Doctor Who: Earthshock Review

It's always tricky to handle to handle an episode when a Doctor Who companion leaves the show as you have to make there departure truly mean something. While the classic era of the show would have just as many companions die in there episode as they walk out of the TARDIS the more modern era has them leaving on really good terms with The Doctor alot of the time the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today tho doesn't do that and so then join me as I review the episode that sees a really old foe return and a friend leave with the episode in question being called simply just "Earthshock" enjoy.

The plot of this episode when The Doctor , Nyssa , Teagan and Adric arrive in a cave on Earth thousands of years into the future the foursome are drawn into a battle for it's very survival when the Cybermen try and destroy it. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This episodes plot was truly something to behold as while the plot does drop the bit about all of the dead scientists quite early on as we never get to find out why they were in these caves to begin with the plot on the whole was something that you'd expect to see as the plot of a film and not the plot of a Classic Doctor Who. That's not a knock on Classic Doctor Who by any means it's just that when you think of plots from this era you don't usually think of movie quality plots rather you think of something that could be done cheaply and effectively which makes it all the more shocking that this episodes plot was as good as it was as by all rights this is a plot that should have been really bad as it does have alot of things going against and yet it all somehow works as despite the fact that the premise doesn't sound that good the actual plot itself did make it be alot more fun to watch granted it's not going to be on the same level as any of the early Dalek but it was never going to be and going in with that frame of mind this episodes plot does turn out to be alot of fun watch with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this episode is Peter Davison as The Doctor , Matthew Waterhouse as Adric and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa. Also starring in this episode is Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka , James Warwick as Scott , Clare Clifford as Kyle , Steve Morley as Walters , Suzi Arden as Snyder , Ann Holloway as Mitchell , David Banks as The Cyber Leader , Mark Hardy as The Cyber Lieutenant , Beryl Reid as Briggs , June Bland as Berger and Alec Sabin as Ringway.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Look to be honest here the fact that we have some really good acting in this episode isn't really all that surprising as this is show is known for having alot of good acting in it's episodes with even the bad episodes having some good acting in them well the same thing is true for this episode as while the episodes director Peter Grimwade didn't know how to direct his actors ore often then not doing the line reading for them and yelling at the episodes more established actors when there is a good performance in this episode it is something that is all the more noticeable. With the best actor in this episode being Matthew Waterhouse as Adric as while his character wasn't best used in this season his performance in this episode was really good with him brining alot of playful energy to the role and at times showings frustration that The Doctor prefers Nyssa and Teagan over him and yet he still manage to make him a likeable person with his own natural charm really shining through in this episode. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors gave to do is just say he lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

This episode featured the grand return of the Cybermen with the characters not having appeared since nineteen seventy five's Revenge Of The Cybermen. That's a good seven years without having a Cybermen story or having the characters appear in a meaningful way yet here they are as the main villains in this episode and this is where the shows producer John Nathan-Turner deserves alot of credit as he insisted on keeping there reveal at the end of episode one a big secret with no one from the press being allowed to know that they are in the episode heck the only people when they were making the episode that knew they were going to be in the episode was those making the episode itself and that's it and yet if this episode was being made today it would be all over news websites and social media when a surprise like this is best left as exactly that a surprise. John Nathan-Turner does get alot of hate from Doctor Who fans and this is perhaps a bit unfair alot of the time as while yes he does make some bad choices later on in his tenure as producer of the show ore often then not he had outside forces at the BBC working against him and therefor had to do the best that he had with what little he had to work with and one of the things that he got right was bringing back the Cybermen as they are characters that are perfect for this story as the only thing that they really wanted in tis classic era of the show was to destroy the earth and that's it and with them getting a huge visual upgrade from they last looked it's no wonder that when people outside of Doctor Who fans think of the Cybermen it's these designs that they think of with the only design choice that doesn't quite work being the fact that you can see the human actor's mouth moving which they explain away as being a reminder of the fact that there human but it just doesn't look all that good.

The companion leaving this episode is Adric who to those of you that don't know joined The Doctor during his fourth incarnation after his home planet was sent into another dimension. Yet it's in this episode in which the character does inface die trying to save earth with The Doctor , Nyssa and Tegan being helpless as they are forced to watch on as the ship that they are on collides with earth during the Jurassic period with his death being handled beautifully as it's not something that is thrown in at the last possible second it's something that is built up not only threw the episodes third act but all through out the episode as the character does mention several times about his desire to noy only leave the TARDIS but be treated more seriously as a companion who intelligence wise is The Doctor's equal and yet alot of the time he was treated as a joke. Heck his death is actually beautifully done with his getting one last scene with both The Doctor and Tegan before they leave the ship at the Cyberman's behest with Adric being left to figure how to move the ship so that it doesn't hit earth and while his last words to The Doctor aren't all that tragic his last words to Tegan are as he says to her that he'll see her soon which is a beautifully sad thing to have the character say as looking back on it that one line does tug at your heartstrings as we the audience know full well what's going to happen to the character and the fact that we know from Tales Of The TARDIS that his death does still haunt Tegan to this very day but his actual last words "I'll never no if I was right" does kind of ruin it as while they do feel true to Adric as a character they don't really capture the true sadness of that scene.

This episode and this season does demonstrate the issues with having more then three people in the TARDIS at a time. As much like she is for the rest of the episodes prior to this one Nyssa is left stuck in the TARDIS for alot of the episode only this time there's not reason for her to be there other then to watch over the controls and that's it which is a role that Adric could have filled and it would have just as much sense and yet for one reason or another the makers of this episode decided that it had to be Nyssa that got to stay behind this is something that does prove that having more then three people in the TARDIS never works as one character always ends up being left behind and heck it's something that even the Chris Chibnall era of the show had to deal with. Nyssa really does get the short end of the stick in this episode as she gets next to nothing to do in the whole episode as while Adric gets to help beat the Cybermen and Tegan gets to be an action hero of sorts by shooting down some Cybermen with her own gun Nyssa just gets to stay in the TARDIS and do nothing until the episodes third act when a Cyberman sneaks up behind The Doctor and she shoots it and that's it which does seem like a waste of her character as she is meant to be this really smart character therefor the makers of this episode could have done more with her even if it's just keeping to the earth side of the story and not the Cybermen part of the story it still would have been better then doing nothing with her as then she would still get the chance to play a part in the episodes plot even if it is just a small one whereas here it feels like you could remove her character from the episode and nothing of note would change as everything would still play out the same way.

There is just something creepy about seeing your main villain pretty much invade the TARDIS as this is meant to be the one place where all of our heroes are safe and free from harm and yet the second you have a villain take a step inside the TARDIS all of that is gone. This is something that is pure genius as you do always want your characters to be in constant danger and what better to do that then to have the one place where they are meant to be safe be the very thing that is under attack with it never not being creepy when we see a villain on board the TARDIS as that basic idea just works and to be fair to this episode it is something that does feel organic to the episode ad The Cyber Leader is planning on using it to watch the earth get destroyed and then take himself to another fleet of Cybermen and rejoin with his own squadron. Heck it even plays apart of the episodes third act as we see a Cyberman come out from somewhere in the TARDIS to try and attack The Doctor , Nyssa and Tegan with The Doctor even using the Cybermen's own gun to try and take it down as this is how desperate that The Doctor has become as he's lost a friend and is grieving even tho he doesn't show it and therefor of course he's not going to be thinking like himself with Nyssa and Tegan also being heart broken as they loved Adric as well therefor they can't stop The Doctor from killing someone and in the case of Nyssa she did kill a Cybermen not long before that as it tried to sneak up on The Doctor and this is why having villains board the TARDIS will always be something that just works but it's something that should always be used if the story demands it and not because the makers of the episode want to see it happen as then it looses its value and is there just for the sake of it whereas here in this episode its something that is done in service to the episode.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty seven minuets and forty seven seconds. Which is a pretty solid running time for this episode to have as the episode is only four episodes long and while this episode did need to have more episodes as you very easily could have gotten this story up to at the very least five or six episodes there really isn't all that much there that could have been added to the plot that would have justified that running time other then having more scenes set on earth which granted would put more of a focus on the earth storyline but it also would have taken away some of the focus from the main storyline f the episode this is despite the fact that this episode really does have more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet despite this episode having a long running time it still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot with this being where having those extra two episodes really could work to the episodes advantage as you could fully flesh out the plot alot more but yeah it would be hard to fully justify having those extra episodes tho with the makers of this episode putting more thought and effort into keeping Nyssa in the TARDIS then they did in giving the plot some plot development. This is also true for the episodes character development as while it could be argued that The Doctor does get some character as due to him loosing Adric he does start to become alot more human which is fair enough but none of the episodes other characters get any kind of character development with alot of them just being there to serve as bodies for the Cybermen this is especially true for Adric as even tho this is the episode where he leaves the show he doesn't get any kind of character development whatsoever with the makers of this episode putting more thought on the Cyberman then they did into giving the characters some much needed character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.  

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. As while there really isn't alot of action in this episode as is the case for alot of classic Doctor Who episodes when we do get some action near the end of the episode it is something that does work as the episode did spend alot of time in setting up these characters and making us get to like and know them alot more which is a small thing but it's something that does make this episodes action matter all the more as now we want to see the characters make it out of the episode OK and alive. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being when we see the Cybermen come out of there tubes and start attacking the ship killing everything and everyone on sight with them not only trying to but eventually reaching the ships bridge with even The Doctor and Adric only just being able to hold them off for a few moments as we they manage to freeze one of the Cybermen in a door before then getting caught of guard when they blow up the door just to the side of side of them with this action scene proving just how smart that the Cybermen are as they plan out two separate attacks just incase the other one doesn't go according to plan with The Doctor and his friends even being forced to think on there feet and think of a solution before they first enter the bridge which is something that they only just manage to do with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall it is easy to see why this episode is well liked as the death of Adric is a shocking death and the fact that they had the closing credits to the episode be played with the ending the music over his now broken badge only hit that home but it would be hard to call this a great episode at the same time in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that ate in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and ad well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally use din this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Tardis . Wiki. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Doctor Who: The Savages Review

Missing episodes and Doctor Who are things that go arm in arm with each other and while thankfully there are alot less missing episodes of the show then there was even ten years ago the fact does still remain that there are alot of episodes still missing. However thankfully the BBC have taken steps to rectify this by animating the episodes that are missing such is the case with the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the episode that sees a companion leave the show with the episode in question being called simply just "The Savages" enjoy.

The plot of this episode when The Doctor , Steven and Dodo arrive on a random planet in the far future they have to help some cavepeople who are having there lifeforce drained from them by people who live in the city. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. One of the things that the episode does get alot of hate for is it's plot and it is super easy to see why as this episodes plot is thin at best as while there is good idea for a plot there the final execution of that plot does leave alot to be desired. However to be fair tho you can see the potential in this episodes plot as the idea of having the typical heroes of the city people now be the bad guys of the story is one that does make for a good but the episode doesn't really do anything with that idea rather due to the fact that the episode doesn't focus on that idea all that much it instead does feel like an afterthought and sadly the same is true for alot of the plot elements that the episode either sets up at the start but drops for no reason or introduces in the final five minuets of the final episode, this episodes plot is one that could have been so much more better as it did have the right ingredients for a good story it just needed to be executed and pulled off alot more better with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is William Hartnell as The Doctor , Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. Also starring in this episode is Ewen Solon as Chal , Patrick Godfrey as Tor , Peter Thomas as Captain Edal , Geoffrey Frederick as Exorse , Frederick Jaeger as Jano , Robert Sidaway as Avon , Kay Patrick as Flower , Clare Jenkins as Nanina , Norman Henry as Senta and Edward Caddick as Wylda.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. The episodes acting is alot more better then the plot of the episode due to the fact that it does feel like that the actors in this episode are trying there best to turn in a good performance something which is helped by the fact that this episode was directed by Christopher Barry with it being made clear as day that he does know how to get a good performance out of his actors a skill which does come in handy interms of this episode. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being Peter Purves as Steven Taylor due to the fact that he does get to show us just what it is that he can do as an actor in this episode we get to see him being dramatic and we get to see him being funny and we get to see him playing the action man role and he pulls it all off with you being able to believe that Steven could do all of these things and that en some and it's something that makes you wonder why even the last episode "The Gunfighters" didn't take advantage of this a s they had the right set up for him to be the action man type character. With the acting that's in this very episode not really being helped but the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Try as I might but there is no animation company listed for this episode either in the credits of the episode or anywhere online. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that good. To be frank here this episodes animation wasn't that good as everything just had this weird striped back look to it with there being no details in either the characters faces on in the backgrounds with this on whole making the animation look cheap even when compared to other Doctor Who animations. Heck alot of the time when the characters are walking they are shown only from the waist up as that way the animators don't have to animate the characters legs but when they do show them walking in a full body shot it does look really good with there being a clear amount of passion put into those shots but it's the overall cheap looking animation that really does bring this episode down as while these animations have always been made cheaply and quickly here it felt like they were pushing that one step to far as there was a severe lack of detail to make things stand out alot of the time and while the characters do have some fluid movements to them in full body shots when where moving from the waist up they look like poorly down South Park characters, to be fair the characters mouth movements do look really good which is something that was quite shocking as that has always been really hard to for these Doctor Who animations to get right and while they don't get it right all of the time in this episode when compared to how bad the overall animation is the mouth movements do come as looking really good by comparison.  

Sadly like alot of classic Doctor Who for it's first six years this episode is entirely missing from the BBC. With the only way that this episode was animated due to the fact that the sound for the episode does still exist and out of all of the episodes that should be found and hopefully quickly this one isn't really one that people need to go out of their way to find as yes it is a companion departure episode and those are always must watch episodes but outside of that there really isn't much of a need to this episode as it was originally intended this isn't to say that it wouldn't be nice to view the episode as it was meant to be seen as of course of it would but it's just that there are other more better and important stories out there that not only have no animated reconstruction but are also missing. Granted there is no way that the BBC is going to animated the whopping twelve part "The Daleks Master Plan" just due to how much time that they need to spend just on that serial but they could do something like "The Highlanders" or even "The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve" as both of those episodes are only four episodes long and therefor could theoretically be done in the same time frame that it took for them to do this episode or even "Marco Polo" which does have the audio from the episode still there and yet time and time again the BBC are instead choosing to do the episodes that no one is really asking for which is still good as it does mean that we are still getting close to having all of Classic Doctor Who to watch in someway shape or form it's just that it would be nice if they did take the time to give the fans some of the episodes that they've been asking for to throw us a curve ball and give us an episode that we didn't think that they'd do for whatever reason.

Perhaps one of the only genuine good things that the episode does is flip the whole cavepeople vs city people trope on it's head. As usually its the cavepeople that are the bad guys and the city people the good guys but there they do somewhat flip that on it's head but by having he city people really be the villains of the episode and yet while they really are indeed meant to be the villains of the episode what they do isn't necessarily done out of malice rather really it's done due to the fact that they don't have the basic understanding of right and wrong due to the fact that they've really been sucking the lifeforce out of the cavepeople for generations now and therefor they really do believe themselves to be the good guys. Yet in saying this tho members of both groups have people who are good and who are at best questionable with this being something that makes neither side but also neither side is wrong as both groups do find it hard to trust the other due to what they've each put each other through this makes the scene where Nanina shows compassion to the guard Exorse all the more impactful as she is able to get to him to do the right thing not be giving him a long and boring speech but by showing basic compassion and showing him kindness when she stops Tor from killing him this one act of basic human kindness does go along way into showing that both sides can stop there fighting and can trust each other if they are willing to stop and listen to what the other is trying to tell them. the fact that this episode in it's own way doesn't have a central villain as there's no evil alien trying to take over a world in this episode it is something that does make this episode stand out from all of the other episodes of this show as nine times out of ten they do have an evil Alien and yet here there's none of that rather there's just two tribes learning to communicate and to trust each other.

As was mentioned earlier on in this review this is the episode where Steven does leave the show and to be frank his departure does come out of nowhere. As they only set up the idea of him leaving the show to be the bridge between the cave and city people within the last five minuets of the show and that's it when a companion leaving the show should always have there departure set up at best at the start of the episode as then when it does happen at the end of the episode it doesn't come out of nowhere this is not to say tat those kinds of departures can't work as if it's a character death it is something that does work but here it was just him leaving the TARDIS alive and well therefor his departure is something that could have been built into the episodes plot alot more better then what it was outside of having it be set up and payed of in the final five minuets of the episode. With the character only leaving due to the fact that the BBC chose not to renew Peter Purves's contract and with them having a new producer in Innes Lloyd and the fact that both William Hartnell and Jackie Lane where leaving the show any way it made no sense for them to keep him on the thing was the actor wasn't given much in the way of notice before hand and clearly neither way this episodes writer Ian Stuart Black as the characters departure is handled very quickly when it's something that should been worked up to like for example what they did with Victoria in "Fury From The Deep" where they spend alot of the episode telling us that she wants to leave the TARDIS and find somewhere to call home therefor when she does decide to leave at the end of that episode it doesn't come out of nowhere and feels more baked into the episodes plot where as here it felt like something that was made up five minuets before filming with the departure feeling more like an afterthought in the episode.

Now then whilst I cannot for the absolute life of me remember what this episodes grand total running time even was I do know that for a fact that this episode roughly has a grand total running time of roughly one hour and thirty minuets. With the episode itself being four episodes long which for this kind of story is the right amount of episodes for this story to last as there is no way that you could get this episode up to even just one more episode without stretching an already thin story even thinner as this is something that would result in there being alot of filler scenes and while yes granted we could also get some character scenes if this episode did have more episodes it would end up adding nothing to the episodes plot with this episode having the right amount of plot to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely due to the fact that this episode doesn't fully develop its plot which is something that it would gave been able to do if there was just one more episode to story but again in saying this there would be no way to do that with out there being alot of filler and with the episode being light on story this might be a case where having fewer episodes might help the episode out with the makers of this episode putting more thought and effort into making Steven look like an action hero then they did in giving the plot some actual plot development. The same thing is also true for the episodes character development as while it could be argued that The Doctor , Dodo and Steven don't really need character development in this episode due the fact that they might have gotten it in previous episodes the episodes guest characters n the other hand most certainly did need that development as we know just as much abut them all coming out of the episode then we did coming into the episode with the makers of this episodes putting more thought and effort into getting rid of The Doctor in the shows third episode then they did into giving the episodes characters some much needed character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The episodes action was alt more better then what it really should have been as classic Doctor Who especially in the sixties wasn't really known for having good action in it as the show was made cheaply and quickly but even so you can tell that there was some amount of effort put into making this episodes action be as good as it possibly could have been and whilst yes it could have been better in some places for sixties Doctor Who this episodes action was about as good as it was ever going to get. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being when The Doctor , Steven , Dodo and a good bunch of the cave people and some of the city people destroy all of the machines that the city people used to drain the lifeforce out of the cavepeople as even tho all it is is people hitting machines it is something that does look really good and it is something that is as well animated as it was very going to be heck given that the episode did some filming at Ealing Film Studios it wouldn't be all surprising if this scene was filmed there as it does seem like the kind of scene that they would film at Ealing rather then at Riverside Studio 1 which would have been where alot of the episode would have been filmed as there's just to many things to take into account for it to filmed at anywhere other then Ealing with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall yeah this episode isn't that good but you can see the potential in thee for a decent story in there as all it needed was either more time spent on the script or a better writer to bring that decent story out of it and that's it as it sis all there for a good Doctor Who episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review ell then boys and girls and as well as ladies an gentlemen I personally got all of the images hat I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , Wikipedia , Tardis . Wiki and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Doctor Who: The Gunfighters Review

Doctor Who in it's third year was having just as many downs as it was ups as for ever good Dalek serial that came out there was sadly two or three bad ones that came out. Sadly the bad ones usually came at the same time as each other meaning you would get weeks of bad Doctor Who serials with the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being one of the bad ones as yeah this serial isn't that good and so then join me as I review the episode both William Hartnell and Peter Purves hated making with the serial in question being called simply just "The Gunfighters" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is The Doctor , Steven and Dodo arrive in the old west town of Tombstone and have to try and stop a family of gang members from causing an all out war in the town. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. With the first episode by far being the weakest interms of story and the rest of the episodes being very light on plot that it was hard too work out just what the main plot of the serial was even meant to be alot of the time as the episode didn't focus on any plot. This is something that this episodes writer Donald Cotton whom had previously written The Myth Makers for the show really should have fixed as there's nothing to this episodes plot there's no stakes there's no drama and there's no focus what we are essentially seeing is the characters go from one of the episodes same three later four or five sets over and over again and while that's great for the first episode as then you could make the point that the story is being setting up but all of the serials episodes are like that with the plot itself feeling like an after thought to anything else in the episode yet if he had put more focus on plot and less focus on spectacle then we could have had a really good story as there are the bones of a good story in there we just needed a better writer and maybe a better director to help to bring it out as the stuff with The Doctor trying to convince the Clanton's not to go to war with the Earp's is good stuff and yet the episode doesn't focus on that with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this episode is William Hartnell as The Doctor , Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. Also starring in this episode is William Hurndell as Ike Clanton , Maurice Good as Phineas Clanton , David Cole as Billy Clanton , Sheena Marshe as Kate , Thunderbirds star Shane Rimmer as Seth Harper , Dalek voice actor and Thunderbirds star David Graham as Charlie , John Alderson as Wyatt Earp , Anthony Jacobs as Doc Holliday , Richard Beale as Bat Masterson , Reed De Rouen as Pa Clanton , Laurence Payne as Johnny Ringo , Martyn Huntley as Warren Earp and Victor Carin as Virgil Earp.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank this episodes acting is one of the better things about the episode as everybody in the episode does give us a really good performance with some of them like for example Jackie Lane giving us a really good American accent something which could have been easy to do as she would have had to also turn in a good performance at the same time and while she does give us a good American accent there are some actors in this episode who don't give us that but still give us a good performance on top of that. With the best actor in  this episode being William Hartnell as he does give us a performance that not only feels true to who his character is as The Doctor doesn't want to mess with time in this episode he just wants to get his tooth checked out and be on his way and yet when the character does get dragged into this situation William Hartnell does deliver a good performance with him getting across just how important it is to him that he doesn't fire a single bullet just with a look and while William Hartnell not only didn't like making the episode he also doesn't do an American accent with him being professional enough to get through the production of the episode and remind us of why he is this good actor by giving us a performance that s far better then what an episode like this one really did deserve with him having alot of charm that really does come through in his performance. With the acting that's in this very episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to harm the overall quality of the acting that's in  this very episode. 

For alot of modern Doctor Who fans they will think that The Doctor's hatred of guns started with The Thirteenth Doctor when it fact this episode is the earliest one one this far that has The Doctor mention that he hates guns. This is something that does work well for any version of The Doctor as he or she would then be forced into finding a creative none harmful out of a situation with the fact that this version of the characters gets given different guns at different points in the episode being something that does utterly disgust him even tho when it's by Steven it's for his own protection and yet he never once uses it with the only time he raises his gun being in the bar at the start of the second episode and even then someone else has to raise his arm for him and tell him what to say next. The fact that The Doctor hating guns goes back this far when it very easily could have been a modern thing is something that does make the character on the whole feel more thought out as by all rights whom ever creates any version of the character could if they so chose have that aspect of his character be removed and yet they kept it and it is something that does put The Doctor at odds with alot of the characters in this episode as of course he's landed in the old west where every one had a gun and with him telling people that he won't use is something that does make alot of them confused as they don't know any better all they know is how to shoot with even several character early on in the episode bragging about killing people by shooting them and yet any version of The Doctor is able to do more damage then they are just by using his words and while that wouldn't gave helped him in this situation the fact that the makers of this episode even toyed with the idea of having him with a gun is something that does tell you right away that this is episode is alot more different and alot more darker then what the other episodes of this show are.

There was one thing above the dull plot of the episode and the lack of a plot in the first episode and that's the fact that they had the song "The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon" play seemingly every five minuets during the entire episode. Just to be clear here both the song and the singing by Lynda Baron was fine for what it is but it's the fact that they kept on stopping the story just to have bits of this song play that started to drive me mad this wouldn't be a bad thing if the song was being used to advance the plot of the episode but its not rather it's being used to recap things that we've just seen happen on screen which makes it a pointless song and fair enough this song was used to make the episode feel more like a true western but surely just having the song play once at the start of the episode and then once again at the end of the episode would have accomplished the same feet. There really was no need to keep on bringing back the song at several points in the episode if it's just recapping something that we've just seen as all that does is stop the plot of the episode for no good reason however tho to be fair the song itself is a fairly decent song that does do a good enough job of setting up the tone for the episode when it's played in episode one and even when Steven sings it in that same episode it still does work with even the main singing by Lynda Baron being really good as she does have a good singing voice on her that does suit the type of song that this is which makes it all the more shocking that Sydney Newman according to David Brunt's Doctor Who the Production Dairies: The William Hartnell years hated her performance in the episode yet he was seemingly fine with everything else in the episode which is odd as her singing isn't that bad for what kind of song that this is meant to be.

As Doctor Who's first western this episode is fairly decent in that regard as it does try to capture the tone and spirit of western films. However tho in doing so it does forget to be a Doctor Who episode as outside if seeing the TARDIS at the start and end of the episode there is nothing in this episode that makes it feel like a Doctor Who episode with it feeling like that the makers of this episode were somehow ashamed of the show and wanted to use the episode to distance themselves from the show this is something that might be why both Peter Purves and William Hartnell hated working on the episode as they are both were and still are strong advocates for everything that the show was and still could be and yet here it does feel like that this episodes director Rex Tucker whom also helped to develop the show for a few months back in 1963 felt like that the show was beneath him. With there being noting in this episode that makes it feel like a true Doctor Who episode and while yes the same thing could also be said for alot of the historical episodes that the show did back in those days those other episodes also didn't feel ashamed of being an episode of this show whereas this episode feels like it would rather be the episode of any other show with this being something that doesn't work for this show as no one is watching this episode to see Wyatt Earp for example there coming to see The Doctor and his friends this is not to say that a story like this could work as A Town Called Mercy proved that a western themed Doctor Who episode can work but this episode needed to not be afraid of being a Doctor Who episode with this being something that does hold the episode back and stops it from being as good as it had the potential to be.

This episode is perhaps the most dark episode of early Doctor Who as not only do we have the companions in this case Steven almost getting hanged. We also have Dodo almost getting shot and quite literally alot of the episodes main characters getting shot and killed something which we see ON SCREEN alot of the time and even when we don't see them getting shot on screen the episode lingers on there bodies and in the case of Charlie even shows his body for a good few minuets before The Doctor and Steven even realise that he's dead holy heck is that a dark thing to be in a kids show and yet the episode doesn't shy away from it which to be frank is something that the episode should be praised for doing as the old west was a violent place and a violent time for both men and women alike and therefor showing characters that we like getting killed of does feel true to the time period. However even tho we don't get to see any blood in the episode this is something that might be seen as being a bit to dark for its good heck the episode even shows use Doc Holiday killing someone in cold blood just for there trey of food and it's played off as a joke this is something that if it was shown on BBC today would get alot of complaints from parents groups and odds are that it did in 1966 as while villains like the Daleks for example do get up to some pretty dark things they are purely creatures of fantasy whereas here alot of the side characters barring Seth Harper , Kate and Charlie were all real people with the fight at the end of the episode being a real thing that did happen and did result in the deaths of people therefore this is something that does need to be treated differently, due to the fact that people can except ruthless killing machines in a kids TV show as there not real but these side characters were real and therefor there should have been some effort put into toning down how dark that this episode is in the first place.

Now then whilst I cannot for the absolutely life of remember what this episodes grand total running time even was I do know that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of roughly one hour and thirty minuets. Look to be frank this episode really didn't need to be this long and nor did it need to be four episodes long either as all the first episode is is just The Doctor going to the dentist and that's it heck even the big cliff hanger ending is just him walking to the saloon where Steven and Dodo are being forced to sing "The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon" which is just such a huge none ending whereas if this episode was say three or two episodes long then it would have been all the more better with the episode having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the episode not even using its running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time the fully develop its plot due to the fact that the episode doesn't spend alot of time even focusing on its plot with this being something that does make it harder to recognise what the plot is even meant to be and yet if the episode was say two episodes long for example then it would force the makers of this episode to focus more on the plot which in turn would make the episode be all the more better with the makers of this episode being more focused on shoving a beautiful but pointless song down our throats then they are in giving the episodes plot some plot development. This is something that does hinder the episodes character development as well as none of the episodes characters get any kind of development which OK fair enough for The Doctor , Steven and Dodo isn't a big deal as they have the other episodes to get there character development but all of the episodes side characters it is a big deal as none of them get any kind of character development and they are are the ones that needed it the most with the makers of this episode caring more about showing The Doctor getting his tooth looked at then they did giving the episodes characters character development but I really will admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Much like with the episodes acting this episodes action was the best thing about the episode as it did give us a chance to see what the makers of show could do when there given a decent filming location as with this episode there was alot of filming done at Ealing Television Film Studios which was a frequent filming base for classic Doctor Who even going back the the first episode of the show as its a proper film studio and it is something that does show in this episode as it makes the episodes action scenes look all the more cinematic as it was clearly filmed on film and not on tape like it is for all of the interior shots which were done on tape. With the best action scene in the whole episode being the action scene at the end of the final episode as we get to see all of the villains go up against three of the heroes minus the shows main characters and engage in a massive shoot out with even Dodo getting in on the action to try and help Doc Holiday when Johnny Ringo tries to sneak up behind him and shoot him in the back this was a really good action scene and it's odd that the episodes director rex Tucker hated how the shows producer Innes Lloyd had that scene edited so much so that he had his name removed from the final credits of the episode and yet the editing on that scene was actually really good with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall wow was this episode a big heap of nothing as while the idea of the TARDIS crew visiting the old west is a good idea here in this episode it just felt wasted as the makers of this episode don't do anything new or fun with the concept which makes the whole episode feel undercooked and underbaked in my freaking opinions anyways / at least/ Now then i've talked about all of the good and a swell as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images rat I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Tardis . Wiki. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Doctor Who: The Well Review

Doctor Who right now is in limbo as it hasn't been cancelled at all but there's also no new episodes being made and it doesn't look like they'll be new episodes for a few more years at the very least. That doesn't mean that we still can't talk about episodes that are now apart of what is now officially the last era of New Doctor Who and that's exactly what is going to be happening as the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today was one of the few good episodes from this season and so then join me as I review the episode that is a sequel to to the episode Midnight with the episode in question being called simply just "The Well" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is whilst trying to get Belinda back home The Doctor and Belinda find themselves on a ship where the crew have a mission to find out what happening on a mining colony on a planet that The Doctor has visited once before. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the episodes plot being a far cry away from the types of plot that were getting in not only this season but also in the previous season as well where the episodes did tend to be a little bit preachy in it's messages whereas here in this episode the plot was just allowed to be this really creepy plot. This is something that does work for the episode as Doctor Who has always done really creepy plots or plots that are meant to be scary and they nearly always worked and it's the same thing here as thee plot of the episode does work as it's just this one group of characters alone not only with a total stranger but also with a beast that only the stranger Aliss can see with this being something that does make the episodes plot be all the more thrilling and while the episode does focus alot on it's plot it doesn't do it enough to the point where you do buy into the plot a the episode does advance the series long plot which weas somethin that it really didn't need to do as focusing on the episodes main plot is where the episode shines bright with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor , Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra and Annabel Brook as Hanno Yeft. Also starring in this episode is Luke Rhodri as Callo Rence , Bethany Antonia as Mo Gilliben , Gaz Choudhry as Kai Sabba , Christopher Chung as Cassio Palin-Paleen , Caoilfhionn Dunne as Shaya Costallion , Gary Pillai as Albie Bethick , Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss Fenly , Frankie Lipman as Sal Van Hyten , Paul Kasey as It Has No Name , Jermaine Dominique as Ulric Dazen , Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood and Amy Tyger as Val Vivo.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The fact that we have good acting in this episode isn't really all that surprising as even tho alot of the season does have some pretty badly written stories in it nearly all of them have some really good acting in it with this episode of course being of no exception to this rule as all of the episodes actors do feel right at home in this episode with them all tuning in some really good performances that granted won't be winning them any awards but will still get them noticed for how good the performances are in the episode. With the episodes best actor by a long country mile being Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss Fenly as she is just so good in thus episode not just because of the fact that she is a deaf actor and therefor she can use that and draw upon it for inspiration but also because of the fact that she is just a good actor in her own right with her acting circles around not only Ncuti Gatwa but also the rest of the episodes actors with her getting more of the episodes more dramatic moments which is something that really does pull of with ease with bringing a certain vulnerability to her character that really does shine through in her performance. With the acting that's n this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode. 

Doing the CGI for this episode is Freefolk and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Real SFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The episodes CGI was to be frank alot more better then what it really had any right to be as while the episodes doesn't create a fully CGI version of the episodes monster it does mainly use CGI to either film something that they couldn't do in real life such as showing The Doctor and Belinda falling to the planet from space from a example or by extending things in the episodes sets both or good ways to use CGI as there only using it to do something that they couldn't do in real life with the episode actually using alot more practical effects then they do CGI effects with even the creature being done for real when they really didn't need to as they very easily could have had the creature be a CGI effect and it still would have worked by the fact that they did it for real and that alot of the stunts in the episodes was done for well does say that the makers of this episode really do know how and when to use CGI as there not just using it because they have the budget to do so which is something that they very easily could have done as they would have had that big Disney money to play with but they don't and heck alot of you might not realise this but a small portion of the room that Belinda and Aliss stay in whilst it's was mostly done for real had some CGI done to it and yet you don't notice it because of the the fact that it blends in with the live action footage so well. 

Just to be frank out all of the new characters that this new era of Doctor Who gave us Aliss Fenly has to be one of the best characters. As this character is smart and sassy and isn't afraid to stand up for herself and fight for what she knows is right even when alot of the episodes other characters are telling her she's wrong these are things that are the hall marks of not only a good Doctor Who companion but just a good character in general with the fact that the character is also death being secondary to everything else about her as this is a character that has a life outside of that part of her with her doing anything that she could do just to see her daughter again as that's who she is as a character and the fact that Russel and Sharma Angel-Walfall who are the co-writers of this episode wrote her to be more like a real person and less like a character that's there to hit home whatever message they want does show you that Russell T. Davies could still write good new characters when he really wanted to. Heck it's not wonder that the Doctor Who fanbase welcomed Aliss with welcome arms when this episode first came out as she is just such a fun character and it would be interesting to see where any future Doctor Who writers took her character as there are so many ways that you can go with her character both re and post this episode and all of it would work and yet for odd reason the BBC seem to shoving Jo Martin down our throats when she's not that interesting as a character and yet Aliss is more interesting with there being more stories that you could tell with her character and heck even seeing what she got up to after this episode all of the trauma that she would have to deal with due to the events of this episode would be alot of fun and seeing the attack on the base again is something that would be interesting to see even tho we know how it all ends.

As was mentioned at the very start of this review this episode is actually a sequel episode to the episode Midnight. With the makers of this cleverly not announcing that it was going to be a sequel episode rather they let us all find out at the exact same time and that was a genius move as now it means that us the audience can go back and rewatch the episode looking for any clues as to what the big reveal is and yeah there are some major clues to be found once you know that twist reveal and yet they don't take anything from the big reveal or make it more obvious rather they do serve as a fun little thing for us to pick up on on repeat viewings and that is something that a good reveal like this one should do and while they are other better reveals in Doctor Who this surely has to be up there as one of the best plot reveals in the shows history due to the fact that no one saw it coming. With the only thing that lets this reveal down being the fact that it's not something that is brought up or even hinted it at prior to the reveal with making it look like that the reveal was thought up at the last second as while it does have a part in the episodes plot with it being something that inspires The Doctor to find a way to stop the villain of the episode prior to this reveal there is no sense with The Doctor getting a feeling that he's been here before as while he was only on what is basically a train in Midnight he was still on the planet and therefor would have been able to work out that that the planet he is on is the same one that The 10th Doctor went to back in series 4 of the show, whilst this doesn't harm the episode in any major way it does make the big reveal feel more like an after thought when t should have been something that the makers of this episode were building towards. 

The villain of this episode is called either Midnight Entity or It Has No Name as the creature as the second name would suggest has no name. Heck across both this episode and Midnight we only get to see it in it's true for for a handful of seconds in this episode and even then it's mostly covered in darkness this again is such a good idea as it does mean that us the audience have to use our imagination as to what the creature not only looks like but how they talk and what there backstory is and that is something that is far more scarier then anything that could be created on a TV show budget as there's no limit to your imagination with the little that we do see of the creature not really giving us much to work on as the character is inly very briefly on screen for a matter of seconds. With the fact it's only killing people for fun and not to archive any goal does make it feel like that the villain is meant to be seen being more childlike as children don't do things for rhyme or reason they just do them with this creature taking that exact same approach with it only killing people when they step behind it with this being something that does make it more creepy as a villain and while it would have been nice if we did get to see what the villain looks like alot more this is something that would ultimately harm the villain as not knowing what it looks like actually makes it all the more scarier as now it could look like anything and it would work however it would it have been nice if we did get to see the creature in action alot more as this is something that would have made it alot more of a threat to the characters prior to the big reveal nearer the end of the episode rather then only having the character be this major threat to the characters near the episodes end as by that point in time it is far to little to late to make the character be all that threatening.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty eight minuets and four seconds. This is pretty much the bogstanderd running tm for this era of Doctor Who and to be fair the episode does need that amount of running time in order to tell it's plot in a way that does do justice to it as the episode does have to build up tension to make that big reveal work and and t make the monster be all the more threatening in the first place with this being something what would have been impossible for the episode to to do if it had a more shorter running time as it would mean that something would have to get from the episode it self with the episode having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time. However tho this episode still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot with the episode giving a good portion of its running time into furthering the seasons plot which would have been find if this was say the fourth episode of the season but its not it's the third episode and therefor the main focus of the episode still should have been on the episodes main plot and it making sure that the plot was well developed with the makers of this episode caring more about making us scare of the episodes villain then they were in giving us plot development. The same thing is also true for the episode characters as while it could be argued that both The Doctor and Belinda don't really need any character development as there the main characters but we know so little about what it is that makes Belinda tick in the first place that she does come of as being a surrogate character for audience rather then a character in her own right and the rest of the episodes get nothing interms of character development with the makers of this episode putting more thought and effort into giving us another clothes changing scene then they did in giving us character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With there not really being much in the way of action in this episode as the episode is more of a horror focused episode with there being of a focus on horror , tension and suspense but then the episode does have an action scene no matter how quick it ends up being it is something that does still end up working due to the fact that the makers of this episode did put some amount of care into making sure that we cared for some of these characters. With the best action scene in the whole episode being when Shaya Costallion works out the best way for them to get rid of the creature is for the person who is being haunted to by to kill themselves with her pulling out her gun and using it on Belinda who is being haunted by the ghost shooting her thus getting the creature to attach itself to her and when she does she just runs back to the well having flashbacks of her own childhood and then jumping into the well killing herself and seemingly the creature as well this was such a good action as while there are no explosions and no cool moves being done its just simple storytelling with one character showing that she's willing to do anything to do anything to save the fay and that's it with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this episode is a kore then worthy sequel to Midnight as it gives us all of things that we'd want to see in a Midnight whilst also giving us a likable character in Aliss and also giving us some really creepy visuals and a creepy villain all of which are things that do make this episode really good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. ow then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review ell then boys and girls and and well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Tardis . Wiki. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.