Started 13-JanWe watched the smeary combined and vidfired restoration of 2011. Soon we'll be up to exclusively PAL master tape sourced episodes and we won't have to talk about this anymore.
This story represents a soft reboot for Jon Pertwee.
There's a new character for the Doctor, more rude and irascible, condescending and angry, impatient. Less thoughtful and reflective.
The new companion, Jo played by the fizzingly, bubbly good time gal Katy Manning is a break with traditional DW companions. Up to now the girls have been various forms of smart (Zoe was a astrophysicist, Polly was a manager, Vicki was a whizz kid, Susan was an Unearthly time lord child, Barbara was a haughty history teacher. Dodo was unclear and Victoria was a posh orphan so that's different.)
- Yates - practically the purpose of this character is to make the 2IC a regular. Up to now Munro, Knight, Hawkins etc have been guest characters, and disposable. Obvious, logical move is to make him a regular. The choice seems a bit wet but.... In later seasons the use of him as fallen hero (is traitor too strong?) is imaginative. This is the seeds of long story arc which is very new for the series. (I have a feeling it's a little unplanned however...)The first 3 stoies of series 8 use the 1967 opening title music (less white noise and titles introduced with faded middle 8) and the 'sshh' at the end of the episode closing titles. I've never heard a satisfactory explanantion of why this was being changed so often or at all. At least the title furniture is settled for a bit since each story had wild changes in Series 7. (Volcano footage with titles like The Space Pirates, or reprised scenes with repeated scream.)
Starting with Colony in Space the opening titles will have the whoo-ee music at the title cards and the "shh" at the end fairly consistently for more than 300 episodes in a row. There will be a few revamps but the pattern is *the* same till Trial of a Timelord (1986).
CSO
This uses CSO extensively. There was some in 3B, 3C, and 3D but this has loads.
Barry Letts has found a new toy and seems intent on using it everywhere. Virtual sets abound in this story. In theory using studio based actors colour keyed against static pictures of *anything* should be licence to go crazy in DW. Here's where it flowered... er, became a rampant infestation.... There are several roughly composed shots and noisy, fringes visible which serve to undermine the realism slightly. If you're trying to be charitable about it then I guess you might argue either it's pioneering experimentation laying the groundwork for the widespread use of compositing and keying ever since or CSO makes Terror of the Autons look like a comic book come to life. But I think it's mildly distracting and probably erodes the drama a bit.
Horror
The one that gets the attention is the cops @end of ep2. It was supposedly mentioned in UK parliament. Criticisms of this scene usually focus on the idea that menacing policemen are an image that undermines childrens' confidence in law enforcement. This is nonsense. Watch the previous 5 minutes of ep2 to get the very strong clues that these 'police' are just as imposter fake as any other Autons. Well, they're sent by Farrell and the Colonel and Yates announces by radio that they are definitely not despatched by the police station.
The only people fooled into thinking these Auton policemen are real are those who were not actually watching.
McDermot and the plastic chair - This is a worry mainly because of the lingering shot on the pulsing body which then.... stops breathing. Yeah, that needed some editing.
The troll doll - this is the most effective frightening scene in the show in my view since it predicts what happens in the house by what happens in the car. The senior Farrells are are unaware of what is obvious to the viewer. Their lack of awareness draws a sympathetic pang of wanting to help from the viewers. It is simply Hitchcock-ian audience prediction/previewing technique put to work.
Jo and the Daffodil - I can't decide if the scariest part of this is the obvious stage hand putting the plastic mouth covering on the bench for Katy (in shot!) which she then picks up and starts acting suffocated with, or the use of some unknown spray solvent (is it acetone? ugh!) by the Doctor to remove it from her mouth. (Just lucky it didn't get in her eyes I guess!)
Imagine impressionable children acting out each of these scenes in their playtime with their school friends or their siblings to experience the full, parental panic about these incidents.
DW (even Pertwee of the time) has had lots of spooky stuff and scary sequences over the years. Recently the scene in Inferno featuring RSF soldier (Roy Scammell) being murdered by Primord Bromley in the prison cell and the raw gunfights in Mind of Evil or Ambassadors of Death seemed to peak the use of violence in DW.
Society standards about what is ok to represent as entertainment had changed by the early 1970's. Cowboy movies have always showed people being shot dead. Traditionally this has usually not involved spatters or gushes of blood. Even the screams or squawks of pain or shock are limited. A new trend in cinema of the early 70's was gritty realism (read graphic violence) in films. Watch Deliverance (1972) or The Godfather (1972) to get an idea of what I'm on about. The later 70's and 80's result of this is the video nasty/bucket of blood/slasher type movie... cheap, not well made, mainly focusses on the "ick" factor, not so much the drama, the tension, the meaning, the story etc etc.
This change was reflected in DW by bolder use of horror and violence. Is it an improvement? Is it acceptable? Can you stop it? These are rhetorical questions. In DW horror and violence has always been kind of twee compared to proper horror and nothing compared to real life. As the Skyhooks once sang "Horror movie, right there on my TV, Horror movie, it's the 6.30 news."
We now live in an era where serial killers, gang violence, casual murder and extreme body horror are almost routine in movies and tv so it can be hard to put the 1970's horror issues in a credible context.
What the 'pearl clutchers' forget is that there never was a golden age of entertainment where there was no violence. If there was it was in some peoples' heads and then only for a short while.
Notable debut
Roger Delgado (b1-Mar-1918) is immediately effective and impressive as the Master. At once both mesmerising and intense Delgado was the only actor ever considered for this part in 1970.
The main problem with the Master is the plan he has is always nutty as squirrell sh*t. It usually involves the certain outcome that he himself will be killed by the alien threat he is assisting or he will not gain anything much from the malevolent outcome of his plans. He is a deceitful character yet the person he is mostly deceiving is himself. The climax of this story is a very good example of this. After weeks of subterfuge, planning and subversion, setting up factories and infiltrating a circus, stealing Nestene consciousness artefacts and designing and building plastic dummies, autojets and killer troll dolls, all it takes to reject the Auton invasion is one casual (and otherwise unconvincing) remark from the Doctor about how they probably won't recognise the difference between the Master and any other animal lifeform and he instantly switches sides. No buildup of self doubt? No change in the deal from the Nestenes. Not just as likely to switch back again? So just the instant change of mind then?
The narrative exposition style in Terror of the Autons occasionally feels like something was edited out that shouldn't have been. Another unresolvable example in ep1 how did Jo get from the Doctor's lab in one scene to creeping around the Farrell factory in the *next* shot. Ugh!
Memorable moments but overall a bit messy.
ABM Rating 2.45/4.00
LJM Rating 3.90/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.10/10
No. 26 (out of 55)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
start scream Middle 8 shhhh
ReplyDelete3A1 stutter no yes yes
3A2 stutter no yes yes
3A3 stutter no yes yes
3A4 stutter no yes yes
3B1 stutter no yes no
3B2 stutter no yes no
3B3 stutter no yes no
3B4 stutter no yes no
3B5 stutter no yes no
3B6 stutter no yes no
3B7 stutter no yes yes
3C1 stutter twice! no twice!
3C2 stutter twice! no twice!
3C3 stutter twice! no twice!
3C4 stutter twice! no twice!
3C5 stutter twice! no twice!
3C6 stutter twice! no twice!
3C7 stutter twice! yes twice!
3D1 normal yes no yes
3D2 normal yes no yes
3D3 normal yes no yes
3D4 normal yes no yes
3D5 normal yes yes yes
3D6 normal yes yes yes
3D7 normal yes yes yes
3E1 1967 yes no no
3E2 1967 yes no yes
3E3 1967 yes no yes
3E4 1967 yes no yes
3F1 1967 yes no yes
3F2 1967 yes no yes
3F3 1967 yes no yes
3F4 1967 yes no yes
3F5 1967 yes no yes
3F6 1967 yes no yes
3G1 1967 yes no yes
3G2 1967 yes no yes
3G3 1967 yes no yes
3G4 1967 yes no yes
3H1 stutter yes yes yes
3H2 stutter yes no yes
3H3 stutter yes no yes
3H4 stutter yes yes yes
3H5 stutter yes no yes
3H6 stutter yes yes yes
3J1 stutter yes yes yes
3J2 stutter yes yes yes
3J3 stutter yes yes yes
3J4 stutter yes yes yes
3J5 stutter yes yes yes
3K1 stutter yes yes yes
3K2 stutter twice! yes yes
3K3 stutter twice! yes no
3K4 stutter yes no yes
3M1 stutter yes yes yes
3M2 stutter yes yes yes
3M3 stutter yes yes yes
3M4 stutter yes yes yes
3L1 stutter yes yes yes
3L2 stutter yes no yes
3L3 stutter yes no yes
3L4 stutter yes yes yes
3L5 stutter yes yes yes
3L6 stutter yes yes yes
3N1 stutter yes yes yes
3N2 stutter yes no yes
3N3 stutter yes no yes
3N4 stutter yes no yes
3N5 stutter yes no yes
3N6 stutter yes yes yes
3O1 stutter yes no yes
3O2 stutter yes no yes
3O3 stutter yes no yes
3O4 stutter yes no yes
3O5 stutter yes no yes
3O6 stutter yes no yes
3R1 normal yes no yes
3R2 normal yes no yes
3R3 normal yes no yes
3R4 normal yes no yes
3P1 normal yes no yes
3P2 normal yes no yes
3P2
Delaware
Delaware yes no yes
3P3 normal yes no yes
3P4 normal yes no yes
3Q1 normal yes no yes
3Q2 normal yes no yes
3Q3 normal yes no yes
3Q4 normal yes no yes
3Q5 normal yes no yes
3Q5
Delaware
Delaware yes no yes
3Q6 normal yes no yes
3S1 normal yes no yes
3S2 normal yes no yes
3S3 normal yes no yes
3S4 normal yes no yes end film upside down
3S5 normal yes no yes
3S6 normal yes no yes
3T1 normal yes no yes end film upside down
3T2 normal yes no yes end film upside down
3T3 normal yes no yes
3T4 normal yes no yes
3T5 normal yes no yes
3T6 normal yes no yes
next mddle 8
4Z4
Doctor Who - Terror of the Autons
ReplyDeleteThis DVD is presented with a new improved colour restoration. Even better than the 1993 VHS version. Included also are several fascinating extras documentary features and commentaries.