TW Watches Doctor Who The Story & The Engine S02E05

Photos copyright BBC

A barber’s shop where people go in and never come out, a wrathful God and the return of an old, familiar face that creates a plot hole.

From the beautiful opening where a story is animated in windows, the very first thing that this story brings to the fore is how being a person of colour now has affected the Doctor. In Lagos, he is treated like family and the barber shop , Omo’s Palace belonging to said Omo, is home just as his previous incarnation found a home with the Nobles and his third persona found it in UNIT. This is a nice reminder on how your colour reflects peoples’ attitudes. This is important not only for the audience but for the character of the Doctor himself.

In reality, we have spent so little time with this Doctor, that his time between stories and seasons should have been filled with countless adventures which we get to see when he puts out a forest fire in the opening animation. You can picture this happening and the home he found because of that is vital. The eleventh, twelfth and tenth Doctors’ eras all played on this, indicating a lifespan and more adventures than we are privy to. The Doctor has lived a long life outside of what we see as demonstrated by last week’s Shreek story.

Having the barbershop being in two places at once under the control of The Barber and his cohort, Abena is cool especially when the Doctor opens the door and is almost sucked into the Nexus, the Barber’s world wide web, on the back of a giant spider. There is a mythological stance here like Atlas holding the world on his back. But the Barber is quite insistent that he gets his stories and the Doctor is the greatest source of that yet leading to a nice Midnight nod.

When Omo says the Barber can let the others go now he has the Doctor, the betrayal the Doctor feels is palpable. Omo is no Clara whom was once asked by the Doctor, do you think I care so little for you that betrayal would make a difference? But I kind of wondered about this plot point. Omo did not summon the Doctor. He arrived by accident so the Doctor’s rage is questionable. Omo is throwing him under the bus to be sure but it could so easily have been that, only for the Vindicator being super powered by Lagos that he was ever there in the first place. Or is that part of the overall plot?

Another problem for me was the Doctor recognising Abena but not sure where from. Now I love an episode which sees the past Doctors all feature but the arrival of Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor is very welcome but very confusing at the same time. When the Barber is shown as a false god but a once human that has built the Nexus to sever the gods from humanity forever, it is then the Doctor relaises who Abena is. The Barber was the ultimate storyteller whom spread stories about the story telling Gods and with each story increased their power until he was cast aside. He has collected stories from pubs, barbers and confessional boxes and put them all in books making the Gods all powerful. They owe him but gave nothing. Now he wants revenge, to be the ultimate storyteller by killing every god which includes Abena.

The Doctor lost a bet with the god Anansi to trick him into marrying one of his daughters. Abena was that daughter and in an unexpected move, the camera turns to reveal our Doctor replaced by the Fugitive Doctor. She says it was unfair for Anansi to offer the bet and that she was a fugitive back then so could never take Abena with her. Abena lived in fear of being passed off by her father in a bet and she took her chance with the Barber. It’s great to see Jo Martin back but it causes a problem.

At the start of the episode, the Doctor says this is his first black body which the appearance of Fugitive Doctor negates. The fact that it is this version that Abena was relying on to save her also makes no sense as the Doctor has no memories of that incarnation. Does this mean he now has full memory of his time in that body or is it a clever misdirection to wink at the viewers? As I said, I loved to see her back but it raises too many questions. But as we see, the Barber’s story engine is powered now by all the Doctor’s incarnations who appear on the screens, some quoting lines, some not.

In the end, The Story and the Engine is my favourite episode so far because it is so beautifully written and serves Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor well. It’s just a delight to see everything resolved. Everybody lives. Given we have fought so many gods since The Giggle, it was in danger of being overkill between Lux, Maestro, Sutekh and the Toymaker. But to have the Doctor be able to see that for all their faults, humanity at this point is still reliant on them as part fo their very psyche, that he must save them for a change.

Doctor Who began all those years ago as an educational programe and Abena’s braid story I never knew about. I love when I leave understanding another culture a little bit more. Hopefully, this will inspire people, not just kids, to explore this further. But what I really came away with is the fact we are all the same. It doesn’t matter about what you look like on the outside. We all have a story. We all smile. We all cry. We all pee. We are all a pillar for others even when you don’t know it. Community breeds in the unlikeliest of places like the pub, like a barbers, like a bus stop. Stories keep us going every day whether it’s in a canteen or out having a smoke break. Stories can inflate egos. Stories can bring same egos crashing down. Stories enhance life and display tthe human tendency to exaggerate. Stories keep those we have lost alive and vibrant. Stories entrance young ones generation after generation.

If you are alone right now, you have a story. Reach out and tell it on whatever platform you have or maybe to the person in the chippy waiting for their fish supper. Every one of us make the world go round and it keeps us together in the end.

Everything is tied up and no twist this time; just simple good old fashioned story telling. Amy Pond once said, we are all stories in the end and this episode is not only a timely reminder of that but a subtle hint to read more. We have kind of lost the oral tradiions of the past save a few cultures and with heads in phones immersed with social media, we don’t talk any more. Not really.

Aside from my minor issues, this is as perfect as it gets. Beautifully written with words that embed in your brain and make you think.

By the way, who was the kid in the alleyway Belinda saw?

Seaquest’s Stunning Season 2 Finale

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I am not sure if Seaquest was meant to end after the second season or not but it certainly seemed so given the cataclysmic events of the season finale Splashdown. Seaquest seemed to struggle to gain viewers, created its identity with production movements and behind the scenes cast terminations and resignations.

The first season was a more adult scientific show with the odd jaunt into the sci-fi realm with episodes like Such Great Patience. In season two the producers went for a much younger crew and a huge jump into sci-fi.

This included the introduction of a new human species the Daggers, created to be the ultimate soldiers but it all failed miserably. When a Dagger gives birth, which should be impossible, they rebel demanding equal rights. A Dagger joined the crew, Dagwood played by Peter DeLuise. He was by far the most fascinating character with a lot of depth to explore and Dagwood became the most well-rounded character on the show.

Seaquest over that season would meet killer plants, Greek ghosts, aliens, mad psychics, be transported to the future and evil clones. Every cliché was covered but the cast were young and energetic and fun enough to keep you watching regardless of how dumb some of the stories were. In one episode, to save the past and the future they free two teenagers from a life dependent on computers. They are then left to repopulate the planet with no guidance. Did no-one see the problem with this idea in repopulating the world? In the episode it is mentioned that there were other clusters of teenagers but they were now dead. While it’s an allegory to Adam and Eve, how will these two children deal with childbirth and all that comes with it, never mind day to day living and learning. Had nobody watched Wrong Turn to see what happens with in-breeding? The computer begged Lucas to be turned off so stuff like this meant audiences left with ratings dropping badly.

Lead actor Roy Scheider went public about how he hated the show as it was not the show he was promised it would be. His contract meant he could not quit and had to return for a few episodes in Season Three. In that season he was replaced by a new Captain; Oliver Hudson, Michael Ironside.

But by the end of Season Two it may have been they were not getting a third season and wanted to end on a bang. The Colbys did this by Fallon being abducted by a UFO. But Seaquest went one better. Why not kill off the entire cast, bar a couple?

Earlier in the second season Mark Hamill played Tobias, a genius who was blind and being hunted by a vicious alien. It turns out he was also an alien living in human form in secret on Earth for years. The arrival of a Stormer that can possess a body forces him to reveal his secret. He is from a world called Hyperion that is forever at war and because Tobias tried to preach peace he was seen as a criminal and fled to Earth for safety. His oldest friend and Bridger’s buddy, astronaut Scott Keller, played by Galactica 80’s Kent McCord, is shocked. The Stormer defeated, Tobias leaves to travel the universe in his ship along with Scott on the opportunity of a lifetime.

In the finale Scott appears to some of the Seaquest crew telling them to meet him at the Christmas Tree as he needs their help urgently. It is his term for a canyon they rescued him from previously named so because it had so many branches. They are ripped from the ocean by a spaceship and transported to the planet Hyperion.

They are attacked and forced to destroy a hostile sub. They meet Tobias again whom can now see. They witness the KrayTak execute Scott live on air despite Bridger’s pleas. Tobias pleads their case and brings representatives from the native Hyperion people who beg for help. The KrayTaks flooded the planet and have a space station in orbit but the natives want to use their tractor beams to knock a comet into the space station.

While they work on that, they need the Seaquest crew to defend them against underwater attacks. With their underwater knowledge the crew can help the natives win the war. They are introduced to refugees among them a little girl before deciding what to do. Bridger has doubts and sends Piccolo and Darwin out on a mission to see what they can find. They find Scott alive and well who reveals the truth.

They have been played and it is in fact the KrayTaks the Seaquest have been dealing with and Tobias is in fact a Stormer from counter-intelligence. Stormers are the foot soldiers of the KrayTaks who have stolen all the tech they have and are nothing but politicians. What the crew thought was a colony is a docking station. They intend to crash the comet into the planet destroying all resistance. They need to get to the mothership and take it over to prevent that from happening.

Leaving Ford (Don Franklin) to command the Seaquest with orders to self destruct if necessary, Bridger takes a team to the station where they rescue Tobias and plant explosives to take out the tractor beams the Kraytaks intend to use. There is no way home if they do this. Unlike Captain Janeway in Voyager, this is their only option. However they are attacked by the KrayTaks and their Stormers in an epic battle, Star Wars like fire fight cutting them off from the shuttle. Things get worse when the Stormers firebomb the shuttle. There is no way off. They are being overrun by the KrayTak forces. Bridger warns Ford of their situation and tells him to destroy the mothership by any means necessary.

Lucas is entrusted to Dagwood (Peter deLuise) and forced off the ship along with Darwin. Ford sets all weapons on the mothership but before they can execute, the KrayTaks launch an underwater barrier mine. In a lovely character moment, communications officer O’Neill (Ted Raimi) clutches his crucifix knowing they are all about to die. The Seaquest is blown apart leaving Bridger with only one option. He tells Lucas to never let them take away what he believes and to tell what happened today.

Gripping Henderson’s (Kathy Evison) hand, Bridger closes his eyes as the enemy swarms in. They are consumed by a massive explosion leaving Lucas and Dagwood alone. Lucas vows to get their story home. In the meantime they have to find survivors and rebuild. The legacy of the Seaquest now lies with a teenager shunned by his age group for his intelligence and abandoned by his father and a Dagger that is hated where he comes from because of his skin he is yet trusted by Bridger to protect a boy he considers a son. Not forgetting Darwin of course.

The camera pans up from the two of them in a dingy to an alien sky and we fade out.

Now if that had been the end of the Seaquest story forever, it would have been a cracker. Well, it still is a cracker but we know most of the crew are returned for Season Three.

However, this does not take away from the tension and excitement of this ending. Regardless of what you think of the other episodes there is a humanity and vibrancy among the crew that makes you want to be part of it. There is no way the first cast would have made this as exciting it was. As with every hero’s death you start speculating on how they can come back from such devastation. In this case as it stood, they would not.

The KrayTaks are actually pretty devious. Their appearance is one of humanoid while the Stormers are monsters. It is a classic tale of don’t judge by appearances. They claimed that they had no underwater technology given the planet has been only recently flooded. So the shock on Ford’s face at seeing the mine is well acted. There is no time to move out of the way as they see their own deaths before them. The director Anson Williams, did a great job on this one cutting between battles to ramp up the excitement and the moment Bridger closes his eyes, you know all hope is lost. The special effects are top notch and if ever you want to go out in style this is the way to do it.

TW Watches Doctor Who Lucky Day S02E04

Photos copyright BBC

Photos copyright BBC

I have to question the purpose of this episode in the overall grand scheme of things. I feel like I have suddenly hit a brick wall after watching Lucky Day; a pothole in the road being travelled by us, the Doctor and Belinda.

It focuses on Ruby Sunday and her life after the events of The Empire of Death. We get to see an unseen adventure she and the Doctor had after the battle with Maestro. They are hunting a Shreek in a warehouse and manage to stop it. Ruby has been infected with its pheromone which means she will be hunted by it if she doesn’t take the foul tasting antidote the Doctor gives her. We see the old fun relationship tjey had as if they had never stopped.

Their adventure is observed by and snapped by one Conrad Clark, who as a young boy on New Year’s Eve 2007, saw the Doctor and Belinda arrive in the Tardis. He was given a 50 pence piece the Doctor had found but he ran away, receiving a smack round the head from his mother for telling such an absurd story.

Years later, he tracks down and persuades Ruby to come on his podcast to talk about the Doctor. By this time, Ruby is working for UNIT and Kate Stewart not only has a new romance but has become a third mother to Ruby. At first, she is reluctant to tell detials to Conrad but as their relationship develops, she confides in him more and more until they are in a full blown relationship.

Lucky Day is in essence an examination of life after the Doctor. It is akin to PTSD and has been looked at before with Sarah Jane in School Reunion and Jo Grant in The Death of the Doctor. To an extent, we have seen it with Rose, Martha and Jack in her Torchwood adventures and Donna. While this was all well and good back then, these were longer seasons where you could take a breath. But the Gatwa seasons are only eight episodes long. The show is called Doctor Who. While Gatwa does appear, it is not to bring Ruby back aboard the Tardis which is the impression that was given in interviews promoting the season.

Indeed, Lucky Day should really be an episode of a UNIT spin off rather than smack bang in the middle of so short a season. We have a new companion to explore with a central mystery and unless Conrad is in fact part of the overall mystery, then it feels out of place.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s nice to see what happens after a companion leaves the Doctor and there simply isn’t enough of Cherry Sunday at all. She needs her own episode. Her Wicker Man paranoia made me laugh. And I have to say, I desperately wanted to see Lenny Rush back, not Anne Bingham; sorry Anne but Morris is a much better addition to the cast.

The central premise that Conrad who appears to be so twee, the perfect boyfriend material and all for Ruby is actually an analogy for abusive and manipulative boyfriends does bring a new element to life after the Doctor.

The twist that the reappearance of the Shreek is in fact staged and that Conrad is the ringleader is a shocker to say the least. He has been using Ruby’s pain of leaving the Doctor to get her to open up and tell him everything she knows about UNIT and the truth behind the aliens.

Conrad’s group does not believe that aliens are real and that it is all a cover up by UNIT via special effects to cover up something else.

Using live streaming Ruby and UNIT appear to the world as an evil secret government department that point guns at innocent influencers to protect their dirty little secrets and the fact they are spying and conditioning the public with fake alien invasions. As we saw in Torchwood’s Children of Earth, the government has no problem throwing the likes of UNIT under the bus to suit its own needs.

It is a nice commentary that brings to mind flat earthers and covid conspiracies. People are easily stirred up and manipulated by influencers into a frenzy. Suddenly Ruby and her family are under threat from mobs and have to move to a safe house. As has been mentioned before, the human race is the most dangerous creature in the universe.

I have to question the logic of Conrad and his podcasts. Would Ruby really not have done her research on his podcast before agreeing to go on it or check out his social media? He may have fake accounts you say; yes but could he really have stayed hidden so long without a hint of his paranoia?

Indeed, what about all those casualties from the Dalek invasion in The Stolen Earth and the Cybermen kicking peoples’ doors down in Army of Ghosts and Doomsday? You can see something like Atmos being glossed over as some mechanical issue and we all know Derren Brown gets the blame for everything but at least Kate sent him flowers the last time. And what about the time when the doglike Lupari arrived to save their own assigned human from The Flux?

The seventh Doctor once told Ace in Remembrance of the Daleks that the human race has a great capacity for self deception when discussing the Yeti invasion and the Loch Ness monster from Terror of the Zygons. Ace had never heard of them, yet it involved the total evacuation of London as far as the Yeti were concerned and the Loch Ness monster appeared in the Thames for all to see. The twelfth Doctor told Clara that the human super power was forgetting in the episode In The Forest of the Night.

Ruby is vulnerable at the minute as all she can think about is life now without the Doctor but would she really have been so easily fooled?

The Shreek appearance disrupts electrics and one of Conrad’s buddies who disappear is called Sparky. The clues are there. Conrad said his mother was dead but is alive and well in France where Conrad is paying for everything via the money he makes from his social media platforms.

Jonah Hauer-King is stunning as Conrad switching characters completely to be the evil genius that destroys Ruby. He is also the reason the Doctor went looking for Belinda. He is mad with power all because Kate Stewart turned him down for a job with UNIT. He is also mentally unstable, shooting his man on the inside of UNIT just so he can expose the truth to the world. But like Lux before him, Kate uses his own weapons against him by live streaming his attack and subsequent losing of the arm thanks to the Shreek. By showing the world what some of the dangers are that UNIT deal with, may also have put Kate’s position at risk.

Conrad’s confrontation with the Doctor shows just how maniacal he still is. He does not fear him and tells him to get off his world. He is cold and so set in his ideas not even the Doctor phases him.

Ruby goes off for a sabbatical while Conrad faces life imprisonment, arm restored, except for when the Governor turns up with the keys and wearing the face of Mrs Flood.

So, will Conrad be part of the season finale which destroys the Earth Odyssey 5 style or is a villain kept free for the future? If nothing else, his darkness is one that runs much deeper than the Master’s ever did, making him very dangerous.

I feel like I’m missing this week’s Doctor Who episode that has been replaced with something else. It’s fine but not up to the quality of the first three episodes. Could this be this season’s 73 Yards which ultimately played no part in the finale bar a mere mention?

With so few episodes, this episode shouldn’t appear. We need to see the Doctor and Belinda flesh out and develop, not go over old ground with Ruby. Maybe that’s a lesson there BBC. Restore these seasons to 12 or 13 episodes a year so there is room to breathe and find your way with character development.

Cry me a river, Ruby but sorry, it’s Belinda’s stage now.  

Can we please get back to the main story because I want to see more of Belinda and the Doctor.

Forgotten Villains: Knight Rider’s KARR

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

Evil twins are nothing new in sci-fi or drama and Knight Rider was no exception.

In season one of Knight Rider, KITT got his very own evil twin in the shape of KARR, the Knight Automated Roving Robot; the first in a bold new experiment. He was everything KITT was and had all his capabilities. KARR was KITT’s prototype built by Wilton Knight. And to top it all off, was voiced by Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen.

In Trust Doesn’t Rust, KARR debuts. He is identical in appearance and ability and Knight Industries’ darkest secret. He has been hidden in an old Knight Foundation lab which is closed down and being handed over to the city the following morning. However two thieves, Rev and Tony (don’t ask) have broken in and discovered the abandoned KARR. Michael and KITT are en-route to secure the building and walk into the break in. KARR breaks free startling them both. KITT is supposed to be a one of a kind but someone has been telling fibs. It has one difference from KITT; it tries to kill Michael. Michael demands answers from Devon. He thought it had been dismantled but obviously Wilton did not do that. He programmed KARR for self preservation and is capable of doing anything to fulfill that directive. In the wrong hands, KARR is a lethal force with a brain as evil as any criminal mastermind. He doesn’t see himself as just a car.

He wishes to repay his rescuers for freeing him. When Rev and Tony tell KARR about KITT, KARR is furious claiming that was a copy, an inferior model. His unstable personality comes to the fore when they stop for food at a drive through and displeased at how the staff speak to them, KARR smashes the intercom dummy. Terrified of being put back in the lab, KARR flees with the police hot on the trail. However, the police stop KITT instead.

Here, KARR is a bit naïve about human intentions as Rev and Tony intend to use him to get rich. Devon describes KARR as a loaded gun in the hands of a child. His words prove prophetic as a crime wave hits the city with a black car at its source. The only way to stop KARR is to fire a laser at his front sensor which will burn out all his internal circuitry but to do that Michael and KITT will have to be literally face to face with him.

However KARR is in need of repair and kidnaps Bonnie to put him back to full capacity. However, it is through the deceit of these two crooks that KARR is able to manipulate humans when he returns. Yet he fails to understand why Tony deactivates Rev when they argue about going to police. Tony went behind Rev’s back to kidnap Bonnie. Tony’s real target is a massive jewel heist during which KARR’s self preservation kicks in when KITT and the police arrive. The laser fails and KARR ejects Tony to save himself.

Michael sets them on a collision course with KARR declaring their lives are nothing to him but Michael is using KARR’s self preservation as a weapon. KARR will not allow himself to be destroyed. He swerves and goes over a cliff exploding on impact on the water.

In season three, couple John and Wendy discover KARR buried under the sand on a beach. There is no explanation as to how he survived or ended up here which brings to mind a Christine element. They unearth him and intentions of returning it to the rightful owner are put to bed when KARR beguiles John with the power of a car that can get him anything he wants. This is a much more savvy and smarter KARR than the first time round. KARR is clever enough to tug at John’s youth when he was behind the wheel of a car cruising and picking up ladies. KARR claims he is the genie to John’s Aladdin and make all his dreams come true.

In exchange he wants John to help improve KARR and alter his appearance. KITT picks up an impossible signal which they discover is KARR. They can’t believe he is back given they saw him explode. The novelisation provides the explanation that what we saw was the interior circuits explode allowing the shell to remain intact. However this doesn’t hold water as we saw pieces from the original explosion and KARR’s interior is virtually intact.

John refuses KARR’s offer. He repairs boats for poor wages and unless he can come up with the money he cannot buy the boat yard he wants. KARR is listening to him discuss it with the owner, Eddie. He has a pacemaker and if he dies John has no chance of getting the yard. KARR notes the pacemaker. Eddie suddenly has a heart attack that makes him offer the yard for $5,000 which KARR gets for him. KARR pushes on him on taking chances when you can.

In the meantime Michael and KITT search for KARR before KARR restores himself to full capacity. KITT’s mechanic Bonnie creates a new laser to battle their foe. However KARR brings the fight to them by smashing his way into the mobile lab by turbo boosting. He demands Alpha capacitors while John steals the laser itself. Miles (Edward Mulhare) and Bonnie (Patricia McPherson) are trapped and KARR has no problem killing them both to get what he wants. Desperate for the yard, John goes along with it.

Michael recognises John from the store when he earlier questioned Mandy if she had seen anything. He knows that he has to get to John to stop KARR. Despite his reservations, John gets the cash from an ATM thanks to KARR which sucks him deeper into KARR’s grip. But he doesn’t expect Eddie to be drawn in too. He wants to use KARR to hijack gold from an armoured security truck. John wants no part of it and walks away while Eddie and KARR create a new alliance. KARR has a way of knowing what makes humans tick and uses it against them to further his own needs. Michael knows it too and his mission is to save John from being destroyed by KARR. KARR uses swear words such as damn when things don’t go his way and has now changed the bottom half of himself to grey.

He kidnaps Mandy by impersonating John’s voice, a trick he then uses to lure John into his hijack. First he threatens to remove the air from the car and let Mandy explode from decompression then starts to boil her alive. John has no choice but to agree.

KARR has a tactician’s mind and with his powerful outer shell smashes apart a bridge to trap the armoured truck but he also uses it to lure KITT in for a final battle.

You can never beat a car battle especially with the Knight Rider model. KARR has been fitted with high tensile reflectors and is able to destroy the laser when KARR fires at them by reflecting it back at them It was awesome as a kid and this time they turbo boost at each other colliding in mid air. KARR is shattered into flaming pieces as KITT literally slices through them.

John gets his yard and all’s right with the world. However, the Foundation has not cleared KARR’s wreckage up and as the camera scans over the scene, a red light comes on. It seems it’s hard to kill a bad thing.

KARR would return once more in the reboot/continuation Knight Rider 2008 show starring Justin Bruening as the estranged son of Michael Knight. He changed his name to that of his father and continues the work he originally started in a Transformer like KITT now voiced by Val Kilmer.

There doesn’t seem to be a connection to the original here as this KARR was the original just like in the original series but not created by Wilson Knight. Indeed even this KITT is not related to the original. This time KARR reprogrammed himself when built and people died. Subsequently the program was scrapped. This new Michael Knight was the driver and had his memory wiped to prevent any recall of what happened to KARR which was quietly buried. Now agent Alex Torres wants the KARR programme revived. He wants to implant KITT into KARR hoping this mergence will iron out KARR’s issues.

However this KARR is also now a Transformer too and able to combine himself with a human to create one entity as Torres discovers. He wants to combine with Michael and destroy KITT in order to go forward. We have a Transformer versus KITT battle where like the original series KITT turbo boosts through KARR destroying him and killing Torres. Yet there is no word of the debris being collected but since the show was cancelled, we will never know.

KARR was an awesome creation and fueled many kids’ imaginations and deepened their love of fast cars long before Fast and the Furious.

TW Watches Doctor Who: The Well S02E03

photos copyright BBC

I do love a good, creepy horror movie and this week’s episode certainly uses that as a template for a terror ride that will leave you terrified.

A planet on which nothing can survive, an empty base filled with shattered bodies where every mirror is smashed with the only survivor, a deaf woman desperate top go home to see her daughter. The smashed mirrors evoke the idea that evil cannot face itself and in Doctor Who lore, could this be the Mara from the 5h Doctor episode? Can we have another god on the loose?

Colony 15 is a base that was mining planet 6767 for carbon 46 through a giant well that went straight down into the planet. Again, this evokes the doorway to Hell. Given the Doctor’s words in the trailer for this one, fan speculation was that this was a sequel to a previous episode. It was either The Satan Pit or Midnight. Or are we way off the mark?

I loved the fact that the sole survivor, Alice Fenley the cook, is deaf which immediately plays into the overall story. So could this be the Beast reborn? Is Alice his new vessel eager for the troopers to take her off world?

Everything sings horror and superstition. With the arrival of The Doctor and Belinda, the normal troop compliment is eleven but now it makes them thirteen. Unlucky for some. Jump scares abound as something seems to be flitting behind Alice just as Donna had something on her back. Could this be The Trickster, the bane of The Doctor and Sarah Jane’s existence?

For someone that has decided disability will make everyone associated it with evil (see my previous article; https://timewarriors.co.uk/2024/05/19/disabled-davros-is-a-dodo-amputee-vs-rtd/) he uses Alice’s deafness to make the viewer believe this evil has hidden itself in her or it is using her body somehow. The fact that it is against the law for a nurse not to know sign language and everyone has portable screens that shows what they are saying is wonderful. Having learned just a smattering of sign language myself, it is something that I actually want to get back into and learn. It’s a great reminder that society is more diverse and we should be aware of everyone.

For the second week in a row, we get a sequel.

Planet 6767 is in fact the planet Midnight 400,000 years in the future, strip mined of all its diamonds and confirms that this is the entity that almost destroyed the 10th Doctor by mimicking his words to turn a trainload of passengers against him. The entity came out of the remains of Midnight laughing and it wants out into the universe. There are shades of Event Horizon here with the massacre of bodies.

This time it hides behind you being seen in glimpses but evoking enough fear that it turns people, even friends, to murder their friends. If you kill the person it hides behind, it simply jumps to another. This thing seems eternal and Alice can’t hear it whispering in her ear which makes her the perfect victim. Who is going to kill a deaf girl? But since killing her isn’t the answer, the answer lies in reflection. Open the mercury tubes and Alice can escape.

The biggest issue with the episode was Belinda seeing the entity then denying it twice. Now after seeing cartoons rise from a cinema screen and rampaging robots, she has a savvy enough brain to realise that in the midst of a mysterious massacre where bodies have been pulverised that anything out of the ordinary, she would tell the Doctor. To have her deny seeing anything, dilutes the character that called the Doctor out at the end of her first episode as being dangerous.

But while it frees her, it simply jumps to Belinda. The fear and terror it instills in the soldiers is a replay of what happened to the original crew. Order imposed by leader Shaya Costillion, played by Caoilfhionn Dunne, falls apart when trooper Cassio overrides her and tries to take the thing down. Indeed we have paranoia and fear at the levels that echo Event Horizon and The Thing. People fall apart when faced with an unseen enemy. I loved the analogy Belinda uses that Alice is like a clock face and if you walk behind her, you literally die at midnight. When the troops are picked up and smashed to the ground dead when they walk behind her is Forbidden Planet for sure. Shaya tells Alice to turn to her causing Cassio to be smashed into a wall ending his tactic and undermining of her authority.

This is such a good episode because the monster is always just out of sight but its effects are very real. Bringing back the Midnight monster is brilliant because we get to see it in full control, not a repeating entity living on a planet of galvanic radiation. Nothing bar it can live as the radiation is lethal as we saw in Midnight.

So to save Belinda, Shaya, the best shot in the army takes the one shot close to Belinda’s heart, killing her momentarily so the creature jumps to Shaya. She runs and ,Ripley-like, throws herself down the well allowing the others to escape. It’s great to see the Irish save the day. I have a thing about even the slightest characters having a backstory and we see Shaya’s childhood running through fields of fire in the Wildlands and running from the monsters out into the galaxy to help, protect and bring hope. Everything we need to know about her is right there in that soliloquy and her death once again, like those highlighted by Davros to the Doctor-like Harriet Jones and the nameless hostess in the original Midnight, Shaya is now one of those that gave their lives to save he universe so the greatest hope of all could live on and fight; The Doctor. Did I mention Shaya is Irish?

The planet is nuked from orbit and The Doctor and Belinda go on their way having discovered that no-one here has heard of Earth or knows what a human is.

We see Mrs Flood asking a trooper what happened and if The Doctor was carrying a vindicator; he was and she claims this is very good news. Is she a villain or something else guiding The Doctor against the real enemy?

And like all great horror movies, there is a twist. Is the Midnight monster, officially named It Has No Name, really gone or did it sneak aboard on a trooper’s back? Who knows?

What I do know is that is three for three so far; all excellent stories and a huge leap from last year. It all shows that there is life in the old dog yet and as long as we keep getting quality stories then Doctor Who is far from dead.

Superb.

Stephen Carey & Owen Quinn: Is The Buzz About The Fly Justified?

This time, we checlk out the movie remake that is The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Seth Brundle wants to save the world from motion sickness but in doing so sets himself and new love, Veronica, on a path that will bring destruction upon him and those he loves.

Will we tell it to buzz off or will it be a positive? Find out below. If you like what you hear please leave a like, comment or subscribe. Whatever you feel happy with. Enjoy. Join the craaic, you won’t look back!

Magic Moment: Skinner Opens Up To Mulder

Photos copyright Fox

In any series good writing is essential to keep the characters alive and the viewers guessing. In The X-Files, Mulder and Scully had a boss called Walter Skinner. He was tough on them and played as a hard nosed boss under orders to get rid of Mulder once and for all. He never smiles but Mister X once told Mulder that he had a friend in the FBI.

So in the season two episode One Breath, Mulder is at breaking point.

Scully had been kidnapped by Duane Barry who apparently was an alien abductee. He had severe mental issues. Scully was given to aliens leaving Mulder with no answers and lost. His mental state was seen in the vampiric episode Blood. He is at rock bottom and paired with a new partner, Alex Krychek, Mulder is in a turmoil.

But in One Breath, Scully is found, alive but in a coma with little hope for recovery. He finds someone stealing Scully’s blood and her prognosis is not good. There is evidence she has undergone some sort of medical examination. Out of his head with anger and grief, Mulder storms to Skinner’s office and hands in his resignation. Whomever his enemies are they have broken him by breaking the one person he trusts most in the world; Scully.

Alone in his office, he is packing his things when Skinner comes to the door. What follows is a turning point for them both. Skinner is revealed to be the friend Mulder was told about. He rips up the resignation saying he may feel responsible for Scully but resigning will only be self punishment which he will not accept. He sees Mulder is broken, that all the evidence they have uncovered has been for nothing and that Scully paid the price for it.

Skinner reveals he signed up for the Vietnam War and a boy walked into their camp covered in grenades. Skinner lost his faith in everything that day when he blew the child’s head off at ten yards. Life had no point to it any more. Later his patrol was caught in an ambush and every one of them fell. He tells Mulder that he looked down and saw his body.

He didn’t recognise it at first as the Vietnamese tore his uniform off and remained in the jungle peaceful and not afraid. He was put into a body bag and woke up in a hospital two weeks later.

He reveals that he is afraid to look beyond that experience but Mulder, Mulder is not. He reiterates that his resignation is unacceptable.

What makes this scene so electric is how underplayed it is. Pileggi’s delivery is as Skinner has been, controlled but giving us enough of a glimpse beyond his hard exterior that Mulder is left stunned. Skinner has been hard on him so he can get the answers he seeks. By doing that maybe Skinner will too. This opens up Skinner’s character so much to the audience and lays the foundations for their secret alliance that will last for the entire series.

Skinner here is almost an angel silhouetted in the doorway; neatly dressed and impeccable while Milder is disheveled and a physical and emotional mess. This is Skinner’s scene but the expression on Mulder’s face when he realises that Skinner has been helping him is a revelation. Symbolically, Skinner closes the door after him meaning that the matter they have just discussed is also closed to them to be held between only them.

It is a scene that lasts less than four minutes but vital to the very heart of the show and its future. Scully does recover. Between this and Skinner’s revelation, it ignites Mulder’s drive again. It reminds him that the truth could literally be right in front of him and may lie in those he never expected.

This scene defines the best of The X-Files and an example of how to not only do it right but do it brilliantly.

Forgotten Heroes: Bigfoot Six Million Dollar Man

By Owen Quinn author

Photo copyright Universal

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

In the seventies, the world was captivated by bionic men and women. Steve Austin battled secret agents, deadly space probes robots and lots of Russians and foreign powers but who could possibly give him a run for his money?

Well, the legend of Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, was big news especially with the Patterson film, which by the way has been proved to be 100% real, so the producers decided there was only one thing that would give Steve a run for his money and to take his mind off his girlfriend Jaime Sommers’ memory loss about their love for each other – Bigfoot.
The episode called The Secret of Bigfoot, aired on 1st February 1976 and it proved to be a ratings smash which delighted everyone and Bigfoot came back for two more appearances, one of which saw him battle the Bionic Woman, who on meeting him did the one thing I would have done, jump into the highest tree, something Steve didn’t think of. And I for one jumped for joy. So if you meet Bigfoot, survival rule number 1; climb the nearest tree. In the Secret of Bigfoot he was played by Andre the Giant and in the following two it was Ted Cassidy, the man that supplied the Hulk’s roar in the seventies.

In the Return of Bigfoot, renegade aliens from the previous story were controlling Bigfoot to steal equipment they needed for a deadly plan to take over the world. Steve’s memories are restored, having been wiped at the conclusion of the first story and when none of his friends believe him about the Bigfoot, he is forced to go it alone resulting in nearly being killed by the Sasquatch. Jaime discovers the aliens have a serum that cures anything and goes off to the forests to find them but is attacked by Sasquatch. And by the end of the story all three team up to prevent an exploding volcano by accelerating it through time itself. His final appearance was in Bigfoot V which revealed in had been left behind in stasis by the aliens and had been photographed by a female explorer leading Steve to come to his rescue. In the end, the television version dovetailed into legend as a lone creature that walked the mountains guarding the forests. In many ways it was a tragic end for such a popular character. He had forged a strong friendship with both bionic parties especially Jaime that such an ending seems an easy way out but to keep the legend alive, the only way to end it.

Such was the success of Bigfoot in the show, Sasquatch was forever cemented into the public consciousness and the world exploded with Bigfoot sightings. They even produced an action figure so kids could have their Steve figure battle Sasquatch in their own living rooms. Unfortunately, my Steve figure, dressed in his best red tracksuit, was left on one of those old style shelf radiators and a few hours later, I found him melted. I don’t think I ever got over that.

But anyway there is no one of my generation that have ever forgotten the fight between Steve and Bigfoot, it really was that momentous.

The build-up was similar to the appearance of the T-rex in Jurassic Park, that steady thump thump of huge feet, branches breaking as Steve tries to see what is making them. And when Bigfoot, played by Andre the Giant, is revealed; it’s no fist fight. Boulders and tree trunks galore are smashed as they battle. And the reason Bigfoot has bionic sound effects is a shocker when Steve rips his arm off to reveal Bigfoot is actually a cyborg, later shown to be the guard dog of a group of aliens that have been living in the Oregon forests for centuries. They exist in a different flow of time which explains how Bigfoot was seen for centuries explaining Bigfoot’s appearances in Native American folklore.

Bigfoot can jump across a lake even with one arm but Steve barely makes it before he is trapped by the aliens and examined. Needless to say they become friends but no one will forget the moment Bigfoot was catapulted into our psych because he could beat up the Six Million Dollar Man. And for once you can actually believe Steve is going to be defeated.

The build-up cannot fail to impress even to this day as hidden point of views and Bigfoot kept to the shadows in silhouette ramped up the tension along with the deep roar that echoes around the forests. And as silly as it seems, I still cannot fail to be entertained by the showdown which is also helped by the cracking music, a mix of primal sounds mixed with the theme tune. And it actually looks like the fight is rough when Steve is grabbed by the monster and thrown about like a rag doll. And in all sci-fi, unless there’s a realism to such sequences then they will ultimately fail but in this case, the battle has lingered in so many fans’ memories because it really is a classic. It’s right up there with the Hulk facing down the Thing, Batman fighting Bane and that’s where the magic lies.

You can honestly believe that Bigfoot fought the Six Million Dollar Man as sightings continue to this day in that ocean of dark forests that house the legends of time and you will never look at the Oregon forests in the same way ever again.