Journey in the TARDIS

GB and his father are taking a journey in the TARDIS and watching all the way through Classic Doctor Who! From 1963 right up until now!

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Synopsis: Dr. Sally Arnold has been informed of the events that took place on Sentinel Island. However, she is now learning from her colleague Ross Palmer that computers are failing on a global scale, and something has happened to the entire population of Millhampton, a small English village. Furthermore, Lockwood and the psychic woman Natasha have vanished. She joins him to investigate.

Sergeant Ramsay and his team had been dispatched to Millhampton to help, but all but Ramsay are killed when they find that the town has been overrun with Autons. Arnold, Palmer and Ramsay are all eventually captured by the Autons, and taken to the village's psychiatric hospital.

Inside, to their surprise, they find Graham Winslet, the man who originally found the Autons in storage. He is suffering from a mental breakdown. Soon after, the Autons lead the group into another room, where they see that Lockwood is sitting on a stretcher in a delusional state.

The truth is revealed that Lockwood has a computer chip in his brain, placed there by UNIT scientists. The Nestene consciousness has now captured him, using its control over Natasha to aid them, and now plan to use the chip to spread their control to every electronic device on the planet.

Windlet wanders in just as the process begins, providing a small distraction, but it is enough. Palmer tosses his watch, another UNIT construction, over to Lockwood and instructs him to press one of the buttons three times. Lockwood, who is still delusional and thinks he is in a dream, complies. The button is pressed, and an electric shock kills him on the spot.

As the Nestene consciousness was in the process of using him as a conduit, his sudden death disrupts everything and causes it to disspate. All of the Autons collapse and become nonfunctional, and it seems the threat is finally over. However, Arnold is furious with Palmer for everything, angry that Lockwood's life had to be taken.

Thoughts: BOOOOOOO-RING!!

Wow, what a slog. This might have been one of the worst Doctor Who-related things we have seen. Dull, lifeless, slow and just plain boring. I swear, if I was given one dollar for every second of complete silence in this film, I would have a small fortune by the end. As you can see by the short synopsis above, barely anything happened in this hour-long nonsense.

Not to mention, this was really confusing. Even though it was so lifeless and simple, we still had no idea what the hell was going on. Nothing anyone said made any sense. There are still some events that took place, where we have no idea why they happened or what they contributed to the story.

Eventually, the film just ends and we just shared a blank look. We had nothing to say. There wasn't a single moment of enjoyment to be gotten from this film, and that's a shame. The last two films were not all that bad, but this one has the whole series just end on an awful point.

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Synopsis: The Doctor, now in his ninth incarnation, is traveling in the TARDIS with his new companion Emma. The Master is following in his own TARDIS, loudly proclaiming his intent to annihilate him. Unfortunately, the Master left his microphone on and the Doctor can hear everything he is saying.

This is fortuitous though, as the Doctor needs to speak to the Master anyway. He requests that the Master meet him on the planet Tersurus, and the Master agrees. The Doctor and Emma then land on Tersurus, with the Doctor explaining that it was once populated by the most peaceful aliens in the universe. They communicated through a precise system of modulated farting.

The Master arrives and pins them against a wall with an energy blast. He explains that he first traveled 100 years back in time and bribed the architect of the castle they currently find themselves in, and will now subject the Doctor and Emma to the 'spikes of doom'. The wall flips around and subjects them to what is on the other side.

It flips around again, revealing the two sitting on a couch. Turns out the Doctor had anticipated this, so he had gone slightly further back in time and bribed the architect to ignore the Master and instead build the 'sofa of reasonable comfort'. The Master laughs and informs the Doctor that he anticipated this as well, and went back even further in time to have the architect build a giant block that now falls on the Doctor. A door on the side opens, revealing the Doctor also anticipated this and went back even further in time.

Emma prompts the two to stop this nonsense and has the Doctor say what he wanted to say in the first place. The Doctor tells the Master that he has now saved every planet in the universe at least 27 times and has decided to retire. He is going to settle down somewhere in the universe and marry Emma. The Master, disgusted by this, announces his intention to go EVEN FURTHER back in time to have the architect construct a trap door under where the Doctor is standing right now.

He pulls the lever, only for the trap door to open under him instead, dropping him down into the sewers below. The Doctor went back even further and...You get the idea. The doors open nearby, revealing a much older Master. It took him 312 years to climb out of the sewer and get back to his TARDIS, so he could confront them once more. What's worse, he managed to make an alliance with the Daleks along the way. A moment later, the place is swarming with Daleks.

They move in to exterminate, but the Master demands that he be the one to deliver the killing blow. He charges at the Doctor, who simply moves out of the way and lets the Master fall down into the sewers once more. It takes him another 312 years to climb back out again. The Doctor and Emma flee, and the Daleks give chase. In doing so, they accidentally knock the Master into the hole again. Once again, he spends another 312 years climbing out.

Unfortunately, the two are captured and tied up on the Dalek ship. The Master has been returned to a young body, thanks to the attachment of some 'Dalek bumps'. The Doctor and Emma both notice that they resemble breasts. The Doctor wants to know why the Daleks are working for the Master, and he explains that he has gifted them with the knowledge to construct a Zectronic energy beam. This will let them take over the universe in a matter of minutes.

However, the Doctor overhears that the Daleks will kill the Master once his usefulness has ended. He decides to use the skill of farting, which he and the Master both had to master in order to bribe the architect, to warn him. The Master receives the message, but the Daleks pick up on this and start firing wildly. They end up striking the Doctor, as well as the energy beam, which causes it to start overloading. Only the Doctor knows how to stop it.

However, he is dying. Emma cries over his body, but the Master tells her to stand back. In a flash of light, he regenerates into a very handsome young man. The Master and even the Daleks beg for him to stop the energy beam from imploding and killing them all, so he goes to help. As he fixes it, the console explodes and causes him to regenerate again. This time, he's a portly short man who seems very shy around women. Emma is not very pleased with this new persona.

Luckily, or unluckily, another explosion causes him to regenerate yet again into an even more handsome young man. He is frustrated that he wasted three regenerations when all he had to do was unplug the thing. The crisis seems to be over, and the Daleks are even honouring their promise to let him live for saving them. However, a freak blast of Zectronic energy strikes him in the chest and kills him yet again.

The Master tells Emma that Zectronic energy is so powerful, even the Doctor won't be able to regenerate from it. It looks as if this time, the Doctor is truly dead. The Master renounces all of evil, and the Daleks promise to honour him forever. However, in another flash of light that defies all explanation, the Doctor regenerates one more time.

This time, however, the Doctor has regenerated into a female. He, or rather she, seems quite pleased with her new body, as well as her new sonic screwdriver with 'three vibrating settings'. Emma is quite displeased, informing the Doctor that they can no longer get married. The Doctor doesn't care, happy to live a life traveling around the cosmos with her best friend. Besides, someone else seems interested in her. The Master, no longer evil, seems quite smitten with the Doctor's new body.

Thoughts: I have been waiting to get to this gem for a long time. It is the absolutely officially-licensed Doctor Who production created for the 'Comic Relief' charity. Yeah, it's an official Doctor Who spoof!

The Doctor (or at least, his first persona) is played by none other than Rowan Atkinson, perhaps most famous for portraying his character Mr. Bean. That could have been the only joke in the special, and I would have loved it nonetheless. Surprisingly, despite the jokes, he actually was a pretty good actor to play the role of the Doctor. The other actors were, I believe, British celebrities I am not familiar with. They were all fun to watch, though.

The special was very well made, and it was filled with wonderful in-jokes and references. Emma constantly asked questions about what was going on, only for the Doctor (and even the Daleks) to just respond repeatedly "I'll explain later." There was a throwaway line about how the Doctor was sick of seeing "endless rock quarries".

Jonathan Pryce was like a perfect casting choice for the Master. If one squinted one's eyes, they might even believe he was Roger Delgado or Anthony Ainley. The repeated jokes of him falling into the pit, as well as the repeated regeneration jokes, were both very funny and did not run dry at all.

It was too bad that there were no actual Doctor Who alumni, except for the voices of the Daleks. This would have been a wonderful opportunity for some fun reunions. However, this was fantastic from beginning to end and we recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Doctor Who!

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Synopsis: Field-Major Sarg has successfully returned to the battlefield, after having been abducted an imprisoned along with a Draconian and human mercenary. However, he quickly ends up trapped, wounded and cut off from the rest of his battalion. Enemy fire strikes Sarg, inflicting a fatal wound. He finds a nearby medpack and injects himself with a drug that gives him a burst of energy, but only for a short period.

Sarg uses this time to record his final words, hoping they will be delivered to the Sontarans. He explains the reasoning for his abrupt departure from the battlefield, and reflects on his experiences in the strange prison. He realizes that he would have simply died, and the Sontaran race would have been in jeopardy, had he not elected to work together with the 'inferior' races he was imprisoned with. As he draws his last breath, he begs the Sontaran higher ups to consider the idea that not all other races are their enemies. Unfortunately, when another Sontaran finds his dead body, he hears the blasphemous words from the recording device and promptly destroys it.

Meanwhile, on Draconia, the Draconian from the same incident has been imprisoned by his own people. He is being put on trial for an apparently heinous crime, and uses his incarceration to reflect on Draconian ways and their corrupt legal system. He is later taken to trial, where the verdict is guilty. He is to be banished to one of Draconia's moons to live in isolation.

The Draconian bemoans how a brigade commander such as himself could be treated so poorly just for a simple crime, and begins to question the way things are done on Draconia. He speaks of the female who gave him the gift that started this whole issue. The horrible crime he has been accused of is falling in love with a book, because according to the higher ups, it contains stories about overthrowing monarchies. Luckily, the Draconian is allowed to take this gift, the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, with him as he is banished.

Elsewhere, the human mercenary has been returned to her scout ship. However, the disorientation from the transmat is all it takes for her enemies to fire upon her ship. About to suffer from a core meltdown, her ship is done for and her only choice is to vent the core. Luckily, she and her ship survive the ordeal. Unfortunately, this has left her with only four hours of power, two hours of life support, and stranded in the middle of space with no power core.

All of her systems are fried. The only thing left functional is the in-flight recorder, so she decides to use it to record her final words. She suffered a concussion during the crash, which has left her a little loopy, but she talks about her acceptance of death and her gratitude for the fleet for all of their training. She always knew that her line of work would kill her one day, but she had never imagined a slow, lonely death like this. Her emotions get the better of her as her oxygen runs out, and she begins to cry. In the end, she decides to take a dignified and quick exit, by shooting herself in the head with her handgun.

Thoughts: The followup to the Mindgame movie was not what we expected at all. It was pretty good, if a little strange, and very, very dark.

Mindgame ended on a happy note, with all of the prisoners managing to escape from the asteroid with their lives successfully. This trilogy of short films shows what happens to them immediately afterwards, and it turns out that all three of them actually have a bad ending. It's a subversion of what we expected after reaching the end of the last film, and of storytelling in general. It's not often you see a happy ending, only to realize later that it's actually a sad ending.

Each section was delivered as a monologue, and the Draconian even spoke directly to the camera. It was interesting to listen to, but not very engaging to watch. There isn't a whole lot to be gained from making this a movie, as opposed to an audio story. In fact, it was almost the same as watching actors just standing on a stage. The stories were all good though, and we enjoyed them from beginning to end.

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In December of 1998, Michael Craze suffered an unfortunate accident and died of a heart attack. He had fallen down a set of stairs, which aggravated a pre-existing heart condition. Craze was the actor who portrayed companion Ben Jackson.

It is always sad when we lose a Doctor Who actor or actress, but it stings a little more when they are relatively young and the circumstances are less than peaceful. Craze was one of two actors who had to get through the first regeneration of the Doctor, meaning he had to keep the audience grounded while they adjusted to the change in actors. He did an excellent job at this and will be well remembered as a fantastic companion from the monochrome era.

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Synopsis: Sontaran Field Major Sarg is suddenly and inexplicably transmatted into a small room with no exit. He angrily demands that his captors reveal themselves, but no-one answers. He tries to escape, but his gun vanishes and the door has a sonic device that prevents him from approaching.

Not long after, a second being is transmatted in. It is a Draconian, and Sarg initially attacks him believing him to be the one behind all this. The Draconian calmly explains that he appears to be a prisoner just like Sarg is. He was on his way to a military assembly when a bright light blinded him and took him to this place, much like Sarg was leading his battle fleet.

The two exchange words. Sarg promises death to the Draconian's race, and all other races, while the Draconian keeps a level head. Moments later, they are joined by a third captive. A young human female is transmatted in, just as disoriented as the other two. She explains that she is a mercenary.

None of the three know what is happening, and discuss various plans of action. There seems to be no way to escape, and yet no captor is making themselves known to them. Sarg plans to attack whenever the jailers appear, but the Draconian wonders if perhaps they are being left to starve to death, in order to find out who will last the longest.

With no options readily available, the mercenary decides to just get some sleep. The other two eventually agree and go to sleep as well. While they sleep, a voice speaks to all three of them in their dreams. It subtly influences them into believing the other two are their enemies. When they awake, they initially lash out at their cellmates. However, cooler heads prevail and they all realize someone is trying to manipulate them. The mercenary wonders if they are all 'specimens' being studied.

Finally, their captor speaks to them. He is an unknown alien with a wolf-like appearance, who reveals that they are all part of some sort of experiment. The captor explains that there is one factor left to test, and that is their skill in battle. To facilitate this, he commands the three to fight each other and promises that the victor will be set free.

The Draconian and the mercenary refuse this. Sarg initially wants to accept this, but relents when he realizes that the other two will just band together to kill him if he does. With all three refusing to fight, the captor explains that this means the experiment is a failure. In such a case, the asteroid they are all captive on will vanish and kill them all.

In light of this, the three agree that it is better if at least one of them leaves this place alive. They all agree to fight, and three knives appear on the ground for them to use. A scuffle breaks out, beginning with the Draconian and mercenary teaming up on Sarg, who is stabbed. The Draconian and mercenary then fight one another, but the Draconian comes out on top and is the only one left alive.

The captor then enters the cell, holding a massive gun, and proclaims the Draconian to be the superior race. Moments later, though, Sarg and the mercenary stand up and disarm the captor. They had only pretended to be killed, and the three had been working together all along. The captor realizes that these three races, even though they are at odds with one another as a whole, managed to come together in such a circumstance to work together.

This also means the experiment is a failure, and a countdown begins. The captor uses a device to transmat away, leaving the others behind, but the mercenary uses his gun to kill him before he vanishes. Then, the three captives rush up to the control room. The mercenary sees the transmat system and is familiar with transmats, so she thinks she can reverse the function and send them all back.

Sarg goes first, thanking the two and promising them both 'an honourable death'. The Draconian then leaves as well, leaving the mercenary on her own. Time runs out as she is forced to set up a time delay in order to send herself back home too. She manages to reach the transmat beam just seconds before the countdown reaches zero and the asteroid is destroyed.

Thoughts: This was short but sweet, and was a rather interesting self-contained story.

This was a perfect example of a one-setting story done right. The whole thing takes place inside of a prison cell, forcing other aspects of the story to be the main focus and keep the audience interested. It was fascinating to see these three captives interact with one another and try to figure out just what the heck is going on.

The Sontaran was fun as always, and it was interesting to see a Draconian return to the screen. Meanwhile, the human mercenary was played by Sophie Aldred. In fact, she is strongly implied to be a future version of the Doctor's companion Ace. Her strong, confident attitude was the most fun of the three to watch.

We would recommend this one. Its length is perfect to tell its story without overstaying its welcome. The ending is perhaps a tad predictable, but it was still fun to watch.

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Synopsis: Lockwood is called in by UNIT soldiers on Geneva's orders. It seems that a delivery truck carrying inactive Autons on a top-secret operation has vanished, along with its two drivers. Lockwood, and his assistant Dr. Arnold, are shocked to hear about this, since they had thought all of the Auton specimens had been destroyed. They are even more surprised, though, to see that it is Lockwood's own signature that authorized their transportation.

Though he has no memory of doing this, he is forcibly recruited to examine the truck's last known position, without Arnold to join him. He is instead introduced to a young woman named Natasha Alexander, whom Lockwood soon finds out has been psychic since her birth. Lockwood examines a sheet that had been left behind, and initially thinks nothing of it, but Alexander is watching him and sees more in his subconscious.

Back at the lab, Arnold examines the sheet. She determines that it's archaic and no longer manufactured, citing only five possible locations it could have come from. Lockwood surmises that there was a Nestene power source in the sheet when the truck arrived, it activated the Autons, and then they took the truck back to wherever the sheet came from. But which of the five locations?

Alexander stays with Lockwood as they study the map. She sees something in him, and tells him to think back to when he first found the sheet. To his surprise, doing so makes his finger subconsciously point to one of the five locations on the map. This turns out to be Sentinel Island, a small crop of land just off the coast with a single small village on it.

UNIT troops, joined by Lockwood and Alexander, covertly storm the island. After sneaking through the wilderness, they are suddenly attacked by an army of Autons. A firefight breaks out, but their weapons are all but useless on the Autons. Lockwood tries to advise them that it's useless, but the men don't listen.

Lockwood then seems to sense something and wanders off, with Alexander in pursuit. They find a young woman fleeing for her life through the trees. They catch up to her and try to calm her down, but before they can get close enough an Auton shoots her and she collapses. They rush to her aid, but she can only say "beneath the church" before she dies.

Unbeknownst to Lockwood and his team, this young woman is named Charlotte and is the girlfriend of a devote young Christian living in the nearby village names Daron. Lockwood and Alexander make their way to the church, where they find Daron lying unconscious on the graveyard outside. They then come across a rather surprising sight. The church vicar comes out to greet them, and it is Arnold's old co-worker Winslet. It's the Auton that had taken his appearance.

The Winslet Auton had summoned the Autons to the island, and claimed that they were sentinels of the Christian faith. Some of the population fell underneath the brainwashing that followed, while those who resisted it were executed. The issue was that Daron, the first and most devoted follower of Winslet, pleaded for his resisting girlfriend not to be killed.

Lockwood and Alexander are brought into the church, where the psychic energies of the praying masses are working to reawaken the Nestene consciousness hidden beneath the church. It is just one of many spread across the planet from back before mankind existed, waiting to be awakened so the planet can be colonized. He needs more energy though.

So, Lockwood is suddenly and very easily placed under hypnosis. It is revealed to Alexander that Lockwood is more than he seems, and much more alike to the Nestene themselves. Lockwood had indeed signed the release to transport the Autons, but while under Nestene control. A moment later, Alexander too is brainwashed and her own psychic energy is enough to reawaken the gigantic Nestene beast.

At the last moment, though, Daron bursts in. He is furious that his girlfriend was killed and that promise of him leading this new religion were not followed through upon. In rage and desperation, he grabs a cross and uses it to smash the Nestene energy device. Energy is disrupted and Lockwood is able to regain enough control to get himself and Alexander out of harm's way, as well as breaking the hold on all of the villagers.

Lockwood is still in a sort of daze, but a moment later the gigantic Nestene vanishes into thin air. The Winslet Auton is initially furious at him, but then collapses to the ground in a heap, out of energy. UNIT regroups with the two and they head back to the mainland, their mission complete. Alexander is not satisfied, though. She knows the Nestene creature wasn't destroyed, and she demands to know just what Lockwood did. Is he really on their side?

Thoughts: The second Auton movie is just as good as the first one. Dad doesn't enjoy these, but I think they're cool.

Lockwood is back in the starring role, so that is definitely a plus. He is a fun character with a really unique personality. Alexander made for a nice supporting character, perhaps even a little bit better than Dr. Arnold.

The biggest improvement to this movie over the first one is scenery. The movie is no longer confined to just a single setting, and we get to see the wonderful sights of the secluded island and the tiny village. The scenes in the church were set up beautifully as well.

Possibly the highlight was the giant Nestene creature at the end, which was created using some highly impressive CGI for the time this movie was made. It burst through the roof and wrapped its tentacles around the church spire. It looked pretty cool.

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In late 1997, Adrienne Hill lost her battle with cancer and passed away at the age of 60. She played the short-lived companion Katarina during the First Doctor’s era.

Katarina has always been a somewhat strange mark in the history of Doctor Who companions. She barely lasted any time before she was rather unceremoniously killed off. Behind the scenes, we know that her character was written off before Hill even began filming. Regardless, though the writers had no faith in her character, Hill managed to breathe a wonderful life into Katarina. She was endearing to the viewers, and we did miss her as the first companion to die.

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Synopsis: The Master has made his way to Siralos, a planet of pure psychic energy. Using this energy, he has managed to displace all seven incarnations of the Doctor from their respective timelines and lock them all away in his own realm, called the Determinant. He then plans to use this psychic energy to rule the entire universe, now without the Doctor to stop him.

However, as a last ditch effort, the Doctors use their combined energy to create the Graak, an amorphous being resembling a jellyfish that is tasked with rescuing them all. The Graak initially gains consciousness in the fourth Doctor's TARDIS, where a message from the fourth Doctor instructs him of what to do.

Thanks to the Master's interference, the seven TARDISes of the seven Doctors are all connected and the Graak can travel to each of them. He ventures to them one by one, though the Master has littered each of them with tons of foes from the Doctor's past. There are Daleks, Cybermen, Zygons, Quarks, Yeti and even more.

Each Doctor's TARDIS has a hidden connection to The Great Divide, which the Graak uses to travel over to the Determinant. There, he must face a challenge imposed by the Master to rescue one of the seven Doctors. To rescue the first, he must escape the Celestial Toymaker's toybox. To rescue the second, he must escape the London Underground while avoiding Yeti and subway trains.

To rescue the third, he must chase down the Master as he escapes in a spaceship. To rescue the fourth, he must find his way telepathically through the Doctor's brain. To rescue the fifth, he must duel a Sontaran warrior. To rescue the sixth, he must escape the icy mazes of Mars. Finally, to rescue the seventh, he must use Bessie to chase down the Master as he escapes in an automobile.

After managing to rescue all seven, though, the Master has tricked him and all of the Doctors are still trapped by him. The cloister bell starts to ring, and the Graak finds himself deep inside the TARDIS. That is where the Doctors are truly being held, and the Graak used up the entirety of his life force to set them all free. Finally, the Doctor(s) are able to capture the Master and lock him away.

Thoughts: Another video game from the Doctor Who universe. This one was released for Windows 95, and is the first 3D Doctor Who video game.

The game itself is somewhat similar to Wolfenstein, save for the combat. The entire play area is a set of 3D hallways and occasional open areas, where the player plays as the Graak and faces off against sporadically placed enemies. Usually, the Graak only has one of the Doctor's many tools to disable the foes, rather than defeat them.

The seven Doctors can be rescued in any order, which is a neat idea. Video games that let you choose the level order are a great idea. Each level has three segments. The Graak must find the Great Divide, the Graak must find the specific Doctor's hidden item somewhere in his TARDIS, and then the unique challenge set up by the Master. These challenges usually have their own control scheme and rules.

As a game from 1997, it is fairly good. It certainly didn't age well, but I'm sure that at the time it was fantastic and revolutionary. I really have no desire to play it now, but it was neat to watch. The four surviving Doctors' actors recorded new dialogue for the game, as well as Ainley recording for the Master and Courtney recording for the Brigadier, who provides hints via a radio. A soundalike actor portrayed Hartnell and Troughton's Doctors, while Petrwee's Doctor simply used audio clips from the TV show. (This was a request by his widow)

It's an interesting piece of history, and we were both interested to see it. Imagine if this style of game were to be remade today, perhaps with a few more improved ideas. It might be fantastic!

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Synopsis: A UNIT scientist named Dr. Sally Arnold is working at a storage facility. She has found a strange artifact in a storage container, resembling a spherical hunk of meat, and has decided to investigate it. When nothing else works, she decides to hook it up to UNIT's most powerful satellite so she can analyze it. This, however, allows the artifact to somehow use the satellite to communicate with something out in space. Before she can shut off the uplink, the artifact explodes and knocks her unconscious.

The facility is evacuated and a UNIT containment team is called in to deal with the possible fallout of the explosion. Left behind are Dr. Arnold, who was unconscious, and her associate Graham Winslet, an archivist who had been deep in the storage rooms and couldn't get out in time. The two are picked up by the containment team, lead by a man named Lockwood.

At first, Lockwood grills them quite mercilessly as he tries to figure out what happened. Arnold and Winslet both simply state the fact that they were doing their job. Winslet, in particular, had been tasked by Arnold to search the facility for any other boxes carrying the same serial number as the one she'd found the artifact in.

However, when members of the containment team are later found dead, everyone realizes that this is much more serious. The artifact didn't explode, but rather dissipated and is now sneaking around the facility, very much alive. As the team continues to investigate, they find more boxes with the same serial number.

These boxes are all labelled "Auton". Lockwood reveals that the boxes contain remnants from an invasion in 1970 by plastic creatures called Autons controlled by the Nestene consciousness. Now, it seems Arnold has accidentally reawakened one of the Autons, and now it's on the loose.

The team finds a sectioned off area behind a door hidden behind stacked containers. It is locked by a retina scan, however. Lockwood sees this, closes his eyes in thought for a moment, and then walks over and uses his eyes to open the lock. Inside, they find another artifact like the first one and many more Auton-related objects, including something that resembles a weapon.

Autons begin to attack, forcing Lockwood to pick up the device and flee along with Arnold. His team is forced into a firefight, and no-one can escape because the Autons have blocked the exits. Instead, Lockwood and Arnold rush back and barricade themselves in her lab. They then try to figure out how to repair the device Lockwood picked up.

As Arnold works, Lockwood closes his eyes in thought again and seems to dose off. Soon after, there is a knock on the door and Arnold hears the panicked voice of Winslet. She quickly takes down the barricade to let him in, only to find on the other side an Auton that is disguised as Winslet. It takes the two of them prisoner.

Escorted back to the locked door, the Autons try to force Lockwood to open the lock again. They speak strange words to him, calling him "UNIT's creature" and claiming that he is like them. Arnold manages to escape, but Lockwood is knocked out and forced to open the lock. The Autons all pile inside.

Arnold, meanwhile, has quickly regrouped with the containment team's leaders. After a bit of work, she successfully manages to repair the device. It is indeed a weapon, constructed by a Dr. "John Smith" during the initial Auton invasion. She uses it on the Autons, causing them to collapse immediately.

With it, she is able to rush over and uses the device to defeat the fake Winslet, rescuing Lockwood. The upside is that everyone is safe now and there's no sign of the Autons anywhere near. The bad news, though, is that the Autons had managed to pick up whatever it was they had been looking for in the locked room. As the situation winds down, Lockwood reveals that he pulled some strings at UNIT and has reassigned Arnold to be a part of his team.

Thoughts: It's another of the ultimately futile attempts to revive the Doctor Who TV show. This is the first in a series of movies featuring the Autons from way back in the Third Doctor era.

This movie was okay. It wasn't really good, but it wasn't bad either and was certainly watchable. The biggest problem was that it was too slow and quiet. This hour-long story could have easily been told in about 20 minutes. Combined with the fact that there is really only one set for the whole thing makes the film a tad dull.

The characters were great, though. Lockwood is a very strange man but he has a certain charisma about him that makes us like watching him. He has this sort of no nonsense personality, somewhat similar to the First Doctor. Dr. Arnold was a good star, being on par with many of the previous female companions.

Hopefully the following movies will improve on this foundation. We will have to wait and see.

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Synopsis: It seems that the investigation at Winterborne school is not yet over. Liz Shaw has just been informed that the body of Christian was only recently discovered near where he had killed himself. At almost the exact same time, a valuable piece of evidence has been stolen. The grimoire of Greatorex has gone missing, leading Liz to believe that things are still happening.

Liz goes to meet Gavin Purcell in prison, but he doesn't have much to add. She also meets with the new head of the school, Margaret Wyndham, who happens to be the twin sister of Miss Taploe, who was killed in the previous incident. Wyndham is concerned about further incidents happening at the school.

Finally, Liz meets with Andrew Powell. He has just recently returned to school and is still trying to get over the traumatizing events. She wishes him well, and he even gives her a Christian cross pendant as a gift. Bad news reaches Liz, however, as she learns that Purcell has been released from prison on the ground of lack of evidence.

Not the very next day, another tragedy occurs. Purcell was found standing near the dead body of one of Powell's new roommates. He is imprisoned once more, but Liz speaks with him and truly believes that he was not responsible. Purcell claims that he saw Christian at the scene of the crime, despite the fact that Christian is dead. To make matters worse, Powell has disappeared.

Liz, together with Wyndham, decide that the best course of action is to purposefully incite the ritual to summon Greatorex. If supernatural happenings are indeed occurring, that would be the best way to put a stop to everything. Luckily, it turns out that Wyndham has Greatorex's grimoire. She took it because she wanted to be the one to solve the mystery. So, they set up a summoning area and have Purcell read the summoning passage from it.

To everyone's shock, the ritual seems to actually have an effect. The lights dim and then, from out of nowhere, Christian appears. Christian beckons Purcell and demands he hand over the book. Purcell is unable to stop himself from doing so. Next to Christian appears Andrew, who has drunken the blood of his murdered roommate. The grimoire is handed over, and then there is a great flash.

Christian and Andrew have passed out, but Purcell stands up. He has a new, deeper voice and proclaims that he is Greatorex, finally resurrected. He starts to advance on Liz, threatening to kill her. Before he can do so, however, Andrew suddenly pounces on him from behind and tosses him into the summoning area. With his power weakened, Wyndham grabs the book and burns it using a candle. Purcell, or Greatorex, cries out in agony and then there is another flash, banishing him from the world entirely.

Purcell's body was sadly destroyed, and Christian is now truly dead, but Andrew has thankfully survived. He is free from Greatorex's influence and can now finally attempt to return to a normal life. Liz is there to encourage him and tell him that, eventually, things will get better.

Thoughts: This is the final movie in the P.R.O.B.E. series, or at least for now it is. This was definitely the shortest of the bunch, which...yeah, that's kind of welcomed.

This really wasn't all that good, leaving the series on kind of a lackluster note. Despite being a direct sequel to the second film, it does not live up to its predecessor's quality. This was rather dull and kind of pointless. It went by too fast for its own good with no real deep story, conflict or characters.

As a whole, this series really doesn't stand up on its own. It is nice to see Liz again, and I can see the intent in giving her her own series, but I don't think visions were realized very well here. They were all rather dull, confusing, and cheaply made. All four films suffered from sound design issues and rather poor writing. The second movie was definitely the best of the four, but even that one was only just okay.

[journeyinthetardis]

Synopsis: Liz Shaw is called to investigate an attack on a young woman, the third in a series of strange attacks. The two previous victims were found with different vital organs missing from their bodies and surrounded by a strange residue. This woman managed to escape with her life.

Liz goes to follow up on a possible lead, and meets with Julius Quilter. Quilter was the man in charge of project BEAGLE, which was tasked with synthetically creating the 'next step in evolution' for human beings. He created three creatures, two of whom died during the experiment. The third managed to survive, and developed the ability to harvest organs to replace its own. When it killed a member of his research team and stole the man's heart, the project was shut down and the creature was ordered to be destroyed.

She isn't able to get very far, however. Quilter is an old man, and when he starts to get painful symptoms, his assistant Emerson insists that she leave. Later on, however, it is discovered that someone broke into the hospital and killed the injured woman from before, while also removing her eyes and leaving that same residue behind.

Liz pressures the head of P.R.O.B.E., Brian Rutherford, to give her more push in this investigation. She goes back to see Quilter a few more times, but isn't able to get much more information. Rutherford is hesitant to give Liz what she needs since Quilter is an old friend of his, whom he still respects highly.

Finally, Rutherford authorizes Liz to take Quilter to an interrogation room. While speaking with him, a group of soldiers from the military, lead by Colonel Ackroyd, storm Quilter's house. Inside, locked in a room, they find a frightening humanoid creature, kill it, and capture it. Liz is informed of this and she tells Quilter what they've found. They know he's been harbouring the creature from BEAGLE, who is behind all of the killings. Quilter starts to confess, but then his age catches up to him and he ends up expiring right there on the spot.

There is a problem, however. Before the creature was captured, it had killed a Doctor on house call to Quilter and taken his heart. However, the heart inside of the creature doesn't seem to belong to the doctor. Liz begins to wonder if there's really someone else out there harvesting organs as well.

She heads back to Quilter's house to investigate. The house seems empty, but she does find Quilter's coffin. Working on a hunch, Liz opens it and finds that it's empty. She then rushes down to the basement, where she heard a commotion, and finds a shocking sight.

Rutherford, who had come over to pay his respects to Quilter, has been tied up. Emerson is standing nearby, and on a table rests the body of Quilter. Liz has figured out the truth. Emerson is actually the creature that Quilter created from BEAGLE, and the strange humanoid found in his house was just a red herring created by Emerson.

Now, Emerson has stolen all of the body parts he needs and has replaced Quilter's old ones. He injects him with that same residue, a substance he is able to generate that helps prevent tissue rejection. Quilter's eyes open, and it seems Emerson has brought him back to life. However, Quilter is barely functional, and soon collapses to the ground.

Liz tries her best to reason with Emerson. She recognizes that he's not human and his values and goals in life are different, but she reminds him that Quilter is human and all humans end up dying eventually. Indeed, despite the new organs, Quilter dies once more on the ground. Emerson, consumed with grief, absorbs Quilter's entire body into his own and becomes a horrifying mash-up of tissue and body parts.

Before it can attack Liz and Rutherford, Ackroyd shows up in the nick of time and fends it off. Liz picks up Emerson's gun, and the two shoot it repeatedly until it finally dies. Thus, Rutherford is freed and everybody can go home, the mystery successfully solved.

Thoughts: Here we have the third movie in the P.R.O.B.E. series. Unfortunately, it's not all that good.

This movie was much shorter and much simpler than the two previous ones. The plot really didn't go very deep and not a lot of time was spent on world-building. Liz jumps right into the mystery, quickly arrives at the conclusion, and before you know it the movie's over. The characters were really not interesting and sometimes even hard to distinguish. Furthermore, the same audio problems from the previous films are still present.

Worst of all, this movie was disgusting. There was a heavy emphasis on gore, and multiple times we were shown that strange residue leaking out of human bodies in a vile display. I understand that these movies were aimed at an older audience, but neither of the previous two films even came close to how awful this one was to watch. Simply gross.

Not recommended at all. This was just terrible.

[journeyinthetardis]

Only a few days after the premiere of Doctor Who’s TV movie, Jon Pertwee suffered a heart attack and later died in his sleep.

Pertwee was the actor who portrayed the third incarnation of the Doctor, and the first in the TV series to do so in full colour. He joined the show after a complete cast change, with both the previous Doctor and both of his companions leaving the show. It was on him to pick the show back up again, and he did a fantastic job.

Pertwee’s Doctor was no-nonsense and rarely got flustered. He had a certain confidence about him that was not matched by any of the other portrayals. It always seemed like he had things under control somehow. Pertwee was clearly a fantastic actor, and we are all thankful that he decided to breathe a little of his talent into this silly little show about a space alien in a police box. We will all miss you...

[journeyinthetardis]

Synopsis: The Doctor has been given an important task. The Master has been put on trial by the Daleks on Skaro and has been executed. The Master's last request was that the Doctor take his remains back to Gallifrey, and so that is what he is doing now. The Master's remains are safely locked in a secure box in a back room of the TARDIS. The Doctor, nearing the natural end of his seventh life, sits down for tea and a book.

Suddenly, the TARDIS lurches violently and the console sparks. The Doctor rushes over, only to see that the TARDIS is having a critical timing malfunction and is making an emergency landing. The Doctor goes to see if the Master's remains are safe, only to find the box they were locked in is now smashed open.

The TARDIS eventually lands in San Francisco on December 30, 1999. The Doctor opens the door, steps out, and is immediately shot down by gunfire. The TARDIS had unfortunately landed in the middle of a shoot-out between two Chinese-American gangs. The only surviving member of one of the gangs, a young man named Chang Lee, sees to the Doctor and decides to call an ambulance. Before he passes out, the Doctor is horrified to see something amorphous and slimy leaking out of the TARDIS keyhole.

The Doctor is taken to Walker General Hospital. Surgeons successfully remove the three bullets from his shoulder and leg, but his heart seems to be badly fibrillating. A cardiologist named Grace Holloway is called in to see what she can do. She preps for surgery, but before that can happen, the strange old man seems immune from the anesthesia and is panicking badly. Once he's out for good, she begins the operation and inserts a microscopic probe into his heart.

However, she ends up confused by the strange physiology of the man's body and ends up getting lost. When the man has a massive seizure, she tries to get the probe out but fails. Ultimately, he flat-lines and is declared dead. After the 'John Doe' is wheeled away, she goes to speak with Lee. She figures out pretty quickly that Lee doesn't actually know the man, but Lee manages to run away with the man's belongings before she can stop him.

The following day, a morgue attendant on the night shift is bored and watching Frankenstein. He hears a banging coming from one of the doors. When he goes to see what's happened, he is shocked to see an unfamiliar man emerge from the room and promptly faints. The Doctor has come back to life, regenerated into his eighth form. He stumbles around in a daze, seeing himself in a mirror and realizing that he has no idea who he is.

In the morning, Grace has an argument with a hospital administrator. She and her team had earlier been confused by the strange man's x-ray, since it seemed to show two hearts. Originally dismissed as a double exposure, Grace starts to have doubts. The administrator, however, wants to cover up her failure to save the man's life and burns the x-ray. Grace, furious over this, promptly quits her job.

As she exits out of the hospital, the Doctor is sitting in the triage room. He recognizes her as the woman who operated on him before and starts to follow her. He latches onto her, since she's his only memory at this point. Grace initially thinks he's just a crazy man, but she changes her mind when the Doctor yanks out the microscopic probe that had been left in his chest.

She takes him back to her home, where she's dismayed to find that her now ex-boyfriend has left and taken everything from the house. She uses a stethoscope to listen to the Doctor's chest, and finds that he does indeed have two hearts. She takes a sample of his blood to analyze it, only to find that it certainly doesn't resemble human blood. Mystified, she decides to go for a walk outside, and the Doctor joins her.

It is while on this walk that the Doctor has a sudden mental spike and remembers who he is. The reason for this becomes apparent, however, as he sees visions of what's going on inside of his TARDIS. The Master has broken inside, having taken over the body of the man driving the ambulance he was in, along with Chang Lee, who used his key to get inside. The two seem to be working together. The worst news, though, is that the Master has used Lee's human physiology to somehow open the TARDIS' eye of harmony.

The Doctor immediately shouts at Grace about the danger this poses, claiming that the Eye will essentially suck the Earth inside-out. Grace is again initially frightened by his behaviour and calls for an ambulance to take him to the psych ward. When the Doctor proves that the Eye is already affecting the Earth by walking right through her window, she decides she should go to a psych ward too.

The Doctor then sees on TV that a beryllium atomic clock has been constructed at the Institute for Technological Advancement and Research, which is exactly the thing he needs to repair the TARDIS. The ambulance arrives and picks them up, though the Doctor simply requests they be taken to ITAR. When a bump in the road causes the ambulance attendant's sunglasses to fall off, the Doctor sees that the man has frightening cat eyes.

It's the Master, who reacts by spewing an acidic fluid that burns Grace's arm. The two are given a chance to escape when a traffic jam stops the ambulance. They quickly commandeer a policeman's motorcycle and rush off, with the ambulance already in pursuit. At this point, Grace has decided that she believes the Doctor's stories.

They lose the ambulance before they reach ITAR, but when they arrive they see the ambulance has somehow beaten them there. Luckily, Grace is a board member, so they are able to get into the New Year's party being held there. While keeping a careful eye out for the Master, they sneak their way up to the atomic clock, where the Doctor steals the small component from it needed to repair the TARDIS.

On the way out, they find guards incapacitated by a viscous fluid, revealing that the Master is near. The Doctor pulls the fire alarm to create a distraction, and the two quickly escape off of the roof by climbing down a fire hose. The Master and Lee aren't able to give chase in the ensuing panic, allowing the Doctor to ride off and take Grace back to where he left the TARDIS.

Inside, the Doctor manages to shut the Eye, but finds that it's too little too late. The Earth is still in danger, so the only solution is to take the TARDIS back in time. Since it's drained of power, he tries to jump-start it with a little energy from the Eye. Instead of helping him, however, Grace promptly knocks him out. The Master has arrived and has taken over her mind.

The Doctor is tied up next to the Eye. It is there he learned how the Master tricked Lee. The Master claimed that the Doctor was the evil one, and had stolen both the TARDIS and the Master's body. Furthermore, Lee was promised a billion dollars if he helped. When the Doctor tries to break through these lies and reveal the truth, Lee begins to have doubts. When he refuses to cooperate, the Master promptly breaks Lee's neck.

Instead, the Master breaks Grace's brainwashing and forces her to open the Eye once more. The process of draining the Doctor's lives into the Master's body begins. However, since the Master can't move during the process, Grace is free to run back to the console room. She has difficulty with the complicated controls and wires, but does manage to send the TARDIS into a 'temporal orbit'. Not knowing what that is, she rushes back to ask the Doctor for help. When she arrives, the Master intervenes and throws her off of the balcony. She tumbles to the ground, dead.

Grace was, however, able to free the Doctor from his bindings. He and the Master start to fight with one another. After a long, tense scuffle, the Doctor manages to overtip the Master's balance and he starts getting sucked into the Eye. The Doctor reaches out his hand to rescue him, but the Master refuses, and is absorbed into the Eye where he vanishes.

The TARDIS manages to slip back to an earlier time in the day. Before the Eye closes completely, energy slips out and is absorbed into the bodies of Grace and Lee. Both wake up, having been brought back to life. The three return to the console room, where they see that disaster has been averted. The clock safely rolls over to January 1, 2000.

The TARDIS lands in a park in San Francisco, and he lets his two passengers off. Lee is thankful to the Doctor and sorry for his actions earlier. He gives the Doctor his belongings back. The Doctor, though, says that Lee can keep the two bags of gold the Master had earlier given him as collateral. Excited, Lee runs off. Grace then bids the Doctor farewell, politely declining his offer to travel with him. The two share a kiss as fireworks light up the sky, and then the Doctor flies away in his TARDIS to adventures unknown.

Thoughts: At long last, it is the 1996 TV Movie! We thought we would never manage to get this far, but now we've made it. We've seen every Doctor Who TV Story and witnessed every single incarnation of the Doctor!

Hearing many things about the TV movie over the years, we had no idea what to expect. What we got was pretty much what we expected. It was grand, bigger than a TV episode, very entertaining and fun to watch, but also clear why this ended up failing to revive the series.

The story itself was great and solid. The Master is back in form, even though he now dresses like Agent Smith from the Matrix, and his plans are as grandiose as ever. We did get a sense of danger and excitement as the Doctor and his companion rushed around. The improved budget and production quality made the adventure very fun to watch.

That said, it was bogged down a little. We needed to dedicate time to the Seventh Doctor and his ensuing regeneration, and a lot of history for both the Doctor and the Master had to be explained once more. To veterans of the series, this was a tad tedious. It was great, though, to see Sylvester McCoy one more time and to see his regeneration.

The movie did not overstay its welcome, ending before it got to be too long. Everything was resolved well enough, and most of the characters were fun to watch. Lee was very interesting, as a protagonist turned antagonist through the Master's lies. He had a very charismatic personality about him. The sets were beautiful, all being filmed on location in Vancouver (our hometown!!).

There were a few messy bits along the way. Most notably was the very strange and out-of-nowhere plot point that the Doctor is 'half-human'. Not only does this not make a lot of sense, but it really didn't go anywhere either. I believe that future stories clarified that it's only the Eighth Doctor who's half-human. Then, there was the sudden and forced romance between the Doctor and Grace, who shared about three kisses. This seems like a product inserted to make American audiences happy, as this was an American production.

Paul McGann was the perfect choice to play this new incarnation of the Doctor. He feels like he was plucked right off of the set of the original TV series. Also, though, he had a lot of energy and an easily excited personality that brought a lot of life to the character. There was something about the way he talked that made him seem wise but not old. He could have perhaps been a little bit funnier, but we both enjoyed his portrayal. Sad we wouldn't see him again until like 17 years later.

Grace was a good companion. It was fun watching her disbelief at the beginning and her perplexed reactions to the Doctor and his strange ways. Her American personality shined through when she eventually decided that she was crazy. When she turned around and came to believe everything the Doctor was saying, she proved that she could be brave and dependable. We were definitely left wanting to see more of what she could bring, but for what we got we were satisfied.

This was originally intended to serve as the pilot for an American-produced series of Doctor Who. That obviously never ended up happening, as this flopped hard with American audiences, but it would have been interesting to see where things would have gone from here. How would McGann's eighth Doctor have fared on a weekly TV series, going on adventures with companions? The world may never truly know. His time was short, but we enjoyed this short, fun romp with the eighth Doctor.

[journeyinthetardis]

Synopsis: In the year 1980, Victoria Waterfield has traveled to the Dat-Sen Monastery in Tibet. She'd had a dream that told her she would find her long-dead father there. When she arrives, however, she finds something else entirely.

Fifteen years later, in September of 1995, Sarah Jane Smith is visiting the "New World University" to speak with its vice chancellor, Victoria Waterfield. She has been hired by the institution to use her journalistic skills to gather information on certain individuals. She has dropped by today to ask questions, having discovered that some of the information she was meant to seek is top secret government data.

Victoria, along with her assistant Christopher, speak strangely about the new-world vision that they and their university have. They claim to offer spiritual guidance to distraught youths. They are mostly happy with Sarah's work, but there is one piece of the puzzle still missing. Sarah has brought back no information on Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Sarah thinks fast and lies about her connection to UNIT.

After leaving, Sarah quickly contacts the Brigadier and warns him that he may be in danger. The line is cut off before she can say very much, though, and the Brigadier simply goes about his day. He is, however, concerned about the strange dream he just had, and that he had apparently been asleep for three whole days.

The Brigadier tries to go to a meeting with an old UNIT colleague, Captain Cavendish. However, all of the electronic systems in London seem to have gone haywire, rendering public transportation inoperable and unmoving traffic jams on every street. He is instead forced to walk to the cafe to meet with Cavendish. He quickly becomes suspicious, though, as Cavendish is asking strange questions about his time with UNIT and any 'mementos' he may have taken with him.

This is proven true as he is nearly ambushed by two New World University students sneaking up behind him, trying to put brainwashing headphones on him. These "Chillys", as they are known, have been causing harassment all over the city, and the Brigadier leaves before trouble can catch up with him. He then goes to see someone else who contacted him; his daughter Kate whom he hasn't spoken to in years. Kate is also being harassed by Chillys, who keep camping out in front of her houseboat.

More Chillys arrive and attack them, knocking the Brigadier out cold. He awakens later on Kate's houseboat, having been rescued by two others. One is a former military man named Harrods, and the other is a New World student named Daniel Hinton. Hinton was a former student at the school the Brigadier now teaches at, and was able to resist New World's conditioning. He met up with Harrods while escaping the campus.

The Brigadier discusses with the others what the Chillys want from them. Kate then realizes that she has been keeping a gift that the Brigadier gave her a long time ago, which turns out to be a small statuette of a Yeti. The Brigadier sees the connection immediately. His first meeting with an extraterrestrial force involved robots disguised as Yetis. The one behind all of this must be the Great Intelligence.

Chillys rush in to the boat. They force a familiar-looking metal sphere onto Hinton, turning him into a Yeti. The statuette is stolen, but everybody escapes with their lives. The Brigadier and Harrods then go off to the campus to put a stop to this madness. They try to sneak in, but are eventually caught by Chillys and taken to see Victoria and Christopher. The University has been visited by their chancellor, who turns out to be none other than Professor Travers. However, Travers has been possessed by the Intelligence.

The Yeti statuette was the final 'locus', keeping the Intelligence locked away in the darkness. Now that it's destroyed, the Intelligence is finally free to take over Earth, using the internet as a conduit to control everything. As Travers is an old man, the Intelligence leaves his body and takes over Christopher's instead.

Victoria, meanwhile, sees all of this and starts to realize that she may have made a mistake. None of this is going to bring her father back, and all she's done is to help bring an evil entity back from banishment. She meets up with Travers, who is disoriented since he literally died years ago. Victoria decides then and there that she needs to stop this.

Meanwhile, Harrods is killed trying to create a distraction for the Brigadier to escape. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Worse, Kate has snuck onto the campus herself and gotten caught as well. Victoria, meanwhile, tries to shut down the mainframe. Christopher and some Yetis arrive to stop her, but Victoria tries to appeal to the one who used to be Hinton, knowing that he still has a shred of resistance within him. Christopher is killed in the confusion, forcing the Intelligence to go back to Travers.

Sarah has arrived with UNIT in tow, but they can't do anything against the powerful Yetis. Instead, she has snuck into the campus as well. Earlier she met with Kate, and later got up to a high walkway. The Brigadier, arguing with the Intelligence in Travers' body, saw her up there and loudly shouted that it would be easy to shut the Intelligence down if someone were to simply pull the plug. Sarah quickly runs off, meets up with Victoria, and helps her to shut down the mainframe for good.

With his power conduit cut off and powered down, the Intelligence has nowhere else to go and simply fades away. The conditioning on all the Chillys disappears, and the Yetis all shut down. The Brigadier, Kate and Sarah all meet up, happy that everyone is okay and the danger has finally passed. They leave, though no-one knows what happened to Victoria. Finally, after everything has settles down, there is one more surprise. Kate introduces the Brigadier to his grandson, whom she hadn't told him about before. His name is Gordon.

Thoughts: A great movie featuring three former companions and an old foe that we haven't seen in a long while.

This one really and truly felt like an actual Doctor Who episode, just without the Doctor. Sarah and the Brigadier both acted like they hadn't been away from the action at all. Despite being much older, the Brigadier can still kick some serious butt and fit in well as the main character of this story.

It was interesting to see that a former companion, Victoria, was the antagonist of this story, or at least initially. We didn't expect to see the Great Intelligence or the Yetis again, and it was a fun blast from the past. It was awesome to see Travers again too, though he unfortunately didn't get to do very much.

All in all it was a great story. It introduced a character we'll be seeing more of later, Kate Stewart, and was just a fun story from the Doctor Who universe from  start to end. Highly recommended!

[journeyinthetardis]

Synopsis: Liz Shaw of P.R.O.B.E. is called in to help the investigation of the murder of a man named Wittaker. He was killed by a blow to the skull, which is not entirely unusual. The reason Liz was called was because of the murder of Whittaker's dog, who was eviscerated and appears to have had its remains set up like some sort of ritual or sacrifice.

Wittaker was the former headmaster of Winterborne, a nearby public school, so Liz and Detective Burke of the regular police go to the school to speak with the current headmaster, Gavin Purcell. He did not know Wittaker very well, so does not have much to contribute, nor does anyone else at the school.

Meanwhile three young students, Christian, Andrew and Luke, are playing football on the school grounds. After they meet up with another student named Georgie, who has a severe speech impediment, they go walking through the woods. There, they find the eviscerated corpse of another dog set up in the same ritualistic fashion. This turns out to be Badger, a dog belonging to a woman working at the school named Barbara Taploe.

With two strange killings of dogs, both with connections to the school, Liz decides to step up her investigation. This starts when Burke brings her to meet with Andrew, who called the police for help. The previous night, he saw Luke get out of bed and start wandering the halls. Luke then disappeared and Andrew claims he saw a 'ghost' in the attic which knocked him out. Now that morning's come, Luke is still missing.

Liz grills Purcell for information, but he continues to state that he knows nothing. Luke shows up soon after, none the worse for the wear, but Liz still isn't convinced that nothing is happening. She is proven right not long after. Today is Luke's birthday, but as his two friends bring a cake to his room, they find Luke strangled to death on his bed with Purcell standing over him.

Purcell is arrested and interrogated by Burke, but Purcell simply claims that he found Luke already dead and had nothing to do with his death. When Liz steps in to interrogate him herself, she presses him for information about the original founder of the school, Sir Isaac Greatorex. Liz has learned that Greatorex used to be involved in dark magic and had formed a cult.

When Liz reveals that coroners discovered the bloodletting wound under Luke's arm, as well as the fact that both dogs had been drained of blood, Purcell finally confesses. He reveals that he is following Greatorex's cult, as was Wittaker. When Wittaker threatened to reveal what they were doing, Purcell had him killed. Luke's and the dogs' deaths were rituals as part of the cult.

Burke is satisfied that they have solved the cult and found their murderer. Liz, however, still feels as if they are missing a piece of the puzzle. As she continues to investigate, Georgie approaches her. He has bravely decided to tell her something that he's told no-one else. Wittaker and Purcell used to involve him in certain dealings to do with their cult, which left him traumatized and unable to speak properly. Most importantly, though, he reveals that there was a third unidentified man involved, who always wore a mask.

Before Liz can go back to interrogate Purcell some more, she stops by the boys' room. Inside, however, she finds only the murdered body of Taploe. When she tells Purcell that Taploe is dead, Purcell finally reveals the actual truth. He had been covering up for this third person, who is the real leader. To everyone's surprise, this person is actually Christian. Christian had been placed under Purcell's care when he was orphaned, and Purcell ended up instilling his beliefs into the young boy. Now, somehow, Christian has gotten it into his head that he is the reincarnation of Greatorex.

Since Andrew is nowhere to be found, Liz and Burke can only assume that Christian has taken him somewhere. With Purcell's help, they realize that it's a pedestrian bridge over a nearby highway. This is significant, as it was the former location of the gallows where Greatorex was hanged. They rush there just in time to find Christian with Andrew tied up. Christian is holding a broken bottle to the other boy's neck.

Liz tries and fails to convince Christian to stop this madness, nor is she able to convince him that he's not Greatorex. Then, Liz tells Christian that he has to stop since this 'ritual' won't work, according to the cult's rules. Christian had used the sacred dagger to kill Taploe and doesn't have it anymore. The crazed Christian realizes this is true, so he drops the bottle and sullenly walks away.

Purcell is there too, having helped Liz understand the rules of the cult. He apologizes to Christian, explaining to him that being a part of Greatorex's cult was only meant to be a game. Distraught over this news, Christian then jumps off the bridge to the traffic below, killing himself. Thankfully, though, this puts an end to the cult. Andrew is safe, Purcell is taken away, and Burke even ends up deciding to join P.R.O.B.E., despite his earlier skepticisms.

Thoughts: It's the second movie in the P.R.O.B.E. series, and it's a big improvement over the first. We both agree on this.

As a story, this one was much improved. First and foremost, it was a whole lot easier to follow. There were no times where we were left confused and wondering what the heck was going on. That said, this does not mean it was a simplistic story. It was well written and quite deep, with lots of interesting backstory to back it up.

The characters were fun. Purcell was played by Peter Davison, whom I'm sure you all know as the fifth Doctor. It was hard to tell at times whether he was insane or not, and also whether he was 'evil' or not. He was such a mystery and it was fun unwrapping him. Christian made for a great antagonist, especially since neither of us figured out that he was truly behind everything until it was revealed. That makes the mark of a good twist.

The story also featured a landmark for the Doctor Who universe. Christian and Andrew were in a relationship and were shown kissing on-screen many times. This is the first time a true homosexual relationship was portrayed in the Doctor Who world. It made things a lot more interesting when Christian went crazy at the end and nearly ended up killing his own boyfriend.

The only problem with this movie has to do with the audio. The budget apparently didn't allow for road closures. Almost every outdoors shot had loud cars zooming by constantly in the background, making it hard to hear the dialogue. There was also a very loud squeaky staircase in the school. Ironically, the scene on the pedestrian bridge right ABOVE the highway had just fine audio mixing.

[journeyinthetardis]

A few months before the release of Shakedown, Peter Cushing lost his battle with prostate cancer and passed away. Cushing was the man who portrayed a different version of the Doctor, literally named “Dr. Who”, in two TV movies way back in the beginning of the show’s run.

While there have been other actors who have portrayed “alternate” Doctors along the way, none were quite as prominent as Cushing’s Doctor. He may never be included in the full listing of actors who played the Doctor, but his performance stands out as unique while still fun to watch. His Doctor wasn’t an alien, but simply a really brilliant man. We’d like to think Cushing was a brilliant man as well...

[journeyinthetardis]

Synopsis: A solar yacht is on a shakedown cruise, testing its solar sails and the skill of its crew. The ship is crewed by Captain Lisa Deranne, her husband Robar, and a crew of wealthy individuals with connections. These include young couple Mari and Nikos, as well as the very spoiled and high-maintenance Zorelle.

After a test of the sails, the ship is suddenly hit with a missile. The crew sees that a strange alien battle cruiser is pursuing them. A boarding party is sent and the ship is invaded. Everybody except for Robar, who was down in engineering, is stunned and imprisoned. When they awaken later, they see that the aliens who have invaded them are Sontarans.

Commander Steg speaks with them and informs them of his mission. He and his men are in pursuit of a Rutan spy who is an enemy of the Sontarans and must be captured or destroyed. The yacht is one of hundreds of ships that docked at Space Station Alpha, the Rutan's last known position, and every one is being searched by the Sontarans. Steg informs Deranne that, regardless of whether or not they find the Rutan, the ship and the crew will be unharmed. Neither Deranne nor Kurt believe this.

Later, Deranne is called down to the engine room. There, the Sontarans have discovered the dead bodies of a Sontaran trooper and Robar. Deranne is distraught over Robar's death and tells Steg she wants revenge on the Rutan. Steg gives his word as a Sontaran commander that he will leave them all alone if the crew helps to capture the Rutan, and Deranne accepts.

Deranne shares this with the rest of the crew and tries to convince them to join her. Kurt, who had initially wanted to attack the Sontarans, agrees with Deranne's decision. Zorelle, however, is getting upset and flustered at the way she's being treated. Believing that the only course of action is to ally with the Sontarans completely, proclaims Kurt's original intentions to Steg. Steg hands Kurt his gun and says that if he wants to kill him, to do it.

Kurt lowers the gun, proving that his intentions have shifted. Nikos, however, quickly grabs the gun and tries to attack the Sontarans. They are too fast for him, and Nikos is shot and killed. Mari is in hysterics over the death of her lover, forcing her to be sedated and left behind. This leaves just Deranne, Kurt and Zorelle to help the Sontarans track down the Rutan.

Steg tells them that the Rutan is a polymorph. It is able to reanimate dead bodies, as well as copy any living being after killing it. He warns that the Rutan could take on the form of anyone dead on the ship, such as Robar. Steg commands them to find the Rutan and lead it to either the escape pods or the engine room, where his troopers will be waiting. Not long after they set out on their own, Zorelle states that she's overwhelmed and decides to just go wait in the crew quarters.

Now alone with just Kurt, Deranne reveals that she doesn't actually want to work with the Sontarans after all. She works with him to set off a distraction inside of the engine, and then shoves one of the guards inside to kill him. Before the other guard can retaliate, Kurt attacks his exhaust vent and kills him as well. Kurt notes that he learned that technique from someone called 'the physicist or the dentist, or something...'

Deranne and Kurt then encounter the Rutan, trying to deceive them by pretending to be Robar. Deranne is not fooled, and they are able to lead it towards the escape pods. However, seeing that his men are being killed, Steg has decided to concede defeat and flee in the escape pod. In fact, Deranne and Kurt arrive soon after and shoot the remaining guard, leaving only Steg. The two have a brief standoff, with Steg proclaiming that humans are too weak to shoot an unarmed soldier. Deranne proves him wrong by shooting and mortally wounding him.

The Rutan then appears before them, having taken on the form of Zorelle. It had previously reanimated Nikos, used him to kill and copy Mari, and then do the same for Zorelle. However, it lets Deranne and Kurt live, since the two have a common enemy in the Sontarans. It then turns and boards the Sontaran ship, preparing to depart.

Steg, not quite dead just yet, perks up and proclaims that he left a bomb in the airlock. Deranne quickly rushes to pick it up and tosses it inside the Sontaran ship just before the door closes. She is nearly trapped inside of the airlock, but Steg sticks out his arm and holds the door open so she can escape. He did this because he now respects Deranne for her bravery as a warrior, and then finally died.

Deranne and Kurt watch as the Sontaran ship departs, then soon after explodes, killing the Rutan as well. Deranne tends to Kurt's wounds, lamenting at the damage to her ship and all of the casualties. Kurt, though, cheers her up and says that their days as solar yacht racers aren't over yet. The two can pool their resources to pick themselves back up, and soon enough they will be on the winner's circle once again.

Thoughts: Yet another direct to VHS spinoff movie, featuring species and themes from the Doctor Who universe. An attempt to revive the series that unfortunately didn't work.

This was a vast improvement over the previous movie. It was a lot more exciting, interesting, and engaging, and definitely easier to follow. The characters, good and bad, were all enjoyable to watch. The story got straight to the point without too much time meandering, and it was a solid story with a lot of gripping drama.

Like before, this features only certain elements from Doctor Who. We get to see the Sontarans again, which was a nice treat, though their appearance had to be altered. That's just silly. Why would their creators license out the species...but not the appearance of the species? What is there to gain from such an odd distinction. There were no actual characters from Doctor Who, but we have more returning actors just like before.

Zorelle was played by Carole Ann Ford, known for playing first companion Susan. Likewise, Mari was played by Sophie Aldred, who played last companion Ace. Robar was played by the first actor to portray Davros, as well. It's really strange but also fascinating to see such familiar actors playing different characters in the same universe. Zorelle is NOTHING like Susan. She was a total bitch, which I can say because this movie got to use swear words!

It was great! We recommend this movie. It feels like it could have fit in really well with the show itself, even without the Doctor being present.