Doctor Who Season 3-Eps 4-6

So… for those of you just catching up (look here for the first part), this is a continuation of my review for Doctor Who Season 3 being shown in the UK.

In the last three episodes we got introduced to Martha, met Shakespeare and found out there’s another being like the Doctor out there somewhere. Oh, and the Doctor still misses Rose. Other things happened, but were greatly sidelined by these points.

The lack of fully developed stories is all thanks to producer Russel T Davies, who feels that the audience needs an emotional journey to hook them rather than a fully fleshed out story. So far this season, he has pretty much fulfilled that claim by sacrificing story telling opportunities in favor of emotion journeys. It’s not for me to say if this is a good or bad idea, as the ratings are high and the show is well received. Personally, I think he’s selling both the program and the viewers short.

Then again, I’ve watched the entire 26 odd years of Doctor Who programming, so I have more than a vested interest.

4. Daleks in Manhattan- No, I’m not being silly. That really is the title.

Seeing as how the Daleks have been in three episodes of the new series so far, it’s odd that there has not been a two part story yet. Looking at their previous new Who appearances; they got a deeply involved look in 2005’s ‘Dalek’, were a big-screen invasion force in ‘Parting of the Ways’ and returned to their state of biggest baddest monster ever in ‘Doomsday.’ But apart from ‘Dalek’, the monsters got side-lined each and every time for some ‘emotional story’ or other on each episode. ‘Parting of the Ways’ and ‘Doomsday’ both centered on Rose. This is very strange since the Daleks are the most popular and recognizable monster in Doctor Who.

The only classic series stories that did featured a storyline beyond ‘stop the Daleks‘ are the 1984 tale ‘Revelation of the Daleks’ and the 1988 adventure ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, both of which are highly regarded in their own ways. So, making a Dalek story not just about the Daleks can be done… so why does the new series get it so wrong?

The pre-credit sequence is by now a standard ‘unknown character gets attacked by a monster,’ but this time there is a twist. These characters, winners of the silliest accents of 2007- Laszlo and Tellulah, return to take over the entire story in part two. I had no idea.

Set in depression-era New York City, the first of the 2-part Dalek adventure continues the Martha/Doctor unrequited love storyline that has been developed so far. She points out that the Doctor has been taking Martha to every place he took Rose, something that the Doctor refuses to even comment on. The duo investigate disappearances in a flop town set in Central Park called Hooverville. Since the missing persons are unemployed and unwanted citizens, the NYPD could care less and it’s up to the Doctor and Martha to figure out where these people are going.

Protecting the citizens of Hooverville is Solomon (I suppose they passed on naming him Subtle), a wise and well-meaning man trying to make sure that his township functions on trust and does not dissolve into anarchy. Solomon and Hooverville are both really great and add a lot of meaning to a Doctor Who monster story.

Desperate for work, many of Hooverville are working for the sleazy businessman Diagoras on completing the Empire State Building. Diagoras, in turn, is working for a group of Daleks lead by Dalek Sec (last scene performing an ‘exit stage left’ routine in ‘Doomsday’). Aiding the Daleks are weird and never really explained pig-men. We are told that the pig-men are cast off experiments of the Daleks and slaves… but we never see them do anything other than run down tunnels squealing.

In fact, it appears that either Diagoras insists on using local labor or the mob-controlled Workers Unions of NY are terrifying even to alien killing machines.

The Diagoras and Hooverville stories finally intersect when the evil businessman arrives to ask for workers to help in the sewers. The Doctor, Martha, Solomon and a hilariously accented Tennessee boy, Frank.

Enter standard Doctor Who creeping about in dark tunnels scenes (which are a welcome breath of old air) followed by a standard being chased by monsters in tunnels scenes. Frank gets developed as an innocent young man looking for work and then gets captured and our heroes escape through a manhole to enter story A, Tellulah. How conveeeenient.

Here’s a short clip from the episode

Meanwhile the Daleks reveal that they are performing an experiment that is nutty even by their standards. They’ve torn off bits of themselves and attached the panels to the still unfinished tower atop the Empire State Building. Why? I dunno. Then Dalek Sec opens up his shell to apparently ‘eat’ Diagoras… which is a weird visual. Even the other Daleks have no idea what to make of this.

The finale involves musical numbers, Laszlo revealed as a pig man, Martha literally trying to upstage Tellulah who has now almost completely taken over the story and the Doctor discovers that the Daleks are alive and well and can also afford NY City rent.

The bastards.

The whole shebang ends with the reveal of what is admittedly the oddest visual ever on Doctor Who, a human/Dalek hybrid. In effect, a man in a nice tailored suit with a squid for a head.

For all its glitz and atmosphere… this is only a sub-par episode. Setting a story in New York of the 30’s is a very decent idea. Focusing on unemployment in the city of promise is another great idea. Taking that focus away to musical theater… not so good. Bringing back the Daleks so that they can stand around and talk to each other, another uninspired idea. Using monsters that ape the Nazi party, setting the story in a time when the Nazis were gaining power and then not having the Daleks meet Nazis… is so dumb I’m almost speechless. All things considered, Tennant was on good form and though Martha is almost forgotten, she’s still a star to me.

Prisoner remake?

Remember the story that UK’s SKY TV was set to remake Patrick McGoohan’s groundbreaking television series, the Prisoner?

Rumor was that Doctor Who #9, Christopher Eccleston has been linked with the lead role. He has since denied any involvement and gone on to many stellar projects including appearing in the US series, Heroes.

The script was to have been supplied by Bill Gallagher, of BBC’s excellent northern drama series Clocking Off.

The rumor deepened when Variety Magazine said that Universal Pictures was set to have Batman Begin director Christopher Nolan develop a feature film version of The Prisoner.

Both rumors are almost a year old now… so someone should be coming up with new ones soon.

I’m happy with either rumor, to be honest. I adore Clocking Off and Batman Begins made me believe a comic book movie can be something a viewer is proud to watch, rather than a silly throw-away thing.

I think you would need the weekly TV format to properly tell a story (whatever that would be) rather than a film, but… Nolan would be the movie guy.

Series creator, McGoohan, has said that he would be involved in any version that goes forward, so… we got that going for us. I can’t see why or how a sequel or remake could be made… but if it were done well I’d forgive that.

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Star Trek-reduce, reuse, recycle

Before Kirk, Spock and Bones headed the Enterprise into the velour-clad future of Earth, a spikey and angry Captain Pike sat in that lounger of destiny, the Captain’s Chair. Spock was a little more anxious and bushier, the uniforms a little drabber and the phasers custom-made for the fidgety personality. This was the Star Trek of the pilot episode, the Cage. A spectacular story, the NBC execs passed on it. They pointed out that Captain Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter, was too wooden. They also felt that while the special effects were impressive, the story was far too slow-paced and boring.

After two years of preparation, Gene Roddenberry went back to the workbench to start over. What he returned with became one of the grandest franchises in sci-fi and television history, Star Trek.

And say what you will about Shatner as Captain Kirk, but he is never wooden.

In Season One of the sci-fi TV series, Star Trek, the producers hit upon a fantastic idea. Rather than discard the pilot story, they would reuse the footage and not only get to show the viewing public their work,but use up TWO hours as well!

It was genius in every way.

While the first part is rather slow, it introduces the viewer to the idea that a before Kirk and the rest, there was a different Enterprise crew headed by Captain Pike, Spock’s former superior. Kirk receives an urgent call to assist Pike who is convalescing in a Star Fleet Hospital. But when they arrive, it becomes clear that it would impossible for Pike to ask for anything at all. Due to an industrial accident, Pike has been reduced to a near vegetative state and confined to a robotic wheel chair. Restricted in movement, Pike is also restricted in speech and can only make yes or no comments with a flashing light.

While Kirk investigates the confusion, Spock (who had secretly sent the distress message himself) arranges for the Enterprise to retrieve Pike and head off in the direction of the forbidden planet, Telos IV. By the time Kirk catches up with the ship, Spock has somehow arrested himself for treason and prepared a court martial trial in which he uses a visi-screen to display his defense, which consists of footage from ‘The Cage.’

Brilliant, eh?