I was looking forward to watching this story again after many years. My memories of "Silver Nemesis" were not the greatest.
Certainly the strongest memory was that this was an epic triple-threat adventure for the Doctor and Ace, as they fended off three -- three! -- different groups of villains. This was definitely "bums in seats" material from JN-T. We've already had a Dalek story this season, and now we get Neo-Nazis, Elizabethan conspirators, and Cybermen. Wow!
Sarah -
I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen this story before. Oh wait, I did -- TWO stories ago. "Silver Nemesis" feels like a 14th-generation copy of "Remembrance of the Daleks". It's pretty much the same story with the addition of a weak script, flat direction, and the most over-the-top guest stars Doctor Who has ever seen.
Harry -
Savage, Sarah! But I see your point. Multiple factions converging, conveniently, in England to recover a lost relic of incalculable power. We've just seen this one.
Sarah -
I'll have to warn you that I have some very strong feelings after watching this story. What a huge disappointment for the official 25th Anniversary story.
"It's the 25th Anniversary? Let's give them Cybermen -- and make them extra silver!"
Harry -
They were so shiny.
I did like watching part one, as the various strands came together outside Windsor Castle.
The Neo-Nazis holed up in South America was right out of The Boys from Brazil. De Flores, played by Anton Diffring, started off as the perfect icy teutonic mastermind.
Sarah -
On an episode of Scooby-Doo, maybe! I found his performance so irritatingly dull and so on-note. And what was with his troops? What that the gayest camouflage ever? I was waiting for them to form a kick line and break out in Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries. They were so camp!
Harry -
De Flores did get less menacing as the story went on. He started off icy and brutal, and I could imagine him as the kind of leader who was forever disappointed by his campy troops. By the end, he just wandered from scene to scene imagining himself enslaving the entire planet. I mean seriously, what was his plan?
a) play some Wagner
b) assemble a corps of eight to ten shock troops
c) seize alien technology
d) enslave planet
He's missing a few steps there, I think.
Pro Tip: no character with an ascot ever enslaves a planet.
Sarah -
Seriously!
Harry -
Lady Peinforte was more mysterious. Played by Fiona Walker, we didn't even learn her name until several scenes in. Is she a rogue time lady? Is she a black sorceress? Whatever she is, she possesses both the knowledge of time travel, and the cold-bloodedness necessary to kill her mathematician. I liked the scene where she and her hired hand Richard imbibed some kind of potion that carried them screaming to the exact same spot, 350 years into the future. Imagine waking up one day to find your house has become a restaurant.
Sarah -
Happens all the time, I imagine. I had a flashback to "The Awakening" and imagined everyone in 1988 Windsor thinking, "Good Grief, more fucking Civil War reenactors!" as Peinforte and Richard wandered around town.
Harry -
Everyone from 1988 seemed to take their fancy dress in stride. Other than the two lunkheads who mistook them for social workers.
Sarah -
The skinhead scene is so out of the blue that it almost works. When the Doctor discovers them later in the story, hanging upside down from a tree in their small clothes, Mr. Smith commented, "Another JN-T fantasy come true." Having read Richard Marson's book, I suspect it's not far from the truth!
Harry -
Aye.
Sarah -
I went back and forth on Walker's performance. Most of the time it was much too much, but I quite enjoyed her near the end when she was sitting on a bench muttering, "All things will soon be mine."
Harry -
She went insane quite well. I didn't get her lunging into the rocket and becoming one with the nemesis statue, but I guess that was part of its power.
Sarah -
And I loved her scenes with Ms. Remington, the random American who seems to show up for no other reason than to be a cameo for Dolores Gray:
PEINFORTE: All things will soon be mine.
REMINGTON: I guess they will, honey.
Of course, but that point I had given up on the story and was looking for anything worth remembering.
Harry -
The limousine ride was so overplayed for laughs I hated it.
Sarah -
I have to admit hate-loved it. It was ridiculous, which made it perfect for "Silver Nemesis".
Harry -
So after a ferocious gun battle in which most of De Flores' troops were slaughtered by the Cybermen (so disappointing), everyone splits up, then gathers again at the site of Lady Peinforte's future tomb, and future-future safari park.
Sarah -
Of course they do.
Harry -
It must have been chilling for Richard to see his own gravestone, complete with the year of his death. And yet he held it together better than Lady P.
Sarah -
Richard was such a sad, but loyal, little man. He didn't deserve any of this.
Harry -
I like to think he was an ancestor of Richard Branson in a kind of Blackadder way. The resemblance was there.
Sarah -
That is so perfect that I've just added to my head cannon. Like Baldrick, he can only get smarter in future lives.
Harry -
You're right about this story, Sarah. By the time part three rolled around, it was just a series of chases and escapes which is ridiculous for a short three-parter. JN-T must have thought it sounded amazing on paper. "The Doctor and Ace will race against time to stop a secret Gallifreyan weapon falling into the hands of not one, not two, but three competing evil factions: a mysterious time travelling lady, a band of Neo-Nazis, and Cybermen!" Have to admit, it sounds great on paper. But the fact that it was mostly chase scenes means they put little else into the story. We never find out Lady Peinforte's back story, which is the one thing I would have liked to know in more detail.
And... we were all reminded of the completely ridiculous design flaw that the Cybermen still hadn't gotten around to correcting, ie. their fatal allergy to gold. It was amusing to see little old Ace and her slingshot take out a whole gaggle of them with some gold coins. But on the other hand it was also quite silly.
Sarah -
Which brings us to the only thing that worked for me in this story -- ACE! Once again, Sophie Aldred outshines everyone else on screen. She made the story watchable -- from the Courtney Pine concert to her final battle with Cybermen. My favorite moment is when she admits to the Doctor that she's afraid, but won't leave his side when he offers that she can go back to the TARDIS. That's our Ace!
Harry -
Ace was WICKED. And she and the Doctor got to wear a fez. It's interesting to see the bits and bobs of the past that Steven Moffat picks up and brings to the new series.
Sarah -
Mr. Smith and I were happy to see the fez pop up. I'd forgotten that.
Harry -
I remembered that this story had a bit of a bad rep, and my memories were not entirely positive, but I found myself liking "Silver Nemesis" more than I thought I would. It's got a lot of flaws, but the chemistry between Ace and the Doctor is wonderful. I love how they spent every other scene hanging around, listening to music, or just lying in a field while death and mayhem gathered elsewhere.
Sarah -
Their chemistry really is the best thing about this era of the series.
Best Line: Lady Peinforte: "This is no madness. Tis England."
Favorite Moment: Ace bravely standing by the Doctor's side
Lasting Image: Lady P. and Richard walking through contemporary Windsor.
4/10
Harry -
Best Line:
DOCTOR: Don't you find it embarrassing asking for autographs?
ACE: Not as embarrassing as forgetting what you set your alarm for.
Burn!
Favourite Moment: Ace and the Doctor chillaxing in the countryside.
Lasting Image: the super silvery Cybermen.
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #151: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy...
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