The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: World's End - Flashpoint
Doctor Who - World's End (21/11/04)
Oh my god! The Daleks are back!!
The TARDIS has landed in London in the future and the Doctor, Susan, Ian & Barbara spent the episode exploring their surroundings and trying to figure out where they were. It was the usual, well executed stuff where they were cut off from the TARDIS (by a bridge collapsing) and split up (Susan has sprained her ankle so Barbara stayed with her while Ian and the Doctor went to find an acetyline torch to cut through the fallen girders). And this is where it got brilliant - they've actually been and filmed on location in Central London! The Doctor and Ian had a look around an abandoned warehouse, watched by a man, and found a calendar indicating that they're in the late 22nd Century, some time after 2164. Meanwhile, somebody grabbed Susan while Barbara was wetting a hanky in the Thames, and another guy told her to follow otherwise she'd get herself killed. Cue fantastic shots of Barbara chasing after him through various decayed and abandoned, overgrown areas of London. It looked brilliant, Jacqueline Hill looking fabulous on location. It all felt very real and very unnerving. Turns out they've encountered a group of Humans hiding out in an underpass or something.
Meanwhile, Ian and the Doctor found the stabbed corpse of a man with a weird contraption on his head, saw a flying saucer, surmised that maybe there had been a plague due to a big poster saying not to dump bodies in the river, returned to the TARDIS to find Barbara and Susan gone, and found themselves surrounded by a group of armed men in the weird headgear. That's when the Dalek turned up, rising out of the Thames!
It was really great seeing Ian and Barbara hopeful that they were home, then slowly realising that this was the future and something terrible had happened. But to have the Daleks there too - it looked like they survived after all! And have they invaded Earth? Is that why London is in ruins? An absolutely brilliant set up, and almost a year since the show started. Really impressive.
Doctor Who - The Daleks (28/11/04)
Another really good episode, not quite so amazing because there wasn't any location work this week, but it was still great learning about the events that led up to the Dalek invasion of Earth!Apparently, it started off a decade earlier with disastrous meteor storms followed by a devastating plague which wiped out most of the world's population. Seems these were all set in motion by the Daleks who were waiting patiently for Earth to be weak enough to succumb to an invasion - very The War Of The Worlds! Anyway, they captured many of the survivors and either set them to work in the mines (Bedfordshire is one, apparently. Yes, all of it!) or turned them into Robomen - the guys with the headgear - who do all the heavy work like rounding up survivors and, er, whipping people. They don't last long, though, because the mind control (very The Tripods) breaks down after a time leaving them insane and suicidal, so a regular stream of new conversions are needed. And guess who's next for conversion?
Having been caught by the Daleks and taken to their Saucer ship, the Daleks put the Doctor, Ian and local dickhead Jack Craddock (who has an incredibly annoying voice and a habit of talking over the Doctor about pumpkins) in a cell, presumably because they realised there was 25 minutes to fill. In the cell was an intelligence test to do with lights, magnets and unconvincing technobabble, but the Doctor solved it and opened the door and, as such, has been put in a Roboman converter! I assume they pick out the smart ones for conversion so the ones in the mines don't rebel.
Anyhow, the survivors Barbara and Susan are with, led by a guy called Tyler, have a crippled scientist who's made a bomb that destroys Dalek casings (apparently, although he hasn't tested it). So they've gone and attacked the Dalek Saucer, gaining entry by disguising some of the rebels with the deactivated headgear of dead Robomen (Barbara's idea). But are they in time to rescue the Doctor? Probably.
Really good stuff, for the most part. The writing gave a really good sense of a post-apocalyptic Earth, and Bill Hartnell had a lot of fun at the start with his lines about standing up and defeating the Daleks. Great stuff.
Doctor Who - Day Of Reckoning (05/12/04)
Absolutely brilliant again this week! The rebels rescued the Doctor, but the attack on the Saucer failed as the bombs were ineffective. Barbara briefly saw Ian but he was forced back into the Saucer and everyone got split up. Barbara ended up back at the rebel hideout with Tyler, a rebel called Jenny, and the crippled scientist, Dortman. Tyler went off alone and Dortman insisted on heading to a second hideout where they could perfect his bombs. It's North of the river at the Transport Museum so we got some fantastic location work with Barbara and Jenny pushing Dortman's wheelchair through the beautifully deserted streets of Central London and Daleks in front of the Houses Of Parliament, Nelson's Column and St Martin's In The Field, and on Westminster Bridge. It was brilliantly shot and I could have watched a whole episode of it!
However, they reached the museum and everyone had gone. Dortman made adjustments to his bomb, then distracted Barbara, left her his notes for the Doctor and went outside to test the formula on some patrolling Daleks. It didn't work and they killed him. I've been thinking why he did that, and perhaps it's because he didn't test his previous batch and loads of people got killed and the rebels forced to scatter. I guess it was guilt that made him sacrifice himself, but there must have been another way, even if he did think he'd slow Barbara and Jenny down!
For one reason or another, everyone has ended up heading for Bedfordshire. Susan ended up with another rebel called David Campbell, and they encountered a man who had helped the incapacitated Doctor to escape. The Doctor spent the episode recovering but now the Daleks, after killing the Doctor's rescuer as he headed off alone, have left what appears to be a bomb around the corner from where they're holed up.
And Ian hid on the Saucer and teamed up with a Yorkshireman who stowed away so he could get to the mines (where the Saucer's headed) and rescue his brother. Lots going on and all absolutely brilliant. His last story may have been a bit of a dud, but Terry Nation has certainly done a great job of bringing the Daleks back!
Doctor Who - The End Of Tomorrow (12/12/04)
The Doctor was barely in this week's episode, but the plot didn't stall for a minute! Barbara and Jenny got the best bits, taking an old Bin Lorry from the museum and motoring on up to Bedfordshire via a Dalek blockade which Barbara smashed through!!! Unfortunately, a Dalek Saucer blew the lorry up before they'd even reached St Albans (fortunately after they'd leapt clear) so it looks like they're walking. Meanwhile, Ian and Larry the Yorkshireman encountered a slave who deals with a rather nasty Black Marketeer to get food for the mine workers. They got involved and negotiated getting Ian out to return to London (which they're told has been destroyed) but Captain Dodgy got snaffled by a weird, blobby mutant the Daleks have roaming the place called the Slyther, which cornered Ian and Larry on a cliff edge for the, er, cliffhanger.
Finally, Susan got plenty to do for a change. After deactivating the bomb, David suggested they hide the again-unconscious Doctor and try to find a way out in the sewers. Unfortunately, the sewers are infested with unfriendly survivors and zoo-escapee alligators. Fortunately, they bumped into Tyler who led them in the right direction. Susan and David chatted about beating the Daleks and rebuilding society from the rubble, then they lost Tyler and Susan had a close call involving a broken ladder and a baby alligator.
It all looks really good and so far the pacing is better than the first Dalek story. The location footage was again brilliant, including a shot of Barbara driving out of the museum with Dortman's corpse in the foreground. The mines were a mix of brilliant shots of Daleks overseeing slaves in a massive quarry and some less satisfying stock footage, but it's all really good. Well, okay, the Slyther looks a bit shit... very shit. And it sounds like a man going "RaaAAAR!" and gurgling - for obvious reasons. But aside from that it's all pretty great!
Doctor Who - The Waking Ally (19/12/04)
Things are nipping along nicely. Ian and Larry escaped the Slyther by jumping into a big suspended skip, causing the Slyther to fall to its death, then they go lowered down into the mine where they encountered Wells again and infiltrated a work party. There was quite a shocking scene where the work party was overseen by a Roboman who turned out to be Larry's brother. He noticed there were too many people in his unit and contacted Dalek Control. Larry tried to get through to him but couldn't, so he attacked his and strangled him. In the process, Larry was shot by his brother's machine gun and they both died.
Meanwhile, Barbara and Jenny encountered a couple of Women In The Woods (charmingly credited as such) who sold them out to the Daleks in return for food. It was actually a great example of what people will do in order to survive, and the image of a Dalek standing in the doorway to their cottage as it demanded Barbara and Jenny go with it was quite striking and memorable. In a typical turn of Terry Nation-coincidence they were put in Wells' mining work party, so Ian knows they're there, but Barbara decided she'd do what the Doctor would do and use Dortman's notes to con her way to an interview with the Black Dalek (who's in charge).
Elsewhere, the Doctor, Susan, David and Tyler were making their way to the mines too, encountering Robomen. David and Susan got frisky making dinner, and the Doctor noted that something was cooking. And Ian found out what the Daleks' plan is - to remove the Earth's core and replace it with an engine so it can be piloted around the universe. Of course it is! It all seems so obvious now!!! However, Ian hid in the bomb they're going to use to vapourise the core (or whatever) and is about to be dropped to his death.
On the plus side, it's great to see Barbara getting so much to do. It really does seem like this has been her story more than the others as, rather than get swept along by events, she's taken charge and been proactive throughout. Barbara Wright vs The Daleks!
Doctor Who - Flashpoint (26/12/04)
Boxing Day thrills this week as the Doctor and co beat the Daleks for a second time. More importantly, though, Susan has gone!
Having beaten the Daleks and blown up the mine (and the Dalek Saucers), they returned to the TARDIS on the bank of the Thames and David asked Susan to stay and marry him (!) - they must have got to know each other very well on their way back from Bedfordshire! Susan couldn't choose, so the Doctor decided for her. I'm not sure his abandonment of her was such a good thing, but I think on the whole it was what she wanted. She was saying the other week she's never had a place or time to call her own and now she can help rebuild the Earth. The Doctor had a very good and very touching speech at the end where he said goodbye, then he dematerialised the TARDIS and left Susan and David in ruined London.
Earlier in the episode, Barbara and Jenny infiltrated the Dalek Control room where Babs proceeded to bullshit the Black Dalek with tales and revolutions drawing on her knowledge of history. Ian temporarily fucked up the Dalek bomb by pulling out a load of wires and then escaped by sliding down the shoot. The Doctor and Tyler arrived and Barbara turned the Robomen against the Daleks allowing all the Human slaves to escape. Ian had jammed the bomb halfway down the shaft once the Daleks had fixed it so when it went off it didn't evaporate the Earth's core (or whatever), it only destroyed Bedfordshire.
This has been a really good story and an improvement on Terry Nation's previous scripts. This was probably the most exciting the show has been so far! It's a shame about Susan leaving, but for the last few stories she's been given very little to do - in fact, she had very little involvement in most of the stories once they'd left Cathay (not counting the Sensorite story). Maybe now it's just the Doctor, Ian and Barbara the show will have a new dynamic. We'll just have to wait and see!
Oh my god! The Daleks are back!!
The TARDIS has landed in London in the future and the Doctor, Susan, Ian & Barbara spent the episode exploring their surroundings and trying to figure out where they were. It was the usual, well executed stuff where they were cut off from the TARDIS (by a bridge collapsing) and split up (Susan has sprained her ankle so Barbara stayed with her while Ian and the Doctor went to find an acetyline torch to cut through the fallen girders). And this is where it got brilliant - they've actually been and filmed on location in Central London! The Doctor and Ian had a look around an abandoned warehouse, watched by a man, and found a calendar indicating that they're in the late 22nd Century, some time after 2164. Meanwhile, somebody grabbed Susan while Barbara was wetting a hanky in the Thames, and another guy told her to follow otherwise she'd get herself killed. Cue fantastic shots of Barbara chasing after him through various decayed and abandoned, overgrown areas of London. It looked brilliant, Jacqueline Hill looking fabulous on location. It all felt very real and very unnerving. Turns out they've encountered a group of Humans hiding out in an underpass or something.
Meanwhile, Ian and the Doctor found the stabbed corpse of a man with a weird contraption on his head, saw a flying saucer, surmised that maybe there had been a plague due to a big poster saying not to dump bodies in the river, returned to the TARDIS to find Barbara and Susan gone, and found themselves surrounded by a group of armed men in the weird headgear. That's when the Dalek turned up, rising out of the Thames!
It was really great seeing Ian and Barbara hopeful that they were home, then slowly realising that this was the future and something terrible had happened. But to have the Daleks there too - it looked like they survived after all! And have they invaded Earth? Is that why London is in ruins? An absolutely brilliant set up, and almost a year since the show started. Really impressive.
Doctor Who - The Daleks (28/11/04)
Another really good episode, not quite so amazing because there wasn't any location work this week, but it was still great learning about the events that led up to the Dalek invasion of Earth!Apparently, it started off a decade earlier with disastrous meteor storms followed by a devastating plague which wiped out most of the world's population. Seems these were all set in motion by the Daleks who were waiting patiently for Earth to be weak enough to succumb to an invasion - very The War Of The Worlds! Anyway, they captured many of the survivors and either set them to work in the mines (Bedfordshire is one, apparently. Yes, all of it!) or turned them into Robomen - the guys with the headgear - who do all the heavy work like rounding up survivors and, er, whipping people. They don't last long, though, because the mind control (very The Tripods) breaks down after a time leaving them insane and suicidal, so a regular stream of new conversions are needed. And guess who's next for conversion?
Having been caught by the Daleks and taken to their Saucer ship, the Daleks put the Doctor, Ian and local dickhead Jack Craddock (who has an incredibly annoying voice and a habit of talking over the Doctor about pumpkins) in a cell, presumably because they realised there was 25 minutes to fill. In the cell was an intelligence test to do with lights, magnets and unconvincing technobabble, but the Doctor solved it and opened the door and, as such, has been put in a Roboman converter! I assume they pick out the smart ones for conversion so the ones in the mines don't rebel.
Anyhow, the survivors Barbara and Susan are with, led by a guy called Tyler, have a crippled scientist who's made a bomb that destroys Dalek casings (apparently, although he hasn't tested it). So they've gone and attacked the Dalek Saucer, gaining entry by disguising some of the rebels with the deactivated headgear of dead Robomen (Barbara's idea). But are they in time to rescue the Doctor? Probably.
Really good stuff, for the most part. The writing gave a really good sense of a post-apocalyptic Earth, and Bill Hartnell had a lot of fun at the start with his lines about standing up and defeating the Daleks. Great stuff.
Doctor Who - Day Of Reckoning (05/12/04)
Absolutely brilliant again this week! The rebels rescued the Doctor, but the attack on the Saucer failed as the bombs were ineffective. Barbara briefly saw Ian but he was forced back into the Saucer and everyone got split up. Barbara ended up back at the rebel hideout with Tyler, a rebel called Jenny, and the crippled scientist, Dortman. Tyler went off alone and Dortman insisted on heading to a second hideout where they could perfect his bombs. It's North of the river at the Transport Museum so we got some fantastic location work with Barbara and Jenny pushing Dortman's wheelchair through the beautifully deserted streets of Central London and Daleks in front of the Houses Of Parliament, Nelson's Column and St Martin's In The Field, and on Westminster Bridge. It was brilliantly shot and I could have watched a whole episode of it!
However, they reached the museum and everyone had gone. Dortman made adjustments to his bomb, then distracted Barbara, left her his notes for the Doctor and went outside to test the formula on some patrolling Daleks. It didn't work and they killed him. I've been thinking why he did that, and perhaps it's because he didn't test his previous batch and loads of people got killed and the rebels forced to scatter. I guess it was guilt that made him sacrifice himself, but there must have been another way, even if he did think he'd slow Barbara and Jenny down!
For one reason or another, everyone has ended up heading for Bedfordshire. Susan ended up with another rebel called David Campbell, and they encountered a man who had helped the incapacitated Doctor to escape. The Doctor spent the episode recovering but now the Daleks, after killing the Doctor's rescuer as he headed off alone, have left what appears to be a bomb around the corner from where they're holed up.
And Ian hid on the Saucer and teamed up with a Yorkshireman who stowed away so he could get to the mines (where the Saucer's headed) and rescue his brother. Lots going on and all absolutely brilliant. His last story may have been a bit of a dud, but Terry Nation has certainly done a great job of bringing the Daleks back!
Doctor Who - The End Of Tomorrow (12/12/04)
The Doctor was barely in this week's episode, but the plot didn't stall for a minute! Barbara and Jenny got the best bits, taking an old Bin Lorry from the museum and motoring on up to Bedfordshire via a Dalek blockade which Barbara smashed through!!! Unfortunately, a Dalek Saucer blew the lorry up before they'd even reached St Albans (fortunately after they'd leapt clear) so it looks like they're walking. Meanwhile, Ian and Larry the Yorkshireman encountered a slave who deals with a rather nasty Black Marketeer to get food for the mine workers. They got involved and negotiated getting Ian out to return to London (which they're told has been destroyed) but Captain Dodgy got snaffled by a weird, blobby mutant the Daleks have roaming the place called the Slyther, which cornered Ian and Larry on a cliff edge for the, er, cliffhanger.
Finally, Susan got plenty to do for a change. After deactivating the bomb, David suggested they hide the again-unconscious Doctor and try to find a way out in the sewers. Unfortunately, the sewers are infested with unfriendly survivors and zoo-escapee alligators. Fortunately, they bumped into Tyler who led them in the right direction. Susan and David chatted about beating the Daleks and rebuilding society from the rubble, then they lost Tyler and Susan had a close call involving a broken ladder and a baby alligator.
It all looks really good and so far the pacing is better than the first Dalek story. The location footage was again brilliant, including a shot of Barbara driving out of the museum with Dortman's corpse in the foreground. The mines were a mix of brilliant shots of Daleks overseeing slaves in a massive quarry and some less satisfying stock footage, but it's all really good. Well, okay, the Slyther looks a bit shit... very shit. And it sounds like a man going "RaaAAAR!" and gurgling - for obvious reasons. But aside from that it's all pretty great!
Doctor Who - The Waking Ally (19/12/04)
Things are nipping along nicely. Ian and Larry escaped the Slyther by jumping into a big suspended skip, causing the Slyther to fall to its death, then they go lowered down into the mine where they encountered Wells again and infiltrated a work party. There was quite a shocking scene where the work party was overseen by a Roboman who turned out to be Larry's brother. He noticed there were too many people in his unit and contacted Dalek Control. Larry tried to get through to him but couldn't, so he attacked his and strangled him. In the process, Larry was shot by his brother's machine gun and they both died.
Meanwhile, Barbara and Jenny encountered a couple of Women In The Woods (charmingly credited as such) who sold them out to the Daleks in return for food. It was actually a great example of what people will do in order to survive, and the image of a Dalek standing in the doorway to their cottage as it demanded Barbara and Jenny go with it was quite striking and memorable. In a typical turn of Terry Nation-coincidence they were put in Wells' mining work party, so Ian knows they're there, but Barbara decided she'd do what the Doctor would do and use Dortman's notes to con her way to an interview with the Black Dalek (who's in charge).
Elsewhere, the Doctor, Susan, David and Tyler were making their way to the mines too, encountering Robomen. David and Susan got frisky making dinner, and the Doctor noted that something was cooking. And Ian found out what the Daleks' plan is - to remove the Earth's core and replace it with an engine so it can be piloted around the universe. Of course it is! It all seems so obvious now!!! However, Ian hid in the bomb they're going to use to vapourise the core (or whatever) and is about to be dropped to his death.
On the plus side, it's great to see Barbara getting so much to do. It really does seem like this has been her story more than the others as, rather than get swept along by events, she's taken charge and been proactive throughout. Barbara Wright vs The Daleks!
Doctor Who - Flashpoint (26/12/04)
Boxing Day thrills this week as the Doctor and co beat the Daleks for a second time. More importantly, though, Susan has gone!
Having beaten the Daleks and blown up the mine (and the Dalek Saucers), they returned to the TARDIS on the bank of the Thames and David asked Susan to stay and marry him (!) - they must have got to know each other very well on their way back from Bedfordshire! Susan couldn't choose, so the Doctor decided for her. I'm not sure his abandonment of her was such a good thing, but I think on the whole it was what she wanted. She was saying the other week she's never had a place or time to call her own and now she can help rebuild the Earth. The Doctor had a very good and very touching speech at the end where he said goodbye, then he dematerialised the TARDIS and left Susan and David in ruined London.
Earlier in the episode, Barbara and Jenny infiltrated the Dalek Control room where Babs proceeded to bullshit the Black Dalek with tales and revolutions drawing on her knowledge of history. Ian temporarily fucked up the Dalek bomb by pulling out a load of wires and then escaped by sliding down the shoot. The Doctor and Tyler arrived and Barbara turned the Robomen against the Daleks allowing all the Human slaves to escape. Ian had jammed the bomb halfway down the shaft once the Daleks had fixed it so when it went off it didn't evaporate the Earth's core (or whatever), it only destroyed Bedfordshire.
This has been a really good story and an improvement on Terry Nation's previous scripts. This was probably the most exciting the show has been so far! It's a shame about Susan leaving, but for the last few stories she's been given very little to do - in fact, she had very little involvement in most of the stories once they'd left Cathay (not counting the Sensorite story). Maybe now it's just the Doctor, Ian and Barbara the show will have a new dynamic. We'll just have to wait and see!
I find The Dalek Invasion of Earth less interesting the longer it drags on, but it's certainly iconic, being the first story to make full use of location shooting. The Robomen are a failure of design and performance, unfortunately. It IS a great story for Barbara though, and Susan, and the last 10 minutes of the final episode are still, all these years later, some of the most touching moments of the series. And there's a kiss! Very modern.
ReplyDeleteI think the story, like many in of the longer serials in the 60s, benefits from being viewed one episode a week. The serial really didn't drag for me, each episode being an exciting instalment I found myself anticipating. It was very clear to me how Dalekmania got started and I'm sure it was all on the back of this serial rather than the first. I wasn't too bothered by the Robomen, but agree that they could have been a bit better designed. I actually cried when Susan left, which I didn't admit to in the journal. Overall, she was very badly written, frequently marginalised and I fully understand why Carole Ann Ford chose to leave after one year; you just have to look at how progressively and intelligently Barbara was being written to understand that Susan was far from the character which Ford had been sold and immensely underused. Ironically, I don't really remember the kiss, but do recall Barbara and Ganatus locking lips. Obviously Ganatus is more my type! :D
DeleteSusan and David had a proper snog over the camp fire! How could you forget that? :P
DeleteOh yeah, I have vague recollections of them lying on top of one another in a way which made it obvious the director had told Carole Ann she wasn't allowed to straddle him!
DeleteNB I've only watched it a couple of times since 2004. My memory's good, but it does depend on the story ;)
Delete