"Ere! That ain't the way to make a fruitcake!"
Play.com sent me this month's shiny new Doctor Who DVD early, as they tend to do. This time it was made all the more exciting by the fact that I'd only seen the story once before in the very distant past, so I was rather looking forward to watching it and it didn't disappoint.
- It's a pretty fab story on the whole, albeit with a few niggling elements that I wasn't too keen on. I might as well get those out of the way first.
- Tom. Tom is a bit detached and irritable in this one, like he is for most of season fifteen actually (one of the multitude of reasons why this season is one of my least favourites - the main one being the majority of its stories are utter rot, but I digress). He steps up to the plate when required, but it just feels like he's not quite giving it his all. And I hate how the Doctor is such an almighty arsehole to Leela throughout the season, but that's another matter entirely.
- The Fendahl Core is a bit not scary. I can see what they were trying to do, but a gold lady with painted-on eyes? Not exactly pants-browning, to be fair.
- The rubbish comedy ending with K-9 nodding like the Churchill dog. Look, it's all very well trying to remind us that K-9 exists, but I'd completely forgotten and didn't really need to be reminded just for an unfunny comedy ending. I love K-9, but if you're not going to have him in the story then just don't have him. The Williams era would insist on doing this sort of thing every time K-9 was out of action for the duration of the adventure, and it was bloody annoying.
- Another "The Doctor blows things up" climax. Well, OK.
- But on the plus side this is just great, proper full-blooded trad Who, full of great imagery and monsters and scariness.
- Best story title ever?
- Night filming! And quite a lot of it. Looks gorgeous, too.
- Call me a massive whuss if you like, but I actually found the Fendahleen quite scary. They're very Lovecraftian. Also, they can make you unable to move, which is just nightmarish.
- The mythology. This story has a gloriously rich back-story and really makes me want to read The Taking of Planet 5.
- There's quite an adult tone to it all. We get some much-needed humour from the Tylers (no relation to Rose's clan as far as I can tell), but this is a very serious, complicated story with a rather mature feel and some genuinely nasty, shocking moments (the Doctor giving Stael the gun, for instance).
- The skull. I'm no skullphobe, but it's ruddy creepy.
- Chris Boucher's terrific dialogue, which is cheesy, hammy, funny and just downright quotable at times. "You must think my head zips up the back!", indeed.
- A memorable guest cast. Colby is a bit of a tit, but a very amusing tit. And Blake's 7 fans will instantly recognise the chap who plays Stael, the only good, memorable thing from that rubbish episode Weapon.
- Leela. Oh Leela, you are SO ace and too good for the horrible season fifteen Doctor. Boucher, being her creator and all, writes her the best I think, and this story gives us a whole lot of reasons why that's the case. She is just brilliant and a babe, but that's nothing compared to her all-consuming awesome.
- Deadly Dudley Simpson uses his music mercifully sparingly. I'm not a huge Dudders fan, mainly because he can be damn lazy at times, but the fact that this story has barely any music in its first half actually adds to the atmosphere. I love that it gradually builds in intensity towards the end of the story and you don't even notice because it's quite subtle and creepy, not his usual jaunty ploddery. Very cool.
- A pretty excellent farewell to the gothic horror era of Doctor Who, then. If you haven't seen it yet then you definitely should, especially if you're in the mood for some gothic melodrama. I'm very much looking forward to the forthcoming releases of The Deadly Assassin and Delta and the Bannermen, AS YOU SHOULD TOO.