Dr Who- recent episodes roundup review
August 21st 2007 08:20
Dr Who: Reviews Round-Up The Lazurus Experiment; 42; Human Nature (contains spoilers)
Ah, Dr Who. The old stalwart of the BBC’s programming schedules. He is more than a mere fictional character. To the British, the omniscient Time Lord from the faraway world of Gallifrey has transcended such two-dimensional notions. The Doctor is nothing less than a cultural icon. His TV show has not been without its fair share of hiccups (the Sylvester McCoy years of the late 1980s being a pertinent example of how deep it sunk into oblivion), but when Who is good, it is very good indeed. Jolly good.
For the most part, the new Dr Who revival series (the brainchild of erstwhile Queer as Folk prodigy Russell T. Davies) has been highly successful in its aim to both satisfy the purist Who-vians (name-dropping the likes of Daleks, Cybermen, and other classic Who staples) and woo the mainstream crowd who would otherwise be unfazed by SF. The latest trio of offerings, with one glorious exception, have been, in the view of this humble reviewer, strangely lacklustre. ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ is your bog-standard, garden-variety ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ narrative, which has already been done to death in SF television serials. This time, featuring CGI work so journeymanlike, so blatantly conspicuous; that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it could have escaped from a console videogame. Made in 1996.
‘42’ does little to heal the pangs of disappointment administered by the preceding adventure. I couldn’t help but feel that it was unmistakeably derivative of last season’s own ‘The Satan Pit’. Other influences upon this claustrophobic ‘space vessel hurtling towards its fiery doom at the hands of a supernova’ ep would obviously have to include Danny Boyle’s recent movie Sunshine. Again, the themes of ‘alien possession of crewmembers’ and morality plays about ‘not stealing resources from what turns out to be somewhat temperamental and bellicose sentient life-forms’ have been previously flogged to within an inch of their lives by science fiction screenwriters.
The most recent episode I have seen at the time of this writing, the splendid ‘Human Nature’, thankfully halts this lackadaisical trend. It has everything necessary to make a successful Dr Who outing. Interesting historical era, which leads to great opportunities for culture-clash comic episodes courtesy of 21st C human companion Martha Jones? Check. Surreal, yet haunting monsters (in this particular case, legions of marauding scarecrows)? Checkmate. Well known guest stars (the little boy from Love, Actually)? Game, set , and match.
Living and teaching in a strict English military academy in the year 1913, the eponymous Doctor has no memory of his life as a Time Lord. An antique fob watch holds all of his absent memories. Yet he has dreams. Faint glimmers of an alternate existence, in which the unassuming schoolteacher John Smith is actually an explorer who travelled beyond the boundaries of time itself, inside a blue box. He has drawn sketches of the odd enemies this explorer has encountered (Daleks, Cybermen, the Ood (‘The Satan Pit’), the clockwork masquerade-mask-wearing assassins in season two’s outstanding episode ‘The Girl In The Fireplace’); past companions of his (a mysterious woman named Rose) and has sketched all of the previous incarnations of the Doctor (a particularly inspired and, and might I add, awesome touch).
The best episodes of this show, at least in my book, are those which touch upon real history. The accounts of historical events according to Dr Who are not usually, shall we say, ‘authoritative’, but at the very least it inspires (or should endeavour to inspire) youngsters to learn more about history. Little, but not unappreciated, touches like an old man begging for spare change to help Crimean veterans; add much-needed texture to the world.
The kid from Love,Actually has done a lot of growing up. He is now a teenager, and receives strange visions of the future from the Doc’s enigmatic fob watch. He sees visions of himself and his classmates in some muddy ditch in the (then) forthcoming Great War (if you can call chewing down rancid beef rations from a billy can; sharing a filthy trench with rat-infested cadavers; and watching your mate Corporal Smythe get his head split open by a stray bullet from those damned Fritzies, ‘great’). I prefer the more apposite title ‘World War One’ myself. The second part of this episode promises great thrills, and I for one cannot wait.
Dr Who will never be in danger of being considered highbrow literature, but nor is it troubling the likes of Idol and Survivor as lowest common denominator television. What would you rather watch? Witty, fun, imaginative science fiction, with actual involvement from scriptwriters and actors; or The Bachelor? I rest my case.
Ah, Dr Who. The old stalwart of the BBC’s programming schedules. He is more than a mere fictional character. To the British, the omniscient Time Lord from the faraway world of Gallifrey has transcended such two-dimensional notions. The Doctor is nothing less than a cultural icon. His TV show has not been without its fair share of hiccups (the Sylvester McCoy years of the late 1980s being a pertinent example of how deep it sunk into oblivion), but when Who is good, it is very good indeed. Jolly good.
For the most part, the new Dr Who revival series (the brainchild of erstwhile Queer as Folk prodigy Russell T. Davies) has been highly successful in its aim to both satisfy the purist Who-vians (name-dropping the likes of Daleks, Cybermen, and other classic Who staples) and woo the mainstream crowd who would otherwise be unfazed by SF. The latest trio of offerings, with one glorious exception, have been, in the view of this humble reviewer, strangely lacklustre. ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ is your bog-standard, garden-variety ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ narrative, which has already been done to death in SF television serials. This time, featuring CGI work so journeymanlike, so blatantly conspicuous; that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it could have escaped from a console videogame. Made in 1996.
‘42’ does little to heal the pangs of disappointment administered by the preceding adventure. I couldn’t help but feel that it was unmistakeably derivative of last season’s own ‘The Satan Pit’. Other influences upon this claustrophobic ‘space vessel hurtling towards its fiery doom at the hands of a supernova’ ep would obviously have to include Danny Boyle’s recent movie Sunshine. Again, the themes of ‘alien possession of crewmembers’ and morality plays about ‘not stealing resources from what turns out to be somewhat temperamental and bellicose sentient life-forms’ have been previously flogged to within an inch of their lives by science fiction screenwriters.
The most recent episode I have seen at the time of this writing, the splendid ‘Human Nature’, thankfully halts this lackadaisical trend. It has everything necessary to make a successful Dr Who outing. Interesting historical era, which leads to great opportunities for culture-clash comic episodes courtesy of 21st C human companion Martha Jones? Check. Surreal, yet haunting monsters (in this particular case, legions of marauding scarecrows)? Checkmate. Well known guest stars (the little boy from Love, Actually)? Game, set , and match.
Living and teaching in a strict English military academy in the year 1913, the eponymous Doctor has no memory of his life as a Time Lord. An antique fob watch holds all of his absent memories. Yet he has dreams. Faint glimmers of an alternate existence, in which the unassuming schoolteacher John Smith is actually an explorer who travelled beyond the boundaries of time itself, inside a blue box. He has drawn sketches of the odd enemies this explorer has encountered (Daleks, Cybermen, the Ood (‘The Satan Pit’), the clockwork masquerade-mask-wearing assassins in season two’s outstanding episode ‘The Girl In The Fireplace’); past companions of his (a mysterious woman named Rose) and has sketched all of the previous incarnations of the Doctor (a particularly inspired and, and might I add, awesome touch).
The best episodes of this show, at least in my book, are those which touch upon real history. The accounts of historical events according to Dr Who are not usually, shall we say, ‘authoritative’, but at the very least it inspires (or should endeavour to inspire) youngsters to learn more about history. Little, but not unappreciated, touches like an old man begging for spare change to help Crimean veterans; add much-needed texture to the world.
The kid from Love,Actually has done a lot of growing up. He is now a teenager, and receives strange visions of the future from the Doc’s enigmatic fob watch. He sees visions of himself and his classmates in some muddy ditch in the (then) forthcoming Great War (if you can call chewing down rancid beef rations from a billy can; sharing a filthy trench with rat-infested cadavers; and watching your mate Corporal Smythe get his head split open by a stray bullet from those damned Fritzies, ‘great’). I prefer the more apposite title ‘World War One’ myself. The second part of this episode promises great thrills, and I for one cannot wait.
Dr Who will never be in danger of being considered highbrow literature, but nor is it troubling the likes of Idol and Survivor as lowest common denominator television. What would you rather watch? Witty, fun, imaginative science fiction, with actual involvement from scriptwriters and actors; or The Bachelor? I rest my case.
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