1. There's always one thing which you half-remember from childhood, because it scared you silly -I think this might be my mum's. She specified Jo, the Brig and Daleks in dark corridors - it can't be anything else, can it?
2. The Doctor is shown to be quite a wine connosseur - which does make sense; yet particularly in the new series, and occasionally in the old, you see him reject alcoholic beverages in a way that can only be a Production decision. For example, confiscating Tegan's champagne in Enlightenment, and choosing a soft drink in Wasp and the Unicorn. You also get to see the Doc actually shoot something in this, which is a sight I will never get used to.
3. Is it just me, or was a certain someone unavailable for filming? Because the Controller was only a "you will obey me!" away from a perfect audition tape. Ignoring the lack of beard, his hair and costume were 100% Masterful. He's scary, cold, but somehow charming, and spends the whole episode manipulating and shrouding truth in half lies. He appears to appreciate the finer things in life. He uses the phrase "my dear doctor" in conversation, and goes out of his way to rescue him when the sanest thing to do would be let him get dead. Even the name - "The Controller" - is only one step away from our favourite, giggling Gallifreyan. Malcassairo suggests three completely baseless theories to explain him away:
- A pre-Delgado incarnation of the Master, who does recognise the Doctor but keeps quiet about it - the Doc doesn't recognise him due to fantastic psychic shielding (cf Mr Saxon getting away with being on Earth for a year; every time Five looks suprised that it's the Master after all)
- As "my family have been Controllers for generations" is about as lame and vague a history as "I was found...on the coast of the Silver Devistation...", maybe this is a Chameleon Arched Master? He certainly seems human enough; yet it's still unmistakeably him...
- Malcassairo needs to go outside, and get some sunshine...
4. There was a brilliant lack of...well, seriousness, which disguised a very interesting facet of the Doctor's personality. Because forget all that guff about buggering up the web of time - turns out Davros' taunts are right. Five refuses to kill him, to save countless races in the future; Four refuses to to blow up baby Daleks, despite the same positive outcome. Yet Three finds himself perfectly capable of averting the future-Earth - but because he's asked to save, not kill. Now I think this is a fascinating scene, which deserves to have more made of it. I always knew he was a filthy hypocrite at heart, but this really proves it.
The lack of seriousness also failed to point out that actually, all those future people would never have existed. It squandered the chance for a great "reality disintigrates" sequence, in which the characters we've been introduced to find themselves in the new future in a variety of bizzare capacities, yet still perhaps troubled by the memory of something else. Like Donnie Darko, I suppose. I'd have really milked this point...
The fact that the plot has thrown up this many comments and conjectures proves that it's a worthy bit of telly. It's a great little UNIT story, with lots of Benton and Yates, men in Jeeps and the Brig with a machine gun. Jo is Jo - paid by UNIT to salve the Doctor's ego. But she's learning...I forgot the Doc. Well he's fantastic. All charm, and righteous anger, beating up Ogrons, sparring with the Controller, wincing like it really hurts, and appreciating large amounts of fine food and wine. All while looking totally dashing. What a hero.
The plot is pretty smart, with the mystery sustained almost to the very end unless you think about it too hard, and I love the use of the two time zones. This is helped by being four episodes long - I can well envisage this one with two episodes of extra padding. The World War Three out of the blue scenario, complete with the outdated sci-fi-friendly theory that saving one man could change the whole course of history, doesn't quite gel with me.
It's also nice to see some equality in the fighting - the aikido fails on a first Ogron, as I believe it probably should; but next time, he and Jo together do manage to beat one up. Ogrons are not totally impervious to bullets, and every time they come up against UNIT or the guerillas, they seem pretty evenly matched. Which is unusual, but brilliant. I'd also add that the Ogrons are quite a well designed monster too. The Controller, when you stop making cheap Master comparisons, is a ultimately sympathetic villain.
The Daleks are just awful though. Their dialogue seems to have been written by a Random Phrase Generator - "The Doc-tor must be foound and ex-terrr-mi-na-ted! Theere will be noooo fail-ure!" Yes, we know. It's just hard to take their argument seriously - that they are superior to everything else - when they spend the whole episode sitting in a room, letting the humans and Ogrons do their grunt work. We want to see some exterminating!
Incidentally, Team Celery are developing a UNIT-years drinking game - one for venusian aikido; one for a (vehicle)chase; one for a dodgy man from the ministry, or bureaucrat behind a desk; one for the Brig answering the phone "Lethbridge-Stewart" e.t.c...
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