|
|
|
The Space Museum
Pros
-
It has one of the great first episodes. It
intrigues the viewer with its apparently inexplicable events. Then it
presents us with a baffling mystery and its terrifying solution. Then,
with a superbly swelling soundtrack, the switch clicks into place, the
time track is un-jumped and our beloved travellers are left with an
apparently insoluble problem.
-
Then, contrary to popular opinion, it
doesn’t go downhill. The regulars are separated and have their different
adventures. Admittedly, none is that good but it all leads up to that
moment in the prison cell where the Doctor realises that all their
different journeys have lead to the same end – their inevitable
embalming and preservation in the museum.
-
It’s a great story for Vicki. Why isn’t she
always this good? Even the Doctor has given up but not Vicki – she’s
single-handedly spurring the feeble natives into revolt, bringing down a
decadent regime and being far more brilliant than Susan ever was.
Cons
-
I liked the idea of the baddies being tired
and worn out. An empire that has seen much, much better days. However,
there needs to be something – anything – which demonstrates why they’re
still in charge. A show of brutality, a demonstration of their weaponry,
a means of blackmailing the suppressed population. Instead, we see that
they’re rubbish and only in charge because the victims of their
subjugation are far more rubbish than they are.
-
I can’t help feeling that the baddies being
quite so annoyed at being there does take something away from the story.
Moan, moan, moan – that’s all the Moroks do. The governor isn’t paid
enough, his second in command is a frustrated snob, everyone else is
incompetent. There is nothing good in any of their lives and they don’t
even take it out on the natives like proper bored overlords.
The Mutant Phase
Pros
Cons
-
It’s no good is it? It’s confusing, messy
and it makes the Daleks look like pieces of cheese.
-
The pay off at the end is a glib remark
about how it doesn’t make sense and it’s best not to think about it.
That’s not an ending – that’s a joke that a writer might put in on the
first draft as a placeholder for the proper ending that he’s been paid
to think of.
-
Every time this comes up I now have to bore
people with the 600 word explanation that I came up with as to why it
does actually make sense but which I’d totally forgotten I ever wrote
(and can’t remember the details of now) because knowledge of that little
essay might give cause to reassess a story that doesn’t deserve
reassessment.
The Girl in the Fire
Place
Pros
-
There are some wonderful ideas in the story
– the clockwork men, the way they use time travel, the final resolution
– as you would expect from Comrade Moffat. Looking back it also
foreshadows a lot of the 11th Doctor stuff Moffat would base his era on.
-
It all makes sense at the end. I like that –
present something bizarre and then give a damn good explanation at the
end (even if the participants never know what it is).
Cons
-
I’ve no desire to ever watch it again. I
like it on paper a lot more than I like it on screen.
-
I'm just not into Doctor Who romance.
Particularly one where the implication is that the Doctor would
basically chuck everything away to be with this woman who he's only
known for a few minutes and who he's watched grow up.
-
The horse through the looking glass bit is
hugely ambitious but just a bit too hugely ambitious as it isn't
terribly convincing.
Conclusion
I adore the Space Museum
but it's not because of that I'm giving it top marks - it genuinely is
the best story of the three. It's easy to dismiss episodes 2 to 4 as
being rubbish but underneath all the bits that aren't great you have a
superb performance from Maureen O'Brien which ranks alongside anything
the modern "ballsy" companions have mustered. Girl in the Fireplace is
fine - good ideas mixed with a dodgy central premise. The Mutant Phase
is just pretty bad without the pretty.
Ranking
Space Museum ~ 3
The Girl in the Fireplace ~ 2
The Mutant Phase ~ 1
Totals
New Series ~ 33
Classic series ~ 31
Big Finish ~ 26
|
|
|
The
3 Doctor Whos