Book Review: THE BEATLES: TUNE IN (ALL THESE YEARS, VOL. 1) (Extended Special Edition) by Mark Lewisohn

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Yet another book about The Beatles? There are literally hundreds of books, maybe thousands, about the Fab Four. What’s so special about this one?

I think that’s a perfectly legitimate question, and one that should be asked before anyone ventures into a writing project treading already-well-trodden ground. Does the world need another book about Star Wars, or another biblical commentary, or another book on learning Spanish, or another cook book, or another fantasy novel? There are so many books in the world, each new one ought to make a case for its existence, a reason why we should consume our precious time reading it. Especially when it’s 1,700 pages long.

Mark Lewisohn’s case is simple: Yes, there are many Beatles biographies in the world. But none of them do the job correctly. They are written by enthusiasts, journalists, people with an agenda or an ax to grind. So far, few, if any, historians have taken on the subject, treating it as worthy of serious, scholarly study. At least not to the depth the subject deserves.

Make no mistake, Lewisohn is a fan, and has been all his life. But at heart, he’s a researcher with a passion for documents. He has the journalist’s nose for a story, and the historian’s discipline to step back, weigh evidence, and discard the unverifiable no matter how juicy it might be. He also has the scholar’s (and, one might say, the geek’s) bent to dig into a topic and get to the hows, whys, and wherefores. For example, John, Paul, George, and Ringo were into rock and roll. But what exactly did they listen to? What was on the radio when they were teens? What kind of music made up their youth and influenced what they played? Where did that music come from? And why were these particular songs by these particular artists strikingly important to their sound and their lives? Lewisohn surveys the history of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and how American music came to be in Liverpool. Along the way, he debunks popular myths, such as the Beatles getting their American records from U.S. seamen who were docked in Liverpool. They actually bought them in their local record store.

However, Lewisohn has made it clear more than once that his purpose in writing is not to debunk myths. That just happens as a course of doing thorough research, and not allowing himself to be led astray by uncorroborated (or uncorroboratable) stories. In most cases, the true story is much more fascinating than the myth (for example, the story of how The Beatles were signed to Parlophone records–let’s just say, it wasn’t on the strength of any demo recording).

One of the things that sets this work apart from other Beatles biographies is the range of material Lewisohn draws from. Everything from account books to fan letters to local newspaper archives and a host of other memorabilia. As well as the usual interview subjects, he also draws on interviews with people who were around at the time, such as Cavern Club regulars, fans as well as acquaintances. He deliberately did not interview any of the surviving Beatles, or those closest to the story for this project. They have already given many interviews over the years and would likely add nothing more than what they’ve already said. Lewisohn does have his own personal interviews to draw from, having been involved in the Beatles’ Anthology project in the 90s, and having worked for Paul McCartney for a number of years. But aside from a quick email to Macca to verify or clarify something, he let their existing words stand.

To sum up, this book is an absolute must for the Beatles enthusiast. If you think you know everything there is to know about The Beatles, I guarantee you will still learn something from Lewisohn’s work. Many other books may claim to be the “definitive” word on the Fab Four, but truly, this is it. What’s more, it’s immensely readable. This is not a stodgy, dull textbook. Lewisohn writes with the integrity of a real scholar, and the joy and enthusiasm of a fan. He has put a lot of effort into making this huge work accessible, and as page-turning as a thriller.

You may notice that this is “Part 1.” That massive tome is only the first part in a multi-part series. Part 2 is in production with at least one more part to follow. Part 1 follows The Beatles’ story up to the end of 1962, right before Beatlemania hits the UK. There are two editions of Part 1: an edited-down 800-page version, edited by Lewisohn himself, and this “Special Expanded” or uncut edition, which is 1,700 pages long (hence it is split into two books–see the picture above). It took him 10 years to research and write part 1, and part 2 might come out next year, but there are no promises on that. While Lewisohn is anxious to get the complete story into readers’ hands, he doesn’t want to rush it. He refuses to cut corners on the research, insisting that this incredible story be written in a way that does justice to the material.

So we wait. Patiently.

If you’re a Beatles fan but still not convinced you should get this book, check out this 1 hour and 20 minute interview Lewisohn did with Conan O’Brien:

Terrance Dicks, 1935-2019

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If you survey the history of Doctor Who, there are a handful of names that crop up time and again as being critical to the show’s development and success. Terrance Dicks is among those names. I learned yesterday that Terrance, Uncle Terrance to fans, passed away last Thursday.

Terrance Dicks was a prolific writer. Aside from his work on Doctor Who, he wrote for other serials (“The Avengers,” “Crossroads,” “Moonbase:3,” “Space 1999” to name a few), as well as fiction and non-fiction books. In the 1970s, when Target books wanted to start a series of Doctor Who novelizations, they turned to Terrance who ended up writing 64 of the books in the series. When the Classic series ended in 1989, he wrote original Who stories for Virgin and BBC Books. If that wasn’t enough, he also authored numerous non-Who stories for children.

Dicks joined the Doctor Who team in the late 60s to take over as script editor. One of his first writing jobs was to come up with a 10-part story to replace two stories that had fallen through. The result was “The War Games,” the final Second Doctor story which he wrote with his friend and mentor Malcolm Hulke. This is the story that introduced us to the Time Lords. As script editor for the Third Doctor, he also gave us The Master, and helped in the hiring of Tom Baker to succeed Jon Pertwee. In fact, it was Dicks who wrote Baker’s first story, “Robot.” When he handed over the script editor duties to Robert Holmes, he continued to write for the show. It was Dicks who wrote “The Brain of Morbius” (under the pseudonym Robin Bland), “Horror of Fang Rock,” “State of Decay,” and the 20th anniversary special, “The Five Doctors.”

Terrance Dicks never stopped being active in Who fandom. He was a regular at conventions, and frequently made appearances on DVD and Blu-Ray commentary tracks and special features. Among his last work were scripts for the Big Finish range of original Doctor Who audio productions.

Growing up a Whovian, Terrance Dicks’s name was as well-known to me as The Doctor or any of his companions. The first novelizations I read were by him. Anything that carried his name bore the weight of authority. Seeing him on Doctor Who DVDs over the last decade, I was surprised how well he looked and how sharp he sounded, knowing he was approaching his eightieth year. No-one lives forever, but it seemed as if Uncle Terrance would be around for many more years. Sadly, that was not to be.

Terrance will be greatly missed, and never replaced.

Who Review: The Parting of the Ways

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The Doctor materializes the TARDIS on the Dalek ship where Rose is held captive, piloting it such that Rose ends up inside. Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor confronts the Dalek Emperor, who seems to have developed a god complex. Even more unnerving to the Doctor is the fact that these Daleks have concepts of worship and blasphemy. It seems the Emperor Dalek has been transmatting people from Earth using the Satellite Five TV shows (see “Bad Wolf”) and harvesting their DNA to create new Daleks. While he claims they are purged of human impurity, the Doctor believes they still retain some humanity, which is driving them mad. And now the Daleks want to wipe out the human race and make a paradise on Earth for themselves. To save humanity, the Doctor needs to destroy an entire Dalek fleet. The odds are slim, but there is a way; a way that usually requires more time than he has to implement. One that could also destroy not only himself and the Daleks, but all life on Earth. As the Doctor struggles with the moral dilemma, the Dalek fleet draws closer to Earth. Time is running out for the last of the Time Lords…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The first season finale of the reboot pits the Doctor against his classic foes, the Daleks, and gives him impossible odds. There is no way he can fend off an entire Dalek fleet, and even if he pulls off his Delta Wave generator, the collateral damage would be more than his conscience can bear. Especially since he’s still burdened with the consequences of the Time War and his (apparent) destruction of the Daleks, taking his own people along with them. This is how you create good drama: give the antagonist all the advantages, and make things as hopeless as possible for the hero. That’s certainly what’s going on here.

Helping the Doctor are a handful of humans, led by Captain Jack. Lynda, the girl from the Big Brother house, looks as if she’s being groomed to be a TARDIS companion. In “Bad Wolf,” she asked the Doctor if she could travel with him, and he agreed. Then there’s that awkward moment before she leaves to stand watch for the Daleks when they say goodbye. The Doctor leans forward to give her a kiss on the cheek, but she holds out her hand. They’re like a couple of school kids. We’re left hoping it all works out, but knowing it won’t. And Lynda’s death scene is perhaps one of the saddest and most powerful scenes of the series. She looks toward the noise of the Daleks trying to burn through the door behind her. Then she sees something out of the corner of her eye. As she slowly turns her attention back to the window in front, three Daleks rise up, hovering in space. The color drains from her face as the foremost Dalek raises its gun. We don’t hear a sound, but we see the Dalek’s lights blinking a familiar four syllable pattern before the window shatters and Lynda screams.

Captain Jack Harkness has, over the course of the past few stories, become part of the TARDIS crew. When we first met him, he was Time Agent turned con man, and certified coward. Now he’s stirring up the troops and leading them into a futile battle, just to buy the Doctor time to construct the Delta Wave generator. In the end, Jack is the last man standing. And when his weapons fail him, he simply stands his ground and lets the Daleks exterminate him. It’s such an abrupt and ruthless end to someone who seemed to be part of the team.

As for Rose, the Doctor sent her home, tricking her into the TARDIS, then using his sonic screwdriver to remote dematerialize her back to Earth. Rose’s reaction to being left back on Earth with her Mum and Mickey is, in a sense, understandable. After all that she has seen and done with the Doctor, how can a mundane life on Earth satisfy her? I also think Jackie and MIckey are justified in their indignation, since Rose essentially tells them their lives are boring and meaningless. But Sarah Jane Smith had a similar experience when the Doctor left her back on Earth. As she will say in the next season’s episode, “School Reunion,” after you’ve been with the Doctor, how can you go back to “normal life”? It must have been the hardest thing for Jackie to lend her help to Rose, knowing she was sending her daughter into danger. But she knew Rose wouldn’t be happy otherwise. That moment when she pulls around the corner in the truck was significant, marking Jackie’s final acceptance that the Doctor was a part of their lives, like it or not. This will be underscored in the coming Christmas episode.

I suppose when Rose steps out of the TARDIS having absorbed the Time Vortex, and destroys the entire Dalek fleet with a wave of her hand, it’s a bit of a deus ex machina solution to the Doctor’s predicament. However, I think it’s defensible. First, we were told in episode two that the TARDIS is telepathic, and we saw the power of the “heart of the TARDIS” in “Boom Town,” when it essentially reset Margaret Slitheen. We have also now been told that it was the TARDIS, in the form of Rose, who took the words “Bad Wolf” and scattered them through time and space–not for the Doctor, however, but for herself. They were acting as breadcrumbs, to lead the TARDIS to this moment when Rose will save the Doctor’s life. A bit of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff that doesn’t bear thinking too hard about, but it works for the story. So, I don’t feel at all cheated at this resolution.

The Time Vortex also gives a reason for the Doctor’s regeneration: he saves Rose’s life by absorbing it into himself, and then transferring it back to the TARDIS. Doing this causes his cells to start dying, which triggers the first regeneration of the new series. I had heard that Eccleston wasn’t staying on for season two, but I kept this information from my kids. They may have been shocked, and they may have complained about not being warned. But I gave them something I have never seen and always wanted to: a surprise regeneration. You’re welcome, kids. Seriously, though, this regeneration will always have a special place in my heart. Not only did it thrill me to see how they would handle this phenomenon, but to see the look on my children’s faces when they saw the Doctor change. At this time we didn’t know David Tennant, aside from his turn as Barty Crouch Jr in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” so we had no idea whether he would be any good. Also, as is typical, we had become used to seeing Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, so any new guy in the role was going to take some getting used to.

This is “Must-See” Who. Of course, if you’ve watched “Bad Wolf,” you will want to watch “The Parting of the Ways.” But even if only for the regeneration, this story is well worth your time. A fitting conclusion to one of the most successful re-boots in television history.

Who Review: Bad Wolf

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Returning from the hatchery on Raxacoricofallapatorius (see “Boom Town”), the Doctor, Rose, and Jack are mysteriously teleported out of the TARDIS. The powerful beam renders them unconscious, and when they wake, they find themselves in some kind of TV hell. The Doctor appears to be in a futuristic version of the popular reality show, “Big Brother.” Rose is playing “The Weakest Link” game show, and two female androids are giving Captain Jack a style make-over in a version of “What Not to Wear.” But these games have a sinister edge: losers are disintegrated. When the Doctor figures out what’s going on, he gets himself evicted. As he expected, he isn’t killed. Whoever is running the shows wants him alive. He escapes and goes looking for Rose and Jack. But the station he’s in seems familiar. It’s Satellite Five, the station whose downfall he brought about 100 years ago (see “The Long Game”). Back then, the Earth was a thriving empire; now the planet’s inhabitants spend their time watching television, afraid to leave their houses. All this time, something has been controlling the destiny of Earth. Something that currently has Rose, and ultimately wants the Doctor. They’ve been playing a long game, and now it’s time for revenge.

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The penultimate episode of the season is the first of a two-part story that connects some dots from earlier episodes, and completes the “Bad Wolf” story arc. Those words have been following the Doctor and Rose since the second story, and now they find themselves back on Satellite Five, which is now run by the Bad Wolf Corporation. We must be about to find out what it means… but not quite yet. That’ll come in the finale.

It seems episode writer and show-runner Russell T. Davies had been wanting to do a “game shows gone mad” story from early on in the planning of this Who re-boot. Now he gets his dream-come-true. The shows featured in this episode were all very popular in the UK at the time “Bad Wolf” broadcast. Davies was particularly pleased that the original hosts of the shows agreed to voice their robot counterparts (Davina McCall plays the Davinadroid for “Big Brother,” Anne Robinson is the Anne Droid for “The Weakest Link,” and Trinny Woodall and Susanna Constantine play Trinn-e and Zu Zanna in “What Not to Wear”).

One interesting theme this story toys with is that of consequences. Usually, the Doctor arrives somewhere, fixes the problem, then moves on. Rarely does he return to see how everything turned out. I can only think of two Classic Who stories where the Doctor has had to deal with the consequences of his actions (“The Ark” and “The Face of Evil”). Now he’s confronted with the effects of bringing down the Mighty Jagrafess and the Satellite Five station 100 years before. The Doctor thought the human race was being stifled by the Satellite’s constant flow of information, with no-one analyzing and asking questions. But that’s nothing compared to what’s happened to humanity now. Lost without the Satellite, people have retreated to their homes and accepted the relentless stream of game shows and reality television piped to them by the new occupants of the Satellite. As the Doctor rightly says, “I created all this!” But the Doctor can’t take all the credit. After all, he and the whole human race are being manipulated. Whoever is working behind the scenes has been playing a long game (hence the reason why the initial Satellite Five episode was called “The Long Game”), and they’re getting ready to make their final move.

In the closing minutes of the episode, the antagonists are revealed: hundreds of Dalek ships swarming around the satellite, and hundreds of Daleks in each one. This is the kind of effects shot Whovians have been craving for a long time. Previously, the only way you could get that many Daleks in one place at one time was to use little models (see, for example, the final episode of “Planet of the Daleks”). Modern CGI, however, can give us hundreds and hundreds of fully operational, realistic-looking Daleks. One of the best moments of the New Series.

Subtle (and not-so-subtle) clues to the antagonists’ identity were dropped throughout the episode. When Jack and the Doctor are captured, they are sentenced to serve time on the lunar penal colony. The last time that was mentioned was in the Third Doctor story, “Frontier in Space,” which was part of the story arc culminating in “Planet of the Daleks.” Also, the Controller, who seems to be hooked to some kind of frame by lots of wires, looks a bit like the Emperor Dalek from the Second Doctor story, “Evil of the Daleks.”

We also get a name-drop that will be relevant next season. Anne Droid asks one of the contestants, “The Great Cobolt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous old Earth institute?” The correct answer: “Torchwood.”

There are a number of gag lines and humorous elements (including some innuendo from Jack, though we’ve come to expect that of him) in this episode, which is understandable given the premise. In a way, knowing the drama to come, “Bad Wolf” serves as some light relief before the darkness. Not classic, “Must-See” Who, but good Who, and a great cliff hanger, leaving you on the edge of your seat for the finale.

Who Review: Boom Town

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Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen, also known as Margaret Blaine, is back. She survived the Tomahawk missile attack on 10 Downing Street (see “World War Three”), and now she’s Mayor of Cardiff, and plans to build a nuclear power station in the heart of the city. The “Blaidd Drwg” project, as she calls it, promises growth and prosperity for Cardiff. But there are rumors of a curse, and reports that the station is flawed. Safety inspectors and officials have died under mysterious circumstances, and some say that, according to the plans, if the proposed station reaches capacity, it will blow. Margaret dismisses the nay-sayers, but, of course, they’re right. After all, Blon doesn’t want to stay on Earth any longer than she has to, and a nuclear explosion might be her ticket out of this solar system. Unfortunately for her, the Doctor, Rose, Mickey, and Jack are onto her. But with the TARDIS getting a power charge on a rift in space and time that happens to be in Cardiff, keeping Blon contained might be more of a challenge than they bargained for…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

Just when you thought the Slitheen family were done for, it seems Blon teleported away from Downing Street in the nick of time, leaving the rest of her kin to perish. This is a fairly light story, focusing mainly on the characters, and exploring the moral dilemma posed by the TARDIS crew taking  Blon back to Raxacoricofallapatorius. In their absence, the Slitheen family were put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death. By returning her, the Doctor and his friends are complicit in her execution. Her blood, according to Blon, is on their hands. But the Doctor knows if he doesn’t somehow call her to account for her crimes, she will continue to wreck havoc on Earth, and wherever else she goes. Blon insists she can change, but she attempts to kill the Doctor multiple times over dinner. Of course she won’t change.

Meanwhile, Mickey and Rose have unresolved issues they need to get out into the open. They try to carry on as normal, with Rose telling Mickey about the places she’s been, and Mickey suggesting they get a hotel room for the night (not something you would ever have heard suggested in Classic Who). But finally Mickey cracks, and tells Rose how betrayed he feels. It plays like a big split-up scene from a Rom-Com, but it’s a defining moment for them both. Especially as Rose tries to figure out where her loyalties lie. She may want both Mickey and the Doctor, but Mickey isn’t giving her that option.

Of course, Blon has no intention of allowing herself to be taken home by the Doctor. When the power station plan falls through, she enacts plan B: find a way to get her extrapolator hooked into the rift, and the power build-up will tear the planet apart, and she can ride those shock waves home. Captain Jack had already hooked the extrapolator to the TARDIS to try to speed up the refueling, not knowing that’s exactly what Blon wanted. What she didn’t count on, however, was the TARDIS. It opens up and she gazes into its heart. Crisis resolved–crises actually. Not only does this stop the rift destroying Earth, but it makes Blon regress back to an egg. The Doctor can now take her back to the hatchery on Raxacoricofallapatorius, and hope she will be given to a family that will raise her better. Russell T. Davies, the show-runner and episode writer, acknowledges this to be a bit of a deus ex machina solution, but not entirely. We’ve established that the TARDIS is telepathic, and can affect the minds of those who travel in her (e.g., translation–see “The End of the World”). The effect the TARDIS has on Blon is, therefore, not completely out-of-left-field. This concept of the heart of the TARDIS opening will become important later, too.

“Boom Town” is a good story, though not exceptional. As I said, it’s fairly light, and more about characters than plot. One important plot point that’s highlighted is the “Bad Wolf” theme. Rose mentions that the words seem to be following them. No matter where in time and space they go, “Bad Wolf” crops up somewhere. In this story, “Blaidd Drwg” is Welsh for “Bad Wolf.” The Doctor acknowledges it’s a strange thing, but dismisses it as a meme, like a tune that gets stuck in your head so you think it’s everywhere even when it isn’t. I don’t think he’s convinced, however. So this is an episode worth watching, but not “Must-See.”

Who Review: The Doctor Dances

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The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack Harkness narrowly escape being turned into gas-mask zombies, but their respite from danger is short-lived. All around, the sick and dying are growing gas masks and crying out for their Mummy, following the lead of the little boy who started it all. The Doctor makes the connection between the hospital ship that Captain Jack directed to Earth with the nanogenes that are making everyone just like gas-mask boy. And it seems the nanogenes are going airborne, making it harder to prevent the inevitable wiping out of the human race. There’s more to the boy in the gas mask than it seems. His sister Nancy appears to be holding back vital information, but with German bombs dropping every few minutes, there’s not much time to get to the truth. And even then, will the Doctor be able to stop the nanogenes and save the world?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

If you’ve read my review for “The Empty Child,” you already know I consider this two-part story “Must-See” Who, and, along with “Dalek,” the best of the season. Lots of good, witty dialog, some very creepy moments, and the best kind of resolution, when all the clues that have been laid over the course of the story come together and it makes sense.

The first clue is the nanobots, or nanogenes, that Captain Jack unwittingly picked up from the “ambulance.” He used them to heal Rose’s hands in the first part, and here, the Doctor uses them to repair his hands. But the Doctor explains how they work, and makes the connection between the nanogenes and the craft that Jack crash-landed in London. At first, the Doctor thinks the nanogenes are just running wild, turning everyone into gas-mask zombies. But then, as he discovers more about what’s going on, the pieces start to come together.

We met Nancy in the first part, and learned that the gas-mask boy is her brother, Jamie, who was killed when the ship crashed. The nanogenes brought him back to life, but now whoever he touches becomes like him. Out of her loss, Nancy has taken on the care of the waifs and strays of the area, giving shelter to them, and feeding them with the abandoned meals of families hiding in air raid shelters. But Nancy has a secret, one that, in 1941 she dare not tell. There’s a reason why her brother keeps asking “Are you my Mummy?” and is drawn to his sister. Nancy is, in fact, his Mummy. And this is critical information, because they share DNA. Once the nanogenes figure out their relationship, they can fix Jamie based on what his Mum is like (since his Mum has the dominant genetic information). When the Doctor brings Nancy and Jamie together, urging Nancy to tell the boy that she’s his Mummy, it seems as if he was hoping to at least put the boy’s mind at rest before he converts her. When she doesn’t turn into a gas-mask zombie, you can see the light turn on in the Doctor’s eyes. He realizes what’s happening. And when he takes off Jamie’s mask and he’s okay, there is genuine joy. But the best is yet to come. He sends the nanogenes over to the assembled zombies–an upgrade, he calls it–and, with better information as to what humans look like, they “fix” everybody. Everybody lives, and the Doctor dances.

In the midst of this happening, we have some sniping between Jack and the Doctor. Writer Steven Moffat claims the Doctor is hopelessly in love with Rose, and feels threatened by Jack. I don’t know about the “hopelessly in love” bit, but he certainly feels a bond with Rose, and enjoys impressing her. Jack, with his “proper” space ship, his sonic blaster, and his gadget that scans for alien tech, makes an impression on Rose, and the Doctor feels one-upped. This leads to some wonderful exchanges, like the “assets” banter in the corridor. I’m not quoting it–you need to watch it. 🙂

Perhaps the best of the creepy moments–and one that gave me a chill when I first saw it–happens when they are in Dr. Constantine’s room, and the Doctor plays the tape of the session. We hear the boy saying “Are you my Mummy?” on the tape. And we continue to hear the boy’s voice. Then Rose asks, “What’s that noise?” We hear a flickering sound, and the Doctor says, with a wry smile, “The tape ended thirty seconds ago.” Cut to the tape reel spinning, the tape end flicking with each rotation. Cut to gas-mask boy on the other side of the window, looking at them. EeeK!

The word “dance” is clearly used as a euphemism both in the title, and the story. Sure, the Doctor “dances” for joy because, “Just this once–everybody lives!” But “dance” also refers to either sex, or, at least, engaging in a relationship that is more than just friendship. Does the Doctor dance? Clearly, Captain Jack dances with all manner of beings. Jack is more than able to dance with Rose, but what about the Doctor? Given the Doctor’s character, I don’t think “dance=sex” applies to him, but it certainly applies to the Doctor’s ability to open up and allow himself to be involved in a meaningful relationship, something he has probably closed himself up to as a result of the Time War. We’ve come a long way from episode 2, “The End of the World,” where the Doctor struggles to tell Rose anything about himself or his past. Jack challenges the Doctor to open up, pull down the barriers, and let Rose–and others–in. It’s perhaps telling that in the next story, “Boom Town,” we meet up with the Doctor, Jack, Rose, and Mickey around a table in a restaurant, laughing and telling stories.

What more can I say? If you don’t watch any other story from New Who Season One, watch “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances.”

Who Review: The Empty Child

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The TARDIS chases a cylindrical vessel as it hurtles through space, jumping time tracks, making its way toward Earth. When the TARDIS lands, it’s in a London back-alley, a month after the vessel made impact. The Doctor enters a building by the back entrance, and asks the assembled audience if they’ve seen anything odd falling from the sky. Then he sees the posters. It’s 1941, the middle of the Blitz. Nazi aircraft are dropping “odd” things from the sky on a regular basis. Rose makes the same discovery when she sees a boy in a gas mask on a roof top calling out for his Mummy. She climbs a rope to get to him, and discovers that rope is attached to a barrage balloon, and she is now swinging over London, while bombs explode and aircraft tear past her. She is rescued by Captain Jack Harkness, who claims to be a former time agent. He joins the Doctor and Rose as they investigate the ship that crashed. But something strange is happening to the people in London. For the last month, an infection has been spreading, turning ordinary people into zombies with gas masks looking for their Mummy. Somehow the little boy is at the center of things, and the Doctor, Rose, and Jack need to find out how before they become his next victims…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The third guest writer for New Series season one was another long-time Whovian who had already had some success as a television writer. Prior to Doctor Who, Steven Moffat’s credits included teen drama “Press Gang,” and the comedy series “Coupling.” He also wrote the 1999 Comic Relief Who parody, “Curse of Fatal Death,” in which the Doctor’s companion gives a stirring speech about how much the universe needs him (a thinly-veiled plea for the series to return, no doubt), and Joanna Lumley is the Thirteenth Doctor (what were you trying to tell us, Moffat?). Steven Moffat quickly became the most celebrated writer of the Russell T. Davies era, and this two-parter one of the most popular stories, not only of the re-boot, but of all time. Yes, this is “Must-See” viewing, and it easily ranks alongside “Dalek” as the best of the season.

In this first installment of the story, the Doctor and Rose chase after a space craft and find themselves in London during the devastating bomb attack launched by Germany in 1941 known as The Blitz. At the center of the story is “The Empty Child,” a boy in a gas mask who goes around asking “Are you my Mummy?” The child sounds pitiful, but he’s dangerous. Everyone he touches becomes like him. He also has this eerie ability to communicate through radios, telephones, anything with a speaker. When he “calls” the Doctor on the TARDIS phone–i.e., the police box phone that’s part of the TARDIS’s disguise–the Doctor is genuinely shocked. That phone has never worked, and it’s not supposed to work.

“The Empty Child” introduces us to Captain Jack Harkness played by American-English actor John Barrowman. Jack became a staple of the show, even getting his own spin-off series, “Torchwood.” Here, he is a con-man posing as an ex-time agent, posing as an air force captain. He seduces Rose, and tries to sell her and the Doctor the space craft that crashed. At first he said it was a Chula warship, but the Doctor calls his bluff and he admits that it’s an ambulance of some kind. Jack hastily adds that the ship was empty when he directed it to land on Earth. He was hoping to time the sale of the craft so the German bomb would hit it right after he had pocketed the money. Now he finds himself caught up in the mystery of the gas mask boy, and why he is converting all these people into gas mask zombies, chanting “I want my Mummy! Are you my Mummy?”

There is so much to like about these stories, and I’ll gush some more when we discuss part two, “The Doctor Dances.” The dialog is sharp, witty, and natural. The pacing is just right. The characters are three-dimensional. Even Nancy and her group of kids come alive. And it’s genuinely creepy. Great “behind the sofa” material. But what I particularly admire is the way Moffat seamlessly weaves important plot points into the narrative. Everything is there for the viewer to understand the mystery; we just have to make the connections. When we get the final reveal at the end of “The Doctor Dances,” it all makes sense. This is how to write a good mystery story.

As I said at the beginning, this is “Must See” Who. It won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short-Form, so I’m not alone in my opinion. Whether or not you’re a Whovian, this and “The Doctor Dances” are well worth 90 minutes of your time.

Who Review: Father’s Day

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Pete Tyler, Rose’s father, died in 1987, when Rose was still a baby. All she ever knew of him was what her Mum told her about him. She asks the Doctor if she could see him, so the Doctor takes Rose to her parents’ wedding. But there’s more. Her father was hit by a car, and died alone in the middle of the road. It always bothered Rose that no-one was with him when he died. She wants to fix that. Though he has reservations, the Doctor takes her. However, when the moment comes, she can’t do it. Rose asks for a do-over. The Doctor warns her: this is it. It’s not good for more than two versions of oneself to be in the same place at the same time. Rose insists it’ll be okay, so the Doctor takes her back again. This time, just as the car is about to hit, Rose dashes out and pulls her father to safety. A simple, life-saving act, that has enormous consequences. Suddenly, creatures appear in the sky, Reapers, and they start to pick people off. The Doctor tells Rose that someone is alive that shouldn’t be, creating a wound in time. The Reapers have come to clean up, and won’t stop until all humanity has been erased. No-one is safe. Not even the Doctor…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

New Who’s third guest writer, Paul Cornell, contributed this tear-jerker of a story. It is the most emotionally-charged episode of the season, so be warned! Thankfully, the strong emotive factor does not take away from the fact that it’s a good story. “Father’s Day” was Cornell’s first TV Who, but he had proven his story telling chops by writing for the Virgin Books line of original Doctor Who stories in the 1990s. Like a lot of good Who stories, the plot ideas are relatively easy to grasp. What makes it so emotionally powerful is the fact Cornell anchors it in something we all can relate to: the desire to see a dead loved one. Given a time machine, who wouldn’t want to go back in time to say that thing that was left unsaid, or to have more time with a spouse, or maybe, like Rose, to meet a parent who died when you were young, or not even born? It’s that touch-point with a universal human desire that makes this story so compelling.

The start of the story is innocuous enough. Rose never knew her father, so could the Doctor take her back in time so she could at least see him? She sees her Dad fumble over her Mum’s name at the altar, but it turns out that’s not enough. Her father died alone, and no-one should die alone, least of all one of her parents. She wants to be there. You can see in the Doctor’s eyes the red flags are waving, but he clearly hopes Rose is better than the average companion. After all, she already showed herself better than Adam in the previous story (“The Long Game”). The Doctor takes her to that fateful day, and she turns her head as the car hits her Dad. She can’t bring herself to go to him. She asks for a do-over, and, again, you see the warning in the Doctor’s eyes. But he still thinks better of her, so he allows her a second try. This time Rose runs out to her Dad, but it’s to save his life.

Immediately, the question is raised: how come it’s okay for the Doctor to mess with events in time, but Rose can’t? The Doctor’s answer seems fair enough: “I know what I’m doing.” He’s a Time Lord, so I suppose that has to be true to an extent. But there’s more to it. The Doctor has seen first-hand the damage his own meddling in time has caused (see, for example, the First Doctor story, “The Ark”). He understands all too well that no-one is “unimportant,” and that a change to history in a “nobody”‘s life can still have major ripple effects. In future episodes of the show, the Doctor will talk about “fixed points in time” (e.g., in “The Fires of Pompeii”), which are events that cannot be changed. They have to happen, for some reason. Other events can tolerate some minor meddling, but not “fixed points.” So there are rules around what the Doctor does. In this case, the consequences of Rose’s actions are more tangible and immediate. Time has been damaged, and the Reapers have come to clean the wound.

Pete Tyler appears to be much less of the person Rose expected. He’s not a savvy businessman, but a guy who sells tonics and Betamax tapes in the hope of striking rich. Rather than the devoted and attentive husband and father, he has been caught in compromising situations with other women, and doesn’t have a lot of time for his wife and baby daughter. And yet, through listening to the Doctor and Rose talk, he figures out what’s going on. They’re from the future, and Rose is his daughter. And then, when he asks Rose about what happens, and what kind of father he will be, Rose’s answers trigger deeper suspicions. Outside, he notices the car that almost hit him suddenly appear, traveling at speed, and then disappear at the place where the accident nearly happened. He understands: the only way the Reapers will be satisfied, and all will be put right, is if he died like he was supposed to. In other words, Pete is smarter than he appears, and much braver too.

All this makes for some heart-wrenching scenes between Rose and her Dad that are very well played. No-one except Pete, Rose, and the Doctor will understand Pete’s heroism, but that’s okay. Pete is doing right by his family, so he is dying with honor.

Cornell upped the stakes in the story by having the Doctor and the TARDIS eaten by the Reapers. It’s this that finally determines what Pete needs to do. The Doctor tried to keep Rose happy by finding another solution, but with the Doctor gone, there is no other way. It’s unusual that the problem is resolved by someone other than the Doctor, but in this case, there was no alternative. This plotting makes for a very dramatic climax, where all seems hopeless.

There’s not as much humor in “Father’s Day” as in other episodes, understandably. But it does have its moments. We’ve seen enough interaction between the Doctor and Jackie to appreciate when he tells 1987 Jackie to “Do as I say and check the doors.” She complies, and the Doctor muses, “I should have done that ages ago!”

“Father’s Day” is, I think, “Must See.” Not only is it well-written and well-played, but it shows off the range Doctor Who is capable of. Within the “travels in time and space” premise, there’s room for both exciting adventures, and gut-wrenching stories like this. Doctor Who has had its tender moments, but I don’t know that many reach this level of depth and intensity. Definitely one to watch, but keep the Kleenex handy.

Who Review: The Long Game

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It’s the year 200,000, and Satellite 5 is the news hub for the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. From Floor 139, the Doctor, Rose, and Adam look out over the Earth as it receives all its information from the floors above them. The Doctor encourages Adam to explore, but a couple of things trouble him. First, the fact it’s so warm. Second, there are no aliens. Everyone is human. And then there’s the fact that the three of them are the only ones asking questions. Even the so-called “journalists” don’t seem to care. From this he figures that human progress has been stunted by about 100 years. Then one of their new journalist friends, Suki, gets promoted to the coveted Floor 500. Her friend, Cathica, is jealous. They say the walls of Floor 500 are made of gold. It’s the opportunity to advance. At least so they say; no-one has ever actually returned from Floor 500 to confirm the stories. This makes the Doctor and Rose all the more curious to find out what goes on in the corridors of power. The Doctor’s concerns are justified when he meets the boss. And his problems are intensified when Adam’s thirst for knowledge leads him into trouble…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

It seems “The Long Game” started life as a script Russell T. Davies submitted to the Doctor Who office at the BBC back in the 1980s. Clearly it wasn’t made (or you would have seen a review for it before now), but now he’s show-runner and head writer, he has the power to give the story a chance. It’s a good story; not outstanding, but a good solid plot, with a nasty bad guy, a monster, and even a lesson about unchecked greed.

When the story opens, the Doctor gives Rose an opportunity to impress her new boyfriend by feeding her information about where and when they are. This underscores the purely platonic relationship between Rose and the Doctor. Best friends, and nothing more. Adam’s status as Rose’s flirt-interest is short lived, however, when he sees the Earth and faints. And it’s downhill from there for his character. Not only does he use Rose’s enhanced phone to try to send information about the future to his Mum’s answering machine, but he uses the Doctor’s credit bar to pay for the head-flap operation. This gives him access to the vast data store contained in Satellite 5. It also means his forehead has a built-in flap that opens when someone clicks their fingers. These flaps are used by the journalists so their brains can be used to process stories, which are then transmitted to Earth. They don’t actually retain any of the data.

Suki and Cathica are our connection to this world, a couple of ambitious journalists who think, at first, the Doctor works for the company and is testing them. Suki falls victim the the Editor on Floor 500. The Doctor invites Cathica to come with him and Rose to investigate what goes on upstairs, but she declines. She doesn’t want to get involved. However, her curiosity gets the better of her, and she ends up saving the day. Some people don’t like when the Doctor needs to be rescued, and I agree if it happens too often. But in stories like this, we see the Doctor as the one who inspires courage in others. He saw Cathica hiding from the Editor, and made sure she understood how to mess with the systems and bring down the Mighty Jagrafess–the Editor’s boss. No doubt seeing the Doctor and Rose putting themselves in danger to try to help encouraged her to act.

The Editor is ruthless and evil, but he is merely the servant of the creature on the ceiling, the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. (And how evil is RTD for coming up with a name like that for poor Simon Pegg to get his tongue around?!). The truth behind Satellite 5 is that it doesn’t merely report the news; it makes the news. Through its “reporting” it manipulates people and events on Earth, or rather the Jagrafess does the manipulating. But who owns this operation? All the Editor will say is that it’s a consortium of bankers. Some consider the fact no real motivation is given for why the Editor, the Jagrafess, and this “consortium,” want to control the human race to be a plot flaw. But to be fair, the story’s called “The Long Game” for a reason. And this is not the end of the game.

The Doctor and Rose managed to stay alive through their anonymity. They are not in the Satellite 5 system, so no-one knows who they are. That is, until Adam plugs himself in to satisfy his greed for knowledge, and his desire to be ahead back on Earth in 2012. With the information in his brain fed into the system, the Editor now knows all about the Doctor and Rose. Adam. the genius from the future, proves to be the worst kind of companion, and loses his spot in the TARDIS crew. “I only take the best,” the Doctor tells him. “And I’ve got Rose.” Yeah… but wait until the next episode… 🙂

In itself, “The Long Game” is good, but not Must-See. However, as part of the season story arc, without spoiling too much for those new to this season, you do kinda need to watch this story to get what happens later.

Who Review: Dalek

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A mysterious signal draws the TARDIS to a museum-like bunker half a mile under Utah, U.S.A., in the year 2012. The artifacts on show are all alien, including the head of a Cyberman. As the Doctor and Rose soon find out, the collection belongs to Henry Van Statten, a rich and privileged man with little tolerance for anyone or anything that doesn’t follow him. Impressed by the Doctor’s knowledge of alien hardware, he introduces him to his prize specimen, challenging the Doctor to get it to talk. When the Doctor sees that it’s a Dalek, he tries to get away. But the Dalek has been drained of power, and beaten down through Van Statten’s “persuasion” methods. And now that Van Statten knows the Doctor is alien, he subjects him to the same treatment. Meanwhile, Rose pays a visit to the Dalek. In it’s present form, it can’t harm her, or anyone else, at least while its chains hold. All it needs, however, is one touch from someone imbued with time energy to revive it again. Little does Rose realize, as she holds out a hand of compassion, the nightmare she is about to unleash…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The long-awaited return of the Daleks, held off until mid-season in the event the series needed a half-way ratings bump (which proved unnecessary), gives us what I think is the best story of the first season. Writer Rob Shearman has contributed to the Whoniverse before with books and audio plays, but this is his first television Who. The concept is simple: the last of the Daleks meets the last of the Time Lords. The Doctor wiped out the Daleks, and until this moment he thought they were all dead. The last thing the Doctor wants is to come face-to-face with a killing machine with an ax to grind. His fear quickly melts, however, when he realizes the Dalek is powerless. Cries for help turn to taunts and mockery. The Doctor even powers up Van Statten’s torture device, ignoring the Dalek’s screams for mercy, before he is dragged away. Powerful stuff.

Of course, the Dalek breaks free, but it’s carrying some of Rose’s DNA from her touch. Not only does that DNA stop it from killing her, but it changes the Dalek. Having wiped out all of Van Statten’s security forces, it makes its way to the ground level and blasts a hole in the ceiling so it can feel the sunlight. All it wants is freedom. But it can feel humanity spread like a virus, giving it ideas, and feelings. This is too much for it. No longer a pure Dalek, it tells Rose to give it one last command: to die.

What’s so good about this story is that we see the Dalek become more human, and the Doctor become more Dalek, wishing nothing but a painful death for the creature. The reveal about the Doctor destroying the Daleks in the Time War is important. We understand that the Doctor’s fear and hatred are not irrational. The Daleks have no other function than to kill or subjugate all life forms that are not Dalek. One Dalek cannot be allowed to live, or the entire human race will be wiped out. But the Doctor’s objective in this story is not simply to protect the people of Earth. We see it at the end, when the Doctor arrives to face the Dalek with a large and powerful gun. He wants revenge, and to express his anger and hatred through this weapon. Meanwhile, the Dalek just wants to feel the sun on its tentacles. The Dalek welcomes death, and if Rose hadn’t ordered its self-destruction, it would have accepted death at the Doctor’s hands. An empty victory for the Time Lord.

But this Dalek is not a misunderstood monster, or a baddie-turned-good–and this is one of the things I think is so good about Shearman’s story. The Dalek stays true to itself right to the end. It cannot accept being a Dalek-human hybrid. It would rather die than feel emotions. Despite its new-found longings and desires, it recognizes impurity within itself, and it’s more than it can tolerate. The death of this Dalek is both heart-breaking, and satisfying. “This is not life,” it croaks, “This is sickness.”

On top of a great story, we have excellent special effects. While the Dalek was enhanced and modified a bit, the effects team kept to Ray Cusik’s original design as much as possible. Perhaps the most notable new feature is a mid-section that turns independently of the top and bottom. This enables the Dalek to fire on people coming behind it without turning around. Also, the suction arm (the one that looks like a toilet plunger), can suck a person’s face and crush their skull. Lovely.

Much was made at the time of the Dalek’s ability to levitate up stairs, overcoming a classic design flaw. This was not a new feature, however. The first Dalek story to feature levitating Daleks was the Seventh Doctor adventure, “Remembrance of the Daleks.” In fact, the skeletal silhouette we see when the Dalek shoots a person is also borrowed from “Remembrance.” And for good reason–“Remembrance” was a darned good story, with some of the best effects of that era!

It’s nice to see that American Van Statten is actually played by an American, Cory Johnson. Not many Brits at this time could pull off a convincing American accent (*cough* Peri *cough*), so this was a wise move to maintain the believability of the story.

At the end, Adam, one of the geniuses employed by Van Statten to catalog his alien hardware, joins the TARDIS team. The Doctor is reluctant to take him on board, but Rose insists. We’ll see what comes of that in the next story…

“Dalek” is hands-down “Must-See” viewing. Superb performances from Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, and a fitting return for a much-loved monster. Any Dalek story that can make my then nine-year-old daughter cry is worth watching. 🙂