The Randomiser: Castrovalva
Jan. 22nd, 2018 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatCastrovalva is famously inspired by an Escher print (though, frankly, one of the less interesting ones). However, given that starting point, you would expect weird geometries, staircases and arched colonnades to be a prominent part of the story from the start. It is perhaps surprising therefore that it takes a long time to actually reach Castrovalva. The first two episodes feel more like an extended prologue than part of the story proper. In fact, one almost wonders if this would have worked better split into two linked smaller stories - the first the tale of the Fifth Doctor's troubled regeneration and the TARDIS's flight into Event One at the hands of the Master, followed by the more elaborate trap at Castrovalva itself.
With the Doctor and Adric absent for much of the story, the burden of carrying the action along falls on the shoulders of Sarah Sutton's Nyssa and Janet Fielding's Tegan who are pleasingly resourceful and irritatingly feeble by slightly inconsistent turns. This is nevertheless one of the better stories for both of them and allows them to actually build up a relationship with each other which it would have been nice to see more of as the series progressed.
Castrovalva itself reveals both the strengths and the weaknesses of the 1980s BBC. It looks great. The costumes which nod towards the early modern Dutch outfits (as do many of Escher's prints) could have been laughable but actually work and evoke a distinctive character for the place. However, the effects when Castrovalva starts to break down are woeful. On the page this is clearly supposed to be an Escheresque nightmare of endless staircases and distorted perspective - instead we get swirling images - oh well.
I felt with Logopolis that Christopher H. Bidmead was a little too enamoured of his pseudo-science (and possibly thought it was rather less pseudo- than I did). Castrovalva is a much stronger script, particularly the sections in Castrovalva itself, giving us a real sense of place and incidental characters who we care about. It's a shame Bidmead was about to leave the show because I would say Castrovalva is one of the better realisations of his vision for the show and, had he stayed on, he might have become surer footed and produced more stories that were actually strong yarns as well as interesting ideas.
With the Doctor and Adric absent for much of the story, the burden of carrying the action along falls on the shoulders of Sarah Sutton's Nyssa and Janet Fielding's Tegan who are pleasingly resourceful and irritatingly feeble by slightly inconsistent turns. This is nevertheless one of the better stories for both of them and allows them to actually build up a relationship with each other which it would have been nice to see more of as the series progressed.
Castrovalva itself reveals both the strengths and the weaknesses of the 1980s BBC. It looks great. The costumes which nod towards the early modern Dutch outfits (as do many of Escher's prints) could have been laughable but actually work and evoke a distinctive character for the place. However, the effects when Castrovalva starts to break down are woeful. On the page this is clearly supposed to be an Escheresque nightmare of endless staircases and distorted perspective - instead we get swirling images - oh well.
I felt with Logopolis that Christopher H. Bidmead was a little too enamoured of his pseudo-science (and possibly thought it was rather less pseudo- than I did). Castrovalva is a much stronger script, particularly the sections in Castrovalva itself, giving us a real sense of place and incidental characters who we care about. It's a shame Bidmead was about to leave the show because I would say Castrovalva is one of the better realisations of his vision for the show and, had he stayed on, he might have become surer footed and produced more stories that were actually strong yarns as well as interesting ideas.
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(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 08:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 09:51 pm (UTC)My parents actually have an original (signed and numbered) print of that, probably the most valuable single thing they own other than their house. I'm sure that seeing it every day in the living room while growing up contributed to my view of the world So don't you dare call it uninteresting! :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 09:57 pm (UTC)I mean, it's a nice print, but not really what one most immediately associates with Escher. I suspect it influence the idea, in the show, that Castrovalva is on top of the cliff, but clearly all the warped geometry in the interior is inspired by other Escher works.
Pretty cool that your parents have an original print though.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 10:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-23 03:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 08:56 pm (UTC)I think the 1980s special effects just weren't up to making Castrovalva look Escher-ey. I have wondered if they could do something like it now with CGI.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-23 03:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-22 09:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-23 03:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-24 08:43 pm (UTC)It's a bit like The Christmas Invasion - you spend half of it waiting for the new Doctor to wake up and show you what he's going to be like - and once he does, it's great!
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-27 10:44 am (UTC)Thinking about it, it's odd that the show has repeated this mistake several times, particularly if you include variants where the Doctor acts out of character for most of the first story before "settling down".
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-28 03:15 pm (UTC)But I would broadly agree with this, which is why I find post-regeneration stories mostly dull. The Power of the Daleks, The Christmas Invasion and The Eleventh Hour are probably my favourites, but even then I think Power is probably the best and although the new Doctor is initially over the top compared with later stories, it is at least recognisably the second Doctor after the first episode or so and he is in it all the time.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-28 05:49 pm (UTC)Before that? I adore Empty Child, didn't think much of Power of the Daleks but that may be because it's animated and I just don't seem able to feel engaged by animations, loved the Third Doctor Auton one, can't remember much about the Fourth Doctor one, comments on Castrovalva above, and haven't seen Six's or Seven's first ones. Guess those are some I should add to the wish list!
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-28 06:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-28 06:06 pm (UTC)To be fair, I think I've probably got most of the *really* good ones now anyway! Two shelves' worth, at least! :-D
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-31 08:36 pm (UTC)The Twin Dilemma I enjoyed at the time but in retrospect it is difficult to say what was good about it. In my memory it is better than Time and the Rani, though suffers from many of the same flaws, but it is a lot longer since I've seen it.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-31 08:30 pm (UTC)Time and the Rani is currently my least favourite story viewed as part of the Randomiser.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-31 08:27 pm (UTC)Bonus in BBC DVD
Date: 2018-01-30 09:42 pm (UTC)Re: Bonus in BBC DVD
Date: 2018-01-31 08:52 pm (UTC)