Jettison the Karaoke Bar

Helloooo, space chums! Twice as Welsh and four times as Scottish, Dr. Who has returned to its ancestral (read: late Seventies) home in the Autumn BBC schedule. How thoroughly appropriate as we head into a modern Winter of Discontent.

After the perenially disappointing Mark Gattis Episode, it was generally accepted in the Blogosphere that The Girl Who Waited was really rather special.
 You'll be aware that, lovely as she is, towering Inversneckie lassie Karen Gillan has never won me over; I generally find the damaged and perma-scowling Pond an unlikeable, if thoroughly contemporary, Companion. However, 6:10 showed unequivocally that Gillan can act and the final exchange between (the marvellous) Rory and the Older Amy was affecting, while also showing how alien the Doctor truly is.The concept of a hospice that accidentally kills with kindness was a memorable one, although Amy's fate reminded me of lllyana Rasputin's exile in limbo in the Claremont/Buscema Magik series of the early 80s. I , like several others, wished the title had been "Rory's Choice" and I suspect, like Braga Star Trek episodes, this trauma will never be mentioned again. Nevertheless, 6:10 is one of the better stories this season, alongside the magical The Doctor's Wife.

"Call me". Poor Rita.

 Equally innovative but a little less convincing, this week's adventure, (6:11) The God Complex  was written by Toby Whithouse, creator of Being Human and author of School Reunion and Vampires of Venice. Stylish directed to echo The Shining and 1984's Room 101, it was a visually impressive episode but one that never quite seemed to coalsece.I put this down partially to a convoluted backstory that, like much of Amy's dialogue in any given episode, was muttered or gabbled and lost under the soundtrack. A crowd-pleasing reference to the Nimon, a convincing faux-companion, a scene-stealing cowardly (and sinister alien) and a number of surreal and dream-like images all served to obscure a story about faith and its loss.
While I imagined that the Doctor's nightmare was a dying Tardis, I feel the Lonely God theme was played out by the final Tennant stories, nor do I care much for the Doctor's soul-searching about imperilling companions, since it pretty much invalidates one of the key storytelling elements of the series. And surely nobody actually thinks we've seen the last of the Ponds?
The Sunday Herald is bitching today that the Cybermen are being disrespected by being used to prop up another sitcom episode with James Corden (actually Quite Good last year as the British archetype, Immature Fat Lad Who's a Bit Camp.) Personally, I think the monotonous "silver giants" need a good long rest, like they had in the Pertwee Years. I can wait five or six years before I hear them stomping about in their Cyber-flares again.

 Fourth on my reading list of recent reissues, Doctor Who and the Daleks was, I think, the fourth Target book I ever read. Written by David Whitaker, it famously gives an alternative account of the second serial, variously known as The Mutants or The Dead Planet. It's a terrific, pulpy read, evoking the mystery and the menace of the First Doctor; the deadly symptoms of radiation poisoning; and the repellant physicality of the Daleks. It also turns up the Peril Dial for the expedition through the caves to the Dalek city. The rift between Ian and Barbara, who are both less cosy, more worldly characters here, reminds me of the misunderstanding between David Innes and Dian in At the Earth's Core (or any of the Mars books, actually.) Hard-hitting Brit sci-fi for Sixties kids.
 If anyone's interested, I would like to see sexy new reprints for the following Targets: The Zarbi, The Doomsday Weapon and two later editions, The Ark in Space and The Enemy of the World.

And breathe....Mr. Quill and Mr. Oak

 Fury From the Deep is an audiobook reading of yet another Target novelisation; this time of Victor Pemberton's lost 1968  gas refinery-under-siege epic. I have to admit being bored by the original series soundtack release, especially the helicopter antics in the final episode. However, the audiobook is another matter altogether. Read by David Troughton, who provides an uncanny impression of his father's voice and scored with a variety of sound effects, it's a spooky Sixties adventure that features the departure of the timid Victoria. It never feels like a chore to listen to, even though it's very much a product of the formulaic Fifth Season. It's a pity AudioGo couldn't have used any of Malcolm Clarke's original soundtrack. I also wish they didn't use that inauthentic burbling Tardis sound in every reading . I was disappointed by one glaring error: Jamie was a Jacobite not a Jacobean!

It's only a paper cut, ya big jessie

So, Torchwood Miracle Day came to its inevitable conclusion with a rather ludicrous double Mexican Stand-off at either end of the Earth's vagina. Children of Earth's cynicism and its starry casting lent it a patina of Quality Drama a couple of years ago, setting the bar unfeasibly high for this US co-production. I found the mundane domesticity of the Welsh scenes jarred dissonantly with the American sequences. Similarly, Esther the Redshirt and the boorish Rex never seemed like three-dimensional characters when compared to Rhys or Gwen and the eccentricity (or just plain overacting) of Jilly, Shapiro and Oswald Danes grated on me.
Like the season finales of RTD Who, I had a feeling that Miracle Day was flying on a wing and a prayer: the Families' master plan seemed illogical and bizarre- or maybe that was the point.
The fate of Ellis Hartley Monroe, inspired by Goldfinger was creepy but the cremation of Dr. Suarez was truly horrific. The story was stretched unnecessarily over too many episodes but I was relieved that it finally revolved around Jack and his immortal existence. The Families are poised to be the continuing big bad guys if there is a subsequent series.

Coming Soon: Divorced beheaded died; divorced beheaded survived; travelled in time?

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