The Deadly Assassin The Five Doctors |
BBC Silver Nemesis |
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| Episodes | 3 |  |
| Story No# | 154 | |
| Production Code | 7K | |
| Season | 25 | |
| Dates | Nov. 23, 1988 - Dec. 7, 1988 |
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With Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred.
Written by Kevin Clark. Script-edited by Andrew Cartmel. Directed by Chris Clough. Produced by John Nathan-Turner. |
| Synopsis: In this twenty-fifth anniversary special, we are once more forced to ask the question of just who is the Doctor? |
Silver Men by Nathan Mullins 3/11/09
This episode is supposed to be seen as the twenty-fifth annerversary special, though the fans don't seem to think so. This is mainly because some fans believe Rememberance of the Daleks did the job of using continuity well to bind the episode and the very first episode. An Unerathly Child, together well by using the familar; for instance, Coal Hill School, or the exchange of comments between Gilmore and the Doctor where 'Chunky' asks him "How do you know?" and having the seventh Doctor reply "I've been here before." However, there's something that I quite like about Silver Nemesis.
Here, Sylvester McCoy brings a sinister presence to the part, where he lurks around in Lady Peinfort's home, looking for clues as to where she got the knowlage of when the Nemesis statue was going to make its return to Earth. This is also made clear by the dim lighting, and of the darkness in the room. But that could also represent the dark side of Lady Peinforte and her character. The character of Ace is getting to the point where she's becoming mysterious, like the Doctor, where we know that both their characters get fully fleshed out towards the end of Doctor Who's last season. Ace, however, gets quite a lot to do here, seeing off a pack of Cybermen, having a good old chin wag with the Nemesis statue, and enjoying a good jamming session with the Doctor and whilst listening to Courtney Pine, before her adventures really begin to kick off. Ace shows her strength in overcoming the fear she has of the Cybermen, by blowing up their ship and destroying the Cyberleader's minions.
The Cybermen had been given an update for this story and I felt that, although they looked just the same, they were certainly given a slendid story to show their range. Their attack on the guerillas was just one of the best scenes of the whole episode. Plus, the special effects were some of the best, especially the bow, where it seemed to glow when close to both the arrow and statue. I always thought that the Cybermen being allergic to gold was one way of showing they had a weakness for something, and that was obviously why they aimed to destroy Voga, the planet of gold, in Revenge of the Cybermen.
This seventh Doctor adventure is fantastic, in my opinion anyway. I think that it's adventerous, action packed, though where at times the action slows down, it certainly picks up and the episode itself succeeds enough to get my vote. I'd rate this 10 out of 10, and because much of the episode was filmed on location, it makes for a more believable plot and one hell of an episode.
"Such things happen only in the theatre!" by Neil Clarke 3/5/10
It's been ages since I've seen Silver Nemesis, and I'm left unexpectedly torn by it. a) It's crap, contrived and confused but, b), I also found it fairly entertaining. That isn't the best you could ask of a Doctor Who story, but it's not the worst either.
Everything is immediately a bit shonky: the convenient countdown displayed in a massive font on the computer, and a pensioner shooting parrots with a bow and arrow (what?!). But, the (brief) South American-based scene is pleasingly atypical for Doctor Who, though I can't decide whether the cut from there to the seventeenth century is intriguing or alienatingly unexpected? Followed by another seachange shift to Courtney Pine playing outside a pub! What? (Also, how is this bloody November?) The eighties contemporary setting feels very cheap and uninteresting; I would have preferred to see more of the seventeenth century. These opening moments are unfortunately indicative of how choppy the story remains throughout (the random returns to Peinforte's house = very bad plot structuring!).
Basing a story around multiple parties could be interesting, but unfortunately the Nazis are totally bland. (Although, what's with de Flores' numerous costume changes in part one? What a fashion-conscious fascist! He acts like a proper tourist too, talking about the estate of "the infamous Lady Peinforte", though not in reference to the seventeenth centurywomen he'd seen earlier, because he scorns the connection!)
The Cybermen don't fare much better (though they look quite good; it's just a shame they're so turgidly shot). They receive only the most cursory backstory, too. Surely at this point, while not wanting to overdo the fan-oriented back-reference, not giving them any explanation would have been a deadly move? There may not be distracting continuity references like in Attack, but there's barely any acknowledgement that any new viewers/non-fans could be watching, either. It wouldn't take much; surely Ace'd be curious about them?
I hate the Cyberleader's hammy, melodramatic pauses and delivery. And why does he try to have Peinforte driven "in-sane," only to order her death?? Their use of a gold detector (and subsequently wet reaction), further undermines the erstwhile silver giants. The Cybermen's bumbling anorak-wearing stooges are very, very unthreatening, too (and kind of remind me of Cameron Diaz's 'special' brother in There's Something About Mary).
The initial modelwork shot of the Nemesis' comet is strangely excellent; unfortunately, it mainly looks a bit crap after that, while the Doctor and Ace's fall into the river at the exact same moment seems inexplicable because it's oh-so-choreographed that it's not even clear why they do it! It's one of those 'stunts' that's been planned to death, so there's no sense of spontaneity, or of what it was originally meant to look like they were doing.
The whole story unfortunately feels very slapdash compared to the assurance of Remembrance, or the stylistically unprecedented (but consistent!) Happiness Patrol. It also suffers from the typical eighties tendency to intercut various scenes by chopping them into tiny little segments, when they'd be more effective if given some breathing-space. This is especially unfortunate here, as we're already juggling multiple characters and locations.
Tonally, it feels very 'kiddie' too (more like season twenty-four), with stupid ideas like being able to step away from a guided tour and bump into the (unaccompanied!) Queen. Or even the idea that the Doctor thinks she'd be the very woman to help him out! Since when has he needed royalty on his side? Whimsy is one thing, but this is insultingly idiotic. I like the idea of the Doctor raiding the Queen's basement; I'm less keen on an unconvincing impersonator turning up. Also, why does the Doctor inexplicably tell the security guard at the palace that he arrived "by travelling through time and space" when they got to the royal apartments from the tourist routes?
There are lots of bizarre reactions and unfortunate dialogue like this, though bad editing plays its part (the Doctor saying, "Where did that come from?" of an arrow that shot a Cyberman several seconds before; Peinforte randomly noticing the Doctor after a long battle). One of my favourite dialogue clunkers is the line explaining Ace's new ghetto blaster: "Yes, I know I built it for you, to replace the one destroyed by the Daleks."
Essentially, Silver Nemesis squanders the intelligence of the Remembrance reboot. It's all a bit vague and pointless: there's a time-travelling sorceress, a Courtney Pine cameo, a duck, Windsor, tourists, the Queen... None of it adds up. At best, it's very, very unfocused, and desperately needs some decisive editing and tightening up.
Unexpectedly though, Peinforte and Richard are the best thing in it; they're assured and fun, and on just the right side of ham. Though she isn't a well-remembered adversary, Peinforte is really funny in her gung-ho-ness (ie, abruptly smashing the cafe window, rather than using the door). The idea of having the setting change around them during their time travel is effective, rather than showing them disappearing from the set, and reappearing on the cafe version. Although it still begs the question, why does no-one react? Does this happen a lot in Windsor? Ditto the tourists at the castle when the TARDIS arrives.
Fiona Walker's performance is effective because of her self-awareness of its hamminess. ("I shall lead! And you, follow!"; calmly taking over the hitchhiking duties; and leaning over and conspiratorially telling Mrs Remington, "All things shall soon be mine".) Her final enraged scream is very funny, too, especially because you get the impression the actress is having a ball doing it...
It does make me wonder when the Doctor last encountered Peinforte though? (It's jarring that he talks about her as if we should know about her, which could work. But doesn't.) The trouble with a new take on the Doctor - his increased manipulation of events - is that it then gets retrospectively applied to his past, which doesn't really fit. I mean, when did he set all this up? If it was just a couple of weeks back in his seventh life that isn't very 'mythic,' but that sort of behaviour isn't really true of any of the earlier Doctors (not that we've seen, anyway).
The glowing paint used for the Validium makes the Nemesis statue surprisingly effective, but I do find it quite funny how, as Silver Nemesis has such a bad reputation, something like this, which should be a big deal within Doctor Who "mythology", has never been treated as such by being referenced in books, etc, to the extent of, say, the Hand of Omega. The suggestion that the Nemesis caused various 20th century atrocities seems a bit tasteless (also, comparing Kennedy's assassination with World War I stretches things a tad, surely?).
That the statue told Peinforte "who the Doctor is" is quite fascinating, and I like that nothing is actually given away... But, at the same time, it begs the question whether they actually had any concrete revelations in mind at this point? I suppose all the talk of the Doctor's secrets is rubbish, really, because it's so contrived, especially as it compares so badly to Remembrance's gradual mystery (which actually hints at something particularly, as well as expanding on part of the character's past which we've actually seen).
There's too much moving around, with too little justification; the whole production feels cobbled together from disparate elements, with no flow or internal logic. Too much 'stuff' and too little time to do any of it justice! (Meaning that everyone ends up conveniently turning up wherever they're needed. Including much too much TARDIS travel.) The excessive time travel and flitting between locations and times would be okay if the whole story was predicated around that (as in The Chase), or if something clever came of the multiple time zones (as in Mawdryn Undead), but... no. Neither happens here.
There's an annoying sense of missed opportunity here, because an expansive, varied story like this could be unusual and interesting (and even do the anniversary slot justice); unfortunately, it's all too rushed: the concepts/scripts aren't quite good or developed enough and it all comes across as disjointed. In a way, it's ambitious (at least in concepts), but not ambitious enough, because some of these concepts could really do with pushing further. Instead, it just gets absurd when all the various parties roll up at the end, and then just stand around, waiting for a chance to speak.
It doesn't help that there isn't a simple hook like "the Cybermen invade the moon!" ("the Cybermen... and some other guys... try to get their cricket gloves on a MacGuffin artefact from ancient Gallifrey" isn't as self-contained and easily graspable).
Especially in its conclusion, it does feel like a homemade, knocked-off version of Remembrance (there's a "miscalculation" line; the shots of the Nemesis travelling toward earth; even the music's pretty much the same, though it seems even more intrusive here). There's none of that story's cohesive, mythologised approach. There's even another "give me some of that Nitro 9 you're not carrying!" line, too!
However, despite all that, as a Cyber-story at least, I find it (pleasingly) atypical, as it's a billion times more interesting/imaginative than certainly the previous four (rather than just replicating a certain "appropriate" approach). But, it's so badly executed! And, I can't believe there's so much padding in a three-parter full of ideas!
My main problem with this story though, is that the threat never feels expansive, or has any gravitas, because there are no normal, everyday points of reference; instead, we have Nazis, Cybermen, seventeenth century time-travellers, the Queen, a rich American tourist, skinheads... It's like they dared themselves not to include any "everyman" figures. There's no grounding in reality, so it's hard to care. (There isn't even much in the way of police/army/scientific presence at the site of a comet landing!) Real people are almost entirely absent from this story.
I concede that this story is different and imaginative (just unpolished), which at least makes me better disposed to it than if it were unfocused and lacking interesting ideas.
A Review by Harry O'Driscoll 18/6/10
This story is meant to celebrate Doctor Who's 25th anniversary and it is nothing less than a total flop, completely rehashing Remembrance of the Daleks and hardly making for a celebration at all.
Most of the old series were 4-part episodes so with a 3 parter you would expect things to be tighter, but in fact hardly anything happens. The Doctor and Ace just seem to run around Windsor with various parts of the nemesis statue. There are enormous bits of padding such as the stupid scene with that American and the whole neo-Nazi subplot is just there for no other reason but to take up viewing time.
The Cybermen are humiliated in this story. Once they were the next stage of humanity, efficient, emotionless killers; now they wet their tinfoil pants at the very mention of the word gold. Who seem capable of wiping out a group of neo-Nazis but are defeated by a teenager throwing gold coins at them! Worst of all is that hilarious keep-away scene with the Doctor and Ace with the bow. How are they meant to be a formidable enemy?
There are two things I do like from this story, however. One is that scene where Ace tells the Doctor she is scared, really shows another side to their relationship. The other is the scene where Lady Peinforte threatens to reveal the Doctor's secret. What a powerful scene, establishing some mystery back into the Doctor! But two scenes will never be able to compensate and I will always think how Remembrance would have made such a great celebration.
The worst miscalculation since Gallipoli by Richard Evans 16/4/11
The Gallipoli campaign was a shambolic attempt by Britain and the ANZACs to invade Turkey during the First World War. It had been badly planned and several British army commanders refused to support it. In Silver Nemesis, the Seventh Doctor - the lord of preparation - fears he may have made a terrible miscalculation (just like the warmongers did with Gallipoli).Thankfully, it all works out in the end for him. The same cannot be said of much else in the story.
Although I love all on-screen Doctor Who, I am very sensitive to anything that's out of place or imperfect. Silver Nemesis makes the horrible mistake of starting elegantly and then piling up its problems. Just take a look at the unfortunate Anton Diffring: after commanding a scene or two at the very beginning of Part One, he does not reappear until the final scene, and it quickly becomes apparent that his one-dimensional character could have easily been avoided. To add insult to injury, Parts Two and Three replay this formula, dispensing with Diffring and his underlings after scene one and until the closing minutes. Simply put, Kevin Clarke's attempt to juggle three groups of villains - the Cybermen, Lady Peinforte and the needless Nazis - was never destined to succeed, and his solution (which, now that I come to think of it, reminds me of Season 19's tendency to abandon at least one companion per story) epitomises it.
I have always thought that rule number one of a Cyberman story is that the Cybermen are portrayed as terrifying tyrants at the forefront of the action. While Rise of the Cybermen (that startling episode that gave me more than a chill) and, most notably, Tomb of the Cybermen fit this fundamental bill, Silver Nemesis fails on both counts, despite the inclusion of the telling word "Silver" in the title. Gone were the days when many a Cyberman would yell, "You will become like us!" in favour of such pathetic one-liners as "Give me the bow!", which only manage to reduce their standing in the series. The silver creatures' credibility is also hammered by their inability to shoot their targets seven times out of eight, this being a transparent device employed by Clarke to add Cyber gunfire to the story without disposing of any valuable (or otherwise) characters. Rather worryingly, only one attack force of Cybermen arrives on Earth, leaving 10,000 others hiding inertly in the vacuum of space. The revelation of these other ships has absolutely no impact whatsoever, being insufficiently (if at all) foreshadowed and then left alone for just about the whole of Part Three. Even Anton Diffring has more to do in that episode than the Cyberships, and that's saying something. (I've only just realised that the sudden appearance of a great many alien spaceships was later done much more spectacularly in Bad Wolf, the discovery of the Dalek fleet being one of the scariest Doctor Who moments of all time. The unveiling of the Cybermen themselves, punctuated by the classic exchange "What are they?" /"Cybermen", was remade in Rise of the Cybermen and Army of Ghosts much more effectively.)
Recently, I really began to appreciate that a great idea can be recycled many times in different situations, and look great in each case.Regrettably, Silver Nemesis is a total rehash of Remembrance of the Daleks, and that is unacceptable, for a lack of originality becomes incredibly apparent. Rather than displaying the two stories' many similarities in list form, I intend to just roll them off: multiple factions of villains fight each other for control of an old Gallifreyan artefact, hoping to use it for their own good; the Gallifreyan artefact is used by the Doctor to destroy his main enemies, in a plan he conceived ages ago; in order to achieve this, he makes sure the artefact falls into the "right" hands; Omega and Rassilon get name-checked or alluded to, and the Doctor evades mentioning himself as one of their group; there are appearances by royals; a major shuttle craft lands in England, carrying legions of monsters, and looking very similar in both stories; the villains take over a few humans by mind control; Ace gets to run around and bash the monsters; the villainous leader, either the Dalek Supreme or Cyber Leader, survives the massacre of its race and is itself destroyed seconds later. That's quite telling. I could now try and rewrite Silver Nemesis under the title Destiny of the Axons, in which Axos attempts to get its hands on The Eye of Harmony, but that really would be stretching the limits of credibility.
A lamentable sign of the production team's lack of attention to detail is the gold arrow (yes, that gold arrow): it embeds itself in the TARDIS door in Part Two and is clearly missing by Part Three, although it is never seen being removed, but then it magically reappears in the door in the final minutes. All credit to BBC Wales for referencing this moment more subtly, and less sloppily, in The Shakespeare Code and Gridlock.
Those two humans that the Cybermen take over mentally, and who fire upon the Doctor for no apparent reason, have something in common with the irritating American tourist in Silver Nemesis: they are completely unnecessary. Saying any more about either of them would be a waste of time.
On a much more positive note, the recurrence of this plot device to do with old Gallifreyan technology slyly indicates that the Doctor is certainly not known to anyone. The net result is a quite enthralling scene in which Lady Peinforte explicitly alludes to this; not to mention the apparently random chess set that makes several appearances in Silver Nemesis, which plays (somewhat tenuously) into The Curse of Fenric. (Needless to say, this epic piece of storytelling slaughters Silver Nemesis.) This almost redeems the whole three episodes, but it simply is not enough to detract from everything else that goes badly; it does not help that Peinforte is an embarrassingly melodramatic character who may well have worked better in a William Hartnell serial. Redemption is not a concept that applies to stinkers, and this makes for another major humiliation for Silver Nemesis. Once the hole has been dug, it has been dug permanently. Let this be a word of warning to all authors (myself included): if you're writing a dreadfully overloaded story, which is a bad idea in itself, the net result for you and your work will inevitably be negative, no matter how hard you try to throw in good material.
A Review by Jamie Beckwith 11/10/11
It's been a long while since I've seen this one as, despite being a big fan of the Seventh Doctor, I do think some of his stories are less enjoyable; this one in particular. I remember it as being pretty much codswallop. So has my opinion changed?
Well no... BUT it was nonetheless enjoyable. Positive things: the Cybermen have never looked better, the Doctor and Ace are great together, Lady Peinfort and Richard are an absolute hoot and surely contenders for their own spin-off series, and the concept of dazzling Cyber transmissions with jazz is great. There's also some great SFX with the space ship landing and the Nemesis statue.
Unfortunately, into the mix we have to acknowledge that the Cybermen are pretty crap villains and are usually used terribly in Doctor Who stories, with the exception of Tomb of the Cybermen. We've a bunch of cliched Nazis who add nothing to the plot, a non cameo by the Queen and the terrible skinheads who think Peinfort and Richard are social workers. Erm, what?!
Rewatching though did give me pause to wonder if Steve Moffat has a sneaky liking for this story? Not only does it have copious uses of time travel, with implied wibbly wobbliness (Future Ace in 1788, whoever is moving the chess pieces on the board, unless it's meant to be Fenric), but also with a curly haired woman who knows the Doctor's secrets and a scene where the Doctor dons a fez and carries a mop!
Cryptically, Nemesis tells the Doctor he'll need her again in his future. Now I don't actually believe for a moment the following is true because I don't believe Moffat is bereft of ideas... but go with me here. What if River Song is a descendant of Peinfort who has been passed the secret of the Doctor (including that he is more than just a Time Lord)? Alternatively, what if she is the Nemesis statue herself?
If it turns out to be true, then you heard it here first!