Shock and surprise
Er, I've been trying to stay clear of spoilers and so on as to actually enjoy the shows I like and be shocked and /or surprised once in a while rather than patting myself on the back at my cleverness at knowing what was to come. But this really caught me off guard. Damn.
After a consistently excellent season (with the glaring exception of the turd at the buffet table 'Midnight') Russell T really started the ambitious, crowded, noisy and fantastically pure Who three part finale starring everyone and then a few others. Companions galore make this episode, the penultimate and the second of the three, probably the height of suspense and thrilling climax malarky.
As a long time fan, viewer, writer and reviewer of Who related material, I had my own various 'dream' epsiodes of course with various ingredients and this definitely included lots of them. For me, one of the most effective touches was the updating of a classic foe with the return of everyone's favourite wrinkled rubber muppet master of mayhem and mechanical menace, Davros.
With his costume subtly updated and the makeup and facial features altered to be much more realistic looking and sinister gothic in a shocking way with his ruined eye-sockets and rows of rotten sharp teeth, Julian Bleach's Davros is a far cry from Terry 'Oops, my mask is about to fall off' Molloy's classic 1970's and 1980's dog and pony show. The withered yoda paws are also gone, replaced with deadly updated steel claws. Gone too is the over-done pantomime villain screeching and instead we have a beautifully underplayed enemy worthy of the Doctor and containing so much Who history that it's reminiscent of last year's wonderful Derek Jacobi and John Simm moments.
In such a crowded, complex finale, there's always a danger of over-egging the pie, but Russell seems to be on his full game here and even finds time for some well deserved humourous moments as well as managing to fit everyone in without making the atmosophere too artificial or over-done. Bernard Cribbons is his usual excellent self and all the guests strut their respective stuff with the superb Penny Wilton making a nice closure filled come-back.
The real shocked of course is the ending which I won't go into as it will spoil it for you, but I am still wondering if they're serious or if there's some all new unspoiled secet anyway> **
After a consistently excellent season (with the glaring exception of the turd at the buffet table 'Midnight') Russell T really started the ambitious, crowded, noisy and fantastically pure Who three part finale starring everyone and then a few others. Companions galore make this episode, the penultimate and the second of the three, probably the height of suspense and thrilling climax malarky.
As a long time fan, viewer, writer and reviewer of Who related material, I had my own various 'dream' epsiodes of course with various ingredients and this definitely included lots of them. For me, one of the most effective touches was the updating of a classic foe with the return of everyone's favourite wrinkled rubber muppet master of mayhem and mechanical menace, Davros.
With his costume subtly updated and the makeup and facial features altered to be much more realistic looking and sinister gothic in a shocking way with his ruined eye-sockets and rows of rotten sharp teeth, Julian Bleach's Davros is a far cry from Terry 'Oops, my mask is about to fall off' Molloy's classic 1970's and 1980's dog and pony show. The withered yoda paws are also gone, replaced with deadly updated steel claws. Gone too is the over-done pantomime villain screeching and instead we have a beautifully underplayed enemy worthy of the Doctor and containing so much Who history that it's reminiscent of last year's wonderful Derek Jacobi and John Simm moments.
In such a crowded, complex finale, there's always a danger of over-egging the pie, but Russell seems to be on his full game here and even finds time for some well deserved humourous moments as well as managing to fit everyone in without making the atmosophere too artificial or over-done. Bernard Cribbons is his usual excellent self and all the guests strut their respective stuff with the superb Penny Wilton making a nice closure filled come-back.
The real shocked of course is the ending which I won't go into as it will spoil it for you, but I am still wondering if they're serious or if there's some all new unspoiled secet anyway> **