111 Full Circle

 Started 30-Oct

Compare the end of part 1 of this with Nightmare of Eden.... the difference is first time director Peter Grimwade.


Actual characters, direction that's better than just phoning it in, incidental music that 'rocks' and a cast that is taking it seriously... this is easily the best DW since City of Death.

ABM Rating 3.13/4.00
LJM Rating 3.82/5.00
SPJ Rating 8.00/10   

No. 41 (out of 111)

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110 Meglos

 Started 27-Oct


Ep1 has a weird structure. Doctor and Romana are stuck in the TARDIS for the whole episode. There are 2 other scenes: on Tigella and on Zolfa Thura. Both scenes refer to the Doctor however briefly but it feels like 3 separate stories.

Short episodes.... always a sign things aren't going well.

"Part One"    24:43 
"Part Two"    21:24
"Part Three"    21:19
"Part Four"    19:30

The plot is thin. Meglos disguises himself as the Doctor so as to steal the Dodecahedron from Tigella who either need it or (by the end of the story) clearly do not. Meglos wants to use the Dodecahdron to rule the universe... ho hum... no monsters, no

Tom gives a good performance as the conflicted Meglos/Doctor/Earth Guy hybrid. Lalla is decorative and functional but hardly outstanding. Edward Underdown as Zastor is solid, Crawford Logan as Deedrix is a little embarrassing, Jacqueline Hill as Lexa makes the best of some really crappy dialogue and has a needless and out of place death scene which is badly directed and gratuitous.
His Honour Justice Bullingham as Grugger is giving the full panto bit. Frederick Treves as Brotodac gives the sort of dumbass performance that makes me wonder why he had the reputation he had. The other Gaztaks don't speak. Only other speaking part is Colette Gleeson as Caris. It's not a memorable performance.

The basic continuity is shockingly bad. The number of Gaztaks who take off from Tigella and teh number who land on Zolfa Thura after that in p4 has to be seen to be believed.

This is boring, lazy crap with a shit-thin story. It's production is cheap and thoughtless. The Scene Sync stuff is impressive but seems kinda wasted.


ABM Rating 2.02/4.00
LJM Rating 2.61/5.00
SPJ Rating 3.30/10   

No. 93 (out of 110)

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109 The Leisure Hive

 Started 22-Oct

Right from p1 this is a revolution. Direction is deliberately serious. Actors are playing it serious, there are numerous long languid effects scenes. The dialogue is severe, there are obvious "Chekov's Gun" shots of the helmet of Theron, lots of intense camera angles and composed shots. Also lots of close ups.

Three stories ago we were complaining of Creature From the Pit's static camera and stagey lineup of actors in a flat looking set.

The tremendous effort to make this look amazing is very very obvious. (Quite apart from the obvious changes to titles and music.)
The stories of three (count 'em!) studio sessions instead of the normal 2 and even then it wasn't enough are credible.

The plot is thin and scene continuity is strained. An example of the scene continuity is in p3 where the Doctor and Romana are confined using the neck monitors. Two scenes later the Argolins relent and they are removed. Why bother? What was the point?

There are lots of bits where there's an attempt to tell the story visually which fail the easy comprehension requirement.In p1 the Foamasi infiltrate the Hive by cutting a hole in the outer wall after attaching an external bladder. It's not helped by being filmed in a long and languid fashion (it goes on and on). It might make sense on paper but it looks, it seems too dense and hard to follow.

Despite the thin plot the last ep seems rushed with a bafflegab, hand waving, deux ex machina surprise ending.


In the end the impression is this is more style than substance. It is a major improvement over the Season 17 production disasters but a better story is needed. Luckily I think that is coming.


ABM Rating 3.12/4.00
LJM Rating 3.72/5.00
SPJ Rating 6.35/10   

No. 54 (out of 110)

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Series 17 Autopsy

Series 17 was simultaneously one of the highest rated series of DW in the UK, the equal shortest at just 20 episodes and the poorest received.

The contemporary fan reviews are excoriating.

It concluded the otherwise fantastically received and highly regarded 70's DW and heralded a 80's revamp which was at least as big as the 60's/70's jump from B&W to colour.

Graham Williams was a producer who was thrust into the show suddenly and unwilligly at the end of 1976. He presided over disaster in the studio (Bromly and Goodwin), punishing adverse budgetary conditions (inflation in Britain in the late 70's was 15-20% pa), and script and staff problems. To the extent that the producer is responsible he is responsible but the luck was on his side.

Why is it so poor?
The ideas are present. The execution is slapdash and careless. The direction is weak. The time and budget are short.

Douglas Adams appointment as Script Editor was bizarre. He was never a particularly fastidious details kinda guy. Outlandish, big ideas and wild imagination have their value but trying to tame that and be a scruplulous, tight wordsmithing script editor is a fool's errand for a guy like Douglas.


We have rated Series 17 as three 'trouble' serials (30%'s), one more really close to that and one 1st division (80's%). Only if Shada is included is the average rating above 50%.

Season average is under 50% for the first time. Tom's worst season by far.

I had just started being a fan club member at the time this was new. JNT's revolutionisation was like a salvation at the time.

Discipline (killing the jokiness), getting the directors to make a serious effort and refreshing the look (new titles and incidental music) were all things that seemed overdue at the time.

Forty years on I guess DW survived it eventually. But fanservice killed it when the continued BBC management support failure undermined the show to the extent that episode counts went down to 14 in 1986.

But we'll get to that later....

Shada

Started 17-Oct

We watched the 2017 remake which combines modern flash animation with original 16mm film and studio video scenes.

Overall the style seems distinctly at odds with the other stories in series 17. Partly this is due to the modernised presentation ( the pre credits sequence, the Keff McCulloch soundtrack but there is some distinct comedy element in the quirky, oddball Adams-ish characters (Wilkin (Gerald Campion), Chronotis (Denis Carey). Also standout is the distinctly freaky Skagra played by Christopher Neame. Dare I wonder if there are any self referential components in the Chris Parsons characters? Clearly this character is the closest analogue to Douglas Adams himself. Closer than Arthur Dent or Dirk Gently. Only problem with this day dream is that there's f-all evidence of it.

What would it have been like if it were finished properly and broadcast like other DW serials or even remounted and presented as a 1980 Xmas special (as JNT tried to do in Series 18)?

I think there is now enough present to show it would not have been Douglas Adams' best DW work.

The other thought that strikes me is that the filming in p1 looks languid and slow. Presumably the film editing was never done properly so it remained untight and unsped up.

At the end of this production DW said goodbye to the 70's definitely. Dudley Simpson never worked on this though he was contracted to. Graham Williams leaves the show with the poorest record as producer in the show's history. The final outing for the Delia Derbyshire version of the theme music.

Can this be ranked? I'm gonna say it can be rated but not ranked. There has been several iterations of this now issued on video/DVD/Bluray and a sort of online flash animation sequel/flashback version over the last 25 years. It is not part of Series 17 as such but it stands on its own as an oddity.

Shada is not a lost classic. It is a recovered final 6 parter. It has a epic aim but I feel it falls short of actual greatness.

Behind the scenes JNT is revolutionising the look of the show and he will introduce a new aspect which probably through collaboration with Ian Levine attempts to pander to the super fan audience. The modern term for this is fanservice (though not in the titillation sense). Mainly this will take the form of structured publicity releases about upcoming episodes and returning characters. As years go on this will become more and less exciting and increasingly desperate.


ABM Rating 2.75/4.00
LJM Rating 4.20/5.00
SPJ Rating 7.00/10   

No. 48 (out of ) 109

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108 The Horns of Nimon

Started 9-Oct

The 80's begins not with JNT and the glittering makeover called The Leisure Hive.... but with this.

The first episode is appalling.

It starts with a boring info dump convo that goes on for about 4 minutes. Every bit of the plot is name-checked here. It sucks intrigue like a very sucky thing.

Then there's a long and silly padding scene in the Tardis (about 3m50s) that damages the plot. The shark jumping equipment is being dragged from the shed and set up in the water park when Tom starts giving K9 "EAR".

Most of the remainder of the ep is boring technobabble about jelly babies and gravitic anomalisers which don't work (or something, it's all made up garbage BTW). There is a gag about Romana's new sonic which is fun. What is the idea of the two scenes where the speed and voices are slowed? Next scene is back to normal. Is this meant to portray the effects of proximity to the high gavity black hole? No explanation given.

There's a short visit to Skonnos to meet Sorak, Soldeed and the Nimon (who comes on like a bored housewife with an undramatic line which seems to amount to "what are you bothering me about now?")

The Acheson triangle walls get a major workout. The noisy metal grate walkways are noticeable mainly because they ruin the soundtrack.

The ep ends with a madeup, arbitrary situation about a random asteroid impact. They could have done something with the battleship jeopardy or the appearance of the monster but the writer/editor/director chose this... K9 says the speed of the asteroid is Mach 9.3.. in the vacuum of space... what does this mean? It's nonsense.

Tom then proceeds to ham it up to the max.

This is a truly horrible 25m45s.


One thing Horns... has going for it is a good cast. But several famous actors are wasted and the better parts are often played by the less good performers.

Simon Gipps-Kent is wet as Seth. He was a former child actor, who (like Matthew Waterhouse) was in To Serve Them All My Days and was auditioned for Adric. He died tragically young from mysterious drug 'poisoning' in 1987.

Janet Ellis plays Teka. She went on to fame as a Blue Peter presenter and she is mum to pop star Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Malcolm Terris plays the Co-pilot in a shouty one note performance. He's kinda famous for When The Boat Comes In and has a long career of jobbing parts. Watch for his split trousers in the scene where the Nimon zaps him (p2 24m06s). It's a highlight... he survives into late p2 but the Helpmann Award winner Bob Hornery, playing the battlecruiser pilot is dead in the first scene of p1.

John Bailley appears as Sezom, last survivor of Crinoth. He was last in DW as Waterfield in Evil of the Daleks. Also a veteran of decades of quality dramatic films and TV (he's in the 1967 Forsyte Saga, The Avengers, High Treason (1951)) For some unknown reason he didn't ham it up in a panto fashion like the other members of the cast. If he had played any other role this serial would have been better.

Sorak's costume is mix of Italian policeman (the black feathers), Wagnerian opera (the helmets and the 'wings'), and incredible corrugated multiple shoulder pads. The role and the performance is otherwise unremarkable. Michael Osborne was an extra in The Ark and had a varied career in TV bit parts and was in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) and Force 10 From Navarone (1978)

In contrast Graham Crowden is OTT, memorable and impressive as Soldeed but his performance is pure panto... watch how he walks!!! Crowden has a long film and TV career, notably playing dodgy (medical) doctors in shows like Callan, Porridge and A Very Peculiar Practice. Allegedly he was up for DW in 1974 but they hired some guy called Tom Baker instead.


On TV that was the end for Series 17: cut short by the strike which banished Shada.


ABM Rating 1.05/4.00
LJM Rating 2.57/5.00
SPJ Rating 3.00/10   

No. 100 (out of 108)

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http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/5l.html

As The Horns Of Nimon neared production, decisions were being made about the future of Doctor Who. Having confirmed his intent to leave the show after Season Seventeen, Williams suggested production unit manager John Nathan-Turner as a suitable replacement. Over the past year and a half, Williams had become very appreciative of Nathan-Turner's efforts on Doctor Who, and had unsuccessfully attempted to promote him to the post of associate producer at the start of the year. Head of Drama Graeme McDonald, on the other hand, was wary of putting a novice producer in charge of Doctor Who. Instead, he favoured former production unit manager George Gallaccio, who had recently served as producer on the supernatural thriller The Omega Factor. Gallaccio, however, was keen to move away from science-fiction, and instead accepted the producer's post on a period drama called Mackenzie.
As a result, McDonald consented to Nathan-Turner's appointment as producer of Doctor Who. This marked the end of a long rise up through the BBC hierarchy for Nathan-Turner. He had originally worked as an actor before breaking into the BBC as a floor assistant. In that capacity, Nathan-Turner had worked on Doctor Who as far back as The Space Pirates in 1969. He had gradually moved up the ranks, and had served as Doctor Who's production unit manager since Season Fifteen. It was agreed that Nathan-Turner would take over the helm of Doctor Who from December.
However, McDonald was still wary of Nathan-Turner's preparedness for such a demanding position -- especially since he himself was about to gain additional responsibilities as Head of a combined Drama Series and Serials department. This meant that he would not be able to spend as much time supervising individual programmes like Doctor Who as he had in the past. Consequently, McDonald turned to former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. Since leaving Doctor Who in 1974, Letts had principally been working on classic serials such as Lorna Doone and Treasure Island, but had been keeping an informal eye on his old programme at McDonald's behest since the spring. Letts now agreed to formalise this arrangement, and accepted an appointment as Doctor Who's first-ever executive producer for Season Eighteen. This would be retroactively approved in mid-June 1980.

107 Nightmare of Eden

Started 5-Oct

This is a mess. Worse it's a silly mess.

According to Bob Baker the initial idea was a homily about  "drugs are bad... hmm, 'kay".

It goes downhill from there.

Some very bad acting, crap effects, and shoddy direction make this abominable.

The production nightmare is not unprecendented in DW history but it is the most alarming. The decision to do the spaceships 'in studio' in about 2 hours instead of getting them filmed properly taking some weeks is symptomatic of a slack approach.

The walkout of director Bromly (see below) is also symptomatic.

This could be the worst ever produced, certainly the worst produced up to this point in time DW serial.

Biggest problem seems to be that someone gave the actors licence to be silly.

The acting is variable at best. Rigg is generally well handled by David Daker (previously Irongron in the Time Warrior) but he has moments he'd likely want to forget. Lewis Fiander as Tryst puts in an incredibly silly performance based on some Peter Sellers joke. Fisk and Costa (played by Geoffrey Hinsliff (Image of the Fendahl) and Peter Craze (brother of Michael, The Space Museum, The War Games, and B7 Seek Locate Destroy) appear as silly. All four of these guys are well regarded, otherwise competent actors who seem to have made some embarrassing blunders here.

The guy playing Dymond (Geoffrey Bateman) is a one note bore. Jennifer Lonsdale as Della and Barry Andrews as Stott are better but simply not honking like a goose is relatively good in this stinky foul-up.

Tom and Lalla are actually pretty good in this (given the material).

Effects and sets are particularly wobbly in this show. I lost count of the cardboard doors and walls. The climax to p1 is ruined by obvious patching in the panel and poor direction. (Check out the visible hands at 4 and 8 o'clock when the panel is replaced.) The brown stripes on the walls in the first class area of Empress are **brown 2 inch packing tape**.

The Mandrils have flare trousers, visible zips, silly hair, and lurch in a comic, unthreatening manner. The arm movements invite overdubs to singalong, dance music.

The costuming is astounding. The sparkly cops, the hoody passenger coveralls and sunnies, the Empress staff uniforms (sleeveless smock tunics over a body stocking, weird). This is just terrible.

The story is reasonably well plotted and the story is internally consistent. But the production is execrable.



ABM Rating 1.54/4.00
LJM Rating 2.00/5.00
SPJ Rating 3.10/10   

No. 98 (out of 107)

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http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/5k.html

 The director booked for Nightmare Of Eden was Alan Bromly, who had previously helmed The Time Warrior in 1973. Bromly was now largely retired but still received occasional work from the BBC. Unfortunately, during rehearsals the old-school director quickly butted heads with Tom Baker, who was a commanding presence on Doctor Who and had become renowned for trying to impose his will on the production. Bromly had a very old-fashioned and authoritarian approach to directing, which did not sit well with the programme's star.

Also a source of concern during rehearsals was the drug element of the serial. Although Adams was a proponent of the angle, Williams was worried that it was unsuitable for a family-oriented show like Doctor Who, and his apprehension was shared by the series regulars. Lalla Ward, in particular, was keen to omit anything which might appear to glamourise the narcotics trade. As a result, various uses of drug language were amended to sound less appealing or exciting. Most notably, the drug at the centre of the story was originally called “xylophilin” or “XYP”, and nicknamed “zip”. This was changed to “vraxoin” (or “vrax” for short), although K·9's dialogue continued to refer to it by its original nomenclature.

Nightmare Of Eden was taped in two three-day blocks, both of which took place in BBC Television Centre Studio 6. Bromly had originally planned to record the serial more-or-less in story order, which was the traditional way of making Doctor Who until the mid-Seventies. However, he was ultimately convinced to proceed on a set-by-set basis, as had now become the norm. The recording of Nightmare Of Eden marked the return of David Brierley to Doctor Who as the voice of K·9: after making The Creature From The Pit at the start of the production schedule, Brierley had not been needed for either City Of Death or Destiny Of The Daleks.

The initial studio session for Nightmare Of Eden spanned August 12th to 14th. The first day dealt with scenes at the refreshment point and in the luggage section, as well as on the Empress bridge (for part one) and in the lounge (for parts one and two). Further bridge and lounge sequences were completed the next day, along with those in the Eden jungle and the capsule. August 14th was planned to be an effects-heavy day, involving scenes in the lounge which featured the CET projections, as well as the model shots of the Empress and the Hecate. Unfortunately, Bromly was ill-prepared for how extensively Doctor Who now incorporated special effects, and indeed for the generally faster pace of modern storytelling. Not all of the scheduled recording was completed, and the mood on set became strained.

    When Alan Bromly walked off the set on August 28th, Graham Williams had to step in to direct the remaining material

The second studio block took place from August 26th to 28th. The first day was concerned with scenes in the passenger pallet and in the elevator area. The 27th was dedicated to various corridor sequences, in addition to those in the sick bay anteroom, the Empress power unit, and the dark room on the Hecate. Bromly made several changes to his recording schedule and was uncompromising in dictating how he wanted the actors to perform. This drew the ire of Tom Baker. He began vocally insulting his director, leading to an argument on the studio floor for which Williams had to be summoned to intervene.

The situation deteriorated completely on the final day of production. With Baker in open revolt, Bromly completed work on some further sequences in the corridors before informing Williams during the supper break that he was walking away from Nightmare Of Eden. Williams himself was forced to step in to direct the remaining material, which included scenes in the corridors and the elevator area. With blame for the debacle placed squarely on Bromly's shoulders, it was agreed that Williams would complete the post-production work on Nightmare Of Eden, and that Bromly would never again be invited back to Doctor Who. Bromly retired completely from television soon thereafter; he passed away in September 1995.

106 The Creature from the Pit

 Started 1-Oct


There is a reasonable Sci-fi story in here. The strange alien emissary and the base commercial motive of various characters are almost meta SF meat and drink but they are wasted by poor production, shoddy direction, camp scripting and lazy cliched performance. John Bryans as 'Fagin' and Myra Frances as the 'Wicked WItch" of the Panto are the two worst examples.

Despite the mea cupla by Mat Irvine and co in the DVD extras, the actual creature is realised quite well by DW standards. I think the lighting saves it. It is what it is. It looks like what it's supposed to be: a ginormous, shapeless green blob.

Worst effort is the direction. Coming as it does from DW royalty Christopher Barry in his DW swansong this is particularly disappointing. Large parts of p3 and p4 are actors standing around in front of an obvious studio 'cave' set with a static camera. It looks like a dull stage play. This is a mess which looks like someone decided to rush through and be damned.

The plot bits in p4 about weaving an aluminium shell to 'deflect' a gravity 'beam' (or whatever) is very poor made up crappy crap.

Tom and Lalla veer wildly from disinterest to phoning it in.

For some reason Geoffrey Bayldon puts in a competent, entertaining and comic performance which is about the only watchable thing in this.

This would benefit greatly by losing about 2 episodes. The 'plot' about metal v. chorophyl is only so interesting and it seems to take 3.5 eps to be revealed but is worth about 1/2 an ep....


ABM Rating 1.55/4.00
LJM Rating 1.99/5.00
SPJ Rating 2.90/10   

No. 98 (out of 106)

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