Story #151: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988-89)

Harry -
Well, my string of warm and fuzzy feelings about this era was bound to end sometime. And it has.


Sarah -
You held out far longer than I did. 

There are a lot of things I'll tolerate in Doctor Who -- wonky sets, bad performances, interesting stories let down by their production, not very good stories elevated by production and/or acting -- but I cannot abide Doctor Who being boring. I was so unengaged by this story that I couldn't even become angry about its contemptuous depiction of its own fans. I just wanted it to be over.


Harry -
By the end, I found the Gods of Ragnarok to be the most sympathetic characters. They were sitting there bored to the point of rage and I felt for them!


Sarah -
I have never related so strongly to any baddie before this. I was ready to turn everyone to ash by the end of it.


Harry -
I don't know if the story was supposed to be an allegory of Doctor Who (ie. the TV programme) struggling to avoid the wrath of almighty forces (ie. the heads of BBC) by proving its value to them, but that's what I got out of it.


Sarah -
The allegory wasn't particularly subtle.


Harry -
Depicting the gods as cruel, impatient and without a shred of humanity must have gone over like a lead balloon in the BBC Controller's office, but that's fine. Depicting fanhood the way it did was not fine. JN-T may have been okay with biting the hand that feeds, but it was not okay to slap the show's supporters in the face. We can all relate to the Whizz Kid's boundless enthusiasm for the Psychic Circus. I think we've all been there. For the show to characterize that enthusiasm in the cringey way they did was awful.


Sarah -
Poor Whizz Kid, doomed for being a Barker. Not cool, JN-T. Not cool.


Harry -
But before we get to any of that, let's spend an entire episode watching everyone travel to the scene of the action. That's always a promising start...


Sarah -
OHFORCRYINGOUTLOUD! The first episode had to be the most useless in Doctor Who history, with the lamest cliffhanger I can remember -- the Doctor asking Ace if they're going into the circus. We've just spent the whole episode getting you to the damn circus, but keep us on pins and needles about whether or not you're actually going in. What a shock when they enter the tent at the beginning of episode two. Who saw that coming? 

I may have been too bored to be angry while watching, but it's apparently caught up with me now!


Harry -
I made a point in my notes that the "Are we going in or aren't we?" back and forth eventually got excruciating. Before that, the encounter with the fruit stand lady was mildly amusing... until they actually ate some of her food offerings. People should never eat food on camera. It never looks pleasant.


Sarah -
That was VILE. Surely, there should have been some other way to kill screen time.


Harry -
They enter the circus! The pace suddenly picks up as the Doctor is picked out of a sparse crowd and invited to perform. Naturally he's delighted and makes his way forward. Ever-skeptical, creeped out by the clowns, and sensing that this story is going nowhere, Ace bolts.


Sarah -
Once again, Ace becomes the only reason to watch a story. What would we do without Sophie?


Harry -
The Doctor ends up stuck in a cage with a cluster of other people who were lured to the Psychic Circus by its mass-mailed promos. There's the grunting Nord, vandal of the roads.


Sarah -
The lamest vandal in history!


Harry -
There's Captain Cook, a pompous windbag. There's also Mags, the Captain's companion and a native of the planet Vulpana. Nord is called forward as the next contestant in the circus's talent contest. He steps into the centre ring and delivers a strongman performance, winning a series of "9" scores from the judges. Then he's asked to make a joke. Unable to think of anything, the judges turn on him with a score of zeroes, after which he is immediately killed. You never know what you'll see next at the Psychic Circus!


Sarah -
The rapping ringmaster seems a bit forward-thinking for 1988. Not that he managed to be any less irritating than any other part of the story.


Harry -
At first I was impressed by the Ringmaster's American accent. Then I discovered he was played by Chicago's very own Ricco Ross. He's still active on TV in the States. Do you recognize him from anything else?


Sarah -
I didn't recognize him, but looks like he's been in tons of stuff.


Harry -
As the story drags on, the Doctor cottons on to Ace's suspicions and realizes that something sinister is going on.


Sarah -
I was really bothered by the way he kept dismissing Ace's concerns. Listening to Ace usually turns out to be the right choice.


Harry -
The people running the circus and luring people to their deaths were not always this way. It used to be a friendly hippy circus with high ideals until something -- or someone -- threw a shadow over it. The performers know but they won't say. And so it drags on, with the Doctor and Ace facing danger and eluding capture in various scenes. Seriously, this one would have been better as a three parter, there was so much padding here.


Sarah -
Oh, how I kept wishing for a three-parter!


Harry -
Finally, the Doctor works his way into an arena built of ancient stones. There sit the Gods of Ragnarok, eternally bored and demanding entertainment. I have always disliked their appearance, their demands, everything about them. It's the Celestial Toymaker all over again, only this time there's three of them. Oh the irony in that this story pivots around characters who are bored.


Sarah -
We feel their pain!


Harry -
As Ace, Mags and Kingpin track down a Powerful Medallion which holds the secret of the Gods' power, Sylvester gets to do some magic tricks. He genuinely seemed to enjoy himself during that bit.


Sarah -
I suspect he may have been the only one. It all felt a bit smug to me.


Harry -
Anyway, medallion arrives, they toss it to the Doctor, he deflects the lightning bolts of death, and brings the whole damn thing crashing down around the Gods.


Sarah -
Um, hooray. I guess...


Harry -
The Doctor strolls out of the circus tent seconds before a final tremendous explosion. That's my favourite moment of the whole thing. Too bad it took way too long to get to that point. Again, this would have been better as a three parter, but there's not point going on about it. This circus is over and not a moment too soon. Let's move on!


Sarah -
It's really the only memorable moment from the story. I'm so ready to move on!


Harry -
Best Line: "Anybody remotely interesting is mad, some way or another."

Favourite Moment: the Doctor strolls out of the circus tent just before the explosion.

Lasting Image: Ian Reddington as the demented Chief Clown.

5/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "You're just an aging hippy, Professor." 

Favorite Moment: Ace wearing the Fourth Doctor's scarf. My favorite moment has absolutely nothing to do with the story. How sad is that? 

Lasting Image: The Doctor walking from the explosion. 

4/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #152: Battlefield...

Story #150: Silver Nemesis (1988)

Harry -
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...

Story #149 - The Happiness Patrol (1988)

Sarah -
Are you happy, Harry? I will be so glad if you are happy.


Harry -
Yes, happiness will prevail! What a totalitarian slogan, like something out of North Korea, or Thatcher's Britain.


Sarah -
Helen A was clearly modeled on Thatcher. Sheila Hancock was brilliant as Helen A!


Harry -
Brilliantly grotesque, and always on message.

After a story packed with loads of location and exterior filming, the Doctor and Ace arrive next at a human space colony far in the future. The grim sets and bleak atmosphere belie the utter madhouse they've just landed in.


Sarah -
I don't want to be critical of the sets, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the "Paradise Towers" sets had simply been redressed for "The Happiness Patrol".


Harry -
The sets certainly had that feel. This time, it reminded me of being trapped inside a shopping mall after dark, complete with tinny muzak still playing.


Sarah -
I don't think I was a big fan of the whole aesthetic of the story. The sets, with the exception of the Kandy Man's kitchen, were underwhelming. 

Fortunately, there were some amazing guest actors who managed to sell the story.


Harry -
I'm guessing that they made the colony look extra grey so that the Happiness Patrol would present a more insane contrast when the Doctor and Ace run into them.


Sarah -
I completely agree on that point.


Harry -
Before that, they encounter Trevor Sigma, a census taker played by John Normington (aka Trau Morgus). The census taker is a secretive sort, adding to the mystery of the place. The Doctor decides the only way he and Ace can get to the heart of things is by getting themselves arrested. Enter the Happiness Patrol.


Sarah -
It's hysterical that, after so many years of being detained and arrested, the Doctor is finally trying to do it on purpose.


Harry -
And what a presentation. It's a troop of Amazonian women in candy floss wigs and short coats, carrying huge guns that were probably re-painted after Dragonfire. They march our friends to the Waiting Zone, a kind of prison without walls. There, they encounter Harold V, another non-prisoner who used to write jokes for Helen A. Now, he's condemned and gloomy as hell.


Sarah -
The Doctor's conversation with Priscilla is hysterical. It's not a prison, but you can't leave: 

DOCTOR: Is this a prison? 
PRISCILLA: A prison? Of course not! This is the Waiting Zone. There aren't any prisons on Terra Alpha. Miserable places. 
DOCTOR: So there's absolutely no chance whatsoever that this could be a place of incarceration, and we're free to leave at any time. 
PRISCILLA: Well, yes and no. This isn't a prison, but cross that line and you're a dead man.


Harry -
Meanwhile, Helen A watches with delight as another condemned man is executed by being drowned in liquid candy: the dreaded "fondant surprise" method of death. To complete the circle, it turns out the executed man was Harold V's brother, and Harold V is electrocuted immediately after. Fun place!


Sarah -
It's a laugh a minute in this town. I know the death by fondant is supposed to be gruesome, but I found it kind of funny. Is that so wrong?


Harry -
The executions are carried out by the Kandy Man from his lair in the kandy kitchen. Is this not the most bonkers character in all of Doctor Who?


Sarah -
Oh, he definitely tops the bonkers list!


Harry -
He's a robot with a seriously bad temper, wrapped in giant pieces of confectionary. The look, the voice, all completely mad.


Sarah -
OMG, that voice! It's INSANE! I love when he answers the phone with, "Kandy Man."


Harry -
Perhaps the best satires are the ones that present the most over-the-top parodies? I wonder who the Kandy Man was meant to represent, if this story is a slam on Thatcher's Britain.


Sarah -
It's been suggested that the Kandy Man represents capitalism, which seems appropriate.


Harry -
The Doctor and Ace split up from the Waiting Zone. Ace is brought to audition for the Happiness Patrol, the least Ace-appropriate job one could imagine for her. She befriends one of the Patrol members, who turns out to be as miserable as anyone else.


Sarah -
One of I like about this era is how Ace often ends up making a pal in the course of her adventures. Her friendship with Susan Q is lovely.


Harry -
The Doctor meanwhile makes a friend of Earl Sigma, and they make their way to the kandy kitchen.


Sarah -
New friends for everyone!


Harry -
After being threatened and shouted at by the Kandy Man, they escape down to the tunnels underneath the colony. There, they meet the native species of the planet -- a race of anthropomorphic rodents. I hope I'm not alone in saying there was not one line of dialogue spoken by the rodent people that was comprehensible. Did you catch anything that they said, Sarah?


Sarah -
Not a word!


Harry -
Anyway, the rodents did perhaps too good a job of representing "the little people" in Helen A's miserable domain. I just didn't care for them. The misery of the Patrol members, the Kandy Man's abusive relationship with Gilbert, and even Helen A's unshakeable projections of happiness were fascinating for their repulsiveness.


Sarah -
Were they meant to be the miners, crushed by Thatcher's evil policies?


Harry -
Ah yes, that would fit.

Naturally, the Doctor is not impressed by Helen A when they meet each other in her headquarters. Having seen enough, he does the most Doctory thing he could do and stirs up a rebellion. First, he turns the tables on the Happiness Patrol with a (not very well acted) display of over-the-top happiness, making them look like killjoys. As confusion and fighting breaks out among the ranks, the workers of a sugar factory revolt and the colony begins to fall out of Helen A's grasp. If it were only that easy in real life to topple a regime.


Sarah -
I love that the Doctor's reaction to meeting Helen A is to declare he's taking the government down!


Harry -
And he does! The Happiness Patrol falls into disarray, the killjoys emerge from the shadows, and dozens of sugar factories join the revolt. Down in the tunnels, both the Kandy Man and Helen A's hideous pet Fifi meet their doom. Helen A's partner Joseph C steals away in the escape shuttle with Gilbert.


Sarah -
Looks like Joseph C has a new partner for adventures and hijinks! And we thought Dennis would never leave Maggie.


Harry -
Seeing that the gig is up, she packs her bag and makes to split the scene, until a final confrontation with the Doctor. He takes no joy in her overthrow, railing at her regime of fake joy. Poetic justice is served when she find's Fifi's corpse and breaks down in tears.


Sarah -
Right after commenting that she thought love was overrated.


Harry -
The ironic title of this story fools no one. This was a gloomy story about totalitarianism and phoniness. I thought it worked as a quicky three-parter. It was almost too simple on an allegorical level, but I'm hard pressed to think what they could have spent more time on. The rat people? No thanks. At least they'll be happy to get their planet back, and I'm glad that they're happy.

Best Line, from the man at the Forum box office: "We always have a full house because attendance is compulsory."

Favourite Moment: Harold V throws a big phony smile at Priscilla P when he sees her spying on him.

Lasting Image: the Kandy Man!

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line, from Ace : "I want to make them very, very unhappy."

Favorite Moment: Daisy questioning Helen A as things are falling apart about whether or not she just might be unhappy. The forces turn on their leader!

Lasting Image: The Kandy Man, of course!

5/10

Our marathon continues with Story #150: Silver Nemesis...

Story #148 - Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)

Harry -
The 25th season of Doctor Who kicks off with an anniversary episode, taking the Doctor and his new companion Ace back to the place where it all began: Coal Hill School, 1963.


Sarah -
"Remembrance of the Daleks" has always been my favorite story of the McCoy era, and after re-watching it this week, It's still in my top spot. We'll see where it is when we finish season 26, but it will be hard to beat.


Harry -
The Doctor has unfinished business to take care of. Back in his first incarnation, he planted a trap to lure the Daleks, who are now embroiled in a civil war between imperial and renegade factions. In this way, "Remembrance of the Daleks" concludes a trilogy that began with "Resurrection of the Daleks" and continued with "Revelation of the Daleks". I can't begin to express how long it took for me to remember the correct order of those titles.


Sarah -
Ha! I was having this conversation with Mr. Smith and kept mixing up Resurrection, Revelation, and Remembrance. There so much continuity and retconning in this story -- and I love it!

I also love the cold open and the shot of Earth with voices of JFK, MLK, and De Gaulle, signaling the era we're entering. So evocative.


Harry -
The Doctor and Ace stroll up to Coal Hill. He's curious and she's hungry, bordering on hangry. She heads to a nearby diner, leaving him to investigate a van with a massive aerial. Before you know it, he's popped inside and introduced himself to Dr. Rachel Jensen, who seems bemused but unalarmed.


Sarah -
Don't forget the creepy little girl watching them from outside the school!


Harry -
She's very creepy.


Sarah -
Ace leaps into 1963, seemingly not understanding how anachronistic her clothing and radio are in a era with no "street cred." Her confusion over the pre-decimalization money is a nice touch. These are the sort of things that should be confusing to a time traveler and it's good to be reminded every now and then how extraordinary the companions' lives really are. The monetary system, of course, won't be the only part of 1963 that gets under Ace's skin. 

One of my favorite characters is Rachel Jensen, Chief Scientific Officer to a proto-UNIT-type military organization, who has been drafted into service from Cambridge. She's a precursor to the future Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. I can imagine Rachel and her assistant Allison bumping into Barbara Wright in the not-too-distant future and striking up a fast friendship.


Harry -
So many nods to the past already. Dr. Jensen is totally a retro Dr. Shaw, and Group Captain Gilmore is just as Brigadiery as the Brig himself. It's no surprise this government organization got their own series of audio adventures from Big Finish.


Sarah -
Have you listened to any of the audios? I've not dipped into that series yet, but I've always been intrigued. Simon Williams played Captain James in my beloved Upstairs, Downstairs, so I always enjoying seeing him in this story.


Harry -
Have not heard any of that series yet. Perhaps it's time we took a side trip. The Group Captain doesn't crack a smile during the entire story. He's virtually a parody of the stiff-upper-lipped English officer class. I liked how Rachel and Allison became increasingly sarcastic towards his military ways as the story went on.

I also liked how the Doctor eased his way into their company almost as if they were expecting him.


Sarah -
He really does just insert himself into the situation, doesn't he?


Harry -
He certainly helped out when the military pinned down a hostile inside I.M. Foreman's junkyard on Totter's Lane (squee!). After several futile rounds of fire from the troops, the Doctor destroys the hostile (aka a Dalek) with some of Ace's nitro nine. What a fantastic, action-packed opening scene.


Sarah -
"Ace, give me some of that Nitro-9 you're not carrying." It's a great scene. As many times as I've watched "Remembrance of the Daleks", I still feel a little thrill when that first Dalek reveals itself.


Harry -
It was a jarring moment when the Doctor matter-of-factly noted that the Daleks will eventually conquer Earth. Ace was a bit taken aback by that one.


Sarah -
It would be jarring news, especially having just met your first Dalek.


Harry -
Dusting himself off, the Doctor lets her in on his secret: he has used the Hand of Omega as bait to lure the Daleks. However it seems he's been too successful, and both warring factions are making for Earth quicker than he'd anticipated.


Sarah -
Did he leave it to lure the Daleks or did they just figure out where it was? I was a little confused on this point. The First Doctor hadn't encountered the Daleks before he visited Earth in 1963. Did he come back to plant it? 

It's really brilliant to have the Doctor has shown up not long after he left Coal Hill School with Barbara and Ian. So timey-wimey.


Harry -
I'm sure in the Doctor's timey-wimey timestream, he managed to find a way to return to London 1963 in his first incarnation, finding a funeral home in which to store the weapon. The CGI of the levitating casket was some of the best we've ever seen on this show. It's almost heartbreaking to know that just as the show was shaking off its "wobbly sets" notoriety, it was about to be paused.


Sarah -
I'm afraid we've got loads of fist-shaking over stuff like this in our immediate future. Doctor Who was getting SO GOOD in the Cartmel era.


Harry -
Anyway, in addition to the cracking new Counter-Measures characters, this anniversary story brings back some familiar faces. The Coal Hill headmaster was played by Michael Sheard, who appeared in no fewer than six different Who stories. And it was fantastic that the blind vicar was played by none other than Peter "PACKER!" Halliday.


Sarah -
Mr. Smith was more than a little startled when I shouted "PACKER!" Fortunately, he's mostly used to this sort of behavior from me. 

I hadn't made the connection to "Remembrance of the Daleks" when the Series 8 story "The Caretaker" aired in 2014, but appreciated Steven Moffat's continuity link. I'd forgotten about the headmaster assuming that the Doctor was at Coal Hill to apply for the Caretaker job -- and I love that he showed up 51 years later to accept the position.


Harry -
Mindblowing, era-linking continuity is wonderful.


Sarah -
Isn't it?


Harry -
After snooping out a Dalek transmat machine, and eluding death at the hands of another Dalek, there's a quirky pause to the story as everyone splits up for the night. Ace departs with Mike Smith, whose mum runs a boarding house. The Counter-Measures team goes to regroup, and the Doctor slips into the same diner from before. There, he has a philosophical conversation with a man behind the counter. It was a strange few minutes, but it let everyone catch their breath after a breakneck first episode.


Sarah -
I absolutely adore the diner scene. Apparently, it was nearly cut for time, but McCoy insisted that it stay in. It's a wonderful moment and I'm glad it survived. John's meditation on how the desire for sugar led to him being British, rather than African, is a perfect fit for a Doctor Who story. It made me think of the First Doctor's lecture on how they must not change one thing in history while time traveling. The Doctor's conversation with John is an amazing way to remind us of the consequences of choices. "Every large decision creates ripples."


Harry -
At daybreak, the Doctor buries the Hand of Omega in a nearby cemetery, while human operatives of the two Dalek factions look on. The headmaster was clearly under control of the imperial faction, but here's a big bombshell: Mike Smith is in league with the renegade Daleks and their fascist human cronies. Oh Mike how could you!


Sarah -
Cutie pie Mike is not the good guy he seems -- in league with the Daleks and a racist, to boot! 

Doctor Who doesn't always succeed when trying to deal with social issues, but Ben Aaronovitch's script does a great job of equating human racism with the Dalek's obsession with racial purity. Ace is there to most effectively call out everyone on their BS.


Harry -
Her reactions to the casual racism of Mike and his mum were perfect. The 60s were not all that long ago for a person from the 80s, but Ace still found the open-faced intolerance shocking. It's incredible to think this was only Sophie's second story, yet she's nailed the character. Ace comes at us as a bundle of emotions, conflicted feelings, strong opinions and bold moves; the average teenager, in short.


Sarah -
She is absolutely amazing! It's so refreshing for a companion to be given so much to do and Sophie gets everything right. The scene where she confronts Mike about his betrayal is amazing. I want to stand up and cheer every time. 

"Remembrance of the Daleks" also features the ultimate Ace scene -- the one that will always be shown to represent her character -- when she beats up a Dalek with a baseball bat. It's one of the most lasting images in the entire history of Doctor Who and makes Ace the baddest badass to ever travel in the TARDIS!


Harry -
The contrast between Ace and Mel is like night and day. You can't imagine Mel swinging that baseball bat, or leaping through a glass window, or telling Mike to his face that she wished he was dead. I love Ace's badassery.


Sarah -
I can't even conjure up that image. Mel could never call anyone a toe rag!


Harry -
Somewhere between Revelation and Remembrance, was there a switcheroo between the identities of the Dalek factions? Here, the renegade faction -- led by a mysteriously Davros-esque controller -- is actually the original gunmetal grey Daleks of Skaro. The imperial Daleks are now the gold and white ones, led by the round-domed emperor Dalek. This confused me for the greater part of an episode before I figured out which side was which.


Sarah -
I had the same reaction, trying to figure out which faction was which. I imagine there are a dozen audios and books to fill in the gaps in the televised storyline.


Harry -
It would be no surprise to learn that Davros' renegade faction had become the dominant one.  Either way, the human collaborators end up as so much detritus under the onslaught of Daleks that mass in London. Radcliffe's men are all gunned down, and Radcliffe and Mike end up getting betrayed.


Sarah -
Radcliffe was a slimebag from the beginning, but you couldn't help but hope that Mike could be redeemed. Alas, we reap what we sow. 

In a interesting twist, the little girl is possessed by the renegade Dalek controller. The Doctor explains that the Daleks need a creative mind to allow them to be non-rational -- and there's nothing more creative than a child's mind. She manages to escape the carnage, because a child could never be killed in Doctor Who.


Harry -
The Doctor performs an often hair-raising balancing act, trying to keep the military at bay, trying to make sure the right Dalek faction captures the Hand of Omega, trying to keep the collaborators from bungling things up, and trying to keep Ace out of trouble. He pulls it off, just barely.


Sarah -
And look, there's our old pal Davros! After "Genesis of the Daleks", it feels like you're not a proper Doctor if you don't get your scene with Davros.


Harry -
Davros has to be there to wrap up the Dalek civil war trilogy, and to be the one who seizes the Hand of Omega at last. While Dalek factions continue battling in the streets (including the Special Weapons Dalek, squee!), Davros faces the Doctor again via the teleport that the Doctor rigged up with sound and video. Terry Molloy was extra greasy as Davros this time out. It looked like there was actual black goo coming out of his mouth. So grotesquely gothic!


Sarah -
This version of Davros has been through the wars and Molloy makes you feel every bit of it. The moment when the Emperor Dalek is revealed to be Davros is epic. I've seen this story so many times, but I still had a brief moment of surprise. That's some good storytelling!


Harry -
The Doctor provokes Davros into activating the Hand of Omega, not realizing that it is about to trigger a supernova that will anihilate all of Skaro, then return to destroy the imperial Dalek ship. The last minute turnaround that Davros always pulls at the end is somewhat ridiculous. One minute after raging like a maniac about total power and the oblivion of Gallifrey, he's reduced to mewling and begging the Doctor for pity. 

Hey Davros, it's so transparent don't bother! You really are a terrible actor.

Skaro blows up real good, and so does the imperial ship.


Sarah -
And Skaro is no more...for now.


Harry -
The explosives crew must have had the time of their lives working on this story. The explosions throughout were massive.


Sarah -
Good work by everyone on the crew in this story.


Harry -
It was curious that they showed Davros' escape pod getting away from the exploding ship. I wonder if that meant that they planned to bring him back again soon, or maybe it meant the opposite?


Sarah -
We'll never know, I guess.


Harry -
After the Doctor talks the final suriving Dalek into self-destructing, the creepy little girl is freed from the mind control under which she had been held, and that's that. Presumably the Hand of Omega was destroyed. I can't recall hearing about it in any other stories since.


Sarah -
I expect it to show up in the 13th Doctor's era -- after Peter Capaldi's 27th series ends.


Harry -
If only!

What an amazing story. Perhaps the only disappointing thing was the rather abrupt ending. We didn't get a final scene of the Doctor and Ace with the Counter-Measures group, unless you count the very brief funeral procession. As we discussed above, I'd be keen on checking out some of the group's audio adventures.


Sarah -
It is a bit abrupt, but I love the final exchange: 

Ace: We did good, didn't we? 
Doctor: Perhaps. Time will tell. It always does.


Harry -
For now, the Doctor and Ace quietly take their leave and Coal Hill School can go back to normal... for now.

Best Line:
MIKE: Ace. 
ACE: Go away. 
MIKE: Ace, I didn't know it was the Daleks. I was just doing Mister Ratcliffe a favour. 
ACE: Do me a favour and drown yourself. 

So blunt, haha!

Favourite Moment: Ace bashes a Dalek to smithereens.

Lasting Image: the Counter-Measures team.

8/10


Sarah -
I've been looking forward to this story since we started this project, but wouldn't allow myself to watch it before now. I'm happy I don't have to wait to rewatch it again!

Best Line: 
ACE: But this is Earth, 1963. Well, someone would have noticed. I'd have heard about it. 
DOCTOR: Do you remember the Zygon gambit with the Loch Ness Monster? Or the Yetis in the Underground? 
ACE: The what? 
DOCTOR: Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched by only its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself.

Favorite Moment: Ace telling Mike off. 

Lasting Image: Ace beating on the Dalek like a boss!

9/10

 


Our marathon continues with Story # 149: The Happiness Patrol...