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Perhaps it’s the weather, perhaps its just coincidence but the belief that during harder times people flock to escapist entertainment may suggest why interest in Doctor Who seems to have been particularly buoyant this year culminating in the biggest regular episode rating since `Rose` re-started things back in 2005. Fittingly its the episode that appears to conclude most of the twisting story arcs that have developed since then. It’s quite strange to criticise the show, as we fans are wont to do, when all over Britain 10 million people are getting a real kick out of it. It feels churlish to bang on about plot inconsistencies, too many characters and a surfeit of continuity when you know kids- and plenty of adults- around the UK are whooping and hollering and really getting into it. `Journey’s End` then is not so much an episode of Doctor Who but a big Doctor Who party to which all our favourites are invited and at which it would be rude to make a scene. The first time I watched it, I couldn’t work out whether I really liked it or not. It was like an enormous meal; too much of everything. Second time round, it starts to make more sense. On one level it’s Russell T Davies saying farewell to regular Who and I wish I’d read his comments about not writing for the series once he steps down as showrunner because in that context I feel he deserves this episode. It may be indulgent- though it’s an indulgence millions share- but why not pull your story strands together and deliver a conclusion, however wobbly it sometimes seems. TV –especially genre tv- is full of shows that tease and tease and never deliver so it is good to see him wrapping things up to leave a clean slate for his successor. It’s also the season finale and we should know what to expect now- lots of OTT stuff, big gestures, some mixed emotions and most of all a plot that does not bear much scrutiny. I can’t help thinking it might have worked better with fewer participants though. The long parade of returning companions becomes repetitive and the narrative struggles to include them at each step of the way leaving odd gaps, like Sarah presumably sitting in her tiny car for half an hour cowering from the Daleks. Given the number of McGuffins lying around, it might have been more rewarding to cut the superfluous people like Gwen, Ianto, Luke, Jackie and Mickey, none of whom contributed much nor even acted particularly in character and given the main ones- Rose, Martha, Sarah and Jack- more to do. Cut the unnecessary German excursion (surely there would be a station in the UK?) and entertainingly robust though it was cut the Red Dalek so that Davros is centre stage and in charge with the jabbering Caan like his Fool. Just those few changes would have made this an all time classic because the intention and the themes are certainly there. The message of the story seems to be that the Doctor, for all his good deeds, has tutored a budding army of warmongers, training others to make and use the sort of weapons he abhors his enemies using. It’s a strong moral topic- though has already been spotted by several fan commentators in the revived series’ modus operendi- but is frittered away amidst the chaos surrounding it. Instead of having the debate properly we end up with a frantic exchange during which time lots of other things are happening. Despite this you have to admit that Russell T has the most brilliant story beats yet is often unwilling to navigate a logical path between them. The episode’s third function was to finish Donna’s story and however illogically they got there, it is this aspect that really pays off. You can only marvel at the final dilemma which they get away with for one reason only- the way Catherine Tate plays it. In true RTD style, I’ll come back to that shortly. Davies oscillates more than any tv writer I know. He can pen pearls of wisdom that hit issue squarely on target ; he wrote `Midnight` for goodness sake, surely the revived series most intelligent piece and here he gives Donna the most tragic of goodbyes. Yet earlier we’d seen a couple of prisoners wander off without the Daleks even noticing , we have people popping up to rescue each other with no knowledge of where they’d be and we have the Doctor stopping in the midst of everything to reference a 2005 story because Gwen is played by the same actress. You can’t believe the same writer would ebb and flow between the sublime and the ridiculous. It is because of the cacophony that a lot of the characters don’t shine but those who do are terrific. Julian Bleach oozes calculating malice and eventually frenzy with a performance that makes you wish they’d brought Davros back sooner; I’d still love to see a story with him but no Daleks in it. David Tennant gives his all in dual roles and you have to mention Nicholas Brigg’s impressive range of Dalek voices from the imperious Red Dalek to the crazed giddy Caan. Ultimately though it is the Nobles whose less flashy material steals the episode. Wilfrid and Sylvia have been our human touchstones this season and both Bernard Cribbins and Jaqcueline King excel despite having little to do but react to events. Catherine Tate has already silenced her critics time and again this series and now ups her game still further in a way that neither Billie Piper nor Freema Ageyman were quite able to do in their respective finales. She is dynamite in this episode, filling her scenes with comedy, mystery, angst and boldness. Her final pleas to the Doctor not to take her memory away must rank as some of the most heartrending in the series’ history because we’d glimpsed her potential, seen how much she enjoyed her time with the Doctor and now this was all being taken away. Graeme Harper directs with his wonderfully tuned sense of occasion and it’s often his work that makes incidents you would normally question somehow work, binding the clashing constituents of this wild story into something with shape and purpose. And only a curmudgeon would begrudge the TARDIS towing the Earth scene which must rank as the most joyous moment in the series’ history. Notice too how we see the companions sharing the fun supposedly exchanging grins but twice they look directly at us cos everyone knows this is the triumphant moment. Murray Gold’s theme for this sequence is note perfect too. `Journeys End` then is a fascinating, irritating, vibrant, exciting, over populated, occasionally clumsy, narratively uneven, awe inspiring, noisy, hectic piece of work. And I’ve already changed my mind about six times! Yet knowing the way Doctor Who works, I rather suspect it will be this story we’ll be dipping back to long after we’ve tired of some of its more exalted contemporaries.
The first thing to say is how brilliant it is to have this sort of telly on at all- other programmes cannot do this kind of thing – though I suspect Eastenders would be measurably improved with a decent alien invasion- so Doctor Who should. All you can do most of the time is gawp and gape at the spectacular, screen filling stuff being shown.
The episode pulls together RTD’s twin obsessions of new technology and old fashioned romance in one gigantic adventure that is the closest the series has ever come to big screen size. There is an awesome sense of scale, not just in the stunning visuals but also in the Universe spanning journeys and the world spanning communications that link everything together. Yet however enormous it threatens to become, there are moments when you know it couldn’t be anything else than this show. Only in Doctor Who, no scratch that, only in RTD’s Doctor Who would it be Harriet Jones on her beloved country cottage (remember how she was campaigning for cottage hospitals when we first met her?) who would bring together the Doctor’s secret army (shades of Harry Potter here). Perhaps more than a man of his age should, RTD wants us to see every modern technological device but he has learned that they can be used to circumnavigate the most ambitious plot.
A smorgesboard of old friends and enemies, `The Stolen Earth` is a Doctor Who comic strip brought to life; we even see radio signal circles pulsing out from the planet! It’s richly coloured, packed with brash incident- the Dalek saucer over the high street is great, the stolen planets in the Medusa Cascade simply beautiful- and events are manouvered by our old mate Davros who now resembles a dried prune. It really is like watching a greatest hits show, with all your favourites and the odd surprise- “gosh, the Judoon” “ooh, Sarah’s tiny car”, “Calufrax!!” and biggest of all “Harriet Jones!!” You can wallow in it because you just know that some time wimey thingamajig will reverse all this destruction and put Earth back to where it was by the end of next week’s episode. Well I mean it has to, doesn’t it? It’s probably something to do with the fact that the planets in the Cascade are slightly out of time. That is, unless we’ve been in the parallel world all the time or something. Don’t you just love the way they didn’t have a `next time` trailer either? No hints or clues though being RTD we have probably been looking at all the hints and clues these past 12 weeks. Remember; there is no throwaway dialogue in his version of the show.
So, was it actually any good? I have no idea. I loved it, of course, how could a fan or regular viewer not. There are scenes of utter gobsmacking delight – like when Davros tilts his head sideways and you can see the malice on Julian Bleach’s face through the prosthetics or when Dalek Caan does his silly laugh while acting as a deranged Narrator of events or when the former companions all link up online and interact. There’s every second of Harriet Jones in her cosy cottage or the line about Mr Smith’s fanfare or Rose’s plaintive looks when she can’t get onto the conference call. It is jam packed with back references, cross references and things we’ve heard of but not seen till now.
Bleach as Davros is terrific because of what he doesn’t do. More than any of his predecessors – and helped by a superb prosthetic- he comes over as exhausted but kept alive by ambition and hate. Past Davroses always seemed to have too much vim but Bleach’s version carries the weight of centuries. The performance is unlike any other villain the revived series has presented and the better for it.
Yet is it any good? Well it is really, but its just that we have seen RTD’s tricks just one time too many and we know everything will not be as it seems, we know how there’ll be a gimmick or gadget that will allow a reset and most of all we know the Doctor will not regenerate because his successor has not been named in the press. It’s ironic that after three years of speculation about when David Tennant’s leaving the moment we see him seemingly regenerating we know he isn’t leaving.
The ending though is powerfully done with a triple headed cliffhanger, predominant amongst them the apparent regeneration. Though how is Sarah going to get out of her pickle? Does her tiny car have armour plating? Good Doctor Who leaves you gasping for more and this episode has enough breathtaking spectacle for that but I won’t really know if this story is any good till we find the answers which next weeks 65 minute (!) epic will provide. At half time though, it’s an amazing start.
Alternative timeline stories only work if they tell you something about the protagonist that you couldn’t learn from their real time storyline and `Turn Left` is bereft of much new insight into Donna. She’s already a character we know and understand well - and she had a far more satisfying and revelatory alternative story just two weeks ago. Here she isn’t allowed the more interesting angle of knowing that the world has changed so what new angle are we left with? The answer is an underwhelming, leapfrogging story that has too much of a time span to cover in 45 minutes and which struggles to built up momentum. Russell T Davies let the cat out of the bag in Confidential` when he said this was supposed to be the “cheap” story and thanks to a barrage of familiar clips as we see previously shown events from a different perspective so it proves while still managing to look expensive. The plot itself has Rose popping up to pass Donna the most infuriatingly enigmatic nuggets, the sort of things Doctor Who rarely indulges in which lead to an unlikely TARDIS driven machine. And you have to ask yourself- if Donna sees these alien attacks and accepts them, how come she is so incredulous every time she meets Rose?
Of course, Rose’s return is the least secret secret ever, which has really robbed it of all surprise and you wonder whether the story would have worked better with Martha. Billie Piper seems a shadow of her former subtlety looking cavalier when she’s supposed to be be imparting doom laden info and given lines that betray how much the series has developed since she left. Rose no longer fits in current Doctor Who and bizarrely now seems more out of place than Sarah or the Sontarans but I sense we heading towards RTD’s farewell party episodes to which everyone is invited. Judging from the `next time` clip only the Zarbi will be absent from the event!
What is worth watching this episode for however is the superb performances of Catherine Tate and Jacqueline King. The former remains this season’s touchstone, her energetic, emotional range has served Donna well and made her a far more memorable companion than was predicted by many. Here, faced with an awkwardly written script that requires her to leap from `Runaway Bride` Donna to current Donna in a way that makes little sense, she actually pulls it off despite her often banal dialogue. She really is an actor of considerable talent. Jacqueline King has blossomed in the role of Donna’s mum, who was a slightly annoying nag in `Partners in Crime` but who has become something much more special; Sylvia’s gradual defeatism in this episode was very well played and one of the more convincing elements.
Graeme Harper built his Who reputation on visual gritty material but this story shows how well he can muster the right level of performances from the actors too. He also plays the `thing on Donna’s back` aspect well with characters continually looking at her shoulder. He even manages to disguise the rubbery time beatle which looks like something from the series’ dodgier past, a rare FX mis-step. The ending, while not a patch on last year’s jaw dropping `Utopia` climax, makes you realise how sluggish the rest of the episode has been. There’s a good idea lurking here, but perhaps would have been better utilised in a different season. I suspect after seeing the trailer for next week, everyone will have forgotten `Turn Left` which is destined, despite Catherine Tate’s sterling efforts, to lurk in the `Fear Her`/ `New Earth` bottom shelf.
This season has really confounded expectations - the companion people said wouldn’t work has turned out to be excellent, the early 2 parter became the season high water mark that was starting to look unassailable as both Graeme Harper and Steven Moffett delivered less than their usual classic material. And now, who would have imagined that this hitherto forgotten episode, tucked away behind the Big Moffett 2 parter and Russell T Davies’ Big season finale would turn out to be the best of the first ten episodes?
Sometimes less is more; here under Alice Troughton’s taut direction, the showy visuals are barely needed, the music is switched down to a threatening murmur and a strong cast give their all for Davies’ most accomplished solo script since `Tooth and Claw`. Even the idea is simple and initially something we feel we’ve seen before, but the programme rarely strays beyond it’s monsters and running remit these days unless it’s to deliver some rousing emotional climax. `Midnight` is different; it’s certainly emotional but unusually for Davies the emotions are suspicion and paranoia. For a writer (and indeed a series) that usually sees the best in people, whatever their faults, this is new territory and the way he achieves it is by a careful, sustained build up that sits comfortably over 45 minutes. He is careful though to bat the arguments back and forth; there are no sudden answers or out of the blue acusations- Davies builds his script and characters like a game of chess keeping the attentive viewer waiting and waiting to see which way things would turn. Younger viewers might have been bored or even freaked by this but there’s something for them too; the opportunity to spend the next week repeating everything their parents says! The anticipation as the camera cut from one to another to another was riveting and the unceasing counter arguments fascinating to absorb. In presenting the passengers as people who are basically from 2008, whatever the futuristic trappings, Davies ensures we pay careful attention. You can see everyone’s perspective even Lindsey Coulson’s Val who switches her allegiance and jumps to the worst conclusions and then weasles out of them later and David Troughton’s professorial bore. Its creepy and claustrophobic, the increasingly staccato exchanges between the passengers matched by tight editing and a script that spins like a dervish, planting intrigue and accusations every minute. Caught up in a situation they cannot understand, the eight diverse passengers turn into a hunting pack, cornered and frightened and while this in itself is not exactly new (there are plenty of base under siege stories as fans call them) what makes this episode special is the way the Doctor is increasingly flailing to control events. We’ve got used to this Doctor’s flippant hi-jacking of command, organising people and getting the best out of them but here his assertions of his own cleverness and the way he tries to reason things through make him a target for the others. Even more so when the invisible invader realises what is happening and gradually manipulates everyone into throwing him out of the space shuttle in which they are stranded above a hostile atmosphere. The sheer tension of these last ten minutes is the equal of many a more spectacular sequence we’ve seen in other, bigger stories. Plus, as Davies himself said this is probably the more realistic reaction any of us would take to finding ourselves in a Doctor Who type of situation.
The cast are tremendous each of them utterly believable and conflicted in their response to the situation but you have to single out Lesley Sharp who pitches her initially suspicious and then controlled Sky brilliantly, the way she overlaps other’s dialogue may well be a trick partly achieved in the mixing room but her detachment is all acting. David Tennant gives his best performance to date this season, the fear and horror as the Doctor sees events sliding out of his control palpable. This is an astoundingly good episode and I would say, though the Sontaran 2 parter came pretty close, the first out and out classic of season 4.
There’s a lot to digest in what is the richest episode of the season to date and as a result far more satisfying than part one despite the feeling that Steven Moffatt enjoys creating temporal mind crunchers at the expense of coherent storylines. Like last year’s `Blink` the ending seems to negate the preceding events suggesting none of it would therefore take place but as it did it gets confusing. Perhaps he should take a leaf out of Russell T Davies’ book and not explain quite so much. The writer repeats his `everybody lives` mantra of `The Doctor Dances`, albeit tempered by the fact that the archaeologists are all dead but destined to live their lives wearing pastel clothes inside a computer. It says a lot about the Doctor that he’s prepared to live with this during his entire future relationship with River though again if you think too much about it, it makes less sense. And if fans were upset over what they saw as the religious imagery of the Doctor’s resurrection at the end of last season, what do they make of the idea of an electronic existence depicted as heavenly?
Having met both the Doctor’s wife and daughter this year, you have to wonder whether the show is developing a `soap agenda`. Alex Kingston does her best but River is a smug, cold character from another type of programme (perhaps a Steven Moffatt programme?) and this makes it difficult for us to see what he sees in her, unlike Rose for example. Moffat’s continual revolving dialogue is shut down with the word “spoilers” just when it threatens to become interesting and doesn’t help our sympathy with the situation either. He also seems too prone to scripting the Doctor as if he’s an ordinary –albeit clever – bloke and needs to remember the Doctor is not human and that’s something special about the show.
Elsewhere, Donna’s story plays more effectively as domestic wish fulfilment and Catherine Tate’s motherly performance is spot on making the inevitable separation all the more poignant. These scenes seem to be from an altogether better story and Tate’s work pays off in spades. Equally good is Colin Salmon whose switch – in our eyes- from probable villain to benign helper is subtly achieved. Euros Lynn is clearly more at home in this sketchy half world, giving us Sapphire and Steel like flashes and bringing Moffatt’s post modern splashes to life. Notice how when the chid is watching the library stuff on the TV, she hears the incidental music! This is where we get the stories’ two unexpected jolts too- when the veil is lifted (cue a nation dropping its cup of tea!) and when we’re told all the kids in the playground are identical to Donnas (who’d noticed? Brilliant!). Compared to this, the library plot becomes progressively more wearing and repetitive with David Tennant shouting half his dialogue while running and the deaths of several others passing by without surprise. With no proper monsters- you can’t throw in a great line about “piranhas of the air” and not show us them! – and a lot of dashing about it resembles old fashioned Doctor Who till the climax which, as mentioned, brings its own problems.
It is refreshing to have paused for two more cerebral episodes after the restless urgency of the season yet I can’t help feeling there are two excellent stories here. One is a terror filled race from shadow monsters, the other an existential crisis. If separated into two, we’d be looking at the season poll toppers but conjoined by an awkward, tricksy and in fact blatantly timey wimey gimmick, neither fulfils their potential and Moffatt struggles to wrangle the elements together. In tone, intent and style they are just too jarring to make a truly satisfying whole.
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It’s difficult to watch this episode in any other manner than through the prism of the news that its writer Steven Moffatt will take over as the series’ chief conceptualist next year and also the high expectations created by his first three Who scripts, each of which is a humdinger of a classic.
Once again he’s taken something very obvious – fear of the dark- and created something intriguing and scary with it though in terms of structure the episode doesn’t quite gel in the way it should. The early scenes allow us extended time with the Doctor and Donna which is always good, yet for the first time this season a writer seems unable to quite give them dialogue that works. After the arrival of the archaeologists – their acting hampered by awkward costumes and even more awkward lack of character- matters seem to meander until Moffatt creates jeopardy by having someone wander un-seen by several people looking directly towards her into danger. The sequence with her `ghosting` (clever) is initially affecting but then drags on too long and seems there to repeat Donna’s empathy with everyone and everything which must surely be the season’s arc (or one of them). Despite some flashes, director Euros Lynn seems unable to convey the tension while the actors are cursed to stand about rather than react to anything meaning that what on paper would sound amazing, is too drawn out on TV. Which is ironic considering the whole thing’s set in a library.
Much more interesting is how the girl relates to the library and what Dr Moon has to do with it all and as the episode progresses you feel you’re watching two stories and that the skeleton spaceman is chucked in to give us some running about- great image though.
At the end it felt like I’d been watching for ages and very little had happened- there is certainly a sense of waiting for a cliffhanger though when it comes it’s actually very good.
It set me thinking though about whether Moffatt appreciates that the reason why Doctor Who is successful now is due to the way it plays to all ages and contains a humanity missing from some of its past excesses. Also what is has in abundance is variety- a 13 week season of this sort of episode might please the inhabitants of message boards but it will not captivate a nation. `Silence in the Library` is not as interesting or scary or clever as it thinks it is and on this evidence I would say it’s a 1 part story stretched to 2, when the extra episode should have gone to the `Fires of Pompeii`. Its still good but perhaps for Moffett, the law of diminishing returns has set in which is worrying in view of the pre-eminence he is about to assume.
Like last season’s `Shakespeare Code`, writer Gareth Roberts invites us to wallow playfully in a literary conceit, on this occasion Agatha Christie land. This episode goes further though, as it also toys with the conventions of television adaptations of Christie such as Poirot and Marple. The trouble is that both these series have established such a rhythm that we don’t expect it to be upset. `The Unicorn and The Wasp` is fine pootling about throwing book titles and Christie staples into the air but the Doctor Who-ish strands start to overwhelm and push the subtlety out of the way the further into proceedings we go. The increasingly strident non period music and a denouement that owes very little to Christie un picks a lot of the intricate work woven early on.
This is a pity, because thanks to the witty script and some atypical Graeme Harper direction, we have the makings of a perfectly judged episode. The flashbacks complete with wobbly picture, the constant insertion of book titles into the dialogue, the suspects who are all deceiving the inspector (or in this case the Doctor) and Donna’s gauche efforts to integrate into the1920s make for a delightful first half and I’d have been quite satisfied for it to have continued thus and be the sort of story `Black Orchid` failed to be. However every time we hear the buzzing noise it’s like an alarm signalling disappointment – just like a real wasp, our Vespiform friend is a nuisance and messes things up . Little is made of the `Unicorn`- surely a shape shifting thief is much more interesting than a giant wasp? Also we don’t really get to know much about Agatha herself; unlike previous historical celebs, she is increasingly pushed to the back of the story and ends up taking a surrogate companion role leaving the Doctor and Donna to do all the sorting out. There’s little insight into what makes her tick and while the plot plays well into the famed 10 day disappearance the ending is so flat you feel as if the whole story has been created just to explain that disappearance and even then they barely do. As for that end, after Donna’s sympathy for the Ood and all the fuss last week from Martha over the dead Hath, to despatch of Waspy so casually and with only a half hearted gripe from the Doctor seems a little at odds with the tone of this season.
There are some good bits- Catherine Tate’s continued strong work as Donna makes everything more comprehensible; she really has become a surprisingly versatile tool for the writers and allows David Tennant to become increasingly detached and alien (he’s like Tom Baker on speed). Waspy is terrifying enough if you hate wasps and who doesn’t and the location is used well; this season apart from one visit to those Millennium Stadium corridors, there’s been a fresh look to things generally. Love the priest buzzing just before he changes too, quite weird.
In the end though this is an unsatisfying episode that seems unsure what it is and ends up being neither a strong Christie pastiche nor a top class Doctor Who episode.
Swerving smartly away from the path littered with potentially troublesome fan continuity questions such as `is Chris from Skins Susan’s Dad then`, Stephen Greenhorn’s tantalisingly titled episode instead ends up somewhere akin to a 1970s style peace and love vibe. It gets the paternity issue out of the way in two minutes flat and spends much of its running time wrong footing the viewer’s expectations. What starts off looking and sounding like the hoary old `civilisation develops from ancient space travellers lark` ends up with a Star Trek-like lecture on the virtue of flowers over guns.
It’s a little ragged round the edges and would probably translate better as a book, but there is much to enjoy and, for the first time in this season, a little to think about too. The Doctor’s “Dad shock” and Donna’s familiarity with his condition makes for yet more hugely enjoyable dialogue between the two- aren’t they just the coolest couple ever to space travel? David Tennant and Catherine Tate- even at a generally less frantic pace this week- have really gelled and you can’t wait for their scenes. Georgia Moffatt’s feisty but adapting Jenny is a dream role whatever the parentage of either the actor or the character though I found Jenny a bit too self conspicuously smug at first and an unlikely product of a machine.
The episode is owned by Freema Agyeman who makes a difficult sequence of events bloom into life thanks to her best performance yet as Martha. For the first time we really see the drive that made Martha walk round the world in last season’s climax and her reaction to the Hath and friendship with one of them makes for strong and emotional viewing against the odds. Not having the Hath talk, their communication composed entirely of liquidy bubbling, works because of Martha’s intuitive reaction to them and it’s the series’ loss that Freema will probably (hopefully) be too busy to return at any point after this season. Jenny, you suspect, will be back if not this season then in one of next year’s specials or even her own series?
Unusually for Who, which is cursed with poor endings to great stories, this so-so plot has a great ending as Donna’s translation of the numbers and the sudden appearance of shrubs and trees sends the narrative pivoting into something else entirely. There is a whiff of over contrivance- why would Cobb try to shoot the Doctor really? – and too many questions unanswered from the early part of the story- why would Martha really go outside like that? And how can people be cloned to different ages and types? And why does the Hath map change as well? Nevertheless the momentum and Alice Troughton’s economical direction keep it interesting and there is the suspicion that some of its dialogue is far more important for the future of the series than other things going on.
A good story well told, `The Poison Sky` is every bit the equal of its busy predecessor delivering the requisite thrills and drama in equal, if sometimes breathless measure. The momentum with which the Sontaran invasion takes hold is a blessed relief after 45 years of slow coach invasions and its to Helen Raynor’s credit that they seem meticulously military with a strong sense of what they are doing and even a nasty back up plan that inspires a moment of true heroism from our often flippant current Doctor. You sense that as well as readily referencing the 60s and 70s as this story does, the engine of the show is harking back to traditional values too with the Doctor appearing a hapless bystander while all the time his head is whirring with ways to solve the problems. Raynor’s deft storytelling allows these developments to appear at perfect moments and the way she handles such a large canvas is to be applauded. Equally strong is Douglas Mackinnon’s spirited direction in which he makes us truly believe there are dozens and dozens of Sontarans and soldiers. The sense of scale and chaos he manages is far more believable than the more obvious CGIscapes of the likes of `Doomsday` or `Last of the Time Lords` and you feel a sense of palpable excitement throughout.
David Tennant is in his element here and Catherine Tate’s terrified but willing to try performance on the Sontaran ship shows the value of her prescence in the series; I simply could not imagine any recent companion handling an awkward sequence with such acting skill. Equally Ryan Sampson’s trip from supremely confident to emotionally wounded Rattigan was pitched perfectly. This character’s journey encapsulates the stories’ concern with intelligence versus intution and only in the Doctor do you get both till the end when Rattigan makes his sacrifice. Somebody give Ryan Sampson a series where he can do this more often! Then there’s Christopher Ryan achieves the seemingly impossible and makes us understand the Sontaran way with the aid of an amazingly versatile prosthetic and his vocal skills. Though to be fair everyone plays their part perfectly here.
As with `The Sontaran Stratagem`, the episode is peppered with clever continuity (Rose’s face flashes onto the TARDIS scanner for a second, a little mention of Lethbridge Stewart) but these only serve to enrich an already satisfying story.
At times I have questioned the wisdom of not only setting so many stories on contemporary Earth but having more invasions that they did in the 70s but this 2 parter shows that when it works on every level- exciting, emotional, dramatic, epic, interesting- then it is what Doctor Who is for. There may well be some internet fans baying for a change in the programme’s stewardship but in the face of a story like this their flimsy arguments fade away. Against the odds, this is the early front runner for story of the season and even a certain Mr Moffatt is going to have a run for his money this time round.
If you ever wondered what 70s concept Doctor Who would be like in the present day then here’s your answer. Not cheap, but very cheerful `The Sontaran Stratagem` is looking like the story that might finally break that early season 2 parter jinx. The slot has hitherto hosted a trio of over ambitious stories crammed to the rafters with elements that were, for whatever reason, never arranged in a satisfactory way. In particular last year’s Daleks double header suffered from too much of everything so it was to be hoped that the same writer- Helen Raynor- had more success with 90 minutes this time round. Happily, she does; in fact this first half plays superbly. Just as UNIT’s new smooth operator Martha Jones leads the soldiers into the Atmos factory so this episode weaves its way towards a gripping cliffhanger. Along the way sundry modern and traditional series staples help each other out; UNIT finally looks like a force to be reckoned with, there is something everyday turned into something menacing, we meet a mad villain in a big house but he’s almost a kid and hear an alien plot where you think: mmm, that really could work.
The writer’s first Who script did show Raynor to be pretty nifty when it came to sketching characters effectively yet economically and she pulls this off more successfully here as well as giving each of the regulars enough to do. Her use of Donna and Martha is sharp, playing on our expectation that the former will be pushed into the background for a story when her going back home leads directly to the big finish. Then to acknowledge it in an amusing scene where the Doctor thinks she’s leaving for good…now that’s funny. In fact Raynor seems adept at utilising familiarity with the UNIT concept as her gag about the Doctor helping them “in the 70s…or was it the 80s…” which plays to the age old debate about the dating of old UNIT stories. She even has the Doctor accompanied by a UNIT guard but instead of him being blown apart at the first opportunity she gives him a dryness and a comment about baked potatoes when he sees a Sontaran! It’s got to be better than “Holy Moses- what are those!” Brilliant stuff!!
The Sontarans themselves are rendered and performed impressively; certainly any younger viewer who’d never heard of them would be bowled over I reckon and for those of us who do recall good old Kevin Lindsey, its certainly about time these most distinctive aliens once again had a decent platform. Their military planning and sharp tongues are most welcome and as for that green half finished clone, it is certainly an unexpectedly scary addition to proceedings.
The cast are uniformly strong and it’s good to see Ryan Sampson, who never seems to get enough to do on programmes, being given a bit more meat here; at half time Rattigan remains enough of an enigma to develop and the way he join in the Sontaran war dance is quite weird indeed. Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate turn in excellent performances as the way we view and understand the traditional `companion` figure continues to evolve. Perhaps that, rather than vanishing planets, is to be the season’s arcing theme? Bernard Cribbins continues to make a huge impact as Wilfrid, he’s already a key character for this season and makes every scene he’s in twinkle with mischief.
I do have the odd niggle about a couple of points but d’you know what? I’m not even going to mention them because this episode is excellent Doctor Who by any standards. Please don’t botch it in part 2…
A hugely enjoyable episode as long as you don’t engage your brain, ironically enough given it includes a massive brain! For most of the time, this is a pacy adventure with more than a touch of James Bond about the snowy location, the Doctor’s exciting encounter with a large metal claw and most of all Tim McInnery’s well pitched villain Halpin. He makes an entertaining character whose speech cadences suggest a man teetering on the brink of madness. Donna’s reaction to new experiences continues to delight and it’s a shame she’s likely to be overshadowed by various elements as the season progresses. Catherine Tate has certainly answered her critics and on the showing of these three episodes looks set to be one of the more memorable companions. The ongoing story arc concerning thing vanishing remains tantalisingly vague and as bees actually are disappearing in real life, that’s some tie in!
Having been the best new enemy dreamt up in Cardiff to date, the Ood’s return was inevitable and this story adds much to their race while the creatures themselves are versatile enough to be both scary and sympathetic when required. Ever the skilled controller of action sequences, director Graeme Harper marshals the story’s elements to near perfection and presents some effective scenes, especially when the Ood attack; with cross cuts and edits it looks like there’s dozens of them. Plus, for the first time ever in the series, fake snow looks like real snow!
Keith Temple’s script is adept at providing the requisite thrills but falls flat when required to make some sense of the narrative. Nominally about slavery, it fails to work up a storytelling lather as the slaves are so vulnerable and a series of mishandled revelations reduces the ending to nonsense. There’s a giant brain you see and whenever you see a giant brain it looks silly and anyway, wouldn’t a telepathic race communicate without the need for a physical organ of this kind? And if they do have a giant brain, wouldn’t the impact of someone falling into it cause some sort of problem? Finally, and most preposterously there’s Halpin’s fate – would consuming anything, however powerful, turn someone into a perfectly formed member of another race? Surely the most that might happen could be they’d end up as a sort of mutant or, more likely, their head would explode (out of shot of course). This sort of thing strays beyond the show’s internal realism and, like last year’s equally ridiculous Dalek / human hybrid, is just not credible. A shame, as these weak story strands detract from what is otherwise a lively and well staged episode.
Fiery in word and deed, this is a class episode that fulfils that tricky balancing act of being exciting and dramatic while also packing in quite a large amount of exposition. The whipcrack pace looks at times as if the story will trip itself up but somehow it ploughs on to an epic climax that pulls a dilemma out of the hat that makes you glad you don’t have to solve it. Building on last week’s opener, the chemistry between David Tennant and Catherine Tate is bubbling over; it’s as if they’ve been together for ages and the way she treats him as an equal and gets to have her say is a satisfying dynamic we’ve never really seen before. This maturity opens up previously unavailable shortcuts and avenues for writers and James Moran certainly uses the opportunity.
From the busy opening its clear this is going to be a good one, it’s strident sense of purpose and strong guest cast (Peter Capaldi and Phil Davis in the same episode!!) mark that much out and with Colin Teague finding ever more ingenious ways to build up to our monster and the issue of whether or not they should tell the citizens a constant concern of Donna’s the different levels work superbly. The use of tone and colour, the fearsome sound of the Pyvallians before we even see and the intrigue over how exactly Romans have pictures of circuit boards all add to a mix. Another canny decision is to have our Roman family talking in contemporary tones which would no doubt help wavering viewers stick with it. In that sense the story works better than last year’s Shakespeare Code which sometimes seems a little too smug for its own good; here you don’t need any working knowledge of ancient Rome to get what’s going on.
The story deals with two fundamental tenants of the show. The language thing has been mentioned in passing before- an exchange in Masque of Mandragora explained it for the first time to us- and here the comedic angle was taken with Donna’s Latin sounding like Celtic to the real Romans! The more serious theme was interfering (or not) in history which was once an intriguing angle but which has probably worn out its welcome over the decades to the point where whole franchises are built on it. Doctor Who has for the most part stepped away from the whole mind bending topic but rather like Steven Moffatt’s `timey wimey` explanation last year, its treated with a lightness than makes it somehow more convincing. The idea that the Doctor can interpret things on a wholly different level to us plays into his alien-ness superbly and as Tennant becomes less human-like it fits this most satisfying incarnation well. Purists may moan that it sidesteps the debate but of course in James Moran’s hands it doesn’t and the Doctor ultimatelty faces a terrible choice, a not dissimilar one to that which he bottled out of in The Parting of the Ways. As often in the series nowadays the thing is humanised by the companion’s reaction- in this case Donna’s heartfelt plea for him to save at least the one family. It would probably break the `always end optimistically` rule but it might have been extra special to have shown the family at the end actually sorry they had been saved though perhaps that’s a story beat too many. Imagine if you saw your entire city and everyone you knew killed – do you think you’d be that blissful six months on?
A minor grumble though because `Fires of Pompeii` is a great, striking episode and young ‘uns can ignore the issues and just yelp when they see the mutated high priest and the extremely impressive Pyvallians. If producers and writers of other series want an example of how to make a near perfect modern family adventure for telly they should just watch this.
Everything has a formula in the end so four seasons in, we sort of know what to expect from the resurgent Doctor Who. There’s your three 2 parters; one a work of genius, one a hugely ambitious season finale, the other a bit of a mess. There’s your celebrity historical, your spaceship one, the one all the hardcore fans hate, the Doctor lite one, your token alien planet one, the one that contains a big clue about the season arc and of course your bright n’ breezy season opener. And `Partners In Crime` fits the bill – high concept idea, contemporary setting, family bickering to introduce the new companion who we will meet in as familiar an activity- ie rushing about doing real life- as possible.
Only snag here is- Donna is not new. We’ve already met her, we’ve seen her introduced to the world of the Doctor and as a character she exists in what is now a post alien contact world. Plus she’s a thirtysomething woman whose mum talks to her like she’s six in a way that no modern mum would I suspect ; no wonder Donna’s got her bags packed. Thankfully Russell T acknowledges this and instead of an introduction we get a delightfully comedic route to a reunion. Like a (good) farce, the Doctor and Donna are up to the same subterfuge in the same place with the same purpose but just keep missing each other. When they do finally clock each other - in a sort of light hearted riff on last year’s dramatic scene in `42`- the result is as funny a moment as this series has yet offered. David Tennant and Catherine Tate seem to be terrific together, promising much in the way of a different Doctor / companion dynamic. There’s also a great action sequence involving a window cleaning hoist that proves to be the episode’s only sustained adrenalin rush but it’s wonderfully shot by director James Strong.
Elsewhere though the episode lacks the requisite bite, which is mostly the fault of the Adipose. However well realised and cute these creatures are – and if I was 7 I would want a foam Adipose right now- they don’t provide the menace a season opener needs; aliens without teeth are really no fun at all! Unlike last year’s Judoon there is nothing remotely terrifying about them and the script fails to explore their origins with anything more than cursory attention. Plus when they emerge en masse they just toddle about a bit. The basic idea is strong and will certainly strike a chord in view of recent news stories about obesity but once again it seems as if all the writers do is read a headline and say `oh we must do a story about this contemporary issue` and then proceed not to explore that issue at all. Also, if you want to be picky - and I wouldn’t be if there was more fat on the story- how come it takes Mrs Noble’s mate minutes to shed her little friends and she ends up Ok when the other Adipose are trotting about outside on their way to the spaceship.
Sarah Lancashire does her best with a role that will be familiar to anyone who saw (the superior) Miss Wormwood in Sarah Jane Adventures but with a measly two security guards and not even the courtesy of changing into a slobbering monster at 40 minutes, she’s on a hiding to nothing. Better is Bernard Cribbins’ delightfully old fashioned uncle, who should surely be allowed to save the planet before the season is out? Visually there’s a good mix with lots of dark blues and blacks lit up by the impressive Close Encounters style spaceship at the end, though you’d think Londerners would just yawn at another alien craft.
I suspect this episode will occupy a similar place to `The Long Game`, `New Earth` and `Fear Her`, episodes that are just OK. It’s not a patch on last year’s `Smith and Jones` but it does offer us a little mystery (is that Rose or someone who looks like her, hmm?) and a potentially explosive new TARDIS crew so you can’t grumble too much.
The idea of Liverpool being European Capital of Culture has caused some consternation in other parts of the UK but none were more surprised than Liverpudlians themselves. The initial bid was more for publicity than anything else and it was only when the city was short listed that people started taking it seriously. Now, on January 11 th 2008 at least 30,000 people are gathered in the freezing cold of Lime Street opposite the imposing St Georges Hall for what is billed as the People's Opening of the year long event. Its fair to say that nobody quite knows what to expect but the 40 minute show that is unveiled manages to compress everything about the city into a stunning open air piece of outdoor art. It manages to be both epic and accessible, impressive yet involving and includes all kinds of music and performance. Percussionists and guitarist on top of enormous public buildings provide much of the music, while an aerial ballet twists and turns overhead. A large crate descends out of which appear to pour a crowd of Liverpool celebs while light project the themes of the evening onto the Hall. Trapeze artists interact with specially filmed animation while in a touching moment school children paraded golden boxes of their own `treasure` as a poem was read out.
Given the heights involved and the time of year, hard hats and luminous jackets are probably mandatory for some of the performers but rather than try and hide them, they instead give similar garb to everyone which is a brilliant conceit that plays into both Liverpool's industrial past and bold future currently being constructed on several buildings sites across the city. After all of that a couple of performances spanning nearly fifty years of Liverpool music- The Wombats followed by Ringo Starr - seemed incongruous though Ringo did appear in a large crate sitting on top of the Hall's highest point looking down on everything benignly. If the ensuing year can capture the creativity of this event then perhaps by its conclusion people won't think it so strange to mention Liverpool and Culture in the same sentence after all. Afterwards, to get warm, I headed for the museum to discover that there was a jazz band playing in the foyer. It was that kind of night.
There is a packed programme of events all year; check out www.liverpool08.com for info.
DOCTOR WHO: VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED
Watching `Voyage of the Damned` is seeing a television programme at it's peak, firing on all cylinders and delivering something entertaining, exciting and spectacular for a Xmas Day audience. It's almost becoming too easy to hurl superlatives but Russell T Davies knows exactly what buttons to push when delivering this now traditional festive present.
Drawing on classic disaster movies like The Towering Inferno with a dash of the 90s epic Titanic as well as classic Doctor Who story `The Robots of Death`, the 70 minute adventure barely allows you to draw breath. It looks amazingly expensive and is paced to draw us into a whirlpool of edge of the seat moments that speed up the further in we go. Despite the scenario, the tone remains brisk; only Russell T could make the slaughter of thousands of passengers in the first fifteen minutes so enjoyable! Once again some twisted Xmas imagery is put to good use- in this case we have an army of homicidal Xmas angels complete with deadly metal halos they chuck at people to slice them up- Xmas must have been harsh in Wales in the 60s!! And we have a jaw dropping reveal; although it would have been better had the trailer not blown it. All the fuss the BBC make about press spoilers and they go and show the fact that this Titanic is actually a spaceship in the previews thus erasing months of speculation as to how on earth it crashes into the TARDIS. Bit of an own goal though when you see the proper sequence it's still an awesome sight.
In fact, this special really is packed with iconic moments; perhaps none can quite match the amazing TARDIS/ Taxi sequence of 2006, but that was a stand out moment in an otherwise more traditional story. Here, there are visual treats round every corner; the sumptuous mock Titanic sets, the stalking angels, the sequence on the rickety metal bridge over the engines, the use of the effective floating/ falling effects (first seen in `The Impossible Planet`), the Doctor / Capricorn confrontation, the Doctor's angel assisted (and ever so slightly quasi religious) ascent to the bridge and the near crash of the ship as he just manages to avoid Buckingham Palace. That such scenes look effortless and convincing is a tribute to the FX people who can seemingly create anything and it shows how far we've come from the CSO of yore.
Yet its not all about special effects; some of the special's best moments are captured in the character vignettes that are surprisingly frequent, allowing each of the main bunch something that makes their peril all the more tense for the viewer. I especially liked Foon and Marvin, whose relatively brief screen time was packed with content and whose respective demises were actually a shock. You expect the good guys to at least make it to the climax but the casual way Marvin's death came from nothing more than a misplaced step was a heart stopping moment. If you could be slightly cynical about how the main bunch managed to posses exactly the right combination of attributes to overcome the perils that awaited them (which is a standard filmic device anyway) you have to acknowledge Davies' refusal to molly coddle us. Hence the most loathsome of the group – weasly businessman Rickston Slade - not only survives but profits from proceedings. This was a nice sharp pull up on the Doctor's omnipotence and David Tennant's petulant “I can do everything” allowed a glimpse of the Doctor's fallibility which is, as Mr Copper pointed out, important. Having Astrid not survive was bold too and far more rewarding than had she been brought back. It's important that fantasy storytelling doesn't overcome death too often and unrealistically because otherwise how can we identify with it?
Kylie Minogue's lack of recent acting experience did show a little at crucial moments and slightly undermined her ultimate sacrifice; though there is no doubting the power of the scene where she tips Capricorn's vehicle over the edge (shades of Aliens ). With some lovely dialogue about travelling (and Astrid being an anagram of TARDIS!) a stronger actor might have made more of it; try as they might there wasn't a lot of chemistry between her and David Tennant who himself delivered another top notch performance. Measured and playful at times, burning with passion and rage at others, his Doctor is becoming the least predictable of all (even Tom Baker had his limits) and is note perfect throughout this production, whether sneakily getting Astrid onto the Earth trip, heroically steering the crashing ship, baiting Capricorn or striding heroically with flames behind him. He's a hero for the times and an inspiring one at that; you feel he could do anything with the role and it would work which is a wonderfully freeing advantage for the writers. He's matched too by an exemplary performance from Russell Tovey as the neophyte midshipman who rises to the challenges; delivering most of his lines alone he encapsulates the desperate bravery that is happening elsewhere. Clive Swift's Mr Copper actually works better than Astrid as a potential companion, even though they'd never do it and he has the on screen vibe with Tennant that Kyles, bless her, never quite manages. Its interesting that because of the work the actor's done and Davies' dialogue, the moment when Copper realises his ultimate luck is actually more stirring than Astrid's demise, because the character has been so rich. Plus it's a lovely Dickensian sort of Xmas joy when we see him dancing in the snow.
George Costigan's off hand approach is also hugely enjoyable; a James Bond villain without seeming silly. Capricorn's `retirement plan` cocks a wry snoop at current events, with pensions being something of a political battleground these days. It shows that however way out things look, RTD always knows how to chuck in some contemporary reference to keep us grounded while the script is also sparkled with the writer's penchant for the attitude and cheekiness that never allows matters to become too dark.
There a couple of niggles, the main one being that if these people have such a bad knowledge of Earth, how come they've managed a perfect Titantic replica? Also when Astrid's ghostly remains float out of the window, why isn't everyone else sucked out with it but it's worth the anomaly for the lovely lines “you're not falling, you're flying”. Little things though amidst a triumphant production that James Strong directs with accomplished panache and occasionally inspiration (the odd angles for the Angels, big screen tricks for the heroic moments). Exciting enough for everyone, more accessible than either of the previous Xmas specials for causal viewers, `Voyage of the Damned` is another jewel in what is becoming an unsinkable programme and with over 12 million viewers, it's most successful adventure yet.
Cranford is one of the best television dramas of the decade with a class cast, multi layered story and best of all, a real love of the English language. Based on three Elizabeth Gaitskell novels the series introduces us to the inhabitants a small, isolated village in the 1840s where protocol and ritual are everything. Anyone stepping out of line is liable to be whipped back into shape by the sharp tongues of the dominating gaggle of middle aged spinsters and widows that dominate the place. Yet change is coming in various forms; a newly trained young doctor arrives from London which not only starts female hearts fluttering but turns traditional medical ideas upside down with his new ideas. A railway is also headed to Cranford with an inevitability that cannot be halted by Canute like stoicism. And the travails of the financial world begin to intrude on the villagers and local landowners alike. There' s change too in educational ideas that profoundly affect some of the characters. Yet there is discourse both in favour and against and the series never seeks to second guess its characters.
You'll be fooled by the start which is so genteel and amusing you might think you're watching a spoof. When three of the women can't decide which is the correct way to eat and orange and each retire to separate rooms to consume the fruit, it's funnier than most of the year's so called comedies. The first episode's comedy of manners though serves to introduce us to the way of the world Cranford style and it is this which is subsequently challenged by outside influences. There is plenty of humour and wit and soon you'll be smiling and by the time you get to a cow in a giant pair of pyjamas laughing out loud. Yet Cranford is just as liable to disarm you with the suddenness of tragedy and hardships that spin out of nowhere like falling comets. And when a series of misunderstanding and assumptions leads to a romantic break up, you'll be shouting at the telly!
It is all impeccably staged with just enough sweeping camerawork and photographic sheen to mark it out as a product of the 2000s yet in acting and script terms it has more in common with the tightly written historical classics of bygone decades such as I, Claudius , War and Peace or The Pallisers . There is little attempt to contemporize it as in the recent Oliver Twist and Bleak House adaptations but then it doesn't need it. The dialogue dances off the screen, filled with the richness of language and words so often absent from TV drama these days because modern scripters would rather load up with swear words of long pauses. In terms of the cast, it seems unfair to single out names, but no review of Cranford can pass without special mention of Eileen Atkins whose buttoned up spinster was allowed to glimmer occasionally. At first her tart responses and love of protocol suggest a dragon but then you catch her expression and body language when tapping her fingers to a tune or when she is the recipient of an unexpected act of kindness and your heart swells. Its some of the most beautiful subtle acting I've ever seen and her unexpected demise two episodes in is a shock. Later, we have Judie Dench too, watching her essay Matilda's increasingly desperate situation and refusing to be publicly demeaned was a master class. Elsewhere, Francesca Annis and Philip Glenister brought majesty of tone to their roles as a distant lady of the manor and her head of staff with polite disagreements reflecting the social changes happening around them. This plot strand also had the most emotional conclusion that is as triumphant as it is bittersweet and all revealed over a polite conversation. Cranford is an absolute delight; a production that demands something from it's viewers not by shocking or challenging them but by offering them people whose struggles and aspirations they can identify with. No doubt the likes of Messrs Abbot, McGovern and Poliakoff would sneer at such a production but I would challenge any of them to write something as stirring and intriguing and intricate as this without recourse to one swear word, sex scene, whirligig camera angle or lengthy pause. Cranford is genius telly and we need more of its kind!
Listening to Sigur Ros is an acquired taste; there are plenty who find their unusual sound off putting, boring or even silly. Yet if you like them, you are transported to another place and what this film illustrates is that the place is Iceland (the country not the shop!). Ostensibly a documentary about a series of small scale homecoming concerts the band played din 2006, Heima is a lustrous piece of work. Mixing artfully shot concert sequences, wonderfully filmed looks at Iceland' s unique landscape and some additional performances in unusual settings, the result is a visual and aural triumph. As their lyrics are in Icelandic and sung in a high pitched voice, you could easily be listening to music from another planet so you can imagine they are about whatever topic you choose. The film has another layer too beyond the music; many of the remote places the band performs in are derelict reminders of industries of the past. There are abandoned boats, derelict factories and a feeling expressed by the members in interviews that not all change is a good thing. One appearance takes place in a protest camp against a large dam that has been built and it may well be the case that Sigur Ros' music reflects as much the relationship between Icelandic people and their island as it does the landscape of the place itself. Certainly the community feeling is strong throughout and the likes of a traditional singer or a local brass band join in. It is most peculiar to see the group members sitting down for a meal in a church hall with the audience before playing. There seems to be no gap between both parties and a need to share the experience. Atmospheric, reflective and occasionally startling in its mix of sound and vision, Heima is like no tour film you've seen and in placing the musicians amidst the people and places that inspire their music is close to perfect.
Canonical as you like mate `Time Crash` has bona fide chops corralling David Tennant, Peter Davison and Graeme Harper in the same (console) room with a script by Steven Moffatt. Anyone expecting fireworks and catherine wheels from such a stellar combination though will have been slightly disappointed by what is a two way conversation that will probably baffle the casual viewer. Moffett's words play with the boundaries between the series and it's fans and it looked like the two actors had a ball but the end result did seem curiously out of place amidst the glitz and pop stars that surrounded it that night. A curio only I'm afraid, though Moffett's cheeky explanation for Davison's older appearance and the way it was slotted in between last season's episode 13 and the Xmas Special suggest that Russell T Davies spends rather too much time thinking about continuity for his own good!
This is better stuff, raising the bar from the slightly too childish Slitheen episodes. Investigating sightings of a spooky nun at a retirement home, Sarah and the kids discover an alien talisman that ends up in Luke's possession and which a band of decidedly hostile nuns are after. Helped by Phil Ford's busy dialogue the momentum is ushered along by some old school performances from the likes of Doreen Mantle as one of the more alert residents, Beth Goddard as sinister Sister Helena and best of all Phyllidda Law as former explorer's wife Bea Nelson-Stanley with working knowledge of Sontarans amongst other things. Lis Sladen puts in a very focussed and Doctor like performance raising her game to match her veteran co-stars while the mystery is well balanced by a sub plot involving Maria's family. Ford gets a great handle on the latter navigating tricky waters for the younger audience in some well played scenes. The episode climax is shocking too as Maria's Dad is turned to stone by the gorgon-nun. That it is that act, rather than the unveiling of the monster itself, that the episode ends on shows how well landscaped it is and how in touch with the more human side that Doctor Who itself now leans on. In fact, the way the kids emerge from Sarah's tiny car suggests TARDIS like dimensions and it seems as if this series may yet prove to be better on the inside than we expected. Part 2 follows through even if it's a bit more of a runaround and leans a little too heavily on a race against time but is defined by a selfless act by Sarah that is right out of the fourth Doctor's armoury. If it hasn't entertained you enough there is a lovely coda that encapsulates how well measured a story `Eye of the Gorgon` turns out to be.
This story has a very familiar plot- aliens stealing people to fight their war – roughly shoehorned into some contemporary laser gaming and the end result has more than a little of The Tomorrow People about it. Its big flaw is that surely the aliens would choose adults rather than kids for their ongoing war but even accepting that they don't, Sarah's mob makes such short work of their captivity on a big spaceship that you wonder why none of their predecessors ever thought of escaping. Also, if the war was over decades ago, as is revealed in a `Hand of Fear` style twist, where have all the other kids been sent to exactly? General Kudlak himself acts far less convincingly than his mask moves- in episode 1 he is a growly intimidating warlord but presumably in an attempt to make us empathise by episode 2 he is sighing and going on about feeling tired. His volte face at the end allows the story to trickle away – it might have been more satisfying for him to have launched into an Eldrad style rant of revenge but he is talked out of lifelong convictions in a two minute conversation.
For a show that strives, mostly successfully, for internal realism this story fails in that respect and with too much time spent watching laser tag gaming and some uneven guest roles would probably stretch the attention of its target audience. However, matters are partly redeemed by the acting of the regulars, especially Lis Sladen who is becoming Doctoresque with each passing week. Plus the scene where they share a view of the Earth from above is a welcome respite from the stories failings.
Good enough to be a story from the parent series, WHTSJ pivots on a time spanning narrative yet never loses its emotional senses and pushes all concerned to their best. Gareth Roberts' script delivers surprise and restraint in equal measure, knowing just when to deploy. His Trickster is a finely moulded villain in the tradition of the classic series. He has the voice and demeanour of The Shadow, with a couple of lines nicked from the Black Guardian and a love of chaos that would give Sutekh a run for his money, clearly we know which era of Doctor Who Roberts loves. Yet he uses what could be a generic scenario and a cloak waving enemy to splendid affect, focussing on just how it all affects Maria. Jane Asher is riveting, as she tries to keep her secrets but slowly finds her life unravelling while Maria's Dad , hitherto a none the wiser foil for his sussed daughter, really comes into his own here. Lis Sladen again, is brilliant showing the sort of acting that should get her a wider variety of roles in the future which she thoroughly deserves. All told, an accomplished 50 minutes and this series' first classic.
Luke is the focus for the last story as his apparent real parents show up desperate to be reunited with their long lost son. Of course, you know full well they're aliens (and rather tediously Slitheen yet again) that's not the surprise. The humdinger comes at the end of episode 1 when Mr Smith, yes Mr Smith - who is always summoned with familial call of “I need you” - is really some cruel alien. Having only just recovered from the Professor Yana shock, is the nation ready for such a twist? It's an occasion just as surprising to this series as the famed Yana fob watch scene was to Doctor Who though there is a clue, way back in an earlier episode when Clyde is messing about with the switches and we hear Mr Smith's real voice for a moment.
Episode 2 lets rip in series finale style. Having already switched the Sun off, this time we get the Moon being dragged towards the Earth (hopefully after Martha's hospital has been put back where it belongs) and a battle inside Sarah's attic to sort out bad Mr Smith. Of course we'd all forgotten about K9 in the oven and it is the tin pooch that comes to the rescue here. There's a lot going on and the pace can be too frantic but the cast are uniformly strong, even the Slitheen this time, and a real sense of clock ticking danger emerges.
On the whole The Sarah Jane Adventures manages to create its own iconography and tone as it progresses. It is prone to the occasional over the top moment but is strong enough to cope without having to freeze the Sun or have the Moon crashing. Compared to nearest rival MI High , this is a series that will make its younger audience think a little as well as have fun. Roll on season 2….
“I'm a wanker!” declares 17 year old Liam in the middle of giving a class of 12 year olds a sex education lesson in the midst of BBC3's October series, Leave Us Kids Alone . Yes, this is the sort of programme that Angry from Basingstoke would be calling their MP about. A group of teen volunteers who felt ill served by the education system they'd just been through were invited to take control of a group of 30 12 year olds for three weeks and do as they pleased. The aim was to see how different a school run by teenagers would be as the staff would only be 5 or 6 years older than their charges. A couple of adult experts are on hand to keep an eye on things plus there's a real schools inspector popping in to assess them.
Things take a while to settle down after the teens vote for confident `business placement` Sam to be their head and start to organise things conventionally even if the delivery is a little more casual. However in a pivotal moment Sam, the only one with a job, can't take the strain or the criticism and quits the school altogether leaving his laid back deputy Liam to be voted in as replacement. His deputy is go getting Hannah and despite tensions between them it is their flexibility and support for doing something more radical that results in the hitherto traditional timetable being ripped up and replaced by something different. Separate subject lessons are jettisoned in favour of themed days and despite a feeling that some of the work is too easy for the kids, enthusiasm is ignited at every turn. Eventually Liam stands aside to allow Hannah to reach the pinnacle she clearly was made for and it is she who guides the School In The Woods to its successful finishing line.
The series plays on two levels, as a social experiment it's fascinating to see how the teens adapt to their responsibilities and the attempts at their informal timetable does confuse some of the kids but it also stimulates learning amongst others who normally struggle to engage. As kids never like being bored, the lively atmosphere and off the wall teaching methods using amateur props, jokey routines and participation keep them interested. Each of the teen teachers also develop their own styles; some like Liam's aforementioned lessons rely as much on his personality, others can convey their love of the topic while sometimes it's the community spirit that's evoked which works a treat. Winning a glowing final reports and achieving a higher than average result in the final test means that the project ends on a successful note. Yet it's just as interesting to see these teens, who are the age when they think they know everything, adapting to the situation and to each other. There are plenty of rows and clashes but the longer things go on, the more they are about the school rather than themselves. There's a rewarding coda too, when interviewed later, it seemed that the experience had inspired the teen teachers into pursuing goals that hitherto they had dismissed or avoided, though if he really does become a policeman, Liam may one day regret his lively sex education lesson was broadcast on national telly!
Politicians and education gurus could do themselves s service by studying this series because after all the theories and proposal here is a working model in action. Its not perfect- and some of the familiarity is toe curling especially the teachers high fiving the pupils as they leave each class- but there are nuggets of new ways of engaging children and making education a more lively, relevant discipline that could be easily developed. As a programme it's fascinating to see the interplay between staff and pupils and the sometimes long winded way by which the teens achieve something worthwhile. The response of the schools inspector is also interesting.
As a TV program Leave Us Kids Alone showed that so called reality television can still be valid and interesting.
It's weird that people dismissed My Family yet the very same people lapped up any number of very similar US comedies. Is it that we can't take Brit comedy unless it's cutting edge and left field? Well, I always thought My Family was OK till Kris Marshall left and Fred Barron's new series has it's own gem in the form of Ryan Sampson who plays a similar role, ie the eccentric son and makes it his own. His character- Alex Venables may be about 16 but is clearly an alien (I doubt this was intended or it would be a left field series) and Sampson, who's actually in his 20s plays with the offbeat lines he gets the way Marshall used to do as Nick Harper. Then there's Tracey Beaker , or rather Dani Hamer tv's Tracy Beaker who is the sarkiest, annoying teenage girl and therefore quite realistic. Between them, the kids get most of the best lines along with the imperial Celia Imrie, who can never be rubbish even in Kingdom. She is the grandmother who ends up living with the kids and their father after mum goes to Africa; this premise is actually flimsy and when I saw the title I thought it referred to after the mum had died or something, which would add a serious side that might help. The father is Nicholas Lyndhurst whom Barron has written as a builder but in all honesty you can more easily imagine Celia Imrie as a builder rather than Lyndhurst who seems unable to cut loose. Jimmy Venable is supposed to have been an alcoholic but you look in Lyndhurst 's eyes and you see a decent but dim sort who would probably be a great Dad so it's unconvincing casting. He makes it work by carrying a paint brush or something and occasionally doing builder-y sort of things but it doesn't matter. So you see I rather like After You're Gone though I'm not sure if that's just because other people don't but when Ryan shows up in the most silly – and impractical- fancy dress costume ever I think; what's not to like. Barron and the other writers struggle to pull together a narrative- and when you get to season 2 you wonder why Jimmy's girlfriend hasn't moved in to provide more tension – and the pub scenes don't work but every few minutes, something rather good happens. And that's worth watching it for.
With his velvet clobber and old fashioned English character, it's surprising that Jon Pertwee's Doctor only occasionally appeared in a historical setting but no surprise that these are also amongst his best performances in the part. This story is class Doctor Who and contains many of the elements that had hitherto made the show popular but which had rarely appeared all together. It's also significant in kicking off what became a popular destination for the TARDIS- the pseudo historical.
`Lowly` Sontaran soldier Linx is forced to land in the Middle Ages from where he pulls people and equipment from the future to repair his stricken spaceship while also giving the local robber baron advanced weapons to keep him sweet. And before you ask; yes, the script manages to make all of this plausible. Into the mix comes Sarah Jane Smith, possibly the show's finest companion and certainly the first to both keep and develop her character as she went along. Just like a certain Rose Tyler thirty years later, Sarah is every bit the Doctor's equal here and gets plenty to do; her feisty liberated journalist more than a match for shouty Irongron, posh Lady Eleanor and even Linx himself. The Sontarans were the last of the great returning monsters the old series created and thanks to Kevin Lindsey's performance Linx is more than just monster of the month. If you watch the dvd with the CGI option on, it'll tidy up all those cheap looking effects too and enhance the experience though with Holmes' wordy script there's plenty to entertain. His dialogue is familiar in it's painting of archetypes- bloodthirsty Irongron and his dim henchman Bloodaxe, weak willed Sir Edward and his pushy wife, the battle hardened alien and the dotty kidnapped professor but each is given sparkling lines and an edge of humour to make them interesting. The top notch cats helps, while the script also focuses on the differences between the conflicting characters each of whom is adjusting to a strange situation and this comes alive in some memorable exchanges between Linx and Irongron and involving Professor Rubiesh. The Time Warrior is a fine story and if you want to see what all the fuss about old Doctor Who is about then this would be a great place to start.
TMBG twelfth album may not bother the charts or NME or even Mojo, but it is yet another superb collection of diverse styles, oddball lyrics and hummable tunes from a duo who have done this for more than twenty years now. Johns Flansburgh and Linnell enjoyed a flurry of mainstream attention circa 1990 follwing their only big hit `Birdhouse In Your Soul` but both before and since they continue to know no musical borders nor lyrical bounds and each of their releases contains more variety than most artists manage in a career. Its this facet that has made them an acquired taste. In terms of their canon this new album most resembles `Mink Car` and is probably a better collection than 2004's `The Spine` which seemed a little rushed. Stand out tracks include `Careful What You Pack`, the mini epic `With the Dark`, `Contrecoup` (surely the only song ever written with the word “craniosophic” in it and `Upside Down Frown`. Witty, intelligent words and great tunes. What more could you ask for?
This is the ninth and most recent book in the Fables series, collecting the issues of this popular comic. For an overview of the previous eight volumes, see the last issue of THIS WAY UP. This volume mainly takes place in the Homelands as the leading lights of the Empire gather together to plan a counterattack against Fabletown and Bigby takes his family to visit his father, the Northwind. The attack plans and their flaws, as picked out by Pinocchio, are discussed at length whilst Bigby unexpectedly encounters figures from his past.
An ambassador to Fabletown from the Homelands has arrived and the newshound Kevin Thorne, the only person to notice the battle of Fabletown, attempts to try and learn something about the mysterious inhabitants of Bullfinch Street . There are also several short side-tales, including those from the special 'Answers' issue, in which a few lucky readers had their burning questions about characters and events answered, revealing further facets of the series.
This volume is very much for long-time readers : if you have not been following the various strands you will likely be left confused, especially by the answers to questions you'll never even have pondered in passing. So, if FABLES is still a closed book to you, go back and open the first volume, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. If you are a long-time reader, this volume maintains the high standards of the previous eight collections. Some readers may find it a little disappointing as it doesn't really advance the plot : much of it exists to tie-up loose ends, answer (seemingly) unimportant questions and set the stage for the next story arc. But, that's not to say it is dull or boring : there is still plenty of excitement and unexpected twists. I very much enjoyed this latest instalment of my favourite comic and am looking forward to the next collection in the new year!
Harry Turtledove is an excellent author. If you disagree with that statement, don't bother reading on. His novels have examined time travel, alien invasion during World War II and a fantastic version of Byzantium, amongst others. But, perhaps his crowning glory is the alternative history series that began with HOW FEW REMAIN in which the USA lost the Civil War for a second time and the disgraced Abraham Lincoln became a Socialist.
That timeline continued in the Great War trilogy in which the USA and CSA fought it out for a third time. Then came the interwar AMERICAN EMPIRE trilogy. Now the four-volume SETTLING ACCOUNTS comes to an end with both bangs and whimpers. If you haven't read the earlier books skip to the next paragraph now : having suffered defeat in the Great War, the CSA had returned to a position of power under Hitler-analogue Jake Featherston. However, despite wiping out most of the black population and making deep
inroads into the USA 's heartland, the underpopulated CSA has found itself unable to keep the momentum up and are now being pushed back. Now, it is a race for atomic weapons to see who might emerge victorious - and it may not play out quite as you'd expect. Inevitably, there can only be one victor and we see something of the aftermath and the war crime trials that follow. Given how events tie-up, whilst time will continue to move on, it is probably unlikely that Turtledove will write a Cold War continuation.
Harry Turtledove is a master of alternative history and is adept at showing the darkside of humanity - not just what was but what could all-too-easily have been. He unravels events so that you can see just how people can slide down the road to mass murder : it is disturbingly easy. We see the horrors of war and how almost all those fighting it are normal people who don't really want to be there. IN AT THE DEATH ties-up all the ongoing storylines so that we learn what has happened to recurring characters : many survive to see the post-war world that rises from the ashes of conflict, but Turtledove is not shy about killing his characters off, sometimes in unexpected ways. He also avoids slavishly transferring the events of the real Second World War to North America and things do not go exactly as you might expect which makes the book extremely enjoyable. Highly recommended!
Thumbsucker is one of my favourite films so I was initially concerned that this was something of a copycat version. However, while Jeffrey Blitz's film doesn't reach such heights it is nonetheless a worthwhile addition to a peculiarly American strand of film making that appears to take place just one step to the left of reality. Lonely stuttering high school student Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson) falls in love with school debating queen Ginny Ryerson( Anna Kendrick) but is seems to be a matter that will be unrequited till she ropes him onto the team, despite his speaking problems. Yet delightfully matters do not take what you might imagine is the likely course, especially once Ginny's reasons for choosing him become clear. There are some eccentric characters and incidents while a couple of twists throw enough curveballs to keep you interested. One suspects a little more work on the characters, particularly Ginny might allow us to understand them more though the acting is strong enough to cover this. Thompson and Kendrick are both great and spark well together while Blitz's askew sense of place is not dissimilar to that of Wes Anderson, albeit on a less ambitious scale. And there are lots of funny bits and anyone whose seen the film will smile when anyone mentions cellos (which I know doesn't happen often!) and when ordering pizza too. Probably Rocket Science is most likely to be remembered as the starting point of several strong careers rather than in its own right but if you like your films understated and a bit odd, then it's certainly worth a look.
I'd assumed, running my eyes over my cheapo TV listings mag a year or so ago, that this 'NCIS' thing was a CSI rip-off. TV cop shows, especially American TV cop shows, have never exactly been in short supply, but those high-tech boys and girls in Grissom's mob have inspired more than just a few clones in their wake. The initials that make up the title of 'NCIS' are misleading, though - they simply stand for 'Naval Criminal Investigative Service'. And although a smart cookie forensic scientist makes up one of their number, this series has very little to do with cutting edge CGI modelling and sticking up bullet-pattern wires all over UV-lit crime scenes, and has far more to do with good old fashioned TV cop archetypes.
The NCIS is (and I assume this is a real-life organisation, but for all I know it could be entirely fictional) the branch of the US Navy that takes care of all its internal criminal investigations. Rather pleasingly, given the nature of episodic television, this gives the impression that every week somebody in the US Navy is killing somebody else in the Navy, or blackmailing a commanding officer, or kidnapping their wives, or attempting to spread anthrax, or otherwise conducting themselves in an un-US navy-like manner. Heading the team is archetypal 'grizzled veteran' type Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, aka Gibbs, aka the Silver Fox (just don't call him that to his face). All the personality traits are present and correct - he's been married and divorced (three times), is usually referred to by his surname alone, has 'seen action', is gruff and no-nonsense, can't stand red tape, is out of touch with pop culture references and can wither a suspect (or a hapless member of his team) with a look. And he likes his coffee hot.
Devoid of long-running story arcs per se, the joy of the series lies in the manner in which Gibbs' team solve the cases. Technology is certainly at their disposal, and often Abby, their resident cute goth forensic scientist (surely every leading law enforcement agency has a cute goth forensic scientist?) will pull off some dazzling feat of criminology thanks to her online database of shell casing impact speeds or whatnot, but that is not the point of the stories. The point is seeing the team rollick about like schoolchildren on a day outing to a big city. It's about the banter, and the one-upmanship. Gibbs broods intently in the background, snapping "get on it" or "the point, Abby", whilst his underlings bicker about getting the crappy jobs, interview (or chat up) suspects , and generally get up to mischief. This is one way in which Five's near-endless, and mixed-up, repeats schedule actually works in the series favour - there are brief moments when events become mixed up chronologically, but it matters far les than such a thing would if it happened to, say, 'Heroes'... instead, you just sit back, relax, and watch how Gibbs and co. are going to save the day (or not) this week.
So what of the team? There's Kate, the sensible-headed one who looks up to Gibbs as a sort of father figure. There's DiNozzo, a throwback to the days when every cop show had a sexist chauvinist pig as standard, only here part of the point is that he's a sexist chauvinist pig, so he can trade barbs with whatever woman he happens to be paired with (usually Kate). There's McGee, the cute geeky probationer (who has no sea legs!), who basically IS The New Boy At School, getting things wrong, trying his hardest to fit in, and usually ending up with a smack round the head from DiNozzo for his trouble. There's the aforementioned Abby, and her vast collection of goth day and office wear. There's The New Woman Whose Name I Can Never Remember, on loan from Mossad who brings an ambivalent edge to the team with her hints about being trained in torture techniques. And there's Doctor Mallard, aka 'Ducky' (geddit??!?!) played with perfect charm by David McCullum, who is like every dapper bow-tied urbane mortician in fiction all rolled into one, always rambling off on asides about the derivation of archaic terminology whilst he's arm-deep in a corpse. There are a few other recurring characters but these are the guys you keep tuning in to watch.
The formula isn't the most revolutionary, but in an era when it seems every big US show is specifically attempting to be so (or at least, looking vaguely like it), the old-fashioned approach of 'NCIS' is what gives it is unique and amiable charm. It's notable that when the BBC tried its own 'innovative cop show' earlier this year (the miserable 'Holby Blue') audiences reacted negatively because its claim to being "the cop show for our generation" were so blatantly false - it was in fact stuffed full of the sorts of characters even 'The Bill' had given up on years ago, including you guessed it, the Comedy Sexist teamed up with the Enthusiastic New Girl. If it had deliberately marketed itself as being an unpretentious greatest-hits package ('Life On Mars' without the postmodernism?), then it might have gone down better.
And this is what 'NCIS' does - the antics of Gibbs and company aren't out to bend our minds with way-out new plots or fantastic new gadgetry and hardware, and it isn't trying to offer us any amazing new insights into gender politics. It's a formulaic, safe, humour and action-packed show with one goal only - to entertain. Which is no bad thing. It's something many more US shows, especially crime-based ones, should attempt more often. It is, as DiNozzo might say in his overgrown frat-boy voice, "awesome!"
Going back long before the recent TRANSFORMERS movie there was THE MOVIE, the 1986 animated feature with planet-devouring Unicron. The Soundtrack has just been re-released with four bonus tracks, and is a must for every fanboy's music collection. Before I go further let me explain : I am not a fan of soundtrack albums. I've got a compilation of SF film and TV themes and one of Star Wars music - both bought for a couple of quid - and this. I've got friends who have albums for nearly every film they've seen. To encourage me to buy a soundtrack album said soundtrack has to be something special. This is. I originally bought the soundtrack as a child, not too long after seeing the film and enjoying the music in the cinema; it has managed to exert its hold on me into adulthood. With the cassette at risk of dying from overuse, it was only natural that I would seek out a CD replacement - so I was pleased to find this re-release going cheap on Amazon : it's not long since it has arrived and I've played it many times without it losing the magic.
The soundtrack is a combination of '80s rock and electronic instrumentals, with a 'Weird Al' addition. The re-release also contains four bonus tracks that weren't on the original cassette or CD. Three of these are additional instrumentals and the other is an alternative (and not quite as good) version of the theme.
Although I prefer the rock songs, Vince DiCola has also provided some great music and there is not a bad track on the disc. Stan Bush entertains with the upbeat Autobot anthems THE TOUCH and DARE, Lion provide the theme, NRG the menacing INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION and Spectre General NOTHIN'S GONNA STAND IN OUR WAY and HUNGER. There are better songs out there – although I'm keen to investigate Spectre General further - but whilst there is a touch of nostalgia in my enjoyment, this a solid album with much to commend it and definitely my favourite soundtrack by far. The tenth - and, formerly, final - track, DARE TO BE STUPID was my first exposure to the wacky lyrics of 'Weird Al' Yankovic, something for which I'm grateful for. More than just the Junkion theme it is a brilliantly surreal song in its own right. If you are a fan of the old TRANSFORMERS comics or cartoon of a lover of SF soundtracks then you will probably already own this. If you don't, stop dithering and buy it! If you're not, but you like music from the '80s, you may still be interested in sampling this, thankfully re-released, classic.