I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this breathless, Matt-tastic slice of comic-strip Who, with its steam trains, pterodactyls and balloon-acy. I thought the carnivorous skulls were a macabre, comic menace as was the lethal Frankie Goes to Hollywood-style chess game. I even liked the references to Rose and Jack -although, curiously, not the news about the Brig: I wanted him to continue on forever, fighting across all of time and space like Sarah Jane. I also didn't like it because the Doctor was planning to visit the Brig before faking his own death. His guilt and self-esteem has been low ever since Let's Kill Hitler, hence his visit to Craig last week, but it can be traced back to the appearance of The Dream Lord in Amy's Choice. Imagine putting Jo Jones through all that grief again!
I feet this episode indicates that Moffat needs a strong script editor. I was particularly irked by the perfunctory wedding sequence and the overly-familiar idea of abortive timelines. I get that River's programming to kill the Doctor had been transformed into a passion for keeping him alive -even if she had to break Time to do it. But it seems excessive to let her go to prison to sustain a deception (even if she does escape every night and even if she does earn a pardon.)
The idea of a bizarre and whimsical parallel timeline was already utilised in last year's The Big Bang and aside from spectacle, it allowed for a post modern joke about last year's Xmas special. On the other hand, it also allows for the return of the splendidly venomous Madame Kovarian.
I hope that the Doctor's new status quo means that Moffat will rest River Song and the Ponds for a while. I think they've served their purpose- to puncture the self-regarding myth of The Oncoming Storm and replace it with a Madman in a Box. I have no doubt they'll be back for the Fields of Trenzalore and the Fall of the Eleventh (Doctor)- possibly the 50th Anniversary and The Doctor's Mother-In-Law?
The editor of Dr. Who Magazine, has quite understandably, responded vociferously online to the media "myth" of declining audience figures. But that controversy has helped me understand why I feel somewhat underwhelmed by Moffat-Who. I feel I have to watch it all again to appreciate it but I still have a nagging feeling it doesn't quite hang together, beyond wishful thinking. The reliance on the story arc model, co-opted from US television, means that the box set viewer is rewarded by the intricate web of reference. This is a reflection of the reality of modern television consumption but I feel it excludes the casual viewer on Saturday nights. The first episode of the new Merlin series illustrates my point. It had all the sumptuous visual hallmarks of High Fantasy TV but, because I didn't watch the previous series, I didn't know what was going on and wasn't invested in the characters. That insularity is the root problem that DC Comics' New 52 initiative was supposed to address (more about that next time).
I think it's a great pity that Confidential has been axed, if only that it provided such a level of access to the show and television in general, never more so than in the charming competition winner, Death is the Only Answer. However, this isn't quite the end of Doctor Eleven for this year- aside from the Christmas special, of course. I'm listening to the audio Blackout and have just begun the novel The Silent Stars Go By.
"Yes, one day, I shall come back..." This week, thanks to T*sc* DVD, I watched The Twin Dilemma, the debut of the quintessential Eighties Doctor. Last time I watched the video, a couple of years ago, I was struck by how funny Colin Baker's self-satisified Time Lord could be.
Anthony Steven's puerile plot is hackneyed and pulpish but most of the cast-especially Baker and Seymour Green -do what they can with it. So many decisions about the programme are simply wrong-headed, however. The clown costume is bad enough but the attempt to create a more alien Doctor misfires completely, due to the unforgiveable assault on Peri. The next season reflects Saward's jaundiced world view as he persists in juxtaposing his fairground humbug with sardonic, corrupt characters in a world of sadism, gunfire and goo. Previously on Place, we've seen how one of the special features on the disc uses Modern Visual Trickery to superimpose a somber but dapper version of the Doctor into the closing scene of Dilemma.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way but Big Finish have worked tirelessly with Baker, over the last decade or more, to create a more appealing Sixth Doctor. "Sixie" is more relaxed and paternal than the spikey, vain and bombastic original, largely thanks to his partnership with mumsy Evelyn Smythe. In his latest audio appearance, he's partnered again with pneumatic Peri.
Rather aptly, not only is Recorded Time the 150th release in the monthly Who range, it's also the sixth portmanteau edition featuring four separate adventures for its Doctor; the benefit being, if you don't like one, another will be along in a few minutes. These editions also act as showcases for new writers.The previous release in this style, The Demons of Red Lodge, was a bit self-consciously clever but Time is more successful, although it does play on the trope of Peri's attractiveness to the villains:one tiresomely over-utilised in Season Twenty-Two.
Paradoxicide, a story of a lost planet's super-armoury, is the weakest of the four stories but might have perked up if its dull and shrewish female antagonists had been Drahvins.
I just don't know what to do with myselves.
The eponymous story is a vignette about Anne Boleyn: interesting and imagistic but not very involving. Question Marks is more affecting, as the Doctor and Peri suffer amnesia in a claustrophobic research station. For me, the wittiest episode was A Most Excellent Match, where Peri encounters a series of suitors from literary fiction. In any event, this is another entertaining if inessential collection of classic Doctor tales.
Next: Yarva Demonicus Etrigan
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