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cjlasky7If you're reading this review, you probably already know the back story of "Shada" and how it became a "lost" episode of Doctor Who. So I'm going to try to see past the legend and treat it as a regular Tom Baker-era episode.
Overall, I thought the first three episodes were much stronger than the more "action-packed" back half. I enjoyed the characters just bumping into each other, casually chatting, or sitting down to a cup of tea and biscuits. I liked that Adams spent the time establishing that the Doctor visited Cambridge and his old friend the Professor often, and he gave us a great supporting character in Wilkins, who remembered nearly every single visit (can't blame him for missing 1958).
The location shooting in Cambridge paid off beautifully. Baker and Ward punting down the river, Ward's drowsy dialogue reflecting the relaxed, peaceful environment is a scene DW has pulled out of the "lost" footage a number of times (and for good reason). My favorite Cambridge scene, though, was when the Doctor was chased by the mind-sucking
orb through the hillsides of the town.
It was sort of a mini-travelogue of Cambridge, following Baker as he pedaled his bicycle at top speed, even taking a moment to listen to the university glee club sing "Chattanooga Choo Choo." If it sounds absolutely ridiculous, it was--but that's a big part of why we loved Doctor Who in the classic era: the show wasn't afraid to look ridiculous if it could also be funny and charming.
I think I even liked the animated bits better in the first half. The scene where Chris examines Raissilon's book was a neat bit of silent comedy: Chris' baffled expression as the book slides off the stack on its own; the hands of the clock in the background spinning forward and backwards as he flips through the pages; and the book sliding out of the way of the knife. (And I agree with Shadowkat that Skagra just looked more menacing in cartoon form. The animators shaded his face in spots for that chic "evil mastermind" look.)
The back half of the serial was extremely plot heavy, dealing with logistics of hyperspace travel, the incubation and care of crystalline henchmen, and explanations for all the scenes we didn't get explanations for in the first half. As a result, the last ninety minutes had the paradoxical effect of moving quickly but feeling very slow.
There were a number of plot points that made no sense, but were handwaved aside to keep things moving. How exactly did Chronotis survive the mind suck? (Did his body get "rebooted" by his TARDIS somehow?) How did the Doctor convince the AI in Skagra's ship to ignore all of its programming and completely switch sides at the end?
And... here's the biggie...
If Chronotis really was Sylvarin all along, then Skagra got what he needed inside of the first 45 minutes of the story and should have been capable of carrying out his "universal mind" plot right then and there.
Oops.
I also felt there were a number of missed
opportunities here, some interesting facets of DW lore that should have been explored further. Why was Chronotis/Sylvarin imprisoned on Shada? Was he really a menace, or were the Time Lords simply afraid of his power? I wanted to know more about the schism in Gallifreyan society that created Skagra. And I would've liked to have seen the Doctor lost in the time vortex after he fell off that transdimensional bridge and have to battle his way back to the TARDIS. (BTW... the bridge? Great concept, terrible FX.)
But--all complaints aside--this was a rare treat, a "new" Fourth Doctor episode I could watch and enjoy with my son. He loved it--plot holes, primitive FX, cheesy monsters and everything. And that final tag with Tom Baker was just a happy surprise for us both. We look forward to Thirteen's debut in a few weeks, but this deepened our appreciation of the history of this weird, goofy show.
Overall, I thought the first three episodes were much stronger than the more "action-packed" back half. I enjoyed the characters just bumping into each other, casually chatting, or sitting down to a cup of tea and biscuits. I liked that Adams spent the time establishing that the Doctor visited Cambridge and his old friend the Professor often, and he gave us a great supporting character in Wilkins, who remembered nearly every single visit (can't blame him for missing 1958).
The location shooting in Cambridge paid off beautifully. Baker and Ward punting down the river, Ward's drowsy dialogue reflecting the relaxed, peaceful environment is a scene DW has pulled out of the "lost" footage a number of times (and for good reason). My favorite Cambridge scene, though, was when the Doctor was chased by the mind-sucking
orb through the hillsides of the town.
It was sort of a mini-travelogue of Cambridge, following Baker as he pedaled his bicycle at top speed, even taking a moment to listen to the university glee club sing "Chattanooga Choo Choo." If it sounds absolutely ridiculous, it was--but that's a big part of why we loved Doctor Who in the classic era: the show wasn't afraid to look ridiculous if it could also be funny and charming.
I think I even liked the animated bits better in the first half. The scene where Chris examines Raissilon's book was a neat bit of silent comedy: Chris' baffled expression as the book slides off the stack on its own; the hands of the clock in the background spinning forward and backwards as he flips through the pages; and the book sliding out of the way of the knife. (And I agree with Shadowkat that Skagra just looked more menacing in cartoon form. The animators shaded his face in spots for that chic "evil mastermind" look.)
The back half of the serial was extremely plot heavy, dealing with logistics of hyperspace travel, the incubation and care of crystalline henchmen, and explanations for all the scenes we didn't get explanations for in the first half. As a result, the last ninety minutes had the paradoxical effect of moving quickly but feeling very slow.
There were a number of plot points that made no sense, but were handwaved aside to keep things moving. How exactly did Chronotis survive the mind suck? (Did his body get "rebooted" by his TARDIS somehow?) How did the Doctor convince the AI in Skagra's ship to ignore all of its programming and completely switch sides at the end?
And... here's the biggie...
If Chronotis really was Sylvarin all along, then Skagra got what he needed inside of the first 45 minutes of the story and should have been capable of carrying out his "universal mind" plot right then and there.
Oops.
I also felt there were a number of missed
opportunities here, some interesting facets of DW lore that should have been explored further. Why was Chronotis/Sylvarin imprisoned on Shada? Was he really a menace, or were the Time Lords simply afraid of his power? I wanted to know more about the schism in Gallifreyan society that created Skagra. And I would've liked to have seen the Doctor lost in the time vortex after he fell off that transdimensional bridge and have to battle his way back to the TARDIS. (BTW... the bridge? Great concept, terrible FX.)
But--all complaints aside--this was a rare treat, a "new" Fourth Doctor episode I could watch and enjoy with my son. He loved it--plot holes, primitive FX, cheesy monsters and everything. And that final tag with Tom Baker was just a happy surprise for us both. We look forward to Thirteen's debut in a few weeks, but this deepened our appreciation of the history of this weird, goofy show.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 04:11 pm (UTC)K-9 came off much better. (But K-9 is always awesome.)
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 05:27 pm (UTC)