And Remember...

And Remember...

 

Series Seven is seeing a very definite theme emerging at this point, and it is one that builds on a key Steven Moffat trope from his first two seasons as show-runner.

That theme is memory.

Series Five’s main plot arc concerned the crack in time caused by the destruction of the TARDIS. The crack erased people from time and thus made all those who knew them forget they ever existed. This was illustrated most obviously by the heartbreaking (second) death of Rory, and Amy’s doomed attempts to hang onto her memories of him. When the Doctor himself was erased from time, it was only Amy’s memory of him, planted in her head by the Doctor when she was eleven years old, that brought him back.

 

The many deaths of Rory Williams (Part Two).

 

Series Six introduced the Silence, a race who had long-since invaded Earth, whose modus operandi involved making people forget they had ever seen them the moment they turned away from the freaky-fingered felons. Even the Doctor was unable to picture them the moment they left his sight. Only through a subliminal message could the Doctor order mankind to kill the Silents, an order that could well have caused the aliens’ genocide and started the Doctor down his current path of letting his foes die rather than offering them a way to save themselves. Fast forward to the end of the season, and we discover that Madame Kovarian’s eyepatch was in fact a way of externally storing her memories of the Silents. The only way to remember the Silence is to store them on a computer drive. Once all the drives are destroyed who will remember the Silence then? Yes, they and Madame Kovarian are eventually defeated, but only in a parallel reality where time has stopped. For all we know, they are still out there, waiting for their moment of revenge, forgotten by the Doctor and his friends.

 

The Silence often abused their powers by lurking in women's toilets.

 

The Silence were revealed to be a religious order devoted to the stopping of a question that must never be asked. Namely ‘Doctor Who?’ In the very final moments of Series Six, the Doctor made the decision to step back into the shadows and become a myth once more. Did this choice put the Doctor onto the path to where that question will be answered? The answer appears to be yes.

Series Seven has brought us three stories so far, and each one has in some way touched upon this theme of memory. Asylum of the Daleks has Oswin, a girl who has forgotten, or rather is suppressing the memory, that she had been converted into a Dalek. She is no longer the person she thinks she is, a condition which may or may not apply to the Doctor at this point. Certainly it is to the Doctor we need to look. Oswin wipes all knowledge of the Doctor from the Dalek pathweb, so that when he returns to the Dalek saucer at the end of the story, the Daleks have no idea who he is. And what do they ask? ‘Doctor Who?’ of course, a question repeated over and over and celebrated by the Doctor. But this is the question that, according to the Silence, must never be asked; a question that terrified them so much they attempted to kill him (and in the eyes of the universe succeeded). Oswin’s last words, said directly to the camera are ‘And remember...’ Remember what exactly? Has she manipulated the Doctor’s memory too? Is she aware of the Doctor having memory problems? After all, she did scan him earlier in the episode. Then we have the slightly odd line as the TARDIS team prepare to face the Parliament of the Daleks. ‘What do we do?’ Amy asks. ‘Make them remember you,’ the Doctor tells her. Amy’s puzzled expression shows that this line makes no more sense to her as it does to the audience. It’s too strange a line not to mean something further down the line as Moffat’s arc starts to reveal itself properly.

 

'And remember...'

 

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship teases us with the belief that Solomon knew who the Doctor was on three occasions. Firstly we hear him perk up when he hears the word ‘Doctor’, but this turns out to be because he has been badly wounded by velociraptors and is in need of medical attention to keep his mangled legs. The second moment is when Solomon has his computer scan the Doctor, only to discover that he doesn’t exist. We fully expect the Doctor’s identity to be revealed here, and that absence of information again causes Solomon to question who he is; although Solomon doesn’t actually ask the forbidden question in this instance, we can assume that he at least thought it. The third tease occurs when Solomon discovers something else on board more precious than the dinosaurs, something unique. All indications are that he is talking about the TARDIS, but in fact he means Nefertiti. The Doctor and the TARDIS have been forgotten by the universe, but not by everybody. Riddell, Amy and Rory clearly know who he is, and quite probably the Indian Space Agency, although it is equally likely that, after monitoring the space news service, the Doctor simply inveigles his way into their confidence in his usual manner.

 

'You don't exist...'

 

In A Town Called Mercy, the Doctor reveals his age as 1200, indicating that a lot of time has passed since the events of Series Six, and in all that time the Time Lord has hidden in the shadows. We can imagine that he has used the better part of half a century proactively wiping himself from the history books rather than merely hiding away. Again the idea of memory comes to the fore when Isaac says of the Doctor (and Kahler-Jex): ‘You’re both good men. You just forget it sometimes.’ That’s a mighty perceptive comment from a man who has only just met the Doctor, so is it part of the theme? What leads Isaac to believe the Doctor has forgotten he is a good man?  At this time, we can’t be sure. However, it is Amy’s confrontation with her lifelong friend that is most revealing. ‘What have you turned into?’ she asks him at gunpoint, essentially asking ‘Doctor Who?’ If his most loyal companion doesn’t know who he is, then nobody does. The Doctor’s response is ambiguous; he appears for a moment not to know himself either.

 

'What have you turned into?'

 

The question has been asked three times now in three episodes. That isn’t coincidence. The signs are beginning to point to a future revelation that the Doctor has forgotten who he is as well. His merciless behaviour is at odds with his previous moral code. Could it be that two encounters in close order with memory-altering beings and space-time events have damaged his memory, as well as that of the universe as a whole? Could this be leading us into the anniversary year with the Doctor forgetting his identity and requiring the help of his former selves to restore it? Could this be a way of setting up a general reset of the series to allow it to continue for another fifty years? Are we leading to the forbidden question being asked by the Doctor himself?

One thing is clear; the imminent departure of Amy and Rory is only going to accelerate this process, as another two of the Doctor’s closest friends are lost to him and consigned to memory, and a new friend, already met, is remembered...

Review: A Town Called Mercy

A Town Called Mercy Review

 

Immediate Reaction

After last week’s dinosaur romp, A Town Called Mercy was an altogether more thoughtful and measured affair. It’s good to see that, amid the movie-size plot ideas, there’s still room to explore a concept thoroughly. The presentation of Doctor Kahler-Jex as a man haunted by the terrible things he has done in the name of war, seeking redemption in helping others yet forever wracked by the guilt of his atrocities, uncomfortably mirrors the Doctor. Although the presentation of a line that the Doctor crosses by showing Jex no mercy at all is a rather too literal one, we again see a brutal side to the Eleventh Doctor, building on his treatment of Solomon last week. Without a constant companion, he will let his enemies die without even the second chance the Tenth Doctor offered. This darker, crueller Doctor is causing Amy and Rory to grow ever more distant and he seems to know it, but he doesn’t appear to be able to do anything to stop their gradual separation.

Matt Smith is well-served by a script that offers him comedy and dramatic confrontations in equal doses. A Town Called Mercy is tonally more balanced than Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, although it might have been too talky for a casual audience. The western tropes were all present and correct, yet they were merely background details for the studied examination of the two Doctors in the story.

Amy and Rory were given much less to do, although Jex’s observations about Amy’s motherhood were sharp and beautifully written. Rory in particular was sidelined massively with no real standout moment for him.

Oswin aside, Marshall Isaac, Kahler-Jex and the Gunslinger are the most fully-rounded characters this season has offered us so far. Ben Browder is excellent in everything he does, and that run is certainly continued here. He is the conscience of the story and his death forces the Doctor to assume that mantle. Isaac is the only character who believes in redemption; despite all the evidence both Jex and the Doctor provide to the contrary, he believes them both to be good men. Jex and the Gunslinger are both morally ambiguous creations. Both have committed unforgivable crimes but both are also misunderstood and seeking redemption and indeed mercy.

Toby Whithouse has produced a string of thoughtful scripts that have a strong moral centre and incisive character development. That run continues here, meaning that, as it stands, he is fast becoming the heir apparent to the Doctor Who show-runner mantle, should Steven Moffat choose to relinquish it in the future. He is to Moffat’s reign what Moffat himself was to the Russell T Davies era; a writer who will take a given idea and turn it into something much better.

The story was beautifully shot. The town and the desert were totally convincing and it was very easy to accept that the TARDIS crew were genuinely in the Wild West. The image of the Gunslinger phasing in and out of the desert was actually quite scary, particularly the first time when he threatens the Doctor and his intentions have not yet been established.

I very much enjoyed A Town Called Mercy. Much like Whithouse’s The God Complex from last year, Mercy is a story that will certainly benefit from a second viewing, as the maturity of the theme and the character motivations and ambiguities reveal themselves. It’s the most adult of the stories so far this season, and once again proves, as if it ever needed reiterating, that Doctor Who can be anything it wants to be. An excellent adventure, very well-told.

Oh, and I can’t complete a review without mentioning Susan the gender-confused horse. Genius.

 

Considered Opinion (After Second Watch)

I’ve no doubt that some viewers tuned into A Town Called Mercy expecting a pastiche of the Western genre, much like Back to the Future Part Three. What we got instead was a mature study into the Doctor’s darker side and the most ambiguous set of villains that I can remember seeing in Doctor Who. I’m quite certain that Mercy’s talky nature lost a great many of its younger audience, but as I touched on above, Doctor Who is many different things, often at the same time. Therein lies the key to its success and continued longevity.

Toby Whithouse’s intelligent script referenced  all the elements we expect from a cowboy, such as the saloon sequence, the duel at midday, the local gaol and the Marshal/ Sheriff who believes in the good of his town. Yet these elements are merely dressing for the main element of the plot; the Doctor coming face to face with a war criminal who has done terrible things but is seeking redemption for his past sins. In truth, the Doctor is coming face to face with himself.

'You're both good men. You just forget it sometimes.'

 

In a period of Doctor Who where mentions of the Time War are correctly becoming more scarce, it’s good to see that, given the right forum, the subject still has fertile areas to mine. The Doctor’s guilt at his genocide at the end of the Time War comes to the fore as he discovers how Kahler-Jex pretty much became the Josef Mengele of his world, surgically altering people to become cyborg killers.  Jex’s argument that the atrocities he carried out were done in the heat of war and in the name of peace fall on deaf ears. Or rather, they strike a chord a little tto close to home for the Doctor, causing him to drag Jex out to be murdered by the Gunslinger and to eventually aim a gun right at Jex’s head. It’s not many villains (if Jex is indeed a villain in the truest sense) who can unbalance the Doctor to the point where his companion needs to point a gun at him to make him back down.

This exploration of the Doctor’s guilt and rage are new areas for Matt Smith’s Doctor, and he rises to the challenge perfectly, as if there would ever be any doubt about that. This is a Doctor in his prime, able to switch between the emotions at will and deepen our understanding of what’s behind the genial facade. He is given a lot of good material in A Town Called Mercy, and once more he bats it out of the park.

If Mercy has a fault, it’s that it sacrifices its rich background for a lot of scenes of people standing around talking. Rory and Amy feel particularly short-changed by not being given anything heroic to do. There was an opportunity in the middle of the episode for Jex to kidnap Amy at gunpoint, perhaps allowing Rory to rescue her in a shoot-out, but this comes to nothing in the end. After all, Jex is as conflicted an individual as the Doctor, so it would be wrong to paint him in the black of an out-and-out villain even though the story really needs one.

'He's called Susan and he wants you to respect his life choices.'

 

In a similar vein, the Gunslinger moves from unknown force to sympathetic creation a little too quickly. Apart from the opening pre-credits sequence where we see him kill another of the Kahler, the Gunslinger’s potential as an iconic monster is slightly squandered. It would have been good to have seen him remain as the silent threat in the story right up until the moment he spares the little girl and the townsfolk in the chapel.

But these are niggling issues that don’t detract from the sheer quality of Whithouse’s writing. Here is a man who is setting himself up nicely as the Crown Prince to Steven Moffat’s King. If Doctor Who is beginning to look at the possibilities for a new show-runner, they need look no further than here. I would love to see him deal with a returning monster next, just to see how he develops them. His four scripts for the series have seen him move from romps to more serious fare, so as a writer he clearly has the range.

Oh, and there’s definitely a developing theme regarding memory. See here for more on that. And the Doctor’s new-found dark side is only going to lead him into trouble, perhaps when Amy and Rory are no longer there to be the two voices of his conscience...

'Violence doesn't end violence. It extends it.'

 

A Town Called Mercy’s Ten Brilliant Bits

1.       The Doctor has been forcibly ejected from the town of Mercy. Carried aloft and thrown outside the town border line, he stands and dusts himself off. And in the background, the Gunslinger appears, phasing in and out of reality as he teleports ever closer. ‘He’s coming,’ says the Preacher. ‘Oh God, he’s coming.’ The fear on the Doctor’s face is genuine. Like the audience, he has no idea of the threat the Gunslinger poses, only that in this moment, disappearing and reappearing at will, he is genuinely scary.

 

2.       Ben Browder’s Isaac is an instantly likeable creation. In a story centred around characters and relationships, he is a laconic and calming presence. His immediate trust in the Doctor reveals him to be a wise man, seeing the good in others when sometimes they cannot see it themselves. He believes in mercy, both the town and the concept, and his self-sacrifice is the thing that, even more than Amy’s arguments, brings the Doctor back to calmness. In a story where nobody is black or white, Isaac is the voice of reason.

 

3.       Kahler-Jex is beautifully realised by Adrian Scarborough. Initially genial, we see the darker side to him as his secret is revealed and he engages the Doctor in a war of words where neither of them ends up being the moral victor. His conscience is never far from the surface, particularly when the Doctor tells him that he cannot choose when and how to pay his debt. As a mirror image of the war criminal the Doctor believes himself to be, Jex simultaneously earns our pity and our disgust. Scarborough walks this fine line with great confidence, creating one of the most complex villains the series has ever seen.

 

4.       Susan the gender-confused horse is a wonderful creation. He (she?) deserves her own section just for the interactions with the Doctor. Matt Smith responds to every noise his horsey co-star makes, causing me to wonder just how much of his conversation was scripted and how much was ad-libbed by Smith.

 

5.       The moment when the gunslinger bursts into the chapel with the single intention of massacring all the residents of Mercy cowering inside, but sees the little girl who knocked over the books in the first place. He makes eye contact with her and for a fleeting second you see his entire back story play out across his eyes. The Gunslinger used to be a father before he became a parody of a man, and he cannot bring himself to kill her. He powers down and walks away, suddenly a much more complicated creation.

 

6.       The Doctor has found Jex’s spacecraft, but the ship obstinately will not open for him. What follows is a glorious few seconds of jump cuts, as Matt Smith’ physical comedy prowess comes to the fore and the Doctor tries a succession of failed attempts to get inside.

 

7.       The Doctor strides into the Mercy saloon. In time-honoured fashion, everybody stops talking and looks at the newcomer. The Doctor leans nonchalantly against the bar. ‘Tea,’ he growls to the bargirl. ‘But the strong stuff. Leave the bag in.’ At the same time, he is chewing on a matchstick that somehow manages to lodge itself in the roof of his mouth so he can’t get it out. More effortless Doctorish behaviour from Mr Smith.

'Tea. But the strong stuff. Leave the bag in.'

 

8.       The confrontation between Amy and the Doctor, which sees Amy draw a gun against her friend, hints at just how far apart the two of them have grown. He used to be her raggedy Doctor, but now he is the sort of man who will point a gun at a stranger in judgement. In the town of Mercy, there is none to be found in the Doctor.

 

9.       After Isaac’s death, the Doctor has assumed the mantle of Marshal of Mercy. Isaac’s death has shown him the error of his ways, so when he is confronted by a lynch mob, out for Jex’s blood, he defuses the standoff where earlier he caused it. ‘Violence doesn’t end violence,’ he tells Walter, the eighteen year-old kid charged with leading the mob. ‘It extends it.’ This is as true for the Doctor’s earlier actions as it is for how he conducts his life. ‘You really worth the risk?’ asks Walter, swayed by his words. ‘Don’t know,’ admits the Doctor. ‘But you are.’ Once again, the Doctor has found his moral centre.

 

10.   The high noon duel plays on all the clichés of the Western genre, with clock creaking ominously towards twelve, townsfolk in hiding and the Doctor striking his best cowboy pose. After witnessing the Doctor wield a gun earlier on, we are hoping he doesn’t resort to trying to outdraw the Gunslinger. It turns out we needn’t have worried; a fast draw of the trusty sonic screwdriver scrambles the Gunslinger enough to end the standoff.

 

A Town Called Mercy continues Series Seven’s rich vein of form. It occurred to me that I haven’t enjoyed the three opening stories of a season since Series Three and Martha. It may have been talkier than the previous two stories in the season, but it is a tale that rewards repeat viewing, and that can only be a good thing.

When did killing someone become and option?'

 

Overall Rating: 8/10

Review: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Review

 

Immediate Reaction

Any story with that title couldn’t possibly be a total failure, but I must admit that I approached Dinosaurs on a Spaceship with slight trepidation. This was mainly because I wasn’t very impressed with writer Chris Chibnall’s last contribution to the series; The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood. When I say unimpressed, I actually mean they are my least favourite episodes of the Matt Smith era. So Chibnall’s return had me slightly worried.

It turns out that I was worrying unnecessarily. Dinosaurs, whilst not an out and out triumph, was certainly a qualified success. The storyline was well thought-out and moved along at a fair pace. I especially liked the fact that the titular spaceship was Silurian in origin, although you would have thought that if Homo Reptilia were capable of interstellar flight, they wouldn’t have sent their entire species underground. Still, Steven Moffat’s creative leadership is creating an admirably coherent and consistent universe and the Silurian’s presence here reinforces that.

The guest cast were uniformly good. David Bradley in particular gave Solomon with just the right level of slimy villainy that allowed Matt Smith to show his Doctor’s darker side at possibly its clearest since his regeneration. Solomon’s murder of poor old Tricey was the emotional heart of the episode, matching the death of the Face of Boe in making you feel sad for a large piece of rubber. Rupert Graves’ Riddell was very broadly painted but this matched the script. The same is true of Nefertiti; in a way I was a little disappointed she left with Riddell at the end of the episode. I quite liked the idea of the Doctor having a properly famous historical figure as a companion.

The robots were clearly included for the kids and as such their infantile banter can be forgiven, but there was an uncomfortably misogynistic approach to both Riddell and Solomon that Nefertiti and Amy’s strength of character couldn’t hide. There were far too many sexist lines and Solomon’s threat to Nefertiti was clearly sexual and not really appropriate to a family show. The same is true of the seam of innuendo that laced the script which at times pushed too far.

The inclusion of Rory’s dad was designed us a different facet to Rory, but again this was not a complete success. However his sequence with his flask of tea, hanging out of the TARDIS door and just staring at the Earth was quite magical and matched the fairytale imagery the series has adopted of late. The effects in this moment were lovely. Indeed the effects throughout the whole episode were excellent. The dinosaurs were well-presented and just like Asylum of the Daleks, there is a sense of a production team well aware of how to spend their budget for maximum impact.

Although not coming close to the excellence of Asylum of the Daleks, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was an enjoyable enough romp. The aim of the series to show a movie a week is paying off. It’s good to have a Doctor Who that isn’t reliant on carrying a multitude of plot elements that may or may not matter, across a long stretch of episodes. I liked the cheeky redesign of the logo on a weekly basis too. This week’s reptilian style worked much better that last week’s Dalek ‘eggs’. So, a tentative thumbs up here; Dinosaurs in a Spaceship is a pretty good episode with some good moments and some bits that I need to mull over.

 

 

Considered Opinion (After second viewing)

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is meant to be a romp. It’s designed to appeal to all elements of a family audience. From the magnificent CGI dinosaurs to the sharp and witty script to the comedy robots to the properly evil villain, Dinosaurs has been created with the express purpose of entertaining its audience. From the few reviews I have seen, and the reaction of my family, I’d say it succeeded in its aims.

I was entertained. I smiled at the sharp dialogue. I thought the effects were top-notch. I was very impressed by David Bradley’s vile Solomon. So why do I not rate it as highly as others?

 

'What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel?'

 

I think my main reason for thinking that Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is good rather than excellent is that, at its heart, it is an inconsequential and throwaway adventure. It’s meant to be lightweight and I tend to be less enamoured by the lighter episodes than most. Maybe this makes me a misery-guts who takes Doctor Who too seriously, I don’t know. But after last week’s Dalek epic that had me talking about it for days (still am, actually) Dinosaurs didn’t get my imagination going in the same way. I watched it. I enjoyed it. And then I went to do something else.

Don’t get me wrong. I thought Chris Chibnall’s script was very strong; his best for the series so far I reckon, and I was one of the few who thought 42 was excellent. After his atrocious Silurian two-parter a couple of years ago, the thought of more Chibnall filled me with horror. Now, after watching Dinosaurs on a Spaceship a couple of time, I’m now quite looking forward to Chibnall’s The Power of Three. That’s a major sea-change in my perception of his writing, so demonstrating how good I thought Dinosaurs was.

My main problem with his scripting was the odd mix of puerile comedy and risqué innuendo. By aiming for all demographics, this mixture of adult tone and toilet humour was unbalanced. You can either have one or the other, but both in the same story lend it a schizophrenic tone.

 

'Is that a kestrel?'

 

The characters were broadly drawn. I can see why both Rupert Graves (Riddell) and Riann Steele (Nefertiti) described the story as a comedy in various interviews. Riddell is a casual mix of misjudged sexism and big game hunter arrogance with little redeeming conscience. It’s difficult to see why the Doctor befriended him at all, let alone selected him as part of the team. Nefertiti is all about girl-power and noble self-sacrifice, the diametric opposite of Riddell. Clearly the meeting of these two opposing poles was deliberately designed to mine the comedy, but in reality neither character makes us feel anything.

On the other hand, Mark Williams as Brian is outstanding. From his bewildered acceptance of the TARDIS to his tentative suggestions as he gains confidence, Brian is a fully-rounded character from his first scene. Williams plays him with a twinkle in his eye, bringing to mind Bernard Cribbins’ much-missed and completely brilliant Wilf. It’s a pity in a way that Brian’s debut is this late in the Ponds’ time with the Doctor. His regular returns would have been something to savour. It’s only with the inclusion of a family member that we appreciate just how little we actually know about Amy and Rory’s backgrounds. Brian’s inclusion helps us find a satisfactory middle ground between the strong family presence in the Russell T Davies years and the companions with no real backgrounds of classic era Doctor Who.

Williams’ Harry Potter co-star, David Bradley, was also quite wonderful. Solomon’s introduction, injured by raptors and close to losing his legs, allowed a neat bit of misdirection as he had been waiting for a doctor rather than the Doctor. This little frisson as we thought he knew the Time Lord was a rewarding moment for long-term viewers. Solomon’s casual violence and disregard for anything and anyone gave the character a darker edge than we are used to seeing in modern Doctor Who. Although his darkness gave the story a real sense of threat, his threat of sexual violence to Nefertiti was a misjudged piece of dialogue and had no place in the story or Doctor Who for that matter.

 

'Look at the missiles. see them shine.'

 

The other major guest stars, David Mitchell and Robert Webb as the voices of the robots, were given the occasional amusing line amid the wee and tantrum jokes. Their banter diminished Solomon’s threat somewhat, and by the time we saw how nasty they could be it was too late. That said, this was probably very powerful for the younger viewers as they saw the robots they had laughed at brutally murder a defenceless dinosaur with prolonged laser fire that went on for much longer than it needed to, suggesting an interestingly sadistic side to the comical robots. The robots were obviously popular with the general viewing public, but they left me cold even though I love Mitchell and Webb’s Peep Show.

The regulars were well-served by a script that played to their strengths. Rory got to do some nursing and proved his worth to his father. Amy was allowed to show her intelligence and her knowledge and was the one who unpicked the central mystery of the story. The Doctor, on the other hand, started to reveal an edgier side to his personality – a product of travelling alone – and a growing sadness that his time with the Ponds is coming to an end. Although the line foreshadowing the departure of Amy and Rory was clumsy, hinting at their deaths, it’s in Smith’s lonely eyes that we see where the drama and tears are going to come from.

 

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’s ten brilliant bits

1.       The Doctor, Rory and Brian have been teleported to what appears to be a beach that rather resembles Bad Wolf Bay. ‘Somebody tell me where we are. Now!?’ demands an exasperated Brian. In response, the Doctor sticks out his tongue. ‘It doesn’t taste like Earth,’ he replies. What further proof do we need? Matt Smith gets the Doctor. Matt Smith is the Doctor.

 

2.       David Bradley as Solomon is as slimy and as malevolent a villain as Doctor Who has offered us since its return in 2005. It makes a refreshing change for the Doctor to be able to face off against a human adversary instead of a broken computer system. Bradley gives Solomon enough of a sinister edge that you really believe he will carry out his threats against the Doctor’s friends. I imagine that there were quite a few kids over the weekend who nicked their grandparents’ walking sticks and used them as swords like Solomon’s weapons.

 

3.       Mark Williams as Rory’s dad Brian finally gave us a well-rounded family member for the Doctor’s current (but not for much longer) travelling companions. His slightly spiky and curt interactions with Arthur Darvill quickly convinced that the two were related. Williams made Brian instantly likeable and not without a degree of heroism. It’s easy to see where Rory gets it from.

 

4.       Williams also gets the best moment in the episode towards the end, as he sits in the TARDIS door with a flask of tea and a sandwich, feet dangling in space, staring down at the Earth far below them. This is as lyrical an image as the series has ever shown us and fits perfectly into the fairytale stylings of current Who. The effects here are wonderful.

 

 

'Well thank you, Arthur C. Clarke!'

 

5.       Ah, Tricey the Triceratops. How can a part CGI and part rubber creation make you fall in love with it so quickly? It’s the mannerisms that make Tricey such an instantly adorable creation. From his dog-like sniffing of Brian’s pockets to the way he (she?) settles down after his exertions like a cat or a rabbit, Tricey mirrors the interactions we all have with our pets. The Doctor is clearly utterly smitten and so are we. How long before Character Options release a Doctor on a Tricey action figure or a Tricey plush? I know my daughter would want one.

 

6.       Chris Chibnall is an evil swine though. He makes us fall in love with Tricey and then has him murdered in the most horrible and callous manner that I can remember seeing in modern Doctor Who. In one scene Solomon breaks a million hearts and cements his place at the top table in the pantheon of hissable human villains. Tricey’s final moments are sold completely by the cast, and their horror at what Solomon has done is palpable.

 

7.       The pterodactyl attack is superbly done with some excellent swooping camera-work and a cavalcade of witty one-liners. The dinosaurs on a whole are brilliantly visualised. Whilst only Tricey feels solid and three-dimensional, the triceratops is the only one the characters fully interact with. The sleeping baby T-Rex is also a fantastically realised dinosaur. Who could ever have imagined that Doctor Who would ever match the effects in Jurassic Park?

 

8.       The return of the vengeful Doctor is a grim reminder of just how far the Time Lord will go if nobody stops him. It’s a reminder of the Tenth Doctor’s fall into the Time Lord Victorious and seems set up to indicate that the Eleventh is now also beginning to skate on the same thin ice as his predecessor. This path can only lead to the death of yet another Doctor...

 

9.       The Silurian ship is a thing of beauty. At no point until the reveal did I ever cotton onto the fact that the vessel was a Silurian Ark. This makes perfect sense in what we know about the Silurians, although I still wonder if giving the Silurians space travel inches them one step closer to becoming just another generic space-faring race. Still, it sets up the possibility of Silurian colonies on other planets which opens up more story possibilities for them than the single one they currently have (Man wakes up Silurian colony, the two races fight because  no common ground can be agreed, the Doctor is caught in the middle).

 

10.   Although the two robots irritated as much as they amused, their eventual deactivation by the Doctor was clever as they sang ‘Daisy, Daisy’ whilst they powered down. A lovely little 2001 in-joke, and better than that entire Kubrick snore-fest.

 

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is a likeable romp. With the amount of balls it is juggling for so many different audience elements, it is unsurprising that one or two are not to my taste. The central hook was superb and once more Doctor Who delivered on its movie-a-week promise. That’s two good episodes in a row; can next week’s A Town Called Mercy continue that run?

 

'How do you start a dinosaur?'

 

Overall Rating: 7 ½ / 10 (Yeah, I work in halves- that's how I roll!)



Review: Asylum of the Daleks

Asylum of the Daleks Review

 

Immediate Reaction

Well, Thank God I steered clear of any spoilers for this episode. Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to take a stand and say that spoilers are officially A BAD THING! In fact, if you’ve not seen Asylum of the Daleks, please don’t read any more of this review.

I mean it. Don’t.

Okay, they’ve gone. Where to begin? Has Doctor Who ever looked so good? Steven Moffat promised a mini-movie a week and that’s precisely what we got. From the fangasmic first images of Skaro since 1979 to the brilliant sequences in the snow, the whole story screamed quality. The effects were used sparingly and effectively and director Nick Hurran did another amazingly cinematic job.

I was expecting more Dalek action than we actually got, but like all New-Who, it was the relationships that were pushed to the forefront instead. There was a lovely little nod to the events at Demon’s Run in A Good Man Goes to War, and even with the happy ending for the Ponds, there is still a lot of mending to be done in their relationship. The Daleks were ancillary to the plot and to the main events in the story, which actually revolved around the character of Oswin.

For a series that purports to have no overriding story-arc, Moffat has provided one hell of a hook. Jenna-Louise Coleman’s appearance was a complete surprise and very well hidden. In fact, it’s possibly the biggest storyline surprise since they blew up Adric in Earthshock. (EDIT: Okay, in my excitement I forgot the aborted regeneration in The Stolen Earth and the little girl regenerating in Day of the Moon, both of which were properly gobsmacking moments). It’s a stroke of genius to set up the new companion way ahead of her eventual proper appearance and what a masterstroke. The new companion appears to be a Dalek! That’s genius. And Jenna-Louise is immediately likeable, with just a hint of vulnerability under her clever banter.

But it’s the Ponds who actually take centre-stage, and Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are both excellent in conveying at first the pain and hostility of their separation and the moment where they admit their feelings for each other is the acting highlight of the episode.

There was so much that referenced previous successes, from the list of planets where the Daleks came from to the familiar throbbing sound effect as the insane Daleks woke up. The scenes in the intensive care unit reminded me of the incubator room in Genesis, with the same sickly green lighting. And a glass Dalek at last! Who’s been reading their copy of David Whitaker’s Doctor Who in an exciting adventure with the Daleks?

I’ve not even mentioned Matt Smith yet. He is close to becoming the Doctor now, with every little nuance of his portrayal finding new facets of the character. The Doctor’s exhilaration at successfully slipping back into the shadows even with his most implacable foes was positively infectious. Freed from all that convoluted River Song backstory, the lead characters all shone.

It’s a brilliant start for the new series; Asylum is probably the best season-opener since Smith and Jones on initial watch. It’s also Moffat’s best story since The Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone.

 

 

Considered Opinion (After a second watch)

 

Okay, Steven Moffat is a sneaky Scottish genius. I doubt anybody would have expected the first appearance of Jenna-Louise Coleman in Asylum of the Daleks. In retrospect though, the signs were all there beforehand. I remember reading the opinion of the production team that Jenna’s performance was quick-witted and quick-mouthed several months ago when she was first cast and long before the Christmas special was filmed. Now we know that opinion was based on this first appearance in Asylum rather than her audition piece. Her character is called Oswin here instead of Clara, although presumably, given the Eleventh Doctor’s habit of calling his companions by their last name, she will eventually be called Oswin on a regular basis. Coleman makes a positive impact, playing both saucy and intelligent with an undercurrent of pathos. She’s more immediately likeable than Amy Pond in The Eleventh Hour. The fact that she only interacts with the regular characters through a scanner that resembles the Dalek eyestalk she actually possesses is a subtly brilliant concept that I didn’t notice on initial viewing. Her story is already compelling; I can’t wait to see where it goes.

 

'Making Souffles? Against the Daleks?'

 

Director Nick Hurran deserves massive praise. I loved his work in The God Complex and The Girl Who Waited, but Hurran really ups his game here to provide Asylum of the Daleks with a true sense of the epic. From the opening moments on Skaro with the magnificent pan up the calcified Dalek to the scenes in the snowy wastes, Hurran knows instinctively how to frame the money shots and mix them perfectly with the character beats. He is one of the best directors Doctor Who has ever used. Bring the man back for more!

As far as Dalek stories go, Asylum is the best since Dalek in giving the tyrannical pepperpots a proper sense of menace. It slightly wastes the concept of the asylum in favour of the Oswin storyline, and it’s a shame that they promoted the story with all those old Daleks as the only one I recognised was the Special Weapons Dalek, who didn’t even get to fire his oversized cannon. It’s difficult to see exactly what the Daleks were afraid of on the asylum planet. All the insane Daleks seemed to be dormant. Why did the Daleks actually need saving?  The Parliament of the Daleks was truly impressive and I am glad they reversed the creative decisions of Victory of the Daleks and used the bronze Daleks as footsoldiers and the Paradigm Daleks as leaders. The darker sheen to the Paradigm models was much more effective than their previous Lego/ iPod look. I especially liked the Prime Minister in his glass tank – a nod to the Emperor and to the glass Dalek in the David Whitaker novelisation of The Daleks.

 

'Wrong way up! Wrong way up!'

 

The scenes in the asylum were incredibly creepy, particularly in the Intensive Care section, where the survivors of the Doctor’s adventures allowed Matt Smith to show the Doctor’s mortal terror of his arch-enemies. That these particular Daleks are the ones who have to be hidden away in the deepest recesses of the asylum shows a ramification to the Doctor’s actions that I had never really considered seriously; the effect he has on his enemies is quite a nasty one.

The concept of the nanocloud rewriting human biology and systematically eradicating humanity until only Dalek remains is a chilling one. The sight of the Dalek eyestalks erupting from foreheads was the correct mixture of grisly and cool to impress the kids, and reminded me of Lytton’s Dalek eyestalk hat in Resurrection, but it is the internal changes that the process inflicts that give a great new spin on the Daleks. The fact that microscopic machines can effectively rewrite the DNA of an entire planet into Dalek is a chilling new development, and poor Dalek Sec must be kicking himself with his new feet that his human Daleks were just glassy-eyed people with tommy guns.

'I forgot about dying.'

 

Also the scenes where we see Oswin being converted were uncomfortably close to the horrific images of Stengos’ partially converted head in Revelation of the Daleks. Indeed, the story was seamed all the way through with appropriately nightmarish imagery that at times seemed to channel horror film iconography. The Daleks have been given a scary new edge again, which Steven Moffat is on record as saying he wanted. If only he will now give the same consideration to the Cybermen...

The three regulars were uniformly brilliant, freed from the stifling shadow of the River Song arc. I was surprised how relieved I was when Alex Kingston didn’t turn up, although I enjoyed last series greatly. Asylum of the Daleks was much better storytelling than anything Moffat wrote last year. His trademark twists and moments of misinformation were better channelled and contained in a full story for what seems like the first time in ages. The declaration that the five stories to be shown this month are almost free from a plot arc is good news indeed. Hopefully the audience will come flocking back to Tennant levels, although in truth it never went away did it?

 

'A Dalek without a gun? You're a tricycle with a roof!'

 

Asylum of the Daleks’ Ten Brilliant Bits

1.       For the first time since 1979, we get to see Skaro! It’s been given a Gallifrey-style makeover, although how it still exists is a mystery since the Doctor was supposed to have destroyed it in Remembrance of the Daleks. The opening pan up the Dalek into its eyestalk was sensational, lending the series a real mythic quality. The only disappointment I had was that Darla wasn’t a Thal, but that’s probably a fanboy concept too far at this point.

 

2.       Jenna-Louise Coleman’s reveal after the opening credits, cooking a soufflé (badly) was one of those ‘Is that actually who I think it is?’ moments. Oswin’s introduction was clever and unexpected, and allowed us to get to know the character in seconds. Just when did they film Coleman’s sections? Yet again, Doctor Who shows its never-ending ability to surprise.

 

3.       The scenes with the crew of the Alaska were almost casually sinister and scary. They only existed to show the devastating effects of the nanocloud and Amy’s probable fate (as well as Oswin’s actual fate) yet they were the most terrifying thing in teh story. The sight of the Dalek eyestalks bursting out of the dead was Doctor Who at its most macabre. Combine that with Harvey’s almost casual realisation that he had died outside and his body had been preserved and we are given one of the most effective bits of body horror Doctor Who has ever provided.

 

4.       Rory’s scenes in the asylum were beautifully shot. The Daleks were suddenly creepy again. Like all good horror films, you found yourself scanning the back of the screen for any signs of movement. The bit where Rory almost casually moves the eyestalk and it moves back was powerful, as was Rory’s realisation of why the Dalek was talking about eggs.

 

5.       The best segment of the episode was Amy’s hallucination that the Daleks were people. It reminded me of one of my favourite sequences in the Bioshock 2 game, where we finally witness the Little Sisters’ dreamlike version of the monster-infested hell in which they live. The little ballerina girl spinning was an hauntingly beautiful image, because at the back of your mind you knew what she reallydb was. Plus the scene sets up the revelation about Oswin perfectly. One of the all-time best moments in Doctor Who.

 

 

 

 

6.       Oswin only ever sees the other characters through a Dalek eyestalk lens. We see it poke up through the snow and focus just as Oswin focuses. That’s such a subtle and clever idea. I imagine that most viewers missed it, but once again Steven Moffat gives us all the clues but still pulls out a surprise. I didn’t cotton on to Oswin’s identity until the moment she said she was at the far side of the Intensive Care section, but my family only realised the second before the reveal. That’s perfect storytelling.

 

7.       The sequences in the snow were filmed in Spain alongside the upcoming western episode. Alongside the Dubai-filmed desert planet of San Helios in Planet of the Dead, the asylum world was the most alien-looking planet the Doctor has ever visited. It was only a couple of scenes at most, but this level of care and attention is lifting Doctor Who way beyond what it used to be capable of showing.

 

8.       Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan get the man-of-the match awards for their heartbreakingly well-acted exchange in the teleport area. It was good to see the events of Demon’s Run actually had a lasting impact on Amy. I was beginning to wonder after she seemed to brush off the loss of a baby without too much thought. Her tear-streaked revelation that she didn’t kick Rory out but gave him up, followed by the one-two punch of two thousand years of solitary centurion duty outside of the Pandorica was nothing compared with giving up Rory redefines their relationship. Finally you actually believe that Amy loves Rory. It’s been too long in coming.

 

9.       The Intensive Care sequence was masterful. The eerie green light that filled the room was a clear echo of the terrifying incubator room from Genesis. That the most insane Daleks in the asylum are those that encountered the Doctor is a horrifying thought. The fan-pleasing references to Spiridon, Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan and Exxilon were a nice touch. Does that mean that one of those Daleks was the one who hid himself under the sand in The Chase? Always knew he was a nutter. But the scene existed to prove just how terrified of the Daleks the Doctor truly is. It makes him more of a hero because he faces the things that scare him the most, but more importantly in a way it makes the Daleks genuinely scary because they terrify him. When they surround him with their suckers, their guns removed, we know the threat because by now we all know what the suckers can do. Thank you, Rob Shearman!

 

10.   The Oswin-Dalek reveal is sublime. The clues are all there, from the ladder to the lack of milk and eggs, but it is a genius conceal. I wouldn’t like to play Steven Moffat at poker a) because he is Scottish and wouldn’t risk his money anyway and b) because he hides things in plain sight so effortlessly.

'And remember...'

Asylum of the Daleks is the best series-opener since 2005. It is Doctor Who on form, and when Who is on form, nothing else comes remotely close. It manages to balance the darker moments with the humour, fulfilling its remit as a family show perfectly. Hopefully this level of quality can continue into next week with Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

 

Overall rating: 9/10

 

 

 

'Twas the night before New Who

After some thought I’ve decided how my reviews of the new series are going to work. I’m going to post as soon after the episode has aired as I possibly can. This initial review will cater for the child in me who is overjoyed at seeing new Doctor Who and will probably end up being polarised at either extreme of enjoyment or annoyance. Then, a few days later, after a re-watch and some time for reflection, I will update that review with a more considered opinion, in the same style as my Masterpiece Theatre pieces. The initial post will remain because I think it’s valuable for me to see just how my views have changed after my inevitable over-excitement or intense disappointment.

So we’ll start tomorrow with Asylum of the Daleks. The story sounds good and it looks good, and I’ve managed (I think) to avoid any sniff of a spoiler. But more importantly it signals the return of Doctor Who to our screens. He’s been away too long.