9 comments

1. thanks @Denvaldon A great review -good to understand just how much of this, is, as you rightly say, a collective of absolutely committed people. Booth does so much behind the scenes and his love of Who pays off.

   Undoubtedly, this was my favourite of the fan serialisations. The strength of the characters is obvious, they’re confident and Booth has a clear vision of where this has to go -as does the writer. I think the imprint plot is quite strong too and something I haven’t seen in canonical Doctor Who.

   **For those wanting to watch, the rest of this is spoiler ridden but I urge you to watch. It’s terrific stuff.**

   As for the immediate opening, it’s wonderfully addictive. An idyllic, arcadian and pastoral background where Ian, in the opening shot, among the ruins and talking to Pandect, is gorgeously shot. And the next, where Angie, arriving with the shopping.. pulls….a house key out of her boot (note to me: boots are better than pockets, keys won’t fall out!) and enters a real rustic farmhouse; delightfully arranged and very authentic, in my opinion. Such nice touches for a fan film -so many modern telly sets are just that: everything in its place not remotely approaching the real life clutter which takes up space and suggests a full life.

   In the first episode, late afternoon sunshine glitters across the field, a duck egg blue lake is in the far background, scudding pink/orange clouds crowd in on the characters as the gloaming approaches. And there’s the shushing of trees in the wood behind the Tardis which really makes for a combination of different approaches and backgrounds. Who knew that such simple woods and arable lands could constitute strongly diverse settings?

   It’s the score that encourages momentum and starts half way through the first episode. Early 2oth century orchestral music featuring winds is usually impossible to listen to but it’s far from the truth in this case as the score is quite picturesque with a lovely continuous and piercing oboe in the soprano register which entertains us through the idyylic pastoral scenes; through the gentle conversations and also the tense scenes where Pandect is desperate to convince first Ian, and then the jealous Angie, to help rid her plane of the Doctor.

   The Doctor keeps his frustration in check, though, even when Ian tries to communicate with Pandect after she’s possessed Angie.  The fact she’s non sentient and a programme is revealed only at the beginning of the 2nd episode so we’re left with a bit of a cliff hanger regarding the motivations of Angie, the vampiric tendencies of Amaryllis, Ian’s disturbing connection with Pandect and the latter’s real temporal existence.

   It’s great for momentum to have so many angles ready to be worked out steadily & neatly through the 2nd episode. And you’re right about the shots, the standard two shots and the framing in general. There’s a sophisticated elegance to the entire production: right when Angie’s car drives up and she opens it to collect the shopping, the trees in the background glisten with a radiant sunlight and the score hints at the fact that the trees might be hiding something unpleasant, mythical and yet alive…

   In the end, it’s a great story outlining the endless debate between psychic phenomena and whether it can ever be sustained by empirical testing. I do love the Doctor’s personality, every bit as strong as any of the canonical doctors. Always offer the alien a truce and help them to another dimension or plane. If they refuse, then defend earth:

   “You wretched bit of clockwork, using us just to reach the end of your pathetic little programme.”

   If anyone hasn’t watched the other serials, then try this one. Only two episodes, tight and dramatic with a nice balance of wry humour, dramatic irony and scientific debates. Booth’s Doctor is in a league of his own definitely. He’s compassionate and not aloof to the human condition, nor is he disgusted by Amaryllis’s….particular condition. Ian is possibly the weakest character: he seems a trifle colourless but again, as a metaphor and obsessed with Pandect, it could appear that his personality is simply slipping away.

    

    

2. sorry that’s @DenValdron above!

3. I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your comments.  You’re quite insightful.

   I hope that you’re inspired to watch a few more and provide your thoughts.

   At this point, I’ve watched quite a few fan films, several with a reviewers eye, and Rupert Booth is far and away the best Doctor I’ve seen.

   There are a few others who manage to capture the Doctor.  Barbara Benedetti of course.  Luke Newman, (a young man who appears to be one lab accident away from being a supervillain.)   Steve Hill who has the uncanny ability to channel Colin Baker (worst superpower ever).  There are a few others who manage it, or sort of manage it, or at least catch moments.   There’s quite a lot who don’t, and some of these are in otherwise very impressive productions, which may be of interest in and of themselves.

   Anyway, going to take another detour, and then a three or four part series featuring Real Doctors in Fan Films.  Hope you stick around.

   Next week I’m in Court or on the road a lot, so I may have to take a break from writing these things.  If it turns out you’re my only reader… it’s been a pleasure.

4. @DenValdron

   total bummer: I didn’t read your most recent comment and due to RL haven’t read more of your reviews. I think there was some ‘fire and ice’ on the other thread but please understand I respect your knowledge and intimacy of Who: you have a style that does sparkle and I can understand that you feel that ‘you’re not that nice”. As I said, not true!! You are indeed an attractive writer and simply write as you see it. We’re gonna disagree -about some things, but only a bit!

   Nope, I haven’t been your only reader. I pointed out  these reviews to two colleagues who love Who but are so busy they’re not registering as members but both watched the eps and read your reviews. I think they’re under the impression this site is some wack-job involving a couple of mad Whovians who can’t write for nuts. They were shocked! That isn’t the case at all. And boy did they realise that. On the forthcoming holidays I expect these two Brisbaners will register as members and will add some worthy opinions. One is a relative newbie to the programme and the other a gent in his ’70s who originally came from the UK and publishing. He generally thinks the internet is all about “twitter twatters” and so has been wonderfully surprised.

   Onwards. Court?? Jury I guess. Still, not my business so I’ll butt out.

    

5. @purofilion   Not quite.  I’m a Barrister.  On occasion I travel to do dockets about one week a month.  Quite a surprise for all who knew me growing up.

   As for your Brisbane friends, I hope that they get a positive welcome and are treated well.

   Speaking of Fire and Ice, I do highly recommend that one.  It’s flawed, but still quite engaging.

6. @DenValdron Why didn’t I see that? 🙂 A barrister! How rude of me to assume you were called up for jury service.

   This place is littered with highly educated and intelligent with actual jobs -not that being a journalist isn’t one!

   (although in Oz, working with say the Murdoch press isn’t something to be proud of and when I met a group of journalists two weeks ago they weren’t at all forthcoming about their occupations. It was, “cough, cough, sneeze, work for papers, cough, cough”

   Yes, we’ll see about the newbie arrivals. It should be alright. They are rather into long winded discussions and so will get on very well with Ichabod who loves a long and detailed ramble -which is perfectly alright; this site seems to ‘allow’ a variety of personalities to bump about (and so it should).

   Now, I’ve missed three of the serials  you’ve put up and I’ll watch them. I’ve decided to watch first and read after. Only because I had some nice surprises with the last one starring The Master: locations particularly were quite lovely. In Oz, it’s very difficult to find that sense of the eerie and peculiar which connects with a futuristic ‘sense’. I guess our landscape and architecture is so new; even our flora tends to be modern, lacking the gorgeous flow of oaks and willows which, with shadowy blinds, adds a bit of tension or flavour  to the scene. How fortunate: the setting is innate. And it’s great to take advantage of this.

   Onwards.

   (PS: I have four friends in corporate law in Bris who travel to London occasionally. Whilst their income is especially fortunate, the lack of family time and indeed of any time is impressive – in the negative sense. They seem to know very little about news, popular culture and which grade one of their four children might be in. Another couple tend to work part-time in law which means coordinating expenditure somewhat but it has some benefits: they remember their child’s birthday for instance! Seriously, I’m not joking. So, what I’m getting at is that despite your busyness you have time to delegate to yourself for Who and fan serialisations. That’s fantastic. Any ‘bread crumbs’ you manage to give us, I’ll read because you must be doing this at 3 in the morning?! And the research: you include the production information (which actually I love) as well as links to various bibliographies: the academic mind at work. I’ve learnt more than a bit. 🙂

7. @purofilion    England has amazing locations.  I was watching a fan film…  The Persephone Complex, it’s part of a collection of Doctor Who shorts from the same group.  It’s a little too clever for its own good – one of the characters in it is ‘the writer’, and another is the goddess ‘persephone’ – turns out it all takes place in the Gallifreyan matrix.   Anyway, I was watching the credits, and one of those was a location credit for a Roman Ampitheatre.

   Can you believe that?   A freaking Roman Ampitheatre!  For a fan film!  Talk about production values.  That seems to be England, chock full of roman ampitheatres, ruins, castles, picturesque locations.  It’s amazing some of the settings that these films have been able to find to shoot in and around.  We don’t have ruins and castles and roman ampitheatres in Canada.  Mostly not, you’d have to go a distance to find some.  It’s almost heartbreaking to run across fan films, where they’re clearly shooting in mum’s back yard, or in the rec room in the basement.

   Different places do have different things going on for them.  The Wrath of Eukor for instance is really enhanced by the lushness of the Pacific Northwest rain forest.   Conversely, Tyranny of the Daleks is perhaps underserved by shooting in an English woods.   I’ve seen enough films set in Australia to appreciate that there’s some remarkable visuals to the country, although I suspect some of it takes some getting too.

   As I watch these things (the good and the bad) what really strikes me is how much diversity there is, and how effectively limited resources can be used, if used intelligently.

   As for your friends, I sympathize.  Law is a very compelling thing, it’s very much service oriented – people need you, a lot of the time law is about helping people who desperately need help, or working on problems or projects which are very engrossing.  There’s a combination of factors there which can eat a person whole and leave you with no life outside of it.  You have to be careful to draw boundaries to save at least some of yourself – but it can be hard.  It’s important to find things away from law, little refuges where you can do interesting and rewarding things.  For now, it’s reviewing fan films…  sometimes at 3 in the morning.

    

    

    

    

8. I used to be a journalist, way back when.  Narrowly missed staying in that profession.  Had a lot of friends who stuck with it.  I’ve also been a teacher, a mechanic, a projectionist at a drive in theatre, a carpenter, manual labourer, professional student, reprographic artist.  Can’t stick with anything, it seems.

9. @DenValdron

   Little refuges. How nicely put. It is important in this time to ‘locate’ such a thing. The advent of technology means we appear to be available forever and I’m reminded of your statement, awhile back, of ashes in your mouth (it was regarding personal loss) but there is a connection with who we are, what we become and what we do. To be able to work where the work is “glorious play” is remarkable. Fancy operating machinery in a Drive -in! The last one in Adelaide where I saw Picnic at Hanging Rock closed in 1982. What a shame. Maybe. Time moving on I suppose and we shouldn’t become too attached. But then look at these fan films: so many committed people, so much expense and spare cash (and fluid borrowings), sets; time; rain and weather; people with children and illnesses, needing paid work and thus moving on.

   Frustrating in the extreme and therefore I’ve decided (and most everyone knew this already) that fan films like this deserve the credit for they’re just harder, simply, to produce. There’s no second unit and huge equipment for explosions, no contracts and time set aside for lunches and per diems. So anything that comes out looking half as good deserves applause and has held my attention -even when I tried to wander off, I just couldn’t!

   Canada certainly would have gorgeous locations – from memory – but it’s a bit exacting, away in the distance and then there’s the bears…The rather ridiculous torture film, Wolf Creek, has some wonderfully eerie and vast locations: and shows just how impossible it is to find petrol and water (and a place to stay) once you’re on the open road. My brother, who keenly drives off in his subaru carrying nothing but water, a few utensils and a sleeping bag says it’s now virtually impossible to get lost or ‘taken’ on the road these days as there’s  huge numbers of caravans but also overseas camera units taking scene shots for later production. The place is literally overrun!

   But no, no amphitheatres.