Home Search Login Register News Disc Releases Reviews Video Discs Music Discs Technology Editorial A

Home Search Login Register News Disc Releases Reviews Video Discs Music Discs Technology Editorial Articles Interviews Forums Discs Movies General Chat Extras Contests list me hotels in montego bay jamaica Easter Eggs Links Retailers Rental Resources About Us Advertising Press Relations Write For Us Syndication Contact Us
Feature The early-to-mid 1960s saw the meteoric rise of Dalekmania, a phenomenon that catapulted the first alien adversaries on Doctor Who into the public consciousness, not to mention a tidal wave of consumer cack that flooded the shops across list me hotels in montego bay jamaica the land. Even if Terry Nation s Nazi analogies hadn t managed to conquer Earth, then at least their invasion of Britain had been successful. Sadly, as with most crazes with the word mania suffixed to it, the long-term sustainability of it was always questionable and by the time that Patrick Troughton had stepped into his comfortable hush-puppies, Dalekmania was pretty much over and with Troughton s seven-part story, Evil of the Daleks list me hotels in montego bay jamaica , the creative forces behind Doctor Who wanted to rest the Daleks list me hotels in montego bay jamaica permanently in what was to have been their final end - fortunately (or unfortunately for some), this only lasted for five years before Skaro s most infamous residents returned. Earth is teetering list me hotels in montego bay jamaica on the brink of a third world war - Sir Reginald Styles (Wilfred Carter) is desperately trying to avert a global conflict by organising a peace conference, but his efforts are interrupted by a ghost-like apparition. UNIT, along with The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) are called in, but Styles initially denies ever seeing any sort of spectral manifestation. Things are far more complicated than they initially seem when a group of guerrillas from the future are hell-bent on executing Styles and what s more, the Daleks are somehow involved in this whole scheme. Doctor Who has a long history of great ideas that should be executed on a grand scale, only to be restricted by BBC budgets; the Target novelisations were favoured by many, as they allowed readers to create things in their minds that the purse-holders at the Beeb would not allow the show to include. Day of the Daleks seemed to suffer more than most in this respect as what should have been a grand return list me hotels in montego bay jamaica to Doctor list me hotels in montego bay jamaica Who - the first time they had been seen in colour on the show - was tempered list me hotels in montego bay jamaica by having an attempted invasion of Earth consisting of a paltry three Daleks and a handful of Ogrons. There is a nice scene during episode two, when The Doctor and Jo are tied up and left in the well-stocked cellar of Auderly House, and they are both trying to make sense of the seemingly list me hotels in montego bay jamaica senseless series of events; The Doctor starts asking questions and Jo tries to answer them, with the two characters effectively switching roles - this was done consciously and it s a fun little moment that sees The Doctor on the back-foot for once. Jon Pertwee really seems to shine in this story, the scene mentioned above is just one of the reasons why his performance in Day of the Daleks seems to stand out; most actors to play The Doctor always came off well when up against authority figures, but Pertwee seems to relish doing this more than most of the others and he gets to do this during this particular story. list me hotels in montego bay jamaica Pertwee also deploys a bit of charm, especially when helping himself to the contents of Sir Reginald Styles larder, showing for the first time that our heroic Timelord could certainly appreciate list me hotels in montego bay jamaica fine food and drink - scenes like these demonstrate that the appearance of charm in a character is only partially achieved through the script, with most of it coming from the actor himself. Pertwee was a good actor, but there is a palpable sense of insecurity to the man for him to go pestering the writers to give him a bit of charm . Katy Manning is wonderful in this story, and although she is required to go through the standard motions required of the female companion, she proves herself to be more resourceful than the air-headed bint she was painted as being during her first few stories. Manning really injects Jo Grant with a winning mix of vulnerability and inquisitiveness, which combined with the obvious chemistry between her and Pertwee list me hotels in montego bay jamaica makes Jo one of the quintessential list me hotels in montego bay jamaica companions. For those Jo Grant obsessives, there are several peek-a-boo shots up her miniskirt that reveal that her undercrackers match her red scarf. list me hotels in montego bay jamaica Nicholas Courtney is always great, and this story sees his relationship with The Doctor summed up in one scene that ends with him wryly smiling to himself, even though The Doctor has just humiliated and done him up like the proverbial kipper; the push/pull dynamic between the Third Doctor and the Brig was always the most interesting out of all of the Doctor actors to have worked alongside Courtney, as the Brig s military pomposity and the Third Doctor s anti-establishmentarianism, combined with his own vain sense of pomposity allowed them to butt heads in a very amusing manner. The Ogrons are an interesting creation; they seem to purely act as muscle for superior malevolent life-forms who need a bit of welly behind them when it comes to galactic conquest. The slow, lumbering nature of the Ogrons provide a healthy dose of menace, list me hotels in montego bay jamaica even if their restrictive mental capacity and (usually) slow vocal delivery occasionally bring Monty Python s Gumbys to mind - it makes you wonder just how the Ogrons would look wearing string list me hotels in montego bay jamaica vests and knotted hankies on their heads... If there is one main criticism that we have about the story is that the audience rarely feels that the planet stands on the precipice of World War III - the sense of tension would have been augmented with a few stock shots of the military forces of various countries being deployed - you can say what you like about the filmmaking merits of Edward D Wood Jr., but he certainly knew how to effectively employ stock footage of the military. The concept of sending paramilitary types back in time to the latter half of the 20th century in order to thwart Earth being ravaged in a global catastrophe is certainly one that has plenty of mileage - the basic idea would be reused more a decade later to form the basis of James Cameron s The Terminator , although if Cameron had also decided to stick to the parameters of this particular time-travel list me hotels in montego bay jamaica device, then the Blinovitch Limitation Effect would have prevented the Terminator sequels. What nearly threatens to detract from the suspension of disbelief is the appearance of Aubrey Woods as The Controller, whom several generations of kids will recognise as Bill The Candyman from the original film version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory , where his mid-Atlantic accent and ability to use a shop-counter to give an uppercut to the chin of a little girls made an indelible impression. Despite being closely associated with one particular role, Woods still turns in a solid - if rather stagey - performance as a Quisling-type character who is the human mouthpiece of the Daleks, being both charming and menacing. The grand, too big for the screen performance that Woods delivers is reminiscent of Edward Brayshaw list me hotels in montego bay jamaica s turn in The War Games , all and clear enunciation and deliberate, male-model-on-the-catwalk-type movement. list me hotels in montego bay jamaica At one point, he is sitting list me hotels in montego bay jamaica down with Jo and she is eating a (ahem) well-prepared meal - it s pretty difficult for us, at least, not to imagine him offering her a Scrumdiddlyumptious bar for dessert... The time-travelling guerrillas are an interesting lot (it would be tempting to quote Patrick Troughton and say that we ve never seen such an incredible bunch , but we won t); Anat (Anna Barry) list me hotels in montego bay jamaica is the best of the lot, providing the necessary sense of toughness list me hotels in montego bay jamaica required to be the leader of a desperate band of paramilitary types. The casting of Barry wasn t exactly revolutionary (no pun intended) at the time, as there had been a number of strong women seen on television by this point, but Barry s Anat makes for a likeable character who has been pushed into a desperate situation. Day of the Daleks list me hotels in montego bay jamaica is quite possibly list me hotels in montego bay jamaica the best Dalek story of the Pertwee era; it was a time when nobody was entirely sure what to do with them and the original story dealt with the Ogrons invading Earth instead of the Daleks, but it was decided that season nine needed to start with a bang so the story that was originally supposed to feature them, Daleks in London , was axed and the Barking Pepperpots were shoehorned into Louis Marks script and the title was changed to reflect this; Terry Nation was appeased by getting a fee for each episode as well as being contracted to write the next Dalek story (season ten s Planet of the Daleks ). The Special Edition: This eagerly-awaited special edition of Day of the Daleks had been whispered of on Doctor Who websites and forums; now after what seemed to some to be an eternity, it is finally here. The big question surely has to be - is it any good? The simple answer is - yes. It s bloody good. The subject of special editions of Doctor Who stories has always been a thorny issue, with some purists who think that altering any story in any manner is tantamount to cultural vandalism. Our opinion is that as long as the original version is included, then we ll be open to other interpretations. The most appropriate term that can be applied to the work done in this special edition list me hotels in montego bay jamaica is respectful; pretty much everything that has been done merely augments what was already there, including more interesting list me hotels in montego bay jamaica time-travel and disintegration effects; the climactic battle at Auderly House has had new footage specially-shot (and it matches wonderfully, as they used 1970s film cameras), so now there are far more Daleks and Ogrons to make a decidedly more menacing invasion force. Some of the technical fluffs have also been removed, making for a more polished story and most importantly, the lousy Dalek voices have been removed and replaced with far better performances list me hotels in montego bay jamaica by Mr Dalek himself, Nick Briggs. Briggs is well on his way to being regarded as being the def