Doctor Who Review – Episode 6 – The Lazarus Experiment

THE LAZARUS EXPERIMENT – May contain spoilers

 After the disappointment of the previous Dalek double-header, it’s good to see Doctor Who finally returning to form with an episode that is suspensful, poignant and downright fun. Where Daleks in Manhatten/Evolution of the Daleks had seemed cliched, clunky and confused, The Lazarus Experiment is full of energy and has a good, solid storyline.

The Doctor and Martha return to Earth, a few hours after Martha was whisked away for her series of adventures. At the start we find the Doctor ready to leave her, to travel on his way, to avoid an attachment to this fiesty companion. This is a devasting blow to Martha, as she has already developed feelings for him, and the scene plays out very much like unspoken, unrequited love between two friends. However the Doctor’s return is not on Martha’s account but because the news that aging scientist, Richard Lazarus aims to ”change what is means to be human”. It is good to see the return of Martha’s family, although only her mother, has matched the standards of Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith.

In some ways this is an episode about consequences. Especially consequences of actions that you have taken and how you deal with them personally. The Doctor realizes this with Martha, and comes to understand how important she actually is to him. Lazarus is a physical representation of this. In the end we all run to a place we feel safe, where we feel the most human, as if we can escape our choices.

The effects in this episode are good (great for BBC TV), the performances spot on, and the introduction of the season 3 plot thread – Mr. Saxon.

It is a relief to see Doctor Who return to some semblence of form. With Tennant now firmly in control of his character, it is becoming apparent that he could be the best Doctor ever.

RATING – 7.5 out of 10

Whispers on the doorstep

I listen to bad news.

Outside on the doorstep, my head titled left, my ear pressed to the cold metal of the open letterbox.

All I hear is bad news. Whispers from a long corridor. Painful tales of bar – less prisons. Where time is the jailer. Uncertainty the warden.

I feel cold, outside, in the gathering winter. My eyes glaze with frozen tears. My breath forms and pirouettes in the frosty air, before disappearing into the night. My fingers numb. My heart unable to push out the parasitic pain I feel, pulsating through my veins.

I want to kick in this door.

Rescue those inside. 

Shower them with the things they need and the rewards they deserve.

But I cannot.

 I am only human. Frail and powerless to stop the advance of time. Unable to destroy those things that destroy my family.

So I lay down, on this doorstep and put my faith in hope, love and the solidarity of family.

Doctor Who Review – Episodes 4 and 5 – Daleks in Manhatten and Evolution of the Daleks

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

So after taking Martha into the past and future, and revealing to her is past, the Doctor decides to take Martha to New York in 1930. Credit has to go to the BBC and effects house The Mill, for recreating the Depression era and the Big Apple with such beautiful effect and detail.

However that is just one of the few positives in two of the weakest episodes of the New Who. The other major positive is the performance of Tennant, who adds such depth and range of emotion that he may be the greatest actor to have actually played the Doctor.

Now what is wrong with DIM/EOFD ?

First of is the title.

If you want to build suspense, don’t give away the name of your villains in the title! It worked in Dalek (season 1), because of the excitement around seeing the pepperpot maniacs again. However in Bad Wolf and Doomsday they appeared as a twist, showing up when you least wanted them for company.

In DIM/EOTD we already know its about Daleks, so their entrance is mute.

Secondly, the Daleks have already become overused as a villain in this New Who. We need a season without them. We don’t need the token Dalek episode every year, unless it has more imagination than this. We need them to be terrifying, unstoppable and merciless.

The acting is also some of the worst so far, with cod American accents and over the top performances. As mentioned before, Tennant steals the show, and Freema Agyeman does an able job with such stilted dialogue.

The story is also a problem. I can see it’s merits and the themes, but all of that is buried under clunky dialogue, pomposity and an unnerving feeling that this is an old Doctor Who episode originally written for Sylvester McCoy. It lacks the zip, verve and fun of the new series, instead plodding along to a predictable conclusion.

Daleks in Manhatten 4 out of 10

Evolution of the Daleks 5 out of 10

Lost in a sea of confusion

So this is my first post in June. It’s been a while since I last posted and so much has happened in that time that I feel like a completely different person.

 I don’t know who reads this blog. But I apologise for the sombre tone that this post will take. I created this blog to be, in part, a more personal reflection of myself. Hence the name.

My return to the UK was life changing for me in many ways. Old perceptions have been broken like glass. My feelings are a mess, as if someone has put them in the washer on an eternal high speed rinse. In fact, everyday since my return to Japan, I am unsure who I am anymore.

I awake each day to find it progresses either on fast forward; the moments not really registering, or on slow motion, as if all the world is in twilight and I stumble through it in some half sleep. I do have moments of light. Moments when Shiori will kiss me. When I talk to my father. When I listen to music, watch a film, or escape into laughter.

My heart pulls me in many directions. My head is numb. I haven’t really processed the impact of my time in the UK. The effects it will have on my family. The call to go home and sort things out, to be the navigator of the painful oceans that lie ahead, is a strong one. But the home I have built here, and am still building; what becomes of that ? I have Shiori here. A woman I love very much. Someone who has surprised me in the maturity and patience she has shown. I am difficult to be around now. Shit! Even I don’t like myself at the moment. I have built a career here. A life. A family.

Its difficult for me to write down the reason for all of this. My mother was diagnosed with a terminal cancer, and her future prognosis has considerably shortened her life span. My father is trying to cope, but the fragile side I saw in England was heartbreaking. I try to keep positive, think about miraculous recoveries, but the pain and despair knaws at me like hungry rodents.

I want to be “me” again. I discovered in England that I had lost myself and I am trying to dig up the guy I used to be. But there’s too much pain, confusion and uncertainty for me to unearth.

Only I can find myself.

Only I can decide my future.

The people in my life are amazing, but I have to find my path, alone. I want to be all things to all people, but that is impossible, when I can’t even be myself.

Ready for Take-Off

So, as I sit at a PC terminal in Narita airport, awaiting my flight back to the UK, I am both looking forward to and dreading what awaits me.

 I am looking forward to seeing my family again and to make my parents happy to see me. After all they have been through recently, if my visit home, makes them feel better then it can only be for the best.

 However I don’t know the state of my mother. How she will look in that hospital bed. If she will appear with the shadow of death hanging over her or as I remember her in my thoughts.

 I guess we shall see.

 See you on the flip side…

The end of Blair

So, back in my home country the much despised (as all Prime Ministers become) Tony Blair has decided to call it a day. I remember his election. The use of an anthem, “Things can only get better” and the promise of a new dawn. A golden age for the UK.

But in reality is turned out to be fools gold.

Blair and his government had more interest in the manipulation of perceptions rather than the nitty gritty of solving everyday problems. Spin. Spin. Spin. It’s a word that permeated the National consciouness, hundreds of times under the Blair government. It has spawned, an ugly, fully breathing creature that has heightened the levels of mistrust between the elected and those who elect them.

But who is Tony Blair ? Is there any substance to the man ? Did he have any true values ? Beliefs that he stuck to through thick and thin. Even, Margaret Thatcher ( a politician I despise) stuck to her guns. Blair is the willo-the-whisp PM. A chamaeleon with no soul. His own endgame fogged by lies, hidden agendas and that word again, spin.

Blair was elected in a time when Britain was ready for a cultural upheaval. Cool Britannia wasn’t his doing. Britpop wasn’t the brain child of Peter Mandleson. The success of Euro 96, wasn’t managed by John Prescott. Blair and Labour rose the crest of the changing zeitgest, however when it reached the shore, they had no ideas.

Along came the world changing Twin Towers attack. Again Blair rode the Anti Terrorism wave, supporting gun toting Sherrif Bush and pushing forward his own Machavellian/Orwellian agenda for the future of Britain.

Does Blair have any soul ?

Personally I think he is an opportunist. The legacy he will leave behind demands honesty, freshness and someone with morals. I doubt in Whitehall, anyone has the credentials to tick even one of those boxes.

Doctor Who Review – Episode 3 – Gridlock

GRIDLOCK – May contain spoilers

So with a trip into the past out of the way, the Doctor decides to take Martha into the future. It’s return to New Earth and to New New New New New New York. However the splendour of the city is not the focus this time, but the under-city and the gridlocked motorway.

This show has a heavy slant on what it means to lie. To lie to protect people. To lie to imagine things long gone. It’s a beautifully written episode especially in the monologues from the Doctor as he describes his home planet of Gallifrey to Martha. He even admits later that he lied, because he enjoyed it. Because he could imagine his home again.

It also reflects on loneliness. From the drivers on the motorway and how they overcome it, to the Face of Boe and Novice Hame to the Doctor and his feelings about travelling alone with no home to return too.

Martha grows immensely as a character in this episode. At the episodes end, gone is her wide-eyed excitiment about following the Doctor. She wants to know more about this stranger, even forcing her to make a stand. It’s this directness that seems to solidify there relationship even further.

The motorway itself is an absolute nightmare of fumes, stacks of cars and the hope that in 20 or so years you may reach your destination. Yet in this seemingly despairing world, the Doctor and Martha find solidarity and the scene where the drivers sing hymn at the end of the day, renews the hope that they have. It’s a touching moment and in someways reinforces Gridlock as on of Russell T. Davis’ strongest Doctor Who stories.

Brannigan, the cat driver, played with zest by comedian Ardal O Hanlon, is a perfect reflection of opptimism. Although even he has reservations about the “Fast Lane” where cars go missing. The creatures that live down there (basically giant crabs) are classic monsters without having anything complex as a backstory or character development. This is a good thing as the relationships between the Doctor, Martha and the people they meet drives the episode forward.

The return and sad demise of the Face of Boe is moving, and surprisingly so seeing as he had limited appearance on Doctor Who. His final revelation that the Doctor is “not alone”, throws up all sorts of questions. Is it literal ? Is there another Time-Lord ? The Doctor refutes this to Martha at the end, but you get a suspicion that he is hoping and holding onto finding more of his people.

RATING 8.5 OUT OF 10

On the edge of the Abyss from a 1,000 miles away.

Disappointment. Despair. Fear. Loss. Hope. Love. Solidarity. Relief.

These are some of the emotions that have driven their way through me like a diamond cut ice-pick. This week has been a rollercoaster ride where the end is never in sight, and even though I want to get off, I don’t have the power to stop the machine.

My mother was taken into hospital last week, and thus ending her hopes of making it to Japan on the 9th. She had been sick all week and a “blockage” in her intestine had meant a cruel and badly timed bout of hospitalisation.

I felt disappointed at the time. Why now ? I’d been looking forward to showing them Japan for months. And I could sense the sadness in my Dad’s voice too. But I soon snapped out of this, like mountain spring water being splashed onto your sleeping face.

What was wrong with my Mum ?

It soon became apparent that the blockage was caused by a tumour.

I felt disconnected, paralyzed, disorentated and calm at the same time. I am in Japan. She is in the UK. Never has that distance felt more real. But I could share the same feelings as my brother and my father. We were looking into some deep dark hole and only our bond as a family and resolve to be there for someone we all truly loved would bring us all back.

So, I fly to England on Monday with Shiori. She has been a rock, and I love her even more than I did before. At times it has been my natural instinct this week to close up, internalise those feelings, instead of talking about them, but she has been both gentle, kind and stern to massage hope back into my despairing heart.

What should have been a happy time for my parents has turned into a watershed event in the life of my family. I just hope something positive can come from this. Even the smallest positive is as bright as the morning Sun.

Doctor Who Review – Episode 2 – The Shakespere Code

THE SHAKESPERE CODE – includes spoilers

The first thing you notice about this episode is its title. Is a piss take of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci novel where the Doctor and new assistant Martha discover that A Midsummer Nights Dream discredits the theory of Creationism ?

No. Its more of a joke title with the writers having a good laugh in the process. But what is this “code” ?

This code is a lot less controversial and a lot more Doctor Who-esque fun, with the Doctor taking Martha on “just one trip” into Shakesperian England to thwart a band of witches/aliens from using good ole Will Shakespere to destroy the world.

Yes, the beautiful absurdity of Doctor Who is one of it’s most alluring aspects. Its fun, occassionally dark and scary but always exciting. Its the most escapist show on TV AND that includes the output from the US.

You can see the writers have had fun with this episode. It’s about William Bloody Shakespere, and just as they did in the season 1 episode with Charles Dickens the writers have a ball with the Shakespere character. He’s a lazy genius in some regards. A bit rough around the edges. A ladies man. One of those guys loved by women and hero worshipped by men. Even the Doctor is in awe.

In some ways the Doctor is showing off a bit in this episode, but instead of grating, it’s nice to see after the pain he’s had since loosing Rose. There is some wonderful banter between him and Shakespere especially over famous lines from literature (“You can have that” is a phrase heard many times in the episode).

Martha adapts quickly to life with the Doctor, and it’s this eagerness which allows him some freedom from painful memories. It’s obvious to see that she is physically attracted to him, rather than the bond built up between him and Rose after his transformation.

This is very much a writers episode though, from the use of a literary God, to the idea that words can have the same uses as mathmatics and thus causing the end of the world. It is both the episodes strongest and weakest point and it begins to grate at times.

RATING – 7 OUT OF 10

Doctor Who Review – Episode 1 – Smith and Jones

So here is my first review of the third season of Doctor Who. I hope to make this a regular feature as I am a fan of the show.

SMITH AND JONES (includes spoilers)

With the exit of Billie Piper as Rose, the Doctor is in need of a new assistant. Step forward Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), a trainee Doctor who is drawn into the Doctor’s world through the events of the episode. We can see why the Doctor is drawn to Martha as an assistant. She is kindred spirit to Rose. That’s not to say the writers have created Rose MKII. Martha has all the energy and zest that Rose had, but she’s a little more determined, tougher and lacks the innocence that surrounded her predecessor. There’s a definate chemistry between the Doctor and her, but we can see the Doctor (wonderfully portrayed by David Tennant) fighting with his feelings to take her on board, protect her from danger and deal with his feelings for his previous companion.

In some ways, the trust between the Doctor and his new companion is the crux of this episode. Witness the scene where, stranded on the Moon in a NHS hospital the two of them decide to venture outside onto the balcony, well aware that they might die of suffocation. She trusts this stranger, and he draws energy from it.

The episode itself is a fun re-introduction into the world after the epic “Doomsday” finale of season 2 and the high camp of the Christmas Special, “The Runaway Bride”. Sitting somewhere in between the two it involves a race of intergalactic Rhino – faced mercenaries (only in Doctor Who) transporting a hospital to the moon, to look for a rogue alien, called a Plasmavore who feasts on blood….well plasma.

The episode is both exciting and scary, partly due to the fact that our evil blood, sorry, plasma-sucking fiend turns out to be a little old lady that looks like your grandma, or the neighbour who smells of sprouts but gives you delicious home-made bread.

The Judoon (the Rhino-faced mercenaries) are interesting too, if a little flimsy and at times serve only as a plot device. Remember this is an episode about Martha and the Doctor. It would be interesting to uncover more about these guys in the future. Thuggish, lacking in compassion and almost robot like in their goal, they serve as interesting metaphor for law enforcement in todays society. Pity that the episode doesn’t do them justice except in the make up department and their first arrival.

The Doctor is an enigma in this episode too. At times cautious, to protect Martha from danger (well early in the episode) he has an air of abandon and self sacrifice, as if the pain from the loss of Rose is still eating him up. Martha pulls him back from death, literally, and it’s my opinion that this relationship is going to a lot more complex for him than the one with Rose.

Rating – 7 out of 10