Snakedance [Doctor Who, Story 124]

Snakedance by Christopher Bailey
18 - 26 January 1983

It's perhaps a credit to Kinda that its antagonist, the Mara, was chosen to return just a year later in what was otherwise supposed to be an anniversary season. Bracketed on either side by Omega and the Brigadier, this distinctly Davison-era monster stands out. But this also means that Snakedance, the sequel we never knew we needed, has a chance to shine on its own merits as a story without pandering to nostalgia. (Not to say that the rest of this season is a bad offender in that regard, but it still bears saying.)

And shine it does! I'm struck by how utterly different this story feels from the others of its era so far (with the obvious exception, perhaps, of Kinda). For one thing, Snakedance seems to have a far different take on the regular characters than the preceding serials; here they seem just a little more vibrant, and with better dialogue to boot. There's none of the bickering that plagued the Season 19 TARDIS team, and more time and care seems to be given to the characters' feelings. Tegan in particular benefits the most from this, as Janet Fielding turns in a wonderful performance here. The Fifth Doctor also feels a little more in his element here, and Peter Davison makes the most of it.

The other major area of divergence is in the tone of the story, which is a somewhat more slow and deliberate affair. It isn't afraid to take its time smelling the roses, lingering on moments of pleasant contentedness, like the puppet show scene, which despite seeming like a non-sequitur at first quickly and cleverly shows itself to reflect the core themes of the serial. Even with this steady pace, the serial never gets mired down; the first episode in particular is absolutely packed, making use of all of its time to introduce us to Manussa and establish this story's high stakes, with Tegan's very soul at risk.

As with Kinda, Snakedance freely mixes Buddhist themes with those of other philosophies and religions. The "still point" that the Doctor needs to arrive at is an easy example of the former, as is the story's preoccupation with "delusion" (the "Six Faces" scene ending up a particular favorite of mine). As for the latter, while this story doesn't take place in a literal Eden as Kinda did, Tegan finding a garden within herself where she drops apples on the serpent's head certainly hearkens back to it. The corrupting presence of the Mara brings an end to innocence as the Edenic serpent did, both for Tegan and for the unsuspecting population of Manussa.

I read Kinda as a send-up of the "base under siege" story, and while Snakedance isn't making any such obvious inversions, the fact that in this story the monster must be defeated by not fighting it does feel like it turns the usual conventions on their head. That final confrontation is fascinating, with the Mara trying to tempt the Doctor into facing it head-on, while he attempts to achieve that still point instead. It all ends with the Mara destroyed forever (pending Big Finish appearances) and Tegan sobbing in the Doctor's arms. A wonderfully ambiguous ending, in my opinion.

This is a decidedly non-conventional serial, and all the more special to me for it. Four excellent episodes, and it's just a shame that they're Christopher Bailey's last writing credit on the series. Nevertheless, I am glad for what we got.

Mawdryn Undead is next.

Snow White and Pinocchio [Disney 100]

 

There was a definite feeling of both anticipation and anxiety when Quinn and I sat down to begin this marathon. Neither of us really knew what to expect from a project like this, long and involved as it will probably prove to be. In my specific case, I knew that these movies were even more popular and beloved than the stuff I've tackled on this blog so far, and that correspondingly the pressure I'd place on myself to write about them with care would be far greater. Would it even be worth doing it when they've all been talked to death already? When challenged to say something original, it's best to speak from the heart, something that I find appropriate to do when considering the importance Disney's animated movies have had in my life.

Despite that, Snow White (1937) and Pinocchio (1940) were a bit of a blank spot for me. Like many movies that will feature later on this marathon, I had at the very least seen Pinocchio as a kid, but never again since. In fact, where Snow White is concerned, I had a much clearer memory of the trailer for the original 2001 DVD release that played before the feature on the home release we had of Dinosaur (2000) than the actual movie itself. That trailer made it seem very dark and mysterious, its ominous music and its shots of the Evil Queen's disguise causing that crone face to feature in a few of my early nightmares.

Of course, the movie didn't live up to my dark and frightening childhood imaginings. Although the movie isn't afraid to play with the grotesque (such as in the aforementioned disguise of the Queen or the scene where Snow White flees through the forest), it is decidedly light in its tone elsewhere, as well as its content. It is clear to see that the art of animated storytelling was still in its infancy, as the story mostly passes from incident to incident until the plot decides to happen in the last ten minutes. It seems that they cared a little more about comic relief with the dwarves than about Snow White as a character. But still, I don't mean to make this sound like too much of an indictment. Although it's nothing special as a story, it is undeniably something special as a work of art. The sophistication of the animation techniques used is doubly impressive considering the age of the movie, and the colors and composition of each shot were a treat.

Pinocchio is in a similar boat in some ways, showing its age in a lot of areas (and not just the culturally insensitive parts), but the progression from Snow White is clear. On a beat-by-beat basis it holds together as a story much better than its predecessor. It all serves to impart a pretty didactic "do the things you're supposed to do and don't be selfish" lesson for kids, but at least it's something. The lush forest setting of Snow White is replaced by an intricately decorated world which, between Geppetto's workshop, the town it inhabits, and the carnival, seems like a pretty full and well-realized setting. The scene where Pinocchio and Geppetto escape from Monstro's maw is also head and shoulders above any animation that Snow White had to offer.

All that being said, I find that I do slightly prefer Snow White, simply for its daring. Although it wasn't the first animated film per se, it certainly laid the foundation for all others to follow. Disney gambled with Snow White and it paid off in a big way; for that achievement, I salute it.

At the end of the day, Quinn and I agreed that both of these movies are solid and worth watching at least once. However, we're both much more excited for the next movie on the playlist, which went somewhere else entirely.

Inauguration - Disney 100 Marathon

 

An anniversary with a big, fat zero at the end is the sort of occasion that just demands you do something special. My favored object of study, Doctor Who, is having one this year too, and I'll have plenty to say about it when it comes back this fall. In the meantime, I've partnered up with my partner, Quinn, and we're going to be trawling our way through the entire corpus of Disney theatrical animated films. There are about sixty of them, so this will probably take us well into 2024, but that's all by the by.

Disney's movies have always captivated me and formed a great part of my childhood landscape. But when reflecting on the company's legacy, and its modern trajectory in the animation business, I was embarrassed to recognize that there are many of its movies that I've never seen, and many more that I haven't watched since I was a kid more than twenty years ago.

Misery is better with company, so Quinn, themself a big Disney fan, consented to join in on this exercise, and I'll include a little of their input as I review each movie, starting with Snow White and ending with whatever the most recent one happens to be when we're done. I hope that those stumbling upon this blog will enjoy going through these movies with us. Expect to hear more soon!

Arc of Infinity [Doctor Who, Story 123]

Arc of Infinity by Johnny Byrne
3 - 12 January 1983​

We've arrived in Doctor Who's landmark 20th anniversary season. Last time we marked such an occasion, Season 10 delivered a series of stories that I considered some of the strongest the program had seen so far. The same might or might not prove to be the case for Season 20, but I'm determined to keep an open mind.

You can tell it's an anniversary because we have a deep cut throwback villain this week, who last appeared in The Three Doctors back in 1973. But oddly enough, I was more focused on future omens than past callbacks, as I was caught pointing and going "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" at my screen every time Colin Baker appeared as Maxil. It's always a bit funny seeing a Doctor before they're a Doctor. Hard to believe that I'm already just a short time away from his own tenure.

But as for the actual villain of the piece, I thought Omega was fine, albeit diminished from his original stature. In part because of the costume, which in my opinion doesn't have a patch on his last one. He still works as an ultimately tragic and self-destructive figure whose downfall is of his own devising, which always suits this show well. I enjoy it when the Doctor tries to help to save a villain, whether it works or not. His turn with Peter Davison's face was also quite interesting. The subtle emotion that Davison puts into those non-verbal moments of Omega exploring the city were quite affecting.

Following in the steps of The Deadly Assassin and The Invasion of Time, the Doctor's worst enemy is once again the blundering of his own people, who seem only too eager to set him up for the crime despite his past services. I confess that I find it a bit ungratifying that the Doctor does not tell them "I told you so" at the end of the story, but perhaps he just found it beneath him.

Also of note is Tegan's return, which comes fast enough to make us wonder why she was left behind in the first place. She does get to approach the TARDIS with a new attitude now, though, no longer the hijacked stewardess and now along for the trip more or less by choice. It is a refreshing change, but we shall see how it plays out.

It was also fun to be outside of Britain for once. I don't know that I'd ever have known what Amsterdam looked like in the Eighties otherwise. It certainly made for a nice break from the by now familiar brightly-lit space sets.

All in all, a decent but unremarkable story. Having liked Kinda so much, I'm eager to get on to Snakedance next. See you then.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 18 August 2023.)

Spare Parts [Doctor Who, Diversion 31]

Spare Parts by Marc Platt
31 July 2002

 ​

There's a certain group among the early Big Finish stories that everyone has mutually agreed are absolute masterpieces. There was a vital energy in these days which seems to have gone out of Big Finish now, but this hasn't changed the fact that some of these audios stand among the very best Doctor Who stories of any medium.

Spare Parts is a magnificent idea, and slots into a very vital spot in the Fifth Doctor's life, between Seasons 19 and 20. When listened to fresh off the heels of Earthshock, its aura of grief and misery is amplified greatly. That atmosphere of cold darkness and inevitability hangs over the whole story like a pall, leaving the informed listener with no doubt about where the story is ending.

Until it ends somewhere you don't quite expect, with the Mondasians seemingly set to undo the worst of the Cyberman work and infuse some humanity into the project... only for that rug pull to come in at the last moment, like a kick in the balls. It's expertly done.

The Doctor and Nyssa both get some pretty meaty stuff in this story, and understandably the topic of Adric features prominently. Their conversation about him in the TARDIS is poignant, and feels like an after the fact sort of apology for the show brushing past the event so quickly. The guilt weighing on both of the characters for that incident is palpable, and makes their efforts to stop the Cybermen carry more gravitas.

Without Adric or Tegan around, Nyssa gets a lot more opportunities to do the companion thing, and has a lot of great character moments as a result. This is slowly cementing my opinion that she is my favorite out of this companion crop, but I will have to see more of her in the show to solidify that opinion.

Peter Davison makes the most of this weighty material too, and his version of the Doctor shines through, especially in the moments where he is being forced to aid in the creation of the Cybermen - a dramatic irony that really adds onto the desperate air of the whole story.

I'm gratified to get a story that once again plays on the post-modern Prometheus origins of the Cybermen, as you're probably already aware from my moaning over the fact that they did them better in the Sixties the last couple times the silver giants popped up. There are some great moments to that effect in this story, including the girl coming home from Christmas and the mental image of the Cyberman patrolling atop his Cyberhorse.

Fantastic stuff, and rewarding on a repeat listen, as this one was for me. Back to television again, finally, with Arc of Infinity next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 18 August 2023.)

So, about the blog...

To the passing reader who's discovered this place from a link in my Gallifrey Base signature, or my Discord profile, or gods forbid Google, it might seem like this entire blog has nothing but Doctor Who reviews... and they'd be correct.

Since I inaugurated the blog in 2017, my only media review and discussion output here has been my (still somehow ongoing) Doctor Who marathon. Still, it can't have escaped one's notice that the linked post references more to come, an ambition which still hasn't quite gone away.

To this end, I'd like to announce that more is, indeed, on the way, including both a continuation of the Doctor Who marathon as well as new posts about TV shows, movies, and music. As well as an in-progress marathon of the Power Rangers series (and eventually Super Sentai), I've just started a project almost as forbidding: watching all the theatrical animated Disney movies with my partner on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary.

These and other stray reviews will come as time permits. I'm looking forward to writing more on these subjects and expressing my many, many thoughts and opinions about my favorite media. See you then!

"Multitasking is a beautiful thing - and like most beautiful things, dangerous, too." - 2017 Val

Doctor Who, Season Nineteen

The shape of Eighties Who has quickly become apparent over the course of this series. Following the blueprint left by Season 18, Season 19 has tried a lot of new things, although its success has been mixed. The overall quality of the episodes is good enough, but the standoffishness of this TARDIS crew has kept me from warming to them as I would have liked. With Adric now out of the picture, I wonder how the remaining leads are going to develop.

With that short dissection out of the way, here's the score breakdown:

Castrovalva - 7.50
Part One - 7.00
Part Two - 7.00
Part Three - 8.00
Part Four - 8.00

Four to Doomsday - 7.25
Part One - 8.00
Part Two - 7.00
Part Three - 7.00
Part Four - 7.00

Kinda - 10.00
Part One - 10.00
Part Two - 10.00
Part Three - 10.00
Part Four - 10.00

The Visitation - 8.50
Part One - 9.00
Part Two - 8.00
Part Three - 9.00
Part Four - 8.00

Black Orchid - 7.00
Part One - 8.00
Part Two - 6.00

Earthshock - 9.50
Part One - 10.00
Part Two - 9.00
Part Three - 9.00
Part Four - 10.00

Time-Flight - 4.50
Part One - 6.00
Part Two - 4.00
Part Three - 4.00
Part Four - 4.00

Best episode: Kinda, Part Four - 10.00
Runner-up: Earthshock, Part One - 10.00
Worst episode: Time-Flight, Part Three - 4.00

Season Nineteen average: 7.81

Best guest appearance: Simon Rouse as Hindle (Kinda)
Best special effect: The Doctor's spacewalk (Four to Doomsday)
Best musical score: Castrovalva (Paddy Kingsland)

Season 20 soon, but first, Spare Parts is next. 

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 13 October 2022.)