TV Review – Doctor Who – Rogue

TV Review – Doctor Who – Rogue

Spoilers

Dr Who TARDIS

This was a bit of a mess. The basic idea was great but the execution was shambolic and inconsistent.

I liked Rogue, and guessed before the reveal that he was alien but not one of the villains.   I thought he was being set up as a new Captain Jack figure and it’s not impossible he could return.

Ruby was kept out of the action for a while even when a body was found in her presence. I did like the line with the Doctor telling her not to accidentally invent Tarmac, but then he started wielding the Sonic around in a way the guests should have spotted easily.

The bond between the Doctor and Rogue was fine but rather rushed. 

Ruby’s saving of herself with role playing was unconvincing.  She just seemed to dance around rather than combatting her opponent.

That Rogue saved Ruby by just pushing her out of the triangle was odd – why did he have to step in? He could have got her by the hand and pulled her out.  The ear-rings in fight mode should have made Ruby go full on kung fu/Matrix mode kick-ass.

Oddest line, The Doctor tells Rogue he might take him to see Galifrey some time. How? If he can go there, why is it gone? 

Dr Who TARDIS

I liked the projections of the Doctors, especially including the Fugitive Doctorand Richard E Grant’s Doctor in there too – hope The Fugitive turns up again some time.  Everyone runs away when the aliens are revealed and somehow stay away for the long departure scene. It might have worked better with current day SF fans and spoofing actual cosplayers with potential for more in jokes.

The role play overacting was universally terrible.  Also disliked the Angry Bird masks of the aliens in their own forms. I expected them to do the Monty Python Meaning Of Life ‘Where Is The Fish’ scene.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGBZnfB46es 

Half expected other guests to turn out to be Zygons and deal with the baddies for encroaching on their turf. 

Dr Who TARDIS

Do like that RTD is going out of his way to piss off the anti-Woke who will go ballistic over this one. 

Loved the tribute caption for William (First companion Ian Chesterton) Russell over the closing credits.

Photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

TV Review Doctor Who – Dot And Bubble

Spoilers

I was very disappointed by the first two episodes of the latest season, confusingly rebranded season one. The third had some strong ideas but proved deeply flawed and had a pretentious work out the ending for yourself arrogance. 

Dr Who TARDIS in Manchester

Dot & Bubble actually gets everything right and the tonal shift with the twists in the closing ten minutes are stunningly good.

It’s another minimalist use of the Doctor (and Millie too this time),  apparently as Gatwa was filming this alongside his Sex Education (never seen it) episodes.

The Black Mirror comparisons are obvious from the outset.  People out of touch with reality, reflecting their blinkered simplistic thinking, literally trapped in head bubbles of bland chatter  within a domed city that is a Hell masquerading as a utopia. Lindy is too narrow-minded to see even the co-workers sharing her work room, or noticing the slow moving slug monsters everywhere. They were a neat effect, looking very old fashioned Who – they would not have been out of place in the 3^rd Doctor era.

Dr Who TARDIS in Manchester (FAB Cafe)

As she met her wall of friends in the zoom event, I noticed none of them were non-Caucasian except the Doctor but never realized how important that was immediately.

Lindy being barely able to walk without the bubble arrows was a neat touch spoilt after she met the dream hunk guy when she can suddenly run down stairs and along conduits and co-ordinate her hands to punch in the code numbers too. 

Susan Twist’s cameo seemed shoehorned in as her character didn’t have much to contribute (I did like Dr Pee’s comic relief appearances though) Twist was just there so the Doc and Ruby could positively recognise her as being a recurring presence, way after the viewers caught on to that. (Ruby did suss it in the previous episode of course).

Dr Who TARDIS in Manchester (FAB Cafe)

Outside, the streets were bland and sterile, as away from the virtual, the World was just dull, which seemed right for it. 

Ricky September was the game changer and I was wrong footed by him being an obvious hunk to Lindy and  so good/independent at everything.   I thought I had the rest of the story sussed, that he would seem to be her rescuer but just trying to use her to get to the Doctor who the system might identify as a threat to it, leading to the Doctor fighting off Ricky led armies of slug beasts.

Wrong! Ricky is everything Lindsey dreams of in her dreamboat Ken doll man – but faced with the Dot’s attack, she betrays him to death to save herself.  At that point, I thought her action was just a desperate cowardly act of self-preservation at any cost, and I didn’t stop feeling sorry for her, but a bigger and much more devastating twist was coming.

I thought the finally encountered heroes were going to save the survivors and the Doctor would figure out what had happened to Ricky.  Nope,  the flat out racism twist kicks in hard.  The earlier hints start to strike back as it is clear Lindsey and the others won’t be saved by ‘him’.   First hint, the slug fodder are all white. 2/. Lindsey immediately rejects the Doctor’s presence by blocking him (at first I thought it was just as he was an unknown friend request).  She does warm to the (white) Ruby easier. 3/. The ‘you’re not as stupid as you look’ line isn’t just a gag.  4/.  Finally invited for them all to evacuate in the TARDIS the rich spoilt white brats refuse the helping hand of the outsider. They condemn themselves to terrible dooms in the near future.

The Doctor’s shock and tears at their rejection of his help is among the best acting the show has produced – quite a bold, stark finish.  Really liked this one.

Photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

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Dr Who – The Devil’s Chord

Serious spoilers

While Space Babies was flawed it had some charm.  Devil’s Chord was a train crash.

TARDIS in FAB Cafe, Manchester – taken by me

Jinx Monsoon was magnificently OTT as Maestro, but so much else falls flat – this wasn’t a song with a bum note – it was Agadoo from start to finish.

Maestro appears through the piano teacher’s piano and he just seems surprised – virtually anyone would crap themselves, scream and run for the door.   The boy called Harbinger is seemingly killed off, but returns later without explanation of point. 

The Doctor and Ruby dress for 63, and look great, except Ruby wears a 1966-7 mini dress and the Doctor looks 70’s Blackspoitation caricature. I expected to hear the Funk Soul Brother music.

Abbey Road – the dawn of Beatlemania and screaming fans likely to pursue the FAB Four anywhere and the studio has zero security.

The Beatles – So unlike the actual mop tops – I look more like Lennon than the bloke they had play him.  Also devoid of Scouse accents.

 As to Cilla, I wouldn’t have guessed it was supposed to be her at all and she casually accepts Ruby into the duetting too.

Just how musical is Ruby?  We first saw her playing keyboard for a band in a nightclub in Church, but now she composes complex orchestrations worthy of Beethoven.  The Mary Sue of a Doctor also proves totally musical. 

The Beatles singing crap was a good plot point but even when Maestro goes there are no actual Beatle song bars. John &  Paul save the day randomly by playing / composing any old crap. 

The CGI music notes turned it all rather Roger Rabbit. 

The nod to Pyramids Of Mars was neat until it heralded in the music-duel – Devil Went Down To Georgia.  Maestro seems to win this hand down, but runs away in terror seeing that Ruby has a powerful entity/evil in her that is being saved for later.  Lennon & McCartney just happen to hit the magic reset button chord that can banish Maestro and she vanishes – It is horribly anti-climatic.  It’s like the Sontarans, are about to win but run away coz the Daleks have been seen in the galaxy.

The nods to the 4^th Wall.   Maestro sparking the DW theme was fun and cheeky, but then she and the Doctor make several winks and nods to camera, and then Oh Christ on a bike, The Twist.  1/. Not every companionship has ended with a twist (surprise ending). 2/. The song is crap and if they were going to wrap up with a song it ought to have been a Beatles number – not a general stomp around promise of the season finale twist to come.

Jimmy Durante – The Guy Who Found The Lost Chord  ‘The Best A Man Can Get’  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdEF-Fcm9CM 

Arthur Chappell

Short TV Film Review – The Boy The Mole, The Fox And The Horse.

 

First aired on BBC On Xmas Eve 2022

Spoilers

Not familiar with the Charles Mackey book this is based on, so I had no idea what to expect. What there is is incredible, even mystical, as if Kahlil Gibran wrote children’s picture books. 

Plot wise it is a straight forward Aesopian fable, with a lost boy aided by the three animals.  Except it becomes much more than that. There is no explanation of how the un-named boy gets lost in the snow. He wants to find ‘a’ home, not home, or his home, just ‘a home’.  He seems to be without parents or a back story, except he asks the animals to forgive him for things, and they seem to know what he means without us ever knowing what they are.  Asked what he wants to be when he grows up he replies simply, ‘kind’.   

As they find a well-lit village that looks like it could be a home-area, the boy clearly sees nothing familiar to him, and decides home is where he is happy and loved, so he chooses to stay with the animals in their little wintery utopia.  The boy never seems cold though clearly not dressed for the elements and even falls in a stream but not at risk of hypothermia. He never shows signs of hunger or worry that anyone might miss him over the two days and nights he is out on the wilderness.  

The simple wisdoms they quartet share seem rather simplistic on one level but deeply allegorical on another. Is the boy dead? In Heaven?  Is he on some kind of spiritual pilgrimage? The real meanings and joys of this lie in what is not said or shared. It is a deeply moving little story indeed. Totally unexpected this. 

Arthur Chappell

TV Review – Senorita 89 – On BBC I-Player

Senorita 89 – On BBC I-Player

Spoilers 

Basically The Prisoner meets The Valley Of The Dolls

Despite having no science fiction or supernatural elements this is one of the creepiest stories seen on TV.  A Mexican 8 part series (subtitled throughout).  It tears the lid off beauty pageants. 

32 beauty queens, each one the winner of a regional heat, are invited to a two-month intensive boot camp training programme in a hotel called La Enchante deep in the Mexican jungle (so leaving of their own free will becomes impossible). This is to prepare them for the 1989 Miss Mexico pageant competition.  This is no Mexico’s Next Top Model though.

TV Set, photo taken by me

These are not bimbo airheads acting from vanity and blind ambition. Just the opposite.  A young post-graduate heads in with them intent on bringing out their inner intelligence so their presentation speeches at the final are not the stereotypical ‘I want World peace’ drivel,. She presents one aspiring model with a copy of Virginnia Woolfe’s Mrs Dalloway to study only to find the girl knows the book very well already.  The encampment is about suppressing the free-spirited women’s intelligence, pressing them into stereotypes to maintain a Conservative tradition at a time when such pageants were going out of fashion in a feminist backlash.  The camp staff have a cold utterly pitiless stance when anything goes wrong. One girl is prevented from leaving even when she learns that her sister back home has gone missing.  Seeing another girl has skin blemishes they subject her to mandatory plastic surgery. As another model’s drug addiction comes to light when she nearly overdoses, they set out to maintain her habit with her and for her enough to keep her functional. 

This is not about who will win the competition, as the La Enchante staff are protecting the nature of the contest itself, allowing the sponsors to abuse the models, manipulating the media, restricting contact with the outside World.  While the models enter the contest thinking they seek independence and empowerment, the hosts and sponsors see them as ‘product’ and property to be used, exploited and spat out.   

With a suicide and a self-defence against an attempt at rape murder of a key sponsor threatening to tear the regime apart within two episodes the brutal system really cranks itself into overdrive.   

Great acting and beautiful photography – the settings as much as the models, this is impressive thoughtful and rather chilling stuff. 

Arthur Chappell

TV Review – Doctor Who – The Power Of The Doctor

After a very mixed bag of episodes for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, Chris Chibnall wrapped up with a genuine great finale.   

The nostalgia factor ran high especially in the lovely closing moments.  Some genuine spectacle with the space train, new planet and volcanoes and Sacha Dahwan was fabulous as The Master . Rasputin. Funnies moment was a Dalek & a Cyberman giving each other WTF looks as The Master started up his Ra Ra Rasputin Boney M track. Lovely use of the Renegade Doctor – sad if RTD doesn’t bring her back at least.  Expect the child of time crap will just never be mentioned again.  

SPOILERS  

Cyberman – Botany Bay, Chorley

Flaws and unanswered questions. 

Dan’s initial departure when he just bottled out after nearly getting killed was very anti-climatic. I thought he’d reunite with his girlfriend. Even Yazz never really got full closure – did she rejoin the police?  

How did the Master get out of his cyberman and off Gallifrey? Never explained even though the Doctor raised the idea. 

Dalek – Fab Cafe, Manchester

How did Graham get to the volcano?  Ace never knew, nor did the Doctor and we were never told.  

Why is Yaz given a gun to train on The Master when he is already surrounded by UNIT squaddies with guns anyway? 

General – superbly intriguing retro-regeneration – not too big a surprise though I thought they might have turned Jodie into Ncuti, and have him just register the change before collapsing into Tennant’s persona.  

TARDIS in Manchester

Great post credits trailer for the first of the Russel T Davies showrun 60th anniversary specials, with Ncuti involved too, but over a year to go before we see it all.  Aaaargh! 

Photos taken by me. 

Arthur Chappell 

Coach Excursion – Portmeirion North Wales 12th August 2022

From my childhood viewing of Patrick McGoohan The Prisoner TV series, I always wanted to visit the show’s main location, Portmeirion. 

The Hotel Portmeirion

The village (The un-named Village of the series) was purposely built as a tourist attraction centred on its main hotel, The Hotel Portmeirion, and much of the Village is privately owned, so an admission fee is charged on top of travel costs to get there. 

Sir Clough-William Ellis built the Italian Villa style village gradually between 1925 and 1978.  There is a great deal more to see than the locations used in the 17 episodes of The Prisoner.  The village has many brightly coloured houses, often set into the cliffs (the village can be an awkward place for wheelchair access). There are numerous grottos, alcoves, follies, viewing points over the estuary, (which has quicksands and proves dangerous at high tides). Shops, cafes, ice cream parlours and bars abound.  Several high powered sports cars were on display and driving round the village too.

Classy cars

There are several woodland trails round the village, which I hope to cover as and when I go back, as I certainly hope to.  Highlights include seeing the giant Buddha statue, (a prop used and abandoned near Portmeirion after filming the Ingrid Bergman movie, The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness);

The Inn Of The 6th Happiness Buddha

the concrete boat, Amis Reunis (Friends Reunited) built onto the coastal cliff overlooking the water in full sized fishing boat shape, with added masts, rigging, etc, and seeing numerous locations and angles associated with the TV series. 

Concrete Boat

Patrick McGoohan is commemorated with busts and plaques, as is Sir Clough-William Ellis. Others who visited the village have included Noel Coward, Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Brian Epstein, George Harrison, Paul McCartney (though not the other two Beatles).

Patrick McGoohan bust

Jools Holland. Iron Maiden and XTC have shot homaging videos to The Prisoner in the village (Village), or using footage of the Village and the TV series. 

Quicksand warning sign

The blazing heat was rough on my visit, though my admission fee was double reduced for getting both a coach party discount and my first official over 60’s price reduction too.  I was beginning to worry if my plastic stoma bag might melt on me but that was unlikely and it behaved itself well. 

It was so hot that the iron handrails on some winding stairways were superheated and near impossible to get hold of or touch.  I was quite envious of hotel residential guests who got to use the pool. 

Hotel pool

The main hotel is a beautiful Edwardian looking villa, serving bottled ales with a Prisoner theme. As the show gave characters numbers rather than names the beers are Portmeirion 1, 2, 6 and 12. (McGoohan’s doppelganger in The Schizoid Man episode of the show). I had the 6 (Stout numbered after McGoohan;s character) which was excellent. Bought the others in take-away bottles for consumption at home. 

Prisoner theme beer, glass and bottle

The big mystery after my visit is why Number 6 was so obsessed with escaping as the village is delightful. I’d be happy to declare why I resigned as a spy, accept my number, sell out my country to dubious organizations, and settle down to play chess and enjoy the ambience here. 

Portmeirion

Thanks to Walton’s Coaches, the passengers and the people I met in Portmeirion.   As I hope to return, I’ll end with the obvious quotation from many episodes, ‘Be seeing you.’ 

Be Seeing You

Youtubes 

XTC – The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3qbUy6e11Q 

Iron Maiden – The Prisoner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyazYfSW2Yk 

All photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

TV Review – The Responder – Starts Great But Goes Downhill Fast

Starts off so well but really turns crap by the end. I was so impressed by the opening few episodes that I sent out e-mails messages saying as much, largely due to the electrifyingly good central performance by Martin Freeman, who remains great throughout the decline, as does Ian Hart in his episodes, despite sporting the worst wig in TV history. 

My TV Set

By episode three the cracks begin to emerge. Freeman’s Carson fails to make one single arrest on any shout out emergency he responds to. The main plot has him protecting a dim drug traffiker who has nicked £300,000 of cocaine off serious drug lords, but he goes soft on anyone he deals with after threatening them with police brutality on the way.  It peaks when he pulls over a spectacularly drunken driver who turns out to be a vicar, who even says he’ll do it again. Letting him go for the sake of his job would be nice if not for the obvious risk he presents to everyone else on the road. 

Even the drug drama peters out.  Carson (Freeman), easily hides the drugs in a police incident cupboard, and tells a serious drug lord who had his mate (Hart, himself a major drug dealer who threatened to kill Carson’s estranged wife) stabbed and set on fire) that she isn’t really a bad sort because she only acts to protect someone already in prison, though she behaves with extreme cold hearted professional calculation, even frightening Hart’s character after he himself proves so intimidating. 

The tone throughout becomes, if you only turn criminal because you are stressed it’s OK.  Carson himself seems so on the edge and stressed to the eyeballs that sending him out as a forlorn hope first to the scene responder seems bizarre. Everyone, police and criminals alike, know he is on the edge.  He is in no fit state for such duty. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be employed while mentally ill, just not in a hard front line job that can only worsen his condition. 

Adelayo Adedayo plays her role well as a rookie cop who really shouldn’t be in the force, as she is shocked and unable to handle virtually every situation she encounters, and wants to blow the whistle on everyone but doesn’t know where to start. She is eventually relegated to putting the kettle on while Carson sorts out the suspects, witnesses and grieving relatives. Her only chance to shine is when she exposes her abusive boyfriend in front of his boss and workmates at the firestation where he works. 

The final episode amounts to Carson getting everyone off his back and easing his tensions one by one before going back on the beat with his uneasy alliance with his partner alone still to address. It’a a tying up loose ends and putting ribbons on them ending.

Well acted, but superficial, with a message that no one is a criminal or evil. They’re just a bit stressed and they’ll stop it (even after committing a few murders) if you chat with them and offer them a cup of tea. 

Arthur Chappell

TV Review Doctor Who The Flux One – The Halloween Apocalypse

Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers 

Dr Who TARDIS – FAB Cafe, Manchester – photo taken by me

Much to like and an almost equal amount not to like. 

Bishop’s Dan was very likable though they were trying very hard to sell him as ‘ordinary Northern bloke’, and his comedic Scouser act was given quite a platform.  Mistaking an alien for a Halloween costume was about the only thing they did with the Halloween theme / connection,  as this could easily have happened any day of the year. 

Dr Who Cyberman – Botany Bay, Chorley – Photo taken by me

Lots of ‘this will be important later’ moments, 18th century entrepreneur, galactic DJ in an escape pod, lady chased by weeping angels and even the Sontarans, who just distracted from the main chaotic events – the story might be about the Star Trek Generations Nexus, aka all destroying Flux, but it was no excuse for the plot and pacing to be equally scrambled and desperately ‘this is going to be epic’. 

The opening escape scene was visually impressive but confusing especially as much of the dialogue was drowned out by the score. The move and you’ll die threat was empty as The Doctor and Yas clearly do move and survive, breaking their bar to fly round like they were playing quidditch. Never did work out how the handcuffs conveniently vanished.
The new TARDIS console just looks like it has a big glowing stalagmite spiking out of it and cod-science gives way to hitting it with a comedy mallet.     

TARDIS outside Manchester Town Hall – Photo taken by me

The dog/Chewbacca/Bungle The Bear villain / saviour of humans character seemed to have very confused motives. a/. Kill the Doctor. b/. Act as patron saint to one mortal (Dan being picked out (ironic echo of his dream of winning a lottery in which he never bought a ticket), c/. Treat his mortal with contempt, d/. Do what the Doctor wants. 
Why was the fleet shield effective, at least temporarily to the Flux that dusts everything like a Thanos finger click (from which all will be unclicked in the end). This is likely to be another Doctor vapourised in certain death – not really, just transported to some nether-dimension where she can do something clever to get back to the main dimension and fix things realm I thought the quirky humour worked well. Yas is suddenly rather too knowledgeable (instantly seeing Dan trapped by seven different booby traps) but the interaction with Dan actually had a genuine chemistry and charm. 

Hoping the hurtling pace shows down a bit more now – but this does have a lot going for it. 

Arthur Chappell

TV Review – Vigil

TV Review – Vigil – How To Ruin A Great Show Right At The End 

Spoilers here for this TV series, which was a riveting, tense political drama about a murder investigation on a British nuclear submarine at sea, (and a parallel inquiry waged on land).  It all got disappointing in the end though.

Scottish detective Amy Silva (Suranne Jones), is sent by helicopter to board the Vigil sub after a member of the crew is apparently poisoned.  She is claustrophobic and understandably afraid of water following being present when her husband drowned in a car crash (from which she and her daughter narrowly escaped). 

A TV set, taken by me

It becomes apparent that the killings and acts of sabotage on board are aimed at forcing the Vigil to surface, exposing their activity to stalking Russian / Chinese pursuit vessels and causing diplomatic chaos. The problems also risk exposing facts about the poor conditions of British nuclear submarines and crew taking illegal drugs to cope with the stresses of long periods of isolation underwater in radio silence. 

All goes well until the closing cliffhanger of the penultimate episode when it all falls to pieces. 

The killer releases a biochemical nerve agent that kills another crew member and contaminates a major bow region of the sub.  There has to be some crew sent in to help contain the contamination, but Hazmats are stored in the very area they need to inspect. There are only two drysuit diving suits on the entire sub, so the inspectors will have to wear those and they’ll only get about 15 minutes before the suits and helmets kill them with dehydration. 

This gets really silly in that Silva insists on wearing one of the suits so she can inspect the crime scene, leaving only Glover (himself a suspect) to seal the contamination and get the Hazmats. Clearly saving the sub and everyone on board would take priority and Silva would be expected to wait for someone on board who is much more qualified to make the dangerous inspection / repair detail. 

Job done safely, Silva & Glover are attacked by the killer / spy Doward. He knocks out Glover and goes after Silva, who is collapsing in exhaustion as the predicted dehydration kicks in. Doward saves her by getting her helmet loose right before trying to kill her by putting her in a torpedo tube.  Why didn’t he just leave her to suffocate in her diving suit? It would have looked a natural tragedy and he would have been free to further his mission with more damage and mayhem. 

The torpedo tube is obviously a Hell for a claustrophobic, especially when Doward fills it with freezing sea water and though the water is released quickly (somehow all the tube activity itself never sets alarms off in the bridge), Silva is left for some time breathing in an airtight tube (too long) before her ingenious use of Morse code saves her. 

The final episode wraps up the dangers too quickly. Three quarters of the episode are set after Doward’s capture and arrest. The government not surprisingly covers up the whole affair.  Silva is reunited with Kirsten Longacre, (Longy, played by Rose Leslie) her Scottish partner (career and relationship-wise), and the pair go to see Silva’s daughter.  There was a build up in a previous episode that showed Longy in conflict with Silva’s homophobic parents (the child’s minders) but that is not referred to when the ladies reunite with the child, who the homophobics were minding.  

A great edge of seat tension crank to a real damp squib resolution.

Arthur Chappell