Doctor Who: #9 The Web Planet

We continue with my top ten favourite Doctor Who stories and at number nine we have The Web Planet, which is a rare breed in Doctor Who. There have been a multitude of scary stories, or terrifying stories, fantasy stories, political stories and so on but rarely was there a story that was genuinely creepy, and this is one of them. Certainly the first. Its inspiration lay in Bill Strutton’s childhood. When he was young he witnessed a fierce fight between rival factions of ants, only to be badly bitten by both protagonists when he tried to intervene. It was from this he suggested a story about battling ant factions and from that we get this wonderful imaginative and atmospheric story, The Web Planet.

In a nut-shell the plot of this story is the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki become involved in the plans of the butterfly-like Menoptra to reclaim their planet from the parasitic Animus that is slowly enveloping it with its web-like domain, the Carsenome.

Joining forces with an advance party of Menoptra and the underground-dwelling Optra, the travellers manage to destroy the Animus, freeing the ant-like Zarbi and death-spitting larvae guns from its control and releasing the TARDIS from its influence.

1965 (13th February-20th March)

The first things that strike me whilst watching the story is the incidental music, the sound of the story and the direction; they all come together very effectively and create a wonderful tone and feel of a dead and empty world. There is something of a minimalist experience to this story, certainly within the first episode—where the world the Doctor and his companions have landed is one that is stripped completely bare to the barest essential so that everything is just functioning, and only just.

The music is beautifully composed and it comes as something of a complete surprise to find that that the music used was stock library music. It fits so well and suits the story superbly. It has an unusual effect of being both gripping, getting into the pit of one’s stomach, being tremendously exciting as well as being other-worldly and creating a sense of unease.

Studio sound, by Ray Angel, should also be noted for attention. There is an empty, cold quality to everything where the sound almost seems brittle and hollow whilst conversation is being held on the planet. There are also a number of instances when the characters are shouting and there is beautiful effect of sound when the voices are bounced back, as if from the rocks (i.e. echoed), but it is discordant and multi-directional that again there is further building of unease on this planet that the characters have found themselves on.

The third element is that of the direction. The entire story is a visual piece and a visual feast. Richard Martin has directed several Doctor Who stories but for me, this is undoubtedly his best. There is a wonderful light-defused look that Richard Martin achieved. He wanted to add filters to the studio cameras, but no equivalent of a film camera's matte-box (a device for mounting filters in front of the camera lens) existed. He was told, in no uncertain terms, that he could not tamper with the expensive camera lenses themselves, so he arranged for a crude matte-box to be manufactured from scratch and fastened in front of the cameras. Each device held an optical flat, a piece of optically perfect glass, which was then simply smeared with Vaseline to provide the diagonal light diffusion that he required. This simple solution results in a fantastic visual feat.

Another thing that needs mentioning is the special effects. For an episode broadcast on 13^th February 1965 (making this post just shy of The Web Planet’s 45^th Anniversary—you would almost think this was planned, but you’d be wrong if you thought that J) they are still impressive. Episode one has a brilliant comp shot of a huge pyramid-like structure with the Doctor and Ian in the foreground dwarfed by it. It still looks impressive and real to this day. In some ways it doesn’t really matter if a special effect works or not if you have a good story, backed with excellent performances, design, direction and so—but when they are this good you cannot help but still be impressed.

Admittedly episode one is somewhat slow, some may even say glacial, and things don’t pick up until the second episode, but it sets up the atmosphere beautifully well and still manages to keep one’s interest going throughout because of this, and also the sense of mystery—firstly with the Doctor himself and secondly with Barbara’s lack of control due to some outside influence.

In relation to the mystery surrounding the Doctor, at this stage in the series there was still a great deal that was unknown. Even in 2010 some elements still remain a mystery. One of these is the First Doctor’s ring—I only mention this because a few minutes in episode one is given to the Doctor stating that it is “not merely a decretive object” and really wishing for Ian to remain oblivious to it. In this story it helps power up the TARDIS when there is no power to even open the doors, it also allows the Doctor to control a Zarbi. Furthermore, when the battle plan is drawn up for the Menoptra to regain their planet one of the Menoptra wishes to use the Doctor’s ring in order to control the Zarbi in aid for the battle plan to succeed. The Doctor says that by all means, the Menoptra may use it but on his life it must be returned. Although said with humour undercutting the threat slightly the threat still remains. Something of a dark thing to say especially when all is at stake but the Doctor, especially the First, is something of an anti-hero. Only at the middle of series one did he being to soften and become a little likeable. At this stage, series two, the Doctor is friendlier, humorous and a Grandfather figure but still there remains a streak of ruthlessness. One fan website has tried to fill in certain gaps only using the television series and says this:

...First Doctor's ring was a gift from Rassilon is not supported by onscreen evidence, but its mysterious powers seem to fit in with the "artefact" nature of the Hand of Omega and the various items of Rassilon (Rod, Sash, Coronet, Ring, etc.) seen later in the series.[1]

The first episode finishes with the apparent dematerialised TARDIS with everyone, with the exception of Vicki who has remained onboard, trapped on the planet. William Hartnell really gives a great notion that being trapped on the planet is not the Doctor’s prime concern but that he is really crestfallen for having lost his home.

It is refreshing to see an alien race which has developed an unusual form of speech—a lyrical singing quality to the way the Menoptra talk. They also have dance like movements to their body language. This expression of a totally alien race is unique to Doctor Who, indeed to any television programme or film of the Sci-Fi genre in which the way speech is delivered and body language is expressed is something totally unlike the way humans express themselves.

The script itself is wonderfully written, in which mostly everything is expressed in poetic terms. The “Crater of Needles “is magnificently expressive. Also, the speech given cuts out the singular and goes straight for the metaphor:

“Tunnel Breaths vapour”

“The wall is not friendly”

“A silent wall...and it will speak more light”.

The story doesn’t shy away from horror elements. Most horror tends to be things that are not seen and left to the imagination of the audience. The movie Alien is a prime example of this, where most of the horror is left to the imagination of the audience and it therefore remains terrifying. In The Web Planet there is a scene in which the Zarbi, in order to disable a Menoptra, eat and tear its wings off. Not seen but directed and acted in such a way that the full horror of this is conveyed. The same can be said for a scene in episode five in which an Optra saves Ian and the others by placing its head in a small crack which is pouring acid—both crushing its skull and burning its head—an obviously painful death.

The Animus is a villain which suffers from paranoia and it is because of this it does not understand the concept of peace and has therefore become militant. One of the Menoptra describes the Animus as a “militant” near the end of episode three. Not only that, but the story is much more darker and creepier because of what the Animus is—it is very much like a cancer spreading disease, spreading throughout the entire planet until everything is wasted away.

This story also demonstrates further wonder of the TARDIS. At this early stage it had been hinted that it was far more than simply a machine and within The Web Planet it is hinted that it can be telepathic, which is how Vicki knows how to operate the controls in order for the TARDIS to prevent its energy drain.

The Web Planet has a great deal in it and a great deal going for it. For one thing it was a truly brave and bold and show how truly confident the producers were at the time. Sadly, it does have its detractors yet the story is such a joy for me and the first time I watched it I was truly impressed and wowed by it and I still am so I will defend this story. Some viewers are eager to point out that the planetary backdrops are obviously fake, but you never hear the same observation made when viewers discuss the merits of The Aztecs which also has obvious two-dimensional scenery. Why is it acceptable to use the wooden rocks on Vortis as ammunition against this ambitious story, whilst people happily gloss over the polystyrene tomb-stone in The Aztecs?

Please don’t misunderstand me, The Aztecs is a story which I also enjoy a great deal but the argument used against The Web Planet can also be applied to The Aztecs and yet...ahhh, you get the point, no need to labour over it but The Web Planet is an ambitious story which I feel is a success. The writer, the production-team, designers, the direction, the make-up, the sound and all the actors managed to create a wonderful epic story consisting of a number of alien creatures (I believe more than that is ever seen in any other story, with possible exception to The Curse of Peladon) and wonderful atmosphere that is beyond doubt unique. It should be enjoyed and savoured.

[1] Available from http://www.whosdw.com/theories.html

News: Tony Blair, Iraq Inquiry & Other Matters

It’s been one year and now fifty posts! Yeah. Well, a great deal has happened recently, not sure where to begin.

Well, let us start with The Return of Tony Blair. His absence has not made the heart grow fonder. On the, what has turned out to be, not-so-rare occassions when he returns to our television screens, one just feels utter revulsion. During his last year as Prime Minister his popularity had waned dramatically. Most of the General Public wanted him out of office. Many were baffled by the standing ovation he received at the end of his last day in the House of Commons, his final Prime Minister’s Questions session.

Here is the Prime Minister who was as uninterested in economics as he was in the conduct of warfare. His recent appearance on the Chilcot inquiry has led to the reaction I very much thought it would—regardless of what may have been said no one would trust what Blair would have said. After a somewhat nervous start it all turned into the Blair performance we remember; polished, strange hand-actions and not really answering the question schlock that pissed us off whilst he was Prime Minister. The Chilcot inquiry is officially called the Iraq inquiry...questioning about the war in Iraq. So it is interesting to note that Tony Blair mentioned Iran 58 times during his time giving evidence.

The most memorable quote given by Blair is:

“The single most important element of this whole business of what happened afterwards, [is] people did not think that al-Qaida and Iran would play the role that they did...people did not believe that you would end up in a situation where Iran, once the threat of Saddam was removed from them, would then try to deliberately destabilise the country”

Also:

“People sometimes say to me today: it is not Iraq. It is Afghanistan, or someone else says: it is Pakistan. Or someone else says: it is Iran. Now, yesterday, we had a conference on Yemen. I am afraid my view is they are all part of one picture.”

Now, this all strikes me as rather odd. What is with the focus on Iran and this desire, it seems, to par all this elements up principally making a connection with Iraq and Iran? As anyone surely knows these two countries do not have a happy relationship together (putting it somewhat mildly) so saying that they are part of one picture is extremely limited and limiting on such an important issue as those discussed during the Iraq inquiry.

One thing I am reminded of is “Some days after September 11, a psychologist gave advice on CNN to parents with children asking difficult questions. One young boy had asked, what have we done to make them hate us so much that they do such things?” A mature question, unlike the answer: you can tell your child that there are good people in the world, and evil. That boy had arrived at the stage of reciprocity on psychologist Jean Piaget’s scale of child development, seeing the actions of others at least partly as influenced by our own actions (and vice versa). By contrast, the psychologist's answer remained at the earlier stage of autism, seeing evil actions by others as uninfluenced by anything we do.”[1]This point is extremely interesting when we take into consideration that Tony Blair, during the aftermath of the July 7^th London bombings, denied any suggestions that the War in Iraq had made Britain a target for terrorism.

However, I digress slightly.

What turned out to be the case, for me, wasn’t that Blair was not telling the truth; it was that he turned out to be a complete and utter fool. His answers proved that his real crime was not the dodgy dossier but was that he invaded Iraq with no strategy, with no understanding of the Islamist factions and no qualms about leaving Iraqis to the mercy of death squads. All of this has been suggested before but to hear this from the horses-mouth gives us the sad truth that this was/is indeed the case.

In relation to the above, Patrick Cockburn wrote in The Independent newspaper “Blair has shown himself more a fool than a liar”.[2]

Furthermore, Claire Short whilst talking on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show broadcast on 31^st January 2010 said Blair’s evidence to the inquiry on Friday was "ludicrous". She went on to say:

“...It doesn’t work for me, this preachy stuff and also he’s talking about things that happened since, he wasn’t answering the question about what he was doing at the time.”

Short also said Blair’s statements were not contemporary of 2003 thinking but rather on what happened a great deal after. Also, at the time of writing (but not by the time this article will be posted up) Short is giving her evidence to the Chilcot inquiry and so far she has, in my view, given the most damning evidence yet. She has said the then cabinet was "misled" into thinking the war with Iraq was legal, she is "shocked" by the advice Attorney General Lord Goldsmith had given shortly before the war, the Attorney General misled the Cabinet, Blair "and his mates" decided war was necessary, and "everything was done on a wing and a prayer” and the cabinet had not been a "decision-making body" and called Parliament a "rubber stamp".

It is my view, despite Short’s obvious dislike for Blair, her view on happenings is a true insight into the workings of Tony Blair’s time as Prime Minster. I am a Politics graduate and so I would like to think when it comes to political happenings I have a fair grasp of what is going on and my view can be considered on certain matters (I would like to think this is the case) anyway, Short’s statements don’t really come as much surprise, certainly when it comes to describing the then Cabinet—anyone who studied the function of the Blair Cabinet, such as myself, will see Short’s description and agree. You only have to see how the building of the Millennium Dome was decided (as well as other things) and note how the Cabinet’s view was discarded and not even considered.

On slightly lighter news, you would be forgiven to think over the last few weeks the most important news has been the weather. The amount of time given over to television reports of snow has been damn right silly.

“News just in, it is the middle of winter and it is bloody cold!”

Cor Blimey! Well I never. You would have thought snow was a never before seen phenomenon the way it had been reported. More than that, the lack of grit was reported for ages as well. And excitingly the news went to a whole load of different gritting depots to showcase the lack of grit for the roads. There were boring gritting depots. Dull gritting depots. Dismal gritting depots. Lacklustre gritting depots. Lifeless gritting depots. Sombre gritting depots. Tedious gritting depots. Unexciting gritting depots. Underwhelming gritting depots. Undermanned gritting depots. Manned gritting depots. Indoor gritting depots. Indoor Games from King Crimson gritting depots. Outdoor gritting depots and the wonderful sexy gritting depots.

It was all very perplexing.

Kraft’s taking over from Cadbury’s has caused outcry and derision. It is a shame a well known and respected name is no longer viable but as the recipe formula is one that works and sells I cannot see it changing. However, the one thing that strikes me as odd is people are arguing this is sign of Britain losing more of its identity. This is just plain silly. If you see your identity linked to a confectioner of Chocolate, that item of clothing or the sudden arrival of a Halal butchers then you need your head examining.

Identity is something which is not tangible. Sure, tangible items are an element of one’s identity but it remains a tiny proportion. One’s name is something that people feel very dear to but you cannot touch or feel it. Identity is a concept and you not kill a concept, therefore Britain’s I.D. is not eroding. QED.

[1] Available from http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2002/09/20_galtung_end-terrorism.htm

[2] For full article please go to http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-evidence-of-witness-69-blair-has-shown-himself-more-a-fool-than-a-liar-1884347.html

Books: Doctor Who, The New Adventures: Part One

Doctor Who fans of a certain age tend to feel rather proprietorial towards the show, certainly for those who were fans during the 1990’s. People such as me who loved the show, when it was no longer being made, when it was openly ridiculed and mocked, we were still there. We were still there, keeping the love going. The story of Doctor Who was principally continued with what was called The New Adventures, a series of books with the remit to produce stories too broad and too deep for the small screen. These series of books were produced from 1991—1997. They started when I wasn’t even aware of the existence of Who and finished when I was 10 years old and a fan for 4 years. I didn’t know anybody who was into the show. It was only me. It was my thing. My hobby and somehow I managed, through some strange form of osmosis, to keep up-to-date with what was going on. I had never picked up a New Adventure novel but I had seen them and I somehow knew they were adult. A world of Who that I could not enter simply because of my age. My literary world in relation to Who was strictly kept to the Target book novelisations’. They were great, they were well written and I enjoyed reading them. The Target books remain a loving nostalgic part of my childhood.

However, the problem was, was that they were very much a part of the shows past when the New Adventures were moving the story and the world of Who onward and upward. In 1995 I decided to make a leap and buy my first ever New Adventure book. I knew there was a strong possibility that I would not understand everything, but I would make a good attempt of it. My choice was simply made via the front cover. I loved it. I still love. I think it is one of the best book covers ever to have exist and ever will exist. However, my first choice could not have been worse. It was a story deeper, wider, firmer, plumper, perkier, yellower, crispier and with more incredibly bad jokes than you could shake a stick at and for a then 8 year old, a damn right impenetrable read. It was Sky Pirates!

I somehow managed to force myself through the first three pages, but when it consisted of “circumference, circumscribes some fifty-thousand leagues, and all of it on the inside: a perfect gaseous globe, encapsulated by an electrostatic Mobeus bubble-shell” and “Sloathes are metamorphic; their skeletons telescopic, enclosed by unstable flesh the consistency of boiling mud, skinned by muscle and chitinous platelets” it may have been in Sand-script for all the good it was and when I flicked through the book to see if there was anything I could get my head around the word “bastard” was seen. I wasn’t shocked at reading the word but I was a little alienated. This was not Doctor Who that I recognised.

So there it was a show and a world that I loved but was out of touch with. It would change in 1996 but that would be too short-lived to really mean anything. However, a few years ago I decided that I would go back and see what I had missed during my formative years—mainly egged on by my finally establishing that my favourite Doctor was the Seventh. It had originally been the Third, but it changed to the Fifth by the time I was a teenager then it was both the Fifth and Seventh, depending on my mood. The seventh is my favourite Doctor for many reasons but now his Doctor, thanks to the literary world he encompasses he is firmly established as being damn right wonderful. So yes, going back to the New Adventures was worth it. Actually, owing the greatest debt to the printed page, the seventh Doctor literary exploits have almost usurped his TV stories. For all the greatness of Ghost Light the novel Birthright is far better. For the impressive The Curse of Fenric there is the book of Transit to better it in every way.

The time of Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor is really great. In 2009 I came across a fan and we talked about Doctor Who. She was roughly in her 40’s and so remembered Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and proudly stated Tom Baker as her favourite and we talked about comics and stuff. It become somewhat humorous as when it came to anything she didn’t like she would refer to it as her “Sylvester McCoy moment”. I pointed out that he is in fact my favourite Doctor and she did kindly say that “to be fair I haven’t really seen much of his time as the Doctor. Just when I saw his first story I thought that was it for me”. I knew what she meant but told her to check his last two series and she would be in for treat....I should get back in contact with her and see if she has.

Sylvester McCoy’s first series of the Doctor is enjoyable. Admittedly light-weight but Time and the Rani is such an enjoyable romp that I can watch it. Paradise Towers is promising and so on but, honestly, it feels weird for a show that is long-running and has Sylvester McCoy’s final series as the Doctor all available on DVD, to defend his tenure. Go out and watch his stories. You are in for a real treat. They are easily available and so there is no excuse (except financial reasons) not to buy Remembrance of the Daleks (at time of writing, the only DVD available from season 25), Battlefield, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric, Survival. In fact, the stories are of that high-quality it actually proves annoying, even to this day, that the show was cancelled. It was cancelled at exactly the wrong time.

However, the show did carry-on but in 61 now out-of-print books. Therefore, this side of the Seventh Doctor is relatively hidden. This is a huge shame. Yes, their canonicity in relation to the television series is open to interpretation but they are that good I urge you to go out and buy them. The Seventh Doctor is, certainly in quantity, the most literary of all the Doctors. However, he is also the most literary in terms of quality. The remit to tell stories which are too broad and too deep for the small screen was a boast that this world of Who would, and did, go places that the television series feared to tread. This was a wise decision because the books could never be a straight replacement for the series so what was the point of trying to replicate the television series?

However, the series did start off relatively simply. In a series of books that, in comparison to the later work of the New Adventures, are ridiculed. Yes, the New Adventures would gain confidence and produce greater work but it is important to remember that if the early stage of these books were not good it would not have took off and therefore they would have failed. The first four books may read like slightly fleshed-out novelisations but they are gripping. The first four books in the series are part of story-arc: Timewyrm.

Genesys, as the name suggests, kick starts the New Adventures and is a very promising start. These books were, of course, meant to be more adult and have greater liberty with swearing, sex and violence. Here, the sex is suggestive, realistically mentioning the exploits of the King and other high-ranking officials in Mesopotamia at 2700 B.C., while having one of the characters a young, naive prostitute who spends half the story topless (since that is the way of her profession). The violence is briefly explicit at times; at least when King Gilgamesh is lopping off opponents' heads with his sword but the whole thing is good start.

Exodus, the second story, is also great. This book is written by Terrance Dicks, a man that has shaped Who to such an extent it can be fair to say that Terrance Dicks is Doctor Who. One of the things it contains is the concept of an aborted regeneration, when a Time Lord lives with massive disfigurement via a halted regeneration.

However, for all the enjoyment of these and the third book, Apocalypse, they are admittedly adolescent. However, when we come to Revelation, it is just that. An eye-opening read that feels like a genuine novel and isn’t trying to be an un-broadcast escapade. It mainly takes place within the Doctor’s subconscious mind, moving the battle against the Timewyrm to a metaphysical level, and featuring some of the most striking and original images in any Doctor Who story. The main being the crucified and gagged fifth Doctor who has been ostracised by the other Doctor’s (mainly the Seventh) for being too pacifist.

While it is possible to overstate Revelation’s innovation—the television series had done surrealism and several episodes had played with the Doctor’s psyche—Paul Cornell, the author, demonstrated that the New Adventures did not have to be structured around the serial format, that they could play with literary styles, that they could be adult through emotional complexity and thematic depth rather than through explicit sex and violence, and that the character of the Seventh Doctor had facets that were only hinted at, if at all, onscreen.

And it would be this depth as seen in Revelation that would be the paving for what was to follow.

Music: If Music Be the Food of Love, Just Bloody Eat It

What life has got to offer is, on the whole, bloody great. Commercially, what life has got to offer, can be hit and miss sometimes. The good thing of wrapping off the plastic wrapping from a new CD can feel bloody great, and if the album happens to be great then that is a double bonus. Whereas that exact item of clothing you would like to own is never bloody available.

However, sometimes there will be something that comes along that answers one of those dreams. Ever since hearing Kate Bush’s song “Eat the Music” I have always wanted to eat some music. Eating sheet music didn’t sound appealing but something has now come along...

Conversation: Something I Overheard

The other day, whilst walking to go somewhere or other I walked past two young adults (people about my age) and overheard just a couple of sentences which I thought I would share with you for two reasons. One, because I think it is rather humours and the second because it shows how people can have an extremely memorable time with one another:

She said: “no, I didn’t sleep with you that night”

He said: “I didn’t think you did”

That is all J

Book: The Meltdown Years, the Unfolding of the Global Economic Crisis

Wolfgang Munchau

2010

The Meltdown Years: the Unfolding of the Global Economic Crisis

London: McGraw Hill Books

On many occassions it usually takes many years to follow a certain historical event before a suitable constructive, objective view or argument over said event can take place. Living in the Global Recession is problematic as no real constructive view is currently taken place. This is mainly because blame is rampant rather than getting to the basis of what really needs to be understood. Secondly because economics tends use a great deal of words or terminology not easily recognised and understood in everyday conversation. Furthermore, any attempts at trying to explain these words or terms, principally via the media (specially the news) always tend to be a complete failure. I demonstrated this two weeks ago whilst discussing this year’s general election when I said:

We can understand the grim massive unemployment figures vomited at us from the television news (hell, even the newspapers) but when the news attempts to explain the mess we are in...Well, take something as Quantitative easing. This is actually something I happen to understand (don’t ask me how) but trying to follow it from the news even I become baffled because rather than getting someone to sit down and explain it they kept on using daft bloody metaphors to describe Quantitatitative Easing. The metaphors on Quantikalifragilisticexpialidocive Easing ranged from it being described as fixing a car (a tool fixing a blockage in an economy that isn’t running properly and it works by creating money from thin air or filling up a petrol tank with imagery petrol) to being a train (the economy being likened to a run-away-train with the government pulling lots of levers behind the scenes trying to slow down the economic crisis and Quantitative easing is a new lever that will hopefully allow us to have a model economy once more). So far, so WTF?

Well, thankfully we now have a book that looks upon the Global Economic Crisis in an objective way and explains these hitherto confusing economic terms. However, instead of me simply reviewing this book and making a complete mess of it I shall leave you with some of the words that open the book that explain it far more effectively than I ever could:

“Meltdown Years” is the story of our Great Crisis. But it is a story of a different kind. We are not obsessing with the trivia of this crisis, how devious mortgage salespeople defrauded an innocent American public, how hedge funds and rating agencies conspired to corrupt the world, or how Alan Greenspan or George W. Bush got it all wrong. Apportioning blame for this crisis may be fun, but it is a dead-end road for anyone who seeks an understanding of what happened. Our crisis is a story of human failure. If you want to believe that this was a case of bad people wrecking an otherwise good system, you should perhaps read another book.

We are also not blaming America or American capitalism. There is no question that the specific problems in the credit markets originated in the United States, but, just like the Great Depression, this is not a story that can be fully or even adequately understood in the context of America alone. Unlike many other books on this subject, “Meltdown Years” takes a global perspective.

...“Meltdown Years” takes the reader on a journey starting in the early 1970’s and ends in 2009, in the hope of presenting a broader picture of our crisis. It is written for people who have a serious interest in the subject, but who are not financial market experts. In that sense, “Meltdown Years” is also a primer that aims to furnish tbe reader with sufficient background knowledge to understand what happened, and to follow the present debate about the economic recovery, how to rescue the banking sector, and what consequences to draw for the future of financial capitalism.

The book is excellent and offers an objective, enthralling and simple understanding read from an award-winning financial journalist.

Doctor Who: #10 The Invasion of Time

I have been a Doctor Who fan for many years now—since 1993 when I was six years old. It all started with watching Planet of the Daleks and the rest is history. Who fans have many quirks. One of which is creating one of the most pompous title’s that we have given ourselves. A Doctor Who fan is officially called a Whovian. Yes, that is right. Not a Whoie or anything likes that but Whovian! Something that sounds like a maker of vacuum cleaners.

Another famous quirk is being obsessed with making lists. Despite being a fan for 17 years I haven’t really made a list of anything Who related. I did make an attempt of making a list of my favourite Doctors’ but it didn’t work out so I just gave up and then there was making a list of my favourite Doctor Who stories: this smacked of too much effort and so this wasn’t even attempted. That is, until now!

Yes, for those Whovians’ out there, or even general viewers who happen to like Doctor Who I will be posting up my top ten Doctor Who stories, of which this is the first post. Some may be obvious others will not, such as this story. I will make it clear that I am a fan of both classic and new Who but my affection tends to lean toward the former and so even though stories such as The Girl in the Fireplace, Human Nature, Blink, Midnight and perhaps a few others are personally deemed bloody great all my top ten stories are from the classic series.

For many Doctor Who fans there seems to be agreement that any story with the word Time in it is somewhat crap which is rather ironic considering the nature of time-travel within the world of Who. My view is that this may be true of Time-Flight but other than that I think this so called rule is nonsense. The Time Warrior is somewhat enjoyable and Timelash is not as bad as some fans may have you believe (despite the famous anagram it makes—Lame Shit in case you were wondering).

1978 (4th February-11th March)

The story opens with the Doctor returning to his home-planet, Gallifrey, after a meeting with a group (i.e. three) aliens. Upon his arrival he immediately claims the Presidency, which is his legal right following the events of The Deadly Assassin (which was broadcast in 1976 and was the last story to be set on Gallifrey, of which this is a sequel of sorts). Leela, meanwhile, tries to work out what has got into him as he is behaving somewhat capriciously. At his Presidential inauguration, the Doctor is crowned with a device, which allows him access to the Matrix, the repository of all Time Lord Knowledge. He then arranges the transduction barriers around Gallifrey to be put out of action by computer dog K-9. When this is done, his alien “friends” materialise within the Panopticon. They are Vardans—telepathic invaders intent on usurping the power of the Time Lords’.

The Doctor links K-9 to the Matrix in order to determine the Vardans’ point of origin. His plan is to place a time loop around their home planet, but he must avoid arousing their suspicion until he is ready—hence his erratic behaviour due to mental stress of blocking his thoughts as Vardans can read minds. He banishes Leela to the wastelands of Gallifrey for fear that she might unintentionally jeopardise his plans. There she meets up with a group of outlaw Time Lords, and together they organise an attack on the Capitol to fight off the Vardans. The Doctor finally springs his trap and the Vardans are banished. However, almost immediately, Gallifrey is invaded by Sontarans, who, unknown to the Doctor, were using the Vardans as a bridgehead to enable them to conquer Gallifrey.

The Doctor and Leela, with the help of the outlaws and some of the Time Lords, lure the Sontarans into the TARDIS, where they can be picked off one by one. Realising the invaders are after the Matrix, the Doctor uses knowledge extracted from it by K-9 to construct a forbidden de-mat gun, activated by the Great Key of Rassilon. He uses this to kill the remaining Sontaran in the TARDIS and then confronts the Sontaran leader, Stor, in the Panopticon. Stor intends to destroy the Time Lords’ with a bomb, but the Doctor activates the gun as the charge detonates. The Doctor survives the release of energy, but his memory of recent events is wiped. He prepares to leave Gallifrey to resume his travels. Leela, however, announces that she wishes to stay behind with Andred, one of the Chancellery guards, with whom she has fallen in love. K-9 decides to remain with her. As the TARDIS dematerialises, the Doctor pulls out a large box marked “K9 MII”.

Now that we have gotten the plot out of the way:

Firstly, the model work on The Invasion of Time is damn right impressive. The opening shot of two space-craft on flight away from us looks damn right remarkable. The model effects on Who, despite belief to the contrary, were usually of a high standard but sometimes some stand out and stand up more than others. This is certainly one of them. The designer was Richard Conway and it was constructed by Bill Pearson: I do hope they were proud. They have every right to be.

The plot of this story is good and gripping from the off. The mystery surrounding the Doctor, what is he prepared for, why is he being rude, why is he apparently under strain, why does he not trust Leela, why does he wish to have complete control over the Time Lords, and why is he pursing his legal right to become Lord President? Most of these questions are put to us within the first ten minutes of episode one. The portrayal of Tom Baker’s Doctor, as Terrance Dicks has pointed out, is one in which he could easily tip-over into being somewhat dark and bordering on evil and these questions, despite taking us by surprise as it contradicts everything we think we can expect from our hero, are also ones that are plausible, proving that the script of The Time Warrior from this area alone is a strong one and Tom Baker’s acting skills are also among his strongest within this story. The Doctor’s mind is evidently all over the place and confused and his abrupt attitude toward Borusa is somewhat startling and the performance by Tom Baker pulls off these strong emotions beautifully. Especially at the climax of the second episode in which we truly believe the Doctor has betrayed everyone.

Borusa is a former teacher of the Doctor, and what we see in The Deadly Assassin, a much respected one and so the Doctor’s maligning attitude toward Borusa in this tale does come as a surprise but is pulled off brilliantly by Tom Baker and the verbal sparring between him and Borusa is a delight to watch which brings me to the performance of John Arnatt. His performance is a brilliant one, so calm and still and everything is contained to such a perfect balance. His portrayal of Borusa is of a man of great intelligence and a calm man who keeps his thoughts to himself, and yet, we, the audience, can tell everything he is thinking. It is a truly suburb and a memorable performance.

Of course, despite Borusa being a part of the Doctor’s past, and one he evidently remembers fondly, Borusa is still very much a Time Lord that is part of the system the Doctor cannot stand. Borusa is very much part of the stuffy and exceedingly bureaucratic state of Gallifrey. In episode three, for example, the Doctor and Borusa have a conversation which is friendly but the Doctor gives a clear indication on what he thinks of the Time Lords “...short on humour and imagination.”

Gallifrey is laden with bureaucratic nonsense to the point where everything centres on it and is a function for and a function of bureaucracy. For anyone who has read Mervyn Peake’s novels Gormenghast Trilogy may understand what I am striving at. These novels deal with the nightmare scenario of being enveloped by an unthinking and unfeeling bureaucratic power. It is a once great society that rots from within, beset by bureaucracy and senseless ceremony and that is what we have here with Gallifrey. We learn that the simple inauguration of a President takes years to ensemble.

Interestingly, at the very least, Borusa is a Cardinal and this is a term found within Catholicism. A Cardinal is, at its simplest, a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available individually or collectively to the pope if he requests their counsel.

Now, Gallifrey doesn’t show any evidence of being Catholic so this is all about creating imagery of some sort. Gallifrey’s political structure is heavily based on Renaissance Italy but from the political machinations perspective and the likes of Machiavelli. “One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves” I think is an apt description when it comes to the politics of Gallifrey.

Furthermore, The Invasion of Time is sadly the last time we the Panoptican. In terms of real history, panoptican was a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design was to allow an observer to observe prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched:

"Morals reformed—health preserved—industry invigorated—instruction diffused—public burthens lightened—economy seated, as it were, upon a rock—the gordian knot of the poor-law not cut, but untied—all by a simple idea in Architecture”

Rassilon is of course mentioned on several occasions. He played a large role within the history of Gallifrey. It is known that he developed the technology for time travel that made his people lords of time in the distant past together with his colleague Omega. Omega, a solar engineer, was presumed killed by the supernova that created the black hole later known as the Eye of Harmony, and Rassilon harnessed the nucleus of the black hole to provide the energy that powers time travel. Rassilon then took control of Gallifrey and became the first Lord President. The official history is that he was a benevolent ruler who ruled his people wisely. However, there are other accounts which paint Rassilon as an opportunistic, ambitious and cruel dictator who seized power in the wake of his friend's death (for which some suggest he may have been deliberately responsible).

Rassilon's contributions to Time Lord Culture and society were immense, and his name both reverberates and is honoured throughout Time Lord History. In this story we come across the major name branding that is Rassilon. We have Nike and Coca-Cola, Gallifrey has Rassilon:

1. The Sash of Rassilon allows the wearer to control the Eye of Harmony, protecting them from the Eye's gravitational and energy forces

2. Rod of Rassilon allows the user to control and drain power from the Eye of Harmony.

3. The Key of Rassilon also allows access to the Matrix

4. The Crown of Rassilon gives full access to the Matrix

Which leads us to the Matrix which is part of the Amplified Panatropic Computer Network, or APC Net, which contains the biological imprints (or bio-data extracts) of all Time Lords as well as the memories of dead Time Lords, storing them in an extra-dimensional framework of trillions of electrochemical cells. It also receives input from sensors contained in the TARDIS piloted by Time Lords. As a result, the Matrix is not only a record of the past but can actually predict the future as well. The amount of knowledge in the Matrix, though vast, is not complete, and can be tampered with if given the right amount of access.

We also have a mention of Gallifrey’s law of not interfering but strictly to observe. The following is excerpt from a blog (http://thewastebasket.blogspot.com/2004/12/brief-history-of-gallifrey.html#AF17) I come across and the writer has made a damn good attempt at creating a history of Gallifrey provided purely on the television series (i.e. Doctor Who novels, etc. are not included). The following facts are from Doctor Who stories prior to The Invasion of Time and the reference made to the Transduction Barriers is actually from this story:

Under Rassilon’s guidance, the Time Lords began their explorations, and early on they encountered a planet called Minyos. The Time Lords decided to use their advanced technology to help the people of Minyos, who regarded them as gods. They provided them with medical and scientific aid, better communications and weapons, but the Minyons were not ready for such advancements and a terrible war broke out that destroyed the entire planet. Realizing their mistake, the Time Lords adopted a strict policy of non-interference, pledging to do no more than observe and gather knowledge (Underworld). This was a very controversial decision, however, and it was debated and argued for a long time. Rassilon conceded that those opposed to the policy had a good point, that the Time Lords had a moral duty to protect less advanced civilizations. He also felt it was important to monitor other cultures that might themselves develop time travel technology. Therefore, he created a covert operations bureau under control of the Tribunal called the Celestial Intervention Agency (The Deadly Assassin). The C.I.A. even came eventually to operate without time capsules, using instead Time Rings to move single individuals around the cosmos (Genesis of the Daleks) Rassilon also realized that, as word of the Time Lords spread throughout the universe, Gallifrey might be vulnerable to alien attack. Therefore he created a quantum force field called the Transduction Barrier (The Invasion of Time) to surround and protect the entire planet, making the night sky a burnt orange from that time onward (The Sensorites). Even their own time capsules could not come and go while the Transduction Barrier was raised, which also made the unauthorized use of a time capsule nearly impossible.

Within most of the story Leela is separated from the Doctor and she has a good foil to play against in the character of Rodan, a female Time Lord (maybe simply Time Lady) whose work involves maintaining the protective transduction barrier and monitoring threats to Gallifrey and reporting on it to her superiors. She is a cold character but one that displays warmth to Leela as someone who she sees as a friend. Rodan, when we first meet her, makes a comment about how there is a barrier between her and everybody. There is an interesting glimpse in this of a deeper personality and much welcomed. It would later transpire that Rodan would be a blueprint of the next series companion, Romana.

I simply love this story for all the elements it contains, the main point being the portrayal of Gallifrey. It also contains some lovely scenes and slices of dialogue which my favourites are:

“Even the sonic-screwdriver won’t get me out of this one”—this may irate fellow long-standing fans of Doctor Who but I strongly feel that this story needed the occasional surprises and off-beat touches, and they are thankfully plentiful. The tone of the story, the weight it brings gels well with the off-beat humour.

“You are the most insufferably arrogant, overbearing, patronising, bean tin”. It is a lovely scene between the Doctor and K-9.

“One grows tired of Kelly Babies” had me laughing out loud.

“Loyal to the Old Ways” “What other ways are there?” is a good slice of dialogue displaying, yet again, the stuffy ways of Gallifrey.

However, despite me liking the story a great deal, to the extent it is my 10^th favourite Doctor Who story I am more than aware that the story is not perfect. The reason for this is in episodes 5 and 6. The Invasion of Time would have made a great four episode story, mainly for the points made earlier and yet the last two episodes just feel like endless padding, with one good scene with further padding of people running up and down for minutes on end, the inside of the TARDIS looking awful as it was filmed in a disused Mental Hospital and just stands out in a bad way. Episode 5 contains the good scene between the Doctor and Borusa in which the Doctor is seeking the great key of Rassilon. Fans of Who deride Attack of the Cybermen for many reasons one of those is that the Doctor threatens to shoot a Policeman despite the fact he is clearly bluffing fans attack this (which I think is silly) and yet in The Invasion of Time the Doctor threatens to kill Borusa and he means it. And no one complains. No bluffing, he will do it! And he does this so he can protect the whole of time against the Sontarans. It is tense and it also further demonstrates the difference between the Doctor and his fellow Time Lords in that the Doctor is compassionate, Borusa is not. A possible hint of why the Doctor left Gallifrey in the first place.

That is a great scene and yet the only one in episode 5 and episode 6 is just plain crap. However, despite the mishaps of the last two episodes the rest of the story is simply great and extremely enjoyable and for that reason it is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories.