WHO REVIEW: 7-3. A Town Called Mercy

We’ve been here before, of course. Most of the time the Doctor dispenses justice without worrying too much about whether he has a right to do so. Every so often, though, he’s forced to confront his own moral code. It happened in Genesis of the Daleks, again in Resurrection of the Daleks. It was 2005’s Boom Town that first gave over an entire episode to the debate on capital punishment against second chances. A Town Called Mercy does much the same, but is rather better, managing to spin a more entertaining story around the central dilemma.

The core of this episode – Kahler-Jex versus the Gunslinger – is nicely handled. Although we naturally expect there to be a hidden truth behind the apparent set-up, the reveal that the killer cyborg is not a straightforward villain is satisfying. Jex’s crimes are illustrated perfectly by nothing more than a few snatches of blurred footage and some screams; our imaginations do the rest. A couple of mentions of “deaths on the operating table” convey the horror of becoming a cyborg far better than any graphic imagery could ever have done (and more effectively than a whole two-parter about the birth of the Cybermen). The success of the episode hinges on the cast convincing the audience of the gravity of the fictional situation. Thankfully, all the cast are up to it. The star of the show is Adrian Scarborough as Jex, thoroughly convincing as a very English extraterrestrial whose mild manners hide a terrible past. It’s a credit to him that, even at Jex’s most loathsome, carping on about being a war hero, he remains respectable and strangely admirable.

Almost as good is Andrew Brooke as the Gunslinger. Saddled by a hefty load of prosthetics and with some overdone voice modulation, Brooke conveys the hopelessness of the cyborg’s situation through little more than expressions. There’s a weariness and frustration there, and a vulnerability. Ben Browder, a familiar face to TV sci-fi fans, is another brilliant casting choice. His noble Marshal, Isaac, provides the emotional heart of an episode in which Amy and Rory are mostly kept to the sidelines.

While it’s true that Amy gets a couple of decent scenes and Rory is relegated almost to an incidental extra, the Doctor gets to be the core of an episode for the first time this series. Asylum and Dinosaurs both focussed very much on the Ponds’ relationship and their interaction with the Doctor; here, the Doctor gets to be the centre of attention. Matt Smith rises to the occasion. His Doctor can sometimes come across as a little ineffectual, but here he dominates his scenes, roaring at Jex with an anger we rarely get to see so plainly in this version of the character. Predictably, fans in some quarters are up in arms about the Doctor packing a gun. It’s a common claim that the Doctor doesn’t “do” guns, but this is not, in fact, the case. I can think of five incidences off the top of my head in which earlier incarnations have picked up firearms, and there are probably more. These are often in times of extreme peril and the Doctor usually bottles out of actually using the weapon; again, Resurrection of the Daleks, with the Doctor facing down Davros, springs to mind. However, he’s blasted down Cybermen, Ogrons and Daleks in the past. As I said last week, the Doctor is far from a pacifist, but it’s only when he threatens humanoid characters that most people take exception.

A Town Called Mercy is a strong episode that skirts the debate on capital punishment, war crimes, weapons of mass destruction and personal culpability in times of conflict. However, there’s plenty of fun to stop the episode from becoming a depressingly grim affair. In perhaps the core scene, in which Amy confronts the Doctor about his behaviour, she looses bullets through clumsiness to lighten the mood, and this sort of thing keeps the episode fun. There are nudges to classic Western films throughout, some exciting action scenes and some very funny gags. The spacepod’s security system is very Hitchhikers, although the “Kahler-Alarm” pun is groanworthy. As for the Doctor speaking horse; well, that’s just silly. I’ll accept him speaking baby, but not horse. I reckon he’s making up and talking to himself to aid thinking, although that would imply that he’s named a male horse after his own granddaughter…

Topped off with a stirring score, some beautiful location shooting in Almeria and a guest cast who give it their all, this is a memorable episode that isn’t afraid to spend time talking about the issues instead of racing through them. After two frenetic episodes, it’s satisfying to have a more thoughtful instalment to slow things down a little before the finale approaches.

CAPTAIN'S BLOG: TOS 1.13 - 1.14

TOS 1.13: The Galileo Seven

or

Mr Spock vs Crew Alienation

The Mission: Get urgently needed medical supplies to Makus III, and engage in research of Murasaki 312 on the way.

Planets visited: Taurus II: Located in the dead centre of the Murasaki 312 effect, it’s a desolate place of rocks and fog (or polystyrene and dry ice, if you’re being realistic).

Future History: A plague has hit the New Paris colonies; the Enterprise isn’t taking medical supplies directly there, but is rendezvousing with another group at Makus III (a courier ship, or an ambulance?)

The Galactic High Commissioner is onboard the ship to oversee the mission. He has the authority to overrule the captain if necessary to ensure the successful delivery of the supplies. He can’t literally be the High Commissioner of the whole Galaxy; presumably this is some overly inflated term for some very high-up civilian minister.

Spatial Effects: The Enterprise diverts to explore the Murasaki 312 “quasar-like effect.” Kirk has standing orders to explore all quasars and quasar-like phenomena. In reality, there’s no possibility of finding any actual quasars within our Galaxy. At the time this episode was written, the nature of quasars was essentially unknown, but they are now understood to be the highly energetic cores of young galaxies - so they are both very, very distant and no longer exist, having long since calmed down into more mature galactic structures. However, there are such things as microquasars, which are similar but much smaller objects that form from a star orbiting a black hole or neutron star. Perhaps Murasaki 312 is one of these. Whatever it  is, Murasaki 312 is a huge, green swirly thing that blocks sensors and transmissions with high levels of ionising radiation. Evidently, planets can exist within its boundaries.

Captain James T: Can’t let a chance to see a “quasar-like object” go by, even when he has another mission coming up in the very near future. The Galactic High Commissioner throws his weight around, but Kirk does everything in his power to delay the mission to Makus III while he tries to find his lost crew. When he can’t delay any longer, he orders Sulu to set course for Makus… at space normal speed. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, let’s just say it’ll take a while.

Green-Blooded Hobgoblin: It’s all about Spock. The events on Taurus II are told largely from his point of view, and his alienation from the human crew is beautifully played. While we sympathise with the shuttle crew’s growing frustration with Spock, we can’t help but be on the Vulcan’s side. He applies logic to everything, and simply can’t understand when the aliens respond in an entirely illogical manner. In the end, he logically decides to act with desperation. Spock comes out of this episode understanding his human side a lot better, and is better prepared for command.

The Real McCoy: Is fiercely loyal to Spock in the face of insubordination, but still voices his disagreements to him.

Personnel Roster: The shuttle crew includes Spock, McCoy, Scotty, this week’s yeoman, two yellowshirts who should really be wearing red, and Lt. Boma, a man of powerful opinions who becomes Spock’s adversary for much of the episode. Led by his emotions, he’s basically Spock’s antithesis.

Alien Life Forms: The Taurus II natives are huge anthropoids with a primitive tribal society. They’re one of the poorest aliens in the whole of the first season - it’s hard to even tell if they are hairy and apelike or just wearing big, shaggy coats. They’re surprisingly successful with their enormous spears, considering that they just seem to throw them willy-nilly about the place.

Remastery: This episode is one of the most effects intensive from the original series, and thus required a lot of work for remastering. The result is stunning, with some excellent visuals of the shuttle and the Murasaki effect. It is also the basis for the second story in IDW’s Star Trek Ongoing series, which imagines classic stories in the 2009 movie’s alternative reality (the first being based on 1.1, ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before.’)

Cliché Count: It’s the first, and most blatant, use of the far-too-frequent ending device that will come to haunt this series. Yes, it’s the shot of all the crew laughing together on the bridge. It’s bad enough on comedy shows, but on Star Trek, it’s painful. Especially in this episode, with all the crew rolling about, Shatner roaring with forced mirth. Men have died, for Christ’s sake.

Verdict: Excellent. One of the very best episodes of the first season, this beautifully highlights the gulf between Spock and the rest of the crew. Nimoy is excellent throughout, but Shatner and Kelly shouldn’t be overlooked.

WHO REVIEW: 7-2. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

I love dinosaurs. I also love Doctor Who. So put them together, and you’ve got one happy Daniel.

Chris Chibnall isn’t the best regarded of Who writers by fans, but this episode showcases the best of his of his talents; writing fun, breezy romps in which spectacle and pace are everything. That said, things hold together pretty well, logic-wise, although some of the more interesting concepts are a bit confused if you think about them for a moment. The success of the episode is down to how it boldly throws together so many disparate elements, and allows characters and concepts from entirely separate genres to interact. Add in some great casting, some funny one-liners and some truly impressive visual effects (love the rock-and-bones styled Silurian spaceship), and you’ve got a fun, frothy episode.

WHO REVIEW: 7-1. Asylum of the Daleks

An overdue return for Doctor Who, in the first of a short run of what’s promised to be “mini-movies” set to write out the Ponds. As season openers go, Asylum of the Daleks is a success, although it lacks the shock spectacle of last year’s The Impossible Astronaut or the sheer charm of The Eleventh Hour. Altogether, this first episode is decidedly derivative, but is presented with such confidence and verve it’s very hard not to enjoy it.

The big news, of course, is the sudden reveal of Jenna-Louise Coleman’s character, Oswin. Brilliantly kept under wraps despite the seemingly spoiler-ridden world of the series publicity, Coleman’s debut comes weeks earlier than was expected and is a genuine surprise. She immediately makes a huge impression in the role, proving beautiful, sassy and confident, but let’s not overlook the regulars. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are now perfectly comfortable in their roles. They have an easy chemistry that here works just as effectively when they’re at loggerheads as when they’re gazing adoringly at each other. Matt Smith, or course, is totally at home as the Doctor, a mercurial, swift-footed eccentric, with a strangely graceful clumsiness.

Crash Bang Wallop!

So, my computer died. Died a terrible death. Mix that in with moving flat, not having any phoneline yet and doing some unscheduled overtime at work and there's been little time to blog. Plus there's plenty of writing I am VERY behind on, so...

Regular bloggage should resume shortly, including reviews of the latest Doctor Whos.