Is That A Dalek In Your Pocket?

Like lots of folks I'm a fan of Doctor Who. Now truth told I'm a fan of the classic series and while I find virtue in the newer stuff I've discovered it sort of wears me out with attempts to heart-wrenching and poignant a little overwhelming at times when I just want some good old science fiction adventure. But I know I can be cranky about such things. One of the better Doctor Who shows I've seen in recent years was An Adventure in Time and Space which tells a almost certainly romanticized tale of how the show came to be and how William Hartnell (performed wonderfully by David Bradley) came to play the first Doctor. In that show I met Verity Lambert for the first time and learned of her significant role in launching the series. Without that special I don't think I'd have understood the picture above of Lambert embracing a Dalek, the genocidal alien cyborgs that made the show a hit. 

And then I found another one with Jill Curzon lovingly astride a Dalek. She was Peter Cushing's niece in the 1966 theatrical Doctor Who movie Dalek's Invasion of Earth 2150. I just got to see relatively recently and liked it quite a lot, much more than the first of Cushing's Doctor Who movies. I find I like the Doctor on Earth which is why Jon Pertwee is arguably my favorite Doctor. 

And then I was reminded me of another Dalek image, this one with Katy Manning ("Jo Grant" the spicy assistant to Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor) embracing one of the machines in a decided state of undress. (Those are nice boots you have to admit.) I assume now that this image, aside from being provocative as it showcases a former Companion in the all-together, is an homage to the original Lambert and Curzon photos. Either that or pictures of handsome women clutching alien death machines is a British thing I'm not yet fully cognizant of. 

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The Power Of The Daleks!

The Power of the Daleks is a curious bit of entertainment. It's a recreation of a lost story from the vast Doctor Who catalog. Apparently the BBC in a stunning bit of forward thinking erased a number of the vintage Doctor Who episodes so they re-use the magnetic tape the shows were recorded on. This splendid bit of insight has created a chasm in the Doctor Who lore with many of the vintage shows with the First and Second Doctors being completely or partially missing. The Power of the Daleks is one of the latter -- six episodes of a story which has been completely erased. Now they do have a soundtrack and that's the basis for this recreation. That original sound has been bonded with an animated recreation of the action which blends together to give something altogether different.

(Real Doctor Who and Companions Ben and Polly)

Patrick Troughton is the Second Doctor Who, taking on the role from the First Doctor William Hartnell. This first transition from one Doctor the next must have been a mighty event and it was neat to see this initial adventure. The Doctor's companions in this one are Ben and Polly and frankly that have little to do in this story (besides get captured and bicker a bit).

(Animated Doctor Who and Companions Ben and Polly)

The story is set on an Earth colony called Vulcan which as the story opens has just found a spaceship which holds three inert Daleks. An unwise scientist named Lesterson thinks these remarkable robots might be useful to the colony, which is under pressure from its masters to produce and from its population to improve conditions. There is much inner political strife between the Governor and his various subordinates and the Doctor gets involved when they think he's a visiting official who had been murdered before the Doctor's eyes. He uses this authority to gain access to the colony and attempt to exert control when he understands the threat the Daleks pose. He's unsuccessful of course and the Daleks are not only reanimated but begin to increase their numbers and the colony itself suffers an existential threat.

(Animated Daleks)

It's all good and rather typical Doctor Who fun but the gloss of the animation does make the watching a bit of a different experience. The humanoid characters are animated in a limited way which gives them limited motion  (especially when they try to walk -- South Park anyone?) but the movement of the Daleks is downright eerie. The animation does a superior job of giving the dastardly alien cyborg machines a convincing gloss and their silent motions are as effective as any I've seen for them in any Who adventure.

It's all rather typical for Who fans, but I found it very diverting. Recommended.

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A Doctor Visit!

I'm finally beginning to warm to the new Doctor Who. (Is he still "new" after two seasons --no but it feels that way.) I thought Peter Capaldi was an ideal choice for the next Doctor when he took the job on a few years ago, but instead of a cooler somewhat more level-headed Doctor, which I imagined him to portray, he seemed to be stranded in the part playing a parody of the Doctors who had preceded him. He babbled, he jeered, and he popped around like his spring was truly and properly wound too tight. I didn't like it as well as I should've, and only felt he found his own voice when he was being mean. That seemed to smack legit for this particular Doctor.

Of the old Doctors only Pertwee could be really convincingly mean, though several could be exceedingly grouchy or perhaps only cross. Of the new Doctors, Eccleston could be rather tough but always seemed capricious somewhat, and Tennant never could looking only sour. Matt Smith tried but it wasn't natural to him. It's natural to Capaldi who has the stern face to make you believe this Doctor can be a cold-hearted scoundrel when the situation calls for it, and in this season it has done.

This season he seemed to be growing more comfortable or the stories gave him more latitude, but whatever the case there was less and less capering about and more subtle communication. Early I was a bit doubtful, but later stories, after the obligatory Daleks saga, showcased a less frantic Doctor, less obsessed with his appearance as his hair has grown a bit and feels more natural, and he seemed more concerned with the people around him, genuinely. The mean is still there, but underneath is a legitimate and real caring. Capaldi I suspect is a more subtle actor with a looser face than his younger predecessors, able to communicate with an eyebrow raise what took the others a complete wink to indicate.

Some few spoilers below for those who haven't finished up with season nine yet.

Now that Clara Oswald has bowed out of the story line has once and for all, we will have for the very first time a fully Capaldi-Doctor effort. On a side note, they should never do extended episodes as the extra time almost always is wasted on repetitious scenes which add not a fresh beat to the proceedings, just maudlin sappy melodrama -- just saying. I miss the old days when companions could be left behind abruptly and surprisingly such as Sarah Jane was on the wrong street so very long ago, or killed off like Adric without all the hand wringing. That hurt; this new sappy way just grates.  I don't know who the next companion will be (I hope for a non-human, thought I doubt we'll get that), but I look forward to a new flavor and a fresh mix inside the T.A.R.D.I.S.

I even rather liked the sunglasses as opposed to the standard screwdriver, though I guess I don't mind the return of that classic gimmick. They are on the right track. But they can lose that stupid guitar still and all.

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Dr.Who And The Daleks!

Dr.Who and The Daleks is the 1965 movie which for all intents and purposes sits outside the vast canon of stories which inform the ever-growing Dr.Who universe. Apparently created as an attempt to cash in on the enormous faddish success of The Daleks, the arch-enemies of the Doctor, this story, such as it is, revolves around a future Earth on which a great war has raged leaving behind only a high-tech city of Daleks and some roaming hippie peacniks called the "Thals".

But to get there we first must meet "Dr.Who" (Peter Cushing), who in fact is called just that by Ian (Roy Castle) the boyfriend of Barbara (Jennie Linden) who along with Susan (Roberta Tovey) are the granddaughters of the doting but grumpy Dr.Who. No mention in this story of Time Lords nor that the Doctor is anything other than an eccentric old inventor who it turns out has built a Tardis (the name is not explained in any way that I noticed) which looks like a telephone box (again not explained) and which transports the quartet forward into time.

There they find the city of the Daleks, fecklessly explore it and fall victim to the rolling terrors who come in an array of bright colors. But they escape eventually after seeming to trick the Daleks, but then fall back into their clutches when a vital Tardis part is forgotten. At about this time we meet the Thals.

The Thals are a listless bunch of nomads, all sporting shiny blond hair and tired eyes. I guess they are supposed to evoke the Eloi of H.G.Wells' great novel The Time Machine, but I get more allusion to drop-out culture from them. They eventually join forces with Dr.Who and his "team" and battle the Daleks.

It's all pretty tiresome before it finally ends. There are missions and obstacles but none of it really seems to make much tactical sense and luck more than anything seems to win the day.

The story was adapted by Dell Comics and to get a look at that check this out.

This is not a very good Dr.Who story needless to say, but beyond that it's a rather tedious sci-fi effort across the board. There are a few intriguing sets and the Daleks do loom dangerously in a few scenes, but mostly the characters have to behave stupidly pretty continuously for the story to progress. It's hard to root for such boneheads, even if one of them is Peter Cushing.

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For Who The Bell Tolls!

Stumbled across the 2013 BBC movie An Adventure in Space and Time quite by accident during the most recent Dr.Who marathon in anticipation of the all-new Dr. Who (Peter Capaldi). I really had no notions of what I was about to see, but was quickly enamored and swept away by a surprising and fetching production which purports to chronicle (with I'm sure many a dash of romantic nostalgia) the creation and earliest days of the venerable Dr.Who television show.

The movie begins by focusing on a quixotic TV exec named Sydney Newman (Brian Cox) who has a notion for a sci-fi show for kiddies focused on time travel and history. He puts in charge a former protegee named Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine) a novice female producer who has to shake up the stodgy BBC infrastructure more than bit to get what she needs. Also in focus in the early stages is Waris Hussein (Sacha Dhawan) a British-Indian director who likewise is breaking ground socially and professionally at the BBC.

But the focus of the story soon shifts to the first Dr.Who, at the time the one and only Dr.Who, William Hartnell. David Bradley is frankly fantastic in the role of a veteran and more than a bit irascible actor who might just realize his career is winding down. It's profoundly compelling to watch Bradley as Hartnell, who at first resists the demands of the role, but then throws himself into full bore because of his professionalism and because he realizes the incredible impact the role is having on the children. He is a guy who, in the twilight of his career, is delighted to have such an incredible turn, savors it for what it is, and doesn't want it to end.

As an older man myself now, who is closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning, I identified more than a smidge with Bradley's fascinating portrayal. It's a hard thing to realize that your time is limited and your days are numbered, and that the number is rather paltry indeed. It gives a sense of urgency to lots of things, and Bradley's performance as Hartnell gets this core notion perfectly. His health failing him, we are struck by a man who doesn't want to leave the stage, but who knows it's time. None of us do, but we all know the end will come.

Great stuff. Better than most of the Dr.Who shows of the last few years which wear me out for the most part.

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Doctor Who Cares Anyway!

Pardon me while I rant a bit.

I had hopes that the new Doctor Who as portrayed by Peter Capaldi (visually an excellent choice) would be a welcome break from the overly exuberant hijinks of the last several years, a return to a more episodic more sedate style of storytelling with a more sober and resolute Doctor.

After one overheated episode I fear for the worst. There's entirely too much navel gazing in these stories, too much internal reference leaving the casual watcher a bit numb. The sentimentality drips off the screen in cloying pools as we get yet one more farewell sequence (how many did we get last season...three, four, seven?) . It makes me miss the days when episodes were distinctive and one had little to do with another. It makes me miss the days when despite the show being for kiddies it featured adults behaving more or less like adults.

As the back story of the Doctor yarns has accumulated and acuumulated, the attic of the TARDIS is getting positively cluttered. With the promise of a whole new regeneration cycle, I hoped (in vain I guess) that we were starting afresh with new story lines and a more open playing field free of the cumbersome history with which the Doctor Who series has become overloaded. I'd love to see a season free of Cybermen and Daleks, though the latter might be tough to pull off.

I'd like to see some fresh new monsters perhaps, or other types of mysteries. Let's have the Doctor deal with something other than his own convoluted history. Let the soap operaitcs recede behind the adventures for a while and gives us all a breather.

There's still a lot to see this season, and I'm judging on precious little evidence, but right this minute it feels like something of a missed opportunity.

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The Time Of The Doctor!

Finally got around to watching the Christmas special for Doctor Who. This one was a whopper, as it not only offered a smidge of a Christmas story, but yielded the finale for the Eleventh Doctor himself. Typically for this series of Doctors, the plot smashes along at machine-gun pace, dollops of back story and pinches of revelations dropping like snowflakes, look quick or you miss them. If you like Daleks, they are here of course along with Cybermen, the Silence (who are explained), the Weeping Angels (I am getting really tired of them), and other unnamed aliens, even a few Sontarans make a cameo.

The Matt Smith Doctor has been a huge success for the franchise, there's no denying that. And the new guy will have a time living up to what fans of the series have come to expect. I anticipate a wave of negatives as Peter Capaldi slides into the role, as many fans of this Doctor seem exceedingly fused to Smith's youthful vigor. But Smith was smart to dash away from the role that threatened to swallow him up, and may still do. His silly Doctor needs a rest, and I hope that Capaldi's Doctor is a tad more restrained and somewhat less goofy.

A stern and grumpy Doctor would be a neat break after a decade of dashing types have reconfigured the role to an extent, not always to its benefit. I'd also like to see the series become more story driven and less character controlled. You have to care about people to care about a story, I get it, but it seems too many newer Doctor tales are sappy, not crisp.

I hope for the best, as we enter a new time of The Doctor.

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Elisabeth Sladen RIP

Sarah Jane Smith has passed away. I'm not a Doctor Who fanboy or anything, but I do enjoy the series and when I first plugged into it so many decades ago, Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen were knocking it out of the park. Later I got to see her teamed with Jon Pertwee, and in recent years of course she's reprised her role on The Sarah Jane Adventures and in episodes of Doctor Who.


She was a gorgeous woman, and she had undefinable charm that connected with an audience immediately. Her wit, spunk, and sparkle made Doctor Who shine as it has not alas always done over the years. She will always be the best of the companions. God speed Sarah Jane.

Here's a link with some few more details.

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