The Doctor's Companion Blog

My partner commented yesterday that if having a time lord brain in her head was really, really dangerous for Donna (the DoctorDonna) and would probably kill her, how come it was all right for half human Doctor to have it?  He only had one heart after all.

Its a very valid point and one I had never thought of before, as my partner pointed out smugly.

I suppose it just goes to show that I had been carried away by the power of the writing and acting so it passed me by.  Thats my excuse anyway.

The Shakespeare Code is utterly, utterly perfect, an exquisite jewell set in the heart of Doctordom. The music, the costumes, the Globe (yes its filmed in THE GLOBE THEATRE), the acting are all superb. But it is the writing that is the heart of it. The words are the thing.

In fact it is an elegantly written, play on words.

The Carrionites (‘foul Carrionites’) use words for power. In the past, the Eternals had found the right word to banish them into deep darkness. But Shakespeare, the one true genius, grieving for the death of his son, had had sufficient madness to let them in, with words, new and glittering. Three Carrionites, who settled in All Hallows Street, to hatch their plans.

The plans were to bring the world back to the old ways of blood and magic, so the human race could could then be purged as pestilence. They found the architect, Peter Strete and got him to build the new Globe Theatre, with 14 sides, to their design, not his. When the work was done they snapped his wits.

The Carrionites are immensely powerful beings. They can take the form of humans, generally knarled witches, but also young and beautiful humans such as the form taken sometimes by Lileth, their leader. They can suck words and knowledge from you and kill with a touch. Men to them are as puppets, and using the doll as a DNA replication unit, they can take you over, make you speak words that are not your own or write words you have never seen before.

They were already ensconced and well advanced in their plans, when the Doctor brought Martha on her ‘one short jaunt’ in the Tardis, to watch a play at the Globe. Intrigued by the prospect of seeing the lost play, ‘Loves Labours Won’, he visited Shakespeare at the Elephant Inn, where he witnessed the strange death of Lynley, drowned on land and killed with a blow to the heart. The night had even stranger events, with ‘sweet Dolly Bailey’, killed by fright, and a cackling witch witch seen by Martha from the window, sailing off into the sky.

A visit to Bedlam the following day revealed not only the story of Peter Strete, but also the Carrionite Mother Doomfinger. But the Doctor knows the power of a name, and Doomfinger was banished to the House in All Hallows Street. Meanwhile the Doctor worked out the story, sent Shakespeare to stop the play, and went himself with Martha to visit the Carrionites in their lair.

A superb piece of acting then ensured from both Christina Cole (Lileth) and the Doctor, culminating in Lileth bursting backwards through the windows, and hovering in the air while she used her doll to deadly effect.

But she did not know that the Doctor has two hearts, and Martha was able to bring him back.  Followed by the obligatory running scene, with the Doctor ‘going the wrong way’, before finding the Globe and the stage door.

The transformation scene at the Globe is superb. Heralded by the wonderful Murray Gold music, the theatre spouts pink flames, while the three witches laugh with joy, and Carrionites fly out of the smoke. Now is the time for Wil to show his genius, and reverse the spell. Which he does, along with a bit of help from JK (hopefully she won’t be suing).

One of my favourite scenes in the play however is the one that we never saw. The tragically cut scene where Shakespeare shows that he knows that the Doctor is from another world and Martha is from the future. He recognises himself in the Doctor and senses his loss, his grief and his madness. But unlike the Doctor, he is content where he is, he does not need to travel. “Give me my pen and ink, give me my minds eye and I can go wherever I want.”

It is the heart of the play, the heart of what Shakespeare is, and shows how a human can on occasion match and surpass the Time Lord. It is also actor Dean Lennox Kelly’s finest piece of acting. It should never have been cut. Shame on you!

So there you are. A fabulous piece of writing from Gareth Roberts, backed up with marvelous acting, effects, the whole caboodle. But the final comment on the piece must be the comment made by Jonathan Morris in the Doctor Who Magazine’s golden moments special edition:

“Although life was very different in the sixteenth century, people were just the same. Writers spend all their time in pubs and deliver their scripts having finished them the night before; actors don’t care if their lines make any sense so long as they get to do a big speech and take centre stage, and the only thing audiences ever notice are the special effects”.

The Shakespeare Code can be bought as part of Doctor Who – The Complete Series 3 Box Set [DVD] [2007] or you can get the cheaper ‘Vanilla’ Doctor Who – Series 3 Vol.1 [2007] [DVD] [2005] which just has the first three of the series 3 episodes.

It some time now since the End of Time broadcast on New Years day and I have watched it several times.  What are my views?

Well its good.  Sort of.  Yes, quite good.  David and Wilf are great, as always, Timothy Dalton is very strong as the Time Lord (I like Timothy Dalton) and the story nicely ties everything up.

And yet.  I don’t know.  Maybe I don’t really like big finales particularly.  I often prefer the smaller more ‘ordinary’ Doctor Who stories such as Blink, The Shakespeare Code, and Gridlock.  Maybe I am just being difficult.  Somehow the last finale, the one with Davros, was much more powerful.  After all when you have seen the earth dragged halfway across the Universe, with 27 planets in the sky, it is a bit ‘here we go again’ when Gallifrey pops up.  God know what all this is doing to the tides.  And whats Rassalon doing with Captain Jack’s glove?

John Sim had a good part!  I hope they gave him a good fee after all that dressing up he had to do.  Although come to think of it, it must have been quite fun.  At first anyway.  The thing about John Sim though, he *is* very good, very good indeed, but I keep thinking that he is too nice to be the Master.  Roger Delgado (Ah Roger Delgado!) and the other chap were better in that respect.  But it was nice to see him back.

I think what made the Stolen Earth/Journeys End feel better was that the Doctor has his companions helping him. I know he had Wilf in this episode, but none of the others, and those green spiky people, I wasn’t too keen on them.  Were they just there to prove that special effects can cope with green things now?

And who was the mysterious woman?  Some people say the Doctors Mother, my Son thought she was Romana, I don’t know.  I quite like the fact that we do not know though, it gives us something to speculate on.

The rest of it is all wrapped up and tied with a bow.  Mickey marries Martha.  Donna marries her bloke.  Nerys wears peach.  Even Nurse Redfern, we learn, had a happy life, although I am not sure how her granddaughter recognised the Doctor. So thats all kind of satisfying.

Final verdict?  Good, but not great.  Looking forward to Number Eleven …

Doctor Who – Winter Specials 2009 – Waters of Mars and The End of Time [DVD] is available from Amazon.

I was more than a bit disappointed by the first part of the finale of David Tenants reign.  It seemed very disjointed and hard for people who do not know Who, to follow.  In fact as we all sat around watching it on Christmas Day I felt a bit embarrassed at making my Mother (not a Who fan) watch all this stuff.  I am pretty sure that most of went straight past her, although she is a very polite person and did not complain.

It was nice to see Wilf back of course, and I liked the cafe scene.  However who were this Naismith couple?  We had no explanation of why they were millionaires, how they knew of the immortality gate, and where the daughter got the idea from that she could become immortal.  It all added to the confusion.

In fact I rather felt as if Russell, the writer, knowing that this was the end of his Dr Who writing, had cast aside all restraint and piled in everything pel mel, with no particular order or cohesion between the various parts.  Sorry Russell, but that is what it felt like watching it for the first time.

Although it was exciting to see the Time Lords at the end.  I was not expecting that.  It was a good moment.

I have watched the episode since of course and it does improve on a second viewing. I understand it a bit better.  I think it will take a few more viewings though before I get it all, plus I expect parts of it will only be clear once we have seen the final part.  Due in a few days.

I am looking forward to Part 2, but my enthusiasm has been dented a bit by the deficiencies of Part 1.   Although I should make it clear that I thought all the *actors* was great, and I have no complaints at all about the quality of the acting. It was, as always, superb.

Doctor Who – Winter Specials 2009 – Waters of Mars and The End of Time [DVD] is available from Amazon.

So.  I’ve seen the Waters of Mars twice and have had a bit of time to ponder on it.  What do I think?

Well its good. Of course its good, they all are.  And Lindsey Duncan is of course wonderful as Adelaide Brook, the commander.  The make up is amazing, and the effects brilliant.  But.

I didn’t really like the Doctor going off the rails at the end. I really didn’t like that.  I quite understand that its great for David to act, and as always he did a fabulous job.  But the Doctor doesn’t do that.  Or shouldn’t.  I don’t want him to go mental and upset time.  I prefer him as he was.

Call me old  fashioned but I prefer the Doctor to be right, the one who sorts things out, the one thing that is dependable  I don’t want him going off the rails.

We will have to see what will happen over Christmas and the New Year.  It looks pretty amazing so I am really looking forward to it.

Lets hope the Doctor has got over his delusions by then.

Doctor Who – Winter Specials 2009 – Waters of Mars and The End of Time [DVD] is available from Amazon.

If you feel like a good book for Halloween, you could do a lot worse than read the 10th Doctor and Martha book, Forever Autumn by Mark Morris.  Set in the “sleepy New England town of Blackwood Falls” (to quote the blurb on Amazon) it is rather a fun little book, featuring tall lanky stick like monsters who can possess people and whose space ship is buried beneath the town.  Needless to say they must be prevented from using it, as its lift off would kill most of the towns inhabitants.

The Hervoken have some similarities to the Carrionites (seen on screen in the Shakespeare Code), although the Hervoken do not take human form (other than by possession).  Apparently they are the Carrionites were enemies until ‘the Eternals’ took steps against them both. I’d like to know more about the Eternals – Mr Moffatt??

The author cleverly brings the Doctor and Martha to life, very much as they are in the television series, all the catch phrases along with at lot of witty 10th Doctor banter.  The other characters are quite pleasant too, the three boys, Etta Helligan, and poor old Doctor Clayton.  The Hervoken however are not, with their long stick like bodies, high pitched giggly voices, and long vine like tentacles stretching beneath the town (slightly reminiscent of the citidel’s roots from Death to the Daleks).  And they enjoy crunching up Mr Everson.  Not nice.

The climax is even worse, but I won’t tell you as it will spoil the surprise for you.  But the Doctor manages it in the end as he always does, and then wants to slope off without saying goodbye.  I can’t help wondering if the Moffatt/Smith doctor will be quite so adverse to proper endings, hopefully not.

But the book is an enjoyable Halloween read. Doctor Who – Forever Autumn (New Series Adventure 16) can be bought from Amazon as a paperback, either on its own, or more economically as part of a boxed Martha and the 10th Doctor set: The All New Doctor Who Collection ; [10 volume cased set ] ;The Pirate Loop , Wetworld, Sting of the Zygons , The Art of Desruction , Wooden Heart , Wishing Well , Sick Building , The Last Dodo, The Price of Paradise, Forever Autumn.

With my new persona as a Dr Who Blogger, what I really need to do, I decided, is a bit of research.  So I have had a very pleasant time over the past few days, re-reading one of my very favourite Doctor Who books, Doctor Who – The Inside Story: The Official Guide to Series 1 and 2 by Gary Russell.

This nice thing about the whole Doctor Who experience, is that so much information is available about the making of the program and all the different people who make it what it is – one the of the best programs on British television.  This book also takes us behind the scenes and introduces us to all sorts of people.

It starts with an introduction from David Tennant himself, a general introduction about the series, and then looks at the process of bringing back Doctor Who, from periodic pitches made by Russell T Davies in the 1990′s, through to Lorraine Heggessey and Jane Trantor making the decision to bring it back and then how the various key people were put in place.

First to be installed were the triumvirate of executive producers –  Russell T Davies as showrunner, Julie Gardner in charge of sorting everything, and Phil Collinson, in charge of making it all run smoothly and to budget.

Then we look at the casting of the major characters, then the various key people involved in the production of the series.  The two costumer designers, Lucinda Wright (series one) and Louise Page (series two), and the various makeup artists (including Sheelagh Wells (formerly of the classic series).  The Mill in charge of CGI, Neil Gorton of Millennium FX in charge of prosthetic costumes, Mike Tucker (another of the few from the classic series) determined to do as much of the modelling as he can, and the wonderful art department headed by Edward Thomas.

Then there are the writers, and the scriptwriters (including a very interesting interview with Helen Raynor, now  a regular writer who hopefully will also be writing for series 5), all very important.  The wonderful music from Murray Gold, Paul McFadden doing the sound, and Tim Ricketts mixing it all up at the end. The book also touches on the various directors, although they are discussed more in the episode descriptions.

I would like to have heard a bit from the photography and lighting people (particuarly Ernie Vincze), and also from the other special effects people (i.e. those in charge of explosions), but all in all it is a fascinating insight into the making of a TV series.

The second part of the book is an episode by episode description of all the episodes in series one and two, plus a peek into the (then) future by looking at the Catherine Tate Christmas episode and the start of series three.  Gary Russell tends to concentrate on the more technical aspects, but that is great as we would not be able to find that information out otherwise.

I really enjoyed reading this book again, and would like to see something similar for series three and four.  And of course for series five, under the new administration …

“So big it doesn’t need a name. Just a great big ‘the’.”

Part 1 – Silence in the library

I love Silence in the Library. I love the way it starts, zooming in on the library planet, with the little girl, the wonderful images, and the creepy music. I also, like the Doctor, love books, my house is full of them, and I spent half my childhood reading books and going to the library to get more. I suspect Steve Moffat may have a shelf or two as well.

The two library episodes are two of my all time favourites, and Steve Moffat, the writer, is probably my favourite Doctor Who writer. He is also a very clever writer. Not only are these episodes wonderfully atmospheric, they are also tightly plotted and there are many clues scattered throughout episode one, pre shadowing what is to be revealed in episode two. The little girl traveling in her head ‘through wishing’, the fact that she appears to be inside the security camera, and the fact the her father and Dr Moon can’t hear the telephone. And of course Donna answers the question of where the Vashta Nerada came from right at the start, when she suggests that the “million, million” life forms could be the books … (“Its not the books is it, tell me its not the books”)

The first part of episode one is also a quiet homage to the Arc In Space (a fourth Doctor episode, apparently one of Moffats favourites) where Sarah, Harry and the Doctor spend a whole episode alone in the Arc spaceship. Here Moffat can’t use a whole episode, but Donna and the Doctor have a fair amount of time alone before ‘the Library is breached’ and River Song bursts through the door in a cloud of smoke. A dramatic moment, although one can’t help wondering why she couldn’t have opened it normally – maybe her ‘door skills’ weren’t as good as Donna’s.

We then have a gradual reveal of the circumstances of the empty library, the introduction of the various characters, and the deaths first (after her dim intelligence had been clearly demonstrated) of Miss Evangelista, and then ‘proper Dave’, who promptly turns into a scary monster ‘a swarm in a suit’, who is then available to turn up when things are getting a bit slow, and liven things up by chasing the rest of the company into the shadows.

The Doctor Who production team were very lucky to have had such fantastic venues to film in. Swansea Library (where apparently Euros Lyn, the Director, studied for his A Levels) and Brangwyn Hall, also in Swansea. The venues, and the lighting are a huge part of what makes the atmosphere in the Library. And how brilliant is Stephen Moffat to make a monster out of shadows? Part of every child’s nightmares – “not every shadow, but any shadow”. It also gives the lighting department a chance to show of what they can do (not that they don’t do brilliantly anyway).

The other major component of the atmosphere is Murray Gold’s music. I love Murray Golds music! The beautiful haunting lilting quality of it as the girl floats through her library and the camera sweeps across the halls and down the corridors, is just perfect, and merges seamlessly with the action. And the actors are all wonderful, particularly Alex Kingston and the little girl.

I suppose the thing I like least about Silence in the Library is the overlong section dealing with the death of Miss Evangilista and the introduction of the ‘data ghosts’. I realise they are important to the plot but tend to get a restless watching this section. Also I have a question – if it took less than a few seconds to kill her, how did Mis Evangalista have time to scream? But nice touch to have this section preceded by Strackman Lux saying that they had not found any bodies.

Steve Moffat is shameless in racking up the tension in the last part of the episode. The little girl being told by ‘Doctor Moon’ that her nightmares are real, and that “the shadows are moving again”. The Doctor saying to Donna that “not everyone comes back out of the dark”. And what is going to happen to Donna? River Song obviously doesn’t want to say.

The finale has everything. Corridor running, being chased by a monster, the mystery of River Song’s screwdriver, the squareness gun (good to see it back again), and Donna as a node. What will episode two bring?

Part 2 – The Forest of the Dead

The Forest of the Dead takes us in a different direction. Why is Donna in hospital (sign marked ‘Cal’), and who is the creepy yet curiously reassuring Dr Moon? And why does time keep jumping around, rather like the cuts in a movie or television program? And does Donna really care, after meeting Lee who’s gorgeous but can’t say a word? But then she sees the Doctor …

Back in the library, the Doctor and River Song start squabbling like an old married couple, until River Song shocks the Doctor into temporary silence by whispering his name in his ear. 

We then learn a bit more about the moon. It’s just a ‘Doctor Moon’ apparently, built as part of the system as a virus checker, and supports and maintains the computer at the heart of the planet. Interesting. As just now its talking to Donna …

The episode continues. Anita gets infected. Miss Evangalista delivers her message to Donna. The Doctor discovers why the Vashta Nerada hatched in the library, and the little girl shrieks as Donna rips the veil off Miss Evangalista’s face. Then RIver Song talks to Anita and we find that the best is yet to come, her Doctor is the ‘real’ Doctor, in the face of whom, whole armies turn and run away, while he just swaggers off and opens the Taridis with a click of his fingers. “Spoilers” says the Doctor, but are the spoilers for the Steve Moffat era that is to come?

When I first watched this, I knew that River Song had to die. It was artistically correct. The last time she meets him, is the first time he meets her. So throughout the whole of their future relationship, he knows what is before her. The library. Pity the Doctor for that.

But to the story. The Doctor and Donna find out the truth at the same time, but the little girl reacts strongly at the mention of Cal, putting the whole planet at risk. A pause here to point out a few inconsistencies. Why should the planet ‘crack like an egg’ just because the little girl throws the control on the ground in a hissy fit, particularly as she picks it up later to zap Doctor Moon? And could, practically, anyone actually go to the centre of the earth, wouldn’t they be crushed by gravity?

But the writing is wonderful. “Mummy” says Ella, “Joshua and me, we’re not real are we?”. “Its like when your not here, we’re not here” chips in Joshua. “Even when you close your eyes” says Ella “We just, stop”. How creepy is that?

The Doctor works out how to save them all, but will the Vashta Nerada, getting a taste for meat having just digested Anita, let him? “You just killed someone I liked” though, says the Doctor “that is not a safe place to stand. I’m the Doctor and you are in the biggest library in the Universe. Look me up,” Wow! The shadows retreat. Is this a presage of future Doctor, as described by River Song?

I love the final scene with River Song, beautifully acted by Alex Kingson and David Tennant, and wonderfully enhanced by Murray Golds music. But this post is too long already and you will have to see it yourself.

There are also a few niggling questions:

• Why was it necessary (other than to create a dramatic climax and kill off RIver Song) for a humans mind to be added to the (presumably enormous) computer memory into order to download the 4,022 people saved to the hard drive?
• How will they re-act when they learn that three generations have passed?
• How did the Doctor get out of the hand cuffs?
• Why did Lee get sucked off into the distance, why could he not have downloaded together with Donna? Poor Donna.

The ending has had mixed reviews. Its sort of nice in that, rather than remembering River Song as being a mangled lump of burnt flesh (although we are never actually shown her dead), we see her start a new life in a pleasant place, with the rest of the expedition, Cal, and Dr Moon to keep her company. Presumably it will also be forever. Steve Moffat is on record as saying that he thinks it will be a sort of heaven, particularly as they have lots of books to read. I have heard others say that it could be the reverse, bearing in mind the life she has probably been used to leading with the Doctor. But maybe those people don’t read. 

This is a great two parter. Although I love Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who episodes, and all the other writers (more or less), somehow Steven Moffat captures the essence of what I feel Doctor Who should be. And particularly in this episode. If you stop and think about it, its bonkers. But it succeeds because of the power of the writing and the acting, not forgetting of course the music, the lighting, the special effects, and no doubt a number of other things so perfectly done that we don’t notice them.

Luckily for us Steven Moffat is now in charge of Doctor Who, so we should get more of the same. I can’t wait!

Silence in the Library and the Forest of the Dead are part of Doctor Who : Complete BBC Series 4 [2008] [DVD], or you can just get Volume 3 (which is cheaper).