Day 254 — September 11th 2021
The Armageddon Factor Parts One and Two
The Armageddon Factor — Part One
I bang on a fair bit about fan perceptions of stories and how I feel they’re either right or wrong, but I don’t often look at my own preconceptions for a story. When I was watching The Androids of Tara the other day and found myself really impressed by the direction in the opening location work, I had to google to find out who the director was. Reading that Michael Hayes was responsible for this story, too, I found myself baffled. How on Earth could someone who directed such incredible shots in Tara also be responsible for such flat and lifeless direction in this one? I came to the conclusion that he was a great director out on film, but not so strong in the studio — and I’d come to this conclusion within thirty seconds of learning his name, and before I’d seen a single shot of studio work from him.
Once we did make it inside the directions wasn’t bad at all. It wasn’t as stunning as the location work, but that’s only to be expected given the restrictions of time and the different equipment used. It certainly wasn’t bad though, with the exception of the sword fight in Part Four, which I felt was incredibly flat. ‘Ah,’ I thought, ‘There’s the rubbish direction of The Armageddon Factor showing through…’
Quite why I’d decided so strongly that the direction in this story was abysmal I don’t know. I’ve not seen it since my last marathon (I’d have reached this one in the middle of 2014, so seven years ago) and I can’t remember very much at all about the story. It must have made a pretty rubbish impression on me, though, because the poor quality of the direction was the only thing I could remember. Of course this episode opens with some terrible CSO work around some shockingly bad acting (‘young men are dying for it…!’) so I braced myself for an arduous three days.
And then… I had to admit that I was wrong! Of course that opening shot is supposed to be ropey — it’s part of a propaganda film designed to mask the truth of what’s going on here — and we very quickly move away from that style. There’s not a great deal of CSO elsewhere in the episode, but when it does show up on a few screens it’s done far more competently, which makes me think the awful fringing in the opening shot was all part of the plan. I think it’s a bold move to open on a rubbish shot and then pull the ‘aha, it’s supposed to look like that’ trick, but I have to concede that they know what they’re doing.
Across the rest of the episode the direction is proper top drawer stuff, and it’s probably the best studio direction we’ve had in the entire season. Each shot feels so carefully considered, and every now and then they throw in something spectacular like a great big sweeping crane shot which pulls out from a single person working in the Control Room to show us Princess Astra and the vast space from above, with the Commander right in the centre.
Shots like this feel incredibly rare for the programme, and they’re all the more impressive when they do show up simply because they’re such a novelty. I genuinely skipped back thirty seconds to watch it again because I was so excited to see I’d been completely wrong about the directing.
Elsewhere we get plenty of nice shots — there’s some lovely close ups of the regulars especially, and I really like the TARDIS’ materialisation. It’s not really a ‘showy’ shot, but seeing it arrive in the shadows and without much fanfare feels oddly exciting in itself. God help me, the Newberry box is actually growing on me. Michael Hayes must be a decent director because he’s the only one who can make that prop look good!
As for the story… well there’s plenty of great material packed into this opening episode, and it’s way more gripping than I’d expected. There’s power struggles between military and monarchy, the battered reality of a civilisation under constant attack, and for the first time this season the threat of the Black Guardian feels genuine and within reach. When Doctor Who and Romana speculate that Zeos might be missing because of his interference there’s something oddly epic about the idea.
Doctor Who and Romana are great in this one, and it’s the perfect showcase for just how much their relationship has evolved since the start of the season. I’ve noted a few times here and there that Romana’s character has mellowed and Doctor Who has made more concessions to her, and this feels like the culmination of that. I love the way they bounce off and repeat each other during the materialisation, and for the first time I can really see why people are so keen on this pairing. There’s little moments throughout the episode, like the pair of them getting their arms tangled when raising their hands, which makes it clear what fun they’re having together — and it feels like the same is true off screen as well as on.
Doctor Who: ‘There’s only one thing to do.’
Romana: ‘Listen, why don’t you take us in on manual?’
Doctor Who: ‘I think I’ll take us in on manual, with circumspection.’
Romana: ‘Right.’
I also think I’ve got a bit of a crush on Romana here, which probably helps — that’s two companions in a row! Lord help me, I’ve become a 1970s dad.
I’m going with a 7/10 for this opening episode.
The Armageddon Factor — Part Two
The sets in this one are the perfect antidote to the rubbish ones we had in The Power of Kroll — and they’re a great example of just what was wrong with those ones. Yesterday I complained that the rig didn’t feel like a real place. Because they were trying to convey that we’re in ‘the future’, they’d gone for plain shiny walls and control panels with hardly any actual controls on them. The sets looked like they’d been slapped together in a hurry and the overall effect was one of ‘can’t be arsed’.
While that story was the first and only credit on Doctor Who for Don Giles, this story also sees the introduction of a new designer; Richard McManan-Smith. McManan-Smith will go on to have a few more credits on the show and you can see why based on the quality of the work in these opening episodes.
The bunker on Atrios is beautifully rendered. It feels like a real place in the way that the gas rig didn’t, and it feels like attention has been given to every area of the sets. The pipes here feel like they have a genuine purpose, and the whole place feels run down in a believable way, not because it’s been constructed poorly.
There’s another contrast to The Power of Kroll in these sets, too, and it’s all in having something interesting to look at. In that last story we had lengthy scenes of people stood around in the rig with very little to do. Here we get a long sequence of people sending the fleet out to battle. It could feel dull (all the dialogue is tedious functional stuff like ‘closing. Range four thirty. Fire zero four. Hold on seven zero’) but because there’s something to look at — lots of people using proper controls — I found myself far more invested. It’s remarkable what a difference it makes.
The sets are enhanced further with the lighting, which is a masterclass in using shadows to get the effect across. The place feels dark and dingy, and I’m genuinely surprised in places with just how dark they’re willing to let shots be. There’s a great moment in Part One when the Commander shoots a guard and it’s lit incredibly well, which raises the entire thing above the norm. That continues into this episode, with some great shots of Doctor Who exploring the various corridors.
Not everything is perfect, though it’s close across the board. The sequence in which the few remaining forces of Atrios go to war against the Zeon fleet is very cleverly done. It feels like the Bristol Boys have finally realised (after the disasters of The Invisible Enemy and Underworld) just what’s possible on Doctor Who’s budget, and as such the entire fight is rendered on a radar screen, with little lights moving and flickering out when a ship is destroyed. Crucially it doesn’t feel like a cheap cop out — the entire sequence is, if anything, even more tense than watching the actual battle would be. The problem is that it’s difficult to follow, with no differentiation between the ships from each side of the battle. It’s no wonder the Commander is confused about who’s winning!
This is a great story for Bob Baker and Dave Martin overall. They started their Doctor Who career strong with The Claws of Axos, but since then the majority of their stories have fallen a bit flat for me. They tend to be big on ideas, but not quite strong enough to pull them all together into a satisfying script. This feels like a bit of an evolution for them. They’ve not given us anything which can’t be achieved convincingly in Television Centre, and there’s some great dialogue on display in this episode. I’m especially fond of Doctor Who analysing the Commander’s state of mind;
Doctor Who: ‘Is he all right?’
Shapp: ‘Shush. He’s meditating.’
Doctor Who: ‘Does he do it often?’
Shapp: ‘When things are not going well. He makes most of his decisions this way.’
Doctor Who: ‘No wonder thing’s aren’t going well. Standing in front of a mirror grumbling and smiling at himself like that is the first sign of megalomania…’
I love the way they make me care about K9, too, as he’s on his way to the incinerator. His little pleas for instruction and help from his master are more than a little heartbreaking, and I think it’s probably one of K9’s finest moments in the series so far. It helps that the conveyor belt is shot on film, too, so it looks gorgeous.
I’m going with a 6/10 for this one, but it’s impressing me far more than I was expecting.
