Story #68 - Planet of the Daleks (Dalek War, Part Two)

The Doctor and Jo team up with the Thals to thwart the plans of the Daleks as they attempt to harness the power of invisibility to conquer the universe.

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning

Main Guest Cast-
Vaber - Prentis Hancock
Taron - Bernard Horsfall
Rebec - Jane How
Codal - Tim Preece
Marat - Hilary Minster
Latep - Alan Tucker

Synopsis-
Continuing on from the ending of Frontier in Space, The Doctor has been gravely injured by The Master.  The Doctor goes into hibernation to heal his wounds.

Jo, concerned for The Doctor, ventures forth onto the jungle planet that the Tardis has landed upon looking for help.  Jo runs into a group of Thals, who have ventured to this planet to battle the Daleks, with whom they share their homeworld of Skaro.

It turns out the Daleks have created an army of Daleks armed with the power of invisibilty taken from the native inhabitants known as Spiridons.  The Daleks intend to unleash this army upon the universe.

The Doctor, Jo and the Thals team up to thwart the Daleks plans.  They do so by sealing the Dalek army in ice from one of the planet's ice volcanoes.

Review-
An improvement over Frontier in Space, but that isn't saying much.  One has to wonder why the BBC (or Barry Letts) felt that it would be a good idea to try to take two rather mismatched stories like Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks and try to make them into an epic.

Classic Doctor Who has had a mixed record with epic length storylines.  Some have been great, like the War Games and the Key to Time.  Others have been decent or average like the Dalek's Master Plan.  Dalek War, sadly, falls into the latter category of major mistake, just like the much later Trial of a Time Lord. 

Still, it was interesting seeing the return of the Thals, absent from the program since the first Dalek story.  The Thals are no longer pacifists, like they were in the original story and The Doctor is know mentioned in their history. 

The Thals' reappearance, along with a much more interesting storyline make for a much improved viewing experience.  It still isn't anywhere near as good as The Three Doctor or Carnival of Monsters, but at least it closes the Dalek War storyline on a higher note.

Story #67 - Frontier in Space (Dalek War, Part One)

The Doctor and Jo Grant accidently find themselves accused of being spies by both the Earth and Draconian Empires and attempting to start a galactic war.

Written by Malcolm Hulke
Directed by Paul Bernard

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Master - Roger Delgado

Main Guest Cast-
Earth President - Vera Fusek
General Williams - Michael Hawkins
Draconian Emperor - John Woodnutt
Draconian Prince - Peter Birrel

Synopsis-
The Doctor and Jo nearly collide with an Earth cargo ship.  Landing inside the ship, The Doctor and Jo witness an attack on the ship by the Ogrons.  However, thanks to a hynoptic device, the cargo ship's crew believes that they were attacked by their rivals the Draconians.

The Ogrons are attacking both Earth and Draconian ships, hoping to start a galactic war.  The Master is helping the Ogrons with their deceptions.  But who exactly is The Master working for?

The Doctor tries to explain the situation to the Earth President, and later to the Draconian Emperor, mostly to no avail.  Eventually, the real leaders of the Ogrons show up and it's none other than the Daleks! 

Review-
The less said about Frontier in Space, the better I'll like it.  Frontier in Space eventually devolves into a prison escape story, except the problem is the prisoners escape only to be recaptured and thrown into prison once again.

Sadly, Frontier in Space would be Roger Delgado's last performance as the Master, and it's by far the worst story to feature Delgado's version of the Master.  I believe a final story was planned to send off Delgado's character, but his tragic death in a car accident prevented this final story from being filmed.

Having the Daleks show up at the end of this story added nothing to the tale, and the rather clumsy ending (if one can call it that) doesn't help.  The ending is supposed to lead into the next story, the Planet of the Daleks, with the idea of making the two stories seems like one larger epic (something that the BBC is encouraging, since they've packaged the two stories together in a DVD set entitled Dalek War).

However, the following story never resolves the Earth-Draconian conflict.  Do the Earthmen and Draconians work together to fight off the Ogrons and the Daleks?  We never find out, we just have to assume that they do.

However, by that time I was almost beyond caring.  By far one of the worst Doctor Who serials, one I won't be revisiting anytime soon.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Having tackled the Lord of the Rings series, now I'll be tackling the Harry Potter film series, which not coincidentally started around the same time as the Lord of the Rings film series back in the late autumn/early winter of 2001.

Synopsis-
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), having been raised by his aunt and uncle learns that his parents were wizards and that he's been invited to become a student at Hogwarts', the school for witches and wizards in the United Kingdom.

Harry Potter also learns that he's quite famous in the wizarding world, as he's the only known person to have survived an attack by the evil wizard Voldemort (voiced by Ian Hart in this film).  This attack has left a lightning shaped scar on Harry Potter's forehead.

Harry Potter makes several friends while attending Hogwarts', particularly Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).

Harry eventually discovers that Voldemort isn't as dead as everyone thinks he is, and that Voldemort is after the Philosopher's Stone (Sorceror's Stone in the American version), which Voldemort hopes will help to restore his body.  Harry eventually faces off against Voldemort, who is sharing the body of Professor Quirrell (also Ian Hart) in order to survive.  Quirrell doesn't survive this encounter, but Voldemort's spirit is able to escape.

Review-
My synopsis doesn't really do justice to the story, but then again one can either watch the film or read the book again if one wants the full story. 

The first film was directed by Chris Columbus, who best known work prior to Harry Potter was the Home Alone films.  This film sticks very closely to the book, which in this case isn't necessarily a good thing.

Of all the Harry Potter films, the Chris Columbus films are the least interesting.  Columbus was very meticulous about being true to the books that it allowed for very little variation.  Not everything from the books is needed for the films.

However, Columbus did have experience in directing younger kids in films, not just in the Home Alone films but other films like Adventures in Babysitting and Mrs. Doubtfire.   While perhaps less creative than later Potter directors, having someone at the helm like Columbus who knew how to handle younger kids on a film production must have been a boon to the producers of the film series.

As the three main leads, Radcliffe, Grint and Watson handle their parts well.  The other standout among the younger actors in this particular film is Tom Felton, who plays Harry's nemesis Draco Malfoy.  Felton provides just enough menace to the role that one can understand Harry and Draco's mutual dislike for each other.

The older actors generally handle their parts well.  It's interesting journeying back to the early Harry Potter films to see Richard Harris playing Dumbledore.   Richard Harris' Dumbledore seems less accessible or more remote than Michael Gambon's portrayal.  Gambon is also much more active in his portrayal, which is somewhat to be expected.  Sadly, after being cast as Dumbledore, Richard Harris would only live to play the character in the first two Harry Potter films.  Harris would pass away just prior to the film's release in movie theaters.

Casting Alan Rickman as Severus Snape was pure genius, however.  Sometimes certain actors are simply meant to play certain parts.  If ever there was a part that was meant for Alan Rickman, Severus Snape was that part.  Maggie Smith was also an inspired choice for the stern, but caring Minerva McGonagall.

Of the various Harry Potter adaptations, Philosopher's Stone sits somewhere in the middle.  It isn't terrible, but it doesn't exactly soar either.  However, the film's popularity guaranteed that the sequel films would be made, many of which are far superior to this first film. 

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - Extended Edition

Synopsis-
Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) finally make it to Mordor, despite the treachery of Gollum (Andy Serkis) and the attack by the giant spider Shelob.  The two make their way to Mount Doom, where Frodo claims the Ring for his own.

Frodo is attacked by Gollum, who chews off the finger with the Ring.  Gollum steps out too far and falls into the lava, thus destroying the Ring.

Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), King Theoden of Rohan (Bernard Hill) and Gondor's Steward Denethor (John Noble) attempt to protect the realms of Rohan and Gondor from the invasion of the Dark Lord's armies.

A great battle is fought at Minas Tirith, which the combined armies of Rohan and Gondor barely survive.  The armies then march upon the Black Gate, serving as a diversion to allow Frodo to approach Mount Doom.  The destruction of the Ring, and Sauron, also destroys much of Sauron's army in the tumult, while those that survive run away.

Back in Minas Tirith, Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor, having decended from the Kings of old.  Frodo and the other hobbits return to the Shire, but Frodo still is in pain from his adventures.  Frodo eventually decided to travel with the Elves to the Undying Lands to be healed.  Those going with Frodo include Bilbo (Ian Holm), Gandalf, Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett).

Review-
The Return of the King is a major improvement over the Two Towers.  It still has its faults, but they are far fewer than the Two Towers.

Frodo dismissing Sam, and Sam leaving Frodo simply didn't ring true to me.  Sam would never have left Frodo.  Peter Jackson, I believe, is quoted as saying that this was added to create tension and conflict.  As if facing a deadly giant spider and trying to sneak into the Dark Lord's own realm wasn't enough tension and conflict.  Of all the changes that Peter Jackson made in his films, this is by far the one that I found the most upsetting.

The Faramir and Eowyn (Miranda Otto) subplot is missing from the theatrical, and only warrants a few longing glances in the Extended Edition.  It's a shame, as it's one of my favorite subplots from the book as I find Faramir and Eowyn to simply be more realistic and interesting characters than Aragorn and especially Arwen.

Arwen (Liv Tyler) is given very little to do in both the Two Towers and Return of the King.  While that's mostly true to the book, one has to wonder after building the character up in Fellowship (by giving the Elf Glorfindel's scenes to Arwen) why Peter Jackson didn't use the character more in Two Towers and Return of the King.

The Extended Edition, once again, adds needed material to the story.  Saruman's (Christopher Lee) death only appears in the Extended Edition, and that simply makes the Extended Edition the one to watch simply for that scene alone.

Overall, Return of the King is a major improvement and is a solid adaptation of the novel, sitting right in the middle between Fellowship and the Two Towers.

Summary-
It's important to remember that these films are Peter Jackson's adaptation of the Lord of the Rings books.  Simply put, if another director had taken on the challenge of making the Lord of the Rings, they might have made different choices.

Of course, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema were taking a big chance in making these films.  While it seems like a no brainer in hindsight to make a live action version of the popular J.R.R. Tolkien book series, prior to their release there was no guarantee that the films would do well.

Indeed, all one has to do it take a look at the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings film.  At the time, an animated version of LOTR looked like a no-brainer.  The recent Rankin-Bass version of the Hobbit had been popular, and it was to be assumed that an animated LOTR would also be popular.  However, the project flopped hard and the intended second LOTR film intended to complete the story simply never happened.

This is why, despite my own nitpicks about the films, I'm very grateful to Peter Jackson for having the courage to making the Lord of the Rings films.   Filmmakers who intend to adapt beloved works of fiction would do well to study these films, as its clear that Peter Jackson had a great deal of love for the project.  I'll admit I'm looking forward to the next two films in the Hobbit trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Extended Edition

Synopsis:  Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are making their way towards Mordor.  The creature known as Gollum (Andy Serkis), who formerly owned the Ring and has been following Frodo is now their guide.

After approaching the Black Gate of Mordor, Gollum convinces Frodo to try a different way into Mordor that he knows about.  Frodo takes Gollum's advice, and the proceed south.  Along the way, the group is captured by Boromir's brother Faramir (David Wenham).  Faramir intends to take Frodo to Gondor's capital Minas Tirith.

At the ruined city of Osgiliath, Faramir and his men are attacked by Nazgul.  The attack opens Faramir's eyes to the evil that the Ring can inflict upon Gondor.  Thus, Faramir, and he allows Frodo, Sam and Gollum to continue their journey towards Mordor.

Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys Davies) continue their pursuit of the Orcs who kidnapped Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd).

Merry and Pippin eventually escape and make their way to Fangorn Forest.  There, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard, the leader of the Ents (voiced by John Rhys Davies).  The Ents are tree shepherds, and Merry and Pippin eventually convince Treebeard and the Ents to attack the evil wizard Saruman's (Christopher Lee) dwelling Isengard.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli eventually meet up with Gandalf the Wizard (Ian McKellen), returned from the dead to finish his work.  The four ride to the aid of Rohan, which is about to be attacked by Saruman's forces.  Rohan's King Theoden (Bernard Hill) is spellbound by Saruman and his assistant Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif).  Gandalf breaks the spell, and Theoden leads his meager forces to Helm's Deep to await the onslaught of Saruman's army.

Gandalf rides to find Eomer (Karl Urban), who had been banished by Theoden while he was under Saruman's spell.  Gandalf and Eomer arrive in time to relieve Theoden, and Saruman's army is defeated and later destroyed in the Huorn wood sent by the Ents to Helm's Deep.

Review-
The Two Towers is, by far, a less satisfactory adaptation than Fellowship simply because Peter Jackson decides to make far too many changes that simply didn't sit very well with me.

Faramir taking Frodo captive and leading them to Osgiliath was one of these changes.   This changes Faramir's character.  In the books, Boromir falls to the power of the Ring, while Faramir is able to resist its power.   It also adds the battle scenes at Osgiliath, which were entirely unneccesary, and forces the Shelob part of the story to be told in Return of the King.

Worse than sullying Faramir's character is turning Gimli into a comic relief joke.  While true to the book that Legolas and Gilmi have a competition at Helm's Deep to see which of the two would kill more Orcs, I don't think either Legolas or Gimli would keep constantly keep count like they do in the film.

Probably the worst of all is the addition of the Elves at Helm's Deep.  This was totally unnecessary, but was made necessary thanks to Peter Jackson cutting Rohan's numbers while simultaneously increasing the size of Saruman's army.  Rohan needed the Elves help in the film, whereas in the book version there were no Elves that could help, and Rohan was on its own.

The Extended Edition does add much needed exposition to the story.  I originally saw the Two Towers with my sister, who has never read the books.  Watching the theatrical version, she asked me afterwards why Aragorn, Gandalf, etc. abandoned the search for the hobbits Merry and Pippin.  In the book, this is easily explained but the theatrical film doesn't explain it very well.  The extended edition corrects this error.

Overall, my least favorite of the three Lord of the Rings films.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Extended Edition

I realize that my attempt to offer an summary of Fellowship of the Ring (or indeed, any of the Lord of the Rings films) will be lacking in details.  Be that as it may, I'll try to summarize the main points of each film, followed by my review.

Synopsis:  Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) discovers that the ring given to him by his uncle Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is none other than the One Ring, the most powerful of the Rings of Power.  The One Ring was made by Sauron, the Dark Lord but was lost for many centuries.  Frodo is instructed by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to flee his homeland The Shire.

Frodo and his companions Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin), Pippin Took (Billy Boyd) and Merry Brandybuck (Dominic Monaghan) make their way to Rivendell with the help of Aragorn the Ranger (Viggo Mortensen), who helps them evade the Nazgul, or Black Riders of Sauron who are close on their heels.

At Rivendell, the home of the Elven Lord Elrond (Hugo Weaving), it is decided to destroy the One Ring.  This quest will not be easy, since only place the One Ring can be destroyed is at the volcano known as Mount Doom, which sits in the heart of Sauron's own realm of Mordor.

Frodo volunteers to take the Ring to Mordor and Mount Doom and several companions join his company, forming the Fellowship of the Ring.  Joining Frodo on the quest are Sam, Pippin, Merry, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas the Elf (Orlando Bloom), Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) and Boromir (Sean Bean), a Man from the realm of Gondor.

The Fellowship is forced to travel through Moria, where Gandalf is lost in a battle with an undead spirit known as the Balrog.  After this encounter, the Fellowship makes it way to Lorien, where they meet the Elf Galadriel (Cate Blanchett).  The Elves of Lorien give the Fellowship shelter, and help them on their way.

The Fellowship then makes its way down the Great River Anduin.  They are eventually attacked by Orcs sent by the turncoat wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee).  The Orcs kill Boromir and take Merry and Pippin prisoner.  Frodo and Sam make their way towards Mordor, while Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli follow the Orcs in an attempt to rescue Merry and Pippin.

Review:
Of the three Lord of the Rings films, Fellowship of the Ring holds closest to the book version, and thus is by far the best.

Much of the early part of the story, particularly the time between Bilbo's party and Frodo's departure from the Shire, takes place over many years.  The film's frenetic pace doesn't really give one a sense of a lot of time passing.

Sadly, Peter Jackson simply uses Merry and Pippin for comic relief.  To be fair, Tolkien used these two hobbits for comic relief as well but certainly not in the broad sense that Jackson uses.

I didn't have a problem with the cutting of the Old Forest/Barrow-Downs/Tom Bombadil.  Indeed, if I had been making the adaptation, that's something I certainly would have excised from the film.  The stories are a side adventure that are quite entertaining to read, but with a film you simply don't have the time for side adventures.

I'll admit I was a bit surprised that Peter Jackson did include the attempt to cross over the Misty Mountains at the Redhorn Pass.  That's something I would have excised as well, and simply had the Fellowship proceed directly to Moria in order to avoid using the Gap of Rohan.

Peter Jackson also made the wise decision to include the story from the first chapter of the Two Towers made sense, as it rounded out the story.   Showing Boromir's funeral boat, and the decision made by Aragorn to follow the Orcs simply belong in the first film, especially since I've always felt the first chapter of the Two Towers should have been included as part of Fellowship anyway.

Like the more recent prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson's own additions to the film do not fundamentally change the main plot line.  While I'm not entirely sure we need to see how Saruman created the Uruk Hai, I can understand the arguments to the contrary.  In any case, it doesn't change the storyline of the main characters, something that Peter Jackson seemed more willing to tinker with in the Two Towers and Return of the King.

The extra scenes from the Extended editions of Fellowship don't add much to this film, unlike the Two Towers and Return of the King.  Basically, you aren't missing too much if you decide to stick with the theatrical version of Fellowship.  That being said, since the release of the Extended editions, I've never gone back to revisit the theatrical versions.






  

Introduction to my Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movie reviews

Curses, foiled again!  My intentions to get back on schedule obviously fell to pieces after publishing my review of Carnival of Monsters.  I think I finally realized that I "needed" to step away from the blog, and my Doctor Who marathon viewing for a bit, as I was simply getting burned out.


This past week, I took an extended break from my Doctor Who rewatch.  I decided to revisit two very popular film series: the Peter Jackson adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as well as the adaptation of the Harry Potter book series.

 

While neither movie series qualifies as British television, since both are based on books written by British authors I figured that was justification enough.  Besides, I figure given the audience of this particular blog, the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series would be popular subject for revisitation.

One of the problems with adapting books is the fact that a film is, by its nature, going to need to condense and cut things out of the book in order for the film version to fit into a typical runtime.   Three hours is generally considered about the longest one can make a film nowadays, with two to two and a half hours being the most common for action-adventure films.

Obviously, I have my own prejudices regarding the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter film adaptations.  There are things I certainly would have done differently in both film series, but I will endeavor to try and keep my prejudices somewhat at bay while reviewing the film adaptations.

Unlike my regular reviews, I won't include a credit lists simply because full cast credits would take a long time to list.  Instead, as I mention characters during the reviews, I'll list the actor name in parenthesis after the character name.   I hope this doesn't throw everyone off, but there are plenty of places online like IMDB where one can get full cast and crew credits for these films.

For tonight, I'll be including my Lord of the Rings reviews, while I'll be posting my Harry Potter movie reviews on Saturday evening.  Doctor Who reviews will resume next week, as I return to my Doctor Who marathon viewing.  There might also be a few other reviews scattered over this weekend, as I've got a great deal of non-Doctor Who material that I've written up for the blog this past week.

Story #66 - Carnival of Monsters

First, my apologizes for the lack of updates for the last week and a half.  It was unintended, "real life" simply got in the way.  One thing I was able to keep up with, despite my rather hectic schedule, was my viewing of the actual Doctor Who episodes. As of this Saturday morning, I'm in the middle of the Third Doctor-Sarah Jane series/season, getting close to the end of the Third Doctor era.  I'll be endeavoring to "catch up" the blog this weekend.  Thanks to all of my readers for your patience and understanding.

And, as they say, on with the show...

On the first trip in the Tardis since being allowed his freedom by the Time Lords, The Doctor and Jo materialize on the S.S. Bernice in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  This is rather disconcerting, since The Doctor was aiming Metebelis Three, but all is not what it seems.

Written by Robert Holmes
Directed by Barry Letts

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning

Main Guest Cast-
Vorg - Leslie Dwyer
Shirna - Cheryl Hall
Major Daly - Tenniel Evans
Claire Daly -  Jenny McCracken
Lt. John Andrews - Ian Marter
Kalik - John Wisher
Orum - Terence Lodge
Pletrac - Peter Halliday

Synopsis-
The Tardis lands on the S.S. Bernice in what appears to be the Indian Ocean.  Once they are discovered by the passengers on board, they are taken as stowaways.  Several minutes later, the passengers and crew of the ship can't remember either The Doctor or Jo being taken prisoner.

The Doctor eventually figures out that the Tardis has materialized inside a miniscope, which houses miniaturized living beings which is used as an entertainment device by the carival showman Vorg and his assistant Shirna.

Vorg and Shirna have just arrived at the planet Inter Minor, with the hope of putting on a show for the local population.  The local tribunal is suspicious of Vorg and Shirna, however, and forbid them entry onto the planet. 

Meanwhile, The Doctor and Jo have made their way off the ship and into the inner working of the miniscope.  While trying to find the way out, they discover a second environment inhabited by the Drashigs, a deadly worm-like life form.   The Drashigs follow the Doctor and Jo and eventually wreak havoc on the inner workings of the miniscope.

Eventually, The Doctor escapes the miniscope and linking the Tardis to the miniscope's working is able to save Jo and return everyone back to their correct time and space.  The miniscope is destroyed, however.

Review-
Carnival of Monsters is, to put it quite simply, a fun romp.  Vorg, the carnival showman that owns the miniscope clearly isn't aware that these miniscopes have been made illegal by the Time Lords.  For Vorg and Shirna, the miniscope is simply a way to make a quick buck.

The ship's inhabitants, who keep reliving the same moments over and over again, are appealing and one does feel for their predicament.  Ian Marter (best known for playing Harry Sullivan) makes an early appearance as Lt. Andrews, who clearly has a romantic attachment to Major Daly's daughter, Claire.

The intercutting between The Doctor and Jo story and Vorg and Shirna's story is handled quite well.  The only thing that feels a bit out of place is a plot by two of the tribunal's members to discredit the President of Inter Minor by allowing the Drashigs to escape the miniscope.  Vorg foils this plan by destroying the escaped Drashig.  Fortunately, this unneeded bit of plot doesn't really get in the way of the story.

All in all, one of the most entertaining stories from the Third Doctor era and an excellent follow-up to The Three Doctors.

Story #65 - The Three Doctors

The Time Lords are under attack by an unknown force, and the only people that can help save the Time Lords is the First, Second and Third Doctors.

Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Directed by Lennie Mayne

Main Cast-
The Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee
The Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton
The First Doctor - William Hartnell
Jo - Katy Manning
The Brigadier - Nicolas Courtney
Benton - John Levene

Main Guest Cast-
Omega - Stephen Thorne
Dr. Tyler - Rex Robinson
Ollis - Laurie Webb
Mrs. Ollis - Patricia Prior

Synopsis-
The Time Lords are under attack by an unknown force emanating from a black hole.  Losing power rapidly, the only hope the Time Lords have for survival rests with The Doctor.

The Doctor, however, is under attack by the very same force, which is made of antimatter.  The Time Lords muster enough energy to take the Second Doctor out of his timeline to assist the Third Doctor.  The two Doctors begin squabbling amongst each other, and it's only after the arrival of the First Doctor that straightens things out.

The First Doctor can't fully materialize, being caught in a time eddy.  Deducing that the force attacking The Doctor is some sort of "bridge", the Third Doctor and Jo cross over, and are eventually followed by The Second Doctor, Benton and the Brigadier.

The Doctors and their companions find themselves on a world that exists inside the black hole that's ruled by Omega, the Time Lord that caused the supernova that gave the Time Lords the power and ability to travel in time and space.

Omega desires revenge against the Time Lords, but its revealed that Omega no longer has a corporeal body thanks to the years spent in the black hole in the antimatter world.   The Doctors eventually agree to stay on the antimatter world with Omega and allowing their companions to return home.   The Doctors, however, end up tricking Omega by exposing him to the Second Doctor's recorder, which was not converted to antimatter in the transference to Omega's world.  The resultant explosion destroys Omega and his world.

The Tardis returns to Earth, where the First and Second Doctors say goodbye and return to their own timelines.  The Time Lords lift their sentence of exile, and the Third Doctor is now able to travel freely in time and space.

Review-
Series/season ten opens with the very first multi-Doctor story, and in my humble opinion still the best multi-Doctor story.

Rather than trying to fit in as many companions as possible (like they tried to do with the later Five Doctors story), in the Three Doctors its just the regular cast (minus Yates for some unknown reason) and the First and Second Doctors.

The "time eddy" story device works well, and allows fans of the series to have one last glimpse of William Hartnell in the role he made famous.  The interaction between Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee is quite entertaining as well, along with Nicholas Courtney's doubletakes when he first encounters the Second Doctor.

To put it simply, The Three Doctors is one of the most entertaining Doctor Who stories out there and its well worth revisiting over and over again.

Series/season nine wrap-up

Doctor Who series/season nine
Airdates - 1st of January 1972 to the 24th of June 1972
Produced by Barry Letts
Script editor - Terrance Dicks

The ninth series/season of Doctor Who was an improvement over the previous series/season in many ways, and I found this particular series to be quite enjoyable.

My rankings for the stories from series/season nine:
1. Day of the Daleks
2. The Curse of Peladon
3. The Time Monster
4. The Sea Devils
5. The Mutants

Day of the Daleks is, by far, the standout story of the five.  The Curse of Peladon and The Time Monster are also excellent.  The Sea Devils is a retread of the earlier Silurian story, but still quite entertaining and the Sea Devils look ten times better than the Silurians from the earlier story.  Sadly, The Mutants proves to be the odd man out, as its horrible science and utterly obvious plotline make it a real disappointment.

The only thing that's wearing thin a bit is the idea of The Doctor being exiled to Earth.  The show struggles with various explanations on why The Doctor keeps getting sent off-planet.  Perhaps this is why the next series/season would end The Doctor's exile on Earth, as it would allow the show to visit other worlds without the need for clunky explanations regarding The Doctor's extraterrestrial trips

Up next, my review of the first multi-Doctor story, The Three Doctors.

Story #64 - The Time Monster

The Master hopes to gain control of Kronos, an all powerful creature that lives outisde of space and time in his latest bid to take over the universe.

Written by Robert Sloman and Barry Letts (uncredited)
Directed by Paul Bernard

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Brigadier - Nicholas Courtney
Yates - Richard Franklin
Benton - John Levene
The Master - Roger Delgado

Main Guest Cast-
Dr. Ingram - Wanda Moore
Stuart Hyde - Ian Collier
Krasis - Donald Eccles
King Dalios - George Cormack
Queen Galleia - Ingrid Pitt

Synopsis-
The Master has taken on yet another secret identity, this time as a research professor.  Together with his assistants Dr. Ingram and Stuart Hyde, The Master has developed a machine that is going to be used to summon Kronos, an all-powerful being that exists outside of space and time.

Kronos is mentioned in the Atlantis legends, and The Master's experiments end up summoning an Atlantean high priest called Krasis.  Together with Krasis' help, The Master is able to summon Kronos.

In order to maintain complete control of Kronos, the Master needs posession of the Kronos crystal, which is located at Atlantis.  The Master journeys to Atlantis, followed by The Doctor and Jo.  The Doctor tries to convince King Dalios of The Master's evil, but The Master is able to win over Queen Galleia.

The Master summons Kronos one last time, and The Doctor, Jo and The Master are sucked into the world outside of space and time while Atlantis is destroyed.  There, they meet Kronos face to face.  The Master pleads for mercy, and The Doctor is able to convince Kronos to let The Master go free.  The Master escapes via his own Tardis, while The Doctor and Jo return to the present day.

Review-
The Time Monster starts off a bit slow, but it eventually finds it footing.  One might wonder about The Doctor visiting Atlantis since he'd already done so in the Second Doctor story The Underwater Menace.  This is another one of those times where you just have to assume that there were two different versions of Atlantis or one is going to get a real headache.

The show also borrowed from yet another Greek myth by having the Kronos crystal being guarded by the Minotaur.   Having the Minotaur as the guard does allow the show to offer the quite funny (and also probably a bit silly) scene where The Doctor plays Matador to the Minotaur.

All in all, the Time Monster was a very enjoyable way to round out the ninth series/season and a much needed return to form after the rather dreadful previous story, The Mutants.

Up next, my series/season nine wrap-up, to be followed by my review of the series/season ten opener, The Three Doctors. 

 

A Day at Con Kasterborous

I recently attended Con Kasterborous this past Sunday.  Con Kasterborous is a Doctor Who themed convention held in Huntsville, Alabama.  It was the convention's second year, and their main guest was Caitlin Blackwood.  Ms. Blackwood played Amelia Pond, the younger version of Amy Pond in several episodes during the past three series/seasons.

One of two Tardises (or is that Tardii?) that landed at Con Kasterborous this weekend.

I got up quite early on Sunday morning and made my way from my home in the Atlanta area to Huntsville, which is about four hours away.  I arrived at about 8:45 in the morning, just prior to the start of the day's events.  After paying my admission, I debated whether I would sit-in on the Caitlin Blackwood question and answer panel at 9am or whether I would peruse the dealer room.  I opted for the dealer room, since I met Caitlin and attended her Q+A at Timegate last year.

The dealers room had about nine or ten dealers, mostly selling Doctor Who and other sci-fi themed merchandise.  There were also several artists in the artist's alley outside.  I ended buying several prints from Kelly Yates, a comic book artist who has worked on some of IDW's Doctor Who comics.  Kelly was also at Timegate a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't have the money at that time, so it was good to see him again and be able to pick up the prints.  I also bought a couple of books from the dealers as well.

After perusing the dealers room, I attended a workshop panel hosted by Wayne Neumaier.  Wayne had built a Dalek, which was on display at the convention along with several other props.  The Dalek could move about via remote control and a voice box with several sayings.  All in all, pretty cool.

Mr. Neumaier's Dalek.  Pretty darn cool, if you ask me.

I then attended the scheduled swap meet, which turned out to be a bust.  A few people did show up for the swap meet, but there wasn't much trading going on.  I did stay for a while and chatted with a few of the other attendees, talking a bit about Classic Who and Dragon Con.  This turned out to be one of the more enjoyable parts of the convention, at least for me.  

After a lunch break, I attended the Creative Fandom with Lady Soliloque.  Lady Soliloque, whom you can find out more about at her website http://www.ladysoliloque.net/, talked about the various aspects of fandom like fan videos, audio dramas, fan fiction and cosplay.   Clearly, Ms. Soliloque is a Doctor Who uber-fan and her enthusiasm was infectious.

After this, I attended part of the Kelly Yates panel.  Kelly talked a bit about his work on the Doctor Who comics for IDW, along with mentioning some of his other work like his creator-owned work Amber Atoms.

The day pretty much closed out with the Caitlin autograph session from 4-5pm, followed by the closing ceremonies.  The closing ceremonies had one thing that I did think was quite cool, and that was a photo montage film featuring Caitlin, Kelly and several of the Con Kasterborous members touring the US Space and Rocket Center that's located in Huntsville.   The con organizers also decided to show the opening ceremonies film during the Caitlin autograph session, which was quite nice since I wasn't able to be there on Saturday.

I will mention one thing that I thought was a rather notable omission from the programming schedule: the lack of a Series 7b panel discussion.  It would have been fun to sit in with fellow Whovians and talk about the recently completed Series 7b, featuring The Doctor and Clara.   A missed opportunity, but perhaps a Series 8 panel discussion could be offered next year at part of the programming mix?

Anyway, my hats off to Bonnie and her staff for putting on what overall was a really good show, one which I quite enjoyed attending.  Bonnie, the convention chairperson, mentioned at the closing ceremonies that attendance at the conventions was somewhere around 1000 people.  That's an impressive number for a second-year convention and Bonnie and her staff should be proud of their accomplishment.  I know how much work goes into putting on a convention, and its always gratifying when the fandom responds by supporting your convention.

The other Tardis in attendance this weekend at Con Kasterborous.

 

Story #63 - The Mutants

The Doctor and Jo are sent by the Time Lords to the planet Solos, where they face a power hungry would-be dictator and the mystery of why the native Solonians are changing from their current human form into insectoid-like creatures known as the Mutants or "Mutts".

Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Directed by Christopher Barry

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning

Main Guest Cast-
The Marshal - Paul Whitsun-Jones
The Administrator - Geoffrey Palmer
Ky - Garrick Hagon
Varan - James Mellor
Cotton - Rick James
Stubbs - Christopher Call
Jaeger - George Pravda
Sondergaard - John Hollis
The Investigator - Peter Howell

Synopsis-
Once again, the Time Lords send The Doctor on a mission.  This time, they've sent The Doctor and Jo to the planet Solos with a stone box that contains a message that can only be opened by the intended recipient.

Solos is part of Earth's empire, which is rapidly contracting at this particular time, much like in the latter days of the Roman Empire.   The Administrator intends to give the Solonians their independence, but is killed before this can happen.

It turns out that The Administrator was ordered killed by The Marshal.  The Marshal is against giving the Solonians their independence, and plans to terraform Solos to make the atmosphere breathable for humans, with the help of the Earth scientist Jaeger.  This, of course, would make the planet uninhabitable for the Solonians.  The Marshal intends Solos to be a new Earth, with himself as dictator.

Meanwhile, the Solonians are seemingly being ravaged by a disease that turns them from normal humanoids into insect-like creatures that have been dubbed Mutants or "Mutts".   The Solonians aren't sure why this is happening to them, but the tablets found in the message box that was delivered to the Solonian Ky eventually reveal their secrets thanks to the help of the Earth scientist Sondergaard, who has been hiding on Solos for many years after turning against the Marshal and his dictatorial ways.

The Doctor and Sondergaard are able to decipher the tablets and it's discovered that the Solonians metamorphosis is something that's intended to happen.  The metamorphosis will allow the Solonians to survive their planets summer, which lasts five hundred years due to the planet's rotation around its star.  The Mutants are an incomplete stage of this intended evolution.  The reason the evolution has not been completed is due to the Marshal and Jaeger's experiments to change Solos' atmosphere.

Ky, a Solonian who has been fighting the Marshal from the beginning is eventually transformed as is intended.  Ky, now an ethereal being, metes out justice to the power-mad Marshal.  An Earth Investigator, who arrived just prior to this, allows Sondergaard and Cotton, one of the Marshal's men who changed sides, to remain behind and assist the Solonians as they attempt to correct the problems caused by the Marshal's plans.

Review-
Doctor Who steps into "Lost in Space" territory with The Mutants.  One would think that the Earth scientists who originally colonized Solos would have realized and plotted what must be the very elliptical orbit of Solos, in order to account for the very long, five hundred year seasons.  Given these very long seasons, it's a wonder that any sort of humanoid life-form was able to arise on Solos.  After all, wouldn't life burn up during the very hot summers for freeze to death during the extremely long winters?   It make absolutely no sense, much like most of the plots of "Lost in Space".  At least "Lost in Space" wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and was good for a laugh.  Sadly, there are few laughs to be found in The Mutants so the bad science is much more difficult to take.

The plot is so obvious you can see how this story is going to end a mile away.  The Doctor will discover that the mutations are intended, and will figure out a way for the Solonians to change as intended.   The question is if the Solonians become ethereal beings, why do they first change into insectoid creatures?  That's never explained by the story, we just have to accept it on face value.

The other burning question is why do the Time Lords care so much about the Solonians that they are willing to send The Doctor as a messenger boy?  After all, don't the Time Lords have a policy of non-interference?  This also leads to another question:  if The Doctor is supposed to be exiled to Earth, why do the Time Lords keep sending him on missions instead of serving out his exile on Earth?

While I'm willing to suspend my belief somewhat for the sake of a story, The Mutants asks for a great deal of suspension of belief.  That's something I just wasn't willing to do, it simply proved too hard to get past the really bad science and utterly obvious plot making it something of a chore to get through.  This is one Doctor Who story I won't be revisiting anytime soon.

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island

As I mentioned last week, I'm attending Con Kasterborous this weekend.  As such, I've put my Doctor Who viewing on hold for a couple of days.  Thus, like I did when getting ready for Timegate, I'll be offering a few reviews of non Doctor Who British television shows that I've watched recently.

Up first, a review of John Silver's Return to Treasure Island...

 

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island - a review

Written by John Goldsmith from a story by Ivor Dean

Directed by Piers Haggard

Associate Directors - Alex Kirby and Alan Clayton

Produced by Alan Clayton

Main Cast-

Long John Silver - Brian Blessed

Jim Hawkins - Christopher Guard

Van Der Brecken - Reiner Schone

Ben Gunn - Ken Colley

Abed - Peter Lloyd

Reverend Morgan - Artro Morris

Devereaux - Christopher Godwin

Hallows - Donald Pickering

Keelhaul - Nick Brimble

Conchita - Aixa Moreno

Isabella - Deborah Poplett

Review-

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for any sort of pirate film.  I'm probably one of the few people who actually went to see the box office bomb Cutthroat Island (1996) at the movie theaters/cinemas.  I've always wondered whether that particular film might have performed better at the box office had it been released after the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, the film which made pirates cool.  After all, I thought Cutthroat Island was a relatively decent pirate film.

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island predates Cutthroat Island by a decade.  This ITV series is ten episodes long, and features Brian Blessed as Long John Silver.  Brian Blessed is best known as Vultan ("Gordon's Alive!") from the 1980 Flash Gordon film.   If ever a man was made for a particular role, having Brian Blessed play Long John Silver was the perfect casting choice.

The conceit is that several years have passed since the events of the book, and Jim Hawkins has now grown up and recently graduated from college.  Squire Trelawney has hired Jim Hawkins to investigate and oversee his plantations in Jamaica, as he believes (rightly) that the current overseer Hallows is siphoning off profits.

Meanwhile, Long John Silver has made his return to England to retrieve Captain Flint's treasure map.  While the gold has been taken from Treasure Island, the gems "lie there still".  Silver is caught and put on trial.  Silver is convicted and sentenced to "transportation" to Jamaica.

As it would happen, Jim Hawkins is taking the same ship to Jamaica, along with a Dutch farmer named Van Der Brecken who is headed back to his holdings in Mexico.  Also on board is Lady Isabella, also bound for her uncle's house in Mexico.

The real reason to watch this production is, of course, Brian Blessed's brilliant performance as Long John Silver.  Blessed chews the scenery with wild abandon and dominates every scene that he's in.

Christopher Guard does his best with the romantic lead role, and Deborah Poplett's Isabella is a suitably feisty female lead.  Reiner Schone's Van Der Brecken comes off a bit one-note, constantly complaining about Silver's treachery and acting as a bodyguard for Jim Hawkins.   Peter Lloyd's Abed joins the group once Hawkins and Van Der Brecken arrive in Jamaica and aids Hawkins is exposing Hallows criminal dealings.

All of the typical pirate cliches are here: the double and triple crosses, a mutiny aboard ship and buried treasure.  The group has several adventures throughout Jamaica and Mexico before finally arriving on Treasure Island and a final showdown with Hallows and his men.   Of course, there's the expected happy ending for everyone concerned, including Long John Silver who has snookered them all and (SPOILER ALERT!) made off with Flint's gems!

For those expecting anything resembling the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, you're probably bound to be disappointed.  This series predates the first Pirates film by seventeen years, and was obviously made on a television budget.  Oddly, there is a Disney connection to both this film and the Pirates films.  Return to Treasure Island was co-produced by the Walt Disney company, to be aired as a Disney Channel miniseries in the United States.  

Disney did release the series on VHS back in the 1980's, but has never released a DVD version.  They don't even air it on the Disney Channel anymore.   Consider that the pirate them has been so popular (and profitable) for Disney, one does have to wonder why they simply haven't released a bare-bones DVD sometime in the last decade to piggyback on the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Be that as it may, the series has been released in the United Kingdom.  There no special features to be had, which is a shame.  I would have loved a Blessed commentary on even one episode, or perhaps a making-of documentary with Blessed and some of the cast.  Ah well, I'm just glad I can finally retire my worn VHS copies that I taped off of television way back in the day (yes, I kept those VHS tapes all these years because I enjoyed this series so much!) 

John Silver's Return to Treasure Island is simply a buried treasure, one that deserves to be rediscovered. 

Story #62 - The Sea Devils

The Master hopes to ally himself with the Sea Devils, cousins to the Silurians in hopes of taking over the world and destroying mankind.

Written by Malcolm Hulke
Directed by Michael E. Briant

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Master - Roger Delgado

Main Guest Cast-
Trenchard - Clive Morton
Captain Hart - Edwin Richfield
Walker - Martin Boddey

Synopsis-
The Doctor and Jo visit the Master, being held at a remote island prison.  The governor of the prison, Mr. Trenchard, mentions to The Doctor that several ships have been lost at sea in the nearby waters.

The Doctor chooses to investigate, and discovers that the Sea Devils are responsible for the ship's disappearances.  The Sea Devils are cousins to the Silurians, they differ in that the Sea Devils have adapted to life underwater.

It is also discovered that Trenchard has been helping The Master.  The Master hopes to contact the Sea Devils in order to make an alliance.  The Master will help awaken the Sea Devils, and the Sea Devils will then wage war and destroy mankind.

The Doctor tries to convince the Sea Devils to consider sharing the planet with mankind, but an attack ordered by the minister Walker thwarts The Doctor's negotiations. 

The Master forces The Doctor to help him fix the machine that will allow the Sea Devils to awaken from hibernation all over the world.  Once the machine is finished, the Sea Devils turn on the Master.  The Master and The Doctor make good their escape, and The Master also learns that The Doctor has sabotaged the machine, which blows up and destroys the Sea Devils and their base.

The Master, of course, makes good his escape at the end of the story.  And, as one might expect, we shall be seeing The Master again.

Review-
The Master makes his reappearance after being MIA for the first two stories of this season.   At least in this particular story, his appearance makes a great deal of sense.  After all, since he's being held prisoner by the humans, it seems only likely that The Master might have a group of allies in the Sea Devils.

Trenchard is a dupe, he believes that by helping The Master that he is serving his government.  Trenchard believes that spies are responsible for the ship's sinking, and is quite upset when he discovers that it was the Sea Devils that were responsible.  The Master, of course, disposes of Trenchard (or rather, has the Sea Devils do the dirty work for him) once Trenchard is no longer useful.

The minister Walker, who arrives to investigate the situation in the latter half of the story proves to be a glutton who has no problem enjoying a full course breakfast while ordering a full-scale attack on the Sea Devil's base.  Even worse is his constant ordering of the females of Captain Hart's staff, as if they were waitresses at his beck and call.  Walker is simply a ridiculous character, and it hard to take him too seriously.

Watching the Sea Devils, it's hard not to have that feeling of deja vu.  The Sea Devils, despite some changes (which include the addition of The Master) is basically The Silurians all over again.  I'll admit that the Sea Devils look ten times better than the Silurians from the earlier story.  The James Bond influence can clearly be seen with all the various gadgets on display (jet skis, hovercraft, etc.), something that also wasn't included in the original Silurian story either.

As a retelling of the Silurians, the Sea Devils holds up really well.  Adding the action sequences kept up the pace of things and kept this story from dragging, always a problem with six-part stories.  It isn't anywhere near as good as the previous two stories from this particular series/season, but I'd recommend this over the original Silurian story any day, as it simply the better of the two.

Story #61 - The Curse of Peladon

The Doctor and Jo arrive on the planet Peladon, where they are mistaken for the ambassadors from Earth.    The planet Peladon is being considered by the members of the Galactic Federation for inclusion, but the death of one of King Peladon's advisers has placed those plans in doubt.

Written by Brian Hayles
Directed by Lennie Mayne

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning

Main Guest Cast
King Peladon - David Troughton
Torbis - Henry Gilbert
Hepesh - Geoffrey Toome
Izlyr - Alan Bennion
SSorg - Sonny Caldinez
Centauri - Stuart Fell (body) and Ysanne Churchman (voice)
Arcturus - Murphy Grumbar (body) and Terry Bale (voice)
Grun - Gordon St. Clair

Synopsis-
The Doctor and Jo take a trip in the Tardis which The Doctor has now finished repairing.  They land on the planet Peladon, just outside the royal palace on the side of a cliff.  The Doctor and Jo barely escape the Tardis, which tumbles down the cliff but is unharmed because according to The Doctor, the Tardis is "indestructible".

The Doctor and Jo enter the royal palace and are mistaken for the Earth representatives of the Galactic Federation.  Other delegates from the Federation include the Ice Warriors Izlyr and SSorg, the delegate from Alpha Centauri and the delegate from Arcturus.

One of King Peladon's trusted advisers, Torbis, has just been killed.  The King's other adviser, Hepesh, claims that Torbis was killed by Aggedor, a mythical beast from Peladon's history.  Hepesh advises against joining the Federation or risk the Curse of Peladon falling upon the planet.

Eventually, it is uncovered that Arcturus has secretly been working with Hepesh, as Arcturus hoped to control Peladon, which is rich in minerals and something that the homeworld of Arcturus lacks.

With his plot uncovered and Arcturus killed, Hepesh attacks the King's men and orders the Galactic Federations' delegates off the planet.  The Doctor, however, has tamed the beast Aggedor with hypnosis to discredit Hepesh.  Hepesh is accidentally killed by The Doctor, which saves the conference.

The Doctor and Jo leave Peladon just as the real representative from Earth arrives.  The representatives are shocked by the sudden departure of the Tardis from Peladon.

Review-
The Curse of Peladon is one of those "gothic" tales that I'm rather fond of.   The caverns, the dark and gloomy castle all set the tone for what turns out to be a rather fun story.

The Doctor suspects that the Ice Warriors are behind the death of Torbis, but to the viewer it seems abundantly clear that someone is trying to frame the Ice Warriors.   Arcturus' treachery, and his collusion with Hepesh surprised me a bit (it's been a while since I last saw this story, and I forgot some of the major plot points).

Hepesh, of course, really drives this story.  Hepesh is so afraid of change that he'd willingly kill the forward looking Torbis to prevent change from happening. 

David Troughton (Patrick Troughton's son) does what he can with the role of King Peladon.  Clearly a forward thinking man, King Peladon feels constrained by the laws of his planet, and also by his adviser Hepesh.   The King, however, is enamored of Jo, who is posing as an Earth princess.  Jo becomes quite fond of the King.  When offered the chance to stay on Peladon and marry the King, Jo turns him down but feel unable to explain why.

It's also quite interesting seeing a different side to the Ice Warriors.  The Ice Warriors become much more complex in this story, as they aren't the real villains of the piece.  This forces The Doctor and Jo to discover the real culprits.  It also make the Ice Warriors a much more interesting race than they previously were. 

All in all, The Curse of Peladon is another real winner of a story.  Not quite as good as Day of the Daleks, but still top notch Doctor Who.

Story #60 - Day of the Daleks

The Doctor's greatest foes make their long awaited return in Day of the Daleks.

Written by Louis Marks
Directed by Paul Bernard

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Brigadier - Nicholas Courtney
Yates - Richard Franklin
Benton - John Levene

Main Guest Cast-
Sir Reginald Styles - Wilfred Carter
Anat - Anna Barry
Boaz - Scott Fredericks
Shura - Jimmy Winston
Monia - Valentine Palmer
Controller - Aubrey Woods


Synopsis-
Sir Reginald Styles, a diplomat who's working on trying to organize a world peace conference is attacked by someone who disappears before his attack on Styles proves successful.  The Doctor and Jo are sent to investigate by the Brigadier.

The Doctor and Jo stay the night at Styles' residence and are attacked by rebels from the future, led by the woman Anat.  The rebels' mission is to kill Styles, in hopes of preventing a devastating war that allows the Daleks to take over the Earth in the 22nd century.

Jo is accidentally transported to the 22nd century via a time device designed by the Daleks.  Once there, she is befriended by the Controller.  The Controller, unbeknownst to Jo, is the human in charge of running the Earth for the Daleks.

Anat and Boaz return to the 22nd century, along with The Doctor.  The Doctor is soon captured and reunited with Jo.  The Daleks discover via a mind probe that this is The Doctor, their sworn enemy.  Still, the Daleks are convinced by The Controller that The Doctor can be useful.

The Doctor and Jo are able to escape, and discover that it is Shura, a rebel who remained behind in the 20th century who destroys the peace conference.  The rebel leader, Monia, sends The Doctor and Jo back to the 20th century to stop Shura.  The Daleks soon follow, and are led into Styles' house which has been evacuated.  Shura uses the bomb made of dalekanium that he planned to use to destroy the peace conference to destroy the house, along with the Daleks inside.

Review-
One does have to wonder why there was such a need for peace conferences due to the deteriorating international situation in the Doctor Who universe of the 1970's.  The peace conference in peril was used in The Mind of Evil, and this motif appears again in Day of the Daleks.

Day of the Daleks, however, is by far the superior story.  The whole "temporal paradox" that's caused by the rebels' time travel is quite interesting.  The rebels', hoping to change their history end up causing it.  It's quite fascinating, really and I was quite reminded of the Terminator films a bit while watching Day of the Daleks.

The Controller is also a fascinating character.  He's helped and colluded with the Daleks, but in his own mind he's helped provide the humans with better lives than they might have otherwise had.  The Controller eventually redeems himself by the end of the story, and the Daleks naturally exterminate him for his trouble.  But it is the Controller who allows The Doctor and Jo to return, and eventually defeat the Daleks.

It should be worth noting that the DVD version of Day of the Daleks includes two versions.  The original is included, but also a special edition that features new CGI effects and re-recorded Dalek voices by Nicholas Briggs. 

One of my friends hosts a Doctor Who viewing once a month, and he screened the special edition of Day of the Daleks earlier this year as part of his Doctor Who Night.   Therefore, with the special edition fresh in my mind, I decided to watch the original version for this review.  The question, of course, is which version of Day of the Daleks is better?

I think I'd give the newer, special edition has a slight edge over the original.   One of the things that I do like about the newer edition is that it doesn't try to change the story, it simply adds newer effects and Briggs' distinctive voice to the Daleks.  I also like the fact that the BBC included the original on the DVD as well (yes, George Lucas, you could learn something from the BBC!) because it allows one to choose whichever version one would like. 

Whether the original, or the new special edition, Day of the Daleks is a real winner, and it's hard to believe that it took nearly five years after the Evil of the Daleks for our favorite adversaries to make their return.  But considering how good Day of the Daleks is, the wait was worth it!

Series/season eight wrap-up

Doctor Who Series/season eight
Airdates - 2nd of January 1971 to the 19th of June 1971
Produced by Barry Letts
Script Editor - Terrance Dicks

The eighth series/season finally brings us the classic UNIT lineup as both Jo Grant and Captain Yates are introduced in the first episode.  Also introduced is The Master, who, basically, plays the role of Moriarty to The Doctor's Sherlock Holmes.

As I mentioned in some of my reviews, having The Master feature as the main villain in every story of this particular series/season proves to be too much of a good thing.  By the time of the Dæmons, it's no longer anything special and we've come to expect it.  Perhaps Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks realized this as well, since the Master would become a recurring character in the next two series/seasons and other adversaries would also take precedence as well.

Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton are fairly interchangeable, at least until the Dæmons, where both are given quite a bit of screen time and both Richard Franklin and John Levene make the most of it.  Katy Manning's Jo Grant is certainly no genius like Liz Shaw, but her character is appealing.  Nicholas Courtney Brigadier is the glue that hold's the UNIT group together, and his interactions with The Doctor are priceless.  Some of the best scenes from this series/season are those where The Brigadier and The Doctor are verbally squaring off against each other.

Despite the overuse of The Master in this particular series/season, Roger Delgado simply owns this character, and every other actor who's played The Master has had their work cut out for them in living up to Delgado.   The Master's standout performance from this particular series/season simply has to be the Dæmons.  Unlike most of the stories from this particular series/season, The Master is the main villain in the Dæmons.  This allows the full Sherlock/Moriarty conflict between The Doctor and The Master to play out undisturbed without needing to focus time on other adversaries like the Autons or the Axons.

My ranking the stories from this particular series/season-
1. The Dæmons
2. The Claws of Axos
3. Terror of the Autons
4. Colony in Space
5. The Mind of Evil

The Dæmons is, by far the standout from this particular series/season.  The Claws of Axos is also quite good.  Terror of the Autons is flawed, but generally entertaining.  The two six-part stories simply move too slowly and I think might have been better as four part stories (which also would have allowed a sixth four part story to be included had they done this).  Of the two longer stories, Colony in Space is, in my opinion, the more interesting and watchable of the two.

Up next, the ninth series/season begins with the return of an old adversary in what I consider to be one of the very best Third Doctor episodes:  Day of the Daleks

Story #59 - The Dæmons

An archaeological dig near a town called Devil's End unearths and unspeakable horror that the Master hopes to use in his attempt to control the world in the Dæmons.

Written by Guy Leopold (aka Barry Letts and Robert Sloman)
Directed by Christopher Barry

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Brigadier - Nicholas Courtney
Yates - Richard Franklin
Benton - John Levene
The Master - Roger Delgado

Main Guest Cast-
Miss Hawthorne - Damaris Hayman
Professor Horner - Donald Wentworth
Fergus - David Simeon
Sgt. Osgood - Alec Linstead
Bert - Don McKillop

Synopsis-
The unearthing of the Devil's Hump, near the village Devil's End is being filmed for BBC Three.  The local white witch, Miss Hawthorne, warns Professor Horner to stop work on the excavation.  Miss Hawthorne warns of an arrival of a horned beast, and of the end of the world.

The Doctor, after watching the television coverage, decides to investigate and takes Jo along with him.  He's arrives too late to stop the digging and both he and Professor Horner are caught in the cold blast of air emanating from the tomb.

The Doctor eventually recovers, and tell everyone of the menace they now face, an extraterrestrial entity known as a Dæmon.   The Doctor also discovers that The Master is also in the village, posing as the new vicar and that The Master hopes to gain control of the Dæmon in order to control the Earth.

At the Dæmon's final appearance, it offers it's powers to The Doctor first, who turns them down.  The Dæmon then offers them to The Master, who accepts.  The Dæmon attempts to kill The Doctor, but Jo attempts to sacrifice herself to save The Doctor by jumping between the Dæmon and The Doctor.  This confuses the Dæmon, and the Dæmon's power is turned back upon itself.

The Master is captured by UNIT personnel, while The Doctor, Jo, the villagers and other UNIT personnel celebrate their victory at a May Day celebration.

Review-
The Dæmons reminds me a great deal of the Fourth Doctor "gothic" era, which brought us such classics as The Talons of Weng-Chiang and The Horror of Fang Rock.  During that era, the "horror" aspect took precedence over straight forward sci-fi.  The Dæmons is clearly in that mold, with the horror aspects taking the lead.

The black magic and occult references were deliberately toned down, the Dæmons may resemble the Devil, but they are clearly stated to be extra-terrestrial beings of great power.  This was done, presumably, to keep those who might claim that the program was worshipping the Devil and/or black magic. 

The Doctor is clearly a man of science and scoffs at the idea of "magic".   This leads to a few funny bit, particularly at the beginning when The Doctor's car, Bessie, drives itself around.  It turns out The Doctor is controlling Bessie by remote control but to the untrained eye it looks like "magic".

The Dæmons is one of the stronger Third Doctor stories, in my opinion, and a great way to close out the eighth series/season.  Much like the later "gothic" era, I have a fondness for the more horrific stories, as I simply love a good scare.

However, I will admit one of the most satisfying parts of The Dæmons is the capture of The Master.  As I mentioned in my review of Colony in Space, the idea of having the same villain in every story had begun to get stale.  Now with The Master in UNIT custody, it means that the following series/season could feature other villians or monsters in addition to the Master.

Thanks to the capture of The Master in the Dæmons, it allows the series to feature other villians and monsters, and for the opener of the next series/season, we will witness the return of the most famous Doctor Who adversaries of them all, The Daleks.