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FishyFish

By FishyFish
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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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State of Decay

(Blog has pictures)

I dislike it when alien cultures are portrayed as Ye Olde Earthe, but in the case of State of Decay, at least there is an attempt to justify it. Having been pulled into e-space thousands of years ago by an ancient giant vampire, three human astronauts have become immortal, lords over a village of peasants, their rocket ship towering above them all. Denying knowledge and science under penalty of death, a small group of rebels learns in secret, and then the Doctor arrives to help things along.

[Picture: The Earth ship, Hydrax, now a castle, symbol of power... and mighty projectile weapon.]

There's a real danger with doing a horror story like this that it will end up being corny. Unfortunately, I think State of Decay suffers in that respect. The vampire lords look and act in a stereotypical vampire fashion, with pale-faced stares and the power to hypnotise mortals. There's ritual sacrifice yet again (yawn), the imagery is gothic and clichéd, with rubbish-looking bats swooping about. The subplot with the villagers is pretty boring, and newcomer Adric's part in the story feels like it was written in as an afterthought (and it probably was). At this point, Adric is basically pointless - an irritating character who does nothing of any use. By contrast, Romana and the Doctor's scenes play out naturally and they have developed a rapport. It's a shame Romana is caught and has to play the damsel role at the end, but the story is one big cliché anyway.

[Picture: "Oooh, ve're wampires! I vant to suck your blood!"]

But the resolution is wonderfully ridiculous, as the Doctor uses the old rocket ship as a gigantic stake through the heart. Some of the imagery is also quite dark, with tubes of blood feeding the vampire, bodies drained of all life, and finally the vampire lords decaying and falling to the floor in a pile of dust. I liked that.

[Picture: The Great One rises from his slumber. Remarkable timing, I must say.]

There's also an attempt to fit a fantastic legend into the story, of how all vampire tales are based on these creatures, which the Time Lords battled many ages ago, destroying them with mighty "bow ships", until the last of its kind disappeared, never to be seen again (until now). It's just a story, admittedly, but it sets off the imagination. It's probably for the best, then, that we don't get a good glimpse of the creature itself. Just a (rubbish-looking) image on a scanner screen and then a giant hand rising from the ground.

[Picture: The rebels use Ceefax to identify the Hydrax crew.]

Both this serial and the last have dealt with very similar themes: civilisations that have stagnated or regressed; names that have been changed beyond recognition; or purposes lost to time. Perhaps this is a feature of e-space, but if so, I feel there is more that can be done with it than a vampire story. I'm hoping for something a bit better next. Oh, and drop that kid Adric back home as soon as possible, thanks. Or just leave him anywhere. Or kick him into space. You know, whatever's quickest.

[Picture: "Hello, I'm Adric. I'm going to eat your food, complain about things and then fail to rescue to Romana."]

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Eighthours

Eighthours

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I wrote something about why the debate over the sex and race of the new Doctor is misguided:

I’m not a fan of complaints that the new Doctor should have been female, black or Asian. It’s just as discriminatory, in my view, as when a stick-in-the-mud says that the part should never be played by anyone other than a white male.


These calls for The Doctor to be played by an actor of a different sex or race tend to lack specificity, and this is shown up in the Telegraph article I linked to earlier (EDIT:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10225006/Doctor-Who-I-was-really-hoping-for-a-new-female-hero-an-11-year-olds-take-on-Peter-Capaldi.html)

. “I want The Doctor to be black. I want The Doctor to be a woman.” Why not, “I want The Doctor to be Idris Elba!” (How awesome would that have been?) Or, “Gemma Arterton would be perfect, and here’s why!”

The attitude seems to be: who cares who plays the part, as long as it isn’t given to another white male, and it’s pretty telling that the reasons aren’t storytelling-related. This makes the suggestion a gimmick, a piece of stunt casting that’s automatically seen as being empowering for a section of the audience with few if any thoughts about how such a move would improve the show itself.

The thing is, Doctor Who has shone a light on discrimination, prejudice and issues in society throughout its 50 years on the air. Forget the appearance of the lead character, what about the STORYLINES? Episodes often use allegory, with aliens representing the best or worst traits of humanity, to give kids and adults of yesterday and today important messages about who we are and who we should strive to be, in an entertaining way. And there have been many strong female characters over the years, with The Doctor’s companions proving to be the equal of him on many occasions. They teach him stuff, just as he teaches us.

Doctor Who is, in fact, one of the least discriminatory shows on television, and it reaches the widest possible audience. You can be 5 or 75, black or white, male or female, rich or poor, American or Asian, Belieber or Pink Floyd afficionado, and still love the show. How many other dramas can boast such a spread of loyal fans?

Casting for Doctor Who shouldn’t focus on sex or race. It should be based on the same criteria as so many other roles: who is best to play the part, and Peter Capaldi is by all accounts a compelling choice. Let’s not forget, The Doctor ultimately isn’t a man or a woman. He’s an alien.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Posted

Warriors' Gate

(Blog has pictures)

I don't think I've ever been quite so confused watching Doctor Who before. After three parts, I still had no idea what was actually going on. Lion-faced people, a magic mirror, fragments of a castle in a contracting universe, robotic suits of armour, something about "time winds", a crew of layabouts in a ship made from something that seems like it should be important but on top of everything else the story is throwing at me, just washes over me in a haze of "buh?"

[Picture: All that remains of the Tharil's castle, in the void. I guess. To be honest, I have no idea.]

It's only in part four that things start to make sense. The lion-faced people are time-sensitive beings who are abused by traders as slaves to pilot their ships through the time streams. They live in the space between dimensions, a sort of no-man's land. They were apparently a bit nasty in the past, keeping human slaves themselves. The stuff with the mirror? No idea. The best I can say is that it looked pretty cool. Some of the direction is very nicely staged, particularly the slow tracking shot through the ship at the start (someone was a fan of Alien, I take it?). There's an otherworldly vibe about the whole thing, eerie sounds, a sense of mystery, and the story at least tries to be a bit cerebral, teasing you with time effects. Unfortunately, I don't think it makes any sense. What was the bit with the coin toss all about? Something about 50/50 chances? What does it even mean? What? WHAT?!!

[Picture: It's the Firefly class ship Serenity... no, wait.]

Admittedly, it probably is a story that benefits from repeat viewings, but that is beyond the scope of this project; each episode gets one chance, and with Warriors' Gate, that chance was spent with me scratching my head and failing to follow what was happening. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to watch it in four weekly instalments back in 1980. Baffling, I'd guess. For me, it was just boring.

[Picture: Lane and Royce provide some bumbling humour.]

So, Romana is staying behind with K-9. Given she didn't want to return to Gallifrey, that's understandable, but the nature of her departure is very spur-of-the-moment and strange. No stranger than anything else that happens, mind you. I suppose I grew to like Romana, but I maintain she has been a non-entity, little more than a mirror for the Doctor, or a mentor for K-9, with little character development of her own. She could have been a role model for Adric, but now that's not going to happen. And K-9? Well, if he doesn't come back as another incarnation (Mk.3, anyone?) then I will miss that little metal dog. As for E-Space? I'm glad to see the back of it.

[Picture: Romana and K-9 leave with Biroc to help them free the slaves or something. Also they're in a black-and-white photo for some reason.]

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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You're dead to me now Sprite. Warrior's Gate is BRILLIANT! :angry:

http://www.shadowlocked.com/201012101104/reviews/doctor-who-complete-reviews-warriors-gate.html

The ending to part 3, with the furious Doctor kocking over the over-filled goblet and the flash forward in time, is one of my all time favourite moments in Who.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec-DuHTvJfw&list=PLq7j35icu0tcJQP5H8OP4by5TWVHciUFC

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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You're dead to me now Sprite. Warrior's Gate is BRILLIANT! :angry:

http://www.shadowlocked.com/201012101104/reviews/doctor-who-complete-reviews-warriors-gate.html

The ending to part 3, with the furious Doctor kocking over the over-filled goblet and the flash forward in time, is one of my all time favourite moments in Who.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec-DuHTvJfw&list=PLq7j35icu0tcJQP5H8OP4by5TWVHciUFC

Fair enough. That moment was spoiled for me somewhat by the fact that I had no idea what the hell was going on. :lol:
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DocG

DocG

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So here's a thing: Neil Gaiman has written on his blog that he was told in confidence by the actor concerned that the role of the Doctor has previously been offered to a black guy, who turned it down. It wasn't the 12th, but he's not saying which once it was, nor which actor it was.

http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/57594261487/did-the-unnamed-black-actor-turn-down-the-role-for-the

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