An Hour of Who a Day

June 19: "The Making of the Gunslinger" / "A Town Called Mercy"

The episode's prequel gives us a look into how exactly the "Gunslinger" came about, with Kahler scientists and doctors (including Dr. Kahler-Jex) augmenting him under the false pretext of being "selected for peacekeeping missions on off-world colonies". It's interesting because it gives us a look into Kahler-Jex's thought processes before any regrets subsequently appeared, and it gives us a good lead-in for "A Town Called Mercy".

One thing I keep forgetting to mention is how the title sequence has been changed. A re-tinted time vortex (now in frankly hideous shades of blue and green), new font for the credits, and a slightly different logo -- no more DW TARDIS, and in fact a slight alteration for the logo every time thus far to reflect that particular episode: bronze with Dalek bumps for "Asylum of the Daleks", green scales for "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", and this time, a rough woodgrain pattern for "A Town Called Mercy". Yes, 46 years after The Gunfighters, it's time for Doctor Who to tackle another Western.

It helps that it looks utterly gorgeous. They've gone off to Almería, Spain, where an awful lot of Westerns have been filmed (include Sergio Leone's Man with No Name trilogy²⁴⁰), and the result is fabulous. No soundstage or Cardiff locations substituting for the American West here; instead we get beautiful landscapes and a convincing frontier town. And they've even gotten some American actors to help sell things (instead of the more typical practice of having British actors fake a Transatlantic accent), which is nice.

Kahler-Jex prepares to be killed by the Gunslinger. ("A Town
Called Mercy") ©BBC

But what's also interesting about "A Town Called Mercy" is the moral arguments that pervade the piece. Kahler-Jex is a war criminal, but one who's attempted to atone in some small way for his crimes, helping the town of Mercy with a cholera outbreak and rudimentary electric light and heat. It seems in some ways that Kahler-Jex wants to put the actions he performed during his war behind him, that he's unhappy about the choices he's made ("You think I'm unaffected by what I did?" he says. "That I don't hear them screaming every time I close my eyes?"), but as the Doctor points out, "You committed an atrocity and chose this as your punishment ... but justice doesn't work like that. You don't get to decide when and how your debt is paid." But then the Doctor is hardly blameless -- he's willing to hand Kahler-Jex over to the Gunslinger, to be the judge and jury, ready to turn him over to the executioner. (Admittedly, this is apparently because Kahler-Jex gets under the Doctor's skin -- "Looking at you, Doctor, is like looking into a mirror, almost. There's rage there, like me. Guilt, like me. Solitude. Everything but the nerve to do what needs to be done. Thank the gods my people weren't relying on you to save them" -- but it's still a surprising decision.) Rory is on the Doctor's side, so it's up to Amy to stop him:

AMY: This is not how we roll, and you know it. What happened to you, Doctor? When did killing someone become an option?
DOCTOR: Jex has to answer for his crimes.
AMY: And what then? Are you going to hunt down everyone who's made a gun or a bullet or a bomb?
DOCTOR: But they keep coming back, don't you see? Every time I negotiate, I try to understand. Well, not today. No. Today, I honour the victims first. His, the Master's, the Daleks', all the people who died because of my mercy!
AMY: You see, this is what happens when you travel alone for too long. Well, listen to me, Doctor. We can't be like him. We have to be better than him.

(from The Doctor Who Transcripts - A Town Called Mercy)

And fortunately Amy is able to bring the Doctor back to sanity -- Jex should face justice, but that doesn't mean vigilante justice. It's not their place to try Kahler-Jex, but it is their place to keep the inhabitants of Mercy safe. ("This is their home, not the backdrop for your revenge," the Doctor tells the Gunslinger later.) This does mean that the ending of the episode sags ever so slightly (as people in the town disguise themselves as Kahler-Jex by painting the tattoo on their faces, to confuse the Gunslinger long enough for Kahler-Jex to escape) but it's frankly done so well up to this point that it's easy to forgive.

"A Town Called Mercy" is a surprisingly nuanced episode, interested in examining the moral dilemmas it presents and unwilling to provide any genuinely easy answers -- even Kahler-Jex's "escape" at the end is by committing suicide, enough of a coward to not simply hand himself over to the Gunslinger and unwilling to see another group of people caught in the crossfire. It's a thoughtful episode, nicely introspective but with enough excitement to keep things moving.

²⁴⁰ A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

June 18: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

The slightly daft title aside (which appears to be riffing off the 2006 film Snakes on a Plane, and was actually Steven Moffat's idea), Chris Chibnall's third full story for the series (ignoring mini-episodes like "Pond Life") is easily his best one yet, with lots of fun and excitement on display.

I'm stating this up front because it was a pleasant surprise, given his previous track record. Torchwood did get better, yes, but much of Chibnall's actual episodes were among the worst the show ever produced, and his previous Who stories were hampered either by throwing everything into one script and hoping something would stick ("42") or by remixing some Pertwee stories into a hodgepodge that never felt particularly original or truly engaging ("The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood"). So, having been conditioned to not expect great things from Chibnall, it's a welcome change to find just how good "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is.

The Doctor confronts Solomon and his two robots. ("Dinosaurs on a
Spaceship") ©BBC

The overall feeling that one gets while watching this episode is just how much fun it is. The thought of the Doctor forming a "gang" to help him investigate a spaceship threatening to crash into 2367 Earth is an intriguing one (even to the Doctor: "I thought we might need a new gang. Not really had a gang before. It's new," he remarks), and the people he's chosen are quite varied -- I like how we get a big game hunter and Queen Nefertiti interacting with Amy and Rory, as well as Rory's father Brian (who's been accidentally brought along). Mark Williams (probably best known as either a part of The Fast Show or as Arthur Weasley from the Harry Potter films, although I'll always think of him as Petersen off Red Dwarf) is rather wonderful as Brian, someone who hates traveling but is nevertheless still practically-minded and able to help out, as opposed to being a burden, and Williams gives it just the right amount of wonder. And then, in a good contrast, we get fellow Harry Potter alum (and future Doctor, of a sort) David Bradley as the villainous Solomon, whose primary concern is making money at all costs. He's portrayed as completely amoral, willing to kill an entire ship of Silurians or kidnap Nefertiti for the sake of a larger profit. He's presented as an interesting foil for the Doctor, completely implacable and selfish.

But as I said, there's an underlying feeling of fun. The way the dinosaurs are said to be aboard the ship makes perfect sense in terms of the series, and it also means that we get dinosaurs that are leagues ahead of the ones in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. The triceratops model in particular is nicely done, but things like the ankylosaurs are also really lovely. (Although once again they're referring to pteranodons as pterodactyls.) And because we've got dinosaurs roaming around, a "gang" who all seem to more or less like each other (and who all contribute in some way), some genuinely funny robots, and some really lovely writing, the end result is really good. The only potentially duff note is the Doctor's refusal to grant Solomon any mercy, instead leaving the tracking device that the Indian Space Agency's missiles are following on Solomon's ship and then sending it away with Solomon still on board. "Doctor, whatever you want, I can get it for you. Whatever object you desire," Solomon pleads. "Did the Silurians beg you to stop?" the Doctor replies softly. "Look, Solomon. The missiles. See them shine? See how valuable they are. And they're all yours." "You wouldn't leave me, Doctor," Solomon says. "Enjoy your bounty," the Doctor says, closing the gate to Solomon's ship. The script goes to great pains to establish that Solomon is emphatically not a nice man, but it's still surprising to see the Doctor unwilling to grant any quarter. (Well, unless you think he left the beacon thingy out for Solomon to eject himself, as a way to justify his decision -- but it doesn't really look like there's enough time to actually get rid of the beacon.) It's a darker eleventh Doctor than I think we're used to, and because it feels cold it sticks out.

However, if the worst thing about this episode is that a dramatically justified decision doesn't quite "feel" right, then we're doing pretty well. "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is a really nice episode that's hopefully an indication of how series 7 is going to be.

June 17: "Pond Life" / "Asylum of the Daleks" Prequel / "Asylum of the Daleks"

2012 only gives us a short run of five episodes (I'm not sure an actual reason is given for splitting up the series across two years, but monetary issues seems like a likely candidate as this was a BBC decision, not a Steven Moffat one), so they've got to milk them for all they're worth. And to help do that, before the broadcast of "Asylum of the Daleks" we're presented with five short scenes, all under the umbrella title "Pond Life" and all written by Chris Chibnall. These five mini-episodes are designed to give us an idea of what it's like to have the Doctor continually popping into your life, leaving messages and temporarily misplacing Ood. The first four are designed to be whimsical in nature, and at that they succeed marvelously, bringing a smile to the face. The last one is much darker in tone, however, suggesting that something is seriously wrong between Amy and Rory (and something that didn't appear to be problematic just the previous month -- but more on that in a bit), which is setting us up for the start of "Asylum of the Daleks".

But then in addition to "Pond Life" we get another prequel teaser, showing the Doctor being confronted by a hooded figure who commands the Doctor via a dream (which resembles a sequence in the series 7 finale "The Name of the Doctor") to save the daughter of a woman named Darla von Karlsen, and to meet Darla on Skaro.²³⁸ And with that, it's now finally time for the main episode.

Let's get this out of the way right now: the divorce storyline between Amy and Rory might be one of the most ill-conceived misfires in the entire BBC Wales run, and possibly Doctor Who as a whole. It's terribly implausible in terms of characterization -- Amy and Rory have both been through an awful lot and still stayed strong, and in fact felt like a genuinely loving relationship, so why would this suddenly change? -- and the timing seems really off: "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" suggested that Amy and Rory had been living together happily for two years, but by the time of this episode were on the outs -- and if you factor in "Pond Life", this change happens within the space of at most two months (if the July segment is at the beginning of the month and the August segment at the end). But fine, this might not be such a big deal if it didn't feel completely irrelevant -- by the end of the episode Amy and Rory are back together and the divorce is never brought up again. And what's worse, it's not relevant to the main storyline, either thematically or narratively -- the only time it really comes up is in the conversation about whose love is stronger (and thus will be able to withstand the transformational nanocloud longer), and while we learn that this is happening because Amy "gave [Rory] up" because he wanted kids and she can no longer have them (which is probably meant to demonstrate her love but comes off as selfish instead -- "I don't think you can handle my not having children so I'm going to make the decision for you"), it's not even a crucial reveal, as we see that the Doctor gave up his anti-nanocloud wristband to Amy anyway. The whole thing instead feels like a calculated way to get viewers to tune in ("Amy and Rory have split! Find out why!"), rather than a genuine story-based decision.

Right, with all that said...

The Daleks ask the Doctor to save them. ("Asylum of the
Daleks") ©BBC

"Asylum of the Daleks", barring the divorce stupidity, is a thrilling, well-plotted story, one that continually throws up surprises and excitement. It starts with the Doctor and his friends being captured by Dalek puppets (people who've been taken over by Daleks and can conveniently sprout Dalek eyestalks from their foreheads to demonstrate that fact) and being taken to the Parliament of the Daleks (which is itself an utterly bizarre idea -- apparently they're fed up with all these Dalek emperors and have decided for a more democratic approach, but it just leads to the idea of Daleks debating bills and naming parks and things) so that the Daleks can ask the Doctor for help: something has crashed onto the Dalek asylum planet ("A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can't control") and the Daleks are worried that all these insane Daleks will get out, but none of them are willing to go down and switch off the forcefield stopping them from destroying the place. So it's up to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory to save the day. It's a strange idea, but it works well -- and it's a good excuse to get us down to the planet itself. And man is that a lot of Daleks on screen. Plus, interestingly, most of the Daleks we see here are the old Davies-era bronze Daleks, rather than the New Dalek Paradigm established in "Victory of the Daleks". There are still some Paradigm Daleks around, but they're generally in the background; it seems the production team has (wisely) backpedaled on its new Dalek design.

I noted that this episode is full of surprises, but the best surprise at the time was the appearance of Jenna Coleman (then billed as "Jenna-Louise Coleman"). It had already been announced that Amy and Rory were leaving the show and that Coleman would be taking over as the new companion -- but that wasn't supposed to happen until Amy and Rory departed, so her appearance here was quite the surprise. Coleman here is incredibly energetic, flirtatious, and fun -- but that's clearly as scripted, as Steven Moffat wants to establish her character, Oswin Oswald, as very much alive in order to make the big reveal about her have a greater impact. It's to Coleman's credit, however, that she does such a good job with the character, in making it her own, that it's not until you think about it that you realize that Moffat essentially wrote Oswin as River Song. She's also the driving force behind the episode; the Doctor might be going to shut down the forcefield around the asylum, but he's also going to rescue Oswin.

Amy realizes the people she saw are actually Daleks. ("Asylum
of the Daleks") ©BBC

But yes, this story is filled with all sorts of Daleks that our heroes have to get past to get to Oswin and the forcefield, which leads to lots of tense moments that director Nick Hurran exploits very well. Watching old, dusty Daleks slowly wake up to start trying to exterminate the Doctor and company is an exercise in slowly mounting dread, as Hurran fills the frame with tons of menacing Daleks. There's also a particular joy in spotting all the old-school Daleks in the background of shots -- original '60s grey and blue Daleks, '70s grey and black Daleks... even the Special Weapons Dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks is here (in the scene where Rory first wakes up the Daleks). It's really nicely done, and the scenes of Amy slowly succumbing to the nanocloud are pleasingly trippy -- my favorite part being the girl who she's hallucinating twirling being revealed as a '60s Dalek spinning around in a circle, which is hilarious and unnerving at the same time.

So we get lots of creepy moments, but there's also the reveal about Oswin, as the Doctor learns (after making his way through the intensive care section, full of the Daleks who survived encounters with the Doctor²³⁹) that Oswin is in fact a Dalek, albeit one still desperately holding on to its humanity. It makes the Doctor's offhand non sequitur question ("[Making] soufflés? Against the Daleks? Where'd you get the milk?") suddenly take on a greater significance, and it also throws up all sorts of questions regarding Jenna Coleman's character -- how can she die here if she's going to be the companion? But if she was the companion earlier in her life, why doesn't she recognize the Doctor? -- that "Asylum of the Daleks" is happy to leave unanswered. It's a clever reveal, and full credit to both Coleman and Dalek voice artist Nicholas Briggs, who manages to carry over much of Coleman's inflections in his Dalek performance -- "Why do they hate you?" being a particular success. It's really nice -- and the way she erases knowledge of the Doctor from the minds of the Daleks is interesting (even if it'll be reversed in "The Time of the Doctor").

This is a really strong script, aided by some great acting and stunning direction. If it weren't for the divorce nonsense, this would be one of the best stories ever -- as it is, it's merely very good. "Asylum of the Daleks" provides us with an original and intriguing Dalek story with lots of flair and energy.

²³⁸ How can Skaro exist, given that we saw it destroyed in Remembrance of the Daleks? There seem to be three possible explanations, none of them particularly good. Possibility one: Skaro was resurrected during the Time War (or possibly saved by rewriting history -- time war, after all) and then ruined, but for whatever reason is not part of the Time Lock that sets the rest of the Time War off from history (although that's actually a problem for all three possibilities). Possibility two: War of the Daleks (the eighth Doctor novel that suggests that the Daleks went through a ludicrously elaborate plot to fool the Doctor and Davros into thinking that a planet named Antalin was actually Skaro so that it, not the real Skaro, would be destroyed) is canon, and Skaro survived to the time of "Asylum of the Daleks". Possibility three: the Daleks found a new home planet and also called it Skaro (as Jean-Marc Lofficier suggested in The Terrestrial Index), and that's what we see in "Asylum". (All that said, it's worth noting that this problem of Skaro's existence pops up as early as the pre-title sequence of the McGann movie, so it's not like it's a new issue...)
²³⁹ We're told that these Daleks include those from Spiridon (here mispronounced the same way McCoy did in Remembrance of the Daleks), Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan, and Exxilon. Setting aside the fact that none of the Daleks shown in that scene resemble the Daleks from those stories (and they had some 20th-century props, so it's not like they couldn't have used them if they'd wanted), it's a nice little line, but there are some problems with it: namely, some of the events referenced shouldn't have had Dalek survivors in the first place. Spiridon (Planet of the Daleks) makes sense, given that the Daleks at the end were entombed in ice rather than outright killed, so survivors should be easy enough to find (or I suppose it could be one of the Daleks trapped in that little room with the plague). Only one Dalek seems to suffer any ill effects on Aridius (The Chase), and all it does is fall down a hole -- so the thought of a Dalek needing to go to intensive care for that is silly (albeit worryingly in keeping with the tone of that particular story...).
Exxilon (Death to the Daleks) and Vulcan (The Power of the Daleks) are a lot harder to explain. It sure looks like any remaining Daleks on Exxilon were on the spaceship that Galloway blew up, but maaaaaybe one of the Daleks in the City managed to survive. (Or, as I suggested at the time, it could be the one that self-destructed after losing some prisoners -- maybe it wasn't successful at that either.) The end of Power does have the eye-stalk twitching up at the end (reportedly), so that would seem to be a survivor too; fine, although that does suggest that the Daleks returned for their comrade and presumably exterminated the remaining members of the colony. But this still leaves Kembel (The Daleks' Master Plan), where all the Daleks are unequivocally wiped out at the end, along with all life on the entire planet (and Sara Kingdom, don't forget). So how could there possibly be any survivors? Even if, let's say, a Dalek left before the Time Destructor did its work, there'd be no reason for it to end up in intensive care since nothing bad had happened to it. Unless the knowledge that it only just escaped death at the hands of the Doctor was enough to drive it insane. Which is frankly stupid, but it seems to be the best explanation we have.

June 16: "Bad Night" / "Good Night" / "First Night" / "Last Night" / "Up All Night" / "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" Prequel / "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" / "Good as Gold"

(5 Night and the Doctor scenes, the 2011 Christmas special, and a Blue Peter scene)

Whoops, one more bit of series 6 to get through: much how the series 5 boxset included two extra scenes, so the series 6 one contains five of them -- but as they're in general difficult to insert into series 6's continuity, I've elected to wait until now (relative to when the surrounding episodes were transmitted), when the boxset was released.

The Doctor informs River she's in the wrong TARDIS. ("Last
Night") ©BBC Worldwide Ltd.

We get five quick little scenes, all under the umbrella title Night and the Doctor and most of them set inside the TARDIS, ostensibly showing us what the Doctor gets up to while Amy and Rory are asleep. The first one, "Bad Night", is a quick bit of whimsy, as the Doctor deals with a queen who's been turned into a fish and a great warrior who's also a fly, and gets Rory out of bed because Amy's "having an emotion", and it's his turn to deal with it. ("You two have turns?!" Amy replies indignantly.) The second scene, "Good Night", is probably the best one, as it shows Amy struggling to make sense of her life, despite things like suddenly getting parents after the Doctor rebooted the universe; it's actually about something rather than just flitting around. The next two, "First Night" and "Last Night", involve River Song, both the first time the Doctor took her away from her prison and the last time, mixed with some hijinks involving multiple Rivers getting confused as to which TARDIS is which. They try to make it dramatic at the end -- apparently the older Doctor has arrived at a point shortly before "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead", which means River will soon die -- but they're only partially successful. Meanwhile, the final scene, "Up All Night", is focused solely on Craig and Sophie from "Closing Time" and acts as a prequel to that episode -- to the point that one wonders if this was initially intended to be released online, much like the other prequels this series, but then wasn't for some reason. It's purely a throwaway scene, made even more so by the fact that already watching "Closing Time" robs it of any mystery it might have had. Still, these five scenes are a charming bit of entertainment, and a nice extra for the DVD/Blu-ray buyers.

And now it's on to series 7, with the 2011 Christmas special "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe". First off we get a prequel, with the Doctor ostensibly talking to Amy (but really just to himself) as he goes about stopping an alien spaceship from conquering the Earth by blowing it up. It's quick and suitably exciting but rather sweet, and it reminds us that the Doctor is traveling alone right now (remember, he thinks Amy and Rory think he's dead -- he doesn't know River told them). So in terms of getting us interested in the actual episode, mission accomplished.

That prequel basically carries us straight into the opening moments of the main event, as the Doctor is trapped on the exploding spaceship and ends up tumbling to Earth -- but fortunately he's grabbed an "impact suit" that saves his life. It's a strong, action-packed opening, but it is slightly strange in retrospect how this is just about the most exciting the episode ever gets, as Steven Moffat chooses to give us a slightly more mysterious and quiet Christmas special. Much like last year's Christmas special, "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" steals its premise from another classic work -- but unlike "A Christmas Carol", this time around Moffat takes the very basic premise of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (a whole winter world in a small container -- here a cardboard box) but then jettisons the rest. That's not totally surprising -- Dickens' A Christmas Carol is already a time travel story, so it's easy enough to adapt, but there's less to crib in C.S. Lewis's Narnia books -- but what is surprising is how calm everything seems. There's no huge dramatic enemy to work against, no sense of evil to be fought; instead this is a story about magical happenings. It's clear from the planet where Christmas trees grow, complete with ornaments, that this is meant to charm children rather than frighten them.

Lily and the Doctor debate whether they've entered a trap.
("The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe") ©BBC

But because we're running around with trees that have souls and can grow buildings and spaceships and people, with a certain sense of "just accept that this is magic", when the main threat shows up in the form of a big ship crewed by people here to "melt down" the forest with acid rain, it distinctly jars with the rest of the story. It doesn't help that the scenes of the Androzani Major harvesters (oh look, a pointless reference to The Caves of Androzani) are largely divorced from the rest of the story -- they're there to provide an impetus for the trees to leave, and supply a touch of comic relief along the way, but that's about it. In a story about trees growing people and having souls that can get on a ship and leave, a clunking, rusted spaceship with similarly attired crew sticks out like a sore thumb.

It's a hard episode to judge, because while it has lots of magical bits, the threat is a touch too abstract to really connect (we don't see anyone die in the acid rain, or even anything get really damaged -- some holes in Madge's coat and that's about it), and the incredibly oversweet ending (where Madge rescues her husband pilot (Alexander Armstrong, who gets to show his face in front of the camera after five series as the voice of Mr Smith on The Sarah Jane Adventures) by shining a light for him to follow) threatens to sink the whole thing. But, counterbalancing that, there's some lovely dialogue ("I don't know why I keep shouting at them," Madge says. "Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be, and it breaks your heart," the Doctor replies. "Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later"), and I do like the efforts to make this an overt fantasy -- it's the type of setting in which Matt Smith shines. The push-and-pull of all these factors does make for a rather uneven episode, though.

And look, there's one more quick episode today: "Good as Gold". We're now jumping forward to 24 May 2011, and just like "Death is the Only Answer", we've got another winner of a script-to-screen competition, this time for perennial children's show Blue Peter. This one's officially written by the Children of Ashdene School and features the TARDIS materializing in the path of the Olympic torch relay, where a runner is chased inside the TARDIS by a Weeping Angel. To be honest, this one's not as good as "Death is the Only Answer", as the whole thing seems a bit more contrived, with less finessed dialogue (the stuff about having one adventure per week is particularly wince-inducing) and an odd cliffhanger ending that seems to suggest there's now a Weeping Angel trapped in the TARDIS. And where's Rory in all of this? It's not the most successful effort ever, but at least it's only three minutes long.

June 15: The Man Who Never Was Parts One & Two (SJA)

(Hooray! It's my birthday once again today! And I'm glad to once again get such a good story with which to celebrate...)

It wasn't supposed to end like this, of course; there were supposed to be at least three more stories, stories that would have seen Rani and Clyde finally become a couple, Jo Jones (née Grant) make another appearance (and possibly Ace too, depending on which version you read), and the Trickster showing up for the fourth time. But, despite the fact that it wasn't intended to be the series finale, The Man Who Never Was is a surprisingly fitting sendoff.

This story is a lot more like a "typical" Sarah Jane Adventures tale than The Curse of Clyde Langer was, but Gareth Roberts has given us a story that absolutely sparkles with wit and intrigue. It helps that they've got a great guest cast on this show: James Dreyfus is marvelously villainous as Mr. Harrison -- the evil businessman incarnate -- while Mark Aiken must be having an absolute blast as Joseph Serf, the artificial person being controlled by a bunch of aliens in the basement who occasionally get it wrong (which means Aiken has lots of strange dialogue and odd movements to deal with that he lands absolutely perfectly). And Peter Bowles, one of those actors who it seemed inevitable would show up somewhere in a Doctor Who or related series, finally does so as Lionel Carson, Sarah Jane's old editor. And, happily, this is an episode where Tommy Knight makes a prominent appearance as Luke -- here encountering his new adopted sister Sky in person for the first time. There's some initial tension there, but fortunately they don't make a big deal of it.

No, instead they're having far too much fun trying to uncover Serf Systems' evil plot concerning their new computer, the SerfBoard (Luke and Sky becoming suspicious after they see Joseph Serf "glitch" during the rehearsal of his SerfBoard unveiling presentation). Elisabeth Sladen is having a ball, trying to catch out Joseph Serf as some sort of hologram (much like Rimmer from Red Dwarf, or the character somewhat confusingly (in this context) referred to as "the Doctor" on Star Trek: Voyager), while Mr. Harrison (ostensibly Serf Systems' PR representative) keeps thwarting her efforts. It's great fun watching the two of them spar, while Serf himself occasionally goes wrong (the "sexy smile" that he accidentally gives Sarah Jane being a particular highlight).

I also like how the evil scheme to take over the world with these fancy new SerfBoard computers turns out to be nothing but a plan to sell a lot of crummy computers ("It's more than a bit rubbish," Clyde comments about the SerfBoard. "Bog standard. What's so special about this?") by hypnotizing people into buying them. However, Harrison proves himself to be villainous by having a bunch of alien slaves called Skullions in the basement, controlling Serf and doing what he says under pain of "punishment", which is being shocked at various intensities by collars around their necks. The Skullions themselves are a great cyclopean design, and the way they're revealed to be oppressed, rather than oppressors, is a good move that exemplifies The Sarah Jane Adventures' approach to aliens -- they're not all bad, and frequently people are much worse.

All this and some great moments along the way -- Luke and Sky's operation of Joseph Serf at his big reveal is a lot of fun ("Remember, he's American!" Luke hisses at Sky. "Yeeeeeeeeeeee-haw!" Sky has Serf say as a result. "As I woke up, put my grits on the griddle, I thought, gee, what a cotton-pickin' day to launch a new computer." "You've been watching Toy Story again!" Luke says accusingly), but the best moment might be the naughtiest joke in all of The Sarah Jane Adventures, as Mr. Smith decodes Luke's Morse code message: "Clani [Luke's name for Clyde and Rani], grab Harrison's... P... E... N... Full stop," Mr. Smith states. "Never been so glad to see a full stop," Clyde replies.

The end result for The Man Who Never Was is a fun, happy episode, with a positive resolution and some outstanding moments along the way. Everyone is clearly having a good time and on top of their game, and this shines through the finished product. If they had to go out, at least they did so on a high note.

The most impressive thing, not just about this final series but about the show as a whole, is just how consistently good it was. Some exceptional casting for the regulars, anchored by the fabulously talented Lis Sladen, was matched with high quality stories and production values. In some ways this show was more like Doctor Who than Doctor Who itself was at times, as The Sarah Jane Adventures frequently emphasized understanding and sympathy and compassion over fear and xenophobia -- aliens are often trapped here or misunderstood, and even the ones shown to be more or less villainous are painted with shades of grey, to give them more depth and nuance. The Sarah Jane Adventures was an optimistic, high quality show, and it's genuinely sad to see it end. But as the end of The Man Who Never Was reminds us,

And the story goes on... ...forever.

June 14: The Curse of Clyde Langer Parts One & Two (SJA)

One of the impressive things about The Curse of Clyde Langer is how much unlike a typical Sarah Jane tale it is. In some ways this is the closest The Sarah Jane Adventures have come to a straightforward, SF/fantasy-free story -- other than the totem pole's curse being bestowed upon Clyde and causing everyone to turn against him, this might be a story from any number of more mundane dramas.

Even more so than the last story, this is a game of two halves. The first half taps into a deep-seated fear among everyone, but especially children: what if everyone you knew suddenly rejected you? What would you do? Where would you go? This is the "curse" that Clyde receives: anyone who hears or sees his name is suddenly filled with anger and hatred towards Clyde, even going so far as to call the police on him. It's a pretty primal dread, but Daniel Anthony absolutely delivers as Clyde in portraying the confusion and hurt that Clyde is feeling. It's a genuinely astonishing performance from someone who's already been one of the best things about the show, demonstrating just how good Anthony can be. Whether it's being verbally abused by Rani ("I hate you!" she yells at him with undiluted venom, which seems to really shake Clyde to his core) or being rejected by his mother Carla, Anthony is absolutely riveting. It's a fantastic job.

But if the first episode is about the fear of being rejected, the second episode shifts the focus to those who've been rejected by society, as Clyde, forced to live on the streets, is befriended by a young homeless girl named Ellie. We're given a first-hand account of what it's like to be homeless -- obviously sanitized somewhat for television, but still leagues away from the sort of thing the show normally covers. Watching Ellie point out everyone in the soup kitchen, briefly telling Clyde who they used to be, is well done, and the chemistry between her and Clyde is handled well. The most interesting part is how readily Clyde is willing to spend time with Ellie as he adjusts to his new life. "You know," he tells her, "I was thinking I could do [sketches of people], like a street artist. We could go up to Covent Garden or somewhere and people will pay to have their portraits drawn. ... I'm telling you, Ellie, we can do this. We can get off the streets together." Clyde's starting to get his new life together, so that's when his old life intervenes, Sky having eventually convinced Sarah Jane and Rani that there's something going on with Clyde and the totem pole that he got the curse from. (She seemed to be immune to the curse -- probably because she's not actually human, although this isn't explicitly stated.) There's some stuff about stopping an alien who was posing as a Mojave god from manifesting itself using Clyde, but this is really just a way to split up Clyde and Ellie; Clyde had to leave so quickly to save the world from Hetocumtek, he didn't get a chance to tell Ellie where he was going. That means the end of the episode involves Clyde trying really hard to find her again, but to no avail: it turns out she'd been using an assumed name, just like Clyde had been, and now she's gone away, believing Clyde abandoned her.

It's a sad ending to this very atypical story, but it makes perfect sense in context. The Curse of Clyde Langer might not be your standard Sarah Jane Adventures story, but it's done so well that it's an easy thing to look past. Daniel Anthony had already been one of the best things about the show, and this just cements that. In its examination of abandonment, both personal and societal, The Curse of Clyde Langer might be one of the best stories The Sarah Jane Adventures has ever turned out.

June 13: Sky Parts One & Two (SJA)

As you may recall, Elisabeth Sladen passed away on 19 April 2011, just before "The Impossible Astronaut" aired. She'd been more or less in the middle of filming the fifth series when she died; they'd completed the first half, and then postponed filming of the second half due to Sladen's illness -- but she succumbed to cancer, leaving that second block unfilmed. So what we get is an abbreviated fifth series, consisting of those first six episodes comprising three stories, and the first story, Sky, is as solid as ever.

This story is essentially a game of two halves. The first half (part one) is about Sarah Jane receiving a mysterious baby on her doorstep -- coincidentally(...?) on the same night as something crashed to Earth. This is clearly not a human baby, as its cries have the ability to blow out light bulbs and short out car alarms, which leads to some rather wonderful moments of Sarah Jane, Clyde, and Rani trying desperately to stop the baby from crying, while Haresh and Gita deal with the fallout of when she does. (Oh, and incidentally, this happens to be Mina Anwar's last story as Gita Chandra; one by one we're having to say goodbye to some beloved characters.) In particular, Clyde's efforts to stop Sky (named on the spur of the moment, as she basically fell out of the sky) from crying are imbued with great charm and fun -- Daniel Anthony continues to excel as Clyde Langer. (And it's also fun how Mr. Smith refuses to open up in her presence and be accidentally shorted out.) This leaves Sarah Jane and Rani free to investigate the site of the crash -- which is already being investigated by Professor Celeste Rivers (thus marking her fourth return to the show), although it's an interview with a local tramp, who talks about a man made of metal, that ends up being the most helpful. These scenes are interesting, but as they're concerned with advancing the storyline they're not as much fun as Clyde's scenes.

The second half (so part two) is a little different. The cliffhanger of part one involved the baby Sky being taken into a nuclear power station by Clyde and someone claiming to be Sky's mother, only for Sky to be surrounded by energy and age twelve years in as many seconds. So that means now we have a twelve-year-old girl running around, still with the same electrical powers but with a bit more control over them. Part two isn't quite as much fun, just because it's much more heavily plot-oriented, but it's still entertaining. Sky is some sort of living weapon designed to kill the metal man's people (the Metalkind, who are boron-based lifeforms -- hey, why not? It makes as much sense as silicon-based life), but it's not a destiny Sky is particular happy about. Sinead Michael seems rather awkward and hesitant as Sky, but that might be a deliberate performance choice (as Sky is meant to be completely unknowledgeable about the world), so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

Because yes, Sky manages to thwart her mother's plans for her, leaving her no longer a weapon and free to live with Sarah Jane -- thus making her a series regular. (And thus the youngest series regular to date on any of the Doctor Who-related shows, as Sinead Michael actually was twelve at the time of filming -- thus making her younger than the Paul McGann movie. Blimey.) It seems she was dropped off at Sarah Jane's door by the Captain and the Shopkeeper (who you might remember from last series' Lost in Time). "I'd still like to know who you are," Sarah Jane asks. "Both of you." "Consider us servants of the universe," the Shopkeeper replies. "... Sometimes things can't be left to chance. Sometimes a breeze must blow from east to west, not north to south. Sometimes a sky should be blue, not laden with cloud. And sometimes, a child must find her way home. Which is my task, Miss Smith. To put things in the right place." "But who are you?" Sarah Jane repeats. "All in good time," the Shopkeeper replies, and you get a sudden pang of sadness at the thought that that mystery will go unrevealed.²³⁷ But yeah, looks like Luke's got a little sister now. I wonder if they'll get the chance to play with that at all.

In many ways this story feels like an excuse to introduce a new cast member, to replace Tommy Knight as Luke (now only sporadically appearing on the show), but while there's nothing too surprising or compelling here, what we get is another solid, well done tale. It's still a nice job, even if it's not the greatest thing ever.

²³⁷ My guess is that he's meant to be a sort of opposite of the Trickster (who's basically the Black Guardian anyway, so that makes the Shopkeeper essentially the White Guardian -- although the original version of the story actually had the Doctor drop Sky off, but Matt Smith was too busy with "A Christmas Carol"). He was supposedly going to reappear in the sixth story of series 5, The Battle of Bannerman Road, which would have also seen the return of the Trickster. So I'm willing to bet I'm not far off.