My God...My God...!
Oct. 12th, 2013 12:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jjporI feel like a bit of a sellout for throwing my hard-earned so pathetically at The Man so easily (it's the first time I've bought anything off iTunes in many, many moons)...but...but...!
Yeah, I've just finished mainlining both "The Enemy of the World" and "The Web of Fear" in one long, ridiculous eleven-episodes-plus-one-25-minute-recon marathon and all I can say is...yeah, man. You know, I've watched recons and read the Target novelisations of both of these stories, but it was still like watching them both for the first time (well you know, because, well it was). Amazing stuff. I'm moved, in a silly fanboyish "gah, something in my eye!" sort of way. Moved!
Some talking points:
- The Mighty Trout, if it was in any way in doubt at all (which it isn't, btw) is an absolute legend. I've oft-times made remarks along the lines of "possibly the best flat-out actor ever to play the Doctor". Forget the possibly. His Salamander, dodgy accent notwithstanding, just radiates sleaze and malevolence and evil charisma. I mean, he did already in pure audio form, but even more so in live action. "Ees no' so good, boys...ees no' so good..."
- Some quite uncomfortable stuff in "Enemy of the World", actually - the whole "torture scene" between Jamie and Victoria and Milton Johns's Benik is just horrible when you can actually see it happening.
- The Doctor vs. Salamander scene at the end is also incredibly well done given the technical limitations of the day, esp. the one shot where they're squaring off face-to-face. And then that ending...!
- "The Web of Fear", however, might be my favourite of the two. Brilliant direction from Douglas Camfield - amazingly atmospheric with good use made of the same couple of London Underground sets and what looks like a bit of location shooting for the brief above-ground parts.
- One bit you don't get from the recon - the bit where Professor Travers is possessed by the Intelligence - that strange lizard-like blinking thing Jack Watling does between strangled pronouncements is a great bit of physical acting and also really rather creepy.
- A real pity not to have Nicholas Courtney's very first scene playing the then-Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (no first names given - when were they confirmed on screen?), but more than made up for by his performance in the remaining three episodes in which he appears. Another thing you don't get from the stills plus audio - the sheer sweaty, shifty, twitchiness with which Courtney plays the character in his first outing. You're really meant to think he's a likely candidate to be the Intelligence's mole before the big reveal of who it really is, and there are enough little physical moments from both Courtney and the actor who really turns out to be the "mole" to keep it all in doubt until the moment when it actually comes out.
The other thing to note about Lethbridge-Stewart in this story is that this is the man who grew into the Brig we knew later on; he's not the complete article yet. He's clearly scared out of his skull, confronting the Unknown for the first time, and Courtney plays that brilliantly. I think we're meant to infer from the first meeting between the Colonel and the cowardly Driver Evans that Lethbridge-Stewart ran for his life from the unseen battle with the Yeti too. And then he tries to make up for that - to himself - with his ill-fated little above-ground sortie in Episode 4, which is one of the standout bits of the story, really well directed by Camfield. And that Para who calls out "look out, sir!" as the Yeti surround them is the actor who used to play cabbie Charlie Slater in Eastenders - never knew that.
Anybody think it's just pure coincidence that the Intelligence should resurface as a major Who baddie in the last Xmas Special and the second half of new Who Series 7? Hmmm?
And at the end of "The Web of Fear" it says "Next Week Fury from the Deep". If only, eh? ;)
Yeah, I've just finished mainlining both "The Enemy of the World" and "The Web of Fear" in one long, ridiculous eleven-episodes-plus-one-25-minute-recon marathon and all I can say is...yeah, man. You know, I've watched recons and read the Target novelisations of both of these stories, but it was still like watching them both for the first time (well you know, because, well it was). Amazing stuff. I'm moved, in a silly fanboyish "gah, something in my eye!" sort of way. Moved!
Some talking points:
- The Mighty Trout, if it was in any way in doubt at all (which it isn't, btw) is an absolute legend. I've oft-times made remarks along the lines of "possibly the best flat-out actor ever to play the Doctor". Forget the possibly. His Salamander, dodgy accent notwithstanding, just radiates sleaze and malevolence and evil charisma. I mean, he did already in pure audio form, but even more so in live action. "Ees no' so good, boys...ees no' so good..."
- Some quite uncomfortable stuff in "Enemy of the World", actually - the whole "torture scene" between Jamie and Victoria and Milton Johns's Benik is just horrible when you can actually see it happening.
- The Doctor vs. Salamander scene at the end is also incredibly well done given the technical limitations of the day, esp. the one shot where they're squaring off face-to-face. And then that ending...!
- "The Web of Fear", however, might be my favourite of the two. Brilliant direction from Douglas Camfield - amazingly atmospheric with good use made of the same couple of London Underground sets and what looks like a bit of location shooting for the brief above-ground parts.
- One bit you don't get from the recon - the bit where Professor Travers is possessed by the Intelligence - that strange lizard-like blinking thing Jack Watling does between strangled pronouncements is a great bit of physical acting and also really rather creepy.
- A real pity not to have Nicholas Courtney's very first scene playing the then-Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (no first names given - when were they confirmed on screen?), but more than made up for by his performance in the remaining three episodes in which he appears. Another thing you don't get from the stills plus audio - the sheer sweaty, shifty, twitchiness with which Courtney plays the character in his first outing. You're really meant to think he's a likely candidate to be the Intelligence's mole before the big reveal of who it really is, and there are enough little physical moments from both Courtney and the actor who really turns out to be the "mole" to keep it all in doubt until the moment when it actually comes out.
The other thing to note about Lethbridge-Stewart in this story is that this is the man who grew into the Brig we knew later on; he's not the complete article yet. He's clearly scared out of his skull, confronting the Unknown for the first time, and Courtney plays that brilliantly. I think we're meant to infer from the first meeting between the Colonel and the cowardly Driver Evans that Lethbridge-Stewart ran for his life from the unseen battle with the Yeti too. And then he tries to make up for that - to himself - with his ill-fated little above-ground sortie in Episode 4, which is one of the standout bits of the story, really well directed by Camfield. And that Para who calls out "look out, sir!" as the Yeti surround them is the actor who used to play cabbie Charlie Slater in Eastenders - never knew that.
Anybody think it's just pure coincidence that the Intelligence should resurface as a major Who baddie in the last Xmas Special and the second half of new Who Series 7? Hmmm?
And at the end of "The Web of Fear" it says "Next Week Fury from the Deep". If only, eh? ;)
