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 | Incite into Rory's character |
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| What: | The Glamour Chase (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Sara, New Hampshire, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 20 October 2010 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
As I have come to expect from Gary Russell, the Glamor Chase is a well written Doctor Who book.
This book seems to focus a lot on Rory's character, helping us understand who he is and his relationship with Amy.
Overall, the dialog and action are good, and the plot has a few twists to keep it fun.
| What: | Demon Quest: The Relics Of Time (Nest Cottage audio dramas) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 20 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Tom Baker again sinks back into the role that made him famous. All teeth and curls and as good as ever. After the success of Hornet's Nest a year ago here he is back again in Demon Quest. And to be honest, judging from this first outting, I think this is going to be even better than that first run of 5 audio stories.
Susan Jameson is back on form too, breathing new life into Mrs Wibbsey. She seems to be becoming far more likeable than the irisacble old woman she seemed to be in Hornet's Nest. Im starting to get into her character more and more.
The small supporting cast are all good too. And again this story starts the ball rolling with questions that still need to be answered. yes, this leaves you wanting to come back for more. And what is also good is that Mike's small cameo call to the Doc in turn saves the day here, which is a nice piece of scripting and great storytelling. This first segment of Demon Quest is whetting my appetite nicely. Im looking forward to seeing what is to come very soon.
I love the inclusion of the elephant. The fact that an elephant might be a traveller with the Doctor is a funny and original aspect. It should be amusing to see what comes of this lovely elephant in the rest of the series. What I like more here too is theres more talk from all the other characters too. The first segment of Hornet's seemed to be mostly just a Tom highlighter, which wasnt bad but it lacked the amount of score and pace that is present in this tale.
I am really so glad that Tom has come back as the Doctor. All his characteristic vices and isms are here presented boldly and to the fore. It still hardly seems like he's been away. And above all else this does manage to conjure up the feel of the seventies Tom Baker period of Doctor Who. Its full of nostalgia. Its full of Paul Magrs usual brilliant writing.
Point of Entry, set in 16th Century London, really isn't such great stuff. So far, if there's any one of these Sixth Doctor lost stories to miss, this is the one. It's not that it's that bad, or has something really stupid in it, but there are two issues here. One is that a lot of it is rather dull, and the other is that there's some really nasty stuff here, including a poor tongueless "criminal" who's been horrifically tortured and is later done in as a human sacrifice (non-graphically, at least), blood-fed "spirits," and the like. Pretty unpleasant stuff. Other features include frequent Spanish accents and a faintly grim trip to the astral plane.
It turns out that there was really very little existing story material before the adaptation and writing by Marc Platt began. Without remembering who the writer was, I did note a bit of similarity to Ghostlight as I was listening, as there were parts that were a little difficult to follow in a way similar to the way it was in Ghostlight, and also some similar grimness.
With apologies to Nicola Bryant, who is a good actress when give a good opportunity, I've gotta say that the "Season 22b Peri" is really starting to get irritating. Here her parts in the script leave quite a bit to be desired. It occurred to me that I actually would've liked to have seen these stories split up a bit, with some featuring Peri and others featuring Mel. (I never thought I'd be wishing to have Mel in a story...)
Point of Entry is a low point of this "lost season."
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| I love the Sarah Jane Adventures! |
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I love the Sarah Jane Adventures! Ive just seen the first story of the fourth series and its brilliant. I have high hopes for the fourth series as all the previous seasons have been excellent. A lot better than a sieable amount of the new Doctor Who stories if you ask me.
The Second series is almost faultless. The series begins excellently with The Last Sontaran. Its sad to see Maria go. A really nice character she was. And to see a sontaran beaten by half forms and a female is brilliant. The shoe in the neck was one of the best scenes of this series. This a clever, witty and amusing debut to the series.
The Day of the Clown takes the series into the totally serious vein here. The Day of the Clown is definitely creepy. The story too is very well written and Elizabeth is really good here as the tormented mother of Luke who Odd Bob steals away.
Secrets of the Stars has many good moments. But the universe wasnt brought about by a big bang. The acting is again good and assured, and the fact that Luke has no birthday, thus defeating potentially one of the most dangerous creatures ever, is very well utilised to bring about the downfall of the ancient power. This is the only slight flaw in the whole of the second series.
The Mark of the Berserker is a brilliant tale. All about Clyde and his background. Sarah Jane isnt in it a lot. But its not a bad thing as it gives the teens a chance to glow. And they all do here. This is a brilliant first tale from Joseph Lidster. He's a very very good writer indeed.
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith is excellent. Its seeing the return of that ugly trickster. Hes such a freaky looking thing. And here the story is emotionallly charged, rather like Father's Day in the Doctor Who series. But Liz Sladen's tale is better in the fact that her character is never annoying as Billie Piper's Rose was far too often. That her parents should die at the end is so sad. This is pretty mature stuff for CBBC. Its great.
The finale. Well, The BRIG IS BACK! Yeah!!! Nicholas Courtney was always brilliant back in his time on the classic series of Doctor Who. And though his aging is very apparent, he still manages to bring back his character so very well indeed. And add to that the return of Sam Bond as Wormword and we have a brilliant finale that rounds off the second series very well indeed. I really like the Sarah Jane Adventures. Its a great series. The Nightmare Man has begun the fourth series, and from the look of just that story, it seems Sarah is set just to fly higher and higher and higher....
| What: | Series 5: Volume 2 (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 16 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The Weeping Angels are one of the best new monsters on Doctor Who. This second outing for the statues is on the whole highly entertaining and gripping. Were it not for the woefully over the top climax of Amy jumping on the poor Doc and trying to eat him. And Steven Moffat has broken the rules here. Never, repeat never, should the Doctor swear! Heroes dont swear!!! For goodness sake man, I hope you never falter like this again. Its such a shame mate. For the rest of the story is highly engrossing. the new stuff we learn about the weeping angels is fascinating. And even so, theres still something mysterious about them even after all this. And their use is very well done, suitably different from Blink and still just as frightening. Pity Steven deciced to include those two disastrous pieces in the second part. up til those two I was thinking this was one of the best stories of Doctor Who ever. But sadly, no. The ending is moronic in the extreme. But at least its explained in the next tale, I suppose....
The Vampires of Venice is the opposte of the above story. In the fact that it starts so so lamely but then rises to a far better ending than a lot of the new series stories. The annoying scene is the Doc saying to Amy's boy that shes a great kisser. Sorry, this is totally not the Doctor Ive come to know. Totally out of character. But at least this soon leads into a good tale, where the Doc actually brings Rorry along to get Amy off his case. Really cool idea. For one moment I though Amy was going to become as annoying as Rose. Happily, this is not the case. The Vampires themselves are excellent. Those girls grouped around the Doc has to be one of the best scenes of the new series. Rory's dippiness too is brilliant. I really like Arthur Darvill's portrayal of Rory. He's better than Karen most of the time. Nothing against Karen though. Shes brilliant enough. Just a little sad that a few weaknesses mar these episodes somewhat. But not as much as some of the earlier stories, by any means....
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| One: Great Two and three: One flaw... |
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| What: | Series 5: Volume 3 (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 16 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Amy's Choice is wonderfully different. It also carries almost the same amount of punch as Turn Left. The Dream Lord is a creepy invention, menace dripping in every scene. And that pregnancy should be at last dwelled upon in a who script is good. The Doctor's reaction to Amy's belly is quite believable. Simon Nye done a good job here. And those old people with those eyes sprouting from their mouths....gross to say the least. Dreams again, as used in Kinda and Snakedance to brilliant effect, and again very well relised. The story rips along and doesnt feel like 45 minutes at all. This is a very strong episode. The ending again is well thought out and again original. One of my favourite stories so far of the new series. Well done Simon.
The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood holds one huge flaw. Well two actually. The first is that for me these silurians here are not a patch on the original. And no matter what the bbc team say here they still look like people in costumes. Even more so now than ever with their more human tones. And what felony! No third eye!!! This was very much a let down for me. The original silurians were far better. The second flaw is this is just a blatant retelling of the Silurians and the Sea Devils. Even some of the lines bare very uncanny resemblance to these two prior stories. These two flaws should see my mark right down for this story, but somehow...despite these two things, I still like this story rather a lot. The drama is there, the acting is there, the dire peril is there too. Firstly theres the dilemma with the captured silurian who is finally killed. This comes across well on screen. I dont know why I like it, but I do. Maybe its Matt Smith's leading. Maybe its Arthur Darvill. I dont know, i just still like this story a lot. I know Im weird. Thats me to the tee. And then theres the final scene of Rory suddenly dying, unexpected and hard hitting. A real surprise ending. So, this may well be just a rip off from the past with no so good silurians, but I still cant help but really like this new story....
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| I just love Catherine.... |
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| What: | The Complete Fourth Series (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 16 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Partners in Crime sees the well overdue return of Catherine Tate as the wonderful Donna Noble. She is by far my favourite companion of the new series. She is gobby and forthright, but she is lovably gobby, not like the brattish Rose. Partners In Crime also boasts about the most adorable creatures to appear in Doctor Who. Those adipose just look so cute. But the story has its very good and unsettling moments, such as when Stacie turns into that pile of fat. Quite a good effect. And also we get an appearance from Sarah Lancashire, always a good actress. Here she brings the Matron to life effortlessly. My favourite bit of scripting is HANG ON! I AM!!!! Pure classic genius. And its lovely to see that other brilliant companion to be again, the brilliant Bernard Cribbins as Wilf. I love his over the top reaction at the climax of the tale.
The Fires of Pompeii is really strong stuff. High on drama and high on sadness. the Doctor's plight is very very well written, and here Catherine truly starts to shine as Donna. Her support of David's Doctor is palpable and incredible. And the Pyrovile aint bad looking either. This is a true epic in 45 minute form. One of the best.
Planet of the Ood continues the heavy impact of the first story. We have the usual human morons treating all other life like rubbish. The Oods send off to the Doc and Donna at the end is emotional and poignant. And that brain looks very effective indeed. The changing of that chap into the ood has to be the single most gross looking effect on the series so far. Surely this should have had a 15 certificate? But its still frigging brilliant.
The Sonataran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky brings back those brilliant enemies the Sontarans in fine style. General Stahl is a brillaint creation, and the resolution of this tale has a character you may not have liked at the beginning coming good and saving the entire planet. Great plotting here. Nice to see Freema back again too!
The Doctor's Daughter is one of the special episodes here. Georgia Moffett is the perfect choice as the extrapolated daughter of the errant time lord. The stories central theme too is suitably a relief from the more heavier stories in the series. The acting is very fine indeed, and the finale is great again once more.
The Unicorn and the Wasp is a clever and intriguing little episode. Rather like a murder mystery with rather a lot of twists. A game of Cluedo to the end. I never really have liked the game, but this episode has a brilliant alien and a brilliant Agatha Christie. And its actually sad to see the wasp go at the end. It wasnt all bad.
Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead is creepy as hell. Steven Moffat is one of the best writers of the series. He had such strong themes running through all his tales. They are so dark and menacing and creepy. And River Song makes her debut. Alex Kingston brings her to life brilliantly. And that distorted face of the dumb girl in part two was also rather unsettling too.
Midnight was a real chiller. And for once we dont actually really find out what the thing was. This is a neat little twist. David Troughton is back too, but his character is a world away from King Peladon. The characters here are so well written. The story is claustrophobic and yes, very scary indeed.
Turn Left is by far the best episode of the season though. Catherine Tate's performance here is suprememely emotional and stirring. I nearly cried to her death at the end. She is such a good companion. She saves the whole world. Carry on Catherine!! The tension and menace rife through this story kept me hooked from the outset.
And then we come to the best finale of the the new series so far.The daleks are back with Davros! Davros is about the most psychotic he has ever been, Julian Bleach did wonders after such a heavy first input from Michale Wisher and Terry Molloy. The story is massive in scale, about the biggest scale Doctor Who has ever seen. The reality bomb has to be the biggest threat ever seen on a Who too. And the ending here is so well done. All the characters get to do something and no one is left out to dry. And The Tenth Doctor is on supreme form. Only one teenie little thing here which doesnt come over well to me...Doc, why are you having such a go at your half human self about genocide when youve done it to the Vervoids in the past eh? But aside from this one tiny glitch, this finale is awesome. Yes, this is so far the only series since 2005 to have no major faults. Series five is excellent on the whole, but with two major weaknesses. Here there is only a little quibble in the whole lot. And the extras here arent at all bad either! Rollicking stuff!!!!
| What: | The Complete Third Series (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 16 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
With the new arrival of Freema Agyeman came a Doctor Who series far better than the previous two overall. This season had far more going for it than the previous two. And it kept me entertained. David Tennant at last has some decent stories to get his teeth into in succession. I was glad the series picked up here, for up to this point I was disinterested in the series as a whole. This is the start of the big comeback. And we have our first coloured companion, which is an excellent and new move for the series.
About the only weak stories amidst this lot are the two dalek episodes. And even these are stronger than the weak ones in the two previous series. Even saying that this is a better two parter than the series two finale. For one the daleks are in it more, and that is rarely a bad thing. But again the story overall feels like nothing that new. The new dalek looks rather strange as well, if you know what I mean.
But stories like Human Nature/The Family of Blood and Blink are truly excellent tales. Fresh and imaginative and very vivid in the storytelling. They unravel surely and never lose coherence throughout. The characters are all likeable and the aliens are all suitably unsettling.
The Lazarus Experiment boasts perhaps the best monster of this series, followed by the Weeping Angels. And 42 is about one of the best of the new series stories over all. And Michelle Collins is in it, which is never a bad thing.
Smith and Jones got the series off to a flying start, in being better than the first two introductory episodes of the two series beforehand. And the Judoon are a pretty brilliant set of new aliens. One of the better new monsters to appear in the series.
The Shakespeare Code's ending too is highly original. Words as a defence have never been so effectively used within a story. Gareth really excelled himself here, as he does with the Lodger.
Gridlock is interesting as it brings back the Macra from long ago. They look brilliant here. And that hymn sung half way through is no light moment. This is the kind of story I would love to see a lot more of.
Of course though, it is the return of the MASTER that is this series best and most memorable moments. First Derek Jacobi, and then John Simm, both breath new life into the character first so wonderfully brought to life by Roger Delgado and then carried on by so many fine actors. I only wish Derek could have had a bit more time to develop as the Master before changing, but one cant have everything can they? And that old Doctor gave me the creeps. Such effective makeup and design work there. That old Doctor was the first real scene to truly unsettle me in the new series up to this point. So on the whole, this series was excellent. It finally had a run of top notch stories, with very few flaws and weak moments. Great stuff.
I always thought that Peter Cushing would have made a brilliant Doctor Who. He has the acting brilliance to have portrayed such a powerful time lord. I am just glad he did make the two dalek films. They are both pretty excellent at capturing the feel of the TV serials they were based upon, but are both better than their TV counterparts in the fact they are shorter, better paced, and the characters are all very believable and convincingly portrayed along the way. Its not just because its had more money spent on it. Very rarely is a programme suscessful just due to the money thrown at it.
Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD has it all. And it presents are a far more satisfying end to the story for the main reason is here it is actually explained. Peter Cushing leads the cast excellently as Doctor Who. His grandfatherly figure is at times more easy to accept than Will Hartnell's more terse time lord. And another person who shines again here in this film is Roberta Toovey. I always loved her character when I was younger and I saw this film.
And the daleks here are very impressive. No casing coming apart and all that. And they actually have grippers too. That makes sense. Daleks couldnt exactly do a whole lot with just plungers, well at least not until now anyway. The supporting cast here are of a very high calibre too. Andrew Keir gives as polished a performance as ever. Maybe the only slight quibble about this film is Jill Curzon's role. She doesnt actually really do much in the story except run around and fall over.
But Bernard Cribbins is brilliant. His character is so well defined and executed. And the final scene is one of the best endings to any type of Who story ever. Although with proper modern logic one could argue where his first persona was when he returned at exactly the same time. But science fiction may not have been as broadly horizoned in those days, so it doesnt really matter one little bit.
Those two deceitful women at the cottage too are a memorable duo. So, all in all this film was excellently done. Its sad they never did come to be able to do a film of the Chase, I would have loved to have seen that. These films and the classic series of Doctor Who are on the whole better than a sizeable percentage of the new series of stories. This goes to proove to me that the oldies are always the best.....
Some Spoilers Ahead
Paradise 5, when one looks at it in depth, really is very twisted indeed. In spite of this, I still find it brilliant. (Hmmm... what does that say about me?)
First things first. Paradise 5 was eventually replaced by Terror of the Vervoids in the official Season 23, which really is a shame, because Paradise 5 offers such greater depth and interest, and a truly sinister situation. Mel's line about "feeling evil in this place" would have been much more appropriate in Paradise 5. For this story, the role of Mel was recast, with Peri taking her place.
This story was originally written by P.J. Hammond, writer of most of the old Sapphire & Steel TV episodes. Here, the story is much more understandable than most of those TV episodes were. Writer Andy Lane picked things up for the adaptation, adding an additional episode at the beginning of the story, and further developing the latter parts of it. The resulting audio play is a very interesting fusion of these different elements - it all works together seamlessly, and maintains a very 80s-ish feel to it, partly due to the incidental music soundtrack, and partly due to nods to 80s fashion and culture. I would very much rather have seen this on TV instead of Terror of the Vervoids, but this production really was made for audio, and would not have been done the way it was, had it been done for TV in the 80s.
Now onto the twisted bit. Firstly, the "Cherubs" featured in the story, which are sort of menial laborers on the luxury vacation space station of Paradise 5, which is being run by "Gabriel" and "Michael," are very eerie creatures, and it's not without reason that the listener may feel this way, as we eventually come to find out... but I will leave that part for you to discover on your own. The purpose of the "Paradise Machine" is kept a very suspenseful secret for much of the duration of the story, and when we are told what it's for, it's quite a far-out idea... very interesting - a recruitment device for a higher-dimensional war. The sinister "Elohim" are from a higher dimension. But the bit that may not be widely known is where the name "Elohim" comes from. In the biblical book of Genesis, the first instances, in the earliest parts of the book, where the word translated as "God" in English are found, are places you actually find the Hebrew word that transliterates as "Elohim," which is plural, by the way. To put it more simply, in the early parts of the book of Genesis, "God" is actually "Elohim," and it would be more properly translated as "gods" or "the gods." So in effect, this story turns the ancient Semitic God(s) into an evil collective that is conscripting humans as warriors in a higher dimension. None of the details about where the name "Elohim" comes from are included in the story, of course. It is apparently left to the educated listener to catch the literary jab.
Gabriel and Michael (also from Judeo-Christian biblical myth - they are archangels therein), are brilliantly and twistedly played by Alex Macqueen and James D'Arcy respectively. The script flows really well, and Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant give delightful performances. In addition, there are shades of Season 25 here... think along the lines of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and The Happiness Patrol, but perhaps with somewhat better production values, if this had been done right on TV.
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| See my review in Volume one. |
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Loved it!!!!
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| WOW! that was a fast 4 hours. |
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For anybody who is a fan of the classic series should get these two double CD's. This give a lot of insite in to the internal running of this series from the man who was in charge. He explanes in detail decitions he made and why he made then. Its also goes into the show hiatus 1985, Colin Bakers fireing, Even touches on a few of the shows contents that we fans find embarising ie The Candy man.
My only critisium of these CD's is that when the show is cancelled 1989 he doesn't even mention it. Also you can tell that he is reading from a book, there isnt a lot of emotion as he reads it.
But the 4 hours that these CD's run for goes by very fast,
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| This should be a 'must have' for any fan |
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This is wonderfull. It is very funny, and increadably interesting. It also made me think how luckey we were to have him at all considering how many times he almost died during WW2.
My only thing I didnt like about this was that it wasn't long enough. I could have happily listened to him for another hour. Things like Navy Lark, Wozel Gummadge (I loved both of those shows) just really get a quick mention. and that was it
This was a very small-scale story. Very tepid and uninvolving. Quite a few people have reviewed this book positively elsewhere. I just couldn't get into it.
It's not that it isn't well-written. It's just that it didn't have anything really unique to say.
Matthew Jones actually seems to be a fairly good writer, when he puts his determination to it. He penned the tenth doctor two-part episodes of The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, respectively; two of the finest episodes of the new series I have yet witnessed. Wonderfully phobic and closed-in.
Both those episodes involved the Devil. This book, also, involves the Devil, but not so directly.
Jones seems to have a thing for the Devil. It's interesting how his concepts have evolved.
But apart from this angle, I found little else to appreciate.
The black man-eating street cab threatened and menaced effectively. But this was the only other thing. Perhaps it was all the character work. It was a bizarre take.
I personally find sexuality of any kind rather irritating in Doctor Who. People look at me oddly when I say this, but I don't care. I've been described as rather emotionless, which may or may not be true.
Perhaps I'm too much of a rationalist. Too analytical. Too much like the Doctor. Whatever.
The in-depth descriptions of Jack's 16-year old lusts simply dragged with me (no pun intended.) I couldn't see the point of them. Which wouldn't be much of a problem, except they take up most of the book. They seem to be the author's rationale for writing.
I just kept waiting for something deeper to happen. Some clever fathom-plunging logic or creative strangeness. But there was nothing. A low-key, strange little document. It didn't seem to have much point at all.
In fairness, I *suppose* that this book is meant for gay people. Those who can see the point of musing on a teenager's weird emotions. I wasn't much of a teenager, even when I was one. So I guess this book isn't for me.
I try to see things from everybody's perspective. But for those who are not of that (sexual) persuasion, it simply seems baffling to write a novel this way.
I've always regarded Doctor Who as a vehicle for rationalism, twisted with adventure. The resulting spiral was remarkably enthralling. Very successful. Call me a traditionalist, but I enjoy the clear intellectualism of the Target range.
Maybe I should read something else? May I'll just raise chickens.
Tasteless. Flat. An experiment in dissociation. And very boring, too.
The continuity references were not graceful. Too many, too often. And frightfully little story, as if the book had been constructed from a spreadsheet. Very machine-like. I'm genuinely surprised at how little engagement this novel provoked in me.
My major sense during my reading was one of confusion; a sense of watching a pastiche, of I knew not what. Who was doing what? What was occurring or ending? What was motivating the characters? And do paper-flat, badly-illuminated stereotypes count as characters?
I skimmed most of this book. I only stopped when I saw a word or sentiment that I recognized. TARDIS. A conversation. Something straightforward actually happening. Some human interest.
Most of the book was built on veiled references, and the earth-bound Time Lord was an idea I had seen before, elsewhere. Unoriginal.
In light of the new series' explanation of the Time Wars, this seems very trite. A bad notion, not fully-worked out. Notable as a curiosity, I suppose. Not a very interesting one.
Sad.
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| The finest series in Who history. |
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| What: | The Key To Time (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 9 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The Ribos Operation may not be well liked by some, as it is more a character piece than an action piece. But Robert Holmes again delivers some cracking good matierial. The comic duo of Garron and Unstoffe after Jago and Litefoot have to be the best double act in the series history. They really seem to enjoy working together and clearly relish the script. Paul Seed is also brilliant, as the bad tempered soldier Graff Vynda K. And even Prentis Hancock delivers again with his Captain. The shrivenale isnt quite as bad as many people make out either. This story is a brilliant start to the best single season in Who history.
The Pirate Planet again boasts mega performances, Mary Tamm already becoming one of my favourite companions for a long time. i love her Romana far better than Lalla, and Lalla is brilliant enough. And Bruce Purchase shines as the Captain, the best maniac in the whole of the Who series. He is so over the top and camp and brilliant. And the Queen Xanxia is particularly evil. A well scripted character. And Tom's appreciate it scene is an excellent bit of moralising, played to perfection.
The Stones of Blood boasts some of the best female characters of the series. Susan Engel and Beatrix Leahmann are simply unbelievable. And the Ogri arent all that bad either. Even if one can see a bloke pushing it into shot in one scene. Thats part of the character of Doctor Who anyway. De Vries is another good character too. And that camper scene is frankly very vivid and gruesome. All the right ingredients. And the Magara are simply fantastic creations.
The Androids of Tara may be prisoner of Zenda, yes that is true. But this isnt a hindrance in the slightest. Yet again this story has a brilliant central villain. And Mary gets a little more to do as Romana. She has such charm that she steals all the scenes shes in. And her Princess Strella is totally different from Romana too. I love the final scene with K9 out in the moat! And the sword fight is one of the best of the series.
The Power Of kroll is wrongly called weak. Kroll is excellently realised. Rohm Dutt is another Bob Holmes brillant character. And so are all the inhabitants of the refinery. John Leeson is seen for the first and only time of the series. And the swampies are a good alien race. And the sets arent actually all that bad either. The back stretching is original.
The Armageddon Factor ends this perfect season on an excellent high note. Valentine Dyall is brilliant in the final episode, managing to make his presence felt for the small time he has on screen. And William Squire is terrific and coolly evil. Lalla Ward plays Astra well too. Tom is at his best. And Drax is a revelation! Never thought we'd have this silly a character in the series, its excellent! This season was faultless. It is the best season overall in the history of the show. Yes, and its produced by Graham Williams! That brilliant bloke! Thanks mate for seeing these stories come to fruition!
| What: | Carnival of Monsters (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 9 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Carnival of Monsters has it all:
a: Bob Holmes typical well rounded and wonderful characters. These range from the devious and psychotic Kalik to the more refined Pletrac, the dippy Orum and all the characters on board the SS Bernice.
b: an excellent central monster. The Drashigs are one of the finest monsters of Jon's time in the show. They dont look like puppets at all, which is a credit to the puppets creators. They are shot brilliantly on film, and look massive. One of the better uses of CSO in the series.
c; the duo of Vorg and Shirna too are just so delightful and comedic. I love these sorts of characters. Comedy is a vital part of Doctor Who. Things that are too serious often fail to be memorable, except for unpleasant reasons. But here we have this renowned double act that lights up the Inter Minor scenes.
The fact that the whole thing is set nearly all inside a scope is fascinating and original. This is one of Bob's strongest stories for the series. He kept on going from strength to strength and only staggered slightly twice. Not bad in about 20 stories.
Jon and Katy are so good together too, they are a double act themselves. Jo is often bumbling but fiercely brave and loyal to the Doctor, well up until the Green Death anyway, and always strongly performed by Katy. Even the weaker plaiseosaurus and lack of cloudy skies some scenes outside the door of the saloon cant stop me from giving this story a ten. Its definitely a classic story with a mountain of stuff going for it.
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| Fails to get motivated.... |
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| What: | The Ark in Space (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 9 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
This is a story that looks a tiny bit on the cheap side. the Wirrn arent the most convincing monster to grace the Doctor Who universe. And the characters here are rather strangely vaguely characterised, strange considering this was a largely rewritten segment by Rob Holmes. Bob's two weak moments were this and Pyramids of Mars. But all his other tales are almost beyond parallel.
But here there are no titan views and no titan laughs that are always present in other Bob tales. It seems he was bored doing this story.
Even Tom Baker's humanity scene cant save this. And again the brilliant Ian Marter is direly underused. He was a great oppurtunity missed as far as Im concerned. And the same goes for Liz Sladen. After her first season with Jon where she was very strong in every story, now she is just becoming that run of the mill companion that a story doesnt really even need. After the brilliance of Robot, this really is dissapointing.
But remember that bubble wrap was just coming out in the seventies, so it isnt as bad looking if you look at it in the time it was made. Rather innovative actually. And the head of Noah when he appears behind Harry and the crewmember is excellently done. The end too may just lift up the ratings, as it is rather neat and touching. Human spirit coming through. But on the whole scale, a sore let down...
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| Takes too long to get going... |
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| What: | The Tomb of the Cybermen (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 9 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
But Tomb Of The Cybermen is not a total failure. The touching scene of the Doctor recalling his family is one of the best scenes in Doctor Who ever. It is so wonderfully acted, Pat and Debbie just gel so well. But aside from this the action is slow to begin. The characters may be well defined, pity they dont wet my appetite.
Judging by the first two parts, This is not the classic that so many people call it. George Pastell is really very good as Kleig, and he has the best final line of a psychopath ever. Cyril Shaps tries hard too, but aside from that all the characters (except maybe Hopper) are just in the background and dont seem to do a huge amount and dont add much to the story. The cybermen still look good, but thats no substitute for the bland storytelling.
But at least the story does pick up very well after part two. But even so, its no Timelash or Time And The Rani. Those stories for me are far more thrilling and watchable. This is the weakest Patrick Troughton story in my view.
(Yes, I know the cybermen are far more sparsely appearing in the Wheel In Space, but that story is far better paced and the story is still excellent!)
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| Fear Her is excellent but... |
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| What: | Series 2 Volume 5: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 9 October 2010 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Fear Her is the third story of the second series that is actually anything bordering on watchable. This story is very interesting to watch, and the characters again are well performed and come across as sympathetic and believable. This story has a good central theme too, and the pencil squiggle is well utilised, if its only in one scene! And Rise gets to do something for once. And she takes the lead well here, not being that brat that she cant escape from being for long. There is real drama in here, and the Isolus is a wonderful looking little sad creature. Its not often we get a story with a creature that isnt actually evil, just misguided. And the end of this story forecasts doom coiming...but does it?
In short the answer is no. For a start the first episode of the finale is boring and doesnt get motivated until right at the very end. And the cybermen are killed far too easily. Just one Dalek blast lays them down! How damn stupid can you get? These poor cybermen have so many weaknesses for such an apparently strong race. In the beginning it was only radiation, then gold...when is it going to end for these brill monsters? They have been badly written for in the new series as a whole. Whilst the action may rise in Doomsday, it is enough. It is all so very predictable. The Rose goodbye may well be emotional, and extremely well acted, but this one scene alone cant stop the fact that this finale isnt all that much to write home about. But that final scene with Catherine Tate aboard the TARDIS holds a lot of promise...maybe we're in for some fun in the near future...I hope so. I need it.
