Watched 14-Aug on Bluray on the big screen.
This is extraordinary.
And it is brutal.
This line of dialogue near the end of p2 sums it up.
JOAN: Answer me this. Just one question, that's all. If the Doctor had
never visited us, if he'd never chosen this place on a whim, would
anybody here have died? (no answer) You can go.
(The Doctor leaves. Joan clutches the journal to her bosom and cries.)
Apart from the story and the performances and the direction this story amounts to a surgical deconstruction of the concepts of Doctor Who stories. That is literary levels of layered meaning.
Whether we choose to agree or not this sets the character of the Doctor as amoral and reckless. We get to see the show in a new way (well new to DW on TV.) I guess that some modern novels address this concept at least to some degree.
The bit is where the Doctor as the Doctor pretends to be John Smith to the alien Family and slyly sets off their feedback compensators.
[Spaceship]
BAINES: We'll blast them into dust, then fuse the
dust into glass, then shatter them all over again.
(The spaceship door opens to admit -)
DOCTOR: Just
(A boom rocks the ship, and he lurches against a column of
switches.)
DOCTOR: Just stop the bombardment. That's all I'm asking. I'll do
anything you want, just, just stop.
BAINES: Say please.
DOCTOR: Please.
(Jenny activates a control.)
JENNY: Wait a minute. (sniff) Still human.
DOCTOR: Now I can't, I can't pretend to understand, not for a second,
but I want you to know I'm innocent in all this. He made me John Smith.
It's not like I had any control over it.
(He runs his hands over more switches.)
JENNY: He didn't just make himself human. He made himself an idiot.
BAINES: Same thing, isn't it?
DOCTOR: I don't care about this Doctor and your family. I just want you
to go. So I've made my choice. You can have him. Just take it, please!
Take him away.
(The Doctor holds out the watch.)
BAINES: At last.
(Baines takes the watch with one hand, and the Doctor's lapels by the
other.)
BAINES: Don't think that saved your life.
(He pushes the Doctor away. More switches get activated as the Doctor
falls against the wall.)
BAINES: Family of Mine, now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord.
(Baines opens the watch and they all sniff deeply.)
BAINES: It's empty!
DOCTOR: Where's it gone?
BAINES: You tell me.
(Baines throws the watch to the Doctor, who catches it without
looking.)
DOCTOR: Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled by a
simple olfactory misdirection. Little bit like ventriloquism of the
nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. But it
has got to be said, I don't like the looks of that hydroconometer. It
seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through
the retrostabilisers feeding back into the primary heat converters. Oh.
Because if there's one thing you shouldn't have done, you shouldn't
have let me press all those buttons. But, in fairness, I will give you
one word of advice. Run.
(The Doctor runs out of the ship as alarms start to sound.)
BAINES: Get out! Get out!
LJM Rating 4.57,4.79/5.00
SPJ Rating 9.80,9.98/10
No. 6 (out of 195), 6 (out of 196)
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