Time Stream #32 - The Underwater Menace

          I’ll admit from the start that I higher hopes for “The Underwater Menace” than I realistically should have. Maybe it was the newly recovered episode that would make this special. Maybe it was the completionist in me rejoicing at getting the “last” DVD release of the Classic Series (more on that in a bit). Whatever the reason, I was really looking forward to settling down and watching this one. Hmm.

          It’s really not great, friends. We do get something approaching a traditional Troughton performance, and realistically I know it’s only his third story, but it still feels here like Patrick Troughton is forcing a character that he doesn’t feel 100% comfortable in. There are small moments when he simply relaxes into the role and those scenes are more watchable. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. Additionally, since it’s still early in his run, the shtick of “put the Doctor in a weird costume” is still here, and wow does that get on my nerves. As an occasional bit of business, it would be fine. The problem I’m finding, between this story and “The Highlanders”, is that it’s being forced. The situations where the Doctor needs to don a disguise feel contrived and out of place. It really bothers me.

 

          I will say, however, that the underwater effects are rather good. The swimming effects feel a bit more polished than the similar flying effects way back in “The Web Planet”, although the fish people are almost as silly looking. Can you tell I’m kind of grasping here? Let’s do a list!

 1) Professor Zaroff is every bit bats***t crazy as fan lore describes. He is the stereotype of a “Mad Scientist” and just OTT in all of his scenes. 

2) Poor Jamie. He gets to be a companion, and most of his lines are just tacked on, last minute additions. I know that the choice to add Frazer Hines to the regular cast was kind of a spur of the moment decision, but Jamie is not served well by this story.

3) The Second Doctor has been described over the years as “the little fellow” and the like. They mention in this story that he’s 5’9”. I’m only an inch taller than the Second Doctor? I know that I’m average height (as my 6”1’ 15-year old will attest) but I never really thought I would be towards the lower end of the Doctors-as-Height-Chart.

4) The BBC release of this story is, in a word, disappointing. I’m aware that as Doctor Who fans we have been spoiled by really top of the line DVD releases. This is not one of them. It has the feel of a disc that was released strictly for the completionists and to quiet them down. This way *every* available episode has been released with nothing being held back. 

          “The Underwater Menace” fails for me on almost every level I can think of. I didn’t have fun watching it. I didn’t hate it, but I was definitely not engaged with it. I’ve always been a Second Doctor fan, but most of my exposure has been to his later stories. Following on from “The Highlanders” I really thought I’d enjoy this more, but try as I might, I just didn’t. I have higher hopes for the next story as I’ve seen it a bit more recently and I do love me some Mondasians!

OTHER DOCTOR WHO RELATED BITS OF GOODNESS!!

          As most of us know by now, “The Underwater Menace” will NOT be the last Classic Series video release. The BBC will be releasing, both digitally and on disc, depending on where you live, Pat Troughton’s first story, “The Power of the Daleks”! The list of extras looks amazing, there’s going to be a one-night cinema release here in the US (anybody in the Philly/Delaware area want to make a night of it?), plus it was revealed today that there will also be a COLOR version made available as part of the release. It almost makes me forgive the sub-par quality release of “Menace”. Almost.

          Additionally, the weekend of November 11^th-13^th (just 8 short days away as I write this) will see the return of Long Island Who, a Doctor Who convention now in its fourth year. They have great guests this year (as always) including Peter Purves, Anneke Wills, Sophie Aldred, Jemma Redgrave, and THREE Doctors- Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Paul McGann. If anyone reading this is going, please let me know, I would love to meet up! Their website is http://longislanddoctorwho.com/ and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I can’t wait!

          That’s all for now, but after a year of no new Who, it’s good to finally have some news. Which reminds me – what does everyone think of Class? It’s not aired in the US yet so there’s no possible way that anyone here could have seen it, no sir, but I thought I’d ask.

          See you after L.I.Who!!

NEXT EPISODE: The Moonbase

"The Underwater Menace" novelization cover, courtesy The TARDIS Data Core at tardis.wikia.com

Time Stream #31 - The Highlanders

          Remember “The Smugglers” a couple of stories ago? How it was serviceable, but ultimately unremarkable? Welcome to its thematic cousin, “The Highlanders.” Patrick Troughton’s second story would end up becoming the last purely historical story (all together now!) until “Black Orchid” with Peter Davison. If the historical stories were to have continued down the path set out by “The Smugglers” and now “The Highlanders” then it’s probably a good idea they were stopped. “The Highlanders” also isn’t a bad story, but it feels like it’s all been done before.

          Let’s start with the elephant in the room – yes this is Frazer Hines’ first story as Jamie McCrimmon. There are some good moments for Jamie, but nothing throughout the story would have made me think “Ah, this is the newest companion!” I know they weren’t sure about adding him and two versions of the end were shot, one with Jamie leaving and one with him staying.  I’m glad he stayed on as Jamie does become one of my favorite companions later on, but his first story doesn’t give him the introduction he deserves.

          Patrick Troughton is still finding his footing as the Doctor. Much has been said of the Doctor’s affinity for disguises in this story, and personally, I’m glad that particular characterization wasn’t continued. It’s fine once in a while, but the Doctor here has at least three distinct disguises that he uses for long stretches of time. His “Doctor von Wer” hangs around for far too long. Troughton also seems to really enjoy the more unpleasant aspects he can hide behind while in disguise. Doctor von Wer has moments of violence and temper that just made me uncomfortable.

          There are no surviving episodes of “The Highlanders” which may also have been part of my difficulty with the story. It doesn’t necessarily work well as a recon – swordfights don’t translate well to audio only. There are some scenes which appear to have been either cut for some reason, or unfilmed from the beginning. The Doctor at one point brings a cache of weapons to help the rebels, but it’s never shown where or how he got them. I may have missed it, but I don’t think I did. It’s just a very obvious gap in the storytelling.

          I’ve had a hard time writing this entry. I watched the story and started writing it up a couple of weeks ago, but nothing about it excited me. The plot was routine, and the characterizations inconsistent. I know that Troughton was still figuring out how to play the Doctor, but I didn’t really care for his experiments in this story. Even Polly, who I tend to like, called Kirsty a “stupid peasant”. I mean, really. I still feel it’s not a bad story, but one that is not served well by only being available in audio. There are going to be a lot of recons during the Troughton era, and I know already that some of them are quite good. I don’t think “The Highlanders” translates well, and I feel that part of the problem is with the story itself. Purely historical stories are being put to rest after this one, and it isn’t hard to see why. I’ll forgive a LOT in a Doctor Who story, but this one doesn’t even seem to try, and that’s where, in the end, it lets me down.

NEXT EPISODE: The Underwater Menace
"The Highlanders" novelization cover, courtesy The TARDIS Data Core at tardis.wikia.com

A Quick Game of Catch-Up

          I’ve wanted to write, I really have. Both Time Stream entries as well as just regular blog entries. This is going to be one of the latter. It’s been, again, about four months since a personal blog entry, so presented here for your edification, amusement, and enjoyment are the edited highlights of life since April:

     1) Near the top in order of importance, this week alone I had two job interviews. One was for an office job, one was for a teaching position.  I felt pretty good after both interviews, so we shall see what we shall see. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

     2) My youngest turns 9 in 9 days. It’s the last year of single digit birthdays for any of my kids. A goofy way to look at it, I know, but that doesn’t mean it’s not freaking me the heck out. 

     3) Speaking of my kids, their mom got remarried at the beginning of the summer, but they’re still not sure where they’re going to be living/going to school. It’s a concern, primarily for C1 – he’s going into his sophomore year, and the insecurity isn’t doing him any favors. I’m doing what I can, but it isn’t as much as I wish I could be doing.

     4) The world. Oh my god, the world. Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, and while I’m a bleeding heart liberal Democrat, seeing what he’s doing to the GOP is appalling. Secretary Clinton has been my choice since the start of primary season, if not beforehand, and I feel confident but not complacent that she will win in November. What worries me more than the ghostly specter of a Trump presidency is the legacy his candidacy will leave behind. The hate and fear that his candidacy has allowed free reign in America is something that will take YEARS to recover from. Casual racism, homophobia, misogyny, and god knows what else have such a loud voice this year. It’s sad, and angering, and frightening all at once. Any readers I may have who are not from the USA, I can’t even imagine what your impression of us is right now.

     5) Wow, I got pretty vehement there. On the lighter side of the news, we have the Olympics in Rio. We are a cable-less household, and although I could stream them, I just haven’t watched any of the events. I’m more than content to watch video highlights, and I have to say, for all the insanity in our country at the moment, Team USA is doing my heart good. Not just for their medal count either, but also the diversity amongst the competitors. It’s a nice change from election cycle news.

     6) And in even lighter news, I guested on a podcast!! The fantastic Doctor Who podcast Reality Bomb, hosted by the inestimable Graeme Burk, did a special on a series of documentaries produced by the New Jersey network in the 1980’s. I have strong, strong memories of those shows (thanks VHS!!) and was part of a series of interviews about growing up in Who fandom in the 80’s. If you don’t already listen to Reality Bomb, you really must – go here and enjoy!!

     7) Finally, I am having a birthday at the end of the month and turning 45. I’m not getting too wigged out by it, but admittedly a little part of me cringes. I’ve been ok with the male pattern baldness, the need for bifocals, and just general middle age. By no means am I where I wanted to be professionally, I still haven’t written that book (you know, the Great American Novel that everyone has in themselves), and lord knows I could be in better shape than I am. But I’m married to a wonderful woman and I have three kids who are BEYOND amazing. My loved ones are in fine fettle and I have a roof over my head. There are worse ways to start my 46^th year.

          That’s my report for the most recent four months.  Time Streams will start back up again soon. I’m anxious to really dig in to the Troughton era for the first time in years, and want to give it the attention it deserves. On a personal level, I’ll update when I have some good news on the professional front (hopefully quite soon!). Thanks all for reading and sticking with me. It’s really appreciated and there have been some points this year where just seeing that someone has hit on this little page of mine has done me a world of good. So thanks, and keep reading!

Time Stream #30 - The Power of the Daleks

          He’s gone. The Doctor whom we have grown to know over the past three seasons is gone, replaced by a complete stranger. There was no word of warning, no explanation, nothing. This newcomer doesn’t look like the Doctor, sound like him, or even act like him. Even his clothes are different. But by the time “The Power of the Daleks” comes to its conclusion, there is no denying that Patrick Troughton IS The Doctor. 

          When he first wakes up in the TARDIS, Troughton’s Doctor is at once a stranger and yet somehow familiar. He has some of Hartnell’s irascibility, but then adds a sense of impish fun that his predecessor rarely exhibited. His clothes are different but echo his previous costume just enough that if you squint really hard, they look like a dime store version of the old Doctor’s getup. What is genius about Troughton is that from the start he made no effort to mimic his predecessor, but rather, to start fresh. He may refer to “The Doctor” in the third person offhandedly, but his characterization is so very strong that the audience has no reason to doubt that this strange little man is the same Doctor we knew.

          Of course, I have the benefit of fifty years of Doctor Who history to draw upon. I already know that this stranger is indeed a “renewed” Doctor, and all that’s left is to see how this newcomer deals with the Daleks. It is that relationship, between the Doctor and the Daleks, which cements this man as the Doctor in just six episodes. His relationships with Polly and Ben are the home audience stand-in, and Michael Craze in particular delivers a great performance, echoing the disbelief and doubt that viewers at home would be experiencing. But when the Doctor and the Daleks are face to face (well, so to speak) there is recognition there that goes beyond the physical. These enemies know each other.

          The story also shows the Daleks in a slightly different aspect. With the possible exception of “The Daleks Master Plan” no previous story showed the Daleks to be so cunning and manipulative. They don’t just arrive on Vulcan, gunsticks blazing, to take over the colony. They *wait* for the right moment, the right set of circumstances, going so far as to pose as subservient in order to lull their new “masters” in to a false sense of security. In their first appearances, the Daleks inhumanity – no human features, a grating mechanical voice – was enough to instill fear. Here, it is their very human *sneakiness” that makes them so scary. They’re not just killing machines, but killing machines who plan and connive. I was creeped out by the Daleks here more than I have been by any other Dalek story to this point.

          After watching William Hartnell’s years on the show, he became a comfortable presence as the Doctor. The series could have easily ended when it came time for him to leave the show. Patrick Troughton’s arrival already breathes a spark of life into the series. There is an air of mystery which hadn’t been really seen since Season One. Additionally, there is a sense of *fun*. This new Doctor gets the job done, but has no problem with acting silly while he does it. What’s amazing is that this will be the template for Troughton’s entire run, his characterization remaining remarkably consistent. Contrast this with the early Hartnell stories where The Doctor was, at best, a cantankerous anti-hero. The gradual mellowing of his character was needed and served the series well. By the time Troughton started, the production team, and the home audience as well, knew what the “core” of the Doctor was. They can dress him up, he can wear whatever face he likes, but above it all, “The Power of the Daleks” makes one thing abundantly clear – Patrick Troughton is the Doctor. We’re in for a hell of a ride.

NEXT EPISODE: The Highlanders

"The Power of the Daleks " novelization cover, courtesy The TARDIS Data Core at tardis.wikia.com

Time Stream #29 - The Tenth Planet

          I’m finding it difficult to be impartial when it comes to “The Tenth Planet.” This story is monumental in Doctor Who history and my first instinct is to just fanboy all over it. My second instinct is to look with a far more critical eye. I’ve not necessarily been shy about saying when I think a Who story is bad (Oh, “Keys of Marinus” and “Galaxy Four”) and I don’t think “The Tenth Planet” is a bad story by any stretch. I really enjoy it, but the problem with it is this: it is not a Hartnell story.

          That is not to imply that it’s not good Doctor Who. In fact, looking at it with 50 years hindsight, it’s a very traditional Doctor Who story. Just not for the First Doctor. Much like “The War Machines” before it, “The Tenth Planet” feels misplaced. It is absolutely a prototype for the Troughton era, even if no one at the time was aware of it. Does that mean I wanted Hartnell’s last story to be a historical, a more “traditional” first Doctor tale? Well, if “The Smugglers” is anything to go by, then probably not.

It’s probably fitting that this story deviates from the standard of Hartnell’s earlier years. The leads of the series aren’t the only things to have changed since November of 1963, the audience changed as well. The world was deep into the space race at this point, and in less than three years mankind would set foot on the moon. The audience wasn’t necessarily looking for history lessons from their space fantasy show, they wanted SPACE ADVENTURE, and Doctor Who was going to give it to them, even if it meant re-working the title character. The needs of the audience had evolved. As much as Hartnell was able to adapt, the show had to be so different from its origins that had he stayed, I think maybe another year is all we would have gotten.

Hartnell’s own illness necessitated his absence from Episode Three and last minute rewrites explaining the Doctor’s collapse. Frankly, as much as the removal of the Doctor in the stories leading up to this have bothered me, this one works. Mind you, it only works because of the denouement. The weakened Doctor collapsing, being out of commission for Episode Three, and then returning for Episode Four to see the story play out, really works because the Doctor “dies” at the end. It rationalizes his weakness as part of his “wearing a bit thin” and doesn’t just spring up from nowhere. Who is often blessed with serendipity, and I truly think it was for “The Tenth Planet.”

That’s enough criticism and meta-data for me on this one. Fan mode is now engaged. Things I loved about this story:

1) Hartnell’s performance. From his line “Why don’t you speak up, I’m deaf!” to his mysterious stagger to the TARDIS before his “renewal”, William Hartnell gave a lot to this story. The Cybermen will admittedly become almost synonymous with the Troughton era, but the Hartnell’s Doctor got drop on them first.

2) The global scale of this story was just great, even if Geneva was a small office looking out on a photograph. Having an international crew at the base performing as stand-ins for the entire rest of the world really worked.

3) The Cybermen design. I think my favorite Cyberman look is yet to come, but the original design can’t be beat. I know the eyeholes are supposed to be black and lifeless, but on the DVD, you can see the actors’ eyes, just barely. Frankly, that makes the creatures more horrifying to me. I even kind of like the voices, although syncing them with the open mouths could have been a little bit more precise.  That’s me picking nits.

4) Was this one of the first, if not THE first instance of a television running an International News Station? I’d love to know who had done it earlier, if indeed anyone had.

5) Yes, I’d love to see a returned Episode Four as much as the next person, but damn, I like the animated reconstruction. It’s comforting that we have the actual regeneration on film and can still see the changeover, but the animation really works well here.

So here we are, a true end of an era in Doctor Who, after which the program will change forever. Twenty-nine stories over the course of three years, during which we watched the Doctor turn from a rather unlikeable, crotchety fellow to an outright hero who stays when he could leave simply because it is the right thing to do. There will never be a portrayal of the Doctor like William Hartnell’s. Every actor to succeed him did so with the knowledge of their predecessor(s) in mind - what to do differently, what to borrow from earlier incarnations. Hartnell wasn’t just “The First Doctor.” Until the last few moments of “The Tenth Planet” he was simply “The Doctor.” After watching his entire run, I feel comfortable saying that no matter what the story, no matter how good or bad the story may have been, no matter which companions he had by his side, William Hartnell was, indisputably, The Doctor.

NEXT EPISODE: The Power of the Daleks

"The Tenth Planet" novelization cover, courtesy The TARDIS Data Core at tardis.wikia.com