"Definitely Not Dr Who" S/D?

I heard excellent things about The Stranger stories but then again I don't really trust fandom.

Sod it, I'll definitely watch one, but I want to see Shakedown as well.

Davison's role in At Home with the Braithwaites couldn't possibly be any less Doctorish. I love that fact.

Sontarans give me the shits.

Interesting indeed to see how the return of the Autons in the new series - or so we hear - will differ. :)

P.R.O.B.E. - The Zero Imperative

Stars Caroline John, Louise Jameson, Linda Lusardi, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, Mark Gatiss

P.R.O.B.E. is investigating a series of murders (with suspicious circumstances, including strange temperature drops) which appear to centre on a psychiatric hospital run by Dr Dove (McCoy), which is mysteriously saved from closure by Captain Of Industry Peter Russell (Baker). Dr Bruffin (Gatiss) recalls the horrific death of an inmate and hypothesises there may be some link. He tries to find out more through discussion with Dr O’Kane (Pertwee) who ran the clinic before Dr Dove. Liz Shaw (Caroline John, obviously) starts to make the connections, and is able to access the files of Patient Zero…

This rattles along at a fair old pace and is never less than competent throughout. Yes, you can work out the plot quite early on (I think I had worked it out after about 20 minutes) but this doesn’t detract from the reveal as there is enough additional babble to make the ending worthwhile. The Dove/Hearst romantic subplot is pointless, however, as it adds nothing and appears to be forgotten as quickly as it is raised. A lovely touching moment at the end when Pertwee hands Caroline John a cup of tea and she responds “Thank you, Doctor.”

P.R.O.B.E. - The Devil Of Winterborne

Stars Caroline John, Louise Jameson, Peter Davison, Terry Molloy, Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss

A teacher at Winterborne public school is murdered and mutilated, followed by the dog of another teacher. The investigation shouldn’t interfere too much with school life, however, as it’s the end of term and almost all the boys have gone home except Christian, Andrew and Luke. But why is the headmaster, Gavin Purcell (Davison) being obstructive? What does the simpleton gardener Georgie (Gatiss) know? And just what does founder of the school Isaac Greatorex have to do with all of it?

This is a cracking little story (and the first spin-off I ever saw, a few years ago now) with top performances all round, particularly from a superb Davison, acting completely against type. Jameson, as Patricia Haggard, actually gets a proper part this time and we begin to see properly the manoeuvring required to keep P.R.O.B.E. working. Molloy’s put upon D.I. Burke is perhaps underused, and a little incongruous, so it’s not too surprising he doesn’t return in later P.R.O.B.E. stories. I need to track down the ‘sequel’.

P.R.O.B.E. – Unnatural Selections

Stars Caroline John, Louise Jameson, Charles Kay, Geoffrey Beevers, Mark Gatiss

Dead bodies (with missing organs) are being found in the vicinity of the house of Dr Julius Quilter (Kay), where in his failing health he is attended by his companion, Emerson (Gatiss). Quilter was head of a secret research project named BEAGLE, along with Brian Rutherford (Beevers) who is now the Minister with responsibility for P.R.O.B.E., attempting to force human tissue to evolve. The intention was that if we were forced to evolve for whatever reason the Earth started becoming uninhabitable, we would understand the mechanism and could pre-empt it. BEAGLE had limited success, but the creation was destroyed when the project was disbanded. Wasn’t it?

Again, Gatiss turns up a predictable plot (I had worked out who was who – excuse the pun – 10 minutes in) but it’s so well written you don’t mind. The behind-the-scenes wrangling over P.R.O.B.E. is played to great effect here, and is the more enjoyable part of the piece. OK, the effects near the end aren’t the greatest, but are pretty good considering the budget and are probably as good as they need to be. I would offer that it’s the worst of the P.R.O.B.E. stories, but that all of them are at least as good as the first season of The X-Files (which it resembles far more closely than Who).
Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans

Stars Jan Chappell, Brian Croucher, Michael Wisher, Sophie Aldred, Carol Anne Ford

Lisa Deranne (Chappell) is captain of the solar yacht Tiger Moth, on shakedown cruise following a refit. Following a power failure which the engineer Robar (Wisher) is struggling to fix, she decides to try and force her temporary crew (the rest of the cast) to learn how to solar sail properly – them merely being the syndicate who own the yacht. Unfortunately, while the sails are out the ship is fired upon by an unknown vessel leaving them with no means of escape. They are boarded by a Sontaran party, looking for a spy…

This is excellent stuff, benefiting hugely (heretical as this may sound) from no ‘Doctor’ character, and at least in part by having a ‘proper’ Who writer (Terrance Dicks). With nobody to follow around, the plot is tighter and is forced to rely on developed characters. Special effects are at least as good as McCoy-era Who, not least with the particularly impressive Rutan. The model work is excellent as well, and hats off to whoever came up with the holographic control of the sails to save money – even if it does have ORAC powering it. In fact, the only downside to the entire thing is Sophie Aldred who is rubbish throughout – but then I always hated Ace anyway, so that may be my prejudices showing. Some people may not appreciate Tom Finnis’ comedy Sontaran, but I found him inoffensive and without him you wouldn’t have had one of the greatest comedy moments in cinema ever – a Sontaran doing a Slow Burn.

Auton

Stars Michael Wade, Reece Shearsmith, Bryonie Prichard, George Telfer, Andrew Fettes

Dr Sally Arnold (Pritchard) is working on a mysterious artefact at a U.N.I.T warehouse. During her experiments she is interrupted by the storeman Winslet (Telfer) who, as she requested, has found several other crates marked with the same code. As he explains to her that some of them are marked with the word AUTON, the item she is subjecting to radio waves explodes violently…

The first Who spin-off with no ex-Who actors in it (Nicholas Courtney was due to play the Brigadier but fell ill, forcing Nicholas Briggs to write Wade’s character of Lockwood), but none the worse for the experience, AUTON works well as a limited set production (the lab, the warehouse, the secure room). AUTONs and the Nestene Consciousness was/is my favourite Who monster anyway, so maybe I’m biased, but I loved this. Yes, some of the effects aren’t up to much (the overuse of seedless jam, watching Winslet punch through some cling film) and the ‘mystic’ elements of Lockwood jar slightly and make him seem a bit too much like a Doctor analogue (he’s like a mix of the 4th and 7th Doctors – arch and sinister, fiercely sarcastic and biting) but there’s more than enough tension to go around and it never seems tired or predictable – there’s even a not-so-subtle reference to the Who AUTON stories…

AUTON 2: Sentinel

Stars Michael Wade, Bryonie Prichard, George Telfer, Andrew Fettes, Jo Castleton, John Wadmore

The escaped Nestene from the first (damn, gave it away, but you suspected it because there was a sequel, right?) recaptures the AUTONs and takes them to an island off the South coast. But why? Did Lockwood really sign the papers for the transfer of the AUTONs when he was supposed to have them destroyed – and is this why he’s being investigated by Natasha Alexander (Castleton)?

In parts, this is great – though the ‘psychic’ Natasha annoys me intensely, as do the attempts to bolt on faux-mysticism (I begin to switch off at the first mention of Ley Lines) – but when it actually deals with the plot it’s quite superb, albeit in a pseudo-Wicker-Man-meets-HPL/Dagon way. Lockwood isn’t as good as in the first one but is still the best actor in it, although I would have liked to have seen more of the Sally Arnold character (and would suggest that if she had been more prominent we wouldn’t have needed the psychic at all). Above all of this are the effects, however. As good as needed for the most part, but the Nestene creature at the dénouement is better realised than any effect I think I’ve seen on Who. No kidding. I need to track down the third part now to find out how this ends.

I believe it's the first episode! Hopefully it piques my wife's interest, so she doesn't whinge whenever it's on like she does now.

War Time

Stars John Levene, Michael Wisher.

Warrant Officer Benton (Levene) is delivering a radioactive cargo under U.N.I.T. escort when he is distracted by visions of his father (Wisher) and brother. Can he overcome the ghosts of his past?

Although well acted, this is utterly wtf?!!1!! in places. There is no explanation for what causes the mystery ghost or mental problems Benton is having, and it doesn’t get solved it just stops. At one point, Wisher sounds just like Davros. There are some nice, quite trippy, halucination effects throughout but the ‘radioactive escort’ plot is utterly bolt-on, to say nothing of how crap foiling it at the end is. Not the best, but is the very first (so can possibly be excused slightly).

Downtime

Stars Nicholas Courtney, Elizabeth Sladen, Deborah Watling, Jack Watling, John Leeson

Sarah Jane Smith (Sladen) is hired by Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) to investigate what has happened to several people. She has tracked them all down except Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Courtney) – although it is apparent she is fully aware of how to contact him – which is unsurprising as he is having a conversation with one of his former students in some kind of astral plane; a student currently at Waterfield’s New World University. What does he know? Who is the locus?

This is easily as good as anything from the McCoy era, with a comparable level of effects. It’s more or less a sequel to The Web Of Fear, but featuring elements of plot from The Abominable Snowman. Basically, the Great Intelligence is back and trying to control London again replete with Yetis in the streets. Recast in the internet age, the story is simultaneously more menacing and a bit less believable but works perfectly well. The whole Brigadier/daughter/grandson thing is a bit overplayed, despite it being the entry point for the McGuffin, but it’s pretty much the only fault with it.

Mindgame

Stars Sophie Aldred, Miles Richardson, Toby Aspin, Bryan Robson

An ‘alien’ (Robson) puts a human (Aldred), a Draconian (Richardson) and a Sontaran (Aspin) in a cell together as an experiment.

While not being nearly as bad as its reputation, Mindgame is pretty poor. Aldred is rubbish, Robson’s alien is as bad as the Destroyer from Battlefield and Aspin ruins the good work he did in Sontaran characterisation for Shakedown by being awful in this. Terrance Dicks’ script struggles manfully on but benefits hugely by having some of the most cringeworthy stuff excised due to time constraints. There are strong insinuations in this that Aldred’s character is Ace.

The Stranger: More Than A Messiah

Stars Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Sophie Aldred

The Stranger (Baker) and Miss Brown (Bryant) are stranded on a holiday planet where people go to get back to nature. Trouble is, they keep going missing – as does their spaceport. Who is the mysterious girl that lives in a cave?

The origin of this is clear for all to see – it was a fan audio play for the 6th Doctor which was made as part of the BBC Film Club after Who was cancelled – as it is clearly The Doctor and Peri (in fact, an outright reference to The Doctor survives into the final script. Yet again, Aldred is utter rubbish but everyone else is good and the plot isn’t bad at all (reminiscent perhaps of the 3rd Doctor’s Earthbound era, what with the environmental tone it shares with, say The Green Death ). Good use of Cheddar Gorge, bad use of Colin Baker half-naked. I look forward to the other Stranger films (or at least the others of the first three, which are the most Who-like).

Stars Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Michael Wisher

Miss Brown (Bryant) leaves the Stranger (Baker) in the desert and turns up at a house where a cocktail party is taking place. A deaf-mute convinces the Stranger he should help find some missing people, and they are captured by an alien (Wisher) who is trying to get off the planet.

Probably the most successful Stranger film, not least because it’s easy to imagine it taking place directly after Trial Of A Time Lord, with the Doctor having recovered Peri (after the revelation she isn’t dead after all). The plot is coherent and everybody puts in a decent performance. The Stranger shows electronics knowledge which is suspiciously Doctor-like to good effect.

The Stranger: In Memory Alone

Stars Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Nicholas Briggs

Miss Brown finds herself on a railway platform, where she meets a strangely dressed ‘businessman’ (Briggs) who is determined she should get to work. Following some tampering by the Stranger (Baker) the train, when it arrives, vanishes seconds after he gets off it. They try to find out how to leave the station, and where the businessman and the flying robot fit into it.

Very much a bridging piece between the first Stranger arc and the second, In Memory Alone is only moderately successful. This is in no small part down to Briggs shoehorning himself in, slightly unbelievably, into most scenes often with failed comedic intent. Again though, we have a technically competent ‘Doctor’ and a good premise – but perhaps this should be considered more one of the second arc than the first.

The Stranger: The Terror Game

Stars Colin Baker, David Troughton, John Wadmore, Louise Jameson, Nicholas Briggs

Egan (Troughton) and Saul (Wadmore) are looking for Raven (Briggs). They find he runs a nightclub, aided by Tamora Hennesy (Jameson), which the Stranger/Solomon (Baker) finds himself outside, curious as to why he is there, very disorientated and with no memory. How do Egan and Saul know Solomon?

Another bridging piece, but one which more sense if In Memory Alone changes arcs. The whole backstory and the sudden reveal of it actually makes a fair bit of sense, but Briggs overstretches slightly with the Raven link he makes. Baker is excellent though.

The Stranger: Breach Of The Peace

Stars Colin Baker, David Troughton, John Wadmore, Caroline John, Nicholas Briggs

Egan (Troughton) and Saul (Wadmore) are posing as police officers in an attempt to find Solomon (Baker), who they believe is preventing them from escaping following the previous mission. Unfortunately, the station they’re working out of is the same one currently investigating a pornography ring – which just happens to be run from the nightclub run by Raven. Security videos show a murder…

This is definitely on track and heading towards a conclusion, and feels like an episode in a series. Perhaps Solomon’s blending in is all a little to convenient but it does work. Wadmore continues to annoy me though. His Saul is an utterly ludicrous stereotype of someone that appears not even to have a place in the story (the good cop/bad cop routine with Egan?) and his acting is barely passable. A final plot is probably all it has in it, but will be worth watching.

The Stranger: Eye Of The Beholder

Stars Colin Baker, David Troughton, John Wadmore, Alison Troughton, Geoffrey Beevers

Having moved through the Breach at the end of Breach Of The Peace, Saul and Solomon are separated from Egan. He materialises in a barn, where he is shot by Shield/Shiela (Troughton). She uses the military contacts she has to cover up the fact she has shot a policeman, while maintaining the covertness of the experiments Hunter (Beevers) is conducting. The problem is, have his investigations into The Web gone too far, and attracted the attention of the Preceptors?

The Stranger saga was obviously hurtling towards a conclusion, and this goes most of the way towards it. It holds up well in context of the Stranger universe, and ties all the loose ends up (apart from the conclusion, which is... well... inconclusive) competently - even if it does hammer home "oh, look at the irony as Egan is presented with the same problems as Soloman in previous episodes" far too heavily. Plus, who'd have thought of David Troughton as a sex symbol, EVER? It's either the best of the final three or the worst. I haven't decided yet.

Stars Nicola Bryant, Alan Cumming, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Briggs, Peter Davison

TEH AIR IS FUXOR3D. The Government turn over the problem to industry, and the Airzone Corporation. Reporter Al Dunbar (Davison) investigates and after discovering the solution that Airzone Corp. is planning he dies in bizarre circumstances. TV Weatherman Arnold Davies (Baker), suffers some attack/brainfreeze when Al dies and slowly comes to understand that he and Al are somehow mentally linked. He calls in the aid of Oliver Trethewey (Pertwee), Al's journalist mentor, environmental activist Anthony Stanwick (McCoy) and Arnold's own girlfriend (Bryant) to discover and expose what the Airzone is.

This is genuinely great stuff, a stand-alone SF(ish) drama that any of the main channels could be proud of. If there’s one minor criticism, it’s possibly that all the psychic stuff could be played down a little and Arnold just played as if he was having a breakdown (like, say, the book of The Exorcist) – but that would have kept Davison’s performance (which is pretty top-notch) from us. Pertwee is used sparingly here (compared to The Zero Imperative), but is far more effective as a result. A young Alan Cumming, a decent turn from Briggs as Nicola Bryant’s boss, and a brief Michael Wisher appearance round off an ensemble cast piece that’s worth a look for anyone, whether a Who fan or not.

Of course, for us there’s a Doctor/Peri sex scene. No, really. And a bit in the documentary where the cameraman can’t stop looking at Nicola’s chest while he’s interviewing her.

Well, I laughed.

P.R.O.B.E. - The Ghosts Of Winterborne

Stars Caroline John, Louise Jameson, Peter Davison, Reece Shearsmith, Daniel Matthews

Why is Andrew (Shearsmith) still being chased down by Isaac Greatorex? Isn’t Christian (Matthews) dead and Purcell (Davison) in prison?

This is largely pointless, and for completists only (says the guy with lots of tapes of these things). It’s largely a retread of the previous Winterborne story, even including much of the same footage, and is nothing that couldn’t have been done by making the original 20 minutes longer. Although it provides a better and more satisfying ending than the first, the ‘first’ ending is good enough, frankly, to save you wasting 90 minutes with this.

Do You Have A License To Save This Planet?

Stars Sylvester McCoy, Mark Donovan

Can the Chiropodist save Earth from Sontarans, Autons and Cyberons? We can only blummen well hope so!

Bill Baggs turns his hand to comedy. And why not? Yes, this is little more than a series of Who in-jokes, and some very weak puns, but you’ve read this far down these reviews so you’re as geeky as the rest of us. There are a good few decents laffs in this, mainly around the Cyberons, but the Sontaran battle plan is probably the best single joke. Worth watching at least once.

Daemos Rising

Stars Miles Richardson, Beverley Cressman

The last thing Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Cressman) expects is to be called by Captain Cavendish (Richardson) raving about ghosts. Out of devotion to her father, she tries to help his former assistant only to find he is a pawn in the Daemon plan to conquer Earth…

Essentially the 40th Anniversary show, this bold sequel to both (non-canon) Downtime and (canon) The Daemons shows exactly what these independent productions are capable of. The direction is assured, the acting solid, the location-work excellent, the effects… effective. There’s nothing to fault this over, really. I’d like to think it was this that finally convinced BBC bosses that they were being shown up over Who, but I suspect that’s just speculation. All the more bizarre when you realise it was just some Who fan actors having a camera crew round at their house for a couple of weeks.

He was approaching cute in Curse of Peladon. With a bit of work I can see how he'd be a bit of a dish.

Stars Sophie Aldred, Miles Richardson, John Wadmore

Following the events of Mindgame, these are monologues by the three main characters before their final fates.

Mindgame Trilogy is better than Mindgame, although not by much. There's a very good reason for this - Sophie Aldred was in all of Mindgame and she's only in a third of this. In her segment here, she shows without a doubt she's the least talented actress ever attached to any Doctor Who property - spin-off or otherwise. You really need to watch this just to understand exactly how bad she is as it's impossible to describe adequately. The other two segments are competent enough, although Miles Richardson's script leads to a superfluous reveal given it's been trailed all the way through. Terrance Dicks' Sontaran story is pretty good, although there's a lack of thorax obsession.

I paid less than £1, which it's just about worth.

I just really enjoyed the Key to Time Series with T Baker but why Netflix did I have to find some episodes on Dailymotion.com! dicks!