The story is introduced in a way that feels slightly confusing, with the different fractions talking in an overly convoluted manner. The strange system built, around the Paradise Towers feels like something the writers have come up just to hide the fact that they wouldn't have an engaging story to tell otherwise. This is a bizarre social commentary on an overly bureaucratized society governed by rules, rules and more rules, each one more ridiculous than the previous. It's not an original idea, even for Doctor Who, and the depiction isn't' without faults. Most of the characters seem very childish like the writers thought they were writing for a children's show. What I don't understand is why the dialogue has to be so pretentious.
Sylvester McCoy feels much better in the part here´, as he is slowly slipping into the role of the Seventh Doctor. Bonnie Langford is also allowed to do a little more than just scream. The guest cast isn't particularly good, with some actors being quite bad. The worst are Elizabeth Spriggs, Brenda Bruce and Clive Merrison. Howard Cooke is also pretty bad, and I can't help but think that he's trying to impersonate Bruce Willis, which makes it hard to take him seriously. Richard Briers is the only actor I feel is somewhat good, but even he slips at times. He completely loses it in the final episode, after being possessed by Kroagnon.
The Doctor is still a goofy clown, but he has his moments here and is easier to enjoy than in the previous story. He also shows a fiercer and more serious side here, which is fantastic.
Mel is unfortunately mostly forgotten in terms of the main plot. She feels limited when coupled with the horrible Pex. She's supposed to have a pretty high intellect, but she's not allowed to use it.
The Caretakers are a pathetic bunch of Nazi caricatures, led by an obvious Hitler ripoff. The cleaners are terrible War Machine copies that move so slowly anyone should be able to outrun them. Kroagnon is a mad computer mind whose design looks like the Macra from The Macra Terror. It's a pretty forgettable villain.
The production isn't particularly breathtaking. The sets look okay, the music is marginally better than in Time and The Rani (but why it constantly has to sample the theme tune in various ways I don't understand) and the visual effects work fine.
This story begins with a fairly average space, but the second half turns up the speed somewhat, so it doesn't feel dragged out, despite the repetitive plot.
From a strange political allegory in the first half, the story quickly turns into creepily strange B-horror in the second half. Most tense sequences are so wooden in terms of depiction that they lose their credibility.
Sadly, the Seventh Doctor's second story does little to help the series find a new secure base in terms of characters, story-lines and ideas. This is the second miss in a row for McCoy.
It has some interesting ideas, and the Seventh Doctor feels more like the Doctor here, but the story and acting leave a lot to be desired, so I won't watch this again.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
The Doctor has jettisoned the TARDIS swimming pool at some point, but it's back once he is in his eleventh incarnation.
The name Kroagnon makes me think of Xoanon, the mad computer from The Face of Evil (1977).
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParentSpoilers2020-07-15T06:11:29Z
The story is introduced in a way that feels slightly confusing, with the different fractions talking in an overly convoluted manner. The strange system built, around the Paradise Towers feels like something the writers have come up just to hide the fact that they wouldn't have an engaging story to tell otherwise. This is a bizarre social commentary on an overly bureaucratized society governed by rules, rules and more rules, each one more ridiculous than the previous. It's not an original idea, even for Doctor Who, and the depiction isn't' without faults. Most of the characters seem very childish like the writers thought they were writing for a children's show. What I don't understand is why the dialogue has to be so pretentious.
Sylvester McCoy feels much better in the part here´, as he is slowly slipping into the role of the Seventh Doctor. Bonnie Langford is also allowed to do a little more than just scream.
The guest cast isn't particularly good, with some actors being quite bad. The worst are Elizabeth Spriggs, Brenda Bruce and Clive Merrison. Howard Cooke is also pretty bad, and I can't help but think that he's trying to impersonate Bruce Willis, which makes it hard to take him seriously. Richard Briers is the only actor I feel is somewhat good, but even he slips at times. He completely loses it in the final episode, after being possessed by Kroagnon.
The Doctor is still a goofy clown, but he has his moments here and is easier to enjoy than in the previous story. He also shows a fiercer and more serious side here, which is fantastic.
Mel is unfortunately mostly forgotten in terms of the main plot. She feels limited when coupled with the horrible Pex. She's supposed to have a pretty high intellect, but she's not allowed to use it.
The Caretakers are a pathetic bunch of Nazi caricatures, led by an obvious Hitler ripoff. The cleaners are terrible War Machine copies that move so slowly anyone should be able to outrun them.
Kroagnon is a mad computer mind whose design looks like the Macra from The Macra Terror. It's a pretty forgettable villain.
The production isn't particularly breathtaking. The sets look okay, the music is marginally better than in Time and The Rani (but why it constantly has to sample the theme tune in various ways I don't understand) and the visual effects work fine.
This story begins with a fairly average space, but the second half turns up the speed somewhat, so it doesn't feel dragged out, despite the repetitive plot.
From a strange political allegory in the first half, the story quickly turns into creepily strange B-horror in the second half. Most tense sequences are so wooden in terms of depiction that they lose their credibility.
Sadly, the Seventh Doctor's second story does little to help the series find a new secure base in terms of characters, story-lines and ideas. This is the second miss in a row for McCoy.
It has some interesting ideas, and the Seventh Doctor feels more like the Doctor here, but the story and acting leave a lot to be desired, so I won't watch this again.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
The Doctor has jettisoned the TARDIS swimming pool at some point, but it's back once he is in his eleventh incarnation.
The name Kroagnon makes me think of Xoanon, the mad computer from The Face of Evil (1977).
Score: 52/120