Fan Film Reviews: Resurrection of Evil

To start with, we have the the Doctor himself, played by Mark Bennett. Okay, he looks a little bit like a very young Rowan Atkinson in a powder blue leisure suit. I really wasn’t sure about him at first, he seemed like he was trying to hard. But then, oddly enough, he puts on a hat, and suddenly, he sells it. He’s gets this retro 60’s vibe, like you could spot him walking along in the background of a James Bond or Carry On movie. Suddenly, he’s confident, jaunty, brilliant and charming, with just a faint echo of the poise of a Tom Baker, or a more extroverted Davison, or a laid back Pertwee. Whatever the Doctor has going on, this guy has captured it, and having captured it, it helps to carry him across a lot of territory. This Doctor has a lot to do, even in terms of simple exposition, and at different points, particularly towards the end, he has to show different sides of his character.

 

 


2 comments

  1. Could you review the DW2012’s series 4?I watched series 1 and I thought that was really bad,but now I watched the trailer of series 4, it looked more expensive and better written.

  2. I’ll give it some thought.  DW2012 seems to be principally a one man operation by Luke Newman.  Newman has built himself an actual Tardis console, builds or obtains his own props, does his own cinematography, effects, sound mix, you name it.  The supporting cast seems to be whoever he can talk into going along, and other young Doctor Who film-makers, guesting as earlier or later versions of the Doctor.

    I give him credit for a staggering amount of output.  But then, high end digital cameras, computer assisted editing, and sound mixing, have made fan films cheaper and easier and more accessible to create than ever before, and it’s also allowed it to reach a wider audience.

    When you look back at the old days, it took an entire crew of people and months or even years of effort to create a Wrath of Eukor, or a Millennium Trap or Phase Four.  Ocean in the Sky was two years in the making, by a collective group that reached fifty people, with massive detailing of sets, props and costumes.  We saw locations as diverse as the Cutty Sark, 900 year old Churches, and ruins upon ruins.

    Now?  There’s a new wave of kids who aren’t old enough to shave, shooting Doctor Who adventures at the local playground because they aren’t licensed to drive.  A lot of the production value, particularly the music is cribbed straight from the show – DW2012 is masterful at borrowing and deploying Matt Smith’s ‘big hero moment’ music.  Others, like Josh Snares, will use greenscreen to project themselves directly onto modern Tardis interiors.

    On the whole, I don’t really find myself engaged with these young generation films.  Typically, there’s a teen angst soap operish feel.  A lot of melodrama, not much of the humour and quirkiness that makes the show engaging to me.

    I find them very well done on some levels – composition, editing, music – and often woefully lacking in others – like acting, writing, props and sets, locations.  Essentially, computers and high end cameras have allowed people to do things we never dreamed possible…. but it doesn’t make up for other deficits.

    As to DW2012, hmmm.  I think he’s probably among the best of his generation.  I admire his stick-to-it-iveness, which possibly borders on the pathologically obsessive.  Unlike many of his peers, he actually sells as the Doctor.  He brings some degree of acting talent, conviction and bone structure to the role and voices his lines with authority.  Compare that to many of his fellows who just never convince.

    He suffers too much from teenage angst, he’s very serious and never really light or quirky, as the Doctor needs to be once in a while.  And he’s hampered in lacking the support of a real cast, or of effective locations or sets beyond his tardis console.  So I eventually got exhausted watching his stuff.  I’ll take a look at his series 4 sometime to see if he’s evolved.

    Certainly, by the standards of his peers, he’s a standout.  But I don’t see him as ranking with a Benedetti, a Booth, a Scovill, Peever, Bennett, Constantinescu or Pocock.  For what it’s worth, I think he exceeds them technically, and blows them all away with sheer volume, but that’s a factor of the technology available to him.

     

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