Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Wednesday 9 May 2007

Turn Back Time



The latest episode of “Doctor Who”, “The Lazarus Experiment”, seemed to take its ideas from just about every horror film ever made so, not surprisingly, failed to come up with anything new! Everybody was dressed very smartly, no doubt reusing the tuxedos from last year’s “Rise of the Cybermen” as well as the Sycorax’s big red button from “The Christmas Invasion”, but it couldn’t disguise the derivative nature of the story. David Cronenberg’s remake of “The Fly” starring Jeff Goldblum; “The Quatermass Experiment”; one of the films chosen in my previous post, “Lifeforce”; the conclusion of Tim Burton’s take on “Batman” which itself referenced Charles Laughton in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”; these were just a few of the sources from which “The Lazarus Experiment” borrowed. It even plagiarised “Doctor Who” itself for its resolution! As recently as “The Runaway Bride”, in fact, amplified sound has been used to defeat an enemy. But before overcoming Santas last Christmas, the Doctor, in his second incarnation, defeated seaweed creatures through amplifying companion Victoria’s scream in “Fury from the Deep”!

“Fury from the Deep” happens to be my all-time favourite “Doctor Who” story but it has a lot to answer for! It was the tale which introduced the sonic screwdriver but in Victor Pemberton’s story was actually used to sonically undo the screws of a gas pipeline, believe it or not, and wasn’t the multi-multi-purpose gadget it has become in new “Who”. I’ve never been keen on K-9’s use as a cure-all in the latter Tom Baker seasons but I don’t recall the computer dog ever being as overused as the sonic screwdriver is now. I recommend rewatching “Gridlock” in order to count the number of times the Doctor gets it out and puts it away when moving between vehicles! Then there’s the psychic paper, used again last week in “Evolution of the Daleks”, which is another gimmick too far. Ever heard of getting into a building using a fake pass, a much more plausible method of achieving the same result in a story? But, when the Doctor whipped out his sonic thingy in the confined space of the Professor’s machine, this week, and Martha asked him what he was going to do with it, I was ready with a few suggestions!

I believe Russell achieved another first with “Lazarus”, too, but I may be wrong. Has the Doctor ever had sisters as companions for a story before, I wonder? He could go one further and try twins next! How about the Cheeky Girls? They have experience, so to speak, in the pop world to commend them, just like our very own Lil Bill, so they must be good!! Anyway, it was strange how, in “Smith and Jones”, Tish didn’t even mention her new job to Martha and yet they are supposed to be really close! And, also in the girls’ debut story, how did Tish manage to get so much time off work to go visit her sister at the hospital, then spend the evening celebrating brother Leo’s birthday, when just twelve hours later, as specifically mentioned in the current story, she is supposed to be organising Richard Lazarus’s demonstration!!! Can’t they even get continuity right within a single season? And, finally, to add insult to injury, the possibility of the Doctor one day meeting Beethoven was discarded with a cheap throwaway line when there is a really good story waiting to be written about the pair of them!

5 comments:

Steve said...

I can see where you're coming from but I must admit I really enjoyed the episode, helped no doubt by the appearance of Mavis Riley from Corrie as Lazarus's business partner and (I presume) wife. I found Martha's mum VERY annoying. The trailers for the next episode look damn good though - John Simms looks very sinister indeed which can only be a good thing.

Stuart Douglas said...

Excellent point about Tish's curiously crowded day, that hadn't occured to me.

Simm does indeed look excellent, although sadly the trailer is for the rest of the season and not just the next episode (Chris Chibnall's horribly laboured sounding '42')

Old Cheeser said...

I agree, the episode was quite derivative (of "The Fly" and all those experiment-gone-wrong type films)and for me it seemed to lack something, though overall I found it entertaining enough. Mark Gattiss and Thelma Barlow both put in good performances but it was a shame that old Mavis/Lady Thaw got bumped off so quickly as her character had a lot of potential! I don't think she was Lazarus' wife though was she (hence the difference in surname), but a long time lover? (And I liked Lazarus' nasty jibe that he'd chose someone else this time round...)

And I hope you are joking about the Cheeky Girls, Tim!! Saints protect us! They'd make a good pair of monsters though.

I see your point about Tish's overly hectic lifestyle, but believe me, that's what it's like in London sometimes. Can't we assume that she planned Lazarus' party days/weeks beforehand? Maybe she was having a day off when we saw her in "Smith and Jones"? Not too implausible surely.

Anyway sorry you didn't like it that much (by the sounds of it), hopefully better is to come!

And yep the trailer looked great, good of the Beeb to provide a little bit of compensation there. The online forums are totally awash with John Simm is/isn't the Master theories!! I can hardly wait!!

Andrew Glazebrook said...

Really liked this episode, thought the CG creature was cool too !!!

TimeWarden said...

I found Martha’s Mum irritating too, Steve, although I’m not sure, yet, if she’s more or less so than Rose’s Jackie! I just hate “Doctor Who” as soap opera!!

I stand by the points I made about Tish, Simon. I believe the poor girl would’ve been rushed off her feet, whether in London or elsewhere, making sure the caterers were providing the requisite “nibbles”, ensuring the String Quartet hadn’t double booked (as a certain Trombone Quintet did to me once), always a thousand-and-one last-minute arrangements to ensure the event will run like clockwork! Tish wouldn’t have had time to do lunch with her sister, just the day before such a momentous occasion, and wouldn’t have been able to spare the evening for her brother’s birthday, let alone relax enough to enjoy it, and the family would probably have chosen a different night to celebrate had she let them all know about her new top PR job at Lazlabs!!!