The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Masque Of Mandragora
The Masque Of Mandragora: Part One (04/09/16)
A new series and an new TARDIS control room! We started off with the Doctor and Sarah wandering through the interior of the TARDIS, which was rather cool but brief - I don't think we've seen beyond the console room since the Hartnell years! There was a huge boot cupboard and the Secondary Console Room, which is all Jules Verne wood and brass and looks rather gorgeous.
Anyhow, they flew too close to something called the Mandragora Helix - a spiral of energy that acts like it has a controlling intelligence at its centre - and got pulled in. Looks like the rumours are true because a big, red, flashing ball of energy flew into the TARDIS and forced it to land in Renaissance Italy.
Upon arriving in an orange grove (Sarah has a really weird way of eating oranges) Sarah got kidnapped by some monks who KO'd the Doctor when he tried to stop them. When he regained consciousness, he went about looking for her but encountered the guards of Count Federico who, after a bit of a chase, KO'd him again.
Now, Count Federico is a bit of a bastard as he deals with civil unrest by slaughtering civilians and has just had his brother, the Duke, poisoned and made look like 'fate' due to his Seer, Hieronymous, claiming it was 'in the stars'. Hieronymous is probably responsible for the poison, too. However, Federico's nephew, Giuliano, who is all who stands between him and the Dukedom, isn't having any of it as he believes in science (which is just starting to get going). Giuliano seems to spend a lot of time thinking and chatting to his boyfriend, Marco (I assume it's his boyfriend), about the new scientific theories gaining ground elsewhere in Italy. No doubt they'll both end up helping the Doctor at some point.
Anyway, meanwhile Sarah was told her arrival was foretold and she's going to be sacrificed, and when brought before Federico and Hieronymous, the Doctor pissed them both off and now he's about to be executed.
Nice locations, this episode, and a speedy script. A mix of good and acceptable special effects - the Mandragora spark was a bit naff, but the briefly glimpsed effects of the damage it does to its victims was nice and weird. A promising start to the new series.
The Masque Of Mandragora: Part Two (11/09/16)
Seems like this story's a bit of a slow burner. The Doctor tricked the executioner and pegged it into the tunnels below the city. Turns out Hieronymous is the leader of a Cult of Demnos - the ones who kidnapped Sarah - and the Doctor stumbled across them and rescued Sarah just as she was about to be sacrificed. Fortunately, he also got to witness the arrival of the Mandragora Helix who offered the masked Hieronymous power over the Earth. It seems to have cemented Hieronymous' faith in the supernatural and his powers as a Seer as, not only does it back up his delusions which brought him to San Martino, where the Cult's temple lies in ruins (now restored by Mandragora) but he's had a fight with Federico about bringing Giuliano's death forward.
Anyhow, the Doctor and Sarah were found by guards who were loyal to Giuliano and they spent the night chatting about science, what Mandragora wants, and the calcified guard that was found at the gates and brought to Giuliano's attention. The Doctor has decided to go back to the temple and find out more, so Giuliano has guided them there.
However, Federico has found out about Giuliano's guests for his ascension to the Dukedom (hence his wish to bring the murder forward) and been told that the young Duke is helping the Doctor. Sending his guards after them and finding Giuliano and Sarah waiting outside the entrance to the tunnels, Sarah has legged it inside to warn the Doctor but been caught by the Cult of Demnos who intend to finally sacrifice her.
It's not really the most exciting story there's been, but the sets are quite lush and decked out nicely with props, etc. - particularly Giuliano and Hieronymous' quarters. And the location footage is brilliant with some utterly amazing architecture on display. A bit of a case of style over substance so far, but also undoubtedly the most Gothic story yet.
The Masque Of Mandragora: Part Three (18/09/16)
The plot has progressed a bit, but it's all a bit boring.
Sarah was hypnotised into attacking the Doctor with a poisoned pin but failed; Giuliano's boyfriend was taken by Federico's men and tortured until he gave a false confession that Giuliano and the Doctor were both worshipers of Demnos; Hieronymous warned Federico that he'd be dead before morning; and the Doctor figured out that Mandragora brought the TARDIS to Fifteenth Century San Martino because Giuliano had invited all the scientists and men of knowledge to his accession to the Dukedom and if it killed them all off the (Western) world would be plunged into a new Dark Age. Or something.
Anyway, the Doctor, Sarah and Giuliano were eventually caught and taken to Marcus' cell where the Doctor told Federico that Hieronymous was the leader of the Cult of Demnos, so he took the Doctor and a couple of guards to the temple where Mandragora was distributing itself amongst the brethren. Federico had a hissy fit and unmasked Hieronymous but only found Helix energy beneath his mask, at which point he was struck down by an energy bolt.
The sets are nice, but the effects are a bit rudimentary and the plot is a bit slow and uninteresting. I don't really care about Giuliano's accession; Mandragora is threatening the future of Humanity in the same way as Sutekh did last series but isn't remotely as threatening; Sarah's hypnotism was just filler and didn't produce much tension or jeopardy at all; and all the Doctor seems to be doing is wandering around telling people to beware of Mandragora.
Not a great start to the new series, given that last year we had exciting attacks on Scottish refineries and cool alien shape-shifters. Dull, dull, dull.
The Masque Of Mandragora: Part Four (25/09/16)
This was an improvement on last week, although the ending was a bit rushed. With Federico dead and the Doctor sneaking out of the brethren's ceremony (preparing for Mandragora's manifestation at the next day's lunar eclipse), Giuliano and Marco were set free and left to prepare for the accession celebrations.
The Doctor came up with an idea to drain off the Mandragora energy inhabiting Hieronymous using some wire and a military chest plate. Meanwhile, the brethren drove everyone out of the city and infiltrated the palace where, at the masque (which featured some brief but nice dancing) they killed a bunch of the guests and took the rest with Sarah, Giuliano and his boyfriend to the temple to be sacrificed.
However, instead the Mandragora energy came down, vaporised all the brethren and, for some reason, dissipated - probably due to the wire wrapped around the altar. And Hieronymous turned out to be the Doctor doing an impression; it seems Hieronymous was defeated when he attacked the Doctor earlier. Then Giuliano walked the Doctor and Sarah to the TARDIS and they buggered off.
Sarah was okay this week, but she's become very bland. Actually, she was already very bland. Now it's just long past time she went. As for the story? All in all, very average with little sense of threat, no jeopardy, and an awful third episode. That it picked up this week but was still only okay says it all, I think. Doesn't particularly bode well for the rest of the series!
A relatively early template for every new-series 'historical' this - an alien force at work in Earth's past, rather than just nasty people - and it arguably would have benefitted from being entirely mundane, since I agree that the threat Mandragora poses is nebulous and never fully realised. The filming in Portmeirion and the great design work in studio make the story stand out though (who ever though anywhere in Wales would so convincingly pass for Renaissance Italy?!) and the performances are uniformly good. The unspoken love story between Giuliano and Marco is the obvious highlight, needless to say :D
ReplyDeleteNo matter how I approach this story I just find it incredibly dull. The Giuliano/Marco love story certainly is the highlight, but given that it essentially doesn't exist that doesn't really say a great deal in favour of the serial. I don't think I've been quite so bored watching an episode (Part 3) since the Troughton era, and even then banter between the Doctor and Zoe/Jamie enlivened the likes of 'The Dominators' and 'The Mind Robber'.
DeleteHowever, costume drama is something the BBC do very well so whilst nothing remotely stimulating occurs for the brain, there's plenty on show for the eyes. Luscious sets and beautiful location sequences mean you can watch the story on mute with your favourite album playing in the background ('The Dark Side Of The Moon', 'Aladdin Sane', 'Rumours', 'Jon Pertwee Sings Songs For Vulgar Boatmen' - take your pick) and conceivably have an equally if not more enjoyable experience.
The fact that there are obvious allusions to the wonderful Vincent Price film 'The Masque Of The Red Death' and its source material, namely Poe's novel of the same name, only goes to further the disappointment of what could have been a very dark and Gothic tale situated at the height of the 'Gothic' Hinchcliffe era. As it stands, here we have a very pedestrian, bland offering devoid of any tension, excitement or jeopardy which are basically the staples of mid-70s Doctor Who. A crueler Federico, a more clearly mental Hieronymous and a better defined threat from the Helix itself may have made the story more engaging and a true 'classic', but instead we have a rather turgid season opener with no thrills or spills beyond the 'Oooh! New TARDIS interior' of the first five minutes and some pretty visuals.