The hunger for spoilers is greater than ever, it has to be said, and luckily I am in the Spoiler Business. Sort of. I think that I'm quite lucky to be able to see episodes of Dr Who and Torchwood before transmission, and when I see them, on the whole, I see them as "live", that is I don't know much about them before hand. As Chief Reviewer for
Outpost Skaro it's only right, I feel, that I don't have any preconceptions of what's to come.
Take this weeks episode, for example,
Night Terrors, by Mark Gatiss. Now, I'm a huge fan of Mark's in almost everything he does, and I absolutely think he deserves a place in the annuls of Whovian lore, not least of all for Nightshade, which is a stonking book and well worth digging out if you haven't read it already. In fact, I'm pretty sure the BBC Website was doing a free eBook version. Go get it. Now. I'll wait.
Anyway, my review of this episode prompted a couple of odd comments, so I thought I might as well address them. They seemed to think I didn't like the episode, which, in all fairness, isn't the case. As it is, though, I'm a little concerned by the lack of punch delivered by a writer of Gatiss's calibre - a huge talent such as his should be able to deliver a much more emphatic episode, and it seems he's been badly served by a lot of things in the past - perhaps it could be argued that
Unquiet Dead was diluted by RTD's need for a less proactive Doctor, or that
The Idiot's Lantern was let down by silly 50s haircuts and some really bad acting, or that
Victory of the Daleks deserved two episodes, and that the final act was a bit limp and rushed, but definitely not his fault. But Mark has had four bites at this now, so we really are running out of excuses. Like Paul Cornell before him, I think he deserves a shot at adapting his own book,
Nightshade, which would make a brilliant two parter and showcase his not inconsiderable talents brilliantly, but, unfortunately,
Night Terrors is, as I said in my review, more filler than killer. And it's a shame. It clearly pastiches a number of horror movies - and we know from Mark's flawless series
The History of Horror (which deserves a second outing to plug all the gaps for the films he had to miss out) that Mark knows his horror, but it also echoes one of the worst episodes since the series returned -
Fear Her. There are many similarities to that Matthew Graham episode (and he himself was vindicated recently with the excellent
Also People/Rebel Flesh) and Gatiss just a fine job at remoulding that premise in a much more palatable way. Perhaps director Richard Clark had a lot to do with this, because he set it at night, as opposed to day, and in a grubby council estate as opposed to some Wimpy Homes, but nonetheless it is a much better attempt - with a much less gringe-worthy ending - than Graham's offering. Of course, Matthew Graham didn't offer
Fear Her, he offered a Dorian Grey homage which was horribly rewritten in a rush when it turned out there was something Stephen Fry couldn't do - write for Doctor Who - and ended up with that, but besides that, Mark has done a much better job. As a result, it's a watchable episode with a fine, fine heart, and everyone does a stonking job of pulling it off. But it's all a bit derivative, misses some key beats it could easily have covered and is a frustrating affair. Cries of "another stinker by Gatiss" are unfair in the extreme - it's anything but - but I really wish Steven Moffat would allow him to just adapt
Nightshade. Alas, with Series 7 being the Anniversary season, I can't see that happening anytime soon, unless, of course, it becomes as self referential as
Night Terrors threatens to be at points. There is a train of thought that the NA writers - themselves a little gang of superfans - are untouchable by critics and are defended in the forums tooth and nail by their satellite of groupies - and to an extent this is fair enough. For me though, only Paul Cornell has delivered as high a quality as his books, with Gatiss and Gareth Roberts missing the mark, sometimes spectacularly. Although, having said that,
Closing Time is brilliant, if a little smug.
On to
Torchwood now, and I must confess I've lost where we are in actual transmission. As a reviewer, I see things in a different order, and sometimes feel like River Song, hurriedly checking notes and diaries in case I inadvertently give away spoilers.
I think it's fair to say though, that this series of
Torchwood isn't going to win the plaudits of
Children of Earth, because, for one thing, it's just not as grim. Whether that's the affect US TV execs have on it, or the not inconsiderable telly talents of John Shiban and of course Jane Espenson, I don't know, but by Episode Ten we are very much in the land of "What about Series 5?" and the last episode absolutely sets up that with no problem. This series of Torchwood took its time getting going, I have to say, and if I was to criticise it I'd say it has two big problems - two many plot points and to many gear changes. Interesting characters like C Thomas Howell's Tracker, Ernie Hudson's Owen or the fleeting glimpse of Nana Visitor were disposed of pointlessly, others like John de Lancie are very unlikely - although not for certain - to appear in any recommissioned series. Bill Pullman, a revelation in earlier episodes, loses his way as Oswald Danes and despite everyone reminding us he's a Bad Man who did Bad Things and that everyone hates him, he is written with some sort of redemption which seems out of character. It takes too long, too, for Jack to get involved properly in the action, even though, in the end, it IS all about him, and it reminds me of those overly long seasons of
24 where just as we think we know what's happening to Jack Bauer and who the bad guys are, it all veers left and people are killed and it turns out we're wrong all along.
By Episode Ten, though, we have an established team - nonsense about Jack and Gwen, of course, is just that -
Torchwood IS them, and those guys are needed - Jack particularly as he is such a part of
Doctor Who, and will be appearing in the Anniversary Season, so by then we have everyone where we want them to be for the next series of Torchwood - and cleverly RTD has it set up so that even if Starz don't take it, the BBC can. "Are you staying here?" Jack asks Gwen... "Please say no," Rhys begs her, so, without too much fuss there's a degree of cliff hangery without the angst. It's interesting to see, though, what happens to the other characters in
Miracle Day - others, like Danes, will probably not be returning, it's fair to say, but Kitzinger just might, if Starz pick it up, and could be a lot more important next time round. But of course, it's Rex and Esther, the Mulder and Scully of Series 4 who are the important newbies, and both are left critical and dying by the end of the episode, but with a very clear demarcation as to what happens to both by the last scene. It's nice too, that Doctor Who is referenced properly. We get Silurians, the Trickster and the Racnoss, all mentioned - two of whom make perfect sense, considering what The Blessing actually is.
So back to Who, and this "death in Silencio" stuff the Moff is using as one of this years arc, along with the whole Who Is River stuff. Now that that is mostly out of the way, we can concentrate on the Doctor knowing fine well that his death is a fixed point in time and space - and he'll absolutely be out to stop that. He makes an interesting comment at the end of
Night Terrors, though, about the Flesh (incidentally, the Flesh first appeared in
Silence in the Library - spot the reference!), although, to be fair, it may just be a slip of the tongue. If such a thing exists. By the end of
Let's Kill Hitler he knows what's going on, so one would imagine he's working vociferously to stop that happening. Of course, there are no such thing as standalone episodes in an arc so wibbly wobbly as Series Six, but the next three are much more like this than you'd expect, a little like the beginning of Series 5, with individual episodes... but not. Even Episode 12 seems to have little to do with the finale, but, of course, that won't be the case, because we always get a big Two Parter.
Don't we?
Happy times and places
Ed
