Plans: A review of The Vault of Secrets

Androvax The Destroyer comes to Sarah requesting help to rescue the rest of his race from The Vault of Secrets, a hidden establishment underneath an abandoned hospital. Androvax seems genuine enough and refusing his request would be equal to committing an act of genocide. But does Androvax have a secret agenda and what are the risks posed by helping him break into The Vault of Secrets? Meanwhile Gita joins BURRPS, a small group of UFO spotters who all claim to have had close encounters with aliens.

The Vault of Secrets is a solid, if unremarkable story. The plot stands up to scrutiny, although the pacing of Episode One is a bit slow and the plot resolution is a tad convenient but at least the device used to resolve it was foreshadowed. The subplot with Gita and her alien hunting friends is cleverly tied into the main plot and Gita borders on being hilarious in this story. As a teenager of the 90's I particularly liked the Men in Black references and the classic Dr. Who story The Pyramids of Mars gets a brief look in. Fans of Luke will be pleased to see him put in a brief appearance, albeit on a computer screen. Sarah, Clyde and Rani are all written perfectly, although the lack of character exploration sticks out after the superb Nightmare Man.

The moral dilemma at the centre of the story is quite compelling. Basically, if Sarah refuses Androvax's request it equates to genocide because she'd be condemning an entire race to extinction. But given Androvax's history the risk of him destroying the human race is quite real too, so what is the right course of action?

Even so there are several fundamental problems with this story. Firstly, we're never given any insight into Androvax's species or their culture. Asides from his claim that they were a peace-loving race the audience is given nothing to sympathise with. Sarah Jane Adventures doesn't have the budget to depict an entire world of lizard people laughing and playing but a few lines of dialogue would have added to the emotional drive behind the plot. Secondly, a brief recap of who Androvax was and why he became "the Destoryer of Worlds" would have gone a long way. It's been over a year since I saw Prisoner of the Judoon and the details of this story's villain were hazy in my memory. Together these issues significantly dilute the strength of this otherwise very good story.

The Vault of Secrets is a standard Sarah Jane Adventures story. It's well written, plotted, produced and acted. Even so, nothing in particular stands out about these episodes. So just sit back, enjoy the story and have a good laugh.  It looks like the special stuff has been saved for next week... 

 

4/5

This week's song is by Birds of Tokyo.  It has a wonderful, sombre but upbeat feel.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owk3oqUjgh4

Punching In A Dream: A review of The Nightmare Man.

The fourth series is generally regarded as "danger year" for a TV show. Only successful shows last this long, and any successful show is built around a good concept and a dynamic group of characters. This describes The Sarah Jane Adventures quite succinctly.

However after a few years the show's central concept has often been explored in every obvious way and the characters have also been fleshed out reasonably well. It's at this point that the writers and producers start scratching their heads, wondering how they can keep making the programme without retreading previous ground and starting to look repetitive.

If The Nightmare Man is any indicator of the quality of stories to expect this year then it appears that The Sarah Jane Adventures is avoiding the dreaded Fourth Year Syndrome remarkably well.

The story opens with Luke recording a monologue on a video camera, leaving a warning about someone called The Nightmare Man. This sets the tone for the story perfectly, and in true non-linear fashion the story then flashes back one month and shows events leading up to the fearful moment when Luke records his warning.

Joe Lidster has scripted a story that unfolds perfectly, with a clear sense of danger from the outset nicely wrapped in a mystery. Who is The Nightmare Man? Why is Luke so convinced the world is about to end? And why is it his fault? As the story unfolds the answers to all these questions are answered one by one.

The biggest strength of this story is the way the characters of Luke, Clyde and Rani are explored via their nightmares. In these dream sequences their darkest fears brought to life. Luke is terrified of being rejected by his Mum and friends. Four years after being adopted by Sarah Jane, he still feels like an outsider to the rest of humanity. Rani is desperate to make a successful career as a journalist but fears having to compromise her principles to attain success. And it turns out that the seemingly over confident Clyde is most afraid of growing up to become a nobody who works a dead end job. It's Series Four, and are the writers are having trouble finding something new to say about the characters? Not at all!  This is one of the strongest character pieces in Sarah Jane Adventures yet.

The Nightmare Man himself is an wonderfully spooky character and I'm sure plenty of the six year-olds watching will have trouble sleeping after watching this story. Mr Smith explains The Nightmare Man's origin however I'd have preferred this left unexplained, or at least remain more mysterious than it was. Sometimes keeping the villains origins and nature ambiguous makes them even more usettling. The superb Dr. Who story Midnight springs to mind as an excellent example of this.

My only other gripe with this otherwise brilliant story is with the plot resolution. Yes, it makes sense and but it's not clearly explained just how The Nightmare Man is defeated. Scroll down past the spoiler warning at the end of this review to see an explanation.

The Nightmare Man is an outstanding start to Series Four and features a very clever plot, excellent villain, to notch characterisation and performances and flawless production values.

Don't miss this one.

5/5

P.S. This week's song is by New Zealand band The Naked and Famous. It has a very distinctive sound.

SPOILER WARNING!

What isn't made completely clear is that Luke realises that in a nightmare there's nothing to be afraid of except for fear itself. Once he realises this and builds up the confidence to face his fear the power of The Nightmare Man is broken.

Talkin' About a Revolution - A review of Dr. Who Series Five

Remember being nine years-old and watching Dr. Who?  For me, every Doctor before Sylvester McCoy was ancient history.  Peter Davison was a vague memory from my early childhood and the Tom Baker repeats I watched on The Afternoon Show prehistoric because I wasn't even born when they first aired.

The current generation of nine year-olds views Christopher Eccleston in the same way I viewed Peter Davison.  For us oldies (and I class everyone over the age of 12 in that category!) all Nu Who is new.  It's a far cry from the tin foil Cybermen and bubble wrap monsters of old, but the truth is that Nu Who is now in it's sixth year of broadcast, which means today's nine year-olds were only three or four when Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper were lighting up our screens.  In an age when most TV shows are lucky to last beyond a couple of series Nu Who is getting old. 

This is why it needed this revamp.  Yes, David Tennant was still popular.  Yes, the ratings for Series Four and the 2009 specials were as strong as ever.  But Dr. Who is a show primarily for 8 to 12 year-olds, and they need to view it as something fresh and exciting.  Dr. Who needs to be something that is theirs and theirs alone. A show that they have ownership of, that their older siblings and their parents are allowed to watch with them.

Steven Moffat was very keen to completely revamp Dr. Who and keep it fresh, which he succeeded in admirably.  Everything about Series Five seems fresh, from the new titles sequence to the lighting and direction, and most importantly overall feel of the show has changed from rollicking adventure to a dark fairytale.

And this new approach works brilliantly!

First off – The Doctor.  Making him Amy's “imaginary friend” was a stroke of genius, and taps into the fairytale theme perfectly.  Matt Smith has proven that age is no barrier to playing The Doctor.  His strength in playing the Doctor stems from his quirky personality, well developed acting abilities and the ability to seem both old and young at the same time.  Although I initially thought his costume was overdone it suits him perfectly.  And I've concluded that bow ties are indeed, cool.  Steven Moffat ideally wanted an actor at least 20 years Matt's age but gave him the role because he was perfect and I agree completely.

Visually Series Five has gone for a radical new look.  Gone is the colourful, almost cartoonish veneer as Series Five has a more subdued, almost Twilight look to the lighting and grading.  The new TARDIS control room is gorgeous and hiring a whole new team of directors has given the show a distinctly different visual feel to the previous era.

Amy Pond tends to get the most criticism out of any aspect of Series Five and I can see why.  She's quite a bitch, and probably the most flawed companion in Nu Who.  Yet, I found Amy to be likeable and a well rounded heroine who's perfectly played by Karen Gillan.  Rory is a perfect foil to Amy and Arthur Darville plays the role of the bumbling yet chivalrous hero perfectly.

Here are some mini reviews of each episode.

The Eleventh Hour

An excellent start.  Matt Smith makes the role of The Doctor his own instantly, the script is funny, scary and intriguing and sets up the series story arc perfectly.  My only gripe is that a bit more visual flair wouldn't have gone astray.  5/5

The Beast Below

An excellent plot and great atmosphere but this doesn't quite fly.  Predictably the relationship between Doctor and companion is cemented in this story and there are some good, if unspectacular guest characters.  4/5

Victory of the Daleks

The only disappointment of the series, but I wasn't surprised considering this is a Mark Gatiss script.  The plot feels like it's trying too hard to make a story from the initial (admittedly brilliant) idea of pairing Winston Churchill up with the Daleks.  There are some corny scenes but the flying Spitfires were very cool and I'm warming to the new Daleks.  3/5

The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone

Whoa.  River Song is back!  Weeping Angels are back too!  Scary as, a plot that is as intriguing as any so far and Matt Smith and Karen Gillan on top form, which is testament to their acting ability because this was the first story shot.  And the River Song plotline thickens.  Can The Doctor really trust her?  5/5

Vampires in Venice

The Doctor replaces the stripper at Rory's bucks party and the new TARDIS trio get involved in an adventure with space fish.  Good episode but doesn't quite hit the heights it should, although this is one of the funniest episodes yet.  4/5

Amy's Choice

Awesome plot, great performances and unbridled violence directed at nasty old people.  What more could you want?  Sadly Simon Nye said he won't be writing for Dr. Who again, so this is a once off.  *sigh*  5/5

The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood

The story is excellent, the characters are excellent and I can't fault the quality of the production (asides from the dodgy explosion at the end).  Yet this story is a bit too grim and humourless for my liking.  If Dr. Who was to be made as an adult sci-fi show for 9pm this would be a perfect example of how to do it, but I like my Who to have a childlike quality to it.  Nevertheless, this is an excellent story.  5/5

Vincent and the Doctor

The plot involving the big space chicken/horse/lion thing was little more than an excuse to pair The Doctor and Amy up with Vincent Van Gogh but this is an exceptional piece of drama.  With films such as Four Weddings & a Funeral, Notting Hill and The Boat That Rocked on his CV Richard Curtis is probably the most high profile writer to have penned a Dr. Who script ever and this story shows why he has such a high reputation in the British film industry.  Beautiful and haunting.  5/5

The Lodger

The Doctor as your housemate?  Hilarious!  Having rented with various blokes over the years I really got this story.  Gareth Roberts is getting much better at writing clever plot resolutions too.  5/5

The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang

The very first Moffat finale is a work of sheer genius.  This story is emotionally charged, intriguing, features some of the best performances from Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and has the most stunning cliffhanger to the first episode.  Oh and it finished with a wedding.  I love weddings, especially my own.  I really don't care that we didn't find out who or what The Silence is or that River Song's identity was unexplained.  Both those explanations are coming next series, and I can hardly wait.  The resolution to the plot reminded me of why I like Dr. Who so much, and I adored the ending. “Goodbye!”  5/5

This is easily the best series of Nu Who yet, but will next series be even better?

P.S.
The song for this review title is a classic from Tracy Chapman.

A review of The End of TIme

I wrote this in an .rtf document which I've lost.  Will rewrite soon.  Anyway, awesome two parter and a great end for David Tennant!