by Jeff Crook / Paul Kane / Scott Harrison / Alasdair Stuart
The Return
Directed by Asif Kapadia
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter O’Brien, Sam Shephard
Joanna Mills ( Gellar) is a travelling saleswoman for a trucking firm with a dark past tied to her childhood in Texas. Repeated visions of a man in overalls, the memory of a childhood car crash and a propensity for self harm have caused her to shut herself off, buried in the simple repetition of making sales and moving on. Until, she finally decides to return to Texas, face her past and discover the truth.Gellar has been roundly criticised and in some cases justifiably for being a one note actress but here she genuinely connects with the material for the first time since, arguably, Cruel Intentions. Joanna is a woman completely alone and completely mistrusting of everything and everyone and a remarkably difficult role to play as a result. However, Gellar nails it, bringing exactly the right combination of caution and determination to the role to make her sympathetic and interesting. It’s a remarkably somber performance but the role demands it and the end result is that Gellar becomes the glue that holds the movie together.Her search for meaning, and gradual acceptance of the increasingly bizarre events Texas throws at her is slow paced but has a genuine air of mystery that few films of this type achieve. The first time we see Joanna slip back into the past is a perfect example of this as as she walks into the toilet at a night club and out across the car park of a bar that cannot possibly be there. Joanna’s world is malleable, mercurial and increasingly dangerous. This sense of menace is only increased by the other cast members with J.C. Mckenzie as Griff, a local mechanic and Peter O’Brien as Terry Stahl, a man Joanna knows but has never met being the stand outs. The moment where we find out her exact connection to Terry is particularly good as countless little details from earlier in the film suddenly take on a whole new meaning. Equally good is Sam Sherpard as Joanna’s father Ed, a genuinely loving, caring parent whose inability to deal with Joanna’s impossible problems stems not from neglect but from simply not understanding them. Shepard is an effortless actor and although he has precious little screen time here does a typically excellent job. Adam Scott also manages to register in his brief appearance as Kurt, Joanna’s abusive ex-boyfriend and rival at work, creating a character that’s plausible, seemingly normal and intensely sinister.What really makes the film sing however, is the cinematography. The flat, blank expanses of Texas that Joanna’s work takes her to are a landscape too large for any one person to cope with and only serve to emphasise how small and fragile she is. The film’s colour palette only helps this, with every scene shot through with wintery greys and blues to create an atmosphere of loss and distance. Director Asiff Kapadia made his name on the stunning The Warrior and along with his cinematography team he brings the same sense of small people caught in a vast landscape to this film. There’s something genuinely different about much of The Return and the direction, together with the cast, turns what could have been a fairly standard supernatural story into something more.Which isn’t to say the movie’s perfect. The tone is so uniformly somber that there’s precious little light relief and the eventual reveal, whilst effective is hampered by the film not so much ending as coming to a juddering halt. However, if you can get past those problems then there’s a lot to enjoy here, from the intelligent direction to Gellar turning in a performance which, in a few years, will be re-ealuated as one of her best.
Gods and Monsters – The Second Doctor: 1966-69
By Scott Harrison
By late 1964, with the Daleks having only appeared in two complete stories on Doctor Who (with a third adventure already planned for later in the season) Dalekmania was already sweeping across the nation. The metal-shelled mutants from the planet Skaro were becoming something of a cultural icon and by now it was nigh on impossible to travel any great distance without seeing that familiar pepper pot image staring back at you from even the most mundane of items; cereal packets, sweet wrappers, even bubble gum cards. A wide variety of toys, games and books were beginning to appear on high street shelves from wind-up models to kites, spinning tops to colour-in kits and, most importantly, the first of Dalek creator Terry Nation’s Dalek Annuals.
American producers Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg, inspired by their rivals Hammer Films who were at the time enjoying big business with their summer Pirate family films, were eager to cash in on this success and casting around realised that the Daleks were incredibly popular, particularly with the younger audience. Never having been seen in colour or on the big screen Subotsky and Rosenberg saw the Daleks as a lucrative opportunity and quickly secured the rights for a motion picture deal. Using the original seven-part Dalek story as its source material Subotsky and Rosenberg began preparations on the screenplay. By this time writer and creator Terry Nation was already committed to several projects so was unable to attend script meetings, instead he approached Doctor Who’s original Story Editor David Whittaker (who by this time had moved on from the television series) to oversee the project in his absence. Nation had great respect for Whittaker and trusted him to adapt his original scripts for the screen. Before production began, however, Subotsky extensively rewrote the screenplay and ultimately Whittaker’s name was dropped from the onscreen credits.
Although largely remaining faithful to the original television story the film differed wildly in one important aspect – the characters. On television the main character was known simply as The Doctor (a common misconception amongst the British public, even to this day, is that his full title is Doctor Who) an alien from a distant planet in Earth’s future and an exile from his own kind. The film, entitled simply Dr.Who and The Daleks, presented a very different character, however, relying heavily on that old eccentric British inventor archetype. The Doctor of this film is a loveable, gentle, kindly old so-and-so, with a mischievous glint in his eye and a warm, friendly smile for both human and green-skinned Thal alike. Among his many inventions is a space/time machine built inside an old Police Box, only recently completed. The film begins as he is about to take it out for a test flight. In the television series his companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are school teachers at his granddaughter Susan’s school. Again many changes have been made for the film version; Susan is still his granddaughter but so too is Barbara (neither of whom are given surnames onscreen – Who presumably!) and Ian Chesterton, now no longer a school teacher, has been given the role of Barbara’s current beau, a hapless buffoon who could give Norman Wisdom a run for his money. For all it’s faults (and there are many) the film did incredibly well at the box office and, not surprisingly a sequel was quickly planned. Arriving in cinemas a year later Dalek: Invasion Earth 2150AD again looked to the original television series for it’s inspiration, this time adapting Nation’s second Dalek serial Dalek Invasion of Earth. Although far superior to the first film, Dalek: Invasion Earth 2150AD failed to perform as well at the box office as it’s predecessor and, although a third film was discussed based on Nation’s third Dalek serial The Chase, the plan was eventually scrapped and neither Dalek nor Doctor appeared on the big screen again.
In November of 1966 television viewers were still reeling from the dramatic upheaval a certain Saturday tea-time television series had recently undergone. Just three stories into its fourth season actor William Hartnell had bowed out to be replaced by an equally familiar face from television and cinema; Patrick Troughton. To help ease this transition between lead actors (something that, up until now, was virtually unheard of) the production team enlisted the help of the Doctors oldest and much loved enemies – the Daleks! Realising that it would be extremely difficult, not to mention damaging to the programme, to cast an actor who could imitate Hartnell’s unique portrayal of the character, producer Innes Lloyd decided that a completely new Doctor should be created, a complete contrast to the character that had already been established in the previous three seasons.
In contrast to Hartnell’s curmudgeonly old ‘grandfather’ figure this new Doctor would be much younger, both in appearance and
attitude, and take a much more active (not to mention a more physical) role in his weekly adventures. Often described by series creator Sydney Newman as being the ultimate “Cosmic Hobo” the character of the Second Doctor was pitched initially as the ‘kindly uncle’, a distilled version of all the First Doctor’s ‘better’ qualities. Even Troughton’s costume was an exaggerated take on that worn by his predecessor; oversized black frock coat, comically large bowtie and baggy checked trousers. This new Doctor would be a deliberate departure from the ‘anti-hero’ figure that had been established in the programmes first three years, much less inclined to take a back seat while his companions blundered ahead into unknown dangers, and be a lot more headstrong, forthright and confrontational in his dealings with the evil forces he encountered - something that would be carried over, to an even greater degree, in future incarnations.
By early 1967 writer Terry Nation had taken the decision to withdraw his metal creations from the programme in an attempt to launch their own weekly series on the U.S. networks. The series would have followed the exploits of the intrepid Space Security Service (seen in 1965’s The Daleks’ Masterplan) as they struggled valiantly against the growing Dalek menace. Although a pilot script was completed by Nation and several parties were approached with the idea the networks soon lost interest and, ultimately, the series was never picked up. As a consequence of this the Daleks would remain absent from the remaining two seasons of Troughton’s tenure and would not reappear on the programme again for five years until the Third Doctor story Day of the Daleks in 1972.
Although often cited by fans as Doctor Who’s ‘Golden Age’ (by those who grew up with the programme before the fourth Doctor, that is) there are many who have criticised the Troughton era as being too repetitive and unimaginative with it’s scripts and, in particular, its monsters. Whether this is true or not there is no doubting, however, that seasons Four, Five and Six were arguably the most important with regards to establishing some of the programme’s most important and memorable monsters. With the show’s favourite villains now unavailable the production team decided to promote the programmes second most popular villain to the number one spot, the Cybermen. Making no less than four appearances in three years, most notably in the highly regarded stories Tomb of the Cybermen and The Invasion, both stories were instrumental in establishing the future mythology of the programme in later years. Tomb of the Cybermen saw an important step forward in Cyber history as, their home planet Mondas now destroyed, the Cybermen had established themselves on a new planet, Telos, upon which they constructed vast ‘tombs’, hibernation chambers in which their race would rest and regroup before emerging once more rejuvenated and in greater numbers to strike out against the galaxy. This story also saw the introduction of the Cyber-Controller, the monolithic, oval headed coordinator of the Cyber race, who would be seen again in the 1985 Sixth Doctor sequel Attack of the Cybermen as well as the recent Tenth Doctor two-parter Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel (albeit in his alternate Earth guise of the converted John Lumic). Shown in 1968 the mammoth eight-part epic The Invasion was originally intended as a ‘pilot’ for an idea the production team had of reformatting the show for the following season. Producer Peter Bryant believed that the programme was in danger of becoming too fantastical and silly and looked to the massively popular and important Quatermass serials of the 1950s for inspiration. The serial saw the introduction of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce and its commander Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (although the character had first been introduced in the previous season’s story Web of Fear) and followed the basic format that would become familiar to viewers over the following five years; an alien threat to the Earth is ultimately defeated by the Doctor’s scientific ingenuity and UNIT’s militaristic might. The story was deemed a success by both the production team and the audience prompting Bryant to push forward with his plans for a radical change to the show in the programme’s seventh season the following year. As well as rewriting Cyberman mythology the Troughton era saw the introduction of many Doctor Who ‘villains’ that would prove immensely popular with the viewing public prompting many repeat performances over the following years. Season five saw the introduction of the Ice Warriors, scaly, reptilian creatures from the dying planet Mars, intent on migrating from their home world in order to colonise the Earth as seen in both The Ice Warriors and The Seeds of Death – they would return again a few years later in the Third Doctor stories The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon. They were scheduled to make a fifth appearance in 1985 during the Sixth Doctor’s now infamous eighteen month hiatus, but due to pressure from certain heads of BBC programming this story, and the entire season, had to be dropped and was eventually replaced by the fourteen-part season arching story Trial of a Time Lord (more about that in a later article!).
The Macra, giant, crab-like creatures, were first seen in the 1967 story The Macra Terror, terrorising a holiday camp-like community of the future. They would not be seen again for another forty years when they made their recent triumphant return amidst the smog of New Earth in the Tenth Doctor story Gridlock. The mysterious Intelligence and it’s robotic Yeti servants were seen roaming the remote mountainside near a Tibetan monastery and lurching in the shadows of the London underground system respectively in the stories The Abominable Snowmen and Web of Fear. Although very popular at the time and considered now to be classic other monsters such as the crystalline Krotons, the face-stealing Chamelions and the malevolent weed entity each made their one and only appearance in Doctor Who to date, though this may change in future years…who knows!
Interestingly, due to there declining popularity with audiences, the Second Doctor era saw the last purely historical story on the series for a whopping sixteen years with The Highlanders, the next would be the two-part Fifth Doctor story Black Orchid in 1982.
As was the case with the First Doctor before him very little is actually revealed about the character of the Doctor during Troughton’s run. Indeed, after the shocking revelation that the Doctor possesses the ability to regenerate (replace or renew his body when it has become worn out or damaged) it is pretty much business as usual with regards to the adventures, which continues uninterrupted as it had done since the show began three years previous. It is not until the first story of Troughton’s second season, Tomb of the Cybermen, that we are finally treated to a second, somewhat startling, fact regarding the Doctor’s age. It is during a lull in the action, as the rest of the characters lie sleeping that the Doctor confessors to his rather incredulous companion, Victoria, that he is, in fact, over 450 years old. This news is made all the more fantastic due to the still recent change of the lead actor. If we had been given this news when Hartnell was still in the role it would have probably passed us by without a seconds thought, but now we were confronted by a much younger Doctor (Troughton being almost twenty years younger than Hartnell when he took over the role) and there’s no doubting that the impact of this news was far greater coming at this time! Unlike his predecessor the Second Doctor is prone to bouts of flustered confusion, childish sulking and comedic exclamations, such as “Oh my giddy aunt!” and “Oh crumbs!”, although, like the First Doctor, the child-like stubbornness and over inflated self-importance is still very much in evidence. Perhaps the most important discovery that is made about the Doctor during the Second Doctor era (in fact, during the programmes entire forty-four year run so far) comes during the final story of Troughton’s run on Doctor Who, the wonderful ten-part adventure The War Games. Facing a situation that is too far reaching and complex for him to resolve alone, the Doctor has no choice but to call on his own race, the very people he has been running away from since he first stole the old Type 40 TARDIS and began his adventures – the Time Lords! Far removed from the tedious, petty, back-stabbing political power mongers that they would become in the hands of writer/script editor Robert Holmes during the 70s these Time Lords arrive like gods to the undulating cry of the Time Winds. All powerful and all seeing
they strike terror into the hearts of all those that oppose them, they are the bringers of justice and the guardians of time. It is from this moment that we begin to see the character of the Doctor in a different light. If these are the omniscient, all powerful beings they appear to be then the Doctor is far from the funny, little, baggy-clothed clown he would have us believe. Here, at last, was the true alien nature that the Doctor has been concealing from us for all these years and in the face of such an opposing and threateningly mysterious race as this, regeneration and an infinitely prolonged life span do not seem such difficult concepts to accept any more.
When Virgin Books began releasing their Past Doctor novels in 1993/94 there was a distinct lack of regular Second Doctor novels. Writers, it seemed, were somewhat reluctant to tackle this particular incarnation. Several ‘reasons’ were passed around in the Who community, chief of these being that either it was hard to distinguish in print between the character of the Second Doctor and that of the Seventh Doctor or that due to the lack of episodes that survive from the Troughton era it was difficult for a writer to truly capture the feel and style of that particular period of the show’s history. Of the two the former explanation is the harder to believe; apart from both characters being quite diminutive and having dark hair the two are totally dissimilar in how they approach and react to a situation and how they integrate themselves into the unfolding story. When the publishing license was picked up by BBC Books three years later novels featuring the Second Doctor began to appear more frequently. In 1985, when writing the scripts for The Two Doctors, Robert Holmes formulated the idea that when the Doctor was put on trial at the end of The War Games there was a period of time when he was forced to become an agent of the Time Lords. Because of this many authors found that they had a little more scope in expanding and adapting the original Second Doctor era beyond the constraints that were imposed on those authors writing for the First Doctor. Of all the novels released by Virgin and BBC Books by far the best is The Roundheads by Mark Gatiss who proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was neither difficult to capture the character of the Second Doctor nor that of the his tenure on the programme!