Post by Paul McDermott on Dec 17, 2013 2:44:59 GMT
Patience, Mr Kent!
I think I must have taken that advice to heart, because I've only just got done with Web ep 1 since the big return back in October.
Been a bit of a Camfield festival here, finally catching up on Zygons too. What a talent he had, truly!
It's Web where we see UNIT begin to come into view, with a far less self assured Colonel who'll become such a familiar figure in later years.
But it's not just this aspect of the show's future the viewer can catch a glimpse of, watching Web.
Look at the part of ep 1 that might well be called The Horror Of Silverstein Manor.
See the majestic use of lighting, camera angles, set design, music, all serving the actors working with a truly first-rate script to create a mesmerising performance, a chilling portent of approaching doom! Note how well it evokes the best aspects of film noir, of classic horror that towers above the pathetic shallowness of torture and gore movies all too frequent now.
Then recall who was surely watching at the time, and wonder. We know Bob Holmes was interested in Who at this time. Did he see it? Did Philip Hinchcliffe?
Might they not have thought, what a fruitful line of possibility to play with, should fate see them instated in positions of authority on Who?
I like to think this was so, just as that the kids riveted to the screen were as delighted by the Pertwee era as the one that followed, precisely because both gel so well in the example of Web.
In less capable hands, Web could have been a frightful mess, a dull retread of a recently seen monster and plenty of studio.
Instead, I think Camfield gave Who two new and different leases on life, that production teams of the future used to reinvigorate the series, resulting in both popular and critical acclaim. It's terrific that there's a book out on Bob Holmes now (A Life In Words by Richard Molesworth) and I hope in due course that Dougie gets his own too. The better we understand our past, the better we can give credit where due to those who made the present, and the more likely we can learn from their choices to best honour their legacy into the future.
The carry-over in the console room from Enemy suggests something that, like proper cliffhangers and self-contained scripts, the current era cheapened by ditching: the idea that travel by TARDIS is something neither reliable nor convenient, but a risk, a danger, both a marvel and an adventure in itself, with no guarantees. The worrying prospect of mishap or mysterious malevolence en route to who knows where and when, shown by the web engulfing the TARDIS in mid-flight, like the perilous scrape with the open doors upon dematerialization, should be commonplace but traded against the wonders and thrills of each new destination. Like this:
VICTORIA: Well, where are we?
DOCTOR: I really don't know, Victoria. Shall we go out and have a look?
VICTORIA: Now, is it safe?
DOCTOR: Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment. Jamie, I think we're going to need torches.
Otherwise, one gets the sense that the TARDIS is basically a kooky taxi, though perhaps this explains the '05 logo and the Ninth's "do you want to come with me?" pitch...
Once again, the regulars are on top form. Pat and Fraz are a riot to watch, and clearly the best of friends.
(The Doctor is sitting on the floor working on a control box. Victoria is sitting next to him. Jamie hands over a component.)
JAMIE: That's the only one I could find.
DOCTOR: Oh. Oh yes, that'll do, Jamie, I think. Just get that in there and that'll be excellent. There we are, that should work.
(The Doctor hands the box up to Jamie.)
JAMIE: What does it do?
DOCTOR: Oh, nothing.
JAMIE: Oh, no.
The way Jamie just drops it to the floor without looking, you know that the 500 year diary is full of these sort of exchanges! (Explains his amusement at Colin's ladder mishap in Seville, I think!)
The pair of them could also have handily given Hurndall a masterclass in sandwich eating, too!
Especially funny was Jamie's being prompted to notice and approve of Victoria's new fab gear, now more in keeping with the Doctor's style. So much for the girlfriend cover story in Enemy!
Jack Watling once again is a lot of fun. Imagine if the cuddly codger Wilf who we saw with Tennant had instead been a cantankerous coot like the old Professor Travers! Sadly, not allowed...
I wonder if Anne Travers helped in an advisory capacity to oversee the formation of UNIT. Maybe she recalled Liz Shaw from a dissertation she supervised, and passed her name on to the Brig!
How does the Great Intelligence ship the Yeti robots and associated knickknacks to Earth? Maybe like that other semi-supernatural web slinger the spiders of Metebelis, mental power suffices?
Hopefully I'm not the only one who, when seeing the inert Yeti on screen, just after the Doctor wonders where the TARDIS will land, cried out "Tooting Bec"?
Did the kids watching Web on the original broadcast know that it was going to be set in the Underground? I think the teaser at the end of Enemy may have given things away, but for those who missed it, I wonder if it came as a welcome surprise? Certainly, going home by train was suddenly made a lot more exciting! On the other hand, maybe some of the viewers were hoping for Jamie to finally get back to Scotland just once, hoping the TARDIS had landed in an old castle? Watching it from this remove, it's hard to imagine setting Web anywhere other than the Tube now.
The web pulsating on the credits was a lovely touch, at once rewarding the viewers for paying respect and attention as the names of the show's makers went by at a pace that was perfectly readable (unlike today's brisk whizzing through, usually with tiny fonts and squashed in a box next to a promotion for some unrelated garbage up next with intrusive voice-over to match), and at the same time adding an extra creepy dimension to viewing for the younger audience: "Mum, the Yeti's got control of the telly like in the TARDIS!"
Perhaps it's already been done as a fan edit, but I think it would have been very disorienting, even downright spooky, if Hartnell was well enough and had been asked back to play Jack Woolgar's part. It could be a distraction and unless used in the course of the story for a very good reason, surely a mistake. But as only Pat would know something was awry, it could have made things a little creepier if what looked like an earlier version of himself was walking around, apparently going about the villain's business. Hartnell could do the army tough guy in his sleep, but his turns at being sinister would potentially keep things a little more exciting for him. Is he a fake, the son of Doctor Who, the original up to something, what? Maybe Season 6B could cover it!
I think I must have taken that advice to heart, because I've only just got done with Web ep 1 since the big return back in October.
Been a bit of a Camfield festival here, finally catching up on Zygons too. What a talent he had, truly!
It's Web where we see UNIT begin to come into view, with a far less self assured Colonel who'll become such a familiar figure in later years.
But it's not just this aspect of the show's future the viewer can catch a glimpse of, watching Web.
Look at the part of ep 1 that might well be called The Horror Of Silverstein Manor.
See the majestic use of lighting, camera angles, set design, music, all serving the actors working with a truly first-rate script to create a mesmerising performance, a chilling portent of approaching doom! Note how well it evokes the best aspects of film noir, of classic horror that towers above the pathetic shallowness of torture and gore movies all too frequent now.
Then recall who was surely watching at the time, and wonder. We know Bob Holmes was interested in Who at this time. Did he see it? Did Philip Hinchcliffe?
Might they not have thought, what a fruitful line of possibility to play with, should fate see them instated in positions of authority on Who?
I like to think this was so, just as that the kids riveted to the screen were as delighted by the Pertwee era as the one that followed, precisely because both gel so well in the example of Web.
In less capable hands, Web could have been a frightful mess, a dull retread of a recently seen monster and plenty of studio.
Instead, I think Camfield gave Who two new and different leases on life, that production teams of the future used to reinvigorate the series, resulting in both popular and critical acclaim. It's terrific that there's a book out on Bob Holmes now (A Life In Words by Richard Molesworth) and I hope in due course that Dougie gets his own too. The better we understand our past, the better we can give credit where due to those who made the present, and the more likely we can learn from their choices to best honour their legacy into the future.
The carry-over in the console room from Enemy suggests something that, like proper cliffhangers and self-contained scripts, the current era cheapened by ditching: the idea that travel by TARDIS is something neither reliable nor convenient, but a risk, a danger, both a marvel and an adventure in itself, with no guarantees. The worrying prospect of mishap or mysterious malevolence en route to who knows where and when, shown by the web engulfing the TARDIS in mid-flight, like the perilous scrape with the open doors upon dematerialization, should be commonplace but traded against the wonders and thrills of each new destination. Like this:
VICTORIA: Well, where are we?
DOCTOR: I really don't know, Victoria. Shall we go out and have a look?
VICTORIA: Now, is it safe?
DOCTOR: Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment. Jamie, I think we're going to need torches.
Otherwise, one gets the sense that the TARDIS is basically a kooky taxi, though perhaps this explains the '05 logo and the Ninth's "do you want to come with me?" pitch...
Once again, the regulars are on top form. Pat and Fraz are a riot to watch, and clearly the best of friends.
(The Doctor is sitting on the floor working on a control box. Victoria is sitting next to him. Jamie hands over a component.)
JAMIE: That's the only one I could find.
DOCTOR: Oh. Oh yes, that'll do, Jamie, I think. Just get that in there and that'll be excellent. There we are, that should work.
(The Doctor hands the box up to Jamie.)
JAMIE: What does it do?
DOCTOR: Oh, nothing.
JAMIE: Oh, no.
The way Jamie just drops it to the floor without looking, you know that the 500 year diary is full of these sort of exchanges! (Explains his amusement at Colin's ladder mishap in Seville, I think!)
The pair of them could also have handily given Hurndall a masterclass in sandwich eating, too!
Especially funny was Jamie's being prompted to notice and approve of Victoria's new fab gear, now more in keeping with the Doctor's style. So much for the girlfriend cover story in Enemy!
Jack Watling once again is a lot of fun. Imagine if the cuddly codger Wilf who we saw with Tennant had instead been a cantankerous coot like the old Professor Travers! Sadly, not allowed...
I wonder if Anne Travers helped in an advisory capacity to oversee the formation of UNIT. Maybe she recalled Liz Shaw from a dissertation she supervised, and passed her name on to the Brig!
How does the Great Intelligence ship the Yeti robots and associated knickknacks to Earth? Maybe like that other semi-supernatural web slinger the spiders of Metebelis, mental power suffices?
Hopefully I'm not the only one who, when seeing the inert Yeti on screen, just after the Doctor wonders where the TARDIS will land, cried out "Tooting Bec"?
Did the kids watching Web on the original broadcast know that it was going to be set in the Underground? I think the teaser at the end of Enemy may have given things away, but for those who missed it, I wonder if it came as a welcome surprise? Certainly, going home by train was suddenly made a lot more exciting! On the other hand, maybe some of the viewers were hoping for Jamie to finally get back to Scotland just once, hoping the TARDIS had landed in an old castle? Watching it from this remove, it's hard to imagine setting Web anywhere other than the Tube now.
The web pulsating on the credits was a lovely touch, at once rewarding the viewers for paying respect and attention as the names of the show's makers went by at a pace that was perfectly readable (unlike today's brisk whizzing through, usually with tiny fonts and squashed in a box next to a promotion for some unrelated garbage up next with intrusive voice-over to match), and at the same time adding an extra creepy dimension to viewing for the younger audience: "Mum, the Yeti's got control of the telly like in the TARDIS!"
Perhaps it's already been done as a fan edit, but I think it would have been very disorienting, even downright spooky, if Hartnell was well enough and had been asked back to play Jack Woolgar's part. It could be a distraction and unless used in the course of the story for a very good reason, surely a mistake. But as only Pat would know something was awry, it could have made things a little creepier if what looked like an earlier version of himself was walking around, apparently going about the villain's business. Hartnell could do the army tough guy in his sleep, but his turns at being sinister would potentially keep things a little more exciting for him. Is he a fake, the son of Doctor Who, the original up to something, what? Maybe Season 6B could cover it!