The Randomizer: The Horns of Nimon
May. 6th, 2012 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatTom Baker again. I am beginning to suspect my random number generator is more pseudo than random.
I was tempted to start this review with some joke about going from the sublime to the ridiculous but I've actually always had a soft spot for The Horns of Nimon. I don't really know enough about the evolution of fandom opinion, or even current thought about the story, but my suspicion is that a lot of the dislike stems from a sense that "Doctor Who is Serious SF, dammit!" and one thing The Horns of Nimon is making no pretence to be is serious.
I'm not going to pretend that The Horns of Nimon is some undiscovered classic, but there is, frankly, a lot worse Doctor Who out there. It is, at least, never dull and mostly manages to be pretty entertaining. It even has a lot of fun with its retelling of the minotaur legend into which a fair bit of intelligence, thought and care has clearly gone.
However there is no denying that there is more than a nod towards pantomime in the story and that nod is far more up-front and in your face than is normal for the humour in Doctor Who. The co-pilot's endless repetition of "Weakling Scum!" never fails to make me giggle, and the TARDIS sproinging noises come and go so fast that they don't really bother me too much. Graham Crowther's enthusiastic performance as Soldeed is probably the weakest thing here, at least from the point of view of Doctor Who as semi-serious drama:
Actually, Norman Jones' Hieronymus from The Masque of Mandragora had a similar line in eye-rolling madness but somehow managed to keep it just enough in check that he didn't immediately remind you of a pantomime villain.
However, there's no denying that you can't even pretend Soldeed is a real person. He's a pantomime villain through and through and only the fourth wall is preventing him gurning at the audience and answering them back. It isn't easy to watch Soldeed and pretend in your child's heart that this really happened somewhere.
However I've grown out of the need to pretend that Doctor Who really happened somewhere and that aside, given the flexibility of the Who format, I don't object too strongly to the level and style of the humour on display in The Horns of Nimon
Meanwhile there is much to enjoy. There is the retelling of the minotaur legend in an SF setting which I actually really like and think is pretty clever. It's also mostly a good story for the second Romana who is one of my favourite Who companions despite the fact that Lalla Ward's acting is far more theatrical in style than is really suited for television (full of heavily emphasised gestures and expressions and a tendency to speak always as if her voice needs to reach the back of a crowded auditorium). I think it is particularly telling that when she gets accidentally sent off to Chronos on her own, the audience is not particularly worried for her safety - there is no doubt she is just as capable of taking care of herself as the Doctor is and that is very rare, even with modern day companions. It is one of the things that always struck me about the handling of Ace in some of the early New Adventures books. The Doctor could send her off to do things for him, and there was no sense that she would be safer, or that the major resolution of that thread would be reuniting with the Doctor himself.
Teka, on the other hand, is a strangely frustrating character. It is difficult to tell (from the combination of scripting and acting) whether she was intended merely to be the caricature of a pathetic and clinging woman or whether we are supposed to pick up on a note of determined manipulation underneath it all. At the end, the Doctor seems to acknowledge that Teka is going to secure a place in legend for the unfortunate Seth and it isn't too hard to imagine her becoming a ruthless matriarch. It doesn't help that all the Anethians, including poor old Seth, are all somewhat wet so Teka's apparently mindless confidence in Seth's abilities actually gives her the appearance of more backbone than the rest of them. As an aside, I was frequently distracted by the fact that Meriadoc Brandybuck appeared to be lurking in the midst of this helpless group of sacrificial victims.
At the end of the day, as long as you are not expecting something that is taking itself particularly seriously, there is nothing particularly terrible about The Horns of Nimon. It's the kind of Who story it is easy to laugh at, but it's clearly inviting you to laugh at it and if you can't see that then you are sort of missing the point. At the same time it has a good enough story to hold the interest for the 100 minutes or so it takes to play out. I remain somewhat mystified by the vilification it meets with in some quarters.
I was tempted to start this review with some joke about going from the sublime to the ridiculous but I've actually always had a soft spot for The Horns of Nimon. I don't really know enough about the evolution of fandom opinion, or even current thought about the story, but my suspicion is that a lot of the dislike stems from a sense that "Doctor Who is Serious SF, dammit!" and one thing The Horns of Nimon is making no pretence to be is serious.
I'm not going to pretend that The Horns of Nimon is some undiscovered classic, but there is, frankly, a lot worse Doctor Who out there. It is, at least, never dull and mostly manages to be pretty entertaining. It even has a lot of fun with its retelling of the minotaur legend into which a fair bit of intelligence, thought and care has clearly gone.
However there is no denying that there is more than a nod towards pantomime in the story and that nod is far more up-front and in your face than is normal for the humour in Doctor Who. The co-pilot's endless repetition of "Weakling Scum!" never fails to make me giggle, and the TARDIS sproinging noises come and go so fast that they don't really bother me too much. Graham Crowther's enthusiastic performance as Soldeed is probably the weakest thing here, at least from the point of view of Doctor Who as semi-serious drama:
Actually, Norman Jones' Hieronymus from The Masque of Mandragora had a similar line in eye-rolling madness but somehow managed to keep it just enough in check that he didn't immediately remind you of a pantomime villain.
However, there's no denying that you can't even pretend Soldeed is a real person. He's a pantomime villain through and through and only the fourth wall is preventing him gurning at the audience and answering them back. It isn't easy to watch Soldeed and pretend in your child's heart that this really happened somewhere.
However I've grown out of the need to pretend that Doctor Who really happened somewhere and that aside, given the flexibility of the Who format, I don't object too strongly to the level and style of the humour on display in The Horns of Nimon
Meanwhile there is much to enjoy. There is the retelling of the minotaur legend in an SF setting which I actually really like and think is pretty clever. It's also mostly a good story for the second Romana who is one of my favourite Who companions despite the fact that Lalla Ward's acting is far more theatrical in style than is really suited for television (full of heavily emphasised gestures and expressions and a tendency to speak always as if her voice needs to reach the back of a crowded auditorium). I think it is particularly telling that when she gets accidentally sent off to Chronos on her own, the audience is not particularly worried for her safety - there is no doubt she is just as capable of taking care of herself as the Doctor is and that is very rare, even with modern day companions. It is one of the things that always struck me about the handling of Ace in some of the early New Adventures books. The Doctor could send her off to do things for him, and there was no sense that she would be safer, or that the major resolution of that thread would be reuniting with the Doctor himself.
Teka, on the other hand, is a strangely frustrating character. It is difficult to tell (from the combination of scripting and acting) whether she was intended merely to be the caricature of a pathetic and clinging woman or whether we are supposed to pick up on a note of determined manipulation underneath it all. At the end, the Doctor seems to acknowledge that Teka is going to secure a place in legend for the unfortunate Seth and it isn't too hard to imagine her becoming a ruthless matriarch. It doesn't help that all the Anethians, including poor old Seth, are all somewhat wet so Teka's apparently mindless confidence in Seth's abilities actually gives her the appearance of more backbone than the rest of them. As an aside, I was frequently distracted by the fact that Meriadoc Brandybuck appeared to be lurking in the midst of this helpless group of sacrificial victims.
At the end of the day, as long as you are not expecting something that is taking itself particularly seriously, there is nothing particularly terrible about The Horns of Nimon. It's the kind of Who story it is easy to laugh at, but it's clearly inviting you to laugh at it and if you can't see that then you are sort of missing the point. At the same time it has a good enough story to hold the interest for the 100 minutes or so it takes to play out. I remain somewhat mystified by the vilification it meets with in some quarters.