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carmen_ljThere is a reason some DVDs are left in their cling-film plastic stuff. A VERY GOOD REASON. I couldn't sleep and I tried the "watch some boring stuff" method of dozing off which managed to COMPLETELY FAIL. I got about half an hour into Death to the Daleks before I had to turn it off for fear I would DIE OF BOREDOM. Man, it's cack. Really, supremely cack. (And yet still not the worst story of season 11 - one of its few redeeming features is it's only four episodes of near-fatal tedium.)
The first five minutes are really good though. The first five minutes are worth watching, and then just turn it off and make up your own adventure. VIRTUALLY ANYTHING YOU MAKE UP WILL BE BOTH BETTER AND MORE INTERESTING.
Those first five minutes though, practically modern in their pacing. Doctor and companion in the TARDIS, planning a nice holiday to some planet and other. BAD STUFF HAPPENS. The TARDIS is forced to land and all the lights go out. All the power's drained out of the TARDIS, even the torches don't work. They manage to get a few flickering seconds of the outside world on the scanner and see nought but fog. An oil lamp is found. That works, hurrah! To get out of the TARDIS they have to manually wind a thing on the door.
Outside it's dark, creepy and foggy. The Doctor wants to explore; Sarah wants to put warmer clothing on. "You won't wander off, will you?" she says and Sladen is magnifique there - she wants to be brave but she's bloody scared and we can hear it. Back to the TARDIS she goes, and winds shut the door. But since Our Heroes popped out SOMETHING has got IN. As the doors shut it lurches up to attack Sarah and she whacks it, and manages to escape outside again. Again, she's brave, but there's a desperation to her actions that makes her fear stark and compelling. *I'm* scared for her.
Outside, the Doctor's gone. Sarah's alone and trapped on a strange alien world with no-one and nowhere to turn.
And then it all goes cack. Team!Exposition turns up and exposits their way through tedious plodding exposition because this is Terry Nation writing and it would be UTTERLY REMISS OF HIM if he didn't make his regular attempt to KILL VIEWERS WITH PLODDINGNESS. There is a FORBIDDEN CITY. It has SACRIFICE and TRAPS and THOSE MONKEY SWINGS YOU USED TO GET IN PLAYGROUNDS BEFORE HEALTH AND SAFETY BANNED THEM.
Then Team!Dalek turn up. With their own comedy music. At the cliffhanger. Because it would be against the spirit of Doctor Who not to have the Daleks turn up at the first cliffhanger when they're mentioned in the title. I like the hatred radiating off Pertwee though. He really doesn't like them. And I like the future Earth history, with the big space empire that seems like something humans would really make and not pseudo-utopian actually military dictatorship a la the Federation or outright dystopia like Blake's 7. It's a bit crap, the Earth empire, but they get along all right. And there's a Scottish dude. I think. He's called Galloway anyway, which is somewhere in Scotland.
But it's a rotten story. And it didn't help me sleep. I therefore award it A BROKEN STAR cause those first five minutes were really properly creepy and cool.
The first five minutes are really good though. The first five minutes are worth watching, and then just turn it off and make up your own adventure. VIRTUALLY ANYTHING YOU MAKE UP WILL BE BOTH BETTER AND MORE INTERESTING.
Those first five minutes though, practically modern in their pacing. Doctor and companion in the TARDIS, planning a nice holiday to some planet and other. BAD STUFF HAPPENS. The TARDIS is forced to land and all the lights go out. All the power's drained out of the TARDIS, even the torches don't work. They manage to get a few flickering seconds of the outside world on the scanner and see nought but fog. An oil lamp is found. That works, hurrah! To get out of the TARDIS they have to manually wind a thing on the door.
Outside it's dark, creepy and foggy. The Doctor wants to explore; Sarah wants to put warmer clothing on. "You won't wander off, will you?" she says and Sladen is magnifique there - she wants to be brave but she's bloody scared and we can hear it. Back to the TARDIS she goes, and winds shut the door. But since Our Heroes popped out SOMETHING has got IN. As the doors shut it lurches up to attack Sarah and she whacks it, and manages to escape outside again. Again, she's brave, but there's a desperation to her actions that makes her fear stark and compelling. *I'm* scared for her.
Outside, the Doctor's gone. Sarah's alone and trapped on a strange alien world with no-one and nowhere to turn.
And then it all goes cack. Team!Exposition turns up and exposits their way through tedious plodding exposition because this is Terry Nation writing and it would be UTTERLY REMISS OF HIM if he didn't make his regular attempt to KILL VIEWERS WITH PLODDINGNESS. There is a FORBIDDEN CITY. It has SACRIFICE and TRAPS and THOSE MONKEY SWINGS YOU USED TO GET IN PLAYGROUNDS BEFORE HEALTH AND SAFETY BANNED THEM.
Then Team!Dalek turn up. With their own comedy music. At the cliffhanger. Because it would be against the spirit of Doctor Who not to have the Daleks turn up at the first cliffhanger when they're mentioned in the title. I like the hatred radiating off Pertwee though. He really doesn't like them. And I like the future Earth history, with the big space empire that seems like something humans would really make and not pseudo-utopian actually military dictatorship a la the Federation or outright dystopia like Blake's 7. It's a bit crap, the Earth empire, but they get along all right. And there's a Scottish dude. I think. He's called Galloway anyway, which is somewhere in Scotland.
But it's a rotten story. And it didn't help me sleep. I therefore award it A BROKEN STAR cause those first five minutes were really properly creepy and cool.
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no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 01:57 am (UTC)I don't know if you made it far enough into the story to find out why that's an odd thing for them to have done.
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Date: 2012-11-09 02:32 am (UTC)The Target novelisation did save Planet for me though: I read it first and the excitement on the page managed to bleed through to the slightly less exciting episodes.
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Date: 2012-11-09 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-09 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-10 11:18 am (UTC)