"...That's
so weird. The day my Father died. |
I
thought it would be all sort of grim and stormy. |
It's
just an ordinary day..." |
PLOTLINE
Returning to Earth in the TARDIS and travelling
back in time to 1987, can a fatal motor vehicle accident be prevented? If it can how will be affect the relationship
of the Doctor and his companion? Who will reap the rewards for messing with time?
EPISODE EIGHT REVIEW Spoilers
ahead
"Dear Doctor,
You're at it again.
Messing with your companion's mind, knowing that the situation you put them
into (whether by their request or by your own twisted and morally unjustifiable
ministrations) unenviable situations.
You know only by some quirk of fate that something positive will come from
your wilful meddling. Don't mess with time.
Regards, Charlotte."
I haven't had a reply yet but then again I won't post it until tomorrow.
Another potential time paradox.
Hate to love it or love to hate it. Either an easy storytelling vehicle or
a gnarled and knotted one. Take your pick. Seemingly employed by the writers
of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION , when the budget has taken
a denting from the task of 'visualising the future' or when a quirky episode
(the re-focus the viewer on the here-and-now) is needed.
DOCTOR WHO (THE CLASSIC SERIES) infrequently ventured into
the realms of time paradox (every adventure was a time paradox due to its unique
selling point), with, memorably, DAY OF THE DALEKS being a prime
example of storytelling firmly grasping the nettle and resolving the issue perfectly.
If you travel back in time, change something then
you can expect a consequence there and later. That's the theory, and, within
the DOCTOR WHO universe,
you should not analysis it any deeper tahn you have to. Accept it, and enjoy
the dramatic licence that prevails.
This levelheaded approach is how FATHER'S
DAY should be viewed.
Rose goes back in time to see her Father before he dies, but saves him, and causes
extra-dimensional creatures to swoop in and tidy up the ensuing mess.
Done and sorted within ten minutes but not
with Paul Cornell's "two-hanky
tear-jerker". Thankfully. This was a quality BBC drama (with measured science
fiction elements cast throughout) that out-classes the Corporation's flagship
programme's CASUALTY , HOLBY CITY or even the
(very depressing) EASTENDERS .
Character development (that is based upon hope and the fatal reality of life's
expectations - even if one of inevitability of death and the realisation that
the past cannot be changed) is juxtaposed with extra-dimensional creatures and
a TARDIS that unthinkably becomes (stunningly so) an ordinary Earth police Public
Call Box.
And like that eponymous time ship, clearly,
a story that on the outside is a 'classic' DOCTOR WHO but on the inside is greater
than the sum of its parts - a modern-day morality play of hope and salvation.
One could easily dismiss FATHER'S
DAY its
initial working title being an obvious one - WOUNDED TIME) as a low budget filler
between the (prologue) THE LONG GAME and THE
EMPTY CHILD/DOCTOR DANCES. A soap
opera (DOCTOR WHO-style. The EOH editor asked me not to include the 'soap-opera' phrase, as it is term that runs throughout
this first series of the new WHO. But it fits) and a breather between hectic
action and heavy plot, but it an opportunity for the viewers to the drawn into
the life of Rose - she is more than a "scream-and-question" time-travelling companion
for the Doctor (and, equally important, to allow Billie Piper to take centre-stage
and pursue her acting ambitions.
FATHER'S DAY has a genial credibility
that should not be overlooked by either viewer or reviewer - it is, for all intent
and purposes, a period drama. Granted, it is a period of modernity that most
thirtysomething' (and plus) will wince at (yes, I was there and wore my hair
like a TOP OF THE POPS podium bopping to ULTRAVOX's "Vienna")
but nevertheless a BBC period drama. And, like the majority of BBC period dramas,
it was superbly executed. A pervading evil of peach, pre-CHANGING
ROOMS décor
(a council-estate homage to DYNASTY on a Woolworth's budget and a contemptuous
disregard for the CFC filled-contents of a hair lacquer aerosol.
Fantastic. Except for the circa 1976 Raleigh "Chopper" bike.
Surely BMX bikes were the de rigueur by 1987?
The script was wonderfully rich (and, once
again, making the Doctor delight at "ape-like naïveté") and culturally
resonant:
JACKIE (to Pete Tyler): If it's good enough for
Lady Di.
As the Doctor's berating of Rose and the subsequent warning of getting carried
away with events:
DOCTOR WHO: (To Rose) Don't touch the bay!
The Doctor is, again, shown to be vulnerable
(and at a loss to what to do). We're not use to this. We've become use to the
Doctor having a solution or a trick up his sleeve to astonish and bewilder to
extricate himself. But this incarnation he seems clumsy and resigned to his fate.
Astoundingly, he is even "sterilised" by
the wound cleaners (the Reapers) as he attempts to protect his favourite "apes".
With his demise, Pete Tyler saves the day. Not only has he accepted that there
is a probability that Time is flexible and that the young peroxide-blonde woman
standing in front of him is his daughter from 19 years in the future, but he
accepts that humanity's survival is distilled within his own death - a sacrificial
act of euthanasia. More poignantly so having drawn his family (present and future)
for the first and last time.
Credit is due to the acting of Shaun Dingwell
(not on my acting "radar" prior
to this drama - unlike the perennial Annette Badland) - a refreshing revelation.
His twitch of realisation as he stared out from the church window onto the repeat
appearance of the speeding car was so subtle and endearingly sad. From this slightest
muscle contraction our hearts sank as we truly knew that Rose's father saw his
true destiny before him - death.
Question: would have Time been "restored" to it "normal" balance if Pete Tyler
had been ordinarily "consumed" by the Reaper (if he had not sacrificed himself
to an errant motor car?). Obviously, this paradox resolution is not part of the
NEW SERIES' brief of "keep it real" and "keep it dramatic" (and, naturally, would
have seen the withdrawal of the learning curve death scene).
In most DOCTOR WHOs, the monsters are key
to the plot but here they are secondary (almost inconsequential). Rationally,
the Reapers are a DOCTOR WHO anathema but are creatively stunning. "Bacteria to serialise the wound in time by consuming
everything within". Why haven't we seen such creatures (or similar) before to
mop the Doctor's loose ends? Or are/were the Timer Lords (RIP) the legitimate
manifestation of "time reapers"? The CGI realisation of Cornell's vision by the
Mill continues with the same reverence that manifested itself with the Gelth
and the Slitheen. Part reptile, part "dragon" and part "grim reaper" (complete
with scythe-style tail), the extra-dimensional parasite is truly threatening,
indiscriminately feeding like zealous mosquitoes.
Embarrassingly, FATHER'S
DAY is a NEW SERIES
story that forces you to physically 'clap'
at the credits close. And that's in the privacy of your lounge. You feel stupid
to do it but credit was due. Paul Cornell has delivered a polished script that
will clearly allow (true, long-time) fans to move on from the mediocre SCREAM
OF THE SHALKA, and script that will endure in decades to come.
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