Doctor Who Review - Series 12 Episode 5 - Fugitive of the Judoon

DOCTOR WHO REVIEW

FUGITIVE OF THE JUDOON

*SPOILER WARNING* A lot of spoilers have been leaked on social media about this week's episode of Doctor Who by viewers watching it whilst it was on so like all my reviews I will say if you do not wish the episode to spoiled then please read this review after you have watched "Fugitive of the Judoon". 

There is a lot of big things that will be discussed and brought up and want to give everyone a fair chance.

Hello, and welcome to another Doctor Who review by me Dan Bury on this blog, and today we are going to be taking a look at episode five of ten in Series Twelve which is "Fugitive of the Judoon" an episode that's already causing a shit storm online. The internet has blown up with loads of fans voicing their opinions of their theories and excitement, so let's not waste any time and get straight to it.

I felt that the episode did start off really well in terms of setting up the story, re-introducing the Judoon to a new audience, and picking up from where we left off with Spyfall.

It does all of that really well, and as the episode progressed, I got even more excited and my jaw literally dropped with 'OMG' moments which is something that hasn't happened to me whilst watching a new episode of Doctor Who in a long time. It was a really good episode until the last fifteen minutes, which in my view was like a jenga tower collapsing. It's a shame; it is a bitter shame to have an episode start of so well and actually progress well to go down hill so quickly.

I'll go through what bits I didn't like about the episode first as there really wasn't much I didn't enjoy about this one, there is lots of great moments within it, but it's the big twist at the end which really lets it down for me and it's such a shame, and these aren't just my feelings, a lot of other fans feel this way as well.

The Fugitive of the Judoon turns out to be a past version of the Doctor. Why or how she's on the run isn't explained properly, the audience are left to keep guessing on that one, and Jo Martin's actual performance whilst she was playing the Doctor I didn't like very much either. I didn't appreciate her portrayal of the role in the way it was acted, I didn't like her attitude, and I didn't really like her being the Doctor in general as a big reveal twist, yes it does flip the whole story on it's head - just when you thought it can't anymore amazing it can. It baffles the mind in good ways to some but to others in catastrophic 'WTF' ways.

There is something about that big reveal twist really didn't sit well with me, I am left with an uncomfortable feeling about of all this. I am hoping this will all make sense as the series continues, in my view Jo Martin isn't cannon until I am shown otherwise.  If she had been The Rani, that would have been fine with me, and actually have made more sense. It's a 'what if' - 'What if we had Charles Dance as The Master as apposed to Missy', 'What if Roger Delgado hadn't died in a car crash and had lived to play the part in Jon Pertwee's final story?' things like that.

If Ruth had been revealed as The Rani I would have been the happiest man in the world right now to be sitting down watching Doctor Who, alas it was not to be.

That's the only thing I didn't like, but it does create an impact on my view of the episode as a whole with it being such a big plot twist.

The bits I liked, well... Captain Jack IS BACK and I am delighted to see him return, I loved all of Jack's scenes that he was in and I am still flabbergasted and struck by this surprise, not only was I on the edge of my seat, I actually fell of it. I also liked the mystery of Jack's warning to Jaz, Ryan, and Graham. Very mysterious, and a great tease for the Cybermen's return.

Ritu Arya as Gat was really good as well, a shame she wasn't used more as she was a good actress being underused. That is something which is not uncommon in New Doctor Who.

The Judoon were excellent, they're the reason this episode scores a seven instead of a six. Great to see them back in Doctor Who in their first proper story in thirteen years.

I found Graham's speech at the end to the Doctor very heartfelt and genuine, it shows solidarity between the TARDIS crew and how they're four friends who will look out for each other no matter what and I like that. The TARDIS crew should be about companionship and one should have the other's back, friendship, loyalty, and love. I found what Graham said to be very genuine, which I liked a lot.

I'm starting to like this TARDIS team more, Yaz is getting better by the day and Mandip Gill is brilliant, Bradley Walsh absolute delight, Graham definitely my favourite of the three and he is genuinely funny. I like Ryan's wit and cheek in the scenes on Jack's spaceship. This team are really starting to grow and develop their characters more and I like what I see with that. So, keep up the good work.

The visual effects were really good in this as well, I enjoyed the Judoon's blaster effects and of the spaceship. Though I didn't like Ruth's doctor, her TARDIS console room interior I liked, way more then Thirteens.

Lots of exciting twists and turns and shock moments which I adored, and I'm really excited to see what's going to happen in the series finale. I'm not going to over speculate or over think anything, but I am excited for what's to come in the future. This series is a vast improvement over series eleven already and we're only five eps in. I'm impressed.

Fugitive of the Judoon gets a 7 out of 10 from me.

Next Week's I've been reading up on it and sounds really good, and from the next time trailer I am intrigued and can't wait to find out what it's all about next week.

For now it's good bye, thank you for reading this and I will see you again for another Doctor Who Review.

Reverse the Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era | Part Five: Season 11

Doctor Who - Reverse The Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era

Part Five - Season 11

By the time we come to the end of season ten, it already seemed set in stone that the building built up of strong foundations of the UNIT family which formed Doctor Who was about to collapse. The end of an era was pretty much personified by the time we get to Season Eleven.

The regular production team had decided that it was time to move on. Jon Pertwee had said that this next season was to be his last, Katy Manning who played the doctor's friend and companion Jo Grant had left in the previous story "The Green Death" and Roger Delgado who had played the Doctor's arch-enemy The Master had tragically been killed in a car accident whilst filming on location in Turkey; and some how the family wasn't the same. 

The show was starting to move in a new direction away from UNIT, there was a new companion being introduced for the Doctor, UNIT was being used in fewer and fewer stories so faithful supporting characters such as The Brigadier and Sergant Benton were not being included as much. 

When Jon Pertwee had come to the decision that he wanted to move on from Doctor Who, it didn't come as any surprise to Producer Barry Letts, and Script Editor Terrance Dicks. After all Pertwee had been in the role for five years now, he had out longed his two predecessors William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton; both of which had done three years each. Pertwee's reasons for leaving were he was worried that he would be stuck in the role of The Doctor in Doctor Who forever, he was having to turn down other work such as big movies, and west end plays because of his commitments to the show and also felt that the family was breaking up and it was time for a change.

Hence came the beginning of a new era to Doctor Who, starting with the casting of a new companion who would go on to be one of the most beloved characters in Doctor Who's history.

SARAH JANE SMITH

This is something which goes unnoticed by most people, however, at first the part of Sarah Jane Smith wasn't originally offered to Elisabeth Sladen. 

Doctor Who producer Barry Letts offered the part of Sarah Jane to actress April Walker, who accepted the role and was duly contracted by the BBC. During rehearsals for the first story of the season The Time Warrior, it became clear to Jon Pertwee and Letts that the two leads had little rapport and were physically mis-matched. 

It has been claimed that Pertwee demanded for the part to be recast, because he said he would not play opposite an actress who was taller than him. Letts therefore released Walker from her contract though she was still paid in full for season 11. 

Letts began a second batch of auditions and saw Elisabeth Sladen after a recommendation from fellow BBC producer Bill Slater, who had twice cast the actress recently in separate episodes of 
Z-Cars. 

Sladen performed her audition alongside actor Stephen Thorne and after impressing Letts, he arranged for her to meet Pertwee before any decisions were made. Pertwee stood behind Sladen and gave a 'thumbs-up' to Letts who then offered her the role. However, Sladen at first wasn't aware when she went to the audition that the role she was auditioning for was for the doctor's companion, she thought it was for a part in one episode of Doctor Who. That one episode turned into eighty-five and Sarah Jane Smith became one of the doctor's longest serving companions, co-starring in eighteen stories with the Third and Fourth Doctors. 

She would later go on to star in her own spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, none of the other classic companions had that. There is something special about Sarah Jane that we as an audience love so much, is it the twinkle, is Liz Sladen, is it the relationship she has with the Doctor? It could be a number of those things. 

Sladen felt that part of her popularity was working alongside Pertwee and Baker, who were popular Doctors. Daniel Martin of The Guardian named her the best companion in 2007, writing that her "jolly-hockey-sticks good nature" made her so beloved. The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Fuller also ranked Sarah Jane number one, praising Sladen's portrayal and saying that she displayed "great determination and bravery".

In 2012, Toby Whithouse, who wrote Sarah Jane's return to the series in "School Reunion", said she was his favourite companion from the classic series. Concerning the impact of the character, he said:

"Because she was a comic companion; and I think that she, more than any other before her, redefined the role of the companion. And there are elements of Sarah Jane Smith that you can see in every companion afterward down to Amy. She changed the companion from being a rather helpless hysteric to being a feisty, opinionated, strong equal to The Doctor. And, at the time, you know that was quite an extraordinary thing to do. That was not the role the companion, or women, were meant to be playing. They were meant to be playing the victim, they were meant to be decoration. I think what Lis Sladen did with that character is quite extraordinary. We forget how revolutionary she was at the time."

THE TIME WARRIOR

For The Time Warrior Script Editor Terrance Dicks sought a historical setting, something the series had avoided since Patrick Troughton's early days. Stalwart Robert Holmes was chosen to write this adventure. It had always been Holmes's belief that historical stories were unpopular with viewers. Historical episodes from the William Hartnell years often had low audience figures as it was lead to believe they switched off because they were bored of the history lesson they were being given.

Therefore he introduced a new sub genre - the pseudo-historical by doing history stories with strong science fiction elements. For this story the SF element was a single dangerous alien, rather than an entire race. And that alien was the superb Sontaran, Linx; one of the best realised aliens of the time.

So impressive was Holmes's work, that he was subsequently chosen to take over from Dicks as Doctor Who's Script Editor. He was quick off the mark to exact his revenge, and commissioned Dicks to write a historical story set on a lighthouse. (Horror of Fang Rock)

As a post script, it is worth mentioning that amongst all the swords and so called 'sorcery' of Holmes's Middle Ages, a legacy was born. For in this story we have the first mention of the name of the Doctor's home planet. - Gallifrey.


INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS

British television in the early 1970s had many iconic images, and Jon Pertwee's Doctor teaming up with UNIT to stop invasions was an integral part of Saturday night viewing. It was during the original transmission of Invasion of the Dinosaurs that the media first reported that Pertwee would be leaving Doctor Who.

Looking back now, this was perhaps the ideal story in which the signal for an era's end was made.

Now entering his fifth season, the Third Doctor blatantly leapt to Earth's defence time after time, with his cloak billowing behind him and the Brigadier supporting him all the way.

All manner of alien threats had tried to invade our world, and in this story the ultimate in monsters had finally arrived -  dinosaurs! The Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex were creatures the viewing public had long wanted their time-travelling hero to face, and the cliffhanger endings to four of the six episodes pit the Doctor against various prehistoric beasts.

Of course, on a restrictive 1970's television budget, the appearance of Cretaceous creatures required the viewer to suspend some measure of disbelief. For some time this story was relegated to the position of a poorly realised experiment.

Thankfully, this viewpoint has changed as of late, with Invasion of the Dinosaurs now seen as a testament to the victory of creative ideas over budget, and the beginning of a fitting swan song for a legendary incarnation of the Doctor.

Working titles for this story included Bridgehead from Space and Timescoop. The story title of the first episode was contracted to Invasion in the opening title sequence, in an attempt to conceal the central plot device of dinosaurs. However, this was undermined by the BBC listings magazine Radio Times, which carried a picture of a dinosaur in the listing for episode one.

Confusion of this episode with the 1968 serial The Invasion, in BBC documentation, was long thought to have led to the 1974 episode being wiped in error. Malcolm Hulke protested against the use of the title Invasion of the Dinosaurs, preferring the original working title of Timescoop, and felt the contraction for the first episode was silly, especially because the Radio Times gave the game away. In a response letter after transmission script editor Terrance Dicks pointed out that all the titles used for the project had originated in the Doctor Who production office. He agreed that the contraction to Invasion was a decision he now regretted but noted that "Radio Times are a law unto themselves".

In the novelisation, adapted by Malcolm Hulke from his own scripts, no reference is made to the "Whomobile" which was a prop contributed to the production at a late stage by actor Jon Pertwee. In the novel, the Doctor uses a military motorbike with electronic scanning equipment attached, as in the original scripts.

Locations used in London included: Moorgate Underground Station, Smithfield Market, Westminster Bridge, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Haymarket, Covent Garden, Southall and Wimbledon Common. Location filming took place in September 1973, with studio recording commencing in October and November.

All episodes of this story except Part One exist on original format PAL colour master tapes, with the first episode only existing as a monochrome 16mm film print. There is a long-standing fan myth that the tape of Part One was erased by mistake, having been confused with an episode of the Patrick Troughton serial The Invasion. In fact, BBC Enterprises issued specific instructions to wipe all six episodes of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, named as such, in August 1974, just six months after the story's transmission; for reasons unknown, however, only Part One was actually junked. Stickers on the cans for the remaining episodes 2–6 indicate that they were returned from BBC Wales which was transmitting Season 11 in a different timeslot on Sunday. As far as the BBC was concerned, the story had been wiped in its entirety; researchers for the 1977 BBC documentary Whose Doctor Who found that none of the episodes were listed as existing in the BBC library.

A black-and-white film print exists of the filmed sequences for Part One. This includes one scene of a scared scavenger stealing money from a dead milkman's satchel that was omitted from the broadcast version; this would have formed part of the deserted London montage. Black-and-white prints were used for practice by BBC film editors, in deciding where to make cuts, before cutting the master colour negatives. The surviving film recording of Episode 1 is the only telerecording of a Season 11 episode held in the archives; this is probably due to the long-standing practice within BBC Enterprises of making a film print for overseas sales purposes prior to wiping any master tape. Colour 35mm film sequences from Episode 5 also exist. The first edit of Part Three, without sound effects or incidental music on the soundtrack (known within the BBC as a "71 edit"), also exists.

DEATH TO THE DALEKS

Jon Pertwee was famous for saying how much he despised the Daleks. He thought the iconic monsters looked primitive and never hid the fact that he hated working with them. However, the metal-cased creatures, whose history takes us right back to the second ever Doctor Who story, are always a safe bet when it comes to securing good ratings. So, when the production team were planning Season Eleven, it was decided that the Daleks would return midway through that year's run of stories to fight the Doctor once again; whether the lead actor liked them or not.

Death to the Daleks, along with its provocative title, is not a typical Third Doctor story. Far from the relative cosiness of alien invasions around UNIT HQ and without the help from the Brigadier and his men, the TARDIS arrives on a bleak alien world - atmospherically filmed in a desolate Dorset quarry. 

Incidentally, the location used for the planet Exxilon is not too far from the quarries used for the Dalek home world Skaro and also Androzani - Doctor Who would return to film near the Exxilon quarry during Destiny of the Daleks (1979) and The Caves of Androzani (1984) several years later.

It is not a typical Dalek story either. With the strange power from the Exxilon city rendering their weapons useless, we encounter helpless and vulnerable Daleks that are forced into an uneasy alliance with their oldest enemy. Michael Wisher provides the Dalek voice, an actor would go on to play the creator of the Daleks 'Davros' in the next season in 'Genesis of the Daleks'.

Working titles for this story were The Exilons and The Exxilons. The incidental music for this serial was composed by Carey Blyton and performed by the London Saxophone Quartet.

This is one of two Third Doctor serials the other being The Claws of Axos to still have a 90-minute PAL studio recording tape.

THE MONSTER OF PELADON

As the title implies, The Monster of Peladon features a planet the Doctor has been too before. This sequel to The Curse of Peladon cost-effectively reuses many of the monster costumes, props and sets from the first story, and the same director and designer also came back to work on the six-part tale.

The story is a blatant parody of the 1973 miners' strike and the first draft of Brain Hayles script was originally set while King Peladon still rules the planet. However, unhappy with several elements, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks decided to move the story to 50 years after The Curse of Peladon, lose the King and introduce Queen Thalira as King Peladon's daughter and heir.

This monster-packed story saw the fourth and final appearance of the Ice Warriors in Doctor Who. The lumbering breathless Martians has first been introduced when Patrick Troughton was the Doctor in The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Seeds of Death (1969). The returned for the first Peladon story, surprising the Doctor (and viewers) when it turned out they had given up violence and joined the Galactic Federation.

The Monster of Peladon is the penultimate story of the Jon Pertwee era. Trips to alien planets in the TARDIS are rare for the Third Doctor, so it's ironic that he should return to two he has already visited for his last couple of adventures. His next and final story Planet of the Spiders sees a return to Metebelis Three where more monsters are waiting.

PLANET OF THE SPIDERS

The original idea, so we hear is if Roger Delgado hadn't died they would have ended the Third Doctor era with a battle to the death between The Doctor and his arch enemy the Master, the story would have ended with the Master sacrificing his life to save the Doctors. What makes Planet of the Spiders so special is that it's all about Jon.

Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks would also be stepping down from their roles.

Planet of the Spiders is an indulgent finale to the Third Doctor's time on Earth, drawing together several plot threads from previous stories, embellishing the continually of the Time Lords, and preparing the way for a new era of Doctor Who.

The continuation of the Mike Yates story arc, following his ignominious departure at the end of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, is particularly satisfying.

By contrast, the Brigadier is mainly used for comic relief, although it is a pleasure to witness his camaraderie with the Doctor as they enjoy an afternoon of questionable entertainment at a variety show. Yates and the Brigadier aside UNIT is scarily in evidence. Instead, the Bond style chases provide the physical action sequences, granting Jon Pertwee one last indulgence as he zips around the English countryside in a verity of exotic vehicles.

As the true identify of K'anpo is finally revealed we are afforded a tantalising insight into the early life of our favourite Time Lord, but there is no chance to explore this as the Doctor is forced to acknowledge the error of his ways and returns to face The Great One, even though he knows it will cost him dearly.

His sacrifice brings redemption and re-birth, delivering a genuinely emotional farewell to the Third Doctor. 

And that's that. That marks the end of our analysis of the Pertwee era.

Jon Pertwee, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks saved Doctor Who from a terrible fate, and made the series popular again. The early 1970's proved to be a triumphant testament to the hard work and dedication of Pertwee, Letts, and Dicks all of which would go on to be Doctor Who legends.

Doctor Who Review - Series 12 Episode 4 - Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror

DOCTOR WHO REVIEW

NIKOLA TESLA'S NIGHT OF TERROR

Hello and welcome to another Doctor Who review on this blog, where today we are reviewing episode four of the twelfth series of Doctor Who which is entitled 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror'.

This reimagining sees Tesla, in a charismatic performance from ER’s Goran Visnjic targeted for his expertise by unpleasant scorpion race the Skithra. 

So this episode is another sudo historical following on from episodes such as: Rosa, Demons of the Panjab, The Witchfinders, Spyfall Part Two, Chris Chibnall has decided to take us back to the historical roots of the show and give audiences a history lesson, but to make it interesting throw an alien into it, or throw a monster into it. 

Nikola Tesla isn't actually someone who I've heard of, ever. I've heard of Telsa cars, only to discover that Elon Musk actually created the Tesla because he was a fan of Nikola Tesla's work. 

Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror, I have to say I love the story for the title alone,  but also for those of us largely unbothered by the details of electric current, ‘Night of Terror’ is a classic story of realising your true potential. Throughout history Tesla is someone whose work is overlooked, he achieved amazing things and as the Doctor tells Yaz at the end of the episode, these things do come fruition, lots of good does come out Tesla and his work.

I think it got the balance of history and adventure absolutely right, it was a well executed and solid adventure and I really enjoyed watching it. 

The acting was absolutely on point, from the guests especially, Robert Glenister was fantastic as Thomas Edison he's almost borderline villainous, he portrays Edison as almost pantomimesque businessman whereas Goran Visnjic gave a very nuanced portrayal in this episode as Nikola Tesla I can't fault it, it was splendid to watch. Definitely I would say one of the strongest guest cast performances Doctor Who has seen in recent years. Great to see guest stars actually being USED WELL as apposed to getting killed off after ten minutes like Stephen Fry. 

Jodie Whittaker in this story is delightful, I really liked her performance in this, it's the most doctor-ish I've seen her in all her episodes so far. Another thing to point out which I like is it's nice to see thirteen's darker impulses start to come out a little more. Her doctor is getting progressively more darker as the current series continues from what I've noticed. At times she was flat-out intimidating towards Tesla at the beginning and definitely towards the Queen of the Skithra at the end. 

It is interesting to see her Doctor who is usually quite perky having an attitude which in such a way that is on par with the previous doctors, she's starting to get a little bit bloodthirsty. I think it's interesting, I can't say at this point whether I like this side to her character or not. What it does do is give her character more depth as apposed to Gallifrey's now 're destruction' So all I'll say for now is 'let's just see how far down this path we will go' who knows, by episode eight or nine she could be turned into a raving lunatic. (Please don't over play it if that is the case). It's something which I think Whittaker has the ability to pull off, from what I've heard she's a bit nuts in real life, so we'll just wait, watch and see what happens. What concerns me is Chibnall and Whittaker over playing it, and making it out to be a bit thing, there is such a thing as over acting.

What I do end up questioning about this episode more than anything else is why didn't the Doctor wipe the minds of Tesla and Edison at the end? She did it at the end of Spyfall to Ada and Nour which sets a strange precedent, but I'm not a fan of mind wiping being used in that sort of way anyway, so I'm not going to follow it up.

It's lovely to see Yaz get more scene time, I really liked how she took everything in that was around her in this episode and how there is not always a happy ending to some of these things and that's what the ending to this episode symbolised. The fact that Tesla will die penniless and the fact that no matter how great you are and the things you achieve things just don't go your way, and I thought Yaz's confusion and desolation to this was very well done, well acted. 

One of the issues I found with this episode is something that has been an issue with previous episodes is that it's still heavy on exposition, there's too much of it and it feels a little bit forced, and the doctor is sadly always the one that has to end up dealing with it. Surely there must be more simpler ways of delivering the information necessary because sometimes it just brings the episode down to a halt and gradually you feel yourself becoming less and less invested until something new happens and then you're back in it again. 

Another issue I had with this episode was the doctor's costume. I thought it was a shame and a missed opportunity that she didn’t get an outfit to match the era of 1903. The others got one, why didn’t the doctor? Especially as they did give her a new outfit for Spyfall. 

The Skithra, the scorpion like shape shifting aliens in this, I feel could have been designed better, we don't see much of them or get a good proper look at them but from their appearance that we did see, they just looked like a black and red CGI giant scorpion to me, I think the production team could have been more inventive with the design of them. The Queen's costume I thought was great, and although I didn't like the voice effects, Anjili Mohindra gives a really good performance in that role, reminiscent to the Empress of the Racnoss, performed magnificently by Sarah Parish. 

This episode was really, really good. I’m buzzing after watching it (pardon the pun). My favourite episode of series twelve so far. 

Graham was really funny, Ryan and Yaz were very good, especially Yaz. 

I loved it, and for that reason, Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror deserves a 9/10. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this review, and I shall see you next time for another Doctor Who Review next week. 

Reverse the Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era | Part Four: Season 10

Doctor Who Reverse the Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era

Part Four - Season 10

1973 marked the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who, Jon Pertwee has out run his two predecessors William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, who had both done three years each. Doctor Who you'd expect to find on the front cover of the Radio Times, and up there as one of the most watched shows on the BBC at the weekend. So it's no surprise to the production team to find themselves in good stead in making plans for the Doctor's 10th Birthday. 

Season Ten started on the 30th of December 1972 with the tenth anniversary special The Three Doctors, and ended with Katy Manning's (Jo Grant) departure in The Green Death. 

THE THREE DOCTORS

In 1973, Doctor Who celebrated its tenth birthday with old friends, new thrills, and a big jelly.

Keen to open the anniversary season with a bang, Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks commissioned an ambitious story that would see the return of the First and Second incarnations of The Doctor, while retaining the UNIT family elements of the Third Doctor era.

It had been brought the attention of Dicks and Letts, a lot of fan mail was coming through from viewers suggesting ideas for stories such as "please can you have the Daleks battling the Cybermen?", or "Can you do a story with all the doctors together?" suggestions that were brushed off at first as being ridiculous. However, after giving the matter a little thought some of these suggestions did not sound so ridiculous after all, hence why The Three Doctors happened.

The Three Doctors stands out as being the first story in Who history to feature previous incarnations of the Doctor return to the programme, something that would later go on to be a regular feature in anniversary episodes.

The resulting celebratory romp has a distinct pantomime flavour in places, with the Doctors battling a giant anti-matter jelly and the globular Gell Guards, before arriving at the glittery fairy-tale domain of Omega; the shouty man in the shiny cloak.

In 1973 it was a bold new concept for multiple Doctors to share an adventures. William Hartnell was sidelined due to ill health, nevertheless brings gravitas and charm to his scenes as the First Doctor. The accidental brilliance behind what makes The Three Doctors work so well as story is that William Hartnell wasn't well enough to do it. Patrick Troughton looks exactly the same as he was before, Hartnell comes in and out when he needs to, no one really gets in the way of each other, the story does pace itself with a nice and easy flow.

The chemistry between Pertwee and Troughton though quite spiky in places, it's great to see the two doctors in action, and it's obvious that their two personalities clash both on and off screen.

The fractious scenes between the Second and Third Doctors are arguably the highlight of the story, and the success of this pairing established a recurring device, various Doctors reunite in The Five Doctors, The Two Doctors, Dimensions in Time, Time Crash, The Day of the Doctor, etc.

A colourful, nostalgic celebration of the first ten years of the programme, The Three Doctors is best enjoyed with a fizzy drink and a big slice of birthday cake. But perhaps not jelly and ice cream.


CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS

It is interesting when you look at things today like Gogglebox, concepts and ideas for things like that are only being touched upon in television before it's time.

Making the end of his enforced exile on Earth, Carnival of Monsters sees the Doctor return to the role of intergalactic adventurer, with this first outing in the TARDIS reminding us that his navigation skills were always less than accomplished.

Tossing out most of the elements which characterised the early Pertwee era (UNIT, Earth under attack, the Master) Carnival of Monsters gets back to the basics, placing the Doctor and Jo at the heart of a strange and dangerous mystery. But still a very fun and comedic story in moments where light hearted humour is needed.

Although not as blatant as his later tax parody The Sun Makers, Robert Holmes pokes fun at television and its viewers with a postmodern zeal. In a playful and cleverly crafted script, the lurid Lurman entertainers are juxtaposed with the desaturated stiffness of Inter Minor and 1920s manners aboard the SS Bernice.

The design work is similarly superb, in particular the period detail of the ship and the interiors of the Miniscope, and the Drashigs (which is an anagram of dish rag) are ferocious enough to convince us that they would do some serious damage if they managed to escape from the machine.

Often overlooked between the tenth birthday indulgences of The Three Doctors and the space operatics of Frontier In Space, Carnival of Monsters is fast, fresh, and feels surprisingly modern. One of Robert Holmes's finest scripts, this story is a comic highlight of Season Ten.

FRONTIER IN SPACE

Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks has made grand plans for the tenth anniversary season of Doctor Who. Not only would it feature the reappearance of William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton alongside Jon Pertwee, but there would be an epic twelve-part story to rival 'The Daleks' Master Plan (1965/6)'.

In the event, two linked six part stories were commissioned. Frontier In Space, the first of these stories, is an ambitious project realised through extensive model work, careful scripting, inventive use of locations and impressive design. It presents a future permeated with 1970s Cold War sensibilities, bleak, unfriendly and distrustful, where two galactic empires teeter on the brink of war.

But this future is far from black and white. As in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970) and The Sea Devils (1972), Malcolm Hulke portrays two morally ambiguous adversaries and highlights the fear and latent aggression on both sides as they manipulated by a third party.

Perhaps, unexpectedly, it is the presence of the Master that brings humour and lightness to the story. Roger Delgado's performance is beguiling, playfully masterminding the escalation of tension and relishing being in control. Given that this was Delgado's last appearance as the Master before his untimely death shortly after Frontier In Space was first broadcast it is all the more tragic that his final moments on screen are edited to a rather hasty and unsatisfactory conclusion.

Frontier In Space sees the return of the Ogrons to Doctor Who having appeared in the previous seasons opening story 'Day of the Daleks' (1972) The Draconians make an appearance as a new alien, they were Jon Pertwee's favourite aliens in Doctor Who, as he felt the make up on them was so well done he believed he was actually interacting with an alien species, and the costumes and design of the Draconians is well done and throughly executed to make them stand out as the most impressive aliens in Doctor Who. Such a shame however, they have not yet made an appearance in the new revived series.

Conceived with great ambition, Frontier In Space is somewhat compromised in is climax by the need to dovetail into Planet of the Daleks, but remains a first-class space opera realised on a grand scale.


PLANET OF THE DALEKS

What better way to celebrate Doctor Who's tenth anniversary than to include one of the show's most successful monsters.

Since negotiating their return for 'Day of the Daleks' the year before, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks had given writer Terry Nation the first refusal on writing all future Dalek stories. Planet of the Daleks was the first time he had worked for the series since 'The Daleks' Master Plan' in 1965.

Usually, the story follows on directly from the previous one, Frontier In Space, and the six-part adventure is full of treats for long-term Doctor Who viewers. We meet the Thals again, the first time since the very first Dalek story in 1963; old friends of the Doctor's get a mention, and then there the Daleks themselves. Four more Daleks were built - and we also get to meet the bulkier Dalek Supreme, a modified version of Terry Nation's personal prop from the film 'Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD' (1966).

Planet of the Daleks is an enjoyable and colourful Third Doctor story. Interestingly, the Doctor and Jo are separated for half go the adventure, something that becomes a bit more permeant after the story that follows.


THE GREEN DEATH

If you're a child and you're not that too familiar with classic Doctor Who, but your parents watched it when they were younger, chances are they've seen this one. Yes, everyone seems to remember, the one with the giant maggots. Probably because of how horrible and well they looked on screen, for the minimal screen time they did have, they were effective, scary looking and fitted the purpose of what is a eco friendly story.

The Green Death addresses matters which concern our environment and if we carry on polluting and submitting to global warming we will destroy the planet. In some ways, we may already be too late.

The Green Death is the final story in Doctor Who's tenth season and, although this is Jon Pertwee;s penultimate series, this story marks the end of an era for Doctor Who at that time and sets the wheels in motion for changes ahead. The UNIT Family is starting to break up and it's as if Doctor Who is slowly and gently preparing itself for bigger changes the following year when Jon Pertwee decided  to leave the show.

Producer Barry Letts used his concern for pollution and the effect on environment as the basis for a Doctor Who story, Writer Robert Sloman, who had previously written the much praised story 'The Deamons' and 'The Time Monster' with Letts was assigned to co-write the finale to Season Ten.

The story is filled with iconic moments from the Third Doctor's era. Nightmarish giant maggots, a quick trip in the TARDIS to Metebelis Three and it has even got the Doctor dressed as a cleaning lady. Doris the cleaning lady still goes down in history as being one of the best Doctor disguises throughout the whole continuity of the shows long history.

However, The Green Death is really all about the departure of companion Jo Grant. There is a nicely done build up leading to its conclusion. You've got Jo who has been on this journey ever since she first step foot into UNIT and met the Doctor for the first time, it's built upon a sweet friendship between the Doctor and Jo that has lead to each of them feeling affection for the other. Jo Grant is a loveable ditherer who although her intentions are good, she can't help but make a fool of herself and you feel when you're watching her scenes with Professor Jones how similar it is to her first scenes meeting the Doctor.

Even early on in the story when Jo is keen to go up to Wales to help stop Global Chemicals, the Doctor is left in the lab and says 'the fledgling flies the coop' at that moment, it's almost like the Doctor already knows she's going, deep down he can sense it.

Throughout their relationship The Doctor has always been very protective of Jo, and there's a scene where he shows Jo the crystal he brought back from Metebelis Three, Jo doesn't look that interested, and so he removes Professor Jones from the room, this indicates the Doctor doesn't want to let go. He's still protective of Jo and his affection for her.

When you build up to the final scene it is terribly sad, you find yourself wanting to grab a box of tissues, it's very well acted and well done. Katy Manning's difficult not to love character swaps occasional time travel and working with UNIT  for a trip up the Amazon with someone who reminds her of a younger Doctor.

Season Ten draws to an emotional close, with the final scenes of the Doctor driving off in Bessie and signifying the beginning of the end for a lot of things, the foundations of this UNIT family pact were breaking up, and the show was evolving into something new, but again that's the thing with Doctor Who it never stays the same. It is something which is constantly changing, adapting, and evolving throughout the years and will continue to do so.

Join me next time for the concluding part of my analysis of the Pertwee era as I review Season Eleven.

MK11: The Clown Is In Town - Joker | Arriving January 28th!

MORTAL KOMBAT 11: KOMBAT PACK 

JOKER - THE CLOWN IS IN TOWN ON JANUARY 28TH

The most anticipated moment of the year so far for MK11 fans has arrived, today we have the pleasure of having a first look at Joker in his reveal trailer. Some sadistic and fun things shown here in some of Joker's fighting techniques. 

What I think is fun for NetherRealm studios is that they can really go to town with this character and not hold back like in the Injustice games.

When I first found out that Joker would be joining the MK11 roster, I could only imagine what his fatel blow and fatalities would be like, and I've seen one of them in this trailer, I think it's fair to say that NetherRealm have not disappointed and I am super pleased with Joker's trailer.

Here's the link, 

As you can see, there is lots of fun and sadistic things they have included with this character, and this is just a showcase. As a new character coming to the game, there is still a lot more of Joker to explore.

I'll only go through a few of his moves that I found most impressive.

The first is his intro and outtro I found them to slick and characteristic, they have captivated Joker's psychopathic charm well, I found the intro we got in this trailer a nice nod and homage to the Oscar nominated Joker movie. The outtro was just classic Batman, sparks flying and a creepy grin on Joker's face.

The second was his throw grab, which lead to him punching his opponent with two big play catapult fists, I found this to be a playful move on NetherRealm's part as they've put something in that is characteristic of the evil clown and something which we will find fun about his character.

Thirdly, the combo move which leads into a crushing blow on Baraka's head. Joker's combo moves are brilliant from what I've seen so far. I'm hoping they've not made is zoning and combos too complex as that would take some of the enjoyment out of playing as him.

When it comes to his consumables, the things we can customise in the game, I think there will his knife and his cane, but I'm not what the third could be?.. anyone willing to hazard a guess?

The biggest shock that I got however from Joker's trailer was the bonuses and extra stuff that came with him. Basically, whenever a new character gets released in MK11 we also get  exclusive new skin sets with the character as a nice added bonus. Joker's bonus has to be the best yet, DC skins of characters in the game.

Including Killer Croc Baraka, Catwoman Kitana, Batman Who Laughs Noob Saibot, and best of all and the thing I was really not expecting Darkseid Geras! I am so pleased with these skins, they all look great, particularly Killer Croc Beraka, it looks gorgeous! I would play as Baraka more with that skin. That's what I think is great about these kind of unique and exclusive rewards it encourages players to play with certain characters.

I don't play a lot with Beraka, I will now I've seen that Killer Croc skin, even the new Revenant skins which are available now in Kombat League look great, I'd play to get all of them. And I would play as Sonya and Jax more as Revenants. 

Final thoughts on Joker at the moment, send in the clown. We don't have long to wait for him, he strikes me as a gamers guilty pleasure and a popular character amongst many generations who know of this character, fans of Batman and DC.

Wait a go NetherRealm, you've done a terrific job with this character, Joker doesn't disappoint.

Doctor Who Blu Ray Announcement - Season 14 Coming Spring 2020

It's official, today Doctor Who fans and Blu Ray collectors alike now know the next blu ray boxset to be released as part of "The Collection" Blu Ray box set range is Season 14. Tom Baker's third season and Philip Hinchcliffe's final season as producer.

It's also the season to feature the last story of Sarah Jane Smith, there's a wonderful tribute on this boxset to pay homage to Elisabeth Sladen's time on Doctor Who and will always be 'Our Sarah Jane'.

Not only that some of the very best Doctor Who stories are on this boxset: The Deadly Assassin, The Robots of Death, and The Talons of Weng Chiang, three classics that have gone down in Who History as being fan favourites.

With updated special effects and new bonus features, restored picture and sound quality, this boxset has it all and is a welcome edition to the collection.

The packaging is designed by Lee Binding who has done the artwork for the other six box sets, Lee you've done it again, the design and artwork for the cover is stunning and I really like the fact you have used a photograph of Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor) in his Weng Chiang outfit as it is a unique and definitive look and exclusive to Season 14.

I'm really excited to be seeing this released in the spring. This boxset is available to pre order on Amazon, Zavvi, and Zoom. It says the release date is April 20th, however, given what has happened with other boxsets being delayed, I wouldn't be surprised if we got this May. Still, it's wonderful we're getting this none the less, I know this has been a season on many people's lists to be given a blu ray release.

It would seem from the pattern of the way these boxsets have come out in the past, we get a new boxset for every season of the year. Take last year for instance, Spring 2019 - Season 18, Summer 2019 - Season 10, Autumn 2019 - Season 23, Winter 2019/20 - Season 26.

Season 14 is looking to be the blu ray boxset release for Spring 2020 and I can't wait.

If you haven't watched it yet, here's a link to the trailer below.

Reverse the Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era | Part Three: Season 9

Doctor Who Reverse the Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era

Part Three - Season 9

We are now halfway through our analysis of the Pertwee era. By the time you come to Doctor Who in 1972, you have an audience which is well established with the Doctor and his new life on Earth, UNIT as a supporting role, and the UNIT Family. 

So we go into Season 9 with a familiar background. The season broadcast on BBC One from the 1st of January to 24th of June 1972. 

The first serial of the season 'Day of the Daleks', saw the return of the Daleks for the first time since 1967. This was also the first time that the Daleks appeared in colour in the television series. 

DAY OF THE DALEKS

New Year's Day in 1972 was particularly exciting if you were a Doctor Who fan. Not only was your favourite series returning for its ninth season but the Daleks were also back for the first time in five years, and in colour as well. 

The last time the Daleks had appeared in Doctor Who at that time was The Evil of the Daleks, a Second Doctor story from 1967. In that story, viewers had witnessed the final end of the creatures, or so we thought. But the Daleks are just too good, they're too headline grabbing to stay hidden forever. So the production team decided to launch Jon Pertwee's third season with their much publicised return.

Day of the Daleks had a specially shot television trailer featuring Daleks by the Thames plus an illustrated Radio Times cover, and if you were lucky enough to enter a competition inside the magazine, you could win your very own Dalek.

All this excitement could not have masked the fact that there were only three Dalek props available for the production. Two grey and black Daleks, and a Gold and Black Supreme Dalek. And with all the best will in the world, it was always going to be difficult to stage a convincing and epic full-on Dalek attack on Auderly House at the end of the fourth episode with only three Daleks.

At the beginning, Day of the Daleks didn't actually start off with having the Daleks in it at all. It started out as a Ghost story, concerning people from the future travelling back in time to prevent something from happening in their past. With a working title of "The Ghost Hunters" and "Years of Doom" and the serial revolved around the Ogrons instead of the Daleks, the Ogrons being these troll like dim aliens that were brutish and strong but not very intelligent. 

The original plan was to bring the Daleks back at the end of the season in a story called "The Daleks In London" by Robert Sloman. The production was dropped when the production team realised that the series didn't have the hook that it needed to draw in viewers like The Doctor's introduction in Season 7 and The Master for Season 8. As well as that Sloman's script was all to similar to The Dalek Invasion of Earth. 

Instead writer Louis Marks was asked to alter his script to include the Daleks. 

Osterley Park was originally proposed as the setting and location for Day of the Daleks. The name was changed to Auderly House in the final production. 

Jon Pertwee in his words 'never liked the Daleks'. He thought they were limited in their ability to do things and he couldn't understand their popularity. 

However, he would concede that the publicity which followed the announcement of their return to the series by Barry Letts "was perhaps worth my biting my lip". On the other hand, he enjoyed working with the story's guest cast. 

He also liked the Ogrons, as unlike the Daleks, their design allowed the actors' mouths and lips to be seen and thus he felt allowed the actors playing them to "come to grips" with their characters and "with an entire range of expressions available" make the viewers believe in their performance. 

Pertwee also recalled he persuaded Barry Letts to include the trikes seen in the story, reflecting his love of vehicles. However he considered the chase sequence involving them to be "one of the more dangerous stunts that I had insisted on doing" during his time on the series.

Terry Nation, who penned the first story The Daleks in 1963, was given an on-screen credit at the end of all four episodes of this story as having originated them. The production team only had three Dalek props available for use during the production of this serial, so only three Daleks appear on screen at any one time. One of the Daleks is painted gold, so only two regular casings are seen in shot. Film editing is used to attempt the illusion of more than three Daleks. The final battle at Auderly House was disliked by viewers, as it was quite obvious that only three Daleks were attacking. From a production side of things it does look very lack lustre in terms of scale and special effects.

What's more shocking then that is how unrealistic the Daleks sound. They just sound really weird in how they talk, they talk like robots. It is an assumption that if the actors believed that if they talked into the microphones it would modify their voices to make them sound like Daleks, and what makes the Daleks an apposing threat is quite largely down to the voice because if you actually look at the Dalek in its form, it's not very frightening at all. A good Dalek, i.e what makes the Daleks a great monster is that sense of mystery and voice adds to that. These voices don't make the Daleks come across as threatening much. 

The merits of what makes Day of the Daleks not only a great season opener but a great story in general is it achieves what other science fiction stories can not. It is a time paradox story done well. 

You have the gorillas who are meant to be the good guys, they go back in time to prevent a terrible future from happening but instead are the ones who made it happen and they're caught in a temporal causality loop. Brilliant. They are ones who caused it. 

Interestingly as well, it involves time travelling into the future without the TARDIS, true the visual effects are a bit naff and if done today, Day of the Daleks would look a lot more visually striking and effective with the CGI opportunities available, but the production does the best that it can.

Another interesting thing this story brings to light is the Doctor's taste in cheese and wine. We do have to remember that Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor was indeed a character in relation to his two predecessors. He was an Edwardian gent in the 70's, and a representation of heroes of that period if you think of things like 'The Avengers' for example. So it was written into his character that he liked a glass of wine while enjoying a cheese board. That's regeneration for you. If the shape of your nose is going to change, perhaps your tastes change as well when you regenerate. 

THE CURSE OF PELADON

Ever since the Daleks first hit our TV screens in 1963, Doctor Who has delivered a succession of alien races to thrill and excite its viewers. It is perhaps strange then that the Doctor so rarely encounters more than one species at any one time. 

The Curse of Peladon is a rare treat, presenting a menagerie of monsters old and new. And like the diverse range of aliens it showcases, this is a multi-faceted adventure which defies expectation at every turn. 

A motley collection of creatures find themselves thrust into a murder mystery in a medieval, claustrophobic setting which envois Shakespearean tragedy rather than space opera. But as the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that it is far more than an alien whodunnit, setting religion and tradition against science and progress, and in its wider context, it is a cheeky political allegory, made at a time when the UK was on the verge of joining the EEC after twelve years of negotiations. 

Ultimately this is a very personal story, exploring the dilemmas of a young King facing critical state issues and struggling to balance duty, friendship, and love. By placing human emotions and motives at the heart of the story, Brian Hayles enjoys the uncommon luxury of allowing his aliens to become personalities in their own right rather than merely ciphers for evil. 

Working titles for this story included "The Curse" and "Cure of the Peladons". Featured the return of the Ice Warriors, a popular monster from the Patrick Troughton years, like Day of the Daleks, Curse of Peladon was the Ice Warriors first story in colour and rather surprisingly they are not made out to be the bad guys, even though the Doctor suspects them as being so from the start. So they're not really a villain in this.

David Troughton who plays King Peladon in this, is Patrick Troughton's son had previously appeared in Doctor Who as a guard in 'The Enemy of the World' and Private Moor in 'The War Games', Curse of Peladon is his third Doctor Who. He would later appear in 'Midnight' with David Tennant's doctor. 

In summery, changing both the Doctor's prejudices and our own, The Curse of Peladon dares to defy the traditional narrative where the bug eyed monster is always the bad guy. 

THE SEA DEVILS

Malcome Hulke's sequel to 1970's Doctor Who and the Silurians reworks the same ethical issues, and although The Sea Devils may lack the moral depth and bleak nature of its predecessor, it compensates with extensive location work, ambitious action sequences, and some enthusiastic support from the Royal Navy.

Replaying the ancient-reptiles attempt to reclaim Earth scenario repeats the intrinsic dilemma: which race is demonstrably more deserving of our sympathies, and can the Doctor broker a peace before it is too late. 

In one of the great iconic moments from the history of the series, a Sea Devil rises from the water and advance up the beach at the end of Episode Three. Unfortunately, as a race they remain mostly muted lacking intelligent motivation, and are ultimately portrayed as rather unsympathetic cannon fodder. 

The generosity of the Navy affords some praise to the production and a succession of impressive dramatic opportunities both on land and at sea, and although UNIT are conspicuous by their absence, the cast of the Navy characters and supporting extras really do compensate the narrative.

Ultimately thought it's the Master that steals the show, Roger Delgado is stirring up the inter-species aggression and exploiting human weakness as the evil rebal time lord, after the events that has happened in The Daemons, The Master is sent to live out the remainder of his days in prison, the story begins with the Doctor and Jo on their way to visit him. The prison visit scene grants a tantalising hint of the Master's history with the Doctor, and he is by turns utterly charming, blithely deceitful, deliciously ironic and, in the closing moments, unexpectedly mischievous. 

An action-packed yarn with sword fights and submarines, mine fields, and mind games, and featuring some intriguing insights into the Doctor's relationship with the Master, The Sea Devils is quintessential Pertwee.

THE MUTANTS

The Mutants is the penultimate story of Doctor Who's ninth season and is a good example of a script that reflects social and political issues of its time.

Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who wrote The Claws of Axos the previous year, submitted an idea for a story about colonial oppression on an alien planet, and eventually developed the story along with script editor Terrance Dicks. 

Originally called 'Independence', the anti-apartheid themes are clear from the start. Trips to murky alien planets like Solos were a rare treat during the early 1970's and this is the third time since he had been exiled to Earth that the Time Lords send the Doctor on a special mission, a particularly handy plot device that gets the TARDIS into time and space and away from Earth-based stories featuring the UNIT family. 

The atmospheric location filming includes scenes shot in the Chislehurst Caves in Kent. These man made caves, which made for chalk and flint in the 13th century, provide a suitably eerie setting for the caves on Solos. The planet's surface is also filmed in Kent, in what was Western Quarry in Northfleet.

The mutant monsters of the story's title are well realised and nightmarish in appearance. Although the Mutt creatures never returned for another Doctor Who story, a slightly altered Mutt does make an appearance at the beginning of "The Brain of Morbius". 

THE TIME MONSTER

The Time Monster offers up the Third Doctor's first Earth based historical adventure, with Atlantis playing a key role in the central storyline. 

Representing Doctor Who at perhaps its most eccentric, with a rampaging half-man/ half bird, a rapidly ageing science assistant and a time travel device known rather amusingly as TOMTIT, The Time Monster certainly doesn't lack imagination.

Worthy of note is the stylistic technique in which we alternate between the real time story itself and the events happening in Atlantis, thus helping give both scale and depth to the adventure. 

There's also the welcome return of The Master, last seen in the Sea Devils, faking a heart attack and escaping on a rescue hovercraft. The character's involvement us one of the main factors in the story's success, which heralds Roger Delgado's penultimate appearance in the role. 

This story sees a redesign of the TARDIS interior. Producer Barry Letts was unhappy with the redesign. The set was damaged shortly after recording on this particular serial wrapped and, as a result, was discarded.

Although The Time Monster may not be oft-cited as a fan favourite, the six part story attempts to overcome its ambitious plot points with relentless determination and drive, and in doing so provides  throughly entertaining story telling. 

This brings my analysis of Season 9 to a close, join me next time where I will continue my analysis of the Pertwee Era with Season 10.