Well, we've certainly had our ups and downs with this story, haven't we? It started off well, went through a rough patch and then started picking up steam again. Here's hoping it keeps that upward trend as we move into the final episode, The Firemakers.
As before, the four regulars, along with Hur (who I'm going to continue calling Helen for the sake of clarity) and Za on a stretcher, are surrounded by the other cavemen as they approach the TARDIS. Kal emerges and accuses Za of killing the old woman and stealing the secret of fire from the 'strangers', and then the Doctor goes all CSI on us, showing that Za's totally-supposed-to-be-a-knife has no blood on it and tricking Kal into revealing his rock-that's-supposed-to-be-a-knife, which is practically dripping with the stuff. Aparently. It's hard to tell in black and white.
Whatever, I ADORE this. It's the Doctor we know and love, a quick-thinking smooth talker who doesn't resort to violence to solve the problem at hand (unlike last episode, hmm). It's a great bit of writing and a great bt of acting from Hartnell, who grabs the chance to be the hero with both hands and pushes it to the max. He really is fantastic in this.
With Kal revealed, the Doctor convinces the tribe to cast him out, establishing Za as the leader. He puts the regulars back into the cave of skulls while he decides what to do with them. Unfrotunately, the direction makes it look like they're standing about three feet away from the cave, which gives the impression that the TARDIS is only a couple of meters away and the whole forest section wasn't needed. Oops.
Not the greatest problem in the world, I admit, but you'd think they'd have caught that a fade implies a passage of time and a hard cut doesn't. Man, I am really starting to get the hang of this whole 'editing' thing, aren't I?
Stuck in the cave with the old woman's corpse - which is conviniently not shown, because according to Union rules at the time doing so would require the actress to be paid for an entire episode's work - and in the hopes of gaining food and water, Ian sets to making fire the proper way. Y'know, the campfire way. The spinning a stick on a piece of wood kind of way. Yeah, THAT one.
Za, unsure of the strangers, goes to talk to them and watches as they make fire via the medium of a stagehand sparking a lighter. Well OK, it's supposed to be the result of Ian rubbing the sticks, but the fire appears so suddenly it's clearly not. Either way, Za is amazed, and despite the four's assertations that everyone should know how to make fire, he insists only the leader can know.
Outside, Kal strangles the man guarding the cave - remarkably quickly, I might add - and enters, seeking revenge upon Za. The two engage in an extremely chaotic and somewhat hard to follow fight, which is full of close-ups of the regulars looking rather bored, punches that barely connect and lots of manly grappling.
Eventually Za emerges as the winner, bashing Kal's head in with a rock to finish him off. Lovely.
It may not have been particularly well shot, but that doesn't stop the scene from being quite entertaining. It's the first proper fight we've had, and even if the end is surprisngly dark, it's a fitting end for a character who'd turned into a fairly cliched villain by that point.
As Za recovers from the fight, the rest of the tribe - frustrated by Za's inability to provide fire - start arguing about his ability to rule. The Doctor gives Za a torch of fire and he re-establishes himself to the other cavemen before leaving to get more meat. He refuses to let the group leave, reasoning that this is the best place for them. Fair enough really, it's hard to make a caveman understand the logistics of a ship that can travel through time and space when he can barely understand how to make fire!
It's at this point Susan has an idea, placing a skull on top of a torch of fire to produced a rather guesome image. Ian catches on and the plan is formed. A plan that results in such a cool image of flaming skulls that it needs to be an album cover or something. Awesome.
The cavemen come in and are completely freaked out by this, and using the opportunity the four race outside. The plan's only rumbled when one of the skull torches falls over (Ok, it's clearly pushed by an off-camera stagehand, but whatever) and Za realizes they've been tricked, leading the cavemen in a chase after the regulars. They've gotten too much of a head start though, and after some hilarious close-up shots that are clearly just the actors jogging on the spot while more stagehands whip leaves at them, they make it back to the TARDIS, which vanishes just as the cavemen catch up to them.
On board, the Doctor claims he can't take the two teachers back to their own time. He offers some nonsense about needing to know where they're heading from before he can make a proper journey, but then he admits he actually can't work the TARDIS properly. Some things never change, I guess.
Wherever the Doctor's landed them though, it looks strangely alien, so they decide to clean themselves up before exploring. Unfortunately they don't notice the radiation counter on the console move into the danger zone...
And that was The Firemakers, and indeed An Unearthly Child. As an individual episode it actually works rather well. The techniques used at the time may have aged badly, but the actors have enough conviction to paper over those flaws and the story manages to hold together. The acting, as you probably gathered, is excellent, and the whole thing is a good ending to the story, with a good hook for the next one.
As for the story as a whole? Well, it's pretty good, all told. I myself wouldn't have picked a story about cavement trying to find fire as a good first adventure - and indeed, the producers apparently weren't entirely happy with the idea being the opening one - but in the end it worked fairly well. Sure it dragged in places *COUGH*CAVEOFSKULLS*COUGH* and the effects were a bit dodgy in places, but overall it was engaging, compelling and above all entertaining. The four regulars have proven themselves more than capable of carrying the show, the premise has shown that it's got legs and the promise of a new adventure awaits.
The series is off to a pretty good start and I can't wait for the next story.
And not just because it's got the Daleks in it.
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Saturday, 25 May 2013
How It All Got Better (An Unearthly Child - Episode III)
Where were we? Oh right, the four regulars tied up in a cave full of skulls belonging to a bunch of cavemen trying (and failing) to make fire and having a hissy fit about it. Gee, doesn't that sound like a barrel of fun.
No, no it doesn't, and indeed it wasn't. This is the problem with a four-part story essentially having two opening episodes - one to establish the premise and the regulars of the show, and another to set up this individual story with all the seperate characters within. While the first episode was great, the second suffered from having to introduce a lot of very boring caveman politics and set up the events of the remaining two epsiodes. Hopefully the third episode, The Forest of Fear, will pay this off.
The episode begins where the previous one left off, with the four regulars trapped in an underground passage full of cranial bones. A 'cave of skulls', if you will. But we don't want to stay with them, oh no. Instead we cut to the sleeping cavemen. An old woman - who was also in the previous episode but did nothing but spout utterly pointless warnings about fire killing them all so I skipped her - wakes up and takes what I assume is supposed to be Za's knife, though it just looks like a rock to me. Then she rather politely stands there holding the thing while the title credits appear. Jolly decent of her to do that, I must say.
While the regulars try to free themselves from their bonds, Za's mate Hur sees the old woman leave the cave. She walks past a rather fake looking boulder, so presumably she's not going to talk to the regulars. Intrigue? Why Forest of Fear, you're spoiling us. Of course, this precludes the notion that she's simply going to the toilet and taking the totally-not-a-knife for her protection, but then again, this is a teatime show, so I guess that's probably not an option.
Hur wakes up Za and shows him what's happened, and he angrily chases after the old woman, reasoning that she's going to kill the strangers and prevent fire. If he stops her before then, he'll have proven to be a good leader, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, since she's not moved the giant incredibly fake looking boulder from the cave entrance, that's not likely, so he just shoves Hur to the ground. Hur hur, it's funny because physically abusing women in that time period was acceptable.
It turns out the old woman knows a secret entrance to the cave of skulls and uses it to talk to the travellers. She doesn't want them to make fire - she thinks it will be the death of them all - and offers to let the four go if they agree not to give fire to the other cavemen.
Already this is a far more interesting episode than the one before, because stuff is actually happening, and it's stuff we can actually sort-of care about! We know the old woman is wrong - fire won't kill the cavemen, it's actually essential to their continued survival - but given that neither leadership candidate seems particularly likeable, we're more inclined to side with her.
And naturally so are they, agreeing to her terms. The old woman, not Hur. The character called Hur, I mean. The old woman isn't Hur, that's Hur, Za's mate, not... gah, I'm all confused now. Why did they have to call her that? It's just confusing! And will someone tell me who the hell is on third?
Whatever, Za and Hur - y'know what? I'm just calling her Helen now. I don't care if it's wrong, it's less confusing. So Za and Helen have heard the whole conversation, but they can't do anything about it because they can't move the ridiculously fake looking boulder. I love shots like these. The thing's clearly about as heavy as an empty cardboard box but they have to act like it isn't and it just doesn't work. Hilarious.
Presumably their primitive minds realize it's just a block of painted polystyrene though, as they manage to move it in time to catch the old woman, but not the regulars, who have escaped into the forest. After some debating, Helen encourages Za to go after them. Cue the one bit of Jungle set they've built that everyone has to run through in different directions to give the illusion it's a different set!
While stopping for a breather there's some arguing amonst the group. Ian and the Doctor in particular are at loggerheads, with Ian's determination and the Doctor's stubbornness clashing in a surprisingly entertaiing manner. This is much more watchable than the cavemen's arguments because it isn't simply the same awkward dialogue repeated in different ways - it's real things people might say and it's real points that people might have.
The group sets off again, but they don't get far before discovering a dead animal (at least I THINK that's what it is) that elicits a scream from Barbara, drawing Za and Helen to them. Before he can find the group though, Za is attacked by the camera! Oh wait, that's supposed to be an animal. Sorry.
Being the women that they are, Barbara and Susan can't leave the injured Za behind, so they go to see what happened, with the others following. Za is covered in blood, but as they clean him up they realize it's mostly the camera's- sorry, ANIMAL'S blood, and Za isn't too badly hurt. Despite the Doctor's objections - and assertation that he's not a medical Doctor - Ian suggests they make a stretcher from their coats and help Za.
Back at the cave, the old woman - knocked unconcious by Za as he left - awakens to find Kal in the cave with her. Realizing what has happened, he draws his knife on her.
Again, you see what I mean about this being far more eventful than the previous episode. There's a lot happening in this one - not so much that we can't take it in, but enough to keep us interested. It's a balance the Cave of Skulls lacked, and it's why I found it so boring. Thankfully it's not a problem this episode shares.
After convincing Za and Helen that they will help them make fire in exchange for being set free, the group continues to make the stretcher. The Doctor, meanwhile, grabs a rock and holds it above Za- wait, WHAT? Was he... was he going to do what I think he was going to do? The Doctor? Augh!
Thankfully Ian stops him and he protests he was just going to get Za draw a map in the ground, but even so... that was DARK. Like, really dark. And it's never mentioned again after this. Just... wow. Glad they dropped that aspect quick, it did not sit well at ALL.
So they get Za onto the stretcher and start back to the TARDIS so they can heal him properly. Meanwhile Kal makes out to the other cavemen that Za killed the old woman (complete with a SURPRISE! musical cue when they find her body) and fled with the others to learn how to make fire. They all run out after them and surround the group as they finally make it to the TARDIS, and the episode ends as Susan screams.
This was, as I'm sure you've picked up by now, MUCH better than the previous episode. It was a lot more eventuful with good character developement (well, mostly good, anyway) and while the cavemen still talked, there was much less of it and it was much less repetative, which helped immensely. They seem a shade more interesting now, especially with the actions of Kal towards the end.
It's a definite step up, and I hope it continues into the final episode.
No, no it doesn't, and indeed it wasn't. This is the problem with a four-part story essentially having two opening episodes - one to establish the premise and the regulars of the show, and another to set up this individual story with all the seperate characters within. While the first episode was great, the second suffered from having to introduce a lot of very boring caveman politics and set up the events of the remaining two epsiodes. Hopefully the third episode, The Forest of Fear, will pay this off.
The episode begins where the previous one left off, with the four regulars trapped in an underground passage full of cranial bones. A 'cave of skulls', if you will. But we don't want to stay with them, oh no. Instead we cut to the sleeping cavemen. An old woman - who was also in the previous episode but did nothing but spout utterly pointless warnings about fire killing them all so I skipped her - wakes up and takes what I assume is supposed to be Za's knife, though it just looks like a rock to me. Then she rather politely stands there holding the thing while the title credits appear. Jolly decent of her to do that, I must say.
While the regulars try to free themselves from their bonds, Za's mate Hur sees the old woman leave the cave. She walks past a rather fake looking boulder, so presumably she's not going to talk to the regulars. Intrigue? Why Forest of Fear, you're spoiling us. Of course, this precludes the notion that she's simply going to the toilet and taking the totally-not-a-knife for her protection, but then again, this is a teatime show, so I guess that's probably not an option.
Hur wakes up Za and shows him what's happened, and he angrily chases after the old woman, reasoning that she's going to kill the strangers and prevent fire. If he stops her before then, he'll have proven to be a good leader, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, since she's not moved the giant incredibly fake looking boulder from the cave entrance, that's not likely, so he just shoves Hur to the ground. Hur hur, it's funny because physically abusing women in that time period was acceptable.
It turns out the old woman knows a secret entrance to the cave of skulls and uses it to talk to the travellers. She doesn't want them to make fire - she thinks it will be the death of them all - and offers to let the four go if they agree not to give fire to the other cavemen.
Already this is a far more interesting episode than the one before, because stuff is actually happening, and it's stuff we can actually sort-of care about! We know the old woman is wrong - fire won't kill the cavemen, it's actually essential to their continued survival - but given that neither leadership candidate seems particularly likeable, we're more inclined to side with her.
And naturally so are they, agreeing to her terms. The old woman, not Hur. The character called Hur, I mean. The old woman isn't Hur, that's Hur, Za's mate, not... gah, I'm all confused now. Why did they have to call her that? It's just confusing! And will someone tell me who the hell is on third?
Whatever, Za and Hur - y'know what? I'm just calling her Helen now. I don't care if it's wrong, it's less confusing. So Za and Helen have heard the whole conversation, but they can't do anything about it because they can't move the ridiculously fake looking boulder. I love shots like these. The thing's clearly about as heavy as an empty cardboard box but they have to act like it isn't and it just doesn't work. Hilarious.
Presumably their primitive minds realize it's just a block of painted polystyrene though, as they manage to move it in time to catch the old woman, but not the regulars, who have escaped into the forest. After some debating, Helen encourages Za to go after them. Cue the one bit of Jungle set they've built that everyone has to run through in different directions to give the illusion it's a different set!
While stopping for a breather there's some arguing amonst the group. Ian and the Doctor in particular are at loggerheads, with Ian's determination and the Doctor's stubbornness clashing in a surprisingly entertaiing manner. This is much more watchable than the cavemen's arguments because it isn't simply the same awkward dialogue repeated in different ways - it's real things people might say and it's real points that people might have.
The group sets off again, but they don't get far before discovering a dead animal (at least I THINK that's what it is) that elicits a scream from Barbara, drawing Za and Helen to them. Before he can find the group though, Za is attacked by the camera! Oh wait, that's supposed to be an animal. Sorry.
Being the women that they are, Barbara and Susan can't leave the injured Za behind, so they go to see what happened, with the others following. Za is covered in blood, but as they clean him up they realize it's mostly the camera's- sorry, ANIMAL'S blood, and Za isn't too badly hurt. Despite the Doctor's objections - and assertation that he's not a medical Doctor - Ian suggests they make a stretcher from their coats and help Za.
Back at the cave, the old woman - knocked unconcious by Za as he left - awakens to find Kal in the cave with her. Realizing what has happened, he draws his knife on her.
Again, you see what I mean about this being far more eventful than the previous episode. There's a lot happening in this one - not so much that we can't take it in, but enough to keep us interested. It's a balance the Cave of Skulls lacked, and it's why I found it so boring. Thankfully it's not a problem this episode shares.
After convincing Za and Helen that they will help them make fire in exchange for being set free, the group continues to make the stretcher. The Doctor, meanwhile, grabs a rock and holds it above Za- wait, WHAT? Was he... was he going to do what I think he was going to do? The Doctor? Augh!
Thankfully Ian stops him and he protests he was just going to get Za draw a map in the ground, but even so... that was DARK. Like, really dark. And it's never mentioned again after this. Just... wow. Glad they dropped that aspect quick, it did not sit well at ALL.
So they get Za onto the stretcher and start back to the TARDIS so they can heal him properly. Meanwhile Kal makes out to the other cavemen that Za killed the old woman (complete with a SURPRISE! musical cue when they find her body) and fled with the others to learn how to make fire. They all run out after them and surround the group as they finally make it to the TARDIS, and the episode ends as Susan screams.
This was, as I'm sure you've picked up by now, MUCH better than the previous episode. It was a lot more eventuful with good character developement (well, mostly good, anyway) and while the cavemen still talked, there was much less of it and it was much less repetative, which helped immensely. They seem a shade more interesting now, especially with the actions of Kal towards the end.
It's a definite step up, and I hope it continues into the final episode.
Thursday, 23 May 2013
How It All Went Wrong (An Unearthly Child - Episode II)
So, following on from the incredibly atmospheric and engaging first episode, the 4-part story generally known as An Unearthly Child continued with The Cave of Skulls. Due to the different setting and plot, a lot of people tend to consider the first episode a very seperate story to the rest of the adventure, and as we'll soon see, it's an entirely understandable position to take, and one that I myself am doing with these reviews.
I hasten to add that I know full well that these four episodes are one adventure (or serial, if you want to get technical), but the fact that the first episode is laregly unconnected to the others in most regards means that it hardly seems fair to judge both aspects of the story equally, given that they are so radically different.
And with that said - let's continue with An Unearthly Child (or 10,000 BC, whatever floats your boat).
Episode 2 picks up where the last one left off, with the TARDIS now in an unknown wasteland and the two teachers unconcious from the trip. But rather than continue with THAT, we instead focus, rather oddly, on a group of cavemen trying to create fire by rubbing a bone. Uh, what? Why do we care about this? Answer: we don't. We want to know what happened to the regulars, not watch a bunch of people in loinclothes fail at making fire.
Barely 30 seconds in and already you've lost me. *sigh*
It's three and a half minutes before we cut back to what we all actually want to see - the inside of the TARDIS as Barbara and Ian wake up. Naturally they don't believe they've travelled anywhere, and it's here we get the title drop as the old man questions being called Doctor Foreman. Hmm. Still frustrated at Ian's doubting, he opens the door and reveals that they have, in fact, gone back in time.
Again, I have to praise the acting from the regulars here. Barbara's tentative belief, the old man's arrogant superiority and Ian's constant doubts are all wonderfully portrayed, as is the shock when the two teachers realize they really aren't in London any more. It's incredibly engaging and far more entertaining than a bunch of cavemen.
Also intriguing is the old man's comments about the ship remaining a Police Box. What on earth does he mean by that? Isn't it always a Police Box? Very curious, and mentioned just long enough for us to be interested but not overwhelmed. Very well played. He then goes off to collect some samples while smoking a pipe when a caveman looms into shot. Ooo, mysterious.
While the other three are pondering over why the Phone Box hasn't changed shape, what "Doctor Foreman"s name actually is and how on earth any of this makes sense (neatly mirroring the audience's own slightly confused state) they hear the caveman attack the Doctor and head over. They find his things, but not him - he's been taken. Dun-dun-DUUUUUN!
Who's ready for more cavemen politics? No-one? Well, tough, because here's a bunch of it. There's a leadership contest among the tribe and the one who can make fire will be leader. Kal is a stranger but brings food, and Za is son of a firemaker killed for doing so. It's every bit as uninteresting as this sounds, and it's not the best way to keep the show going. Za's failed attempts at making fire are interupted by Kal bringing the old man in, saying he saw him make fire from his fingers and smoke come from his mouth. This sparks an agrument between Za and Kal, and they fight.
Again - it's all actually quite dull. Cavemen are hard to make interesting at the best of times, and this doesn't do a particularly fantastic job of doing so. The pace is slow, there's exposition dumps all over the place, the dialogue is uncomfortable to listen to for large amounts of time and it's just not very engaging. And we've got three episodes of this. Ugh.
The old man wakes up and tries to convince the cavemen he can give them fire, but he realizes he's dropped his matches and so can't. Another fight breaks out. Didn't we just do this? *sigh* If they're repeating things this quickly, then we're in trouble. It's at this point that the rest of the time travellers show up and are promptly captured. The old man saves them by refusing to show them how to make fire if they kill any of the group and blah blah blah I don't care.
I know I'm supposed to be watching and reviewing this but really, the episode is so slow and uninteresting it's hard to keep going. After the fantastic first episode this is a major misstep and one that the show will have trouble recovering from.
This particular episode ends with the four regulars bound and held in the titular cave of skulls. Yawn. Maybe something interesting will happen in the next episode, but for some bizarre reason, I doubt it.
I hasten to add that I know full well that these four episodes are one adventure (or serial, if you want to get technical), but the fact that the first episode is laregly unconnected to the others in most regards means that it hardly seems fair to judge both aspects of the story equally, given that they are so radically different.
And with that said - let's continue with An Unearthly Child (or 10,000 BC, whatever floats your boat).
Episode 2 picks up where the last one left off, with the TARDIS now in an unknown wasteland and the two teachers unconcious from the trip. But rather than continue with THAT, we instead focus, rather oddly, on a group of cavemen trying to create fire by rubbing a bone. Uh, what? Why do we care about this? Answer: we don't. We want to know what happened to the regulars, not watch a bunch of people in loinclothes fail at making fire.
Barely 30 seconds in and already you've lost me. *sigh*
It's three and a half minutes before we cut back to what we all actually want to see - the inside of the TARDIS as Barbara and Ian wake up. Naturally they don't believe they've travelled anywhere, and it's here we get the title drop as the old man questions being called Doctor Foreman. Hmm. Still frustrated at Ian's doubting, he opens the door and reveals that they have, in fact, gone back in time.
Again, I have to praise the acting from the regulars here. Barbara's tentative belief, the old man's arrogant superiority and Ian's constant doubts are all wonderfully portrayed, as is the shock when the two teachers realize they really aren't in London any more. It's incredibly engaging and far more entertaining than a bunch of cavemen.
Also intriguing is the old man's comments about the ship remaining a Police Box. What on earth does he mean by that? Isn't it always a Police Box? Very curious, and mentioned just long enough for us to be interested but not overwhelmed. Very well played. He then goes off to collect some samples while smoking a pipe when a caveman looms into shot. Ooo, mysterious.
While the other three are pondering over why the Phone Box hasn't changed shape, what "Doctor Foreman"s name actually is and how on earth any of this makes sense (neatly mirroring the audience's own slightly confused state) they hear the caveman attack the Doctor and head over. They find his things, but not him - he's been taken. Dun-dun-DUUUUUN!
Who's ready for more cavemen politics? No-one? Well, tough, because here's a bunch of it. There's a leadership contest among the tribe and the one who can make fire will be leader. Kal is a stranger but brings food, and Za is son of a firemaker killed for doing so. It's every bit as uninteresting as this sounds, and it's not the best way to keep the show going. Za's failed attempts at making fire are interupted by Kal bringing the old man in, saying he saw him make fire from his fingers and smoke come from his mouth. This sparks an agrument between Za and Kal, and they fight.
Again - it's all actually quite dull. Cavemen are hard to make interesting at the best of times, and this doesn't do a particularly fantastic job of doing so. The pace is slow, there's exposition dumps all over the place, the dialogue is uncomfortable to listen to for large amounts of time and it's just not very engaging. And we've got three episodes of this. Ugh.
The old man wakes up and tries to convince the cavemen he can give them fire, but he realizes he's dropped his matches and so can't. Another fight breaks out. Didn't we just do this? *sigh* If they're repeating things this quickly, then we're in trouble. It's at this point that the rest of the time travellers show up and are promptly captured. The old man saves them by refusing to show them how to make fire if they kill any of the group and blah blah blah I don't care.
I know I'm supposed to be watching and reviewing this but really, the episode is so slow and uninteresting it's hard to keep going. After the fantastic first episode this is a major misstep and one that the show will have trouble recovering from.
This particular episode ends with the four regulars bound and held in the titular cave of skulls. Yawn. Maybe something interesting will happen in the next episode, but for some bizarre reason, I doubt it.
Monday, 20 May 2013
How It All Began (An Unearthly Child - Episode I)
So way back in 1963, a little television show called Doctor Who was first aired on British television, and nearly 50 years later it's still going strong. Hell, it's almost never been stronger. But you'd be surprised how many people haven't seen the very first episode, or the story that unfolded from there on. So let's go all the way back. Back to when television was in black & white, when sci-fi shows were 25 minutes long, when special effects consisted of bits of cardboard and vaseline smeared on the lenses. Back to where it all began.
The show opens with the traditional music playing as a policeman wanders around a junkyard before the camera settles on the now familiar Police Box. It's basic but extremely effective, with the music making everything incredibly unsettling. It sends a shiver down your spine, it really does.
We then cut to a school, where two teachers talk about one of their students. These are Barbara (History) and Ian (Science), and the student they're talking about is Susan, who's been acting awfully strange, showing knowledge she shouldn't have at such a young age and pointing out mistakes in a history book. The flashbacks of Susan do throw the pace off a little bit, but otherwise it's fairly effective and does a good job of establishing the relationship between the two teachers.
The two teachers are concerned about Susan's strange ways and her slipping grades, so they decide to follow her to her home, listed as being the junkyard. This is kind of overstepping the boundaries a little, considering a simple "so where do you REALLY live?" would probably have made SUsan 'fess up, but then again when her Grandfather refuses to have any contact with the school, it's kind of justified. Sort of. Different time, I guess.
So the two wait and watch until Susan finally appears, and they follow her into the junkyard, where she disappears. Again, it's a simple scene as they look around for her, but it's surprising how well a few basic props and a couple of minutes spent on creating an atmosphere can work.
Eventually the two spot the Police Box and are baffled at how it's vibrating. "It's alive!" Ian exclaims, not knowing just how right the show would eventually prove him. Their discovery is interrupted, however, by the arrival of an old man in period clothes who wanders past the two as they hide and unlocks the Police Box. If this were set in the modern day you can bet your bottom dollar this would set off all sorts of alarms - old man potentially has young girl locked in a box? Hmm.
Since this thankfully ISN'T the modern day Ian just saunters up to the old man and aks him what's what, to which he brushes them off. The old man's acting is mesmerising from the off - there's clearly something odd about him, but ther'es also something charming about him as well. It's really quite engaging and helps what could seem a very creepy character come across as quite the opposite.
Ian and Barbara decide to go off and fetch a policeman (isn't that what the Police Box is there for?), but before they leave and allow the old man to do whatever it was he was going to do, Susan opens the door to the Police Box, giving Barbara and Ian a chance to rush inside.
...and BAM. Massive white room. Complete tonal shift from the dark and fairly gloomy junkyard we were just in, and completely and utterly impossible. The room's far too big to fit inside the Police Box, and both the old man and Susan are completely non-chalant about the whole thing. Irritated even, because despite their attempts to explain things neither teacher can understand what's going on.
It's really hard to express just how well this scene works, mostly because these days it's common knowledge what the TARDIS is, but wow. This scene is BRILLIANT. It's just such a random idea, yet because it's played so straight it feels legit. This is really interesting and you want to know more. You want to see what happens to Ian and Barbara, you want to know more about Susan and the old man revealedf to be her Grandfather, and most importantly you want to keep watching to see where this all goes. It's a great way to start the show and draw people in.
Susan argues with her (still un-named) Grandfather as to whether they can let the teachers go, explaining that they're both aliens and time travellers. It's a little much to take in, but given that we're still reeling from the Phone Box's interior, we're in a good state to believe pretty much anything.
Susan declares that she'd rather stay in the 20th Century than leave with her Grandfater, and he agrees to open the doors, but in actuality he sets the Phone Box known as the TARDIS in motion, resulting in a reprise of the opening intro effects along with the iconic groaning sound we've all come to love. Again, it's hard to emphasise just how bizarre all this is since it's common knowledge by this point, but if you don't already know, this is baffling. What's going on? Why is Susan so against it? What's her Grandfather done, and why has it rendered the two teachers unconcious? This is as gripping and engaging as you could possibly ask for.
As it turns out, it appears the TARDIS has moved away from London
Watching it back now, it's surprising just how well the very first episode of the show holds up. The pacing is fantastic, the characters fully defined and played to perfection, the sets well designed and the story engaging. The length, a mere 24 minutes, means the story blasts along at a rapid pace and the audience is left at the end wanting more. It's a fantastic start to the show and a wonderful beginning to a franchise that's lasted far longer than anyone could have dreamed.
As for the rest of the story? We'll get to that next time.
Sunday, 19 May 2013
The Beginning
Hey guys.
So, I like Doctor Who. Or at least, I used to THINK I liked Doctor Who, but nowadays I'm not so sure.
When the show came back in 2005 I leapt at the chance to watch it, having only been passingly familar with the show beforehand. But then... wow. This was a show that promised everything. Adventures in Time and Space, anywhere and anywhen. And... well, it seemed to revolve around Earth a little too much, but it was still fun. Some great stories came around, stories that you just couldn't tell in any other television show. It was, if you'll excuse the half-pun, fantastic.
And then time passed, and both I and the show grew older. I became more cynical and jaded, and the show got a new lead, more experimental and more bogged down in its own past. At least, that's how I saw it, anyway. Everyone else just lapped it up, and I started to see that maybe I wasn't as big a fan of the show as I thought.
More time passed. More risks were taken, more self-indulgent wallowing ensued, more praise and fans were earned, and I became more and more disinterested. It wasn't that the show was bad - although it most CERTAINLY had its off days - it's that it had increasingly become concerned with ever more complex stories that were never truely stand-alone, and they all felt SO rushed as they tried packing more and more story into the 45 minutes each episode provided.
It came to a head with the 4 Specials that signaled the end of David Tennant's reign. I enjoyed exactly half of them, and the other two... well, what does one say about The End of Time? It was the most self-indulgant and ridiculous set of stories that Russell T Davies ever wrote. I realized, watching them the day after Christmas, that I was no longer a die-hard fan of the show. It had slipped away from me, to the point where I didn't even attempt to watch it live on Christmas, instead being perfectly happy to watch a Sky+ recording later that evening.
But I held out hope. There was another Doctor inbound, and a new show-runner! Maybe things would change! Maybe I'd be drawn back into the show, just as Eccleston had won me over in 2005. Maybe...
And, initially, it did. I was hooked once again. Change is always interesting, and the show was very much a similar yet different beast now. But once again, I started seeing things I didn't enjoy. The cracks in time started off as a neat little idea, a return of the Bad Wolf sort-of story arc that allowed for stand-alone episodes that had a common thread. But then River Song came back as a major returning character, and the cracks became more than just a sort-of story arc, and it all got complicated and I started getting tired again.
I kept watching, but I was much less attached to the characters or the stories in them, and it was clear that for all the talent and effort behind it, New-Who was not the show I wanted.
As it turns out, the show I wanted had existed for about 25 years, long before I was born.
Classic Who is almost everything I love about the show. It could go anywhere and do anything, it had no real overarching plot to make things complicated, and above all, it had something the new show is missing. For all the high budget and special effects New-Who has, it seems to lack the simple charm that the Classic show had. It's all about big dramatic theatrics these days, with devestating revelations and shocking plot twists. What happened to good old fashioned fun little adventures? (Aside from The Crimson Horror, which was a fantastic tribute to the sort of random adventures I long for and is one of my favourite New-Who episodes as a result) What happened to things being charming and simplistic?
Classic Who has it all, and that's why I'm going back and watching it all again. All of it (or as much as I can watch, given how some only exist as audios). And I'll be telling you exactly what I think of it. Right here.
This might take some time. There's over 150 Classic stories to get through. Deep breaths now...
So, I like Doctor Who. Or at least, I used to THINK I liked Doctor Who, but nowadays I'm not so sure.
When the show came back in 2005 I leapt at the chance to watch it, having only been passingly familar with the show beforehand. But then... wow. This was a show that promised everything. Adventures in Time and Space, anywhere and anywhen. And... well, it seemed to revolve around Earth a little too much, but it was still fun. Some great stories came around, stories that you just couldn't tell in any other television show. It was, if you'll excuse the half-pun, fantastic.
And then time passed, and both I and the show grew older. I became more cynical and jaded, and the show got a new lead, more experimental and more bogged down in its own past. At least, that's how I saw it, anyway. Everyone else just lapped it up, and I started to see that maybe I wasn't as big a fan of the show as I thought.
More time passed. More risks were taken, more self-indulgent wallowing ensued, more praise and fans were earned, and I became more and more disinterested. It wasn't that the show was bad - although it most CERTAINLY had its off days - it's that it had increasingly become concerned with ever more complex stories that were never truely stand-alone, and they all felt SO rushed as they tried packing more and more story into the 45 minutes each episode provided.
It came to a head with the 4 Specials that signaled the end of David Tennant's reign. I enjoyed exactly half of them, and the other two... well, what does one say about The End of Time? It was the most self-indulgant and ridiculous set of stories that Russell T Davies ever wrote. I realized, watching them the day after Christmas, that I was no longer a die-hard fan of the show. It had slipped away from me, to the point where I didn't even attempt to watch it live on Christmas, instead being perfectly happy to watch a Sky+ recording later that evening.
But I held out hope. There was another Doctor inbound, and a new show-runner! Maybe things would change! Maybe I'd be drawn back into the show, just as Eccleston had won me over in 2005. Maybe...
And, initially, it did. I was hooked once again. Change is always interesting, and the show was very much a similar yet different beast now. But once again, I started seeing things I didn't enjoy. The cracks in time started off as a neat little idea, a return of the Bad Wolf sort-of story arc that allowed for stand-alone episodes that had a common thread. But then River Song came back as a major returning character, and the cracks became more than just a sort-of story arc, and it all got complicated and I started getting tired again.
I kept watching, but I was much less attached to the characters or the stories in them, and it was clear that for all the talent and effort behind it, New-Who was not the show I wanted.
As it turns out, the show I wanted had existed for about 25 years, long before I was born.
Classic Who is almost everything I love about the show. It could go anywhere and do anything, it had no real overarching plot to make things complicated, and above all, it had something the new show is missing. For all the high budget and special effects New-Who has, it seems to lack the simple charm that the Classic show had. It's all about big dramatic theatrics these days, with devestating revelations and shocking plot twists. What happened to good old fashioned fun little adventures? (Aside from The Crimson Horror, which was a fantastic tribute to the sort of random adventures I long for and is one of my favourite New-Who episodes as a result) What happened to things being charming and simplistic?
Classic Who has it all, and that's why I'm going back and watching it all again. All of it (or as much as I can watch, given how some only exist as audios). And I'll be telling you exactly what I think of it. Right here.
This might take some time. There's over 150 Classic stories to get through. Deep breaths now...
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