Daleks and Cybermen and the Master, Oh My!

One of the things I've been doing over the long holiday weekend is catching up on the Doctor Who videos I'd meaning to watch. (I suppose it really is just like me to celebrate my country's independence from England by sitting down and watching a bunch of British TV, isn't it?) Here's what's been on the Whovian playlist this week:

"Resurrection of the Daleks": I'd forgotten what a good episode this was. Or rather, I'd remembered it as a very good episode, but was impressed by it all over again this time. Interestingly, the compilers of The Discontinuity Guide seem to disagree with me, calling it "a glossy mess," complaining about multiple plot holes, and dismissing the dialog as "pages of clunking macho nonsense." Which leads to me wonder: were we watching the same episode? OK, sure, there are plot holes, but show me the episode of Who that doesn't have plot holes. And as for the dialog, yeah, there is a lot of melodramatic, cliched bad-guy ranting, but in my opinion, one of the great charms of Doctor Who is that it's willing to embrace that kind of silliness, run with it, and make it work. Personally, I think this episode is a great example of that. Continuity problems aside, the plot is an engaging one, with a number of twists and turns. The visuals are exceptionally good, by Who standards. And there are several really excellent character moments. Who could forget the Doctor finally deciding that he has to kill Davros once and for all... and then being unable to force himself to pull the trigger? Or Tegan's powerful and disturbing farewell scene? I'm telling ya, this is great stuff, a real classic of the Davison era, whatever those Discontinuity guys say.

"Planet of Fire": OK, this is less great stuff. Actually, the story isn't at all bad, if a little overfamiliar. (I mean, tribal god turns out to be a space traveller, how many times have we seen that one?) It does offer us some good backstory for Turlough, who was one of the more interesting companions, if not necessarily one of the most likeable. And Peri's actually written as a very strong character in this, her debut episode, which is nice. Or rather, it would be nice if I could stand to watch Peri at all, even when she's being well-written. I'm sorry. It's her voice. It probably sounds incredibly petty and nitpicky of me, but the truth is I simply find it very hard to concentrate on any of the positive aspects of her character when her hideous, whiney, faux-American accent is doing that nails-on-a-chalkboard thing to my ears and brain. And this time it's even worse, because we also get the hideous, macho, faux-American accent of her stepfather, in addition. Oh, and that whole thing with the Master being miniaturized is silly, too. Fortunately, Peter Davison is doing his usual beautifully understated acting job, Mark Strickson as Turlough is really rising to the challenge of having an episode centered around him, and most of the guest actors are doing a pretty good job as well. Ultimately, it's a reasonably decent episode, but I can't help but find it a bit of a comedown after "Resurrection."

"The Tenth Planet": Here's something I haven't experienced in over a decade: a Doctor Who episode I'd never seen before! The reason for that is that this poor story was a victim of an idiotic decision by the BBC. When color television became standard, apparently some of these bright young fellows thought to themselves, "Hey, now we can get rid of all this old B&W stuff and make more room in the warehouse! Nobody's ever going to want to watch any of this old crap." Aaargh. "Tenth Planet" was a 4-part episode, and, while parts 1-3 survived intact, part 4 (along with far too many other bits of Who) wasn't so lucky. This is particularly annoying because this episode was an important one in a number of ways. It was the final William Hartnell episode, giving us our first-ever regeneration scene, as well as being the first episode featuring the Cybermen. Fortunately, the audio track for epsiode four still exists, as do a whole bunch of still frames and a few very brief video clips. For the home video release of this episode, they were able to "reconstruct" part 4 from these component parts, and, I must say, the reconstruction team did a truly excellent job. The result may not be quite the same as having the original moving footage, but it's very watchable. Unfortunately, nice as it is to finally be able to see the episode, I have to admit that I really do mainly find it interesting only for historical purposes. The science is even more ridiculous than normal for Who, making the entire plot pretty much nonsensical. The story ain't all that exciting. And the Cybermen, in their original form, are more likely to inspire laughter than any feeling of menace. (There's a great moment of unintentional humor when three of them attempt to disguise themselves by throwing cloaks over their heads and shoulders, leaving all kinds of funky metal attachments sticking out.) Still, it does have its good points. The Cybermen are a great concept, even if their initial execution left a lot to be desired. I rather like Ben, too; it's a pity so few of his episodes still exist. And the regeneration effect was surprisingly, well... effective. Anyway, historical interest goes a very long way when you're an obsessive fan...