And we keep soldiering on! Finishing up the Classic Series and delving into New Who.
"The Rules": https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/08/review-overview-bad-first-impressions.html
'OLE SIXIE:
The best of the best. Not just my favorite Classic Who Doctor, but my all-time favorite Doctor of them all. No, I'm not being sarcastic. I know he finishes up near the bottom on most peoples' lists. But I just see that as people having poor taste!
The Sixth Doctor was loud and bombastic. But also quite intrepid and dramatic when he needed to be. Really, he was everything. I loved the arc they were working through the character. Starting him off as a bit of anti-hero and evolving him into something more charming and likeable. I enjoyed this Doctor so much. I even adored the coat!
We do get two really outstanding Recurring Foes that make their first appearance during this period. Just one more of the many things we can love about this incarnation!
VENGEANCE ON VAROS
Recurring Foe: Sil
A really fascinating alien. Within seconds of meeting him, we find ourselves saying: "Bring this guy back!"
Writing: ........................................ 9
I suppose the biggest problem with Sil's construction is that we've seen his type before. The Usurians from The Sunmakers are the best example of an alien that resembles him. But there are a few more characters or monsters that have also appeared over the years that were very financially-motivated.
Other than that, though, Sil is a magnificent character. All sorts of nuances are given to his personality that we haven't really seen before in a greedy alien. So we'll knock a point off for a slight lack of originality. But, otherwise, Sil is great.
Performance: ....................................... 10
Nabil Shaban gives us the most convincing portrayal of an alien, ever. He just completely immerses himself into the character. Giving him so many interesting mannerisms that seem completely non-human. We don't really see a person in a costume when we look at Sil. We see some sort of sea slug that loves money and power.
The Actual Story: .................................. 11
And, again, we give a bonus point to this tale because it makes into my Top Ten. Just like we did with Kinda in the last entry. There is just so much to love about Vengeance on Varos. On top of it being an awesome story, we also get a magnificent villain who will come to haunt us again. It's difficult to make this tale any better!
How the Doctor Interacts With Them: .. 10
Colin really does have some of the best confrontation scenes with enemies. Even in the much-maligned Twin Dilemma, he's great when he tells off Mestor. What really makes him so awesome is his blending of styles. He shows the same moral indignation One and Three would often display in such moments. But he also throws in quite a bit of Four's sarcasm. And, of course, a bit of his own thing. I especially like his first scene with Sil where he just uses him in a game of politics to save his life. But Sil's failed invasion plans is a great sequence, too. I love how Sil yells after him as the Doctor proclaims: "Now you see me...." and traipses off!
Long-Term Impact: .................................. 9
What an amazingly odd story Mindwarp is! Such a strange pace to the whole thing that is quite amazing. But is also ever-so-slightly clunky, in places. It was interesting to get a fuller background on Sil and his people. Philip Martin does do some great world-building. For the most part, Sil's second appearance is quite awesome, too.
But we need more! Nabil Shaban's getting pretty long in the tooth. Haul him back in before it's too late. In fact, he should get a few more appearances. Maybe even make him a major villain for a season. Both the character and the actor playing him can, easily, carry that sort of weight.
FINAL SCORE: 49
Not quite as great as the Mara. But he's still up there!
MARK OF THE RANI
Recurring Foe: The Rani
Writing: ...................................... 10
What a delightful villainess Pip and Jane Baker have written for us. A fully-fleshed Renegade Time Lord who seems to rival the impact the Master has had on our protagonist. We're even able to see that effect since they've dropped the Master into the plot, too!
What gets us to love the Rani the most are her gimmicks. Not just her love of disguise and penchant for weird land mines. But it's also the idea that she's not just another maniac Time Lord like the Master who's hell-bent on universal domination. She's a cold, dispassionate chemist that just wants to be able to conduct her ruthless experiments. It makes her far more interesting than most Recurring Foes that have come out of the series.
Performance: ........................................ 10
Like Valentine Dyall as the Black Guardian, it is a screaming shame Kate O'Mara will not be able to reprise the role if the character ever makes its way into New Who. As someone capable of regenerating, it will be easy to write in a new actress, of course. But it just won't be the same. Kate's Rani will probably be held in the same regard as Delgado's Master. And she deserves it. She played the role to perfection.
The Actual Story: .................................. 7
Mark of the Rani is a decent enough tale. It nearly earns an above-average score - but not quite. The first half really is quite excellent. Particularly when the Master, the Rani and the Doctor are all in one room bantering away. Those are some wonderful scenes.
Part Two, however, is troubled. The plot doesn't really seem to go anywhere. We just deal with a series of set-pieces and then the Master and the Rani, rather anticlimactically, just leave. Part two does fall apart quite a bit. Half of the story is amazing. But the other half is a tad underwhelming.
How the Doctor Interacts With Them: .... 10
There was the vaguest temptation to cheat again and give this one an "11". The sparring between villainess and hero in this tale is top-notch and deserves the bonus!
What I really love about the chemistry between Sixie and the Rani is the way they really do make it feel like they've had a whole slew of unseen battles between them before this. In truth, of course, this is the Rani's first appearance (or she wouldn't be in this entry!). I really am impressed with the history these two create between each other. Colin also gives us some more of that gorgeous "half serious/half smarmy" attitude that I love so well when he confronts his enemies. His delivery is pitch-perfect with the Rani (and the Master, for that matter). He's never too sarcastic with her. Nor does he ever become melodramatic as he berates her. This just might be my favorite villain confrontation sequence in the whole history of the show
Long-Term Impact: ................................ 4
Goodness me, is the Rani ill-served in her sequel! The actual plot of Time and the Rani isn't as bad as some folks would have you believe (truthfully, I'd give it about a "6"). But the Rani, herself, fits so poorly within its structure. Her two main "gimmicks" of disguising herself and creating mine fields are both ridiculously over-contrived, here. The Rani also seems very out-of-character. Gone is the cold, calculating chemist. She flies into fits of rage and just behaves like a run-of-the-mill megalomaniac. The story is far from incredible. But I have a much bigger bone of contention with how the Rani is used within it.
FINAL SCORE: 41
Though her sequel really damages her final score, the Rani is probably still the villain from the Classic Series that we most want to see in New Who. Come on, BBC. Work out the legalities and bring her back!
SORRY SEVEN, EIGHT AND WAR
And now we have to take a big jump ahead. For three incarnations, we get absolutely no Recurring Foes that make a first appearance. We can see why Eight and the War Doctor didn't have any. There's just not a lot of presence that they genuinely have in the show. There's a barely a chance to introduce a new returning baddie during their very short tenures.
While Sylvester McCoy does spend a bit more time in the role, it's only so much more. By this point in the show, the episode-count of the seasons had been drastically reduced. In many ways, there just wasn't a whole lot of of run-time available to start introducing new recurring foes. We could check in on the Daleks, Cybermen and the Master now and again. We could even bring the Rani back. After that, though, the production team focused on one-time-only villains.
Although, I must admit, I really would've loved to have seen Fenric come back. He certainly merited another battle against the Doctor. "We play the contest again, Time Lord." is still one of the coolest and creepiest moments in the whole history of the show. At the risk of sounding "super-fannish", I would have really loved it if Fenric had been The One Who Waits at the end of Series Fourteen.
Before digressing too much, I'll get to my real point: We are skipping over all these Doctors and bringing ourselves to....
THE NINTH DOCTOR ERA
It's 2005. Doctor Who is back! Yay! Christopher Eccleston is awesome as Doctor Nine. More Yay! But only stays in the role for a year. Boo!
But what a year it was. A really super-solid first season for the New Series. Still one of the best. A great set of stories with some awesome arcs running through them. The chemistry between Doctor and companion is also quite excellent. And there's a really good supporting cast. Camille Coduri does a great job as Jackie. Sadly, however, it's hard to appreciate Noel Clarke's performance, anymore.
While trying to forge a lot of new ground, the show still makes sure to acknowledge its first twenty-six seasons by featuring a third invasion attempt by the Nestene Consciousness right in its first episode. Which was a very nice touch that re-assured the hardcore fans that this wasn't going to be a full-on reboot that was forgetting everything that came before.
From that point onward, the show works for a while on creating its own new continuity (until, of course, we hit Dalek). We get the first appearance of a Recurring Foe in the very second episode. Only two episodes later, another baddie that would return in the very same season makes its debut.
Such choices are bold - but still wise. The more familiar faces RTD can create for this new audience, the better. And the cast of recurring characters don't all need to be friends like Jackie, Pete and Mickey. A few enemies that will come back from time-to-time will also help with building up a new Lore.
THE END OF THE WORLD
Recurring Foe: The Lady Cassandra
Writing: ............................................ 8
RTD creates a very fun villainess for us. She gets lots of jokey dialogue about her ex-husbands, her obsession with cosmetic surgery and some amusing historical inaccuracies concerning Earth. It all makes for a great little laugh. Even after it's revealed that she's actually brewing the most evil of plots, she's still a really good time. As the very first Recurring Foe created in the New Series, we're off to a good start.
The biggest flaw in how she's written is that it seems pretty obvious that she's the true baddie behind it all. Even with the Red Herring that we're given with the Adherents of the Repeated Meme, we're not really fooled. We know she'll still be connected to the whole scandal in some way.
Performance: .......................................... 9
Zoe Wanamaker is delightful as the Lady Cassandra. We have a bit of a Sutekh situation with her. The character, itself, is very static. But the voice more than makes up for that. Although, she's not quite as good as Gabriel Woolf. But she's pretty damned close!
The Actual Story: .................................... 8
The End of the World ends up being a fairly solid episode. The fact that it's only the second story of the whole New Series and we're, already, watching the Earth get destroyed was a very bold move. It also introduces us to a very new twist in canon. The Time Lords are all dead and the Doctor's the only one left. It announces this in a suitably dramatic manner. We also get to see the first real signs of Nine's survival guilt.
While doing all this, End of the World also remembers to have a half-decent plot to it. Not anything too spectacular. But still more-than-adequate.
How the Doctor Interacts With Them: ... 8
Eccleston seems to be taking more of a Tom Baker tact with how he confronts villains. He's quite smarmy when he tells them off. Of course, with Cassandra, it's pretty hard not to be dripping with sarcasm. She delivers quite a bit of sass, herself. So it's impossible to not give her some back. All in all, though, it's a very nice scene when he unveils that the bitchy trampoline is the true villainess of the plot. And the way he just allows her to die is always quite brutal to watch.
Long-Term Impact: ................................... 7
I'm giving this an average score even though New Earth is a fairly awful story. The plot does still treat Cassandra's character well. Her death scene is especially good. It's both clever and touching. But the overall poor quality of the story drags things down considerably.
FINAL SCORE: 40
The Lady Cassandra does a fairly decent job of introducing fans to a Recurring Foe created entirely within the continuity of New Who. There would be better enemies of this nature that would come along, of course. But she's still pretty solid.
ALIENS OF LONDON/WORLD WAR III
Recurring Foe: Those fartin' Slitheen!
Writing: .......................................... 7
Oh my God! Farting aliens! How dare RTD write about such things?! Absolutely terrible! Damn him all to Hell!
I'm being completely sarcastic in that first paragraph. I think the Slitheen are okay. The farting didn't really bother me. It actually seemed like a very "Whoish" trait to give an alien in the show. A mix of menace and comedy is something we've seen in lots of monsters before them.
RTD does his best to make the Raxacoricofallapitorans into a fascinating alien species. In the end, though, they're okay. Not much more than that.
Performance: ............................................ 7
Performance matches writing. Those costumes often seem far too cumbersome for the movement artists working within them. There's also, of course, the bad blend between CGI and practical. There are still some nice moments, too. The creatures are articulated quite gorgeously, in places (the assistant getting pinned to the wall and being throttled to death looked really disturbing). But, because of the various strengths and weaknesses at play, the rating levels out into something fairly average.
The Actual Story: ..................................... 7
And .... another average score! The very first multi-part story of New Who is neither awful nor spectacular. But it is okay.
How the Doctor Interacts With Them; .... 9
Again, some of that gorgeous Chris Eccleston smarmymess raises this category to above-average. The confrontations are particularly fun when he squares off with them from within the conference room.
While I say that Nine's approach to bantering with villains resembles Tom Baker's, I should still point out he isn't completely mimicking him. He has his own special brand of sarcasm as he puts down his foes. Although, he does still use a wonderfully goofy grin the whole time he's getting in their face!
Long-Term Impact: ............................... 7
And.... back to average. Boomtown is a passable sequel. Not particularly spectacular, either. But there's little I can genuinely complain about. The Slitheen don't make a particularly large impact as Recurring Foes. But they're still decent.
FINAL SCORE: 37
Yup. They fart. And, if you were one of those fans that just couldn't stand that, then you probably gave them much lower scores than I did. But I think the Slitheen are okay. It might even be fun to see them come back one more time and cause more trouble. They do seem to be a fairly large family...
That wraps up Classic Who nicely and propels us firmly into the the New Series. First appearances of Recurring Foes become slimmer and slimmer pickings from this point, onward. We'll soon be done.
Have you missed earlier entries? Here they are:
First Doctor
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/08/review-overview-bad-first-impressions_18.html
Second Doctor
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/08/review-overview-bad-first-impressions_22.html
Third Doctor
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/09/review-overview-bad-first-impressions.html
Fourth and Fifth Doctors
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/09/review-overview-bad-first-impressions_18.html
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