Glen here…
…launching a Docback for this weekend’s installment of DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 8 - The Caretaker. This one finds the Doctor infiltrating Clara’s school to pursue/investigate alien goings ons - an undertaking which brings him fact to face with adult Danny Pink for the first time.
No matter how well this episode turns out on the whole, I’ve watched this clip several times and laughed out loud upon each viewing.
UKVIANS!! DON’T FORGET THAT SATURDAY’S TRANSMIT OF DOCTOR WHO STARTS LATER NOW - BEGINNING THIS WEEKEND!!
It’ll broadcast at 8:30pm in UK - its latest, perhaps most dangerous, time slot ever. It’s important to stay engaged with the show - and remind others who may be alienated by the shifting transmit time to remain in the fold as well. The possibility of a slough off of younger viewers is very high here, and might affect the series in a number of ways I should think.
Personally, I’m not at all convinced DOCTOR WHO is as much a ‘kids show’ as it professes to be - I think it’s either neutral at best, or an grown up flavored show which is somewhat kid friendly. So it'll be interesting to see how this re-positioning plays into the grand scheme of things, or if it matters at all given DW's wide and easy availability on streaming services, home video issuances, etc.
Whatever the case, the time-slot shift may be a defining moment for DW, and viewers need to stay on top of this one.
More HERE.
BBC ISSUES AN OFFICIAL MUMMY ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS SYNOPSIS
The Doctor and Clara are on the most beautiful train in history, speeding among the stars of the future – but they are unaware that a deadly creature is stalking the passengers.Once you see the horrifying Mummy you only have 66 seconds to live. No exceptions, no reprieve. As the Doctor races against the clock Clara sees him at his deadliest and most ruthless. Will he work out how to defeat the Mummy? Start the clock!
MUMMY ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS transmits Saturday October 11. I'm gonna have to figure out how to pull off a Docback on that weekened because...
GLEN'S GONNA BE AT NEW YORK COMIC-CON
From Thursday morning to Sunday morning. I'm moderating (or tag-team moderating) a panel in this amazing sounding writing workshop, which I'm tremendously excited about...
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Some of today’s top screenwriters, producers, executives, publishers and TV writer/producers will all be on stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Friday, October 10th from 10:30 AM – 5 PM for an in-depth seminar devoted to selling your film, TV series, novel and comic book or graphic novel as part of New York Comic-Con’s inaugural New York Super Week.
This six-hour master class will feature some of the leading names working in the field today, all sharing extensive advice and experiences including:
· Sarah Watson (Parenthood, About A Boy, The Middleman)
· Ashley E. Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor, Fringe)
· Amy Berg (Person of Interest, Eureka, Caper)
· Chris Parnell (Senior VP, Drama Development & Production, Sony Pictures Television)
· Mark A. Altman (Free Enterprise, Castle, DOA: Dead Or Alive)
· Thomas P. Vitale (EVP Chiller Strategic Operations, Syfy Original Movies and Co-Productions)
· Craig Engler (Z Nation)
· Brendan Deneen (Head of Film/TV Division at Macmillan Publishers)
· Steve Kriozere (NCIS, V.I.P., Necessary Roughness, Elvis Van Helsing)
· Christian Gossett (The Red Star)
· David E. Williams (producer, Femme Fatales, Lifeforce: The Space Vampires)
· Andrew Goldman (VP, Program Strategy and Planning, HBO/Cinemax)
· Corey Sienega (producer, Bride of Chucky, Frailty)
· Pouya Shabazia (producer, Divergent, Insurgent, Red Queen)
· Arie Kaplan (Cyberchase, Codename: Kids Next Door, Speed Racer)
· More to come!
Each segment of the program which ranges from “Breaking Good: How To Create the Perfect Pilot Pitch,” “You Look Marvel-ous: Creating, Publishing and Optioning Your Comic Or Graphic Novel,” “Executive Session: What’s Selling in Television Today and How To Get Your Show Made!” “Inside The Writers Room,” “In the Movie Business of Madness: How Film & TV is Changing and How That Can Work For You,” “Novel Concept: How To Write & Sell Your First Novel,” and more. Moderators include Access Hollywood chief film critic, Scott Mantz, Ain’t It Cool News’ Glen “Merrick” Oliver and Sony Pictures Television’s Chris Parnell.
All segments will include Q&A opportunities, giving attendees the chance to interact directly with the panelists and learn from their experiences in movies, television and publishing. Also win a chance to receive a free copy of Final Draft screenwriting software.
Limited tickets for the seminar are available through the New York Comic-Con website and through Ticketmaster. For more information, visit www.newyorksuperweek.com. All appearances are subject to professional commitments.
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...and I'll also be panelist on STAR TREK AT 50: FROM THE CAGE TO TODAY (Saturday night 7-8pm).
If any of y'all will be attending, be sure to lemme know, or please don't be afraid to say "Hey!" There's a fair chance I may plug these events one more time on the site - apologies in advance for such redundancy.
HORNORSILK REVIEWS THE PHILIP HINCHCLIFFE PRESENTS BIG FINISH BOX SET
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Philip Hinchcliffe Presents Box Set
Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela)
Written By: Philip Hinchcliffe, adapted by Marc Platt
Directed By: Ken BentleyCast
Script Editor John Dorney
Directed By: Ken BentleyCast
Script Editor John Dorney
Cast:
The Ghosts of Gralstead
Carolyn Seymour (Mordrega), Gethin Anthony (Sir Edward Scrivener), Martin Hutson (Professor Cedric Scrivener), Emerald O'Hanrahan (Clementine Scrivener), Alan Cox (Dr Gideon McDivett), Ivanno Jeremiah (Abasi), Andy Secombe (Jonas Bulmer), Sean Carlsen (Ned Davey), Mandi Symonds (Mrs Targate), Andrew French (Obingo)
The Devil's Armada
Jamie Newall (William Redcliffe), Nigel Carrington (Sir Robert Harney), Alix Dunmore (Anne Harney), Joe Jameson (Nicholas Harney), Beth Chalmers (Mistress Pincham/Lady Jane Mountville), Philip Bretherton (Vituperon), Ben Porter (Father D'Arcy), Tim Bentinck (Ned Bones/Lord Burghley)
One of the most popular eras of Doctor Who, and rightfully so, was under the guidance of Philip Hinchcliffe. He often gave a Hammer-Horror feel to the series. He gave a gothic flare to the show, providing some of the most evocative characters and atmospheres the show has ever had. During his time, we have quite a few well-regarded stories, often declared to be classics, such as Brain of Morbius, Pyramids of Mars and Talons of Weng-Chiang. Season 8 of the New Series has been said to harken back to the feel that Hinchcliffe wanted for the show, a darker tone which allowed a greater sense of horror and dread and not just the happy-go-lucky sense of a fairy tale adventure which we often had during the Matt Smith era. It is thus, of no surprise that when Big Finish finally got Tom Baker to work with them, they thought it intriguing to give Tom adventures with stories developed by Hinchliffe (and then adapted by one of their stronger writers, Marc Platt). It would be as if the Hinchcliffe era had continued a bit longer than it did.
Philip Hinchcliffe has provided us two stories which are spread out on five cds. The first story, The Ghosts of Gralstead, is told in 6 traditional length episodes, while the second, The Devil’s Armada in 4. The first story is far better, far more epic, than the second, though both should interest any fan of the Philip Hinchcliffe era.
In The Ghosts of Gralstead the formula established in Talons of Weng-Chiang is modified and used again; it is not a retelling of the story, nor do we find the events in the story similar, rather, the tone, and environment (Victorian England) allows for characters to emerge which hold similar places in this story as Jago and Lightfoot did in Talons: we have a carnival miracle worker (Doctor McDivett) who, though acts like a typical snake-oil salesman, can really do what he claims, and we have Professor Cedric Scrivener, the head of the Gralstead house, and African explorer, who lost his wife in Africa and whose daughter, Clementine, seems to have been made mad because of it. We have, beyond those two who I think are this story’s “Jago and Lightfood,” many others, including: Cedric’s brother, the surgeon Sir Edward, who has connections to the dark underbelly of society by the way he pays for dead bodies to examine, Abasi, African servant of Cedric, and the “ghost,” the alien known as Mordrega, who needs to feed on the brains of the living in order to survive. She is after a particular alien artifact which would give her power and strength to survive coming to earth, an artifact which has great powers of healing, and yet is in Africa. The Doctor and Leela must find a way to navigate through this cast of characters so as to save the earth from Mordrega, while helping the family and friends of Cedric find their way in the world. There are many side-stories (such as what happens when the Doctor uses the TARDIS to journey to Africa) which add to the epic scope of the story (though sometimes, perhaps a bit too much, as I believe happens with Abasi), but all in all, the main part of the story is in Victorian London (before Talons), and the story is dark and indeed, worthy of the Hinchcliffe era (though I believe could not have been filmed on screen, due to some of the gore associated with the story, such as the way Mordrega gets at and eats the brains of her victims).
This is a great adventure, filled with intriguing ideas and rich characters, and filled with the dark, Hammer Horror dread and gore which I personally enjoy. Hinchcliffe is able to do here more than he was able to do before, to go full Hammer Horror on us. This is how Doctor Who would have been like if Hammer was able to do a Doctor Who adventure. I could imagine Peter Cushing having a part in it, not as the Doctor, but as Sir Edward, who really borrows a great deal from the Hammer Frankenstein films. Edward forms an alliance with Mordrega, and uses his connections with body snatchers to get her the food she desires (while somewhat appalled by it, especially when he initially has to deal with it, the scientist in him believes the knowledge and glory attained by his association with Mordrega more than makes up for his actions).
The Doctor is in top form, and Leela is given a nice side-story with Abasi, who she finds to be a fellow warrior who she can respect, even as she gains his respect. While I am not a fan of the African side-trip, the rest of his characterization and his placement in the story helps keep Leela front and center, making sure she has more to do than worry about the Doctor. Cedric is done quite well; his concerns are of his family, and while he might be in the midst of something great, he takes more concern with how it affects his family than anything else, grounding the story; he could easily have been turned into the typical caricature of someone who meets the Doctor and the wonders the Doctor brings, but instead, he always remains down to earth, and sometimes finds the Doctor more than a little nuisance because the Doctor’s concerns are not his own. He is a nice foil for the show, indeed, the type of character which we often lack in new Who. He shows what is lacking, the type of character possibilities which we have seen before, but hardly seen now, the type which balances out the show and needs to be found again in order to make sure the show does not get too self-absorbed in the greatness of the Doctor while lacking respect of the people he interacts with.
This adventure also has something to tell Moffat in how to execute a Hammer Horror type of tale: it’s fine to have several threads work together in the plot, but bring them together, and have all the main aspects of the story explained during the show instead of leaving the audience to guess what really happened (while I appreciate stories which often leave clues to the audience to determine more of what happened, they are best appreciated when they are told in the midst of other, more straightforward form of storytelling, otherwise it seems like there is lazy writing going on, even if there is not). Moreover, when a story can be told this way, it shows an author confident enough with his work when he knows he can tell things to his audience without talking down to them: straightforward must never be confused with “dumbing down,” a story; it could be done that way, but a mature author will not do so.
I give this story a high 8.5/10.It is not perfect. To me, the main problem lies in the later part of the story, when we find the Doctor and companions in Africa. While I appreciate the intention of this African excursion, I do not think it was needed, and the story could have been tighter and therefore better without it (the best parts of that sequence could easily have been done in London). For I felt that when the story moved out of London, some of its appeal was lost, though thankfully not enough to do any major harm. It’s well acted, and would have been a wonderful addition to the show if done during Tom’s reign (if they could have got away with it, which, given the way brains are eaten, I doubt). Truly this is what I was looking forward to and wanted out of a Hinchcliffe story, and I would love it if the new series did something of this caliber and style (maybe get Platt to write again!).
The second story, The Devil's Armada, has the general outline of a plot which fits not only with the Hinchcliffe era, but with the kind of story Tom wanted to do: the Doctor, in the England of Elizabeth I, finds himself in the middle of the religious war of the time, with William Redcliffe being a witch-hunter and persecutor of heretics (that is, Catholics) being the human protagonist, while the alien menace is that of the devilish Vituperon, the “great old one,” that is “the devil,” with his impish army. Here, the Doctor finds himself in the conflict between Spain and England, with the armada about to fight each other, and he is joined into the politics of the day as he works with and helps one family of Catholics in the middle of Elizabeth’s England. But he finds the historical situation was being manipulated by a great menace, Vituperon, who have been slowly building up his army on Earth in order to take it over. This is the Doctor vs the Devil, or as close as it could have been; though it does not take from Tom Baker’s Scratchman plot, it takes the general conceit behind it and uses it, in a time and place which was ripe for such use. It is the Doctor Who equivalent of The Witchfinder General, with a real devilish menace thrown into the mix. The idea is sound, and indeed, surprisingly it had not been done before (at least, using The Witchfinder General as a reference point for a story). Sadly, it’s the execution find lacking.
Maybe it’s because I would have loved this story to borrow from Tom Baker’s own ideas for his “Devil” plot, maybe it is because some other Big Finish stories have had similar alien devils done better (Shadow of the Scourge, for example) that I feel underwhelmed by this story. I appreciate it. The Doctor is in top form, and Leela is in good form (but not as well used as in the previous story). There are some good possession sequences which would have been fantastic to work with more. But it is the alien menace itself which feels a bit too much of “been there, done that” combined with the question, how does this connect to other such alien beings, like the Daemons from Damos? If this story was tied with any of the other devils from the show’s history, I think it would have given a bit more strength to the story, and would have been able to provide more backstory to the imps and perhaps given some better insight to the motivation of the major protagonist.
Needless to say, there are some tremendous scenes, such as when the Doctor confronts the “devil,” and goads him. He wants to know who the Doctor is, how he got on Earth, what he is doing on Earth, even as the Doctor wants to know the same about him. The “devil” is powerful, but also alien, and the Doctor is more than his equal. It’s not an all-powerful devil, but still, he poses a powerful and a serious threat. If we had more such encounters, and more possession sequences instead of all the “Spain vs England” sub-plot, I think this story would have risen higher. I appreciate the desire to put it within a historical framework, but I feel Platt, though I like his work, really has difficulty with religious themes, and it shows here.
The best part of this story is that the end, during the last ten minutes or so of the final episode. There, the story raised itself, and I would rate that sequence as a 10/10. It’s so good, that the rest of the story is worth listening to it, to get there. We have the Doctor confront a devil in The Satan Pit in New Who, but here, the confrontation is greater, the threat more drastic for the Doctor, and the solution more than a little ingenious. We have a hero the Doctor does not want to praise help the Doctor save the day. That is rare for the Doctor. Sometimes, being a hero late in life is not enough to pay back for all the harm one has done before. But was the Doctor too harsh on him? After all, it was the good intention which led this “hero” on the path to hell, and it is that good intention which allows him to turn around at the end. The good can become corrupted, and used for evil; but if it regains its order in the end, what are we to make of the corruption which came before?
I would rate the whole story as a 6.5 – 7/10. It did not sit too well for me. It is not that the themes were upsetting, it was just that with the environment and themes involved, I expected more. This was too understated for my taste until the end. However, that ending is as exciting and intriguing as the best endings of a Doctor Who story, in part, because of the questions raised and how the Doctor reacts to them. It is worthy of being in the Doctor Who canon for that end alone.
All in all, what do I think of this set? It’s well worth getting. It’s Tom Baker returning to one of his greatest eras being guided by the producer of that era. We have had some of it already in the Fourth Doctor Adventures, but, they represent an attempt to merge modern sensibilities and styles to the Fourth Doctor’a era. These take us back to the era itself, and the style of that era (even if able to do more than otherwise allowed at the time). The pacing is right. The style is right. This is Doctor Who as many of us first encountered the show, Doctor Who in the style which made us fans.
The Philip Hinchcliffe Presents Box Set is now available HERE.
-- HornOrSilk
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Glen Oliver
“Merrick”
DOCBACK CODE OF CONDUCT
1) a Docback should be about completely open and free discourse regarding all things WHO with, obviously, some variation on subject matter from time to time - the real world intervenes, discussions of other shows are inevitable, etc....
2) converse, agree, disagree, and question as much as you want - but the freedom to do so is NOT a license to be rude, crass, disrespectful, or uncivilized in any way. Not remaining courteous and civil, as well as TROLLING or undertaking sensational efforts to ignite controversy, will result in banning. Lack of courtesy may receive one (1) warning before a ban is instigated. Obvious Trolling or Spamming will result in summary banning with no warning.
