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FishyFish

By FishyFish
in Film, TV & Radio

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Frosty

Frosty

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Fact time: I am friends with the actress that played a younger Sarah Jane during a flashback sequence in Sarah Jane Adventures. She didn't understand the excitement this inspired in me as I am myself now only a few degrees of separation away from the Doctor.

Autographs : £5 + p&p (her's. Or mine. Same rate).

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zxcvbnm

zxcvbnm

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Another few degrees of separation then...last night my sister-in-law told me how she sat at the table next to Matt Smith a few weeks ago for breakfast. He was about to do some BBC promo stuff and it was just him and his agent, but he was in the full Who get up! Daft bint didnt sneak a photo though.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Invasion of the Dinosaurs

(Blog has pictures)

An evacuated London, prehistoric monsters rampaging around, conspiracies, time travel, a 'space mission' and a mad plot to wipe out humanity and start over again... 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' throws everything but the kitchen sink into this six-part story, and it does so very successfully.

[Picture: For no reason whatsoever, the Doctor uses a new car. What it lacks in the charm of Bessie, it makes up for in futuristic coolness. I want it.]

From the eerie set-up, to the first monstrous attack and through every twist of the plot, I was engaged and entertained. I honestly would not have expected Captain Yates to have been in on the conspiracy, but the UNIT side characters have never been particularly fleshed out before. The whole time-reversal concept was excellent and unexpected, the fake space mission even better. The different elements of the plot hang together really well.

[Picture: Captain Yates betrays UNIT!]

The trouble is, frankly, the dinosaurs look awful. Yes, I know it was 1974, but I guess Jurassic Park has spoiled me, so whenever I hear a T-Rex that doesn't sound like a cross between a lion, a cow and a foghorn, it's just wrong. Particularly when it wobbles about like a little rubber puppet, and is voiced by someone going "rawrrr!!". To be fair, some of the other dinos look pretty good, and they cleverly make use of a variety of techniques to integrate them into the scenes, including blue-screen compositing and miniature street sets. I would rather a story not try to outreach its technical grasp, but in this case I do appreciate the effort that went into it and it didn't spoil the story for me.

[Picture: "Raawrr, I'm a big scary dinosaur!!"]

Despite the wobbly dinosaurs, then, this was easily one of my favourite serials so far. One of those rare occasions where six episodes didn't drag.

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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That looks a lot better. I knew they'd revised some FX shots in some of the stories, but I've not kept up to date.

I suspect the cost of re-doing the entirety of Invasion of the Dinosaurs with high-quality CGI might be a bridge too far though.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Death to the Daleks

(Blog has pictures)

Terry Nation returns to write this four-part story. I wasn't expecting much from it and it didn't deliver much either, so theres not much to tell.

[Picture: "We built this city on rock and..." well, just rock.]

With the Tardis' power drained, a Marine Space Corps ship's power drained, and the Daleks' power drained, it's soon apparent that something on this planet is draining power. There's a mysterious race of zealous inhabitants on the planet, protecting an equally mysterious temple. In fact, the Daleks play only a minor role in the story, serving as little more than motivation to get away more quickly.

[Picture: The Daleks are powerless against the humans... for a very brief time.]

Daleks being powerless and having to rely on others' help could have been fascinating and dramatic, putting them in a new situation and forcing them to realise the benefits of mutual understanding and help. But that doesn't happen here. They quickly replace their failed laser weapons with ballistic gun attachments and that's it, they're in charge again, ordering the natives and the marines around and threatening to destroy everything. What a wasted opportunity.

[Picture: While forced to dig for a rare chemical, the natives and the Daleks are attacked by one of the city's defence mechanisms, a snake... root... thing.]

On the other hand, all the things about the natives and their temple are actually interesting concepts. The temple is a giant living city, a computer that gained self-awareness many generations ago and is now worshipped as their god. The natives, Exxilons, are well-designed creatures, with stone coloured faces and bodies that resemble rocks. The last couple of episodes feature the Doctor and his new Exxilon friend trying to outwit a series of trials and tests inside the temple, while Daleks give chase. These tests a bit pathetic, however, and include the world's most simple maze puzzle and a tiny electrified hopscotch board.

[Picture: The Doctor and his Exxilon friend face the trials inside the temple.]

Ultimately, the Doctor destroys the temple's circuitry, while the humans outside blow it up with explosives. I would have thought one would have been enough. With the remaining explosives, the Space Corp captain brings death to the Daleks (ahh!) by blowing up their ship as they try to leave.

Another explosive finish, then, but a mediocre serial overall.

--------------

So Sprite, you in love with Sarah Jane yet? It's ok, we all were... :wub:

She's alright, but she's no Space Marine Jill Tarrant. :eyebrows:
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Harsin

Harsin

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Apparently Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann were on an Australian chat show and again confirmed that they've not been asked to contribute to the 50th Anniversary Special.

I can understand them not wanting Colin Baker back, but it's a shame McGann never got a second go-around on screen and I don't think it would take that much to make McCoy passable in the role again, he was pretty spry in the Hobbit.

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HarMGM

HarMGM

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McCoy would be my choice to see back in the role again. His Doctor was already pretty old by the time he regenerated into Eight so it wouldn't be to much of a problem with filming. Plus, McCoy is a pretty cracking actor to boot.

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Meh

Meh

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If it's anything like my opinion, then you wouldn't be surprised to find out that it should have been a David Tennant episode?

It did feel like that, didn't it? The massively over-dramatic I'M SO OLLLLD I'VE SEEN EVERYTHINNNNNNNG shtick RTD was so fond of saddling him with.
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Garwoofoo

Garwoofoo

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I finally got around to watching the second episode last night. It was bad, but not as terrible as the Killer Wi-Fi episode. The first 15 minutes were actually pretty good. After that it sadly fell apart. Clara at least remains watchable.

It's frustrating though - this looked great, clearly had a load of money and effort spent on making it, and must have taken a significant amount of time to bring to fruition. Honestly, at any point in the process, did no-one say "That plot? You know it makes no sense at all? Do you think we ought to do something about it?" It's like they don't care any more.

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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The worst thing about the Singing episode was the way they essentially used the Sonic Screwdriver as a Harry Potter Wand. Not the first time they've done that, but it really grated here.

Then there was the way that the denouement was so wishy washy they basically had to have the Doctor and Clara do these grand speeches ostensibly to the big Sun Vampire thing, but really to the audience, as otherwise we'd not have a clue what was going on. Never mind the cheesy singing itself. Ugh.

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