From looking around I think its pretty safe to say that 'The Girl Who Died' has been the most divisive story of series 9 so far. People seemed to have absolutely loved it or absolutely hated it. Personally, I absolutely loved it! After series 9's ambitious beginning and the following timey wimey adventure, this story is exactly what I love, a fun romp with a wonderful (though maybe not hugely original twist). It may have been a 'filler' story but it was still smart and interesting with some wonderful stand out scenes whether it be the comedy or the dialogue. On the other end of the spectrum I've seen a lot of disappointed fans, the episode wasn't very original in that some things had been done before, specifically Ashildr, who now being apparently immortal is a little too similar to Captain Jack, but I think with the circumstances being different and with the way they turn out (it seems Ashildr becomes a bit of a baddie from the trailers) this for me makes up for that. Fans have also complained that we should have got better material from Jamie Mathieson who wrote arguably the best episodes of series 8 as well as the hype of Maisie Williams character but hopefully we've learnt maybe we shouldn't go into an episode with high expectations. Ultimately, I felt the point of this adventure was to explain The Doctors face (Peter Capaldi played a marble trader in Pompeii in series 4's 'The Fires of Pompeii'). And so this allowed for a wonderful flashback to that story of The Doctor saving Peter Capaldi's character and his family from the volcano Vesuvius. It was great to see the Tenth Doctor and Donna in the flashback (oh Donna how I miss you) and the explanation of the Twelfth Doctors face does work, basically his way of reminding himself to save someone and in this story it was Ashildr (he's obviously never heard of post-it notes). So I liked that explanation. (also, Donna sort of created the Ashildr hybrid by making the Tenth Doctor save Peter Capaldi's character and making the Twelfth Doctor save Ashildr - a stretch, I know but anything to make Donna seem even more amazing!) Speaking of the Ashildr hybrid, the Twelfth Doctors actions reminded me of the 'Time Lord victorious' from the 10th Doctor story 'The Waters of Mars'. I didn't really understand why Ashildr deserved to be brought back to life when so many others have died. Or why The Doctor didn't get a whole load of those things to bring people back to life. As for the rest of the story, some great scenes and effects. The very first scene was great, giving us a glimpse at another adventure, it was wonderfully directed. The scenes with the Vikings on the spaceship were wonderfully done, some great characters, though a lot can only be described as 'Viking' but a lot of characters were only there for a bit of comedy. The Doctor speaking baby was put to better use than in 'Closing Time' and made for some interesting dialogue though maybe a little unrealistic. I loved the way they trapped Odin and The Mire, I felt this was quite original yet again a little unrealistic but paired with the Benny Hill theme it was hilarious. Odin was a good character with a decent reason to be there (collecting adrenaline) but he didn't pose much of a threat and wasn't really anything new. Similarly the Mire certainly weren't as terrifying as The Doctor led us to believe and were a basic 'Monster-of-the-week'. Finally I must talk about how stunning the final scene was, though slightly cheesy it was wonderfully done paired with great music (this episode was the best in a while for music). It reminded me of a scene in Men In Black 3 in which Will Smith's character jumps from a building and goes back in time. I felt the scene would have been better if buildings appeared as the camera circled her to show the passing of time this would have looked really cool but it looked fantastic nonetheless and I can't praise it enough. Next weeks episode looks just as exciting and hopefully it'll be just as good as this one. Next week I'm expecting Ashildr to be a bit of a baddie. In the next time trailer she says things like 'Kill or be killed' and as the camera swirls around her in this weeks final scene, her expression changes from a kind smile to sort of anger. I'm also wondering who she'll choose to live forever with her or if she really will live for ever... (at least The Face of Boe will have a friend).
0 Comments
I have done a very small review of this story previously when I was reviewing The Key to Time season but it was only a few lines so today I will review the first four parts of the season 16 epic 'The Key to Time', in which The Doctor is summoned by the mysterious and powerful White Guardian, and sent on a quest to find the six segments of the Key to Time, which, once assembled, will restore balance to the Universe. Joining the Doctor and K9 is the smart and sassy Romana , a Time Lord fresh from the Academy. Landing on the wintry planet of Ribos to locate the first segment, the TARDIS crew quickly find themselves embroiled in a little local trouble with a pair of conmen and an unstable warlord... The story opens with the TARDIS going dark then bright orange and a mysterious voice calling from outside. This was a very captivating way to start the season. The White Guardian is outside in what can only be described as an odd location, I got the impression he was at a beach which I found engaging as he was dressed in white, quite relaxed asking the Doctor to go on a quest to find the 6 segments of the Key to Time with a locator before the Black Guardian. Before disappearing. With the departure of Leela in the previous story, The Doctor was given a new companion - a Time Lady. Romanadvoratrelundar, Romana for short, played by Mary Tamm seemed quite smug and superior at first for example when she's talking about her grades from the Academy. But I loved The Doctor and K9 here, they sort of make fun of her, there is also another funny scene where a hole is put in the TARDIS for the locator. This is where we are introduced to the planet Ribos which is quite like Earth hundreds of years ago (things like on that planet they think the planet is flat) in particularly it reminded me of Russia from the snow and the clothes they wear. The planet is quite obviously a set in a studio, the snow is obviously polystyrene or something and when they have to move something heavy, they're obviously moving something that weighs as much as cushion, despite this every character in this story is unique and brilliantly acted. There is also a diverse range of Characters and some brilliant dialogue. My favourite characters are probably Garron and his younger assistant, Unstoffe who were the con artists trying to sell the planet of Ribos, they were funny characters that became allies, there was also some development especially with Unstoffe. Other characters included the lovely Binro and the warlike Graff Vynda-K. The first Key to time was a piece of Jethrik which was a very valuable mineral that was in the chamber where the crown jewels of Ribos were stored (which was a slightly better set). The Monster in this story was a terrible creation called Shrivenzales who only played a small part and looked terrible and when watching the story should be ignored. Overall a good (not great) story to start the Key to Time season. With Peter Capaldi's first series as The Doctor in full swing, I will analyse his first Doctor Who outing from all the way back in 2008 'The Fires of Pompeii' before he was even the Doctor... or was he... (apparently his previous Doctor Who related outings (Fires of Pompeii and Children of Earth) are going to be mentioned in a small way). The setting of Pompeii is realised quite well, things like the market street and Soothsayers temple look brilliant but I think the actual volcano, Mount Vesuvius created with CGI or some wizardry looks a bit naff, it looks good in the fleeting scenes you see it in but if you actually pause it and look, you see it doesn't look particularly believable. Same goes for the monsters, alien molten rock creatures that can be beaten by a water pistol also created using CGI. These monsters are of course the Pyrovile who were turning people into them as well as giving them psychic powers. These people were the Soothsayers who wore red robes and practiced sacrificing, most notably on Donna. As I've said their temple looks fantastic creating an air of Mystery with the smoke and the ghostly chanting reminding me of the classic story 'The Brain of Morbius' with the Sisterhood of Karn. One of the Soothsayers was played by Karen Gillan who of course would go onto be the 11th Doctor's companion just two years later. In the end the Doctor basically faces a moral dilemma he must either let the Pyrovile carry on meaning the whole world would be turned into them, or set off Mount Vesuvius destroying Pompeii. This leads to some amazing acting by everyone particularly Donna who managed to get the Doctor to save someone, a scene where we see Donna change from a gobby annoying person to a caring, kind person. This brings us onto Peter Capaldi's character, Caecilius, a sculptor/merchant who buys the TARDIS leading the doctor to him. Caecilius is a nice man who obviously wants the best for his family, and his family is the only one that survives the eruption because of Donna. There is a nice scene at the end where they give thanks to the household Gods which are now The Doctor and Donna carved onto stone. Overall a nice story with a few flaws but the acting makes up for it, mainly from Catherine Tate (Donna) and Peter Capaldi (Caecilius). A very strong story to start off the Sarah Jane Adventures last full series (although they didn't know that at the time), a really brilliant series however it doesn't quite live up to the previous one (series 3). It's also significant as it set up the departure for Luke with this basically being the entire plot. We start the story the same way the previous one finished, with a countdown and a Slitheen exploding over them covering them in some rather disgusting green gloop. This allows for a tense yet comedic opening and I love the way it starts in the middle of an adventure, it also sets up the story we would be watching with Luke telling Sarah Jane he might be going to University a year early. The plot revolves around Luke worrying about going to University which would be quite relatable to people watching such as if you were starting High School or something the people it's aimed at would be doing. This worry then causes him to have nightmares about for example Sarah Jane replacing him with another boy. This then causes the Nightmare Man to manifest it's self to make the entire population of Earth have nightmares. This story I thought was quite dark for Sarah Jane, in the nightmares we have Sarah Jane, Rani and Clyde burning his picture. The Nightmare Man himself was incredibly creepy, played by Julian Bleach who also played Davros has an excellent voice and the sort of fairground music that accompanies him is very scary. The scenes of Rani and Clydes nightmares are also quite dark yet incredibly funny. We have Rani becoming a news reader and telling the world of Sarah Jane, then we have Clyde working in a burger shop, one of the best scenes in Sarah Jane history is her coming into the burger shop in an electric scooter with a nasty voice and a little bit crazy and unhinged played excellently here by Lis Sladen, she had an incredible likeness to Catherine Tate's ' swearing Nan' Finally an excellent resolution with K9 and Mr Smith joining forces to get Rani, Clyde and Luke working together in their dreams to get them out - some excellent music and writing here. And The Nightmare Man get's trapped with Sarah jane in here electric scooter in a burger shop saying "Come and sit down! And I'll tell you all about my brilliant son! His name's Luke Smith, and he's going to live happily ever after!" Finally we end on Luke driving off, although he would return in the finale and the next series... Can humans make peace with their reptilian ancestors? - The story in a nutshell. Quite an ambitious yet highly intelligent story about who are the monster here; aliens who once lived on Earth long ago and now want to reclaim it from the Humans. Or us. Which more than pays off. From their point of view, we are the monsters and need to be destroyed - quite a smart idea. Now if you haven't seen this story you may think that what I have said above is about the 2010 two-part, 'The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood' and you'd be right to think that. They are incredibly similar. Watching the 2010 two part again kind of makes me think it's a sort of rip-off of this story just with a higher budget. Similarities include; Both being woken by some experiment, both having captives throughout the story, both coming above the ground to attack, both stories involving a good Siluran that get's killed, both stories including one rouge Siluran with no power forming a revolution then ultimately dying etc... there are so many it actually seems a little ridiculous all written down. But anyway, back to the story. The cast of characters really bring a good vibe to the story, playing such a range of people. From the egotistic Dr Quinn to the disease ridden Major Baker. It felt like this story was split into two, the first 4-5 parts were about finding the Silurians then the final parts were about the plague that the Silurians had put upon the world and trying to stop it. Both plot's were great, and both included the right amount of tension to make you think Earth could be destroyed. Effects included the Dinosaur which the Silurians kept as a kind of pet. It felt like the shots of it coming down the corridor (using CSO) were a kind of experiment so it didn't look amazing. The atmosphere created down in the caves were very good as they created claustrophobia and tension as they go through the dark paths. The caves were also created excellently in the set and a good use of different levels too. Finally I enjoyed the fact the pretty average looking Silurians were hidden until part 3. Only giving small hints about them such as footprints and paintings. A negative point about the story is probably the music. I felt it became kind of annoying after a while. Overall an enjoyable story with strong points but some negatives too. Earth's twin planet arrives and brings with it the Cybermen, a race of emotionless, metal monsters who's only aim is, as they put it "You will become like us!!". From their blank, empty, featureless eyes to their massive, metallic, motor on their bodies; everything about them screams their lack of emotion. In my opinion the thing that makes them so scary is when they open their mouths to talk, they stay open and the metallic voices come tumbling out like an echo from a cave. The voices are super effective and non-human created perfectly by Roy Skelton. I like how they change the pitch after every word although I don't know what happened but by episode 4 they seemed to be screaming for no reason so it became rather annoying after a while. Their most effective and best scene in the whole story was easily them coming out of the blizzard in part one, it creates a sense of vulnerability when you can't quite see them through the heavy snow, their features blurred, looking human in shape but so completely un-human. The setting of the story, the South pole gives the whole story a feeling of claustrophobia and as I've said acts as the perfect environment to reveal one of Doctor Who's most famous monsters. In the opening scenes, the setting is displayed perfectly, the lived in kind of feeling you'd expect from somewhere people are trapped for up to half a year. The fact one of the characters, Tito has half naked women next to his bed shows this well. I liked the small bits of comedy from the doctor such as him saying "Speak up I'm deaf" to someone shouting at him. Despite him suffering from ill health during the story like collapsing on set meaning he didn't appear in part 3, his regeneration scene was something to put you in awe. The noise of the TARDIS as he changed was very affective and added to the emotion I thought. The regeneration itself wasn't the best but was probably excellent for the 60's. My only problem with the regeneration is the black and white made it slightly unclear so to unsuspecting audience members they may not have even noticed the change. The animation of episode four was another major thing. It looked incredibly detailed although sometimes I felt they added just too much detail making it hard to believe but still good and the great cliff hanger to episode 3 is resolved well. Now to my problems with the story. First of all I don't quite understand why the Cybermen need to wear blankets over themselves as they don't feel things like that. Secondly, I feel the way of killing, with the torches attached to them isn't the most inventive was of killing and as we saw, the prisoners can easily got hold of them. Thirdly, it's slightly clichéd they don't kill the companion (Ben) when he points a gun at them but they kill someone else for just moving. Finally the strings are visible on the excellent model of the Cybermen spaceship landing on the again excellent model of the South Pole, but I don't normally judge on things like that. Overall a brilliant story with few flaws. This story is very important in the Doctor who world; the first regeneration, the first Cybermen story and it really lives up to it's potential. I also just wanted to mention the General character, I thought he was quite complex; on the one hand he want's his son back, on the other he would commit genocide and later becomes a villain. But anyway, a story that's nearly 50 years old yet still manages to be creepy and scary with a lovely conclusion! I don't like it. I've never liked it. Next to nothing in this story related or engaged me in any way. The only thing I liked really were the Hath who looked just magnificent, and I could feel myself welling up when that Hath got swallowed by the ground... The story just isn't particularly memorable and often I feel gets ignored and nobody really ever talks about it. The title is the first let down, I first watched this story before knowing titles or plots or anything like that as I didn't collect doctor who merchandise back then therefore to see the words 'The Doctors Daughter' gracing my screen made me almost gobsmacked. Then we get into the episode and it's basically just cloning (after a Sontaron two part, give me a break). So what I'm trying to say is the title is a tiny bit misleading. Secondly, the plot didn't really go anywhere. It was just two groups of people searching for this mysterious 'breath of life' and that's it. Sure the fact they've been fighting for only 7 days was a shock... for about 2 minutes. I also felt the setting didn't really offer anything to the story, I mean it didn't feel particularly scary or anything to fear really. Now as I've said my favourite and saddest scene is where a Hath and Martha go to the surface. I hate it when animals die even if it is a walking fish so I thought it was really emotional and well performed and Freema Agyeman needs a lot of credit for her acting here, it was fantastic. Jenny played by Georgia Moffett (now David Tennant's wife) was also brilliant, I like how she learns a lesson that fighting isn't everything. Now to my big moan about the episode; the resolution. I just felt it was unnecessary overreacting. Colonel Cobb didn't need to kill her, he had no reason and I felt like just a reason to make the doctor think she's dead. Then the fact she comes back to life (god knows how) to fly off saying she's going to save the world to be never heard of again?!? Overall an episode that has flaws but I feel the Hath and how beautiful they look makes up for this. I first watched this episode at the beginning of my classic DVD collecting. Probably about the 5th one I'd ever watched and I loved it, so much so that it was my favourite episode for some considerable amount of time. Then I watched it again, having watched over half of the classic range and I found it was just as amazing as when I first saw it. It's not my favourite anymore, but it is up there. The plot is what I love most about it, it's just so unique. The idea of a TARDIS within a TARDIS within a TARDIS is so simple yet so complicated. Of course this is Tom Bakers swansong so you'd expect him to go out with a bang and it certainly does this. The fall from the transmitter was excellently done, some shots were a cringe-worthy obvious dummy but everything else was perfect. I especially like the music as all the companions run to him as well as the directing in this particular scene. I thought his regeneration was very fitting and I loved seeing all the 4th doctors previous companions. The regeneration itself was also perfect, definitely one of my favourites and the concept of The Watcher I found quite creepy, especially seeing The Watcher just standing there staring. But it was an excellent regeneration to ring in Peter Davison. Finally I really enjoyed all the scenes on Logopolis and The Master and I though the model shots of Logopolis were really well made. Overall a brilliant ending to a brilliant doctor. In my opinion one of the best acted and thought out stories in all of new who. I also feel it is really underrated and doesn't get the attention it deserves sometimes and I am shocked that the writer, Robert Shearman has never returned to doctor who. The plot basically revolves around this one Dalek. This is a brilliant idea due to it lets us once again get to grips with Daleks, who at that point in time we hadn't seen on TV for over 10 years. It also allowed new viewers to get to know the Daleks. If the story had been about a whole army of Daleks we wouldn't have had the same impact I don't think, although it would have been scary, we would have only seen them murdering, which as this story shows, maybe isn't everything the Daleks are. The fact that during the first bits of the episode, the Dalek is helpless and is being tortured, really makes you feel sympathy for it. Nicholas Briggs' Dalek voice was I think the main contributor to this, he is just excellent, the thing I always think he does excellently in his voice work for doctor who, is emotion which is shown brilliantly here. Then we see it's transformation from this broken wreck to a shiny new model which is great as it shows this new design in all it's glory. The music in this story, much like all of series 1 is perfect and relays the terror of the Daleks by building tension. The setting in this story is another thing which shows the scariness of the Daleks. It is set in a place with a lot of weapons which in itself is a worry but the small corridors and lot's of doors are great for showing chase scenes and there is a particularly scary scene where Rose gets trapped with a Dalek when a door closes before she gets away, this couldn't have been done had it been set in an open space. Finally Christopher Ecclestone apart from the Dalek shines in this story. His fear and anger when he sees the Dalek is really powerful, this episode is also very important in his era as he wants to kill the Dalek, but Rose stops him saying he is no different from the Daleks, making him a better person and pulling him away from the terrors of the time war. The conclusion is excellent with (spoiler) the Dalek choosing to take his own life. Overall a action packed, powerful and emotional story with beautiful acting. Quite an important episode in the world of doctor who; it features the first appearance of colonel (in this story) Lethbridge-Stuart who would go on to become on of the best loved characters in doctor who. We also have the second appearance of the Yeti who were amazing monster as well as the great intelligence who would later come back in series 7. And what an excellent story we have here. My new second favourite Troughton story. The 'base under siege' theme which ran through most of this season works especially well here creating an atmospheric, spooky story that's great to watch with the lights out. The fact that it's set in the London underground is quite scary in itself as it is very claustrophobic as well as being supposedly very haunted, they even have abandoned underground stations hidden throughout London. They didn't actually film in the London underground, but you really can't tell this. They have created a very authentic place that is very believable, they were even sent a letter by the underground that they were trespassing on their land, that's how believable it was (although I think the fact it was black and white helped). I loved especially the scenes at the beginning of episode one, the build up of music and directing creates quite a tense build up until the scary Yeti are revealed. Episode one and two are simply amazing but towards the middle it does get a little boring, there is just too much time spent wondering around the underground! Overall great script, great set's and some really great effects such as the foam coming though the underground, it's surprisingly believable for such an ambitious story. |
About this areaThis area will be where I write reviews on Doctor Who DVD's classic and new. The area is split up into episodes of the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and new who to make it easier for me and you to see them. Enjoy! Archives
October 2015
Categories
All
|