area. The story was notorious amongst cast and crew due to the friction between the director, Alan Bromly, and everyone else, friction that led to Bromly quitting and producer Graham Williams directing the remainder. Given that, and the fact that this story is bleeding budget like a haemophiliac, it's a miracle that it's even decent. The Hecate crew and passenger costumes are rather strange, as are the customs officers uniforms, but Tryst and his comrades' costumes are fine. The Mandrels look good in darkness, and they certainly look alien, but they just don't look vicious enough, which is a real pity. The sets for the spacecraft are average at best, but the sets for Eden are amongst the best and most atmospheric in the show, especially for a jungle set. This is a low budget story, and that it manages to entertain regardless is a bloody miracle.

Despite the silliness and the dropping budget, this story remains one of the few good ones of this season. It's only this, and City of Death. Even so, a strong, mature story helps salvage what could have been a nightmare to watch, and not just a nightmare to produce...


SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next stories, Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQwFKVDUs2Q[/youtube]

REVIEW: Dragonfire by Ian Briggs

SERIAL: 7G, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes

The 24th season of Doctor Who was very much one of transition. A new Doctor, a new script editor, and a new lease of life, albeit on stories that were becoming ever more campier. But one cannot deny the entertainment value in them, and the next seasons would herald in, even as the classic series drew to a close, dark and interesting stories. A new companion was to be brought in to replace Mel, and Ian Briggs, a new writer to the series, was brought in to write the finale for the season in which the new companion, initially named Alf but later renamed Ace, would arrive...

Iceworld, a trading colony on the perpetually frozen dark side of the planet Svartos. The Doctor and Mel arrive to check on a mysterious signal and the legend of a dragon, only to encounter old acquaintance Sabalom Glitz. Glitz has run afoul of the ruler of Iceworld, the cold-hearted (in all senses of the term) Kane, and he needs to pay off his debt fast. The Doctor and Glitz decide to team up to find the legendary Dragonfire, a treasure guarded by the legendary dragon of Iceworld, while Mel falls in with rebellious teenage waitress Ace, who is surprisingly from 20th century Earth. But Kane is orchestrating the treasure hunt, and he has his own plans for the Dragonfire. What are Kane's plans? What treasure is the dragon actually hiding? And what does this have to do with the far-off world of Proamon?

Dragonfire is actually quite a decent debut story from Ian Briggs, nicely lyrical in parts. It is hampered by a number of problems. For example, why do the Doctor and Mel show any inclination to help Glitz after he sold his crew into Kane's service? Why did Kane wait so long to attack the dragon (unless he didn't know exactly where the Dragonfire was)? Why did Kane blow up the ships? (The novelisation answers that: he didn't want any witnesses to him freeing himself from his exile) And finally, why did the Doctor clamber over a precipice for no obvious reason? (Of course, the intent was that there was a path below that he fails to reach safely, but come on, couldn't that have been shown?) It's a nice, fairly straightforward story with some nice bits that add. A bit thin in the end, and hampered by the aforementioned problems, but hey, it's not bad. And there's a hilariously higbrow sequence when the Doctor distracts a guard with a philosophical discussion. I kid you not.

Sylvester McCoy gets some good bits as the Doctor, becoming darker, although the cliffhanger of episode 1 has some of the silliest acting from him ever. Bonnie Langford as Mel is okay, but doesn't get much material. More promising is Sophie Aldred as Ace, who, while not quite completely developed, gets some great moments in the story. Tony Selby makes a welcome return as Sabalom Glitz, and while I did mention the problem about him selling the crew and still being an ally of the Doctor's, it still is within character. Edward Peel is a good Kane, managing to understate his villainy at times, with some pathos that foreshadow his gruesome end. Patricia Quinn as Belasz and Tony Osoba as Kracauer are decent enough as Kane's underlings.

Production-wise, this feels like a lower budget story than usual. Some sets are quite impressive, like Kane's control complex, while others (particularly some of the lower levels) seem a little cheap. The costumes range from the extravagant to the yawn-inducing, with little middle ground. Special effects are fairly impressive, particularly the model sequences of Svartos. The dragon should have kept to the shadows more, but it's still quite an excellent design and execution, which is more than can be said about the statue of Xana, Kane's dead lover. But perhaps the best special effect is the surprisingly gruesome sequence of Kane melting at the end. Dominic Glynn's score was a memorable one for me.

Dragonfire was not the best possible end to the season, but it's nonetheless a decent end, as well as a decent introduction to the character of Ace. It's average by the standards of Doctor Who, but it's not bad at all...


SCORE: 8.5/10

REVIEW: The Happiness Patrol by Graeme Curry

SERIAL: 7L, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Although Doctor Who often gets bogged down in monster of the week formats, sometimes, it gets into higher concept territory. Sometimes, political satire plays a role. A colony based on perpetual happiness with a dark secret is nothing new to the series, with The Macra Terror being a notable entry. But with one of the 25th season's entries, things were about to get even more bizarre...

The Doctor and Ace land on Terra Alpha, a human colony far in the future, where the Doctor has heard disturbing rumours of a brutal dictatorship cloaked in euphemisms and secrecy. The ruler of Terra Alpha, Helen A, has decreed that happiness shall prevail above everything else, and that anything unhappy, from attitudes to music, is punishable by death. The Doctor and Ace set out to topple the dictatorship overnight. They may have allies in psychology student and blues musician Earl Sigma, and discontented Happiness Patrol member Susan Q, not to mention the original natives of Terra Alpha, but they have many adversaries against them. There's the Happiness Patrol itself, instrument of Helen A's will, Helen A's vicious Stigorax pet Fifi, and the Kandy Man, a psychotic robot who is Helen A's pet executioner, as well as a sadistic confectionary artist. Can the Doctor and his allies topple Helen A's regime at all? Or will happiness prevail, even if it's shallow and crooked?

On the surface of it, The Happiness Patrol is a bizarre, but quite excellent story that features the Doctor taking a more proactive stance than usual, toppling a saccharine sweet empire. It even has a moral, that happiness is meaningless without sadness or other emotions. And yet, surprisingly for a story only three episodes long (although Ghost Light did something similar), it's multi-layered. Some commentators have noticed gay rights in the subtext, something which I only noticed in a few scenes years after first watching it. There's a significant amount of political satire, which is supposed to apply to Thatcher Britain, but can also apply to really any government that tries to BS its way out of things. And it has some nice moments, including a scene where the Doctor talks down a sniper from killing him.

The regulars are excellent, as usual, with the Doctor and Ace getting equal things to do. Sheila Hancock is wonderful as Helen A, as is Lesley Dunlop as Susan Q and Richard D Sharp as Earl Sigma. There's a little too much campiness in the other roles for the most part, though this arguably fits with the tone of the story and the nature of Terra Alpha. David John Pope as the Kandy Man is a bizarre, but otherwise excellent villain, with the high-pitched voice and strange body (despite the resemblance to a candy mascot) working to create one of the strangest but chilling villains in the series.

Production-wise, it's not too bad. The gloomy nature of Terra Alpha help set the scene, but there's not enough of the falsely-happy atmosphere. It looks too gloomy for Helen A to have done this properly, and the sets of the streets of Terra Alpha look a little cheap too. Even so, the atmosphere is wonderful and bizarre. The Kandy Man is a wonderful example of this, looking menacing, even if he is made of sweets. Not so sure about the costumes of the Pipe People, though, and Fifi, while menacing looking, is a bit dodgy in terms of animatronics. Dominic Glynn, for his music, does very well, especially for his bizarre but threatening Kandy Man theme.

The Happiness Patrol may be a story that most people might avoid, if only because it's a bizarre concept and rather campy. But stick around, and you might discover that one of the best stories in the series lurks within.


SCORE: 9.5/10

This will be, in all likelihood, the last review for a few months, and is the last catchup.

REVIEW: The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: 7.X, 60 minute special

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


A Christmas Carol took its literary cues from the Charles Dickens story of the same name, and so it shouldn't be of any surprise that another literary source is used for the second Doctor Who Christmas special to be done by Steven Moffat. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, once adapted long ago by the BBC, would soon become the next basis for a Christmas special. But would it be any good?

Saving Earth from an alien invasion in 1938 is par for the course for the Doctor, even if he ends up plummeting to Earth in a spacesuit that will stop him from getting killed in the fall. All the same, he is grateful for the help given to him by Madge Arwell, a local who helps him get back to the TARDIS, although she never sees his face. Three years later, during World War II, he decides to return the favour. Her husband has disappeared, presumed dead, while flying his bomber over the Channel, and Madge is at her wits' end, unable to think about what she will do, or say to her children. So the Doctor becomes the caretaker of a house owned by one of Madge's relatives, and decides to give Madge and her children a Christmas to remember. But the Doctor's good intentions may backfire when one of the children opens the oversized present left for them prematurely, and enters a snowbound world. Between walking and possibly hostile trees, acid rain, and a squad of trigger-happy Harvesters from Androzani Major, the Doctor, Madge, and her children may be in for a dangerous Christmas...

This story, while it takes a few cues from its part-namesake (the snowbound forest, the doorway within an innocuous object), is really less about a battle between good and evil, and more of a story about sentiment and the good and bad things about Christmas. The main faults being is that the threats aren't built up enough to be threatening before being subverted, with either the sentient trees, or the Androzani Harvesters. In a way, it's the opposite problem to the previous year's special, whose fault was not the story, but the characterisation. Here, it's mostly the story, which is nice sentimental waffle, but not quite as good as it should be.

The Doctor is wonderful as usual, with Matt Smith clearly enjoying himself. Madge Arwell is a fairly good character, and Claire Skinner is fine enough. Of the children, I found Maurice Cole's Cyril irritating both as character and as acted, while Holly Earl's Lily is better acted and written. The Androzani Harvesters are wasted here, as they could have been written a lot better, and Bill Bailey in particular is squandered here, in a guest role that is about as meaty as a vegetarian meal.

The story is directed as it should be, with plenty of magic involved. I have virtually no problem with the special effects in this story, and the realisation of the tree people, while hearkening back to the more immobile rubber suit monsters of the classic series, is still quite good. They look threatening when they have to, and yet are ambiguous enough to seem like good guys. Design is quite good, if blatantly Narnia-esque for the forest.

The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe is a fine production marred by some weak plot and a couple of dodgy characters. But there is enough sentiment in it to make it enjoyable, and one shouldn't completely discount it...


SCORE: 8/10

Okay, some things that need talking about.

The next reviews I will be doing will probably be the five episodes of series 7 of Doctor Who. That is, Asylum of the Daleks, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, A Town Called Mercy, The Power of Three, and The Angels Take Manhattan. These reviews will be done after transmission, starting from the Australian air dates (September 9 onwards).

After that, I will have accumulated enough classic series DVDs for a catch-up. In transmission order, they are: Planet of Giants, The Krotons, The Ambassadors of Death, Death to the Daleks, and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

And now, the reviews of the first half of series 7 begins with...

REVIEW: Asylum of the Daleks by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: 7.1, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)

In the right context, the Daleks can be scary and horrifying. Whether it be when they first emerged from the darkness of their city, to when they successfully manipulated the Doctor into creating one of their most potent weapons, from when they were made from human remains, to where one could tear through a base filled with human soldiers without hassle. But the Daleks, like many a recurring villain, can fall prey to formula. After all, how can the most feared race in the universe keep getting beaten by the same being? Steven Moffat pledged to bring fear back into how the Daleks are seen, but will he succeed?

The Asylum: a legendary planet where the Daleks dump their most deviant and insane members. A human ship has crash landed, causing problems with the forcefield preventing escapes. Afraid of the insane Daleks within, the Daleks turn to their greatest enemy. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory are kidnapped by slaves of the Daleks. The Doctor's mission is simple: remove the forcefield from the planet so that the Daleks can destroy it. Transported down to a world where the very air contains nanomachines that make Dalek slaves, the Doctor, Rory, and Amy begin their task, aided remotely by Oswin Oswald, the survivor of the crash. But Amy and Rory were divorcing before they were kidnapped, their relationship snapped. Can the Doctor save Oswin, not to mention Rory and Amy's marriage, AND escape the Asylum before the Daleks destroy it?

If there is one major flaw in the storyline of Asylum of the Daleks, it's that Amy and Rory's relationship issues seem a little forced, in order to bring a little drama between the two companions. After all, everything seems hunky-dory again by the end of the episode, even if the fears expressed by them are very real. Other than that, the flaws are actually minor, with some elements that should have been expanded upon, and the fear factor of being trapped with a bunch of insane Daleks. But the story is actually quite a good one, with more of Dalek culture being expanded upon (the Daleks do not kill the insane ones, given that they consider the insane hatred to be beautiful), and a new and very creepy expansion of both the Robomen/Dalek controlled people, as well as...but I can't spoil that. Oh, and the mentions of places where the Doctor has encountered, and conquered, Daleks.

The regulars are good enough, though I am not sure about the way the script is written for them. The character of Oswin is intriguing, especially considering that she is played by new companion actress Jenna-Louise Coleman, and while a bit too flat at first, her final fate is heartbreaking. Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks also gets to show off his acting chops, putting a variety of different Dalek voices ranging from normal, to authoritative, to insane, and even pitiful.

The production values are pretty bog standard for a new series story. Not great, not bad, just fairly average. However, the Asylum is pretty damn atmospheric, as are the damaged Daleks (with some notably being from past episodes, a great nostalgia trip for eagle-eyed fans), and with a great hallucinatory sequence that really adds a layer of horror that the story badly needed. However, the final push wasn't quite there, which is a shame, really. It could have made a really good story near-perfect.

Asylum of the Daleks is a good start to the season. A pity it was quite as good as last year's premiered, and it does have many flaws, but it still adds quite a bit to the Dalek mythos, and is certainly the best Dalek story of Matt Smith's era...


SCORE: 9/10

REVIEW: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship by Chris Chibnall

SERIAL: 7.2, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)


Doctor Who has never shied away from dinosaurs. Doctor Who and the Silurians, Carnival of Monsters, and Invasion of the Dinosaurs have all had prehistoric reptiles of one stripe or another. But until relatively recently, the technology for recreating these creatures has been far from convincing. With a title like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, convincing dinosaurs have been promised. But would the storyline be up to snuff?

2367 AD. The Indian Space Agency has detected a gigantic spacecraft heading on a collision course with Earth. It will be destroyed by missiles if the Doctor doesn't stop the ship. So the Doctor assembles a motley gang: Queen Nefertiti of Egypt; the Edwardian hunter Riddell; and Amy and Rory, with Rory's unadventurous father Brian Williams in tow. On boarding the spaceship, the Doctor and his gang find dinosaurs. While the Doctor works to find the engines, Amy makes a disturbing discovery: that the ship is actually an ark of Silurian origin, and the Silurians are no longer on board. Why are there no Silurians left on board? Who is the mysterious Solomon, who, along with his robot underlings, are the only other non-dinosaurs on the ship? And can the Doctor save the ship from the missiles?

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is perhaps weakest in the story area. It is highly enjoyable, but lacks substance in many regards, partly because it tries to pack too much into the story. We've got dinosaurs, Queen Nefertiti, a space pirate, chases, humorous robot lackeys, and Rory's dad. Unfortunately, there's not much left for anything else. The ending too shows some debatable morality by the Doctor, though he has done worse to be fair, and it would have been better if Matt Smith showed the Doctor being more angry than flippant.

The regulars all do their parts fairly well, and both Amy and Rory get their moments to shine. David Bradley's Solomon is a wonderfully repulsive, if not very fleshed out, villain, while Riann Steele's Nefertiti is perhaps the strongest of the guest characters, although Rupert Graves does well with the admittedly rather weak part of Riddell. Brian Williams could have been done a little better, but Mark Williams does things gamely. David Mitchell and Robert Webb as the voices of the robot lackeys are a nice bit of stunt casting that at least is funny and entertaining.

Production-wise, the story lacks just that little edge of energy the story badly needed, but is otherwise competent. The effects of the dinosaurs, while not quite up to the standard of Walking with Dinosaurs over a decade before, are nonetheless excellent effects that are miles above those done in the classic series, and certainly makes you feel for the triceratops as a character. Otherwise, everything's pretty standard.

While somewhat disappointing and not transcending the obvious connotations of the storyline, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship isn't bad. It's below average by Who standards, but is otherwise entertaining enough.


SCORE: 8/10

REVIEW: A Town Called Mercy by Toby Whithouse

SERIAL: 7.3, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)


Surprisingly for a series so involved with time travel, the TV series of Doctor Who has only visited the Wild West once. Then again, considering the costs of doing such an episode, it may not be so surprising. The Gunfighters was a semi-comedic story that evokes mixed reactions in many fans, so when the new series was going to do its take on the genre, how well would it do?

In a town called Mercy, in the Wild West, the people live in fear of a cybernetic Gunslinger, who has kept them under siege. And when the Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive, just outside the limits of the town, they soon learn that the Gunslinger is after an alien doctor. But not THE Doctor. The Gunslinger's target is Kahler Jex, a man who saved the town from cholera, and gave them electricity. But why does the Gunslinger want Kahler Jex dead? Why has the Gunslinger not killed anyone else so far? And what is it about Kahler Jex's past that will make the Doctor rethink his own morality? In a town called Mercy, the Doctor will learn the true meaning of the word...

This story may perhaps be one of the strongest in the season, and is certainly one of the strongest morality tales ever done for the series. The Doctor is forced to confront not only Kahler Jex's morality, but also his own, very nearly crossing the line. We even have some commentary from the villain mocking the Doctor for believing that things are black and white in morality. While some reviewers have noted some flaws, I personally reckon that one of them (about the Doctor bringing the TARDIS to Jex) is bupkiss (partly because by this point, the Gunslinger wasn't messing around) and the other (why hadn't the Gunslinger already come to take Jex) is down to the 'innocents' programming.

The regulars are on fine form, with Matt Smith as the Doctor getting some strong meaty scenes in particular. Adrain Scarborough as Kahler Jex and Andrew Brooke as the Gunslinger are also great, working with well-written roles, and Farscape alumnus Ben Browder gets a good role as Marshall Isaac. The other characters aren't as notable, but they're not bad either, just a bit too background.

Production-wise, they really get into the Western thing with relish, with the location shooting in Spain really having the look of a Western (hardly surprising, given that the location had been used for Westerns like A Fistful of Dollars). Everything looks right, with the Gunslinger looking suitably menacing, but capable of showing other qualities other than monstrosity.

A Town Called Mercy, then, is the real reason to keep watching the series. A great morality tale, it's a real pity there aren't more stories like this...

SCORE: 10/10

REVIEW: The Power of Three by Chris Chibnall

SERIAL: 7.4, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)


Doctor Who has a substantial mythology in its spin-off media, ranging from the officially sanctioned to fan productions, and all sorts inbetween. It seems that, in writing The Power of Three, originally titled Cubed, Chris Chibnall took inspiration from the video production Downtime, featuring Victoria, the Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, and introducing a character who would make her 'canon' debut in this story...

Amy and Rory have their jobs and lives away from the Doctor, but he rarely intersected with their real lives. But that changes when mysterious, featureless black cubes appear all over the world. The Doctor is far from the only one, though. Kate Stewart, chief scientist of UNIT, is also investigating the cubes, and she has a link to the Doctor's past. But the cubes seem to do nothing, and the Doctor is getting restless. But when the cubes do become active, a year later, all hell breaks loose. What is the purpose of the cubes? Why are people being taken from the hospital Rory works at? And can Rory and Amy choose between steady life on Earth, and adventures with the Doctor?

There are plenty of problems with The Power of Three. Namely, it isn't explained what those two orderlies were doing kidnapping people (especially seeing as the cubes analysed people, which removes one potential explanation), the ending involving reversing the cube's effects are rather unrealistic, even by Who standards, and the story itself feels, on the whole, a little flat. But it's still a fairly decent story, with one of the few characters to be pulled in from outside mainstream canon, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the daughter of the Brigadier. We see how Rory and Amy's real life intersects with the Doctor's. And we get hints of an adversary, the Shakri, and their masters the Tally, who may be a recurring enemy for the Doctor. It's a nice story, rather average, but good.

The regulars are pretty good, with Matt Smith's Doctor showing not only how annoyingly ADHD he can be, but also how old he really is in a couple of scenes. Rory and Amy get stuff to do, as does Mark Williams' Brian, making a welcome comeback from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Jemma Redgrave's Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is fine enough, though no substitute, unfortunately, for the late Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier, though that's what you get with big shoes to fill, and maybe she'll do much better in a later episode. Steven Berkoff as the Shakri oozes ancient menace, but seems criminally underutilised.

Production-wise, there's not much to say. The story is directed as this sort of story should be, but I can't help but feel a teeny bit of unidentifiable dissatisfaction. But the design of the cubes, of the Shakri and their servants was good, with the latter two being suitably creepy and nasty. The whole thing feels average by the standards of Doctor Who.

The Power of Three isn't a great story, but it's a good one, with promises of things to come, with links to the past, and the future. Here's hoping to see more of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and the Shakri, even as events move towards the departure of Amy and Rory...


SCORE: 8.5/10

REVIEW: The Angels Take Manhattan by Steven Moffat

SERIAL: 7.5, 1 X 45 minute episode

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No (Reviewed immediately after transmission)


It was inevitable that the saga of Amy and Rory would come to an end some time. In order to provide their final story with some punch, Moffat wrote into their final story River Song, Weeping Angels, and the Big Apple. Weeping Angels in New York. But will the finale of the Ponds turn out to be a winner? Or will it fall at the very last?

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory are holidaying in Manhattan, but when Rory disappears, the clue to his whereabouts appear in a book the Doctor is reading, Melody Malone. Rory has been captured by River Song (aka Melody Malone) and the hoods of crime boss Grayle in the 1930s, and the Doctor and Amy are finding it hard to travel back to that time. The Weeping Angels are behind it all, and are linked to the mysterious building of Winter Quay. But why do the Weeping Angels have such a presence at Winter Quay? What secrets in Melody Malone should not be read? And in a city filled with statues, which ones are Weeping Angels? Not all time can be rewritten, and this may be the end for Rory and Amy's travels with the Doctor...

I think part of the problem with The Angels Take Manhattan is that it tries to write out Amy and Rory rather hastily, and that Moffat thought that by including River and the Weeping Angels, it would paper up any cracks. However, this proves to not be the case, and whereas previous stories with the Weeping Angels were perfect, this one is rather average by Who standards. It has some excellent elements and genuinely scary concepts (like the Cherubs, not to mention other statues being Angels), an exploration of how River copes with being the Doctor's wife, and the actual farewell scene and the depths of Rory and Amy's love for each other are well-done, but overall, I feel cheated for what was meant to be a conclusion to this saga.

The regulars are all, as usual, well-represented, with a number of emotional scenes involving them, with the final farewell showing that Karen Gillian can, when given the right material, act her socks off. Alex Kingston as River Song is good as usual, though the interaction between her and the Doctor gets rather too fractious for my liking in this one. The other characters are a non-event, though, even Mike McShane's Grayle, supposed to be the secondary villain of the piece.

The location filming is good, but apart from the emotional scenes, there seems to be something lacking in this story, something which would have given it a better edge than it does in the end. The design of the Cherubs is creepy, though, and not only do we have unexpected Angels, but also an Angel smiling (which they have never done before), and the production design works well.

The Angels in Manhattan feels hastily done, and while it hits all the right notes emotionally, it does lack a certain something that would have made it great. As such, it's only average by Who standards, and a relatively disappointing end to the season. Or at least its first half...


SCORE: 8.5/10

PROGRESS REPORT FIFTEEN: NEW SERIES SEVEN, PART ONE: THE ABRIDGED SERIES

TIME: Total for this era: 28 days

Cumulative total: 225 days


MILESTONES:

River and Amy leaving

The Doctor erasing his presence from the universe


COMPANIONS: Amy Pond, Rory Williams


THOUGHTS:

When I heard that series 7 of Doctor Who would be split into two parts, with five episodes (as well as a Christmas special to come) this year, and 8 next year, I was ambivalent. Though disappointed at the lack of episodes, I did think that it might give the production team more time to write quality scripts and make them. So I have to confess to being disappointed.

This is not to say that the series is bad. Asylum of the Daleks succeeded in reintroducing elements of fear and horror into the Daleks, and was Moffat's stronger script of the season, while A Town Called Mercy brought the Doctor's morality into question. But the run-up to the departure of Amy and Rory felt rushed and hasty, and their relationship woes in Asylum of the Daleks feels all too abrupt and hamhandedly inserted to introduce drama into the show. The overall story arc didn't really live up to expectations, unfortunately.

But at the same time, there seems to be a little promise for the future. Future companion actor Jenna-Louise Coleman made a surprise debut as a possibly related character in Asylum of the Daleks, though considering that character's fate, it's doubtful that it's the same character as the future companion of the Doctor. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart makes her debut in the canon of the series in The Power of Three, a story that also introduces the sinister Shakri and their masters, the Tally, who seem to be set up as future adversaries in the series. Perhaps, when next year comes around and the remainder of the series airs, the true potential of the series will be unleashed...


BEST STORY: A Town Called Mercy

WORST STORY: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Coming soon to being watched and reviewed are the following stories:

Planet of Giants

The Krotons

The Ambassadors of Death

Death to the Daleks

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

To whet your appetites, here's the DVD trailer for Planet of Giants...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4TGXvsMssQ[/youtube]

And now, the first review of the latest catch-up...


REVIEW: Planet of Giants by Louis Marks

SERIAL: J, 3X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


When formulating the series, the makers of Doctor Who originally wanted to have the first story (written by CE 'Bunny' Webber) about the time travellers becoming miniaturised and ending up in a classroom. The Giants, or Miniscule, as the story was variously known, was abandoned due to a lack of substantial story, but the concept never went away. Louis Marks was hired to write a new version of the story, taking further inspiration from the book Silent Spring, and it became the season opener of Doctor Who's second season...

The doors of the TARDIS open during materialisation, the scanner implodes, and the time travellers find themselves in a strange maze of stones, where giant insects, all dead, are lurking. They soon realised that they have been miniaturised, shrinking to the size of an inch, and they are in the gaps of a garden path near a country home. But that is only part of the story. While the mini-travellers struggle just to stay alive, the house is the research facility for DN6, an insecticide so deadly, it kills even beneficial insects. The businessman developing it, Forester, is determined to push DN6 through, no matter what, and he'll resort to murder to keep his investment afloat. With DN6 killing everything in the garden, are the time travellers safe? And in their state, can they even find out what is going on, let alone do anything about it?

The time travellers' thread of the plot is perhaps the strongest part of the story. This is Doctor Who at its most wonder-inspiring, showing the relativities of size, even if it is ruined by technobabble. And while the ecological theme is a good one, the actual subplot about DN6 is actually rather messy. You'd think that Forester would think of better excuses regarding his murder of Farrow, and that plot is a non-event in the end, a necessary evil that doesn't work well.

The regulars are the finest in the show, as they often are. William Hartnell as the Doctor perhaps has the weakest role of the regulars, ironically enough, but that's not too bad a thing. Carol Ann Ford as Susan and William Russell as Ian are good, but the star of the show has to be Jacqueline Hill's Barbara. Although her refusal to tell anyone about her exposure to DN6 is rather stupid, Hill nonetheless acts her chops off and makes you believe that she is dying of insecticide poisoning. Unfortunately, the other characters are rather mediocre, dragging the story down a notch.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Planet of Giants has to be the production proper. On the low budget of the series, the team (with particular kudos going to designer Raymond Cusick and directors Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield, the latter making his debut) managed to make convincing scale sets that work well, even if at times they don't quite mesh with the sequences set in normal scale. The sound effects (done by Brian Hodgson) also work to help heighten the illusion of the world from the time traveller's perspectives, with eerie, low voices of the normal humans, not to mention the other noises of things we take for granted as they would sound to a miniaturised person.

Planet of Giants was a brave experiment, and succeeds in many areas. The story and characterisation away from the main characters, however, drags it down to average by Who standards...



SCORE: 8.5/10


And now, the DVD trailer for the next story, The Krotons...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhCl2QKt5-Y[/youtube]