ENT – Dead Stop

Plot – One huge bonus – consequences from the previous episode. At this point Enterprise is not a serialised show but it is still, pleasingly, showing that actions have consequences. A bomb went off at the end of the previous episode and this episode begins with an impressive shot of the hull damage to the ship. It provides the impetus to kick start this piece, and the very reason we arrive at this location. It’s very intelligently done and so simple to achieve, it’s shocking that TNG and Voyager avoided consequences for so long. Reed receiving physio-therapy is proof that the dramatic events of last affected both the people on board and the technology.

You might say that Archer setting off the warp plasma and forgoing their payment plan is very un-Starfleet but then making the deal and trying to kidnap one of the crew is hardly playing cricket on the part of the station.

Character – Archer’s assertion that they have answered enough distress calls in the past year and now it is time to call in some favours might not be the Starfleet way but to my mind makes very good sense. Archer and Reed have disagreed with the level of discipline that is expected on Enterprise in the past and here is a chance for him to throw that in the tactical officer’s face when he is the one that is flouting orders.

I never believed for one second that Travis was dead but the reactions of all the crew certainly made the deception worthwhile. Archer is angry, Phlox sorrowful that someone so young turn up on his autopsy table, Hoshi insists on saying goodbye even if it is just a charred corpse. It’s clear that this will quickly be dispelled but I appreciated the focus on their grief for a few minutes, primarily because Travis is such an incongruity to me still.

Performance - If there’s anyone I would trust to make a gobby complaint that lasts forever, it would be Trip. Montgomery is especially charming in these scenes like he has been waiting for an opportunity to show off some understated humour.

Production – Roxann Dawson’s handling of the camera to suggest the alien atmosphere on the station is exemplary. There are high and low angles, and lots of long shots to suggest the feeling of space and a lack of activity. It’s lovely to hear her voice as well a few years after Voyager went off air. I think the only aspect of the production that is lacking (and hence why I cannot give this episode full marks) is the predictable musical score. It sounds like any other Trek episode where one of latter, more spirited Enterprise scores would have benefited the production.

The final action sequence is very satisfying as a visual spectacle but also as an explosive end to a relationship that was apparently built on commerce but ends up with both parties breaking their word.

Best moment – We have never seen anything quite like this station before, in terms of its look or the help it can offer and it is hugely refreshing to experience that kind of novelty on Enterprise, a show that often sticks to a formula that has been tried and tested. Shots of the huge mechanical arms swinging into action to commit repairs are fresh and exciting. The lack of a human touch on the station, or a word from who built it leaves a strange taste in the mouth. Its very anonymity is what makes the technology so disquieting.

The pull back to reveal all the bodies suspended in the air at the heart of the station is a jaw dropping moment. It perfectly mixes awe with horror in a way that this show rarely aims for. I had no clue what was going on at this point, just that the crew had stumbled on something very disturbing. The fact that we wait until the last scene to find out what the station was using the bodies for means it is worth seeing this episode through for the answers and it is pretty grisly.

Just like an early X-File or an episode of The Twilight Zone, the final chilling scene sees the station repairing itself. It might take some time but it will eventually be back to spec and harvesting more unsuspecting victims.

I wish they hadn’t done that – When the station reconfigures to fit the Enterprise’s hull it is the literal interpretation of ‘will you come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly…’ I would have appreciated more caution, even if they are out of options.

A reason to watch this episode again – If you make a deal with the (technological) devil then you have to be very careful with what you are getting into. Ambitious, fresh and exciting, this is not at all what I expect from early Enterprise. Consequences, a huge mystery to unravel, a brilliant new location to explore and action that arises naturally out of the story. It ticks practically all of my boxes. The one thing that is lacking is any serious characterisation but because the execution is so strong I don’t think that really matters here (and there are still some character notes that ring very true here and there). Roxann Dawson deserves a lot of credit for how neatly this put together, each scene contributes to the overall picture but holds up in its own right. Dead Stop goes to show what Enterprise can do when it stretches itself to be original and uses its crew as a functioning unit. It’s a fantastic achievement and highly watchable.

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

Clue for tomorrow's episode: 

The Timeless Children written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone

Oh Brilliant: Oh yes, she is. Series 12 as a whole has afforded Whittaker the chance to sink her teeth into a diverse and rich vein of material and she has risen the challenge with relish. The 13th Doctor is one of my absolute favourite things about the twelfth season and how with each story she has been given the opportunity to play darker, more compelling material and rise up the ranks of my favourite Doctors. Now she is nestled near the top, alongside Troughton, Colin Baker and Tennant. Strangely the point in which she was truly cemented in my mind as the Doctor was when she faced down the Master in Spyfall, there’s something about when these two get together that brings out the best in the Doctor (and probably another reason why I don’t hold Matt Smith in such high esteem). Whittaker and Dhawan’s chemistry is palpable and thrilling and their final showdown in The Timeless Children is one of the best of this type. It’s charged because the Doctor is back in the horrible position of having to destroy Gallifrey and despite his bluster you can see the Master willing the Doctor on because he truly wants to die. You can feel the weight of their relationship in this exchange, of their shared past and of how their dance around the universe has led them to this point. Will she murder her friend? Destroy her planet? Commit Suicide? It’s hold your breath time as the Doctor makes her choice for what would be the final time. This is a story that sidelines the Doctor for much of its running time because she is locked up and force-fed explanations but unlike something like Last of the Time Lords that rendered him completely impotent, she gets to show off her range as her life is turned completely upside down. Whittaker has spent enough of this season reacting to shocks (the return of the Master, the Jo Martin Doctor, the destruction of Gallifrey) but the revelations here are very personal and so is her response. The moment when she decks the Master and screams at him to show her more really made me sit up and pay attention. The scene at the climax (whilst ripped directly from Resurrection of the Daleks and is similarly powerful) where she has to send her friends away and face the villain with a weapon that would destroy him is loaded with feeling (and Ludo was perfectly convinced that this Doctor was walking to her doom). Strangely enough my favourite moment of hers comes right at the very end when she walks into the TARDIS, the one absolute certainty in her life and leans on the console to take a minute. She’s been assaulted with shocks in this episode and for once she cannot find it in her to dash off to the next adventure. She needs time. The scene with Jo Martin’s Doctor is the most important one in the entire episode. Not only because it is so nice to see her back but because it highlights that whilst what we understand about the Doctor has changed, that ultimately it changes nothing. ‘Have you ever been limited by who you were before?’ That’s the series in a nutshell. Moving on, creating new stories, new characters. Acknowledging the past but looking to the future. The Timeless Children uses that as its crutch, and it is the most essential line. Yes, the show isn’t quite what you thought it was. Yes, there are more things to learn about its building blocks. But no, nothing has been taken away from those adventures you have enjoyed. At each point in the Doctor’s many lives that you have enjoyed, those adventures counted, they are relevant and they are there to savour. The past didn’t affect them at the time, and going forward it won’t affect the show now. Just enjoy what you are watching. The Doctor’s adventures. ‘People need the Doctor’, whoever that might be. Ultimately what Chibnall has done is put the Who back in Doctor Who. It worked for the first six years of the show when it was shrouded in mystery and it works now that we have learnt that there is much more to know about the Doctor’s past. He’s ticked a few boxes (explaining The Brain of Morbius, the Doctor’s ‘I am far more than just another Time Lord’), created a fascinating new Doctor (Jo Martin) and left some questions hanging about what the Doctor got up to pre-Hartnell. For those of you who loathe the fact that the Doctor has been mythologised this much and feel it has taken away from her as a hippy exile wandering around space…for one the show is called Doctor Who and so the mystery of this character has been flashed up on screen in every single episode and secondly that is precisely what she still is. All those lives she has lived as a space tramp bumbling through the universe are still there and relevant. I think we could do with a little time away from these revelations and some good old-fashioned adventuring (the ending of this story promises that) but there are some intriguing threads to pick up and I cannot wait. In the face of shattering revelations, Whittaker’s optimism still shines through. The Doctor takes what the Master has thrown at her and turns it into a positive direction for her life. Mysteries to unpick, a life to understand, a fresh identity to claim. On a dead Gallifrey, surrounded by Time Lords converted into Cybermen and in the wake of learning that her entire life has been a lie, the Doctor refuses to crumble. She spits in the eye of the Master’s attempts to crush her. It’s her finest moment to date. ‘You’ve given me the gift…of myself.’

O: Let me get this out of the way first because I don’t want to bore you with my salivating for the rest of this review. Sacha Dhawan is quite simply the most delicious looking man that the series has ever put on screen and I want to do unspeakable things to him every time I see him. It’s a problem that perhaps the most sadistic version of the Master is the one I fancy but I am coming to terms with that. Dhawan also happens to be a brilliant, dangerous actor who is willing to go to manic lengths to suggest the Master’s lunacy and pain are something that consumes him without every tipping over into pantomime. He plays the Master as damaged, brutal, playful and sexy. He’s magnetic and risky. I was a little terrified of him but also turned on and laughing at his madness. It’s a terrifically engaging mix and the best of this episode. Dhawan is the one who takes the most from this insane script and delivers some exceptional scenes. I enjoyed Simm’s Master very much and Missy was an awesome diversion from the norm as an anti-hero that the Doctor can work alongside but Dhawan’s Master is the purest version of evil we have seen since The Deadly Assassin. He’s as inspired by his own self hate as he is damaged by it. The few moments where the Doctor tries to get inside his head and stir up the rage and jealousy I actually felt sorry for him, despite his actions, because he is a victim of his own self-hate. He’s always hated the fact that Doctor acts like she is something special or different from the rest of their people and now to learn that she genuinely is special and that part of her uniqueness lives inside of him makes him detonate with anger and violence. It forces him to bring down the species that the Doctor (however unwillingly) helped to create. It’s a therapist’s wet dream. A man who hates everything his species is and so he annihilates them. He feels more unpredictable than ever because of the lengths he is going to. The moment when he growls for the Doctor to detonate the particle and destroy everything she has helped to inspire; he’s really asking her to kill him because of the battle that is raging inside of him. His mind has snapped, he’s ready for it to all end.

Graham, Ryan and Yaz: I’m pleased that the Fam didn’t leave in this episode because they are sidelines in favour of all the other developments and I’m at the stage now where I’m very fond of them and want them to exit in a story that gives them focus. Graham shares a gorgeous moment with Yaz early on that made me well up, and it’s a moment that is well deserved after two years of travelling together. I loved the plan to escape in Cyber-suits (Yaz really has come into her own now) and Ryan gets a very funny moment when he takes out a platoon of Cybermen with slam dunk only to miss the patrol that is coming over the hill. More importantly is their reaction to the Doctor wanting to commit suicide and take the Master with her. They beg with her and try convince her to find another way and its one of those moments where you can really feel the love between them all. For the Doctor, this is goodbye but she wants to make sure they all get home safe. As far as they are concerned this is the last time they will ever see her.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘I just need a moment.’

Many Lives: Regeneration is explained, not as a biological function of the Time Lords but as a stolen ability from another species from another dimension. I have never quite gotten my head around how any species could evolve with this natural ability to change into a different person when they die and so this works for me. The fact that the Doctor is patient zero is neither here nor there. It could have just as easily have been the Master. I’m sure along the line we will meet the species that the Doctor comes from and learn all about their regenerative powers although that is something I would prefer to be kept shrouded in mystery as it far better to leave these things in your imagination (think the Time War, which was much more exciting in my head than anything I saw in Day of the Doctor that reduced it to battle ships going pew pew pew). I have questions about a mother experimenting on her child in such a horrific fashion but then this is a mother from another species (and one that has proven themselves to be duplicitous and inhuman on countless occasions) and so perhaps I shouldn’t judge on our terms. Perhaps subjecting your offspring to torturous experiments is tenapenny in Time lord society. What I love about this explanation is that the Doctor now has countless lives (which throws all those people who are obsessed with continuity to number the Doctor’s into apoplexy) and we don’t have to worry about any of that keeping track nonsense ever again. It also comes as no surprise whatsoever that the Gallifreyans would take an ability from another species that would give them more power over the universe and graft it onto themselves. This is the same species that threw the Earth across the universe, manipulated the history of the Minyans and blew a whole in the universe in their petty feud with the Daleks. They are opportunistic wannabe Gods. I wonder what else from their society is begged, borrowed and stolen. Probably more than we think. The fact that they would package all those innovations into a race that goes by the name of Time Lords is perfect, it was exactly the sort of arrogance that Robert Holmes was trying to expose when he burst their bubble in The Deadly Assassin. The Doctor points out in Trial of a Time Lord that the Time Lords are the ultimate villains of the series. Weren’t you paying attention?

Brendan: That was genius. Having the Doctor’s history play out in the previous episode, beat for beat as it is explained by the Master in The Timeless Children, but without us knowing that was what was being shown to us, is perhaps Chibnall’s sneakiest and smartest writing to date. It elevates Ascension even more for me for it’s sheer underhandedness. There we were trying to figure out what the hell that sub plot was all about and Chibnall was literally telling us the Doctor’s origin story with a filter slapped over the top. Bravo.

Delete!: The Cyber Lords are so utterly ridiculous and camp it makes me deliriously happy that Doctor Who can still produce something this off the wall in 2020. The idea is chilling and in their own way the designs are beautiful but the whole idea is so utterly grandiose and overdone that I just wanted to laugh. It’s like Chibnall has taken a dose of mind-altering drugs and then sat down to write the ultimate Cyberman story. God bless the Master; this really does feel like one of his most lunatic schemes. Certainly, his most epic, after the destruction of half the universe in Logopolis (nothing could ever quite beat that). The idea that these monsters have dead Time Lords inside them is thoroughly sick and the fact that they are dressed up as though they are about to attend the Panopticon’s grand high cocktail party even moreso. Diodati saw the Cybermen stripped back to their original concept of pure body horror, men half finished and replaced with parts. This takes the idea to the other extreme, where we are talking about pure robotics. Both are equally valid approaches (although I prefer Diodati’s) but as the Master points out turning the Cybermen into pure robots lacks imagination. Cybermen who can regenerate are a terrific (if terribly wanky) concept. Overall the three episodes see the ultimate exploration of the Cybermen; the Ashad monstrosity, the CyberDrones, the call-backs to Earthshock and classic Cybermen and the CyberLords. It’s a very creative bunch when taken as whole. At times they were terrifying (Ashad holding the baby), at times they were dynamic (the marching Cybermen out for the Doctor’s companions), at times they were imaginative (the Drones might stifle a giggle but they are the most destructive the Cybermen are here) and times they are downright ridiculous (the Lords). The Cybermen are very silly and also very scary, so that just feels right to me. It might just be their most fulsomely realised appearances.

The Bad: The fact that Gallifrey is taken out by a bomb and a Dapol toy makes me howl with laughter. It’s more than it deserved after all the dull stories set there. Given his criticisms as a young man, Chibnall’s choice to use so many elements of Pip and Jane’s Trial of a Time Lord scripts almost feels like atonement. The Master, Gallifrey, the Matrix and a previously undiscovered incarnation of the Doctor. If he faces the same reaction from fans as he dished out in the 80s it might be what you call poetic justice. The Master and the Cybermen on Gallifrey reminds me of The Five Doctors. I don’t care how epic you make this….you can’t top ‘I have found the ones from the TARDIS’, ‘Ahhhh’, ‘take the patrol across’ and ‘isn’t that a little ruthless, even for you?’ It’s funny how much more overblown this feels compared to that.

Result: Doctor Who? Well you can’t say that you haven’t had the question raised over the past 57 years. The Timeless Children is mostly a series of explanations rather than an actual narrative, with a lunatic scheme of the Master’s thrown in, an epic use of the Cybermen and Gallifrey and an unfortunate cliché of a climax that sees a character who hasn’t registered stepping in, sacrificing himself and saving the day. The Doctor is neutered here to the point of learning everything but achieving nothing. On the other hand the explanations given are designed to make you sit up and pay attention (or make your head explode), the Master has never been in more electrifying hands than Dhawan, the companions have a number of gorgeous moments, the production is out of this world and the mysteries spin the series in a more enigmatic and optimistic direction that offers excitement and hope for the future. There is much more still to learn but I think, for now, we’ve been told enough to digest until Christmas. It’s an episode that is steeped in myth, pomp and visual insanity that it might take several re-watches to get your head around it. As an episode of television, it is lacking. As an experience of raw emotions and revelations, it is delicious. As an event in Doctor Who history it is unprecedented. It’s possibly the ultimate mind fuck. It’s the episode where the Cybermen resurrect dead Time Lords and take over Gallifrey and that is the least impressive shockwave. It’s the episode that teaches us that everything we know about the Doctor is a lie. It is the episode where the Master begs the Doctor to kill him and destroy their planet because of what he has learnt about their past. Chibnall has taken out all the toys; the Doctor, the Master, Gallifrey, regeneration, the Cybermen and assembled them in the most twisted way imaginable. Whether this works for you or not is personal, but anybody who accused him of lacking ambition in his first season needs to bow their head in shame. Be careful what you wish for. He has fundamentally marked the series from this point, pleasingly offered explanations for lots of questions that were thrown in the air this season, thrown up new mysteries to be solved and handed as developments to the mythos that is constantly being re-invented (the Time Lords in The War Games, a wealth of information that contradicts that in The Deadly Assassin, a huge gap in mythology with the introduction of the Time War, the utterly preposterous plonking of a new incarnation between Doctors 8 and 9). Forget Dicks, Holmes, RTD and Moffat, this is the most impactful and customising episode of Doctor Who and who on Earth suspected Chibnall was capable of that? He might have bitten off more than he can chew in trying to tie all the threads of the season together (he tries, but leaves a ton of stuff hanging) but I’m truly impressed with his ambition, energy and willingness to stir the pot to keep things interesting. The Timeless Children ends a terrific season on an unforgettable note. I was left scratching my head when it was over, but in a good way. There’s probably more madness to come from Chibnall but if it can be delivered with this much scope, risk and (perhaps most important of all because this was the thing that kept this very much on track) exceptional acting, sign me up. Pure unadulterated wank of the highest order but extremely well done for the most part and producing mystery at the heart of the series again: 8/10 (It was almost a 7 for the reasons stated at the beginning of the Result but those Doctor/Master scenes were just so damn good)

VOY – Collective

Plot – Whilst cliched, it looks like we are onto a winner with Collective since it starts with an attack by the Borg and a dream sequence that makes it look as though the crew of the Delta Flyer have been assimilated.

The Borg were a perennial element of TNG that made the show finally click into place and fire on all cylinders. It was the threat that the audience needed to really take the show seriously and to completely distinguish itself from TOS. The Best of Both Worlds is peak TNG, I think they were on a wind down after that two-parter because the show was never quite that bold or suspenseful ever again. Voyager took up the mantle of the Borg at around the same point (towards the end of season three) of their run and for once mimicking TNG made perfect sense because Voyager takes place in a region of space that we don’t know anything about. Why shouldn’t they Borg have their area of space here? It was a real chance to explore the species and make them a force to be reckoned with again (TNG threw away their menace with I,Borg and Descent). Unity looked to be doing just that but then Scorpion (again this is probably the zenith of Voyager in terms of quality television) introduced a species they were at war with and losing. Thus, diminishing their threat. Then we had a two-year long examination of a drone turning back into a human being. Showing how the Borg threat can be turned around with a little time and patience (and plenty of angst). And then the Borg children were introduced in this episode, which further watered down the effect of the species. Finally, we hit Unimatrix Zero, which took the assimilation element that made The Best of Both Worlds so frightening and turns it into a plot device that can be utilised and reversed without any apparent side effects. By the end of the show it is the Borg that essentially gives the ship the nudge home it needed to get back to the Alpha Quadrant (unwillingly, admittedly). I’m not saying that none of this was interesting – Seven’s journey is particularly noteworthy – but it does chart the deconstruction of the Borg and the fading of everything that made them scary in the first place. Come Endgame they are just robots with big ships that provide space battle eye candy. And that is a shame for a race that made Trek franchise sit up and pay attention in such an influential way. It took Enterprise (of all shows) to re-introduce that element of fear into the Borg by having them turn up between First Contact and Q Who? and feature the creatures stalking the ship when nobody has any clue what they are. With the audience in the know and the crew of Enterprise at a loss to what these evil SOBs want, they genuinely manage to make them a formidable force again.

Character – There’s a nice moment where Seven considers her own development since severing from the Hive Mind and what these children will have to go through. It’s the most thoughtful thing on offer here, but it is also the sort of material that has been explored ad nauseum in the past three seasons. The most promising thing to come from Collective is the idea of Seven exploring her maternal side, which is flirted with in the final scene.

Best moment – The Borg baby in the cubicle. Genuinely unsettling. There should have been more of that. The baby that Seven actually holds is clearly a doll. Watch as it wriggles up and down in the same pattern over and over. I might have kept it as the CGI version.

Worst moment – I can’t be the only person who first saw the Borg brood and immediately thought ‘oh no…’ What you have is one drone who behaves like a sullen teen from any adolescent drama, one drone who is the reasonable geek of the group (that’s the one we’re lumbered with) and three kids who like to sulk and cry a lot. Yes, this is compelling viewing.

I don’t understand the point of the scenes of Harry on the Borg ship that are trying their damndest to be sinister when they are rubbing shoulders with the teen angst drama that is taking place alongside. At one point one of the kids invades his investigation and starts playing cards as if to say why are you bothering to try and create any tension?

I wish they hadn’t done that – If there was ever an argument that Voyager was a watered-down version of the TNG then you only have to watch the first five minutes of Collective that begin with the regulars playing poker (a TNG staple) and the Borg appearing (ditto). How embarrassing that one TNG cliché prevented the guys from spotting another one sneaking up on them. This is the opportunity they have to get rid of the four most troublesome (in terms of characterisation and development) characters. Imagine if Chakotay, Paris, Harry Kim and Neelix were all assimilated and we were left with a show fronted by Janeway, Seven, the Doctor and Torres?

The climax is particularly gutless and painful to watch because it all comes down to a bunch of kids dressed up as Borg having a barney over the fact that one of them has taken charge of the others and they are all individuals capable of making their own choices. Is this really from the pen of the same man who gave us The Visitor and In the Pale Moonlight?

What the hell happened to the Borg baby? Brannon Braga has gone on record saying that it was returned to its people off screen and never mentioned because they wanted to focus on the dramatic potential of the older children. The dramatic possibilities with the baby are endless, so this is a craven explanation.

A reason to watch this episode again – Praise first, because the idea of bringing in new characters onto Voyager who have a real impact on the lives of the crew is a worthy one and one that should have been taking place throughout the shows entire run. Icheb and his brood stay with the ship for a while and Icheb himself is with the show until the end of the show, developing a relationship with both Seven and Janeway. That’s all good. And so is the opening ten minutes which features action, atmosphere and a sense of dread. Even the idea of the Borg children is a bold one, had they pushed down a more uncomfortable route than they ultimately do. What transpires is a teen drama, full of angst and implants, and the performances of the children in question are well, questionable. This isn’t And the Children Shall Lead, it isn’t even Innocence, but it is another in a developing line of children-based episodes that doesn’t work. Collective is more unsatisfying than all the others because it had more potential than the lot of them. If Ron Moore hadn’t jumped ship early in season six I swear he could have done something spectacular with this premise and with Brannon Braga still on the series at this point (he wrote Genesis, you know) I’m surprised that there wasn’t more body horror on show. Seasons four and five were uplifted by Jeri Ryan’s presence amongst the regulars and the tension between Seven and Janeway. That’s no longer the case, the episodes have to try harder to make an impact. Collective isn’t trying anywhere near hard enough.

*1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode:

DS9 – The Nagus

Plot – The Ferengi episodes. They are such an acquired taste and I think I might have developed a theory as to why they seem to be much more palatable in the UK than they are in the US. Don’t mistake me, I’m sure there are US fans who love them and UK fans who hate them but generally speaking I hear a lot of positive stuff about this sub-genre in this corner of the world and I think it is worth figuring out why. British comedy is a very unique thing, certainly the sitcoms of the 70s and 80s (which are some of the more famous comedies in the UK); they feature larger than life performances, they tend to stick to stereotypes and deconstruct them by having them written and played so broadly, they feature tons of repeated slogans and phrases and they push physical comedy and witty wordplay to the fore. Sound familiar? The Ferengi comedy episodes are very mid-70s Brit-coms and I think they work for the same reason. They are focussed and intelligent, and sometimes they are embarrassing farces. The performances are so far over the top you either have to go with them or fight them. Usually in every Ferengi episode there is a straight man that the comedy derives from and that is often Quark, played brilliantly by Armin Shimmerman. He often holds them together (as he does here) with his perfectly judged performance. What’s fascinating is when the Ferengi episodes try and tackle something serious (Bar Association, Body Parts and Business As Usual tackle unions, suicide and mass murder respectively) with all the surrounding comedy, it makes the whole thing a much more discomforting experience. The Nagus is the first experimental step in this whole sub-genre and it brings an incredible amount of wit and humour (‘And the Andorian says…I thought it was your wife…’) to DS9 that was a little lacking in its first year. It stands out because it lets its hair down and it does so without falling flat on its face (move over Move Along Home).

The Nagus is one of those unique episodes of Star Trek (less so with DS9) that doesn’t give a damn about the politics of Starfleet and instead focuses squarely on an alien society and how they look at things. I find them very refreshing. To some this might not be at all what they watch Star Trek for, basking in the madness of a profit hungry race but as an alternative to the usual technobabble and red tape it is a luxurious ride. The scene where Rom is berated for sending his son to a human school run by a female whilst they are all ripping the heads off beetles for dinner is delightful – this is a society that is so different from our own with its own unique set of values. To a race of people who pride profit over all can you imagine a more lustful prospect than another quadrant of space rich with worlds to exploit? The only opportunity that rivals this is potentially conquering the market in the alternative universe, which the Nagus attempts to do in the final season of this show. The idea of people of important stature dying and being vacuum desiccated and sold as a prize collectable makes perfect sense to a society that priorities money. What use is a corpse in the ground? The idea is probably repugnant to them.

As early as series one, episode 10 we get our first mention of the Bajoran fire caves. Let it be noted because later down the line those caves become a very important feature of this show.

Character – One of the enduring friendships (amongst many) on this show is the unlikely pairing of a human (Jake) and a Ferengi (Nog). What’s wonderful about these early episodes is how well established that friendship becomes and how much it pays off later (in episodes like The Visitor, In the Cards, Valiant and It’s Only a Paper Moon). At this point Nog, who will later become the first Ferengi in Starfleet, cannot even read and Jake helps him to overcome that difficulty in a beautifully judged subplot. Watch the moment when they spot a Vulcan woman in a tight fitted catsuit walk the Promenade – they are transfixed as any boy reaching puberty would be. The only thing I ever saw Wesley Crusher get a hard on for was a warp coil.

At this stage Rom is still trying to behave like a normal Ferengi and is a bit of a bastard at times. Obviously, the writers haven’t decided to make him a real nice guy yet but that actually works in his favour because we learn over time that no matter how hard he tries he really isn’t an effective Ferengi, despite the fact that he tries so hard. Just before escorting him to his intended death, Rom asks Quark about the bar again and Quark pretty much signs his own death warrant by suggesting that he deserves so much and Rom deserves so little. The irony being he only had to display a moment of kindness and generosity here to prevent what is about to happen. The delight in this attempt on his life is that Quark isn’t angry at all, he promotes Rom to reward him for such brilliant deviousness.

Performance – Wallace Shawn gives one of the most distinctive performances of all time as The Grand Nagus. Effectively a character that has skipped straight out of The Simpsons, he is big, bold and broad. With a crazy infectious laugh, a squeaky voice and a penchant for booze, women and profit, the Nagus sticks with the show until the penultimate episode and provides some unforgettable laughs along the way. His ‘death’ scene has to be seen to believed.

This is the quiet, understated Sisko of season one. You know the one who doesn’t have the fate of the entire Alpha Quadrant on his shoulders. Avery Brooks gets to play up to the strengths of his early characterisation here; the family man navigating single parenthood with a son who knows his own mind.

Production – The make up for the Nagus is so outrageously overdone you can only admire the audacity of it. A wizened Ferengi with crazy ear hair sprouting out, he’s such a caricature of an old man that I howl every time he appears.

It’s another one of those rare Doctor Who/Star Trek crossovers. The music for this episode was scored by John Debney, who also provided the soundtrack for the Doctor Who TV Movie. Both scores are very effective and quite unusual for their respective shows. I particularly like the music at the climax here where Quark is being led to his death, it has a heavy piano influence that is very unusual in Star Trek.

Best moment – It’s one of the rarest kinds of twists in a Star Trek episode – the comic surprise. The Nagus is alive and this has all been a test for his son, rather than an opportunity for Quark. Again, if you have been paying attention to the culture this makes perfect sense of everything that has played out and the Nagus’ reveal proves to be a brilliant moment. ‘It’s like talking to a Klingon!’

I wish they hadn’t done that – I don’t know if I should applaud this episode for making such an obvious homage to The Godfather in the scene where Quark is handing out profitable assignments or not.

A reason to watch this episode again – The first venture into Ferengi culture on DS9 is an enormous success and was enough to convince the producers that this sub-genre of episodes was worth pursuing. Armin Shimmerman is such a positive presence on the show that he deserved this vehicle and with plenty of laughs and debauchery thrown in this is unlike anything we have seen in Trek before this. DS9 always did like to shine a light on the darker corners of life in the future and how ironic that the first out and out comedy episode should be the one to feature financial exploitation, masturbatory holodeck programmes, alcoholism, assassination attempts and fratricide. It’s a sleazy place at times, DS9, and that’s usually down to Quark.

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

Clue for tomorrow's episode: 

The Thirteenth Doctor

The Woman Who Fell to Earth - 8/10
The Ghost Monument - 6/10 
Rosa - 9/10
Arachnids in the UK - 6/10
The Tsuranga Conundrum - 7/10
Demons of the Punjab - 9/10
Kerblam! - 8/10
The Witchfinders - 8/10
It Takes You Away - 9/10
The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos - 6/10
Resolution - 9/10
Spyfall Part One - 9/10
Spyfall Part Two - 9/10
Orphan 55 - 7/10
Nikolai Tesla's Night  of Terror - 8/10
Fugitive of the Judoon - 10/10
Praxeus - 8/10
Can You Hear Me? - 9/10 
The Haunting of Villa Diodati - 10/10
Ascension of the Cybermen - 8/10 
          

TNG - Genesis

Plot – Genesis feels like any number of Voyager whacky science episodes (Threshold is a great example) and you have to wonder if Brannon Braga thought this episode was enough of a success to use as a template on the next Trek show he was going to have a huge influence on. Its rationale is simplistic in the extreme and is waved aside by a few lines of medical babble so the writer can get on with the freaky stuff like Barclay the Spider and Troi the Newt. What Data and Picard are talking about is pure nonsense but it just goes to show that if you get decent actors to deliver dialogue in an appropriately grave and realistic way you can convince an audience of anything. Almost. What this essentially boils down to is Picard and Data exploring a darkened Enterprise from 30 minutes with the occasion flash of a decent make up making an appearance. It feels like one of the longest episodes I have ever watched.

Character – I realise Reg is a total hypochondriac but I have to question Dr Bev’s bedside manner when she fails to comfort a patient who is clearly perturbed in favour of purring over a cat that’s due to drop a litter of kittens. The idea is to show us a busy day in Sickbay with Command Officers playing the fool in their day to day lives with their lives, worry worts checking up on medical databases and self-diagnosing, dealing with feline pregnancy and learning that a member of the team is pregnant. It does have a certain hustle and bustle to it.

Performance – Only Dwight Schultz is going for it when it comes to really suggesting an alien instinct is controlling his mind. He’s gabbling dialogue and twitchy movements do suggest that something on a fundamental level is wrong. However, it is so hilariously over the top I can barely watch through my fingers.

Patrick Stewart does everything that Genesis asks of him but I can’t help but detect a heaviness to his performance here. It’s as though he has looked around at the madness going on and thought ‘what on earth am I doing here?’

Production – There are a few shock moments that genuinely live up to that title. Dr Bev being sprayed with Worf’s venom is done in such a flash that the result made my heart skip faster. The sight of the bloodied crewman sitting at Ops alone on the darkened Bridge is memorable.

A huge round of applause to the makeup team who are the only people that walk away from this episode with their reputation intact (not even the show manages that). Those gill flaps on Troi’s neck are extraordinarily convincing.

Best moment – Reg and Data discussing the father of Spot’s babies is exactly the sort of sweet nonsense that this show pulled off so well. Data sounds like every anxious parent when he says he is going scan the kittens when they are born and find just which of the make cats on board are the father.

Worst moment – This is pure b-movie Trek of the lowest kind of intelligence. What an episode like Genesis needs is a seasoned Trek director at the helm and one who has an intimate knowledge of the actors and the ability to tell them to tone it down a little bit. Scenes of Worf tearing about a carcass at dinner and dashing about his quarters turning into a ruddy great monster couldn’t ever be filmed in a subtle way but Gates McFadden (in her one and only assignment) chooses to get the camera right down his throat which makes for hilarious and humiliating viewing. It’s never a good thing when you feel sorry for the actors in what they are being asked to do.

‘I need a bath. You have the bridge’ – is it that inessential that a command officer is on the Bridge that a crewmember can just pop off an get in a bath?

I wish they hadn’t done that – What is it about the ship bound Trek shows that refuse to portray characters in relationships but then take the plunge at the eleventh-hour. I’ll leave you to decide whether Troi and Worf or Seven and Chakotay is the least convincing of these but the former is on display here and exposes everything that was wrong with the idea; from conception to execution. Troi and Worf are two characters that simply are not supposed to have a romance, they are hideously mismatched, have zero in common and the chemistry between the actors is non-existent. You compare this to the razor-sharp wit and sexual chemistry between Dax and Worf and it is even more apparent.

A reason to watch this episode again – Genesis is so uncomfortable to watch it feels as though I have skipped back to the first season again. Ridiculous, out of control performances, a goofy premise (possibly the goofiest on TNG), a poor production and a reliance on cheap shocks to keep the audience interested. I love a good b-movie when it is done particularly badly but this has just about the right level of TNG competence to keep it in the vanilla zone. The moment when Troi starts bathing with her clothes and Worf invades her quarters and bites her in the face I think might be the scene where season seven of TNG officially jumped the shark. The moment when Picard and Data investigate Reg Barclay, Spider-Man and Troi the Amphibian I thought I had taken a dose of mind-altering drugs that I could never make a return from. When Spot the Cat turned into a Newt with a pink collar I was certain of it. I can’t even enjoy this as a guilty pleasure. It’s like that moment after you’ve had a wank and sit there looking at your hand thinking ‘what the fuck am I doing?’ It’s 45 minutes of that. The cheapest, trashiest Trek ever.

½ out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode: 

Ascension of the Cybermen written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone

Oh Brilliant: Interesting to see that when she is facing an impossible situation and one of her oldest foes that Whittaker’s Doctor drops her smiles and becomes panicked, snappy, desperate and out of control. I love the contrast here with how she normally plays the part because it makes the situation seem far more tense and anxious than normal because the Doctor is reacting to it in such an extreme manner. When they land in the Cyber Wars, the Doctor is faced with having to try and keep her companions alive in a situation where her technology is useless and she cannot get them back to the TARDIS. It’s great that the Doctor is throwing herself into action at the deep end to try and salvage a mess that she has already made. Very often these penultimate episodes see the Doctor and co just showing up on their adventures and being swept up in events that have been tied into the season but this time they are a team on a mission. This is a Doctor who has always had time for people but facing an imminent Cyber-attack and she spits ‘I don’t need your life story!’ When the chips are down she orders her friends to safety with the caveat of ‘this isn’t a discussion.’ She’s the only one of the four of them who knows how nasty it gets with the Cybermen and she berates herself for bringing them along and risking their lives in such a deadly scenario. Can I draw your attention to scene where the Doctor hotwires a Cyberfighter. Not only is it a supremely cool idea but watch at how adept Whittaker is now at these kinds of monologues. It’s effortless now where this kind of scene felt laboured in her first year. It makes me salivate for what we might get from her in her third season. The scenes between the Doctor and Ashad parallel those of Resolution where she had scenes over hologram with the Dalek and what really stands out is how she has lost the smugness and a little of the sparkle from her eyes. The universe has given her a beating this year and there’s less of a sense that she is in control and more that she is desperately making it up. With series 12, both Chibnall and Whittaker have raised the bar of the series both in terms of the type of performance she can give and the sort of material that the 13th Doctor is getting. Whittaker has been exceptional all year but the stakes have been raised here and she raising her game even further with them. I think it is no exaggeration to say she has, through her talent, made this season one to remember.

Graham, Ryan and Yaz: Weirdly enough given the situations of peril that they have been in over the past two seasons, this was the first time I felt that the Fam was genuinely in danger and with no hope of survival. Chibnall lets them enter the story all piss and vinegar, with technology that looks like it might bring the Cybermen to their knees and within ten minutes all that bluster is swept aside and they are running for their lives. Suddenly the danger is very real and the Doctor is screaming at her friends to get away from the fight as swiftly as possible…or die. It’s a shame that this is the Fam’s second season rather than their first because in the latter half of this year (since Praxeus) suddenly the writing team have figured out how to give all three companions a slice of the action without anyone feeling short changed. Not only that they all feel essential and useful by this point, as exemplified by their individual chats with the human survivors and the weapons they have brought to bring down the Cybermen. It’s almost as though Chibnall has been listening to feedback from last year and how Graham and Yaz barely spent any time interacting because they are separated from the Doctor and Ryan here and prove to be quite the formidable force together. They have been paying attention on their travels and know enough to get Ravio’s ship into the Cyber Warship…although that is really taking them into the lion’s den.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘The Cybermen were defeated. The victors of a billion battles, broken. An empire of might and terror, fallen.’
‘This planet, this time period…we’re in the very far future. Immediately aftermath of the CyberWars. Cybermen have hunted down and wiped out the majority of the human race. Sorry, it was never a good time to break that news to you.’
‘You’re human. If they capture you, they’ll convert you.’
‘I didn’t expect you to take it that well. I’ll have to bill you for therapy at this rate.’
‘We’re carrying Cyberman that makes other Cybermen scream.’

The Good: The cold open is one of the best, a minefield of Cybermen parts floating through space at the end of the Cyber Wars finally resting on a soulless head that leers straight towards the camera. It is a crushing indication of how far the Cybermen have fallen at this point, nothing but spare parts hanging in space. It’s exactly what Revenge of the Cybermen was trying to depict, an army of automatons that has been brought to its knees and on the verge of extinction and with the desire to crush mankind and rise again. Ascension of the Cybermen manages to show what a terrifying force the Cybermen are when they are desperate, rather the Revenge’s effort which served to show a force that was easy to bring down and embarrassing to fight. These Cybermen are clever, nasty and brutal. They are determined to see their Empire back at its height and they have the tools to do so now. It’s the chilling premise that this entire episode is built on. Ashad continues to be their mouthpiece, a partially converted Cyberman who was a nasty character before he was converted and somebody who can butt heads with the Doctor in some gripping scenes. When the setting for your story is the last remaining settlement on this side of the galaxy and it consists of the last seven humans then I’d say the stakes are pretty high to try and keep them alive. You can’t have a resistance without anyone to resist. I still haven’t forgiven Julie Graham for what she put Sarah Jane through in the fourth series of SJA…and she proves to be just as adept at handling a very different character here. A tough refugee from the CyberWars, this part needed somebody who was convincing enough to be desperate and yet commanding enough to want to fight back. Graham does a lot with very little characterisation and I don’t think that that is necessarily a problem because (and this is just a hunch) I think the truth about this character is going to be a lot more exciting than is depicted here. I have a feeling that Ravio is going to be a major player in the last episode, and perhaps not as friendly as we have been led to believe. That ship of hers is very hexagonal, isn’t it? I’d like to take a step back from the plot and mention how stunning the production values have been this year and for this episode in particular. The direction of the show has been taken to a whole new level with series 12 and as this is a (mostly) action set piece let me say that the show looks more like a movie for television than it ever has before. The big set pieces are brilliantly staged with fire and brimstone and at points I was convinced that not everybody was going to make it out alive. The tone is pure panic and it takes some skill to successfully portray pandemonium on such a scale. The location work looks gritty and memorable, the Cyberman ship is a wonderfully gothic and epic environment and action in the various spaceships as they dash to the Boundary is well paced and claustrophobic. Jamie Magnus Stone is quite a find and I hope we see him back next year. Patrick O’Kane continues to be a formidable presence as Ashad, providing the Cybermen with a frightening mouthpiece with which to issue their threats. It’s what they often lack (and I guess what they were trying to go with in Rise of the Cybermen and John Lumic and failing), coming across as an entirely robotic (and not very interesting) force. This half-finished monstrosity manages to capture the horror of the Cybermen and give them an emotional advantage at the same time. Bravo. Graham and Ravio walking around the deserted Cybership and discovering the ranks of foot soldiers waiting to be activated gave me a chilling reminder of Earthshock, albeit with the shows powerful new cinematography. The new Cyberdesign, a hybrid of classic and modern designs, is a triumph because it pleases both crowds. I like the fact that we get to see the RTD Cybermen, Ashad and a brand-new design in one story. Like The Doctor Falls, there is a feeling that different Cybermen were created for different battles but they can all come together for a common cause. When you realise there are several thousand Cybermen on this ship it is a great ‘oh fuck’ moment. I said it out loud, which earned me a look from Ludo.

I’ve heard people commenting that the Brendan subplot has irritated some people and intrigued others and it stands out because it is entirely separate from the main storyline and yet eats up a fair amount of screen time. Obviously, this is hugely relevant to the finale but what I liked was how it was a fascinating little mini story in its own right. It shows how far Chibnall has come in a season because it is a subplot that is full of great character moments, warmth and shocking twists, a far cry from the dry and dusty action of Av Kolos. Who is Brendan? Why is he on earth? Why does he seem to have Captain Jack style regenerative powers? Why does his father turn at the climax to this narrative and abuse him at the end of his life? We don’t know where this is going and that is both unsatisfying and really exciting…so I guess that means that both camps are right. What really stands out is the terrific acting of all the guest actors in this narrative cul de sac, the gorgeous Irish themed music and how they manage to convincingly portray Brendan ageing across his entire life in the space of 45 minutes. It’s a story with pace and realism and yet still has room to breathe.

The Bad: The Cyberdrones continue a very famous Doctor Who tradition of having opponents that are both comical and terrifying. The way these Cyber-heads swoop into action made me want to stifle a giggle but at the same time I was impressed at the absolute carnage they managed to cause. The POV shots are awesomely realised and how they reduce the Doctor’s defences to nothing in a matter of seconds left me breathless. It’s a direct steal from the Toclafane, continuing Chibnall’s obsession with series three this season.

The Shallow Bit: 30 seconds of the Master and my tummy is butterflies. Damn him.

Result: ‘The death of everything is within me…’ Part Earthshock, part The Sound of Drums but with a grim and unrelenting tone unlike either of them, Ascension of the Cybermen is a gripping and lead into the finale and a fine piece of action drama in its own right. It’s a story that brings some real muscle and monstrousness back to the Cybermen in a way we haven’t seen since their Troughton heyday and their revival in Davison’s first season. I’ve found the way they have been treated during the new series to be largely disappointing, portrayed as stompy drones and easily defeated. By setting this at the fag end of their Empire, by bringing in Ashad as a mouthpiece (think Locutus of Borg but far more vicious) and by showing how their numbers could so easily swell and swarm again, Chibnall has managed to achieve the impossible for me – turning the Cybermen into a genuinely formidable force. We’re off Earth, which is a god damn miracle this season and there is a feeling of being lost in a really exciting outer space adventure, which we haven’t had since Moffat’s era. You can get lost in this kind of story and completely forget the world around you. Some of the imagery is unforgettable. In particular I love the slow pan back to reveal the bits of Cyberman floating through space and bashing against the hull of Ravio’s ship, the Cybermen that scream as they are upgraded and the Cyberdrones have to be seen to be believed. This isn’t paced like your usual penultimate episode. Normally they build in momentum and reach desperation point at the climax (think Army of Ghosts, The Sound of Drums, The Pandorica Opens and The World Enough and Time) whereas this is more like half of a story that plays out with a sudden cliff-hanger that leaps out of nowhere. More than all the others I’m sure the real effectiveness of this episode will ride on the conclusion. But Ascension of the Cybermen remains a superior slice of action Who with a palpable atmosphere and tense and stifling scenes throughout. If Chibnall wanted to show how far he has come since Av Kolos, then this episode shows that he is upping the stakes and then some and he’s throwing characters I have come to really care about in extreme peril. Almost relentlessly exciting, with a terrific reunion in the last 30 seconds: 8/10