Story #218 - A Good Man Goes to War (2011)

Harry -

There's a line in this story that captures how I feel about this particular episode, and some of the New Who era in general. It's when River Song describes the Doctor's actions at the battle of Demon's Run:

"He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further."

First, the rising part. "A Good Man Goes to War" is Doctor Who if it was done as a Star Wars space opera. It is massive. The huge cast features multiple heroes, villains, a space militia, a mysterious dark order and a colourful assortment of aliens and robots. There are explosions in space. There is a battle in a Star Warsy hangar. Betrayals, revenge, loss and hope. At the centre of it all is the Doctor, who is so powerful that the mention of his name sends enemies to flight.

To me, this story is Doctor Who fallen so far from what it should be.

In a way, I get it. When Star Wars first appeared on the scene with its big budget effects, casting, music and universe-building, Doctor Who suddenly looked like a shabby small screen cousin. I wonder if part of the new era's aggrandization of the Doctor and his aura is a reflection of the first two showrunners wanting to show that, yes, Doctor Who can be just as big and overwhelmingly Hollywood as any movie franchise.

I'm sure a lot of people liked this story and this direction for the show, but I didn't. I prefer the wandering madman in a box, exploring the universe and righting wrongs on a smaller scale, with one or two companions along for the adventure. Doctor Who as overblown space opera doesn't turn my crank.

Sarah - 

I’m with you Harry. I was looking forward to rewatching "A Good Man Goes to War" for the first time since it aired in 2011. I remembered it being a very busy story that wasn’t very satisfying for me. The big reveal that River is Melody Pond wasn’t much of a surprise by the time it happened. 

This episode is too much like the Doctor as a Jesus figure in the Tennant Era. All three showrunners have dabbled with the Doctor being the most important person in the universe. It’s just not interesting. 

Harry -

It's not interesting no matter which showrunner wants it to be.

Sarah -

I don’t have much else to say. Let’s go kill Hitler, or whatever.

Harry -

I'm of the let's-get-it-over-with mind there.

Sarah - 

Best Line: “He's the last of his kind. He looks young, but he's lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. And wherever they take you, Melody, however scared you are, I promise you, you will never be alone. Because this man is your father.”

Favorite Moment: Amy and Rory discussing Melody’s naming.

Lasting Image: The Doctor bringing the wooden cot from the TARDIS.

5/10

Harry -

Best Line: "I speak baby."

Favourite Moment: the Doctor's silly reaction to River's reveal.

Lasting Image: the hangar battle.

2/10

Our marathon continues with Story #219: Let's Kill Hitler...

Story #209 - The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood (2010)

 

Harry -

Five seasons into New Who, and the Silurians make their first appearance.

Sarah -

After watching "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood" I immediately wanted to watch "Doctor Who and the Silurians" -- all seven episodes!

Harry -

I always liked the premise of this ancient Earth species, but not how they were written after their debut in the Pertwee era. The Silurians gave writers the opportunity to hold a mirror up to ourselves, depicting humans as the ultimate exploiters who took an entire planet away from its earliest inhabitants. Over time though, the Silurians were turned into just another set of shambling monsters for the Doctor to defeat.

New Who, new opportunity to reset the relationship.

Unfortunately, so much of part one took an awfully long time to get going.

Sarah -

It seems like there should have been more Silurian stories between 1970 and 2010, but "Warriors of the Deep" was the only one. The Moffat years definitely made up for lost time, but we'll get to that later.

I actually liked that the story took its time, giving us a chance to get to know the characters. Mo and Ambrose and their dyslexic son Elliot, Ambrose's father, Tony, and my favorite character of all -- Dr. Nasreen Chaudhry. By the time things begin to happen, I was absolutely invested in their wellbeing.

Harry -

There's definitely more time in a two-parter to get to know everyone. Ambrose's true character came to the fore quickly enough. Anyone who can gather a cache of deadly weapons in a matter of minutes is someone to be suspicious of.

Sarah -

Right? That was unexpected.

Harry -

Nasreen is certainly fascinating because of the question: does she count as one of the Doctor's companions? She met the Doctor, entered the TARDIS and even travelled in the TARDIS. These are some of the basic criteria when it comes to companions. Granted, the TARDIS didn't actually fly, rather it plummeted down a shaft, but it did move from one place to another with the Doctor and Nasreen inside.

Sarah -

I would love to have Nasreen back for some more adventures. Maybe when Amy and Rory are busy doing normal human stuff.

Harry -

"Oh I love a big mining thing," the Doctor says early on, perhaps remembering previous adventures inside big mining things. There were several call backs to the Pertwee era here, not just with the Silurians. The gigantic drill burrowing 21 kilometres to the planet's core was reminiscent of "Inferno". It was also quaint that the entire drilling operation seemed to be operated by fewer than a half dozen people. No expensive crowd shots. Matt Smith going undercover as a cleaning lady might have taken things too far.

Sarah -

Now that you've mentioned it, I'm quite disappointed he did't go undercover as a cleaning lady.

Harry -

Amy getting pulled beneath the ground was full-on horror. It kicked off a series of incidents where once again it looked like things were spinning out of the Doctor's control. He could barely keep all the human characters in one place. Rory kept getting in his face to remind him he was screwing up. The use of the Eleventh Doctor's uptempo theme music was effective here, adding to the "race against time" mood.

Sarah -

That scene was so tense. Even knowing Amy was going to be safe, I still myself at the edge of the sofa, holding my breath. With Amy out of the scene, we get a bit more time with Rory, who still isn't sure about the Doctor. By this point in a new companion's (or companion's companion) time with the Doctor they have usually warmed up to him more than this. Rory still doesn't fully trust the Doctor and it seem reasonable after all he's experienced. I completely understand when he yells at the Doctor,“You should have tried harder.”

Harry -

Thankfully, as he suspected, Mo, Amy and Elliot have not been killed but only taken hostage. This set up a cut to another full-on horror moment. The masked surgeon creeping towards Amy with a giant needle. So simple, yet always effectively terrifying.

Sarah -

That's quite a moment. Fortunately, the Silurians are civilized and reasonable...or are they?

Harry -

Soon enough, we see that the Silurians have good and bad eggs among them. The scary surgeon turns out to be a gentle scientist who has spent centuries quietly researching life on the planet's surface. It's the military Silurians who want to start a war and destroy humanity.

Sarah - 

Silurians and humans have a lot in common, don’t they?

Harry - 

Amid the hostage taking and gun-pointing, the Doctor sees a glorious opportunity for homo sapiens and homo reptilia to negotiate a peace and share the planet. But after a promising start, it all comes undone when the Silurians learn of Ambrose's act of violence against Alaya. The Silurian military goes on a war footing and the peace talks collapse. There's nothing left to do but run.

It's very tragic, especially for Ambrose. One moment of fear condemned her to a lifetime of guilt. Hopefully Elliot grows up to be the best of humanity.

Watching this story as North Americans, can't help but think about the analogy to Indigenous peoples and imperialist settlers, and how humans got it so wrong. We can only try to be the best of humanity going forward.

After the chaotic escape from the mess left below, the story appears headed for a quiet, reflective conclusion. Then Rory dies.

I honestly forgot this happened at the end and it blew my mind. Especially as there was no magic wand solution forthcoming from the Doctor or the sonic screwdriver. Amy losing all memory of him was just awful to watch. 

Sarah - 

I’d almost forgotten the whole Rory dying story arc. It’s heartbreaking that Amy doesn’t know why the Doctor is sad about Rory’s death. We move from heartbreaking to crushing when Amy waves to herself off in the distance and thinks she sees someone else – and then forgets.

Harry - 

I can only imagine the shock and horror that fandom must have experienced between this story and the next one. I'm so eager to find out what happened, let's go to it!

Best Line:

ELLIOT: Have you met monsters before?

DOCTOR: Yeah.

ELLIOT: You scared of them?

DOCTOR: No, they're scared of me.

Favourite Moment: Malohkeh turns out to be friendly. What a relief.

Lasting Image: Restac and her warriors.

7/10

Sarah - 

Best Line: 

"Not got any celery, have you? No. No, not really the climate. Tomatoes, though. You'd do a roaring trade in those."

Favorite Moment: Amy and Rory waving to themselves

Lasting Image: The imprisoned Alaya

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #210: Vincent and the Doctor...

Story #130 - Warriors of the Deep (1984)

Harry -
Hmm, a second consecutive story featuring a reunion of classic monsters. I wonder if the success of "The Five Doctors" went straight to JN-T's head.


Sarah -
It feels more like an attempt to recapture the magic of "Earthshock". Unfortunately, "Warriors of the Deep" is not up to the challenge. It’s a great premise – and I always love a good base-under-siege story – but the execution doesn’t live up to the promise. How often is that the story of Doctor Who?


Harry -
One might say that that's the story of Doctor Who in the 80s.


Sarah -
The fact that production had to be moved up by two weeks didn’t help. Margaret Thatcher had called an election and the studio space was going to be needed for news coverage. JN-T faced the choice of rushing production or chucking the story altogether. It’s satisfying to lay the blame at Thatcher’s feet, but I wonder if things would have been much better if they’d had those extra two weeks. 

The opening scenes are promising. It’s a fabulous set and everyone’s sporting Michael Jackson-esque uniforms. The eye make up on all the crew and 1940s hairstyles on the women are a little confusing, but I imagine there’s a lot of time to kill when you’re that far underwater.


Harry -
The futuristic boiler suits with flared shoulders are distinctly 80s. As for the hairstyles, the men look like leftovers from the 70s, while the women's huge sculpted hairdos speak of the future! Astonishing feats of structural engineering and hairspray there.


Sarah -
It really was the hairspray decade. I speak from personal experience.


Harry -
Speaking of haircuts, Peter Davison has gotten a trim during the offseason and begins Season 21 with a clean look.


Sarah -
I know it's almost heretical, but I so much prefer Davison's hair at this length. Apparently there was a bit of a kerfuffle with JN-T over the cut, which he'd gotten for an All Creatures Great and Small special. Can't have Tristan walking around looking like a shaggy Time Lord, you know!


Harry -
I like this shorter cut because it most closely resembles how this Doctor will look in "Time Crash", 23 years later. But that's far into the future, and for now this story goes even farther.

The TARDIS returns to Earth and settles into a quiet orbit, but is quickly intercepted by Sentinel 6, a defense satellite. It is the year 2084 and two superpowers are vying for control of the planet. Sentinel 6 demands that the TARDIS identify itself and suspects it of being a spy ship for "the other side". The Doctor tries to communicate with Sentinel six with his affable charm, but it doesn't work (will he ever learn?). The TARDIS is shot at, and makes an emergency landing inside a sea base under the ocean.


Sarah -
Tegan wanted to see Earth in the future, didn't she? Probably not what she imagined. I was thinking about how relevant this story was in 1984, but how outdated the idea of two superpowers in a cold war standoff is today. Looking back, it all seems so simple, doesn't it?


Harry -
Emerging to explore, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough quickly gain the attention of base security. Time for some running through corridors! The Doctor gets in a lot of running and kicking by the end of the first episode, which concludes with him falling into a pool of green-looking water. Action scenes! Tegan's first instinct is to turn back and help the Doctor, but Turlough pulls her back as his instinct for self-preservation kicks in. "Face it, Tegan, he's drowned!" Frigging Turlough man.


Sarah -
Seriously! The Doctor has barely hit the water and Turlough is ready to hoof it.


Harry -
What a creep.

One thing I liked about the world Johnny Byrne envisioned for 2084 is that the two superpower blocs are left ambiguous. Is it still East vs West? Americans vs Soviets? The makeup of the seabase hints at an international crew. It's a nice throwback to the internationally-staffed bases that came under siege in the Troughton era. Anyway, I liked the ambiguity (or the shoddy lack of detail, if you want to take a darker opinion).


Sarah -
I'll go with ambiguity for now.


Harry -
Byrne even throws in a transhuman concept in the character of Maddox, the backup sync operator who has cybernetic implants that allow him to download vast stores of information and control the base's systems. Nice trick, but one that soon enough offers an opportunity for sabotage.


Sarah -
That implant portal really creeped me out. He might as well be wearing a red shirt -- it's pretty clear from the moment that we meet him that he's not going to last long. When the intern is put in charge of things, they can only go wrong.


Harry -
Speaking of sabotage, it seemed wildly ludicrous that the Doctor wanted to trigger the base's nuclear reactor as a not-so-small diversion to help him and his friends escape.


Sarah -
I was going to suggest that it must have seemed like a reasonable idea at the time, but that just sounds silly.

While the apes are busy mucking about on the sea base, the planets other inhabitants are plotting their return. The Silurians and Sea Devils are back for the first time since the Jon Pertwee era! What did you think of these new versions?


Harry -
This is a different race of Silurians from the ones we met previously. They seem to speak telepathically, or at least without moving their mouths all that much. As they initiate their plans to attack the ape creatures and reclaim the planet, they awaken their "Sea Devil cousins" (awkward ape name in use here) to serve as foot soldiers in the assault.

I like how the story plays out with dual narratives. There's the human power blocs eyeing each other across cold war frontiers, with the Doctor and his friends getting stuck in the middle of things, but there's also the unseen third power bloc observing silently. While the humans chase each other around the sea base, the ancient masters of Earth gather their forces for a new course of action.


Sarah -
I found myself wanting to be on the Silurian/Sea Devils side, but they were just as annoying as the humans.


Harry -
Leading the charge will be a new creature: the Myrka, a gigantic killer reptile.


Sarah -
Or, two men in a modified pantomime horse costume. I know we've often declared monsters to be worst ever, but the Myrka may just take the cake. I'll take the snake in "Kinda" over this any day.


Harry -
By now, the Doctor has spotted the Silurian battle cruiser outside the base. Having let the Silurians down before, he wants to avoid seeing the same disastrous end to this encounter. Unfortunately, while the Doctor is hoping that he can forge a new peace, the Myrka smashes its way in and starts to wreak havoc on the humans who are not too terribly interested in peace talks at the mo.

In the ensuring mayhem, Tegan is injured by a falling door, but her friends manage to free her. Nice work by Janet Fielding to affect a limp for the remainder of the story, by the way.


Sarah -
She's a pro, Our Janet. Not many can recover so gamely from a styrofoam injury.


Harry -
It takes some acting chops to make styrofoam look heavy.

As for the saboteur, Dr. Solow, she's not as lucky as Tegan. After re-programming Maddox into a killing machine, she finds herself fleeing down a corridor -- right into the path of the Silurians' monster. Her attempt at karate-kicking the monster into submission fails entirely, and she is killed by the giant lumbering Chinese dragon wearing a Godzilla costume the Myrka.


Sarah -
OMG, what was with that? I had to pause the video because I was laughing so hard. I just wanted to go back and watch it over and over. If only she knew some Venusian Aikido!


Harry -
The story feels so long for a four parter, despite the fact that most of it is essentially one long chase/hide/pursuit cycle. It's a story of clashing factions, none of whom seem interested in talking to each other at all. The Silurians are content to let the humans wipe themselves out in a global war that will ensure their genocide. The Doctor manages to avert catastrophe by putting himself in the sync operating device and shutting down the weapons systems. By then, humans and lizards have wiped each other out. The bodies are piled two deep -- the final scene almost looks like the end of Hamlet, with everyone lying dead.

"There should have been another way," the Doctor laments, and I can't help feel the same way. Byrne's story had a lot of promise and I really liked a lot of it. Unfortunately, and I hate to keep dwelling on this, the production is a let down. But I'm still going to give "Warriors of the Deep" a decent score. This was only the second time I've ever watched it and I liked it more than I hated it. How do you feel about it?


Sarah -
A dismal ending to a dismal story. I wanted to like it more that I did. I don't think I've seen "Warriors of the Deep" since the 80s, but I didn't remember much about -- and now I know why. It's immensely forgettable.

That general negativity aside, I have to say the model work is excellent. Mat Irvine rose to the challenge on this one. 

More importantly, Peter Davison is excellent in this story. It feels like he's finally come into his own as the Doctor, but maybe it was just the freedom of knowing it was going to be his last season. I think this is one of his strongest performances so far.


Harry -
Maybe it's best if we set this one down for a good long sleep again. Maybe we'll revisit it in the future and see if it's aged any better by then.


Sarah -
I'll set a reminder for 2084.


Harry -
Sounds about right.

Best Line: "Brave heart, Tegan." "Brave heart? It's gonna kill us!"

Favourite Moment: Dr. Solow's karate kick.

Lasting Image: the Myrka lumbering through corridors.

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "There should have been another way," could be the mantra of the longtime Doctor Who fan. 

Favorite Moment: The struggle to save Tegan from the styrofoam door. 

Lasting Imagine: That Karate Kick. I want to watch it again right now!

6/10 

 



Our marathon continues with Story #131: The Awakening...

Story #52 - Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)

Harry -
I have to admit right off the start, Sarah, I have a lot of love for this story. It contains many of my favourite elements for a Doctor Who adventure. One could argue it sets the template for many more stories to come in this era.


Sarah -
One of my favorite things about the story is that it's an entirely new premise. We've seen alien invasions/base under siege stories. We've seen the Doctor and his companions visit other times and places. In "Doctor Who and the Silurians", we encounter aliens who aren't really aliens -- they were here first! The humans are the invaders!


Harry -
"This planet is ours. It always has been."

Nice role-reversal. Malcolm Hulke takes that premise and lets us view it from many different angles: UNIT sees the Silurians as a threat to be eliminated; the Doctor and Liz see an intelligent civilization to be treated respectfully; the scientists and civil servants see an unforeseen development that must be managed to their advantage. Even within the handful of Silurians, there are peacemakers and warmongers. So many shades of grey, so many bad decisions being made.


Sarah -
So very many shades of grey! This is such a nuanced and grown-up story. I can't imagine watching it as a child and appreciating much more than the cool Silurian costumes and third eyes.

Speaking of Silurian third eyes, they seem to be more useful than a sonic screwdriver. Is there anything they can't do?


Harry -
Oh dear, you have to feel bad for the Second Doctor. He always wanted to meet prehistoric monsters - and who does the Third Doctor encounter in only his second adventure? The Silurians and their giant dino-watchdog. Prehistoric monsters! Somewhere deep within the Doctor's psyche, you can picture his previous incarnation pouting, arms crossed, stamping a foot and spitting out a Troughtony profanity like "Crumbs!"


Sarah -
What a great image!


Harry -
I touched on some of the general characterizations in this story, but the characters themselves are wonderful. I love - LOVE - Peter Miles as the neo-fascist director of the facility. Dr. Lawrence and his comb-over of death - what a truly awful person.


Sarah -
Such a hideous, petty, dictatorial, self-serving bureaucrat. Miles’ performance is brilliant. The scene where he lunges for the Brig is so startling. In the end, of course, karma has its way with Dr. Lawrence. He really should have gotten the anti-viral inoculation.


Harry -
That was an epic death scene.  Then there's Quinn and his frustrated accomplice Miss Dawson. One of them sees the Silurians as something to exploit for his personal gain, the other sees them as something to annihilate.


Sarah -
I positively adored Fulton Mackay’s performance as Dr. Quinn. His smooth exterior never cracked and made me think of a line from a Billy Bragg song: “He’s got the bonhomie of a game show host.” Yet another in a long line of scientists who think they can control alien forces, his downfall is inevitable.

It was also fun to see the brilliant Geoffrey Palmer as Masters, the Permanent Under Secretary. His introduction the Doctor was one of my favorite exchanges:

Dr. Lawrence: "This is the Permanent Under Secretary."
The Doctor: "Yes, well, I've got no time to talk to under secretaries – permanent or otherwise."
Masters: "May I ask who you are?"
The Doctor: "You may ask!"


Harry -
Burn!

Another thing I like about these early UNIT stories is the array of officers we only meet once - like Captain Hawkins - before presumably they are reassigned somewhere else.


Sarah -
This story took it’s toll on the UNIT forces, didn’t it? I wasn’t keeping track, but it seemed they lost so many soldiers along the way.


Harry -
It was funny early on because virtually everybody except UNIT managed to slip down to the caves. Then UNIT went charging in and promptly got themselves trapped, complete with comedy music.

A brief aside on the subject of music.  I'm loving the hints of experimental scores that are to come in the Pertwee era. Granted, I'm not a big fan of the kazoo music that we hear each time the Silurians appear, but I like the thinking outside the box. I know there's a name for that instrument, and it harkens back to ancient times, but it's slipped my mind at the moment.


Sarah -
The Silurians' kazoo theme may just have been my least-favorite part of the entire story. It was so grating.


Harry -
Back to the story. I credit the Doctor for having the naivety to believe that these two endlessly squabbling civilizations could ever agree to share the planet. It was a characteristic moment when he extended his hand in friendship when confronted by the wounded Silurian (and could they not have had proper names?! "Old Silurian" and "Young Silurian" is something only those arrogant apes above ground would have come up with).


Sarah -
It was naïve, wasn’t it? Still, the ethical debate between the Doctor and the Brigadier was a pivotal scene. How did you feel about the Brig misleading the Doctor on what would happen to the Silurians?


Harry -
We have such warm, nostalgic feelings for the Brig these days that it's shocking to see him in this story. Barging around, upbraiding people left and right, shooting a Silurian, and ordering what is essentially a holocaust. I'll admit right now that my lasting image selection will be the mushroom cloud rising up from the destroyed caves. A freaking mushroom cloud! Alistair how could you?


Sarah -
He is a military man, through and through. There are many moments of tension between the Doctor and the Brig as they jockey for power. The Doctor isn't inclined to have someone else in charge -- and neither is the Brig.


Harry -
It was a shocking end to a very grown up story. The issues, the characters, and the portrayal of the Doctor as a determined peacemaker - something we haven't seen since he negotiated a peaceful settlement between humans and the chameleons in "The Faceless Ones."


Sarah -
One more slight complaint. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in Liz's character development. In the early episodes, the brilliant Dr. Elizabeth Shaw has become "Miss Shaw" in a miniskirt. She finally gets to do science stuff later in the story and stands up the Brig with, "I'm a scientist, not an office boy." But the change is disappointing after her first story.


Harry -
For a seven-parter, it moved pretty quickly apart from Episode Six, which was a series of recurring set pieces: the Doctor in the laboratory working on an antidote; the Brigadier in his makeshift office working the phones; and Liz shuttling between the two. It's boring, but forgivable in that these scenes were meant to show the passing of time. Am I becoming a Malcolm Hulke apologist? Hah!


Sarah -
It's hard to make doing science terribly exciting, isn't it? The contemporary Doctors would just know the answer and be all smug about it. The Third Doctor needs to get there -- no matter how long it takes!


Harry -
I suppose, dear Sarah, you should ask how I feel after we've watched our tenth Pertwee six-parter.


Sarah -
I must admit that I did find myself thinking that it could have been an episode or two shorter.


Harry -
Another pair of seven-parters are straight ahead. Shall we wrap this one up and move on, whilst shaking our heads at the Brigadier?

Best Line: "I take it you're another member of the UNIT team?" "Yes, depressing isn't it?" Oh snap, Doctor!

Favourite Moment: the Doctor extends his hand in friendship to the wounded Silurian.

Lasting Image: the mushroom cloud.

8/10


Sarah -
Best Line: “That’s typical of the military mind, isn’t it? Present them with a new problem and they start shooting at it.”

Favorite Moment: Liz standing up to the Brig.

Lasting Image: The Doctor and the Brig driving in Bessie. It made me giggle.

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #53: The Ambassadors of Death...