Scream of the Shalka

Scream of the Shalka was an animated webcast put out by the BBC in 2003. It featured a new Doctor voiced by Richard E Grant. For a while there was talk of a new series being launched with this Doctor.

I like the Gothic look of this Doctor, though I find it frustrating that they decided to give him a generic Victorian look. This is disappointing because it does not set him apart from the McGann Doctor. In personality, the Shalka Doctor most closely resembles Pertwee, though he is loaded with a massive dose of angst and guilt. This was not an original move, as both the New Adventures and the BBC EDAs had been full of angst, with the Doctor variously feeling guilt over manipulating Ace, blowing up Skaro or blowing up Gallifrey. On the whole, this Doctor comes across as just a bit too angry to be likable. Paul Cornell's script gives him a lot of humour, but Grant plays it so straight (like Pertwee) and so he comes across as an humourless man trying to be funny. Of course, it's unfair to judge this Doctor by this one performance. Most of the Doctors have taken a few stories to completely get into their role. Sylvester McCoy's Doctor evolved massively during his time on the show. Scream of the Shalka offers us a faint glimpse of what might have been.

The animation for this story is very nicely drawn, but the movements of the characters are not terribly fluid. One could probably enjoy a series of such animations had it ever been made. The real problem with the story is its traditionalism. There is too much effort made in trying to come up with all of the elements of Pertwee-era Doctor Who; the Doctor arguing with the military, an alien invasion, the Master and the Doctor not wanting to kill.

The only really clever idea this story has is the robotic version of the Master in the TARDIS. The idea of the Doctor keeping the Master as a kind of mascot or buddy is quite inspired and deals with the difficulty of taking seriously a Delgado-style Master in a 21st century story.


RT Davies has made it quite clear that Scream of the Shalka is not considered to be canon and that the 9th Doctor is Christopher Eccleston. If you are a fan who loves the Shalka Doctor, you can probably find a few clever ways to incorporate this story into the Doctor Who mythos. Lance Parkin includes this story in his AHistory guide to Doctor Who continuity by suggesting that this might be a future Doctor after the 9th Doctor. His Gallifrey Chronicles novel famously stated that there are three versions of the ninth Doctor, a meta-textual reference to this story, Curse of Fatal Death and Eccleston. In his discussion of Gallifreyan history, Parkin provides another potential solution as to how there could be more than one 9th Doctor. Attempting to tie together the War of Heaven in the BBC novels and the Last Great Time War of the new series, Parkin argues that the Eccleston Doctor could be a regeneration of the Grandfather Paradox version of the 8th Doctor in The Ancestor Cell. This is an interesting theory and raises the question of what happened to the proper version of the 8th Doctor. Perhaps he could have regenerated into the Richard Grant Doctor? It would be disconcerting, however, to think that there could be two Doctors at the same time.

Parting of the Ways

Following on from 'Bad Wolf', the Doctor must stop a new reborn Dalek menace.

The thing I love most about this story is the designs. The Dalek ship is delightfully Art Deco. And the Daleks have flying saucers! Fantastic! Not to mention the Dalek Emperor. He just looks like a panel straight out of the TV 21 Dalek comic strip. It was also great to see a new and convicining Dalek army.

The story? Basically, RT Davies could not write decent stories. The plot is a mess and the ending has something of a cop-out feel to it.

There is an awful lot of human carnage in this story. This is an unfortunate reminder of Resurrection of the Daleks. I am not sure this is handled all that well, particularly after the triviliazing of killing in Bad Wolf. The death of Lynda is rather saddening.

It is interesting to see the Doctor fighting an hopeless battle. Personally, I don't like the fact that the Doctor ends up failing this way. What happened to the old invinicble Doctor? With it being a children's show, is there anything wrong with having a Doctor who can resolve any situation?

The change of pace resulting from Rose's return home makes for an odd viewing experience. Great dramatic tension is created by Rose's frustration. I do find it hard to sympathize with her forever. It is clear that she is not worried about the future of humanity so much as full of self pity at being trapped in an unsatisfying life. The sudden appearance of all the 'Bad Wolf' graffitis was good though.

The transformation of Rose into a sort of goddess was kind of weird, but still rather interesting. But it still seemed like a deus ex machina ending, the sort of thing RT Davies typically resorts to.

As much as I hate the character of Captain Jack, it was cool seeing him going into action, fighting off Daleks. Its always nice to have a bit of shooty stuff in Doctor Who and to have a tough male companion.

The ending with Rose left perplexed as the Doctor starts to change was nicely done.

Bad Wolf

The Doctor is mysteriously transported to a space station in earth's future, where he discovers a society obsessed with deadly reality shows. But who is the mysterious power behind it all?

Bad Wolf can be looked at either as an episode in itself, with its own themes or as part of a two-part Dalek story. I am going to consider it as an individual episode.

Bad Wolf might be described as a satire or parody of reality shows. Certainly a topic worthy of satire, but if this story is attempting satire it is going about it an odd way. By using the real-life trappings of Big Brother and the voices of the presenters of these shows, the story actually celebrates them. This actually makes the violence associated with the fictional shows come across as rather sick and gratuitous.

Frankly, by borrowing Anne Robinson and Trinny and Susannah, RT Davies was indulging in gimmicky ratings grabbing. Why should Dr. Who celebrate such nonsense? Our favorite show has been around since 1963. In thirty years time, will anybody be remembering the Weakest Link?

That said, the designs for the futuristic shows are very good, with the robotic versions of Anne, Trinny and Susannah. But this only brings up that terrible failing of the new series in indulging so much in visuals at the expence of story.

I like the build up of tension, climaxing in the revelation of the Daleks. In this it succeeds where Frontier in Space certainly failed.

I love the fact that the Daleks have flying saucers as they did in Dalek Invasion of Earth! So retro. And for a nice fan reference, the Doctor quotes Abslom Daak the Dalek Killer.

Again, the story triumphs when it comes to anything visual- the Controller is a stunning nod to Metropolis. She is a very well realised and acted.

Christopher Eccleston does well as the Doctor. His concern for Rose is very convincing. I like the way he seems so out of place in the Big Brother house. I am a bit puzzled by the Doctor's comment about 'Bear with Me.' A rather bad entry into the script (Steven Moffatt, please get a script editor).

Billy Piper is quite amazing in the Weakest Link scene, displaying a great range of emotions.

Lynda is ably performed and well realised. Despite her shallowness, the viewer really feels for her and we almost hope that she does become a companion. Her historical explanation for the rise of the reality shows seems a bit out of character, however. I also don't buy the Doctor being so disturbed by it. It is not his fault that people decided to get into televised murder.

Steven Moffatt, please ensure that Captain Jack dies in the next season. This is a childrens' show. It is not appropriate for a character to be flirting and wanting to sleep with every other character. Doctor Who really needs to be cleansed of all this homosexual stuff. I am sure earlier producers of the show would be quite shocked at it.

Dalek

I am not a big fan of the new series, but I have watched a number of them.

In my opinion the story Dalek is a very mixed bag. In parts excellent, in other parts rather weak.

The main purpose of this story is to introduce Daleks to a generation that has never seen them before and to reintroduce them to generations that have grown rather too familiar with them. In that it succeeds very admirably.

The new Dalek design is fantastic- the glowing eye stalk, the vicious sucker arm, the bronze armour and its fully rotational turret. My only complaint about the visual aspect is that we get a full-frontal view of the organic Dalek inside. The brief glimpse of a slimy tentacled thing that we got in The Daleks was far more effective.

However, even better than the visual revamp is the action of the Daleks. At times the old Daleks were just little tanks being ordered around by Davros. This single Dalek is highly intelligent, it learns, it adapts to its situation and it manipulates. It manipulates the Doctor and it manipulates Rose. The scene where the Dalek wipes out an entire platoon of soldiers by electrifying the sprinkler spray is incredible. We are really made to believe that the Dalek, this one lone Dalek is an unstoppable killing machine.

The Dalek is helpless and imprisoned, the last of its kind. The Doctor challenges its very reason to exist- if a killing machine cannot kill, what is it good for? It may as well die.

Of course, it does not stay helpless and here we have a bit of a problem. It regains its power simply from Rose's touch. Somehow the 'biomass of a time traveller' is all it needs to recover. I don't find this very convincing. Even worse, one touch from Rose is enough for the creature to start 'mutating' and to experience human feelings. Just a little touch? We are back in the realm of dodgy sci-fi misconceptions of mutation and evolution.

Just as the story gives us a terrifying glimpse of the sheer killing capacity and rtuthless intelligence of Daleks, it decides to humanize them and make them an object of pity. This smacks of the kind of sentimentality that we get in Star Trek.

Eccleston puts in a stunning performance as the Doctor. His tension with Van Statten is great, but he shows real darkness in his dealings with the Dalek. Seeing his old enemy brings out his more violent and harsher side. His awareness of the destructive power of the Dalek gives him the conviction necessary to sacrifice Rose. There is the sense that the Doctor has had to become more Dalek-like in order to face and defeat his enemies.

Piper also puts in a great perforance as Rose. Her pity for the Dalek is inspiring, yet the knowing viewer cannot help doubting the power of her love to truly change the Dalek. I particularly liked her initial reaction to the Dalek. She sees it as a poor, lost creature. The fact is that Daleks do look rather cute and a little lovable and seeing Rose's pity for the pepperpot brings this out.

I have mixed feelings on the Van Statten character. It is a bit much to expect us to believe that this man in the near future wields such power that he owns the internet secretly, can depose American presidents at whim and decide their successors, has unlimited access to alien technology and can mind wipe anyone he chooses with the full complicity of the American authorities. Doctor Who has a great tradition of rich and powerful villains. They are an important part of the show's ethos, but this one is just a bit too much. Can't he just be some rich and powerful collector? And if he can get away with mind wiping people, why go to the trouble? Would it not be more convenient to just put a bullet in the back of people who are fired, or bump them off 'accidently'? Nevertheless, although not quite convincing as a three-dimensional character, he is deeply interesting. The Doctor's line about burying the stars exposes his shallowness.

I do object to the extent to which the Doctor and Rose are portrayed as lovers. The new series places just too much emphasis on the relationship between the Doctor and his companions. It takes away far too much of the Doctor's essential alienness.

While on sexual subjects, the line about 'canoodling and spooning' was quite inappropriate in a children's show.

The Time War concept is introduced in this story and is worthy of some comment. The Time War enables the writers to sever the link with the Doctor's Gallifreyan past and remove the need for stories set on Gallifrey. Wisely, the writers do not attempt to recreate the war on screen but leave it to our imagination. My problem with this concept is that it means the Daleks no longer exist as a race in the 21st century. This entails that somehow every Dalek story set after this point never happened (which actually means most of them). This poses a some obvious continuity problems. For instance if the Dalek invasion never took place, why is Susan not still in the TARDIS? Why is the Doctor's own past not threatened by such an incredible change to history. On a more personal level, I think this is unkind to fans. We love the old stories and the implication they may never have happened under the new Doctor Who mythos is like a slap in the face. RT Davis thinks he can just erase continuity because it is a time travel show, but this is too easy. It is not even clear if history can be changed in the Doctor Who mythos. The first Doctor seemed pretty convinced that it could not.