193 The Doctor's Daughter

Watched 6-Oct on Bluray

The show grabs back Martha fo rthe third ep in a row and ADDS another feisty girl character. Lucky they're all so watchable.

The Hoth and General Cobb are a bit melodramatic but the whole story is a neat contained odd little SF tale that is quietly satisfying really.

ABM Rating 3.00
LJM Rating 4.33
SPJ Rating 8.00  

No. 72 (out of 207)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard

192 The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky

Watched 2-Oct on Bluray big screen

 

This one is a bit boring to me.

It's a alien invasion conspiracy which draws elements from various previous DW stories. 

• The Atmos device is a IE "micro monolithic circuit".
• The taking over the UNIT soldiers is Claws of Axos.
• The replication of characters is Spearhead from Space or Terror of the Zygons, 
• Barney (what was his name?) the human dupe of the invading Sontarans is Guy Crayford (and so is his ultimate scarifice to 'save' the day).
• "Our weapons have no effect" is every UNIT story ever...
  

 All this makes it kinda boring.

The best bits are when Donna is sneaking around the Sontaran spaceship and bopping Sontarans on the probic vent (just).

ABM Rating 2.50, 2.50
LJM Rating 3.46, 3.40
SPJ Rating 7.20. 7.60

No. 122 (out of 205), 119 (out of 206)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard

191 Planet of the Ood

 Watched 20-Sep on Bluray

xxxx

ABM Rating 2.90
LJM Rating 3.72
SPJ Rating 8.70

No. 82 (out of 204)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard

 

190 The Fires of Pompeii

 Watched 5-Sep on Bluray

xxxx

ABM Rating 3.30
LJM Rating 4.29
SPJ Rating 9.60

No. 38 (out of 203)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard

 

189 Partners in Crime

 Watched 2-Sep on Bluray

xxxx

ABM Rating 3.10
LJM Rating 3.69
SPJ Rating 7.80

No. 85 (out of 202)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard

188 Voyage of the Damned

 Watched 28-Aug on Bluray

xxxx

ABM Rating 3.00
LJM Rating 3.00
SPJ Rating 6.93  

No. 117 (out of 201)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard

 

 

 

 

From Quickflix

Well this is another Xmas episode, so try to remember that as the plotholes and the cliches sail majestically before your eyes. David T is effortlessly good as the Doctor now roaring confidently into his third year in the role. Kylie is actually a bit wooden but anyone who actually seen her in a movie before will probably be expecting this. Some of the characters are fun, some a excruitiating. The moment when some unidentified occupant of Buckingham Palace sticks her head out of the window and waves at the retreating Starship Titanic with a pythonesque silly laugh is likely to interfere with your dramatic tension buildup (or something). All in all a jolly harmless little romp through what Russell T thinks Xmas is all about, but not to be taken too seriously even by the fans. On the other hand by the time Season 4 climaxes, you'd better have been paying attention or else you might miss something....... ;-)

188 The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords

 Watched 21-Aug on Bluray on the big screen

Another example of an RTD 'special': telling the story by clips of fictional TV news and making up plenty of ahistorical politics and politicians. This is obviously a personal trait of RTD as a writer: I'll cite Years and Years (2017) as another example of it which is quite apart from any DW example.

There are some cameo clips of real politicians which makes it dated and confusing. (That awful Tory who turned Brexit.. frumpy humourless old bat.. I've forgotten her name, thankfully...)

Apart from that there's an effective atmosphere of modern snoopy security state generated and some weirdness.

The fictional US President is looking a little dated in 2020 mainly because the current one makes him look too ordinary too normal. Weird that he drives around in a Land Rover too...

John Simm as the Master is intense and mad. At the time it was new and sparkled. Previous Masters were vaudeviliean and moustache twirling (kinda conventional). The new Master is an out of control madman. 

MASTER: (muffled) It's a gas mask.
DUMFRIES: I beg your pardon?
MASTER: It's a gas mask.
DUMFRIES: Yes, but, er, why are you wearing it?
MASTER: (muffled) Well, because of the gas.
DUMFRIES: I'm sorry?
MASTER: Because of the gas.
DUMFRIES: What gas?
MASTER: (muffled) This gas.
(The conference telephone sets pop up and squirt gas at the Cabinet and officials.)
DUMFRIES: You're insane!
(The Master gives the thumbs up sign as Dumfries and the rest of his colleagues die, then starts tapping out that famous rhythm on the table.)

In the second ep the story goes to the incredible end of the spectrum. (It is DW not a documentary...)

There are a few controversial moments. Lucy Saxon is shown as suffering some form of relationship abuse (strong stuff for a kid's show) but it a signal that the Master is a "baddie" character. I think a question remains about whether it's exploitive. The details are suppressed: we never see what happened or how or why. We're presented with hints. The denouement where she fires the gunshot that finishes him off is cathartic but there's lots of parts missing from the story

The Doctor as humanist christ figure powered by the power of positive thinking is a conceptual mistake in my view. The Ky of Solos like powers that the super aged 'Dobbie Doctor' suddenly acquires and uses to vanquish the Toclafane and the Master is fantasy unfettered by actual Sci Fi sense. On paper it must have looked nuts. On screen it looks contrived. 

I long for a dream sequence explanation. But there isn't one. Ep loses half a point from me for this. 

Great stuff to watch but ultimately there are some 'headscratcher' elements.

ABM Rating 3.20,3.15/4.00
LJM Rating 4.60,4.59/5.00
SPJ Rating 9.20,9.10/10   

No. 38 (out of 199), 45 (out of 200)


Link to Cumulative Rankings


Rankings Scoreboard