Recent viewings

I indulged myself in a variety of recent DVD releases over the weekend.

First up, the new Cyberman box set.

REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN - I hadn't seen this for 7 or 8 years, or however long it was since the last VHS reissue. Having fond memories of seeing it when originally released in the mid 80s, while it's not the best production ever to grace our screens, it's not a bad story and Tom Baker's Doctor is really at his barmiest best. Same goes for his entire first season actually. Must rank as one of my very favourite seasons.

Despite having nicked the Gallifreyan logo (actually it first appeared here), the Vogans haven't dated as badly as I had expected them to, and if anything, it's the poor old Cybermen that look a bit crap, with their smiley faces and rubber suits painted silver. At least the spark guns atop of their helmets still looked good.

The thing I love about this story is the fact it's set on the same Nerva Beacon on which the Ark in Space, a couple of stories earlier, was set, albeit in a different time. And I also came to appreciate what a good team harry and Sarah made. Ian Marter remains underrated.

So, to continue the fun and momentum, I followed this up with SILVER NEMESIS. Oh dear, what a waste of time that turned out to be. It was worse than I remember, with the Nemesis meteor looking more like the biggest jacket potato known to man.

In fact I got so bored, just half way through the first episode, I elected to watch it with the commentary on, which made it far more enjoyable.

After all the cyber-excitement, I got out my DALEK WAR box set. I hadn't seen the epic FRONTIER IN SPACE for ages, maybe a good decade ago, so I barely remembered it.

And it's brilliant! A great story, very ambitious and well cast, with Delgado's Master at his best, stealing the show. The sets were pretty good, the location work wasn't bad at all; everything about it worked for me, wrapped up in the typical early seventies charm of the Pertwee era.

And it's all go in the final episode, as the Ogrons are traumatised by a gigantic testicle sack on a cliff and the Daleks arrive for about 5 minutes - brilliant!

One of the bonus features worth a mention was the incredibly moving documentary on Roger Delgado. I felt genuinely emotional watching that. He laid down the blueprint for one of Doctor Who's most iconic and memorable villains.

A concluded my weekend Who marathon with PLANET OF THE DALEKS. It isn't that long since I last saw this on tape, but for the first time, here we have the entire thing n glorious technicolour, cleaned up and looking all the better for it.

Oddly, Planet works much better in black and white. The plastic Spiridon jungle and ice caves look all the more convincing, and in monochrome, the Dalek props looked less battered. But even so, it's nice to watch the whole thing in colour, and comical Dalek Supreme aside, it still stands up very well, and for once, even the Dalek ship looked quite good!

It is a shame, that despite everybody's best attempts, the studio-bound jungle just isn't convincing. The one quarry location shot where the Daleks are wheeled into the ice lake, looks superb, and I'm sure that if they'd had the budget to shoot the rest of the story in some woods somewhere, it would have been much better.

Still, a classic Pertwee Dalek story. Now, if only they'd hurry up and release DEATH and DAY....

Planet of Fire - feature length version

My copy arrived yesterday and even took priority over watching The Pandorica Opens.

Planet of Fire, for me, is one of the strongest stories of the 80s; a genuinely original and well-written story and a superb production. It is one of the many episodes I fondly remember watching as a young boy and being thrilled by, which, like many others from that period, still give me a great pleasure to enjoy today.

I hadn't seen it for some time, having decided to hold off watching the VHS until the DVD comes out.

Whilst I still intend to watch the original 4-part edit, I started off by watching the new feature-length version with new effects. Actually, I was surprised at how poor and corny some of the new CGI looked - yet in other places, it looked absolutely superb. Either way it brought the story right up to date and was an overall improvement.

I'm not so sure about some of the re-editing, and I'm sure they took the "Elton John" line out! It is interesting to compare Doctor Who (or any other TV) of this period to the fully-orchestrated, fast-paced show(s) we have today. Planet of Fire had many scenes with just dialogue and no music, which gave it a slight incomplete feel - however when the incidental music was used, it was so effective, being one of the programme's best incidental scores of that decade, by my book. Very atmospheric.

Planet of Fire may not be an all-action story, but it doesn't need to be. In addition, we have two significant events; the introduction of Peri, and the departure of Turlough, with his mysterious background finally explained.

Overall, I was pleased to find I still absolutely love Planet of Fire. There's also a short, but nice tribute to Anthony Ainley on the DVD, which sheds a little light on the elusive man behind the beard. I was lucky enough to meet him at his last convention appearance in 2003; as somebody terrified of his Master as a child, it was a genuine thrill, and I'm so glad I was able to have that moment. It's a great shame he's gone.

The great thing about the Kamelion Tales set, it I've still got loads more to watch! I've never seen The King's Demons since the original transmission, so I'm looking forward to that, and all the other superb value-for-money extras the BBC give us on these releases.

The Pandorica Opens...

...Well, as far as I'm concerned the Pandorica can close again. What a load of utter nonsense.

Why does Doctor Who need huge, overblown finalés? Can't we just have a good story?! Does it really need a story arc? In the end, what we have, is yet another one of those "let's bring everything together" waste-of-time stories.

For me this series has in most parts, totally lacked intellect and credibility, culminating in that silly episode. For the audience it's now aimed at, the show should be on at 4pm on a weekday.

Doctor Doom and Gloom

I'm actually starting to feel disillusioned with the new series. For me, it has 'lost' something.

On Saturday, I suddenly realised that I wouldn't be too bothered if I missed it. For the first time in over 25 years of viewing and loving the show!

Somehow, part of the enjoyment is watching it 'live' at the time of transmission. I suppose nowadays, knowing we have the iPlayer and BBC Three repeat, it's not the end of the world if I happen to miss it. But it was the fact that a certain feeling was gone that alarmed me.

And as such a dedicated and passionate fan, this is a very sorry thing to be saying.

I didn't dislike Saturday's episode, although it did remind me of the "Nannageddon" episode of The Mighty Boosh!!

Over the last 2 days I've spoken to 3 friends who watch the show. One hates it completely; can't stand Matt Smith. The other said he hasn't been as bothered about it and it isn't as good as it was, and the third echoes my own thoughts and feelings, in that the only good thing about the current series (and contrary to his initial misgivings), is Matt Smith.

Matt Smith IS the best thing about the show (luckily!). He is a superb Doctor. He manages to bring together aspects of previous Doctors, such as Tennant, Troughton and Davison yet make it his own. It's amazing how somebody of Matt's age can be both so old and so young at the same time!

I like Karen Gillan but somehow, Amy just isn't doing it for me. But the big disappointment I'm afraid, is Steven Moffat. And it is with huge irony I say this, as when I think about many of my favourite episodes from 2005 onwards - they're his. Some of the most original stories - again, the Moff. A self-confessed lifelong fan too - which in my book made him the perfect and ideal person to take over from RTD, who for me started off good, but slowly let things fall apart.

Now, The Eleventh Hour was brilliant. That really got the new season off to a good start, and The Beast Below, while a little odd, still worked; feeling new and original. But it's been a rapid downhill journey since then, with the utterly dreadful Gatiss travesty and horrendous new Dalek design. That as for me, the first warning sign.

I guess I'm disappointed in the decisions and choices the production team have made. For me it's stopped 'feeling' like Doctor Who, and that's what concerns me.

And I never thought I'd say that, but I am. Looking back, Series 1 with Christopher Eccleston was, for me personally (aside from the farting Slitheen), the best season of the revived show and most true to the spirit of the original show. I thought that was just how modern Doctor Who needed to be. Then he went and left...

So back to the present; and we're about half way through the season. I really hope that soon something is going to come along and change my state of mind.

Vampires of Venice

In short, boring and unoriginal. The same old kind of alien re-colonisation story that we've seen a thousand times over.

And aliens. Why not a genuine vampire story?

And Murray Gold's score - it's crap! In fact it's the same every week.

Shame really, since Matt Smith was again superb, and the episode looked fantastic... brilliant location work, great lighting, excellent costumes... and CGI monsters.

Sorry, it just didn't work.

Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone

It has to be said that the Weeping Angels, first seen in 2007's Blink are without doubt, one of the most scary and original enemies in Doctor Who's long history. So it was with great anticipation that we awaited their return. And they're back. Yet somehow for me, they just were not as effective a second time around. There's only so many times you can say "don't blink" for it to still have an air of tension about it. Time of the Angels was a superb first episode of the current series' first two-parter. It allowed tension to slowly build, and the story to be told at a steady pace. And the scene where the Angel suddenly appears from out of the screen was quite chilling, though highly predictable! However I found the plot and dialogue hard to follow, and I don't even remember what the cliffhanger was - all I do remember is the notorious Graham Norton animation that popped up at a crucial moment in the closing minutes of the episode! Cue 5,000 angry fans... Flesh and Stone proved to be an anticlimax. We still don't know who River Song is, or who she killed. I'd hedge my bets on her being a regenerated Rani. Or at least a Time Lady, given her understanding of ye olde Gallifreyan scripture. Overall I felt neutral about this episode. There was nothing exciting or original enough to make it memorable, although I found Matt Smith to be consistently good, and it's interesting to note, that this was the first story he filmed too. However, after the insult to my intelligence (and 29 years of being a fan) that was Victory of the Daleks, I found this two-parter relatively harmless, extremely well made, and it took itself seriously enough to be pleasantly enjoyable. And then... Amy Pond turns into a nymphomaniac! I'm sorry, am I still watching Doctor Who?!

Doctor Who and electronic music

Isn't it a lovely thing in life when your interests take a natural conversion? Last year, there was an excellent documentary on the rise of electronic music, Synth Britannia, on BBC Four. It featured artists emerged in the 1970s, such as Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, The Human League and John Foxx - basically many of my own favourite artists - and quite bizarrely, after watching it, I really fancied watching some late 70s Tom Baker-era Doctor Who!!

As a lover of Science-Fiction, with obviously, the good Doctor topping the list, I've always found that certain styles of electronic music somehow connect me back to the show. I fondly recall as a child, watching Peter Davison's episodes and listening to Jean Michel Jarre's "Oxygene". For me that was just a perfect combination! Still is!

Clearly, the original Delia Derbyshire theme tune arrangement is an electronic masterpiece; way ahead of its time, and something that still sounds unique and distinctive today. If they were to re-instate it, I'm sure it would work better than ever, not sounding at all dated. It is as well known and as big as the show itself!

Watching some of the old Hartnell episodes recently, I was impressed with the incidental music - in "The Daleks" for example, where in place of incidental music, we have a low, menacing and totally mysterious, haunting drone. For me this is far superior to any dramatic orchestral score.

And there's also the incidental music of the 70s and early 80s from Malcolm Clarke, Roger Limb and Peter Howell. Granted some of those analogue warbles sound a little dated today, yet still very appropriate and identifiable with Doctor Who.

Speaking of Peter Howell - his version of the theme tune still sounds absolutely superb today. It's probably my personal favourite version, being the one I grew up with. Yet its use on the intros of BBC DVDs, over the choice of the original, certainly says something. It just works. Totally appropriate - and, like the original, it hardly sounds dated today.

So in that sense, while the show has been updated with current trends and a modern take, I do miss the atmosphere of an electronic score, as for me, the two will forever go hand in hand.