Whoops, I forgot to mention this until now: the Doctor Who story that just finished on the ABC’s repeats last night, Warriors of the Deep, was the one that I used as the basis for my spoof: Doctor Who — Revenge of the Unrealistatrons. It’s still one of my favourite things that I’ve written.
According to The Independent, next year there’ll be a spin-off series from Doctor Who, called Torchwood. It’ll be more adult, described as “The X-Files meets This Life” and will star John Barrowman as “Captain” Jack Harkness, part of a team investigating alien activity on Earth.
Three Dollars — It was an okay movie. Perhaps a bit close to the bone for me; I’ve seen some of those issues come up in the dim dark past of my life. I was watching out for various Melbourne locations… a few shots of Fed Square, and Flinders Street — where two Bad Things are shown happening on (shudder) platform 13. It had its good points, such as time spent with the tramps, which I found interesting. But the movie is so long it drags on a bit, and sadly fails my “Would I watch it again?” test.
“Excuse me Mr Davros, would you like a drink?”
“Oooh, lovely, yes please.”
“Ah, that hit the spot. I don’t suppose you’d have any biscuits?”
(From behind the scenes footage on the Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks DVD)
(See also: my review of the first half of the season.)
8. Father’s Day — Like almost every episode of the series, this turned out to be much better than the trailer would have had us believe. It takes a sci-fi element — travelling back to when Rose’s father was still alive, and saving his life - and explores what happens, how the other characters react when they realise what’s happened, and what happens (including freaky black monsters, why not) when a small part of history has been changed. I know I wasn’t the only one to get something in my eye towards the end there — this episode was not primarily sci-fi (something which narked some of the diehard fans), but was first rate drama.
9. The Empty Child/10. The Doctor Dances — Absolutely appalling ABC promotion for this story, but I thought it was the best of the whole season. The Empty Child got the top scare rating from the BBC’s panel of kids, and it worked on the adults too, the chilling gas masks, and a suitable amount of mystery over why it was occurring.
11. Boom Town — Groan, not the Slitheens again. After three strong episodes, this one was a bit of a let-down. Most of the episodes have had a strong idea to explore, and in this case it was capital punishment. But it dragged on too long (compare for instance to the topic being dealt with in Genesis of the Daleks, way back in 1975). And the Deus ex machina ending was a bit weak. But happily, the preview for the next episode grabbed me.
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From the people that brought you The Goodies and classic Doctor Who in chalk, here’s the new Doctor Who at Southbank:
(Thanks to Tim for the tip-off)
On this occasion, the artists were present and busy at work, touching up their older drawings:
Quick reviews of the first seven episodes:
1. Rose — A harmless romp, introducing the characters and concepts for new viewers, and reminding us oldsters too. Thank goodness not too much emphasis was on the baggage from the old series, something the 1996 telemovie fell victim to, thus alienating half the audience.
2. The End of the World — Through Rose, we are introduced to time travel, and the aliens of the universe. There was nothing terribly deep about this episode, but it did touch on Rose’s sudden realisation that she was a long way from home, dependent on a stranger.
3. The Unquiet Dead — A bit of a horror story, with Charles Dickens thrown in. I loved the bit where Gwyneth was picking up visions of Rose’s background. Some great imagery with the “ghosts”.
4. Aliens of London/5. World War 3 — The first few minutes covered some ground which the old series never really touched on: what is the impact on loved-ones when someone just disappears for a year? Rose’s mum has been putting up Missing posters, her boyfriend has been repeatedly questioned by the police. This gets overtaken by an alien invasion, and I really enjoyed the faux news coverage. There was much outrage from some old school Doctor Who fans at the fart jokes, but it was all in keeping including a few comic moments in the series. A poke at the Weapons of Mass Destruction got a laugh from me. I’m not convinced the alien monsters quite worked, and while it was fun, this story wasn’t deep, and it didn’t quite feel like it was worth telling over two episodes.
6. Dalek — The return of the series’ most popular/feared enemy was always going to be a big event for seasoned viewers. No mucking about, this showed just how evil, cunning and formidable the Daleks are, tricking Rose, then using the sucker, draining the power supply, consuming the Internet looking for information, then single-handedly accounting for almost every human on the base. Nasty stuff, making up for past appearances which had watered down their power.
But then the plot pushed further: via some slightly clumsy techno-babble, the Dalek was contaminated with Rose’s DNA, and got emotions. Like a rabid Klansman discovering he has a black father, it was horrified: “I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness grows. … This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction!”
Simultaneously we explored the Doctor’s past: the apocalyptic time war which wiped out his people. So when the final showdown between him — the last Timelord — and the last Dalek happened, he found it difficult to cope. I found the last few minutes quite gripping.
7. The Long Game — The year 200,000. I know the Doctor said the technology was out of date, but he reckoned only 90 years. This just didn’t seem realistic to me. The year 3000 might have been more believable. This episode lacked anything too deep, just a straightforward look at the power of the mass media, and the amusing disposal of companion hopeful Adam [Click], emphasising why the Doctor chooses to travel with Rose.
All in all so far, a great return to an old favourite. Executive producer Russell T Davies and new doctor Christopher Eccleston have done extremely well. And some very promising episodes yet to come, too.
(See also: my review of the second half of the season.)
(via Doug)
Saturday night’s Doctor Who is a scary one for kids — The Unquiet Dead — which the BBC got some flak over, and seemingly prompted them to set up a panel of four children of varying ages to watch with their parents and rate the “Fear Factor” for later episodes. Have a hiding place behind the sofa standing by.
But it’s great stuff. The writing, acting and production values of this new series are, with a contribution from the passing of time, putting increasing numbers of the old stories to shame.
And just who or what is “Bad wolf“?
Update Sunday: badwolf.org.uk is live.