Who Back When - A Podcast you need to check out...

https://whobackwhen.com/

A decent Doctor Who podcast is hard to come by. For me I have difficulties in liking the presenters or the format or simply how dismissive they can be at times. I have found two or three that I love (I'd like to put a shout out for Verity! and Lazy Doctor Who as well) but my absolute favourite in terms of content and amiability is Who Back When, which has an impressive back catalogue of content and I have yet to walk away from one episode feeling shortchanged. The guys and girls who contribute are very excited about what they talk about, and that is infectious and for the most part they come to the stories that they discuss with no previous knowledge or fan wisdom, which is just about the smartest thing they could have done. It means that the opinions are fresh and untainted, and often not at all what you might think. They will write up Inferno as above average but The Mutants as excellent.

The contributors are Leon, Drew, Marie, Jim, Nik, Rory, Jack and JD and the mix of contributors gets shaken up to keep things interesting. The one thing they all have in common is that they all love talking about Doctor Who and that love of critical appraisal comes over in spades. They might laugh at the gaudy fashions of the 1970s one minute whilst admiring the work that has gone into the dinosaur miniatures the next. I find the episodes are never entirely predictable but intelligent discussion resounds, and there are often laughs to be had as they poke their way around all corners of the Whoniverse.

The team have covered the classic series up to Underworld, the New Series up to Capaldi and many Big Finish efforts too. They have additional content, videos and a rating system that shows what they thought of each story at a glance. It is a hugely comprehensive website that has clearly been put together with a lot of love. One of my favourite elements is the Vindex - which pictorially links characters, companions, monsters and so on.

A quick word for Leon, who is clearly the mastermind behind this operation. Rarely will you hear a man who has such love for what he is doing and be so effortless in letting him drag you along in his wake. He's on every episode I have listened to and his masterful discussion of the stories he watches is impressive. The conversations rarely stray off topic (and if they do, it is discuss something even more interesting) and he has a great rapport with each other contributors. He goes by Ponken, which isn't confusing at all.

Who Back When had me at their ridiculously catchy ditty at the beginning of the episode. It is the perfect illustration that they don't take themselves too seriously, but that there is smart work happening here. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

https://whobackwhen.com/

Purgatory 12 written by Marc Platt and directed by Nicholas Briggs

What’s it about: Still searching for a way out of E-Space, the TARDIS crew land on an isolated space rock... and immediately find it drawn towards a nearby asteroid. The asteroid has air and gravity unequal to its size and is strewn with the wrecks of spaceships. Veins and pools of rust are everywhere. Stuck on the asteroid away from his friends, Adric discovers that it’s a penal colony housing a gang of alien convicts - but resources are low, and they’re starting to starve.
 But escaping the prisoners is only the first part of the traveller’s troubles. Because there’s a sinister presence at the heart of the asteroid... and it won’t release them quite as easily.

Teeth and Curls: Hilariously when Adric makes a big show of leaving them, the Doctor tips his hat and says ‘bye bye and good luck’ and materialises as soon as he steps off the ship. He’s trying to make him learn that he belongs and not to be so rash. He’s been a determined youth too and but now he is more seasoned and mature. Sometimes the Doctor means the precise opposite of what he says. When it starts to rain he complains that he left his umbrella on the planet Karn. He speaks with hope about E-Space being a young universe and suggests that N-Space rings with the opinions of the ill-informed. The Doctor tries to apologise for leaving Adric the way he did but winds up rejecting him again, calling him little more than an uninvited stowaway. He really has to work on his interpersonal efforts. He’s out of jelly babies at the moment but greedily brandishes a bag of Bombay mix. It’s stated that the Doctor is a fan of practically every kind of music. There’s a moment when the Doctor spits a threat at Darklish – I really wouldn’t want to be on the sharp edge of his tongue. In a truly breathtaking moment, the Doctor reveals to Adric the sadness of growing old and everything it means.

Aristocratic Adventurer: Still grumpy sounding, still behaving as though she doesn’t want to be in the TARDIS. The biggest note that could be given to Lalla Ward is to ask her to slap a smile on her face. Now Ward is back acting alongside her ex-husband and an actor who she has had nothing nice to say about for the past 30 odd years. Romana says she likes Adric in a way that suggests otherwise. Romana is still on the run from the Time Lords and thinks her time is running out. The summons was a bit of a shock. They never talked to Adric about Varsh’s death but then alien psychology was never on her curriculum – it was too diverse. There’s a wonderful moment when Romana drops the attitude and marvels in the variety of life forms in E-Space. Everything is so alive and newly fledged. Romana and the Doctor have exactly the same reaction to ‘the gullet’ (‘that’s not ominous at all!’). She fights to protect her thoughts and fears as her own. By the end of the story, Romana and Adric are whispering to each other and working together very effectively. Somewhere in the second episode, Lalla Ward remembers how to play the character without the huge chip on her shoulder and is much more enjoyment for it.

Boy Genius: Bringing Adric in to join the Doctor, Romana and K.9 was a smart idea on the part of John Nathan-Turner in the way that crystallises them as a family (of sorts) rather than a pair of autocratic smart asses travelling the universe having a giggle. It’s hampered by two things; Matthew Waterhouse was hardly the best choice of actor at the time to play the role and the result is a very awkward character that at times looks uncomfortable on screen and the trio only lasted two stories before Roman chose to leave and join the Tharil cause. Step in Big Finish, pluggers of all continuity gaps and the company that will look across the broad spectrum of Doctor Who and see any untapped potential and breathe some life into it (or explain why that line of enquiry was never pursued). Waterhouse is far more assured these days (although he still continues to do that lilting voice that is his attempt to pretend that he is still 18) and with writers like Marc Platt and Jonny Morris on board it is a chance to truly see how this set of regulars could have flourished. Adric thinks he is disruptive to the Doctor and Romana’s life and wants to leave wherever they have landed. Romana suggests that they can find somewhere for him to go. There’s a very sweet moment when Adric laments the loss of his brother and asks why it had to be him to go and why he couldn’t keep him alive. It’s the sort of emotional material that was denied the series in 1980 but is all the rage in 2020. It’s very quickly obvious that Adric is not suited to surviving on his own. He needs the Doctor and Romana to protect him from himself. He wants somewhere to call home and I doubt Purgatory 12 is the ideal environment for him. Like State of Decay, he soon finds a place for himself amongst the natives simply by being a little helpless. Adric can empathise with Darklish because they are both alone in the universe. He left Alzarius because he had nothing to stay for after his brother left. He misses his brother so much. He always had a plan and he can’t understand why he couldn’t hold onto his hand when the Marshmen attacked. He realises that he has the ability to make a copy of Varsh and have his brother in his life again. It's suspenseful because we have already been privvy to how much he misses his brother and know he has the technical ability to do so. Astonishingly the characterisation of Adric is the best thing about this story and it is extremely effective.

K.9: Override one is that nobody knows better than the Doctor, or at least that is how the Doctor has programmed him. Listen to the noise K.9 makes when he is denied anymore dog biscuits. Bless him. Fibbing, lying and deception are not in his programming. Platt and Morris are the two writers that love giving John Lesson charming moments of character, despite the fact that he is playing a robot. You’d think that would be a thankless task but Leeson has such an attractive way with his dialogue that he imbues the little tin dog with as much character as everybody else involved in this story. He has self-awareness and worries that he might be sent away like Adric. When he admits he has never had a friend, my heart went out to him. He would do anything for a biscuit. He wasn’t perfect; he could be obstinate, pedantic, irritating and impossible according to the Doctor in his eulogy. He had such a sense of wonder and a sense of analytical joy. No wonder could outsmart K.9 at chess…he even beat the Doctor (from time to time).

Standout Performance: Why is Tom Baker always so charming when he is paired up with robots and aliens? It tends to bring out the child in him. Lalla Ward plays a fantastic nasty. Her evil laughter really chilled me. There’s a moment when it seems that K.9 has perished and thanks to all the performances it is simply the most moving moment I have heard on audio in some time.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘We are unforgiven’ ‘Do forgive me.’
‘We could while away the hours looking at my collection of wanted posters. They do say I’m irredeemable but here I am, full of remorse and turning myself in!’
‘You’re not turning my TARDIS into a soup kitchen…the hens have already had my Bombay mix!’
‘Even in a herd we are all of us alone.’
'Adric, there's a point in veryone's life, a tipping point, where we start losing more than we gain. Memories, people, loves. They all fall away and it gets worse the older you get. And by the time you're my age you can cling onto the things you love but it starts to get awfully cluttered and sometimes you just have to let go.'

Great Ideas: The issue that the previous attempts at season 18 from Big Finish was that the stories felt utterly inauthentic and far more like the knockabout run-arounds of season 17 with the 18-title music plastered on at the beginning. I think it is best to consider that run of stories (only feature the fourth Doctor and Romana) as the interim between the two seasons and this as being the first fully authentic adventure to take place in the Christopher H. Bidmead era of Doctor Who. The humour is stripped back, Adric is on board and scientific fantasy is very much the order of the day. Domestic TARDIS scenes kick off the story, which automatically feels far more like 18 than 17. People suggest that Eric Saward brought that element of conversations in bedrooms to the series but Bidmead’s season kicked all that off. Having stories set entirely on alien worlds in E-Space is a huge step in the right direction because this season was bookended by sequences set on Earth but otherwise was far more content to explore exotic alien worlds. Purgatory 12 is a penal colony and adrift, stolen by the darkness that lives at its heart. The TARDIS is described as a ‘large, shabby container.’ Fancy being inside a creature that is digesting you alive and you have to try and figure out what kind of creature it is. Romana describes the creature as a thoroughly spoilt child with no manners (but then she has just been swallowed). A whole army built out of rust to protect its children. After a few episodes on non-incident the last episode pulls this story together with some pleasing action.

Isn’t it Odd: At some point in the third episode you realise that Platt is having a lot of difficulty padding out the plot because we listen to Adric playing a game of chess for several minutes to win Romana back. That’s hardly thrill a minute. Weirdly enough this scene ends on one of the best moments in the story; where Romana realises they are in a mausoleum surrounded by bodies.

Standout Scene: At the climax the Doctor gets to conjur up an entire army out of rust to tackle Darklish’s forces and play a game of chess write large. It’s a brilliant sequence that sees Tom Baker at the height of his powers. Varsh banging on the door, back to haunt Adric.

Result: There’s an argument to be made in Purgatory 12 that the fourth Doctor adventures should have always have been four parts long because they give much more time to let the characters breathe, to explore the setting and to build up an atmosphere. The first episode is given over almost entirely to character development that could (and should) have been dealt with in season 18 and the build up of mystery surrounding Purgatory 12 is very nicely done. In your average two-part 4DA this episode would be half of the story and have to get to the point far more quickly. On the other hand, there is also an argument for the two-episode format because the information is eked out over the four episodes at a very relaxed rate, and there isn’t enough incident to join those moments of revelation. There are huge stretches of all talk and no action. A penal colony on an asteroid with living rust that can manifest itself into people and a mouth at its heart that consumes is precisely the sort of potent imagery that you look to a Marc Platt script for. The extra time allows Platt to spend some time considering Adric’s place in the universe, the loss of his brother and how he fits in to the Doctor and Romana’s life. It’s the sort of character development that the series turned away from at the time (there are several moments in the eighties when the series was ripe for terrific character work – the death of Nyssa’s father, Adric’s death, Turlough’s redemption, Peri’s death – that were just skipped over) that has fuelled Big Finish adventures for the past 15 years. Tom Baker is better than he has ever been; aggressively disappointed with Adric, enjoying his exploration of N-Space and using humour to worm his way into the trust of the inmates to try and figure out what is going on. Purgatory 12 isn’t the most accomplished story Big Finish has ever put out but it has some enjoyable elements and with Platt at the typewriter it means there is plenty of memorable dialogue and imagery to see you through. The characterisation of Adric and K.9 is especially good, two characters that usually get the short shrift: 7/10

Can You Hear Me? Written by Charlene James & Chris Chibnall and directed by Emma Sullivan

Oh Brilliant: I’ve heard some grumblings online about how the final scene between Graham and the Doctor is played and I think there is something far more profound going on than an amusing (or insulting) scene between the Doctor and one of his companions. This isn’t the Doctor refusing to comfort somebody who is opening up to her. Because that would be a pretty awful thing to do. This is somebody who doesn’t know how to react to the horrible, personal truth that is being spelled out to her. Trust me, as somebody who has battled with mental health problems and somebody who has worked in mental health, I have both been the Doctor in this scene and experienced her awkward silence. That’s the point of the episode, I think. Can you hear me? Do you want me to say it again? Someone is trying to explain their fears and anxieties…and sometimes you just don’t know what to say, or you’re not equipped to give an appropriate answer and so just make some awkward excuse to extradite yourself from the situation. It’s worth remembering that the Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey and not a social worker from Barnsley. Yes, she makes big grandstanding speeches about humanity because it is easy to step in a make sweeping generalisations about things but when one person is looking you square in the eye and opening up about their doubts, in a beautifully flawed way she simply doesn’t have the answers. That feels very real to me because I’ve seen it.

The Doctor is rubbish without her companions, she simply doesn’t know what to do. The TARDIS letting her know about an emergency on the other side of the Earth distracts her so she doesn’t realise what her biggest fear is. Being alone. If leaping from the TARDIS and talking to himself is good enough for Tom Baker in The Face of Evil, it’s good enough for Jodie Whittaker in Can You Hear Me?. The Doctor talks to the TARDIS in this episode and she is answering. Described as the living definition of impossible. The Doctor is bound to think that somebody locked away is a victim (she’s been in that position more times than she would care to remember) and doesn’t stop to think that there might be a very good reason for why Rakaya is being held. Blundering is at the top of her CV, along with plays well with others and excellent tap dancer in a crisis. Zellin brilliantly uses the Doctor’s friends against her. He targets them specifically to get the Doctor involved, the only person that could free Rakaya from her prison. He put the images in their mind precisely to get her here and now and to think that she was a prisoner of his making. It says something that she is the only person smart enough to release her, and empathetic enough to do it willingly. The Doctor magically summoning the sonic screwdriver irks but I was immediately distracted by the finger she winds up walking away with.

Yaz: The one episode where nobody can say that Yaz is underserved! At first, I thought that it felt like this was retrospectively inserting development into Yaz by heading back into her past and adding dark details that have never been hinted at before. Then I thought about if somebody met me fresh for the first time today and if they would be able to figure out if I have had mental health issues in the past. I’m a pretty jolly and confident sort of chap so I very much doubt it. Suddenly a lot of information about Yaz does make sense when you watch Can You Hear Me? Her willingness to jump on board the TARDIS this quickly, her desire to be a policewoman, her need to prove herself to the Doctor…all makes sense when you find out that at one point, three years ago, Yaz was going to commit suicide because life piled on top of her in so many ways and she could not see a way forward. She’s such a happy go lucky companion so to learn that there is an underlying sadness and revelation underneath all those smiles deepens her considerably. How this episode reveals her worst day is done with great delicacy and the dialogue manages to hit hard without being exploitative or disrespectful. It’s very sweet that Sonya chooses to mark the day that Yaz nearly took her life by being with her sister and celebrating the fact that she is still alive. When you reach that point and you manage to claw yourself back, it is worth marking that day each year. It’s a huge achievement. The sequence where Yaz is haunted by her suicide attempt is powerfully realised; her sister taunts her by telling her she should ‘do it right this time.’ ‘Nobody is coming this time, you’re alone in the dark.’ That’s some of the most frightening dialogue in all of Doctor Who. That smile that Yaz gives the police officer who saved her life is one of the most heart-tugging moments in NuWho. There are incredible people out there who make a difference and the 50p is a little reward for all the hard work they do. They deserve to see the fruits of their kindness. I’ve been the person who needed help and the person giving help. And both are challenging. I’ve never felt more connected to Yaz. What a triumph this episode is for her character.

Graham: It’s like somebody has looked at the three companions and decided to throw up two years’ worth of development in one episode. This is the sort of material we have been crying out for for these three all season. It’s very well done, as well. Very personal and frightening, and very human. Last year I felt all three companions were very human to the detriment of them enjoying their adventures. It felt like three soap opera characters had dropped into Doctor Who for a year. This year we have seen the three of them having a lot of fun and engaging far more with the Doctor’s lifestyle, and so development like this feels more like a reward. I lost my mum to cancer and know what a horrifying thing that is to go through for a person and so Graham’s fear that his condition might return feels very real to me. It’s something that a lot of people are terrified of, whether they have previously been diagnosed or not. For Grace to be the one who taunts him with a relapse in his nightmare, and to accuse him of not saving her is very cruel.

Ryan: He gets a massive wake up call in this episode, and realises that whilst he is off gallivanting the universe, his friends are back home moving on without him. Or in the case of Tibo, stuck in a rut without him. His friend needed his help because he is finding life a struggle and Ryan has not been there to see his life falling apart.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘I’m that little bit smarter than you thought I was’ sums up the Doctor perfectly.

The Good: Another female director, more astonishingly atmospheric work being done. Just take a look at the opening few scenes to see how much effort is being put into making the show look as stylish as possible. The recreation of Appello (complete with a realistic CGI shot of the entire city), terrific lighting, convincing sets, a seriously creepy monster (with enormous fingers that wrap around your face) and well-cast parts. What I love is how this is just a side issue, it’s not even where the meat of the episode takes place and this much effort is put into making it as convincing as possible. It’s nice to see a pre-credit too. I guess the show only does that when it feels the need to now. With his creepy score, detachable fingers, and Ian Gelder’s sinister presence, Zellin is the most effective bad guy that Whittaker’s Doctor has stumbled across. The way he can whisk into a room and stir up your nightmares so insidiously is really quite a scare for children. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing him standing there, smiling, and sending his icky fingers at you to bring your phobias to life? Brr. It’s really chillingly done. The musical sting and screeching violins help sell the horror of the home invasion. Some fun in having everybody call the Doctor at once and having her merge the call. It’s a nice way of pulling all the threads together in one bunch to propel the story forwards. I adore the set for the Control Hub with its Top of the Pops style scaffolding, creepy lighting and harpsichord scanner functions. It’s a designer putting that little bit of extra effort into what could have been a very functional bit of set dressing. Instead its visually very imaginative. Two planets colliding in an extinction event holding a destructive God in a stellar prison being fed nightmares. That’s the sort of premise that would give Douglas Adams a hard on. It’s not often that the Doctor meets the elementals that can play about with the fabric of the universe and it always forces her to up her game when she does. It’s nice to make the villain of the piece so epic because until now (the Master aside) it has been second rate bad guys like Krasko and Tim Shaw. The animation impressed me because it was a creative way to spell out exposition whilst making you go wow. Two Gods walking down a misty street at night sucking in people’s nightmares and feasting. This is Moffat style nightmare fuel.

The Bad: Dash, dash, dash. Series 11 was practically standing still. Series 12 hasn’t stopped running. Not for one single episode. It’s always running from one scene to the next. I like a fast pace and momentum but it would be nice to put the breaks on for a little bit and take a look around. Even in an episode as introspective as this there is a sense of urgency and movement throughout. They are built up as an epic Big Bad but the Elementals are brought down rather quickly and easily by the Doctor pulling the threads of the narrative (the prison, the monster, the fingers) around them. It’s clever but feels like a humiliatingly brief defeat for two villains that have been so well built up.

Result: Dark, schizoid, imaginative and brave, Can You Hear Me? marks a turning point for Yaz, Graham and Ryan in a huge way. How this episode fools you into thinking it is going to be all about people’s phobias and then winds up saying something profound about mental health in general, and how we need to talk is hugely impressive for a family show. With racism, environmentalism and now mental health under his belt, Chibnall isn’t afraid to have a point whilst it is entertaining you and I will keep saying this until I am blue in the face but these things are real, they’re out there and they are worth discussing as families. I’m going to say that that is the most vital and individual proponent of Chibnall’s vision of Doctor Who. It has a point. I have seen loads of fans opening up about their own mental health issues, sharing stories, supporting one another and healing some of the hurt in the day since this episode aired. That a piece of entertainment and a community that enjoys it can take that away is incredible, especially when fandom of television shows in general is getting pretty toxic. Can You Hear Me? has a real punch to it because of its character work. It’s the most accomplished character piece in years, especially when it comes to the regulars. The plot works extremely well to a point, but ultimately that is wrapped up with little ceremony (and to its detriment) to allow for the ten-minute coda, which is where all the striking material is. Last week it wasn’t the monsters that affected me, it was what I learnt about our reliance on plastic and what it is doing to the planet. This week it isn’t Ian Gelder and Clare Hope-Ashitey that scared me (as fantastic as they are), it is the idea that people are struggling invisibly around me and I might realise too late to help them. Mandip Gill is astonishingly good in her first real showcase but the rest of the regulars are only a heartbeat behind her. The Doctor is still a weird, quirky, awkward alien having adventures and trying to keep herself together in the knowledge that her planet has gone up in flames. But her companions are real people; struggling, asking questions about their existence and coming to terms with the demons of their past. They feel so much more real to me now as a result of this episode. Stunningly realised and acted, watch this more than once, it benefits several viewings. I make no apology for loving an episode that spreads a message that I have banging on about for years. If you’re struggling, talk: 9/10

TOS – For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

Plot – A huge bio dome spaceship that is dressed up as an asteroid. Say what you will about the third season of TOS, it wasn’t afraid to flaunt some pretty big ideas. To have been travelling for so long that your people have forgotten you are on a spaceship and believe it is a world, is another powerful concept. The mystery derives from why the people on this spaceship are forbidden to discover that this isn’t a world but a means of travel.

You see Kirk is smart enough to completely dismiss the Prime Directive if he thinks that the alternative is the annihilation of a species. Picard would probably opt for the latter and Janeway would mull it over for ages. Sisko would probably kill them himself. Ultimately, he decides in a critical moment to explain the situation but he tries to make it as gentle a transition as possible.

Character – How galling it must be for Dr McCoy to have to report to Kirk that the only person to fail the medical examinations…is himself. And that he only has a year left to live. It’s an unusual dilemma for a character to find themselves in on Star Trek where medicine has reached a stage when most terminal illnesses have been cured (or certainly they are never mentioned). The way the episode immediately deals with the news might not be dramatically satisfying (Kirk informs Starfleet medical and requests a replacement CMO) but it does make a lot of good sense. Given he only has a year to live, it seems very reasonable that McCoy would want to get on with his work rather than surrender to his illness.

There’s a very funny moment when McCoy admits that it shows great taste for Natira to be more interested than him than Kirk or Spock, where Kirk finds that highly questionable. There are plenty of Trek episodes where characters make what seem to be hasty decisions to stay with people they have just fallen in love with (Dax in Meridian is a particularly unconvincing example) but McCoy’s decision to remain here with a beautiful woman makes perfect sense when you factor in the knowledge that he only has a year to live. If somebody was offering the chance of love and a community and a religion when you have so little time I can see why somebody, even McCoy, would embrace those comforts. Had this society been presented as a warmer, more welcoming one and the romance angle been more overtly sexual and less cod-romance I really could have bought into McCoy’s desire to stay.

We know that McCoy isn’t really going to stay on this suicide planet but the script spends some considerable time convincing us that it will, and the other regular characters as well and you can feel the bond between them when they think they are going to have to say goodbye.

Production – Fortunately they can use the usual stock planet’s surface set for the asteroid since for some reason it is posing as one.

Bask in the enjoyment of the doors opening on the surface and men dressed in brightly coloured ponchos attack Kirk, Spock and McCoy. This might be one of those occasions where you would wish you had beamed down a ton of redshirts to avoid the embarrassment of first contact.

Best moment – I really like how they have a profound effect on the people that are living here. No longer will they be heading towards their destruction and they understand the true nature of their ‘world’ now. Kirk, Spock and McCoy have had a real impact on their society in (hopefully) a positive way. I wish they had let McCoy’s illness linger for a few more episodes because it would have been interesting to have seen that played out long term and to see him coming to terms with the implications. However, another good reason for going to this asteroid is the fact that they can sew up this blind alley medical dilemma in the same episode. It’s quite a neat package, even if it is ignoring the dramatic possibilities.

Worst moment – If it hadn’t been a sentient computer behind this whole thing I would have been truly surprised but instead (and no matter how well staged it is – with Kirk and Spock doing a particularly tricky Crystal Maze task) when Spock leapt through the wall to discover a bank of flashing lights I crumpled in my seat. This is TOS, what else would it be?

I wish they hadn’t done that – What a shame that an episode that flaunts such intelligent ideas should indulge in the usual TOS romance nonsense. Especially when McCoy and Yolanda have zero chemistry and the scenes are padded out with very cod starry-eyed dialogue. ‘Until I saw you there was nothing in my heart to sustain my life…now it sings!’

A reason to watch this episode again – A pleasing sense of ambition pervades this episode, with some excellent high concept ideas and a chance for the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy to have an adventure in an unusual location. What lets it down is the soppy and limp romance angle and how it refuses to scratch beneath the surface of the powerful philosophies in play. For the third season of TOS this is a middling affair, but with just enough intrigue to get a passing grade. If nothing else it does try to open your mind to some strong SF notions and Star Trek should always be commended for doing that.

*** out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode:

ENT – Observer Effect

Plot – The most fun aspect of this bodysnatching episode is how the aliens aren’t evil, just spectators and how they manage to shift from body to body effortlessly and without the hosts knowing they have been taken over. It means from scene to scene we are watching different pairs of actors playing the aliens, which keeps things lively.

The conclusion the episode seems to draw is that the crew on Enterprise is more surprising and spontaneous than any of the other species the Observers have watched over 800 years. It’s waving a flag for this bunch, saying they have survived this long out in space because they are very good at what they do. Humans are stubborn and intuitive and intelligent. It’s a very optimistic outlook.

Character – Hooray for some character development for Ensign Hoshi, who we have to literally trap in a confined space in order to get some backstory out of her. The story of how she was kicked out of the Academy for running an illegal poker game offers some promise that there is more to her than meets the eye. Perhaps it should be revealed that she was doing the same thing on Enterprise all along, running a secret gambling ring, a slicing a profit right off the top. Trip thinks she’s a genius, how she can take a snippet of a language and adopt it to communicate. I really liked the observation that maths is just another language that she can crack and that when pushed she can override safety protocols.

Archer, with tears in his eyes, visiting Trip to let him know that as of yet they haven’t managed to find a cure. Scott Bakula plays the scene as though he is convinced that his friend is going to die, despite what he is saying. It’s surprisingly affecting for what isn’t said. ‘Right now Enterprise needs a Doctor more than it needs a Captain’ says Archer selflessly. They really started getting his character right in the final season, didn’t they? Archer trusts T’Pol to such an extent that he will hand Command to her without a second thought and he insists that she keeps hold of the Ship and doesn’t let any red tape bound Admiral take it away from her. It’s a surprisingly affecting scene where the camera lingers just long enough on Jolene Blalock to be affecting.

Performance – Dominic Keating plays the Observer with the same unbearable smugness that he does Reed, and yet somehow it is even more intensified.

Production – Alien beings at loose covertly on a Starship is just about the hokiest Trek stand in I can imagine and yet Mike Vejar directs this piece as though it has never been done before. Since this is a bottle show he gets the chance to explore the standing sets in quite a refreshing way, the camera swopping through the corridors and taking long, luxurious looks around decontamination, Phlox’s lab and the Bridge.

Best moment – The aliens choose to reside in the body of Mayweather. A decision that I am very grateful for since I haven’t seen him do anything particularly useful or memorable until this point. Okay, this may not be insight into the guy himself but at least it utilises Anthony Montgomery and at this stage I will take anything I can get. He plays the Observer with a zeal to learn about humanity, with a glint in his eye that is quite infectious. I’m starting to wonder that Montgomery has a fair amount to offer as an actor as long the writers give him something to do.

This is Enterprise directly having an impact on TOS, somewhere that the fourth season dared to venture quite a few times. I don’t pretend to know much about the Organians, just that this encounter with Archer means a shift in how they think about interfering with other species that would come in handy for Kirk in the future. Archer’s desire for the Organians to experience compassion as a way of understanding them more fully is not only a development of a TOS created race but a reasonable conclusion the episode as a whole. It ticks both boxes nicely.

Worst moment – ‘Someone always dies’ says one of the aliens at every available opportunity to try and ramp up the tension. ‘Someone always lies’ could be the tagline for the episode.

I wish they hadn’t done that – This is Star Trek after all. If one of your shipmates turns up and starts asking unusual questions then report him immediately to your commanding officer. There’s a good chance there is a non-corporeal lifeform in there rather than the fact that they might just be out of character.

A reason to watch this episode again – More interesting than it has any right to be given it is a bottle show featuring non-corporeal beings observing the Enterprise crew, Observer Effect shows how the fourth season is delivering the stock Star Trek stand-ins with much more panache than the first two seasons. Everyone gets a chance to play the witnessing aliens and the best performances don’t always come from those who you might expect (Anthony Montgomery was my favourite) and the script uses the fact that there are no guest stars to tell a reasonably engaging tale of alien interference. You’re not going to walk away from Observer Effect feeling as if you have watched a revolutionary episode of Star Trek, but I’m fairly certain you’ll be entertained and have learnt a little about the characters in the meantime. When to this show I can’t really ask for more than that. Mike Vejar deserves a medal for making such cliched ideas seem so fresh.

***1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode: 

DS9 - Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night

Plot – Sometimes the serialised nature and how they made things up as they went along bit DS9 in the ass…but most of the time it yielded real fruits and the idea of Dukat having a previous relationship with Kira’s mother is possibly the best ‘soap’ bombshell moment in the whole of Trek. It makes perfect sense of his obsession with her in the past and it is just about the most loathsome thing that Kira could ever imagine. In storytelling terms, it is pure gold.

Heading back to the Occupation of Bajor is always a worthwhile experience because it was such a violent and painful time and that automatically makes for gripping viewing. Kira is barely back for two seconds and knives are being wielded, children are being threatened and she is engaged in a fistfight. When people are hungry and desperate they will do anything to survive.

This might be the only episode of DS9 that handles rape in such an open manner. Yes, you heard me correctly. This a Star Trek episode about enforced prostitution. These women are scooped up from their families, dumped on a space station, told to scrub themselves clean, and then hand-picked by sleazy, horny Cardassian officers and have to pamper their egos and pretend they are enjoying it whilst they are being abused. It’s the most shocking interpretation of what happened during the Occupation. This is exploitation of the most reprehensible manner. It doesn’t make for easy viewing – especially in one scene where an officer is literally gnawing away at a woman’s neck as though he is trying to devour her. It’s like she’s prey.

Character – Kira is so well defined at this point (she has had six seasons of character dramas to sketch her in) that the best way to show new colours is to take what we already know and give it a fresh spin. She has always had an idealised version of her mother and to have that snatched away and much uglier one put in its place doesn’t sit easy with her. Pro-active as ever, she determines to find out which version of the truth really happened. You just have to watch the horror on her face when she is reunited with her mother after being taken away by Dukat. How easily she has slipped into the lifestyle of comfort that he has offered her. Kira’s instant reaction is hate – her mother and the man she loathes for everything he did to their people – and her desire to see her punished and killed is very natural. It’s almost self-destruction, Kira hating herself because she was created by this woman. The real suspense of the episode comes at the point where the assassination is about to take place…can she go through with murdering her?

A very slight but enjoyable development that has emerged in season six is the warmer relationship between Quark and Kira. She’s always distrusted him (with good reason) and thought he was disgusting (with good reason) and for a while I wondered if they would ever find common ground. But since he showed an ounce of bravery and helped to release her from the holding cells when the fate of the entire Alpha Quadrant hung in the balance she has shown a kinder side to herself to him. Their brief exchange at the beginning of this episode suggests that they are on good terms, if not friends.

I wish there was enough time to get under the skin of somebody like Basso, a Bajoran who has sold out to the Cardassians and abuses his own people to get by. I would love to know what makes him tick. However, it seems very believable that such a man would exist and so I am glad he was included.

Performance – Marc Alaimo was given some wonderful chances to be oily. I would have suggested that this was his best episode in that respect until he was transformed into a Bajoran and seduced Kai Winn. He’s insufferably smug when he calls Kira up in the middle of the night and drops his surprise about him and her mother having a relationship. I swear he lives for these moments. Dukat of the past is a disarming man as well as a ruthless dictator and he knows how to play mind games with the comfort women to make it appear as though he is a knight in shining armour. There is nothing charming about a man who would have a woman deliberately exploited so he can leap in and save her but given he is the hero in his own story you can see why he would want to present himself that way.

Production – It does not surprise me that the director of this episode is more famously known as a director of photography because he crafts every image of this piece with real care. The lightning is especially atmospheric throughout but if you watch carefully Jonathan West is always keeping things visually interesting. Certain images; the sunlight streaming through Maru’s hair, Kira staring into the swirling colours of the Orb, are like paintings.

Best moment – It’s worth noting that the opening scene of this story features two strong women characters talking about another woman. Trek is acing the Bechdel test at this point.

I also really like Kira’s spaz out in Ops, where it seems everybody comes these days to have a coffee and catch up with gossip. She’s in a particularly bad news because of Dukat’s bombshell but actually this is a worthwhile moment to have in any workplace where people lean in too much on the social aspect and not enough on the professional. Every Star Trek show displays this and so it’s nice to see somebody snap everybody back into line.

The scenes between Kira and the sleazy Cardassian Officer are brilliantly handled because they are very wittily scripted and enjoyable to watch…but at the same time he is constantly pawing at her skin and essentially telling her he can make her do whatever he wants which is deeply uncomfortable. It’s a fascinating mix, discomforting and amusing.

Worst moment – I’m in two minds about the Orb of Time. It some ways it does the show a massive favour because it means we can get to the time travel with a ton of incomprehensible technobabble or outrageous scientific excuses. You can get to the numb of the drama by a wave of the hand. On the other hand it is such a simplistic plot device that could do such catastrophic damage to established history it seems odd that such a device is completely outlawed. Sisko’s ‘excuse me?’ is right on the money when Kira suggests a causal jaunt back in time to see if her mother was fucking Dukat.

I wish they hadn’t done that – I want to be better than finding the scene where Kira meets herself as a little girl really cute…but I’m not.

The ending is pleasingly ambiguous. It invites you to make up your own mind. Was Meru a traitor for what she did? Did she betray her husband? Was she just making the best out of a bad situation? Would you have thought less of Kira if she had killed her mother? So many questions unanswered simply because there are no easy answers. Classic DS9.

A reason to watch this episode again – Forced prostitution, terrorism, attempted matricide…this is one of the lighter DS9 episodes out there. This is far from the strongest episode of season six and yet it is still an absolute powerhouse of character drama, a sign of just how strong the show was at this point. Kira goes through her worst nightmare and learns a lot of things about herself in the process. It’s astonishing that even this late in the day they were still bleeding such developments from the regular cast. It’s a quiet Occupation episode but it’s a very thoughtful, disturbing one.

**** out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode:

Praxeus written by Pete McTighe and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone

Oh Brilliant: Generally what I have come to expect from the 13th Doctor but with a little too much reliance on exposition this week (with a story this seemingly complex there is plenty to dish around and as usual the Doctor gets the bulk of it) which would be a struggle for any actor to deliver. Whittaker is game, and amusing and quirky, but at times it feels like she is delivering a stream of information to try and unravel the story that is playing out. The Doctor dashes into the episode in the most authentic way imaginable; rushing past bystanders and screaming for help whilst rescuing a body from the ocean. I’m starting to get the impression that the 13th Doctor is taking the 5th Doctor’s approach of letting all and sundry traipse into the TARDIS and not worrying about the consequences of that. She has an alarming habit of taking a mass of people inside. Those moments are always fun, mind. She’s a sucker for a scientist and a hopeless romantic. She doesn’t preach this week, like she did in Orphan 55, because the horror of what we have done speaks for itself.

Graham: He’s a truly accepting soul, isn’t he? He is a working man who has spent his life around blokes and was probably (but not definitely) a bit of a lad for much of his life. Then he is put through a cancer scare and he finds love, two things that are going to turn your life upside down. He survives but his new wife doesn’t and he is offered a chance to see the universe. After a manifest of exciting adventures his entire worldview has been altered. He’s truly embracing everything time travel has to show him. As a result, he can dish out advice on a religious divide, can help a man through his pregnancy, can receive a kiss from Captain Jack and not flinch and help a man talk through his complicated feelings about his husband in Praxeus. Walsh is so likable and Graham is written as so open and honest, you can’t help but be drawn to him.

Yaz: Is it my imagination or is there something a little bit off about Yaz this year? I don’t know if it is grumblings that I have been hearing online about her that has attuned my mind to picking up things that might be a little suspicious but there seems to be one moment in every episode where she is behaving a little…cold and indifferent. That could just be the nature of their existence finally getting to her a little bit. I thought her reaction to being sucked into the void in Spyfall was brilliantly played and perhaps changed her for good given she thought she was going to die. Orphan 55 had that interesting moment when Yaz questions whether the Doctor was ever going to tell them that the planet was Earth, in Tesla she’s off on having her own adventure whilst the others are all together and in Fugitive of the Judoon she demands to know why the Doctor never takes them to Gallifrey. In this episode the strangest thing happened – halfway through the adventure she essentially defies the Doctor and says she is going back for the technology that she thinks is important whether the Doctor wants her to or not. It comes completely out of left field and even the Doctor knows it because she gives her a hell of a look long after they have stopped talking and Yaz has headed off. I don’t know if this is all the paranoid ramblings of a reviewer who has been surprised quite a few times this year and is catching on but it was certainly a moment that stood out as jarring. When the Master said ‘stick with me, Yaz’ was he saying more than we thought? When they find the alien technology, Yaz comments ‘precisely what we’ve been looking for.’

Ryan: Who gets to be sweet and flirty and disarming again, so soon after Orphan 55. He might not be as heart-breaking as Graham or as suspicious as Yaz, but he’s a comforting presence. I’d still like the episode where he strikes out on his own and defies the rest of his new family. I feel like I need to see him express more of an opinion. There’s a great moment where Ryan sits in the doorway of the TARDIS with Gabriela and helps her get over the culture shock. I love how cool and collected he is.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘We’re going to get through it’ ‘Cause you’ve known me how many hours?’

The Good: There are two images that truly capitalise on the ‘plastic is evil’ message that Praxeus is touting and that really made me sit up and pay attention; one was less subtle but still extremely powerful (the rubbish strewn river bed) and one was shoving the impact that plastic is having on nature right down our throats (the bird that is cut open and full of plastic). Both are plausible and both get us uncomfortably close to the problem that the world faces that we all contribute towards. It’s these moments more than the Praxeus virus (which still chills me to the bone) that really made an impact. I feel like I need to make much more of an effort to recycle (we do, but probably not to the extent that we should) and any Doctor Who episode that makes me feel like actioning something because of its content is doing something right. It’s an episode that has some really scares in it too. Despite some dodgy special effects, I really like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and the idea that our avian friends realise that there is more of them than there is of us and turn on us and this episode captures a lot of that helplessness in the face of a bird attack. Shots of them pecking at peoples faces and swooping down en masse really get the blood pumping. But that is nothing to the Praxeus virus itself, which is visually chilling and a refreshingly different method of dispatch. In a show like Doctor Who that has been bumping off guest characters for over 50 years it is pretty difficult to find an original way to do so but the way these crusty teeth devour the body and then combust actually made me exclaim out loud each time it was done. I’m running out of ways to say the show looks fantastic and is capturing all the ambition and visual sumptuousness of a movie so I’ll just say that this is another globetrotting adventure in a season that is taking us to more places around the world than any other that my eyes drank in thirstily. The Hong Kong scenes were actually rather economically done but still very effective. We’ve come to a point in Doctor Who where a relationship between two men isn’t commented on (I’m rather doing a good job of spoiling that right now) but a natural part of a plot. It says something about the show’s diversity (that is NOT an ugly word) and its inclusivity. Yay, Doctor Who. Frankly, in the last 15 years it has done a far better job of promoting the normality of homosexuality than Star Wars or Star Trek. Adam and Jake feel very real, caught up in a crazy situation. The fact that they are separated but still very much in love and that Jake’s resistance to life is holding them back means there is everything to fight for here. An adventure with the Doctor ignites that lust for life and the willingness to take a chance. It’s very nicely done and the kiss at the climax feels earned (and its rare for Doctor Who to give me such a filthy thoughts). There’s no great showdown between the Doctor and the villain because ultimately this is just a virus that is trying to survive, coming to Earth because its environment suits its digestion because of our stupidity. Life doesn’t always have some grand showdown, sometimes you just have to find a solution. I enjoyed the happy ending with the three vloggers walking off into the sunset. Doctor Who needs more happy endings like this.

The Bad: I think the reaction to the two hugely important environmental messages that the show has put out this year can be split into two categories; those who want to listen and those who don’t. The latter have the more extreme reaction and go on about the show being too preachy. Yes, it is preaching, and you don’t want to listen because you are part of the problem and that’s a difficult thing to face. Are you going to suddenly stop using all plastic because of this episode. I doubt it. And that’s bound to make you feel a little bad because what this episode depicts actually happens but we don’t want to think about our part in it. If this episode can reach just half of the 5 million people that it is going to be watched by and they adjust their lives in tiny ways to make the environment more of a factor in their lives then it was absolutely the right approach for the series to take. There’s a tide of environmental mistakes being made at the moment and if Doctor Who can fight that tide with its message, even if it is just a bit, then I say bravo to the show. There was one scene that was so obviously dubbed that I was completely taken out of the action. Is nipping in and rescuing someone at the last minute a new feature of the TARDIS or something it could always do? Because I’m suddenly thinking that Peter Davison’s Doctor might be the evillest incarnation of all in failing to save Adric. Or perhaps the most benevolent because of it.

The Shallow Bit: Warren Brown is ridiculously handsome and the fact that he is playing a dour man who refuses to connect with his feelings means that he is pushing all my buttons. I want to be better than enjoying a piece of television because there is a man involved that I fancy the ass off…but I I’m really not and anyone who has read my reviews before would know that. ‘You work out?’ Gabriella asks of Ryan, to which he answers ‘I do a lot of running.’

Result: An ambitious, expensive, necessary exercise that might have had more impact if the same thing hadn’t been done in Orphan 55 just a few episodes ago. Having two environmental episodes in the same season isn’t necessarily a problem (they cropped up several times in the Pertwee era) and to me this has the more powerful message because it filters it through some horrific imagery and imaginatively ties pollution into the plot. Pete McTighe manages something miraculous; he gives all three companions a great deal to do whilst still making the Doctor the star of the show. Graham gets to tug on the heartstrings in a way that only Bradley Walsh can and it shows just how little this gentle coaxing of sentiment this character has been utilised this year. Mind you, there has been so much going on it has left little time for character pauses. That is addressed here and then some with a group of extremely well drawn secondary characters, all of which I felt close to by the climax. There’s a beautifully drawn gay romance that doesn’t feel in anyway exploitative or cliched and that is a minor miracle. The moment where it looks like one of the guys is going to die at the climax my heart was on my mouth and I don’t often feel that way about characters I have only just met. This is essentially a meat and potatoes episode of Doctor Who rather than one of the big hitters but there is so much happening here that it goes to prove just how lucky we are that even the filler episodes are packed with this much gold; gorgeous location work that convincingly suggests that show is globetrotting again, exciting set pieces that get the pulse racing, another great Segun Akinola score, a number of very creepy scenes in a series that has found the scares again and then some and a feeling that the 13th Doctor can whip up a gang of friends in a heartbeat just through her sheer likability. I especially enjoyed how the story started off in such a confusing, disparate fashion and how all the threads of the narrative were tied together so effectively by the climax. There is so much energy and dynamism in this season, it feels like it is making up for the lethargy of last year. This made me think about the effect that plastic culture is having on both the planet and humanity. We’re literally poisoning ourselves to make our lives more convenient. Yay, the human race: 8/10