The End of the World

"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming, or asteroids. But you never take the time to imagine the impossible. That maybe you survive.

This is the year 5.5/Apple/26. Five billion years in your future. And this is the day...hold on. This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."

--The Doctor
"The End of the World"

It's when I heard this speech the first time that I knew the rebooted Doctor Who was in good hands and I didn't have to worry. Still sends chills up my spine every time I hear Chris Eccleston deliver it. This story for me represents everything great Russell T Davis brought to the series, and will probably top my list for favorite Ninth Doctor stories (yes, even more than The Empty Child).

The War Games, Heroes, Torchwood CoE, and the way we watch television.

A couple of days ago I wondered if The War Games is as good as the reputation within fandom that it's built up for itself over the past decade or so. As you may has guessed from my previous post, my opinion is that it is. There's a lot of good things going for it. Barring maybe Evil of the Daleks (which I haven't seen), The War Games is the only time a Troughton story goes truly epic. It has a massive sense of scale, even before the last two episodes. It has some some great location filming, and strong direction by David Maloney. Mac Hulke is one of my favorite Who writers, and this serial showcases some of his strengths There's a large cast of strong characters, with no real weak link in chain. All get to share the screentime evenly (though Lady Jennifer mysteriously disappears in part 5). All in all, The War Games may not be strongest story of Season 6 (I still think that honor goes to The Invasion), but it's certainly right up there as one of Troughton's best.

But last night I was still pondering why its reputation has shot up in the way it has over the past 10-15 years, and it dawned on me that one reason could be the that over that timeframe there's been a shift in the way people consume television. During the VHS era, I think the tendancy (well, mine anyway) was to plonk a tape into the VCR and watch the whole thing in one sitting. I thought nothing of sitting down and watch a four-parter in one go, and even a six-parter wasn't unheard of. Once we got into Season 7 territory it becomes trickier, but I do distinctly remember watching all of Inferno one weekend night with a friend. But The War Games? Egad, even the sad teenager with no life that I was could manage that comfortably. I think the closest I ever came was to split the whole thing up into two viewings 5-and-5.

So, maybe this story had a poor reputation of being just far too long because people couldn't view it all at once. Stay with me here, this is going someplace.

In the DVD/BD era, it became far more regular for people to purchase an entire season of a show and watch it in a slow-but-steady way. For me, anyway, the practice began with Season 1 of Heroes. Instead of watching it over the course of 8 months, Tasha and I watched it 2-3 episodes at a time, over the course of two weeks or so. That was a great way to watch that specific show too, because you could actually see the plot move just fast enough to keep you hooked. (I know I'm not saying anything original here, but Heroes Season 1 holds up remakably well when viewed in this way. Characterization is very strong and the plot unfolds in a natural manner that never feels rushed or jerky).

Other things have changed too. Most specifically when Doctor Who was rebooted, the shift to a 45ish minute episode length changed my feelings on how the show should be watched. I've come to the point that I can no longer sit down and watch a 100-minute four parter in one go. Even before I decided to do this marathon, I was tending to watch the older stories two episodes at a time, which is roughly the length of one complete modern episode.  For me, it's just long enough to hold my interest before I start to lose focus and my attention drifts to other things. Our modern ADD culture? Maybe, but that how it's come to be with me.

So, with these two factors, The War Games almost becomes a mini-series within the larger confines of Season 6. Indeed, watched two episodes per day over the course of 5 days, it's almost the exact same length and viewing experience as Torchwood: Children of Earth. As I was thinking about this last night, it occurred to me that each two parts each makes up a "chapter" of the larger story:

• Parts 1 & 2- Laying out the groundwork. These are set almost entirely within the WWI Zone, focuses almost exclusively on those characters with only occasional hints about the larger story going on. It's not until the cliffhanger of Part 2 that we really start to see the big picture. 

•  Parts 3 & 4- The story broadens to multiple time zones, and it become about the Doctor figuring out exactly what is going on, with much of the plot dealing with finding the map that reveals all the time zones. The aliens are also introduced, though the TARDIS crew doesn't have much interaction with them until....

• Parts 5&6- ...When the story moves away from the times zones to the alien base. Much of the plot is about capturing the new Mind Control processing machine so that it can be used to back in the time zones to de-hypnotize more soldiers. There's a plot thread about the War Chief and the Security Chief one-uping each other, which also starts the plot concerning the Time Lords. 

• Parts 7&8 The focus shift back to the war zones, and the plot is concerned with organizing all the resistance troops into a cohesive force and then slowing taking over all the war zones from the baddies. 

•  Parts 9&10. The main plot gets resolved, and the focus moves to the Doctor and the Time Lords, the trial, and the forced regeneration.

 So there you go. Basically, I think one reason this story's reputation shot up is because people are now more willing to watch longer story in parts and experience the plot unfold than they were in the past. The War Games, when viewed in this manner, is not unlike watching more modern, shorter British series like Life on Mars, Sherlock, or indeed, modern Doctor Who.

It's been fun spending time with Troughton. Onward to the UNIT era!

The War Games episode 1 &2

The first big impression that I get from just the first two parts of The War Games is how dynamic and expansive it feels. It uses Time as a plot device in a way that hasn't been seen since Evil of the Daleks,  The Ark, and Dalek Masterplan. Since so much of Troughton's stories are tied down to one small base or area, this already has a larger sense of scope that lends it a nice, exciting energy. Episode 2 also benefits from some good location film work and a funny bit by Troughton as he impersonates a government inspector.

The War Games preview and Season 6 retrospective.

I've now been a Doctor Who fan for something like 21 years. I can't single out the exact point I became a fan, because the process was gradual, but it would've started around fall of 1992. It was definitely in the leadup to the 30th anniversary with that cool altered diamond logo.
 
In that time, I don't think any single story's reputation has improved in the collective eyes of fandom as much as The War Games. In the early nineties it was still more or less considered a bloated monstrosity; a 6-parter painfully stretched to 10 episodes only from sheer necessity. Now it's held in very high regard, and considered on of the finest epics Doctor Who ever produced. Somehow I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  I am on record as stating David Maloney is my favorite Who director, so it's got that going for it before I even begin.

It's been years since I've sat down and really watched The War Games, and never in context. Season 6 has been a nice surprise; it's much better than it's reputation as being somewhat dour in tone and creatively out of ideas. (Actually, that description neatly summarizes my opinion of Season 11, but let's not burn bridges before we get to them). The Mind Robber and The Invasion are two excellent back-to-back stories, and The Seeds of Death is just a level below them. There's nothing great about The Krotons but nothing wrong about it either; it's perfectly average Doctor Who. The Space Pirates has a bad reputation but since I've (mostly) only watching extant stories during this marathon, the only part I viewed was episode 2, and I've always rather liked Milo Clancey and his broken, newfangled solar toaster. That just leaves The Dominators, which admittedly is pretty dour and uncreative.

As I get ready to depart the Troughton era I will say that, despite Season 6 being better than it's reputation, I didn't like it has much as the Hartnell era. Patrick Troughton has gathered this reputation as being the first "real" Doctor off which all future Doctors are at least partially based, but the truth is that during this marathon I often found the Second Doctor lacking. Certainly he's nowhere near as compassionate as the First Doctor. For example at one point in The Invasion Jaime is actually shot, and the Doctor sort of shrugs it off once he learns he's going to live. If such a thing had happened to Ian, the First Doctor wound be shitting kittens worrying if his friend was okay. It's a moment that didn't sit well with me.

But, again, there's so much I didn't see, especially from the almost totally missing Season 4. Before this marathon, if you had asked me what were the Missing Stories I'd most want to see, I'd have answered with the great epics of Season 3, like The Dalek Masterplan or The Massacre of St Batholomew's Eve.  Now, I really want stuff from the early Troughton era, so we could see this mischievous character develop. Power of the Daleks, certainly, but also The Highlanders and, The Macra Terror and, God help us, The Underwater Menace. Thankfully, that last one does have another episode coming, and I have a gut feeling it's going to improve that story's reputation somewhat.

Which brings us full circle. Didn't mean to go on quite so long, but I think the caffeine kicked in and these are some thoughts that have been bouncing around my head of late. It's going to take me the better part of a week to watch The War Games. Will is be great? Will it be dull? Will it just be a really long but  otherwise unremarkable Doctor Who story? I look forward to finding out.

Doctor Who Marathon: Least Favorite Stories

And then, finally, there are the clunkers. The stories that, once I'm done with this marathon, I may never watch again. The ones I'd happily say "junk them all!" if meant the return of episode 2 of The Ice Warriors.  Behold, a collection of the banal.

• The Keys of Marinus- Doctor Who's first real failure. Awful scripts by Terry Nation, with poor characterization of the regulars and near universal bad acting from every single supporting role. Cheap design throughout (though the hair-drier phones of Millenius are kinda neat). And possibly the stupidest alien baddie in the entire run of the show.  
• The Chase- Almost everything  I said about Keys of Marinus can be applied to The Chase; they're basically the same story. The Chase is marginally better because the Daleks provide *some* sense of menace and drive to the plot, but not much. This was the first Hartnell story I ever saw and it had the unfortunate effect of ruining my perception of the era for years to come. 
• The Dominators- Better writers than me have noted why this story doesn't work. Let's just say I agree with them and save some time. 
• Doctor Who and the Silurians- Good God, I don't know how I never noticed how.........much........padding.......there.......is........in.......this..........story...........before......now. Whole scenes of characters sitting around conference tables reiteration the same arguments episode after episode. One could easily make this a 4-parter without trying too hard. Indeed they basically did, in The Hungry Earth/ColdBlood, which is much better. Go watch that instead. Fulton Mackay is also terribly miscast as Dr. Quinn, which results in the first three episodes having less menace than they otherwise could have before the Silurians show up. 
• Planet of the Daleks
• Invasion of the Dinosaurs 
• The Deadly Assassin- And not for stupid fanish reasons, like it goes against all previously established show history, though there is some of that. No, I just didn't think it was a very good piece of television.  
• The Invisible Enemy 
• The Visitation 
• The Twin Dilemma
• The Two Doctors
• Terror of the Vervoids 
• New Earth 
• 42 - The big gimmick to 42 is that it's told in real time. Hence the title, 42 minutes. The irony is it still feels like it's padded, by a considerable amount. It looks fantastic, but that's about the only good thing I can say about this story. Acting and characterization are weak all around, including the Doctor and Martha. The plot is virtually nonexistent, and stupid at that. I'm debating with myself if this the moment where the rot starts on the RTD era. The next for episodes following this are amazing, so maybe not. But I'm watching....  
• Cold Blood
• Closing Time
• A Town Called Mercy
• Cold War 

Doctor Who Marathon: Least Favorite Episodes

But, conversely from my previous post, there's going to be episodes where one wonders why the BBC continued to renew the program for 26+ years when episodes like these were the result. Once I get to the Pertwee and Baker era, I suspect a lot of Episodes 3's & 5's will populate this list. Early on, when the program is more serialized and they're still experimenting with the structure of the show, it will probably be more random.

• The Screaming Jungle (The Keys of Marinus Ep. 3) Bad design abounds. Bad characterization abounds. Just when you think the stone statue with the obviously human hands is the epitome of Cheap Doctor Who, Ian is trapped by the Cage of Dowel Rods and Barbara is nearly crushed by the Ceiling of Polyurethane Swords.   
• Journey Into Terror (The Chase, Ep. 3) - This is supposed to be a funny sendup of the whole horror genre. But it's more like a bad episode of Scooby-Doo.
• The Dominators, Eps 3-5 For it's first two episodes, The Dominators is actually not that bad. There's some cleaver satire of stodgy academia going on somewhere there. But the last three are as bad as it's reputation. It doesn't help when the antagonist hate each other more than the Doctor.
• Inferno, Ep 6-  Look, I really like Inferno, it's probably my favorite Pertwee story. But this is the weak link in the chain, an episode that is almost all padding. How many times does Petra try to rewire the nuclear power controls and get it wrong? Saved slightly by having possibly the best cliffhanger in the history of the show. 
• The Daemons, Ep 4 - You could basically excise this entire episode and not miss a thing, though those who like morris dancing my disagree with me. While watching The Daemons this time around I noticed that any time a character ends up in the pub, the writers are basically saying, "We have nothing for this person to do right now, so we're just going to stick them here for the time being." Benton, Yates, and the witch spend a lot of time in the pub. Ditto can be said about the whole heat converter scenes, though I do like Sgt. Osgood.   
• Invasion of the Dinosaurs Eps 1-2. I suspect I'm going to be listing every episode from this story, but I'm starting with the first two, with a different reason for both. Episode 1 actually starts off quite moody. Mac Hulke takes a page from Terry Nation's playbook and basically has the Doctor and Sarah exploring abandoned London on their own for the entire episode. Unfortunately, it's all padding. There's only about 3 minutes of real material here, and its between the Brig and General Finch explaining that London's been invaded by monsters. Ep 2 is just dull, dull, dull.  Absolutely no one seems to care about what's going on. London's been invaded by fucking dinosaurs, and they may as well be discussing golf. Actually, that's probably be more fun. 
• The Invisible Enemy, Ep. 2 - The first part of The Invisible Enemy is actually rather good. At worst, it seems like the story will be a Base Under Siege, but with the twist that the bad guy is coming from within. But then this mess of tin-dog poop happens, and the strongest run of stories since the Hartnell era comes to a screeching halt just like that. I dare anyone to make sense of what's going on here. Characterization, gone. Plot, gone. Even the bad guys don't make sense. Michael Sheer, as one of the virus' hosts, declares earlier that Titan would make a ideal spot for the nucleus to incubate. Then, when all he has to do is kill the unsuspecting Leela and game over, decides it's a good idea for the three of them to travel to a bloody hospital asteroid.  

Doctor Who Marathon: Favorite Episodes

Likewise, there are certain episodes that just stand out. Maybe they have a magical moment or a bit of good direction, or excellent dialogue. I will add them here as I find them, and maybe add some brief descriptions on why i find them great.

• An Unearthly Child, Ep. 1
• The Daleks, Ep. 2. Great example of building tension and mood.
• The Daleks, Ep 4. Wonderful direction by Christopher Barry, and excellent special effects, especially considering the era. The rest of Doctor Who's 50 years may rest on the strength of this episode alone.    
•  The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Ep. 2. Feels like the show as a whole is taking a massive leap forward. It's got location filming, nice (and LARGE) set designs, a great soundtrack, and the largest cast in Doctor Who up to this point in the programme's history.
• The Romans, Ep. 3. The whole story is rather wonderful, but this is the best episode. I wish they had been more willing to do the occasional comedy in the later on. 
• The Daemons, Ep 1 The rest of the story isn't all that great, but episode one is actually pretty good. It's paced tightly and has a sense of energy with the goal of getting the Doctor and Jo to Devils end before the barrow is opened. Up. Nice use of media as a narrative device. 
• The Ultimate Foe Ep. 1  The only time Colin Baker's era truly meets greatness. Should have been like this more often. 

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Viewing Marathon: Favorite Stories

As I go through this marathon, here are the stories that stand out: the ones that are head and shoulders above the rest. Maybe towards the end I can start to arrange them in some sort of order of preference.

• The Daleks
• The Aztecs
• The Romans 
• The Gunfighters
• The Ice Warriors
• The Mind Robber
• The Invasion
• The War Games
• Inferno
• The Mind of Evil
• Day of the Daleks 
• The Sea Devils 
• Carnival of Monsters
• The Time Warrior 
• The Ark In Space
• Planet of Evil
• The Seeds of Doom 
• The Face of Evil
• The Robots of Death
• The Talons of Weng-Chiang 
• Horror of Fang Rock 
• The Invasion of Time
• The Ribos Operation
• The Androids of Tara
• City of Death
• The Leisure Hive
• Full Circle
• Warriors' Gate
• Castrovalva
• Kinda
• Earthshock 
• Snakedance
• Frontios
• The Caves of Androzani
• Vengeance on Varos
• Mindwarp  
• Delta and the Bannerman
• Remembrance of the Daleks
• The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 
• Battlefield 
• The Curse of Fenric
• The Curse of Fatal Death
• Rose 
• The End of the World 
• Father's Day
• School Reunion
• The Girl in the Fireplace
• The Satan Pit
• Smith and Jones
• The Shakespeare Code 
• Human Nature/ The Family of Blood
• Utopia
• The Sound of Drums
• Time Crash
• The Fires of Pompeii
• Forest of the Dead
• Turn Left
• Waters of Mars
• The Eleventh Hour
• The Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone
• Vampires of Venice
• Amy's Choice  
• Vincent and the Doctor
• The Lodger
• The Pandorica Opens
• A Christmas Carol
• The Doctor's Wife
• The Rebel Flesh/ The Almost People
• The Girl Who Waited
• The God Complex
• The Power of Three
• The Rings of Akhaten 
• Hide
• The Name of the Doctor
• The Day of the Doctor