DOCTOR WHO 5.8/5.9 - The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood

Spoilers ahoy

The Silurians have a long and illustrious history in Doctor Who; they are one of the iconic monsters of the classic series, who have returned many times to bother the Doctor. They first appeared in 1970 in the Third Doctor’s first season, and in their seven parter debut those pesky humans roused them from their slumbers by inconsiderately building an experimental nuclear reactor in the Wenely Moor caverns. Having gone into hibernation to survive a global catastrophe and overslept due to hurriedly implemented technology, this colony of homo reptilia were none to pleased to discover their planet was now over run with apes. But despite attempts by the Doctor to broker a peace treaty with the more moderate factions of the Silurian colony, they sought to rid the Earth of its primate infestation and consequently were blown up by UNIT.

However a few years later, they were back albeit in a different form. 1972’s The Sea Devils saw the introduction of an aquatic species of Silurian. This time the ancient beasts were deliberately roused from their slumber by the Doctor's arch enemy the Master, who intended to use them as an army to conquer the earth. Once again the good Doctor attempted to persuade the awakened former masters of the Earth to make peace with the apes. But human retaliation for their boat scuttling and the Master's counter arguments saw the Sea Devils deciding that making war was the only way. Hence the Doctor was forced to destroy them before they could reactivate the other colonies of their sleeping brethren.

1984 saw the TARDIS fetching up on Seabase 4 in the year 2084. Warriors of the Deep saw the Silurians and the Sea Devils appearing together at last - something many a fan of the Pertwee era had dreamed of. This time around the Earth reptiles Were seeking to exploit a power struggle between two super powers in order to get rid of the human race. Once again the Doctor cannot negotiate a peace between homo reptilian and homo sapiens, and once again it all ends in tears … well genocide by hexachromite gas at least. As the Davison Doctor ruefully says at this story's close - "there should have been another way..."

And in this story, both species had had a make over. While retaining the same basic design there were several tweaks: the Silurians now had organic body armour and it was now clearer that the round orifices on their faces were mouths not snouts - as a child looking at still in various Who reference tomes I honestly thought they were noses! The Sea Devils also looked different; aside from ditching their string vests and were romping around in battle dress complete with nifty samurai style hats, they were a silvery grey rather than green and brown. Plus they looked, well, a bit desiccated; withered and somewhat worse for wear from kipping in dodgy freezers perhaps?

However you can’t keep a good monster down and the Silurians have made several other appearances in other Doctor Who media. They have appeared in two Big Finish audio adventures; in Bloodtide crossing paths with the Sixth Doctor and Charles Darwin, before tangling with the Brigadier and UNIT in UNIT: The Coup (which is available as a free download here).

The Virgin range of novels which kept the show’s torch burning in the years between the classic and new series also revived the ancient reptilians twice. Firstly in 1993, Blood Heat by Jim Mortimore saw the Seventh Doctor landing in a parallel universe where the Wenley Moor Silurians were not defeated and now rule the planet along with their pet dinosaurs.

And in 1996, Virgin released a Missing Adventures novel The Scales of Injustice by Gary Russell (which you can read online here) in which the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw discover another colony of Silurians. This novel bridges the gap between the Pertwee stories and Warriors of the Deep whose script suggested an unseen on television encounter. Additionally it also explains the design differences in the creatures' past appearances. Basically it's down to different sub species and this tale features a new sub species that were a hybrid of Silurian and Sea Devil.

The Earth Reptiles also made several appearances in several other novels and comics (visit here for a more in-depth history) and no doubt you’ll be pleased to hear that by the 30th century human and Silurian were living in peace at long last – at least according to these stories. And although their “canonicity in relation to the ongoing television series is open to interpretation” as Wikipedia would put it, this latest outing pleasingly does nothing to contradict them. However long before those happy future days where the Myrka will lie down with the lamb, comes The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood…

Now writer Chris Chibnall also has a long history with Doctor Who. Rather infamously he appeared on the BBC discussion show Open Air in 1986 as a representative of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society and gave The Trial of A Time Lord a bit of a pasting. And this incident from his youth came back to haunt him when he penned 42 for series 3 of new Who and many episodes for Torchwood - some fans with long memories muttering about the relative blackness of pots and kettles.

However I am not one of them. Actually I have a bit of a soft spot 42, a decent story that suffered from appearing at the same time of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (which featured a not dissimilar set-up) and the miscasting of Michelle Collins in the lead role. And while it is true some of his episodes for the first series of Torchwood were a little ropey, that was true of all of that series which was hurriedly made in a hasty nine months. Plus the second season of Torchwood was a marked improvement on the first with the Chibster turning in some decent stories, and more tellingly perhaps, serving as head writer and co-producer. So I have no real problems when I saw his name on the writers' roster.

But before we see how well his latest scripts have panned out, let’s address the dinosaur in the room – the Silurians’ new look. As we've already seen, this race’s design has been altered in every television appearance, and so a change is not entirely unexpected and can be easily rationalised as a new sub species. However homo reptilia's new look is a radical make-over and takes some getting used too. On one hand, I can’t help feeling that the new look makes them too humanized. I can understand the decision to go for a drastic revamp in order to make the characters capable of more expression but they have lost the prehistoric otherness of the original designs. To sum it up in a sexist nutshell, I’m sure you shouldn't be able to look at a Silurian and think ‘nice legs!’

The change is so different that I felt that the script needed to explain it a little more other than alluding to them being a different tribe to those previously encountered. While I don’t require massive exposition bombs hurling continuity shrapnel everywhere and confusing the majority of viewers who aren’t Who obsessives, some little touches such as having them refer to themselves as the ‘high Silurians’ or some similar or showing a few old school reptiles in storage would have been enough for me.

However despite these niggles, I did warm to the new look quite quickly. And when you look a little closer at the reimagined designs, you see clear links to the classic series versions. Seemingly the designers have took a leaf from The Scales of Injustice as the new look is an amalgam of classic Silurian and Sea Devil features. Furthermore the costumes meld the vintage Sea Devil netting with the later Japanese armour stylings and even their weapons are look like they are the products of the same civilization; for example compare the new Silurian rifles with the iconic circular guns of the first Sea Devils. But most importantly, the new make up looks fantastic and really does allow the actors to emote properly and convey distinct and different personalities – something crucial for this tale’s success.

But was this two parter a success? Though there were a few missteps, on the whole this was a highly entertaining outing and another two parter that delivered the goods instead of floundering in the second half. But before dishing out the brownie points, let’s address the weak spots first.

Firstly the voice-overs at the beginning and the end were a bit superfluous. Although the opening narration verged on becoming an integrated spoiler, they weren’t that terrible, but equally they really didn’t need to be there. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who got a sinking feeling as Cold Blood started; the last time they used an opening narration we got the messily scripted The End of Time and as soon as Stephen Moore started speaking the bad memories came flooding back... But in fairness, that’s RTD’s fault not Chris Chibnall’s.

Secondly, I did feel that Amy was somewhat underwritten for most of the time. Her scenes and the beginning and at the close of the adventure were spot on, but while she was gallivanting about at the centre of the earth, her dialogue did descend into a series of quips. And while there were some amusing retorts and remarks, there were a few too many.

Finally some of the CGI was a bit ropey. The tongue attack in The Hungry Earth didn’t quite cut it for me. It looked far too blatantly digital and way too long to be plausible. I couldn’t help feeling that a practical effect would have worked better. However the similar attack in Cold Blood came off pretty well. And there was another rough spot in the effects work in the first part too – when the Silurian shield blocked out the light. Here though, it was more the way it was presented; like in Vampires in Venice the lighting in the preceding scenes and the effects shots we were shown quite didn’t match up smoothly. Rather than having expanding black spots sprouting over the force field, we should have just had the dome slowly and evenly darkening.

I know that a certain amount of dodgy effects are inevitable in television sci-fi, particularly in Doctor Who which needs to do a lot more than the average telefantasy series requiring fresh sets, costumes, monsters and effects nearly every episode. But on balance, so far this series has done far better in not overextending its reach than it did in the RTD days, and this story is a good a example of that – yes, there may be the odd moments where you can see the money and time running out but they are minor niggles rather major annoyances.

All in all though, all of the above are small criticisms and the story had more than enough highlights to make up for them. To start with, although this adventure is set in 2020, there was a delightful dollop of 1970 in the proceedings as Chibnall has included numerous nods to the Pertwee era. Obviously we have the return of the Silurians, but also we have drilling to the earth’s core (Inferno), a Welsh village (The Green Death), a force field preventing escape (The Daemons) and even a creeping bodily infection (The Silurians and The Green Death) – all that was missing was an appearance by UNIT.

And Chibnall nicely captures the feels of those Third Doctor days too, in both atmosphere and by having the plot hinge on properly explored moral dilemmas. In fact the story was so redolent of the 1970s, I was concerned that the second part would see a straight retread of the original Silurians story. As it turned out though, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood worked beautifully as a sequel to their previous outings yet was still stand alone enough for the causal viewer. While some viewers may have felt a little let down there wasn’t a massive kick off in the second part, I personally applaud the decision to keep the story focused the individuals, with fears for family and paranoia mirrored in the two races. The Silurians have never been just another race of homicidal maniacs and it was great to see a conflict with humanity filled with shades of grey.

And speaking of which, Chibnall’s epic continues to build the Eleventh Doctor’s character – rather than the Lonely God know it all, this series is showing us a Doctor who is more fallible, who does make mistakes and isn’t nearly as sure of himself as the Tenth, which is all for the better. Similarly it was good to see humanity messing up for a change and the Doctor being disappointed rather glowing with pride. As well as delivering all kinds of sci-fi eye candy and action, this story had great emotional weight too, with satisfying consequences and pay offs for all the characters. And while I would have liked to have seen more exploration in some areas, but there is a limit on the running time after all and I’ll happily trade off a little depth for the well rounded story arcs we got for all the cast.

To pick up on some concerns from previous stories, I did actually finally buy the Rory/Amy relationship in this story. Although they only had a few short scenes together, the relationship did click with me this time round and it was also good see Rory proving himself to capable adventurer rather than just a the bumbling comic relief. All of which made Rory’s death all the more poignant. Now I never expected him to stick around; previous form (Adam, Captain Jack, Mickey) suggested he’d have a couple of travels then leave the TARDIS but I didn’t expect them to kill off, never mind erase him from time completely!

And while it seemed a little too in keeping with the RTD period to have a third person onboard just for a couple of stories, it was so much better handled here. Plus it is actually integrated into the series’ story arc; indeed the whole relationship triangle plot line actually means something in the ongoing narrative of this series rather than just having been thrown in to provide the odd bit of emotional content. What I am really enjoying about this Moffat season, is that there is a strong continuity between the stories; there are proper consequences to whatever happens in any particular episode, and previous events are built on in subsequent instalments.

And I particularly like that even when a story concludes, we are often still getting a cliff-hanger – and by the Hand of Omega Cold Blood has a classic! The whole Cracks business is building up nicely to a highly intriguing series finale. Given this series’ proclivity to do the unexpected, I really wouldn’t be bet on Rory being resurrected at the series end either.

And don’t think Moffat and co. won’t trash the TARDIS either. It’s been done before - the Time Lords effectively broke it when they exiled the Third Doctor to earth, and in the BBC range of Eighth Doctor novels, the TARDIS got such a pasting it took a century to repair itself. We could be getting a stranded Doctor story arc for Matt Smith’s second season, although I’d put my money on Moffat doing something far more mental than just dusting off the old exile routine…

But getting back to the latest Silurian outing, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood was a great slice of Doctor Who; Chris Chibnall neatly blended the flavours and themes of classic series with the stylistic and dramatic sensibilities of new Who which resulted in an adventure that was packed with intelligence and fun in equal measure. And while it may not be the strongest story of the season, there was something for everyone to enjoy in this one.

THE REGENERATION GAME (Round 2) - Of Clowns & Dandies

Right folks, it’s the start of another two parter this week, and as I’m sticking with my policy of not reviewing multi episode stories until they are complete, that can only mean one thing… Yes, it’s time for… THE REGENERATION GAME – Round Two

Now then, where were we? Ah, yes – in our attempt to catalogue the many faces of the Doctor, last time we had ascertained that the First Doctor’s era yields up three actors in the role and confusingly two incarnations (see Round One for details on that apparent paradox). So then, let's travel back to the dying moments of The Tenth Planet, and just imagine the the original viewers' shock and surprise when dear old William Hartnell’s features began to shift and blur, transforming into…


THE SECOND DOCTOR



Played by Patrick Troughton, the second incarnation of our favourite Time Lord was a younger man, though still no spring chicken. Now this Doctor is far more like his later versions – the slightly dotty sometimes grumpy grandfather figure has been replaced with an impish fellow whose clowning masks a ferocious intellect and a crusading morality.

The First Doctor was a very traditional sort of hero; a wise old man figure who wouldn’t be out of place next to Victorian heroes like Professor Challenger. But the Second Doctor, whether through accident or design, turned out to be cut from more contemporary cloth. With his Beatles moptop hair and scruffy clothes, Troughton’s Doctor would have blended in well with the beatniks and proto-hippies of 1966. And his delight in causing chaos for authority figures, his constant ribbing of the pompous and powerful, and his love of freedom show that this Doctor was reflecting the social revolutions that were in the air at the time as well as the clouds of pot smoke and incense.

And in the production office, change was also afoot; the Second Doctor’s era sees the show refine its core elements, bringing the format closer to the show as we now know it. The team dynamic the series started with has now receded, and the stories are firmly focused on the Doctor as the hero proper. The subgenre of historical stories comes to an end in Troughton’s early adventures with The Highlanders and monsters become the order of the day. Indeed it is in the three Troughton series, with their moody shadows and the establishment of the ‘base under siege’ trope, that Doctor Who first gained its reputation as a terrifyier of children; earning the repuation of being the show you watched from behind the sofa. And finally, it is during Troughton’s reign that the sonic screwdriver first makes an appearance.

And Troughton’s portrayal of the Doctor has been equally influential; new boy Matt Smith cites the Second Doctor as a big influence on his conception of the role, and he's not the first. Indeed, Troughton would appear to be the actors’ favourite Doctor and it is easy to see why. His version of the Doctor masterfully blends together all the elements we have come to expect from our Time Lord hero – the eccentric humour, the warm heart, the scientific genius and the passionate righting of wrongs. It’s just a shame that many of his performances we can only hear now.

For those of you who don’t know, unfortunately many episodes of the First and Doctor’s stories are now missing, and probably lost forever. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, many programs in the BBC archives were wiped so the tapes could be reused, and to cut storage costs. Much was lost, and infamously among the culls were many episodes from early Doctor Who. In some cases, whole stories vanished and others were left missing a several parts.

Needless to say that many have seen this as terrible short-sightedness on the part of the BBC, but in fairness you have to remember that at the time, it was quite rare to programs to be repeated. I know that sounds astonishing now, but it is only in the early ’80s that repeating shows became common practice as a cheap means of filling airtime - previously programs were only usually repeated if they were remarkably popular. And it was only into the latter half of the ‘80s that the closely entwined trends of nostalgia and cult emerged as cultural forces.

Plus, back when they were wiping the tapes, no one had foreseen the rise of the home video recorder, let alone the future market of people buying their own copies of television shows and films. So as maddening as it is, we shouldn’t judge the BBC too harshly – yes, it was a horrendous mistake but at the time when the decisions were made they were not simply being stupid.

However, the BBC did retain complete recordings of all the audio track of all the episodes and numerous telesnaps - photos printed from the video. So at least we can listen to the missing adventures, which the BBC has released on CD with added narration, usually supplied by one of the cast, to fill in details the audio is missing. Also using the telesnaps and various publicity stills, fans have reconstructed missing episodes on video. For the DVD releases, the BBC has released a three disc set Lost in Time which collects together all remaining episodes of the missing stories plus any other surviving clips. And for the release of Cybermen classic The Invasion, the BBC hired Cosgrove Hall to create animated versions of that story’s missing two installments. It was an experiment which actually worked out very well but sadly doesn’t look likely to be repeated due to the expense *sigh*.

But enough of this lamenting Video Tapes Past and back to the Second Doctor. Interestingly, the term ‘regeneration’ is not used at any point in the switch over between Hartnell and Troughton. The new Doctor also doesn’t state that this is an ability of his people, he simply says it’s a process related to the TARDIS leaving us still rather in the dark. Remember at this stage, we don’t know he is a Time Lord and the script doesn’t deliver any rationale other than the change is somehow related to the Doctor being an alien. It’s only much later in the show’s history that the words ‘regeneration’ and ‘incarnation’ enter the lore.

On screen, the transforming process is dubbed ‘a renewal’, and this omission of the usual ‘r’ word has led to an interesting theory - as this isn’t called regeneration formally, perhaps this is not actually a new incarnation of the Doctor but a younger version of Hartnell. Yes, I know there are significant physical differences between the two men, but as the new Doctor is markedly more youthful, the audience of the day could well have interpreted the change as a rejuvenation rather than a metamorphosis. Remember that back then they wouldn’t necessarily expect two actors playing the same role at different ages to closely resemble each other as much has we do, mainly due to the huge advances in make-up between now and then.

Now it’s an intriguing notion that what we consider to be the Second Doctor is actually a younger version of the original, First Doctor 1.2 (or 1.3 counting Cushing)as it were. But in the light of what we now know, and more tellingly the interaction between the First and Second Doctors in the team-up stories of The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors it seems clear that this is not the case, despite what it may have looked like at the time.

As for the Doctor’s secrecy on the process, we can easily rationalise in the context of the character’s history. When we get to The War Games, Troughton’s finale, we finally learn something of his background. We discover he is a Time Lord, and more to the point he’s been on the run from them after ‘borrowing’ his TARDIS. Furthermore we discover that he began his travels to escape the boredom of Time Lord society and consequently when he feels he must contact them to sort out the temporal mess caused by the War Lords, he is put on trial for breaking their cardinal laws of not inferring in history or the affairs of other races.

Hence throughout his First and Second incarnations, he never even dares mention them because he is well aware of he is breaking these laws. Being almost omnipotent beings whose society revolves around observing and recording all time, you can see that it would be a big threat to the Doctor’s continued freedom if people throughout time and space were chattering about that funny Time Lord and his blue box who turned up and sorted everything out.

So naturally he wouldn’t explain his ability to regenerate for the same reasons. And also we can rationalise the fact that he gives his companions Ben and Polly no hint that he is going to regenerate as he isn’t sure himself he can while away from his home world. Hence his remark about the TARDIS being part of the process – and apparently it does play a significant part in the regeneration, as most Doctor’s on their last legs try to make it back to the console room, but more on this later.

Quick Theory Time - the First Doctor sported a blue stoned ring, which he valued highly and seemed to possess some mysterious powers. However the Second Doctor quickly ditches it without a second thought. So possibly, was the ring a reservoir of some kind of Time Lord power – either the artron energy that drives the TARDIS or the bio-energy released in the regeneration process? And so after the regeneration, the ring's reserves were completely depleted and therefore now worthless?

However the closing episodes of The War Games does clear up another element of the lore. They definitively reveal the origin of the TARIDS; contrary to the hints we recieved in the preceding six series, it turns out that he is not the inventor of the TARDIS, and in fact he *ahem* borrowed it. And so extending our line of logic a little further, it makes sense that in the past he has allowed his companions to believe he was its creator; no doubt partly so they don’t think they are travelling with a thief but mainly to avoid awkward questions about his background. (And to look behind the curtain for a moment, we should note that this story originally aired in 1969, a good three years after the last AARU big screen adaption hence in the films the Cushing Doctor is the inventor of his TARDIS.)

And all this caution and secrecy over his origins is more than justified when we consider the punishment for meddling in history the Time Lords mete out – he's stripped of his knowledge of time travel, exiled to Earth, and most seriously, forced to regenerate. Now when you remember that later stories introduced the rule that Time Lords can only regenerate twelve times, being forced to give up an incarnation prematurely is a very severe sentence.

However there is a certain fuzziness over the transformation from Troughton to Pertwee. Like The Tenth Planet, The War Games doesn’t refer to the process as regeneration. What actually happens is that when the Doctor protests being exiled to Earth, seemingly spouting the first objection that come to mind he complains that they can’t maroon him there as ‘people known me there’ and hence the Timelords rule that his appearance will be changed and there is actualy no mention of the 'r' word again.

Now from a production point of view, the Time Lords' sentence was a great device to allow the lead actor to be changed once more. But it is interesting to note that even at this stage the show’s mythology still hadn’t developed the concept of regeneration as we know it; while The Tenth Planet establishes that the Doctor can regenerate but there’s no hint that he can do this more than once. It is surprising though that when Troughton announced he wanted to leave the role, the production team didn’t leap to the logic assumption and just having him mortally injured and regenerate a second time.

Now while we could assume that the script writers simply didn't want to pull the same trick twice, we must also consider why The War Games introduces us to the Time Lords in the first place. At this handover of the sonic screwdriver, they weren’t just replacing the Doctor but essentially doing a soft reboot of the series as a whole. And the Time Lords’ sentence is the plot mechanism not just to recast the lead role but to explain the coming changes in the format…


THE THIRD DOCTOR



While the move into the Troughton era saw Doctor Who gradually developing the show’s templates, going into the Pertwee years saw the show practically regenerating like the Doctor himself. Firstly when Who returned in 1970 it was now in colour but there were further changes were in the format and style of the show. The Doctor was now earthbound, and bar the occasional off world adventure (usually a mission from the Time Lords or the Doctor briefly getting his TARDIS to work), was fending off various sci-fi threats to the world. Now working for UNIT as their scientific advisor, the show absorbed many of the tropes of the late 60s/early ‘70s spy boom, and consequently the Pertwee era closely resemebles the ITC action serials of the day.

The Doctor gains a new arch enemy, one that is a criminal mastermind rather an another aggressive alien race, the Master and it is here that the sonic screwdriver really comes into its own. During the Troughton years, it was becoming an iconic prop associated with the character like Sherlock Holmes’ magnifying glass, but in the Pertwee era it became the all singing, all dancing gadget du jour, acquiring a extra functions as and when the script required (though without ever turning into the magic wand of RTD new Who).

While still very much the same eccentric scientist, the Third Doctor also boasted a raft of new skills for the changing times and milieu. The Doctor has become a dashing man of action; the closest the character as ever got to being a two-fisted tough guy. This Doctor is handy in fight, karate chopping bad guys left, right and centre thanks to his Venusian Aikido and rather being chased down corridors he’s far more likely to be jumping onto the nearest vehicle and doing some hot pursuit of his own. Hence in this period, the show acquired its own dedicated stunt team – ‘Action by HAVOC’ as the credits proudly proclaimed.

The Third Doctor’s outfits see him more in sync with the heroes of the day too; he’s as sharp as dresser as Steed from The Avengers, Number 6 from The Prisoner and Jason King from Department S. But also his wardrobe reflects the groovy threads of the times, the frock coats and capes mirroring the Victorian and Edwardian fashions popularised by Swinging London emporiums like Granny Takes a Trip. Indeed The Third Doctor is one of the only two men on the planet who can look good in a ruffle fronted shirt – and the other is Jimi Hendrix.

Weirdly though, the Third Doctor’s hip dress sense was entirely accidental. When Jon Pertwee landed the role, some publicity shoots for the Radio Times were organised. At the first Pertwee was wearing an ordinary suit (click here to see a pic from this shoot) and had him arsing about with a Yeti, but for the second he raided the family dressing box (the Pertwees had had show biz in the blood for several generations) and assembled the now familiar frock coat, frilly shirt and cape ensemble. Now, Pertwee himself expected a slapped wrist from the production office for posing for the press in such ridiculous garb, but they actually loved it and it helped the writers shape the new incarnation’s character as a gentlemen adventurer.

This Doctor was also more forthright in character as well as action. For example, now he has no qualms about revealing his alien nature, indeed where once he never dared to breathe a word about the Time Lords now he rarely shuts up about them. Presumably now the Time Lords know where he is there is no need for the tight lipped approach of his previous incarnations. Admittedly when he speaks of them now, it’s usually to complain about them taking away his powers to travel time and space but there is also a shift in his attitudes; now he openly declares himself to belong to that race of ‘galactic ticket inspectors’ and is very quick to flaunt his advanced alien nature to the earthlings. Whereas the Second Doctor was happy to play the clown in order to disguise the fact that he was the smartest guy in the room, the Third will leave you in doubt about his vast intellect and superior knowledge.

And the Doctor is now more biologically alien too – it is in his first outing (Spearhead From Space) that we first learn that Time Lords possess two hearts. And this little titbit of lore does cause a bit of a continuity problem as previously the First was subject to medical examinations that didn’t turn up an unexpected second heart. Fan speculation has suggested that Time Lords gain a second heart during their first regeneration, but as the Second was also been subject to doctor’s tests which also didn’t reveal anything non-human in his physiognomy, this cannot be the case.

Now the best explanation for this anomaly I’ve found comes from the excellent About Time series of episode guides by Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles – which I heartily endorse tracking down if you are enjoying these rambles on the show. In Volume 2, which covers the Second Doctor’s era, there is an essay which explores this conundrum and the learned gentlemen conclude that logically the Doctor gets his second heart in the post-trial forced regeneration. Furthermore they theorise from what is said in later stories that all Time Lords are in fact born with two hearts and the Doctor’s atrophied and/or stopped working when he fled Gallifrey. The basis for this coming from material in the novel ranges that suggest that a Time Lord’s second heart serves as a link to their home world, and so the second heart stopped functioning when he fled Gallifrey in the same way that his telepathic link with the Time Lords was severed (as mentioned in the Tom Baker story The Invisible Enemy). Hence it is only after he is reunited with his people and the second heart has been renewed that we get to hear about it.

Now while still on the continuity tip, the Third Doctor’s run introduces some other key elements. Although we had met the Time Lords in The War Games and heard much about them from the Third Doctor, it is not until his last series, in The Time Warrior, that we actually learn their planet is called Gallifrey - which is somewhat unusual as we’d had a return trip to the Time Lord’s home world in the previous season’s The Three Doctors.

However the really major additions to the lore come in Pertwee’s swansong Planet of the Spiders. For it is here that we finally get a change of Doctors that is clearly and explicitly labelled regeneration – thank Rassilion! It’s incredible really that it took the show a whopping ELEVEN series to get here. However even here, although the script tels us that regeneration is one of the extraordinary abilities of the Time Lords, it isn't clear whether this is a natural ability or a proces they have created as the dying Third Doctor needs the psychic help of his fellow Time Lord (and former mentor) Kanpo to get the cooking started.

So then regarding the questions we started this series of articles with - the number of Doctors who have appeared on screen and how many actors have played him – these next two television Doctors are fairly clear cut compared the multiple bodied First. Arguably you could claim that there is another actor in the Pertwee role, as being the man of action he often was being played by a stunt double, usually Terry Walsh of Havoc. However stunt doubles don’t really count in my book.

So let’s have a look at the scores on the doors…

So far we have 4 versions of the Doctor, comprising of 3 incarnations and one alternate universe Doc, and are now up to a whopping 5 actors in the role.

Next time on THE REGENERATION GAME - What do you mean? Hartnell wasn't the first?!?

Didn't he do well!

LATE NIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE

Cinema and television have developed a curious relationship which over the years has blossomed into a strange form of sibling rivalry. The pair are repeatedly waging war for the hearts and minds of viewers; whenever annoying little brother TV starts acting up and getting all the attention, Cinema is quick to cry “it’s not fair!” and then hits him over the head with a pair of 3d specs when Mother’s not looking. However like the best squabbling brothers, should Cousin Radio or Uncle Theatre proclaim them both to be vapid idiots, they will rapidly form a united front. And when it comes to the new arrival in the Media Family, little Baby Internet, the pair stick together so tightly you couldn’t squeeze a post card between ‘em…

But in recent years, the dynamics of their relationship has started to alter significantly. After their initial bickering in the ‘50s when the cathode ray tube started making eyes at the silver screen’s audience, there was a long period of almost détente. In the following decades, where everyone knew whose toys were whose: TV could show movies after a set period of years had elapsed and this arrangement worked well – the movie studios got cash for old flicks and the networks go audience grabbing movie premieres. But then in 1980’s TV got pally with a snotty little kid from next door called Video…

Now at first, Hollywood saw this new comer as just another dirty trick in the audience wars from television. But after a time, it became clear that the new kid was just a big thorn in the side to television networks as it was to cinema. For while the theatre chains may have start bringing in more screens, lower prices and suffer all the technical palaver of a 3D revival, the studios were coining it in from video rentals and too a lesser extent sales. Whereas the television premiere of a movie was no longer quite the big event it used to be, and reruns of old films were not longer picking up the audiences as they used now Hollywood’s back catalogue was increasingly being released on video. However the limitations of the video format meant that movies on TV still had an audience as television could deliver far superior picture quality and sound than your average rental cassette. Plus the advent of cable and satellite channels ensured movies would get to the old goggle-box just as quickly as they hit the rental stores.

However little did anyone realise that the snot-nosed brat would grow up and spawn DVD and home cinema – a new generation that has well and truly put the wind up both Cinema and TV. Renting videos was a popular past-time – a trip to ye olde video shop was a staple of the weekend entertainment for everyone growing up in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s – however sales of movies on video was always more modest. However with the advent of films on shiny CD sized discs, suddenly we all went mental for building our own film libraries – alleged in just their first few years in the shops, DVD sales topped the amount of pre-recorded videos bought ever.

And while the film studios and theatre are rushing back to 3D to save box office takings and hastily looking to upgrade older venues, at the end of the day, despite all the carping the cinema will survive and continue to do what it always has done with very little actual change. Even in the face of the coming brave new digital world, which the internet is merely the embryonic stage of, the movies will continue thanks to their ace in the hole – bloody gigantic screens. And until we all live in a decadent society where we all dwell in mansions, the appeal of seeing something yards high will always get bums on seats.

But for TV, it’s a different story; these days television is largely turning away from movie screenings to win big audiences. They will still bother to acquire blockbuster titles to wheel out for the holidays, but increasingly for peak viewing times such as Christmas they are looking to reap the really big ratings with a reality TV final or a special episode of a flagship series. Increasingly move showing are just filler rather than the rating magnet in a schedule. After all, in world where you can pick up just about any movie reasonably cheaply on disc, and soon with a mere click of a mouse, there’s no need for television to be screening movies anymore.

The upside of all of this is that the quality of TV shows is undoubtedly rising; no more do television series look like the poor country cousins of cinema outings. But aside from smarting up their act in the production values department, we are seeing something of a renaissance in television drama with hosts of interesting new shows flourishing on both sides of the Atlantic.

But there is a serious downside to all of this. These days we take for granted the on demand access we enjoy to cinema’s past. However before the VCR appeared, it was a very different story. If you didn’t see a movie at the theatre that was it; it was gone and unless there was a re-release to theatres or it appeared at a film festival, the only chance you had of seeing it again was a television screening.

All of which I know it sounds like utter insanity now, in a world where you can buy Avatar on disc even though it’s still showing in some theatres. And make no mistake, I’m far happier living a world where I can revisit obscure classics like Carnival of Souls or Here We Go Around The Mulberry Bush anytime I like, rather having to sacrifice black cats to the dark gods of TV scheduling in the vain hope of a rare screening in the dead of night.

But, it has to be said there was a kind of magic to those pre-video days. Every week you’d scan the TV listings, paying meticulous attention into the afternoons and late night slots where many an old gem was tucked away, looking out for particular titles to appear in the schedules. And then having swept the lists for showing of those movies you were dying to see, you’d cross reference any film showing on the idiot lantern that week with your reference books, making sure you weren’t going to miss some previously unheard of treat. Then finally often you’d end up watching any movie that was on, as it was our only chance of seeing at all.

Bah, you kids have it easy these days! And get off my lawn!

But possibly pointless nostalgia for those long ago times when it was a lot harder to be a film fan aside, I do have a serious concern about living in the Magic Land of On Demand. And that is, with the option to watch anything you fancy, at any time, budding film buffs are far less likely to stumble across old classics and obscure curios, the way us old gits did.

Here in the UK the venerable BBC, and to lesser extent Channel 4, used to do a sterling job in putting together whole seasons of themed movies. Now around the turn of millennium, note just before the DVD effect really hit the film/TV relationship, Channel 4 decided to flush intelligent programming down the pan and set about devolving into a station devoted to bloody Big Brother and endless repeats of soddin’ Friends. But also, sadly the showings of vintage films began to disappear from the Beeb throughout the Noughties too. And in this case, the decline in film season on the BBC seemed to operate in tandem with us all building film archives in our own living rooms. And now none of the major networks are doing much at all to introduce viewers to cinema history anymore.

And judging from my experiences channel surfing while on trips to the USA, over the pond the situation is no better either. Even with the hundreds of channels available to viewers on both sides of the Atlantic, you’re hard pressed to find much movie-wise that wasn’t made in the last ten years.

All of which is a bit of shame, particularly as the BBC is one of the few networks that doesn’t screen adverts during its programs – an ideal arrangement for film buffs who don’t want to see a director’s vision buggered up with vapid tosh about margarine. And while I don’t miss the days when you had to stay up half the night just to catch a rerun of an old AIP flick before it was cast back into viewing oblivion, the on demand world is robbing us of the delights of stumbling across an old gem you’ve never heard of by chance. While I grant that you may discover some vintage flick occasionally in the morass of cable or satellite, such token and random showings just don’t really compare with a properly scheduled season of movies on one of the major channels i.e. where a wide general audience will discover them.

Now I cut my film buff teeth on the seasons of late night horror films the BBC used to run on Saturday nights throughout the ‘70s and early ‘80s - I have written before of the influence of these double features. And it is quite telling that when I started this reviewing lark, my first point of call was the old Universal horrors I’d enjoyed so much as a child, and indeed my very first review mentioned these BBC2 horror seasons.

I came to these films purely for the monsters and scares, which indeed they did deliver. But I came away with far more – encountering classic directors diverse as Robert Wise and George Romero, intelligent producers like Val Lewton, effects wizards like Roy Ashton and Phil Leakey, and a host of wonderful performers from yesteryear too numerous to mention. Moreover I learned that film had a history to study, that who was directing and what studio produce the movie was a better indicator of quality than who starred in it, and how to appreciate movies made with an entirely different visual grammar to that I was used to.

As I’ve said before horror is a broad church and when you get into the full historical spread of the genre it leads you out of the ghetto of B movies into green and pleasant lands of cinema as an art form. In this sense, horror is a gateway drug to art house, foreign film, and silent cinema, not to mention opening doors to literature too. Although traditionally derided by mainstream critics, increasingly there are many in the business of cinema, both film makers and reviewers, who got the movie bug via classic shockers and monster flicks.

Hence I can’t help feeling that the BBC is letting down budding film fans. Horror often has a big appeal to the young and so re-airing some of the old masters would be an ideal way to get people interested in films on TV again. And while I fully appreciate that a season of obscure French nouvelle vague flicks would most likely be ratings death, I’m sure that a season of classic horrors could find a reasonable audience and fire the imaginations of a new generation.

And I am not alone as there is a campaign to persuade the BBC to revive the tradition of the late night double features…

The details are here at the campaign’s blog.

Plus there is a Facebook page here.

Also you can post remarks onto this thread at the Beeb’s Points of View website.

And finally, and most importantly, the petition is here for you all to sign.

And please, please, please do sign. As there is a wider issue here than just bringing the likes of Lugosi and Lee, Universal and Amicus and sundry other creatures of the night back into the public consciousness, because if this campaign is a success it’s just the first step in getting classic cinema back into the schedules properly.

For too long, TV has been stuck in a rut, rerunning the recent blockbusters we’ve all seen already either in theatres or on disc. And frankly as the reach of the on demand world grows larger there is increasingly little future in this approach. But since the turn of the century, we’ve seen a boom in festival events and conventions – contrary to the predictions that the digital age would turn us all into web potatoes, it seems like the internet has prompted more people tha never before to meet up and host events for like minded individuals.

And so I believe there is a market and an audience just waiting to be discovered if channels like the BBC, who wish to uphold such Reithian values of informing and entertaining, were to start and presenting seasons of vintage movies as film festivals for your living room. Indeed rather than the endless screening of the box office big guns we already have in our DVD collections anyway, such virtual cinema festivals could well be the real future for film on television.