The Awakening

The Awakening
by Eric Pringle
Originally Broadcasted: January 19th-20th, 1984

The Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough arrive in the quaint English village of Little Hodcombe with the intention of visiting Tegan's grandfather. But strange things are afoot in Little Hodcombe. The town's leader Sir George has enacted a reenactment of the English Civil War to gain the power of the Malus...

It's been a few years since I've seen a new-to-me Peter Davison story. In fact, before seeing this story, there are only two I haven't seen: This, and Frontios. So going into this I was pumped to see where it will fall in. The Awakening is a rare two-part Doctor Who serial, meaning things have to be rushed quite a bit. In fact, this story was originally written as a four-parter, so in this case it was even more rushed. I agree with the opinion of most of the cast and crew shared on the making of special on the DVD: The first part is pretty good, while the second is still good, but feels really rushed to conclude things at the end. It's really unclear on just how the Malus is defeated, why has he been behind the church wall the whole time, and a lot of other important plot points. The character Will Chandler seems to only be introduced into the story in case John Nathan Turner decided he was to become a companion like was rumored. One plus to this story is Peter Davison. His performance is (as pretty much always) phenomenal. He gets some fantastic one liners that really sum up why I like his Doctor so much. And aside from the plot holes, the Malus is actually a pretty unique and cool villain for Doctor Who. The well done design helps its appeal as well. Overall a relatively strong story by the standards of the 1980s, but it still could have been better. A four-parter would have been too much, a two-parter was too little, so why not a three-parter?

Luke's Rating: 8/10

The Doctor's Wife

The Doctor's Wife
by Neil Gaiman
Originally Broadcasted: May 14th, 2011

A distress call finds its way to the TARDIS and The Doctor follows it to outside the known universe. There the TARDIS gang find some put-together people, an asteroid with delusions of grandeur, and a familiar object inside a beautiful woman...

The Doctor's Wife was the episode everyone liked from Series 6 of Doctor Who. I liked it, but I don't think it was the season's best episode (for me, that distinction goes to Let's Kill Hitler). But nonetheless, it was a pretty good episode. Written by Neil Gaiman, the man behind Coraline (which coincidentally I despise), the story very uniquely tries to bring a human element to the TARDIS, by having the life force of the TARDIS physically shoved into a human named Idris. This is one of those new Doctor Who stories that is very fast paced, and a bit hard to follow. It will take a couple of viewings to completely understand what's going on. Once you do though, you'll realize it's some pretty clever writing. There's actually one moment in the story that is actually pretty darn scary. The House (the asteroid with delusions of grandeur) takes over the TARDIS and plays some pretty nasty mind tricks on Amy and Rory. They get shut off from one and other, and Amy comes upon Rory as an old man. He's supposedly waited 2,000 years for her, and now hates her completely. He wants her dead, and he goes absolutely bonkers. It was all just an illusion, but still, it's pretty freaky stuff. An emotional moment is at the end of the story, when the TARDIS must leave Idris and return to the blue box. She and The Doctor have a pretty emotional farewell. She just wants to say one thing: "Hello"

Luke's Rating: 7/10

Attack of the Cybermen

Attack of the Cybermen
by Paula Moore
Originally Broadcasted: January 5th-12th, 1985

Lytton from Resurrection of the Daleks is back and is supposedly planning a diamond heist in the heart of London. Little do his cohorts know that his true plan is to be captured by the Cybermen living in the sewer of London, so he can get to the planet Telos. The Doctor picks up Lytton's distress signal and get drawn into the fight for freedom of both Lytton and the Cyrons...

Attack of the Cybermen was a controversial story when it was first released, mainly for the high level of violence on display in the story. Many main characters are killed off, and The Doctor even wields a gun and kills a few Cybermen himself. A particularly violent scene was when Lytton's hands were crushed until the blood gushed out by the Cybermen (as seen in the photo above). Personally, I think the violence just adds to the believability of the story. It's tragic, and that makes for good drama. This story was the first of Colin Baker's first full season as The Doctor, and so it had to make an impact, as well as try to calm his character down and make him a bit more likable after how erratic he was in The Twin Dilemma, the Sixth Doctor's first story. It was also the first story to utilize the 45 minute episode format, which would only be used for this season, and wouldn't be seen again until Doctor Who returned in 2005. Attack of the Cybermen, and the other stories of Season 22 really benefit from the different format. It sets a much better pace for the episodes, and everything is allowed to unravel more naturally. After a relatively bland roll in Resurrection of the Daleks, Lytton is given a much better roll in this story. You really don't know what his motives are, and when it's revealed that he's actually trying to help the Cyrons (the aboriginal species of the Cybermen's new planet Telos), most in the audience will be very surprised. I know I was the first time I saw it. The Doctor doesn't trust Lytton until its too late, and that's something that very obviously effects him.

Luke's Rating: 8/10

The Green Death

The Green Death
by Robert Sloman
Originally Broadcasted: May 19th-June 23rd, 1973

While The Doctor is planning to visit the exotic planet Metebelis III, Jo Grant has something more down to Earth on her mind. Global Chemicals is pumping heavily polluted waste into the mines of Llanfairfach and the miners are suffering deaths of a green nature. Things are further complicated when giant maggots are discovered, along with the rather musical and maniacal BOSS of Global Chemicals...

The Green Death is yet another fantastic Jon Pertwee serial. I said in my review of The Mutants that I think Jon Pertwee's era is the closest the show ever got to consistent perfection, and The Green Death is another fine example of this. This story is Katy Manning's last as Jo Grant, and her departure is shown in a way that isn't often shown in the classic series, in that The Doctor is visibly upset by Jo's increased distancing throughout the serial. First she doesn't want to go with him to Metebelis III, and then she rather quickly falls in love with Professor Jones and leaves The Doctor forever. The realization of the giant maggots was actually done rather well for 1970s Doctor Who. Now they're obviously hand-puppets, but they somehow look real and menacing. The idea of using a oil industry as the big bad guy was an interesting one, and really showed how far ahead of its time Doctor Who was. Talks of global warming 20 years before Al Gore. The BOSS and his human pet Stevens make for interesting villains. The way they process their staff is really creepy, and a lot of their lines still give me shivers even though I've seen this story countless times. Stevens' realization of how wrong what there doing is at the end of Episode Six is rather poignant, and you actually feel for him when he's shown crying right before blowing up. The scene right at the very end of the story with The Doctor driving off in Bessie after leaving Jo forever (well at least until his Eleventh incarnation) is a piece of pure Doctor Who magic.

Luke's Rating: 9/10

Logopolis

Logopolis
by Christopher H. Bidmead
Originally Broadcasted: February 28th-March 21st, 1981

The Doctor finally decides to fix the chameleon circuit (the function that allows any normal TARDIS to change shape) on his TARDIS. To do this, he materializes around an ordinary Police Box to get the measurements to take to the mathematical planet Logopolis. Unbeknownst to The Doctor, someone else has materialized around the same Police Box, leading to a TARDIS within a TARDIS within a TARDIS. New friends join and an old enemy faces The Doctor for his final struggle in this incarnation...

Logopolis is a thrilling, yet really sad story of Doctor Who. On its own, it stands as a fantastic example of the classic series. No rinky dink special effects or monsters, just good storytelling and characters. The sadness is added with the ever-increasing realization that its the end for the Fourth Doctor. After seven long years, it's the end for Tom Baker. But the moment has been prepared for, in the form of The Watcher, whose supposed to be a future version of The Doctor, coming back to help his fourth self regenerate. This is a fact we don't know right until the regeneration at the end of the story, so for most of the story, The Watcher is a creepy figure and we don't know a thing about him. Tom Baker was lucky to have a wonderful write out as The Doctor. He dies trying to save the universe and his new friends from utter annihilation. A heroic moment indeed. There's something about the first two episodes of Logopolis that seemed really new and different to the way Doctor Who had been before. It's a very different kind of story, yet still a fantastic one. Of course, this story is famous for the proper introduction of Anthony Ainley as The Master. He had appeared in the previous story, The Keeper of Traken, as Tremas (an anagram of Master), a good character who gets his body stolen by a decrepit Master at the end of the story. Ainley is at the top of his game as The Master here. Some of his later stories had awful storylines (Time-Flight) or used him to a lesser point (The Mark of The Rani). But here he is shown as pure evil, even after agreeing to an alliance with The Doctor to save the universe. The regeneration from the Fourth Doctor into the Fifth is one of my favorites. More effort was put into the actual regeneration shot than with Jon Pertwee's regeneration into Tom Baker. And the music is so hauntingly beautiful, it always makes me feel emotional, which is exactly how you should feel when an amazing Doctor leaves and an equally amazing Doctor is introduced!

Luke's Rating: 9/10

The Angels Take Manhattan

The Angels Take Manhattan
by Steven Moffat
Originally Broadcasted: September 29th, 2012

The Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a relaxing vacation to New York City, and while casually reading a book, he realizes it may not be all it seems. Suddenly the book becomes the plot of the episode, as Rory disappears, and River Song and the Weeping Angels return...

The Angels Take Manhattan starts off as a regular Doctor Who adventure, although by the end of the story, it's clear that it is anything but. I thought the idea of having The Doctor read the Melody Malone book and have it be the plot of the episode was incredibly clever. A bit less clever though are the Weeping Angels. First let me say I loved Blink. It was (as everyone says it is) one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time. But I think Steven Moffat has used the Weeping Angels too many times since. I don't think they're a monster that can be stretched for too many different plots. So by now, I'm pretty sick of them. But that didn't subtract from my enjoyment of this story. This is another of Steven Moffat's complex time plots which he does so well. Amy and Rory are really in peril, and eventually leave The Doctor for good at the end of the episode. Their departure was similar in tone and just as sad as Rose's departure in Doomsday. Rory is accidentally caught by the Weeping Angels, and Amy just can't bear to live without him, so she takes a chance and gets caught herself. It turns out they end up back in the same time together, and they live a happy life. It's real sadness immediately made happier because you know they lived a good life. I'm really going to miss the Ponds. Their love for one and other is one of the most touching ever seen, and that is wonderfully put on display through many scenes in this episode. I wonder if one day they'll make a return just like Rose did. It's clear that Amy means just as much to the Eleventh Doctor as Rose did to the Tenth, albeit in a non-romantic way. I think we'll see a lot of sadness from #11 in the second part of the season, which I can't say I'm all too thrilled about. Although the departure of one companion is saddening, it does leave me excited for Jenna Louise Coleman's (second) debut in the Christmas special!

Luke's Rating: 9/10