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purplecatThe key thing I remembered about this story, going in, was that mean comments on the Internet made the author cry. In retrospect I do have to wonder what the back-stage politics were, that meant Russell Davies felt it was appropriate to tell the world that nasty Internet fans made Helen Raynor cry, especially given she was the only woman who had written a Doctor Who story under his stewardship and so maybe he should have been a little careful about not undermining her professionalism. But this was at the start of the first big falling out between the production team and Internet fans (over whether the show's treatment of Martha was racist). I'd like to be able to say the production team handle interactions with Internet fans better now but, to be honest, I'm not sure they do.
Going into this with low expectations probably helped, I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary to happen about the Daleks or the Doctor or their relationship to each other, and since I wasn't expecting it to be a "landmark" story in any particular way, I wasn't disappointed when it wasn't.
There are a number of factors that drag the story down. I don't normally pay much attention to the score in Doctor Who stories, but the odd fleeting refrain from "An American in Paris" and other jazz standards made me wish the production had gone all out with a 1930s jazz and blues themed musical backdrop. Instead, as if Murray Gold didn't really have the courage of his convictions, it falls back on his standard repertoire of slightly overblown choral singing and pounding chords. This was a shame for a story set in 1930s American and featuring a show girl prominently.
Sadly the human-daleks mask is a failure. I'm sure it was considerably more sophisticated than the mask warn by Scaroth of the Jaggaroth in City of Death but it doesn't look any better, and Scaroth of the Jaggorth really only succeeds to the extent he does because he crops up in one the ten best Doctor Who stories ever. The twitching tentacles I suspect were one of the more expensive parts and they look the silliest.
The pig people are also a mistake, in so far as its hard to understand "why pigs?" and their appearance undermines attempts to make them appear menacing and give the story a somewhat bathetic feel. Similarly all the business with the dalekenium on top of the Empire State building doesn't quite work in a mixture of the script failing to quite join the dots, the set failing to quite make it look convincing, and the whole nonsense of the idea that if the Doctor holds the pole during a lightening strike his DNA will somehow magically get transmitted by the electricity.
On the other hand the show was probably overdue a re-examination of the idea of the human factor (or the dalek factor) and what happens when they are combined. A compare and contrast of human and dalek behaviour is potentially as interesting as comparing and contrasting the Daleks and the Doctor. Bits of this work very well and Erec Loren is to be commended for managing to convey emotions from underneath the horrors of the hybrid mask.
Similarly Hooverville is a great setting for Doctor Who. Of course, this was made a year before the 2008 financial crash and since the great depression is an obvious comparison to draw NLSS child and I had a fairly long conversation about the current crisis. Being the child of privilege that she is, she had absolutely no conception that we were living through a new age of austerity even if there are no slums in Central Park this time around. In some ways I suspect the setting is more interesting and relevant now than it was at the time.
I actually also really like the idea of the Cult of Skaro lurking on the sidelines of human history and trying to bring back the Daleks. Three daleks provide quite enough of a threat for your average Doctor Who story, and the fact that these are recurring characters (something I hadn't noticed first time around) represents a pleasant restraint from the temptation to make the daleks bigger, more ambitious and more dangerous with each appearance.
Hugh Quarshie is excellent as Solomon, although very much in the Doctor Who tradition of good leaders who are hopelessly out of their depth. Miranda Raison is equally good as Tallulah.
NLSS Child was very impressed that Frank survived. In fact most of her post episode discussion revolved around how he seemed to have been marked out as a throwaway character and yet made it through to the end of the story. At some point we need to show her original Star Trek and introduce the concept of a red shirt. Interestingly I was under the impression she lacked interest in classic Doctor Who. We made her sit through the first episode of Genesis of the Daleks because Sarah Jane Smith and beyond remarking how young Sarah looked she appeared deeply uninterested. However she tells me now that we are going to watch all NuWho first and then we are going to watch our way through classic Who - I wonder how long this intent will last in the face of the realities of 1960s TV production. Mind you, she watched An Adventure in Time and Space with me and was pretty gripped by the tragedy of William Hartnell (as presented) so maybe I underestimate her.
So, I enjoyed this. I think there are a couple of unwise scripting decisions and there are quite a lot of problems with the production, but there is plenty to like.
... Of course I was watching Time and the Rani in parallel which lends a certain perspective to the concept of bad Doctor Who.
Going into this with low expectations probably helped, I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary to happen about the Daleks or the Doctor or their relationship to each other, and since I wasn't expecting it to be a "landmark" story in any particular way, I wasn't disappointed when it wasn't.
There are a number of factors that drag the story down. I don't normally pay much attention to the score in Doctor Who stories, but the odd fleeting refrain from "An American in Paris" and other jazz standards made me wish the production had gone all out with a 1930s jazz and blues themed musical backdrop. Instead, as if Murray Gold didn't really have the courage of his convictions, it falls back on his standard repertoire of slightly overblown choral singing and pounding chords. This was a shame for a story set in 1930s American and featuring a show girl prominently.
Sadly the human-daleks mask is a failure. I'm sure it was considerably more sophisticated than the mask warn by Scaroth of the Jaggaroth in City of Death but it doesn't look any better, and Scaroth of the Jaggorth really only succeeds to the extent he does because he crops up in one the ten best Doctor Who stories ever. The twitching tentacles I suspect were one of the more expensive parts and they look the silliest.
The pig people are also a mistake, in so far as its hard to understand "why pigs?" and their appearance undermines attempts to make them appear menacing and give the story a somewhat bathetic feel. Similarly all the business with the dalekenium on top of the Empire State building doesn't quite work in a mixture of the script failing to quite join the dots, the set failing to quite make it look convincing, and the whole nonsense of the idea that if the Doctor holds the pole during a lightening strike his DNA will somehow magically get transmitted by the electricity.
On the other hand the show was probably overdue a re-examination of the idea of the human factor (or the dalek factor) and what happens when they are combined. A compare and contrast of human and dalek behaviour is potentially as interesting as comparing and contrasting the Daleks and the Doctor. Bits of this work very well and Erec Loren is to be commended for managing to convey emotions from underneath the horrors of the hybrid mask.
Similarly Hooverville is a great setting for Doctor Who. Of course, this was made a year before the 2008 financial crash and since the great depression is an obvious comparison to draw NLSS child and I had a fairly long conversation about the current crisis. Being the child of privilege that she is, she had absolutely no conception that we were living through a new age of austerity even if there are no slums in Central Park this time around. In some ways I suspect the setting is more interesting and relevant now than it was at the time.
I actually also really like the idea of the Cult of Skaro lurking on the sidelines of human history and trying to bring back the Daleks. Three daleks provide quite enough of a threat for your average Doctor Who story, and the fact that these are recurring characters (something I hadn't noticed first time around) represents a pleasant restraint from the temptation to make the daleks bigger, more ambitious and more dangerous with each appearance.
Hugh Quarshie is excellent as Solomon, although very much in the Doctor Who tradition of good leaders who are hopelessly out of their depth. Miranda Raison is equally good as Tallulah.
NLSS Child was very impressed that Frank survived. In fact most of her post episode discussion revolved around how he seemed to have been marked out as a throwaway character and yet made it through to the end of the story. At some point we need to show her original Star Trek and introduce the concept of a red shirt. Interestingly I was under the impression she lacked interest in classic Doctor Who. We made her sit through the first episode of Genesis of the Daleks because Sarah Jane Smith and beyond remarking how young Sarah looked she appeared deeply uninterested. However she tells me now that we are going to watch all NuWho first and then we are going to watch our way through classic Who - I wonder how long this intent will last in the face of the realities of 1960s TV production. Mind you, she watched An Adventure in Time and Space with me and was pretty gripped by the tragedy of William Hartnell (as presented) so maybe I underestimate her.
So, I enjoyed this. I think there are a couple of unwise scripting decisions and there are quite a lot of problems with the production, but there is plenty to like.
... Of course I was watching Time and the Rani in parallel which lends a certain perspective to the concept of bad Doctor Who.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-27 01:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-27 09:15 pm (UTC)