Author Archives: Tim Austin

Doctor Who: 'Closing Time' Review

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,… or Two [Cyber]Men and a baby.

In my eyes Season 5 of the new Doctor Who was a weak and uninspiring slog, and easily poorest series since the show returned. But there was a real diamond in the rough; ‘The Lodger’.

Gareth Roberts’ adaptation of his own Doctor Who Magazine comic strip was a joyful, warm-hearted and spirited comedy episode that I loved to bits. So when it was announced that he would be penning a sequel I was pretty excited. But did he deliver? Well, yes and no,…

The Doctor is on a farewell tour, flitting around the universe to catch up on events and experiences that he’s missed out on over the years. He knows that death is on its way and he’s going to make the most of the time he’s got left. Which includes, it seems, a visit to his old mate Craig – now the proud but overwhelmed father of baby Alfie (or Stormageddon; Dark Lord of All, as he likes to be known).

But, this being Doctor Who, The Doctor’s flying visit is derailed by his discovery of Cybermen stalking around the ladies changing rooms at a local department store (ooer!) Cue slapstic monster fighting, Laurel and Hardy level bickering and frolics in the lingerie isle!

Now, for the most part, this episode is a fun and chucklesom romp; it’s Doctor Who; the Situation Comedy. All that’s needed is a wryly named coffee shop, a contractual visit to a bowling alley and a barely plausible laughter track and you’re away!

This isn’t, to my eyes, a bad thing; the programme has been many things in its time – Hammer Horror, surreal Buddhist morality tale, James Bond-esque action adventure – why not a sitcom? It wouldn’t work every week but I’d argue that the occasional flat-out funny episode is no bad thing. I mean it’s not Battlestar Galactica is it?

And it is, indeed, very funny! Matt Smith and James Corden have a brilliant chemistry, with Craig being the straight man to the Doctor’s geeky funnyman. The moment when Craig realises that they’ve been teleported to the Cybership is comedy gold, beautifully played by both. His ham-fisted interrogation of the shop girl had me in stitches.

However, the best lines were handed to young Stormageddon, ably translated by the Doctor – who speaks baby (yeah, right!) “and everybody else?,… Peasants. That’s unfortunate.”

It’s a great script of terrific comic moments and spanking dialogue.

And Cybermen. Damn, I knew you were going to bring them up.

This was not the Metal Men from Mondas’ finest hour. In fact the story would’ve probably worked better without them. All they do is stomp around the place looking mildly pathetic. Their presence is undermined by the revelation that they’re low on juice and low on spare parts. They’re not a fighting force, they’re Dads Army.

Which is a shame because they look wonderful. And the Cybermat is a welcome return from a classic series stalwart. But they’re entirely peripheral to the story and to throw away Doctor Who’s second biggest enemy as, essentially, comedy goons does nobody any favours, least of all the brilliant Gareth Roberts.

So, to me, the story didn’t deliver everything it promised; the comedy was brilliant but the action and threat were sorely lacking. Compared with Craig’s first outing, where his life, his relationship with the love of his life and, ultimately, the fate of the world was in jeopardy,… well this was a bit of a come down, really.

But as come-downs go, ‘Closing Time’ is one I’d watch again.

Dr Who Review: The God Complex

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Hotels. Let’s face it, they’re creepy at the best of times. Pop one into Doctor Who, however, and you’re in a whole world of trouble.

As indeed are Rory, Amy and the Doctor when they check in to The God Complex, the 11th episode of series 6.

The complex of the title turns out to be a floating intergalactic prison that has, bizarrely, camouflaged itself to look like a 1980’s hotel. Inside lives a single alien prisoner resembling a Minotaur who feeds off of the faith of other races. In an effort to feed the prisoner, the complex abducts people from passing civilisations and challenges them with their greatest fears, forcing them to fall back on their core beliefs so that the Minotaur can gobble them up.
Riiiiiiiight.

Okay, as a premise this one barely hangs together… but then again, when has that ever stopped Doctor Who? Baby creatures made from excess body fat, flying sharks, 100ft tall steam-powered Cybermen; it’s all in a day’s work for the Timelord and his chums.

And in this case, it doesn’t matter a jot that the logic of this episode is a light breeze away from falling apart completely. Toby Whithouse’s script is a joyous combination of touching characterisation, creepy imagery, pithy dialogue and genuine emotional clout. It’s a great piece of work and everything I’ve come to expect from the creator of the sublime BBC3 series ‘Being Human’.

Rita and Gibbs are especially well-written and realised. Rita (played by the lovely Amara Karan) conveyed more humanity, sweetness and character in one episode than Amy managed in the whole of Series 5… so you knew she was going to get the chop. Which she did.
Drat.

And Gibbs was another great addition to the Whoniverse – a creature whose main aim in life is to be enslaved by the next passing alien race. “Our national Anthem is ‘Glory to Insert Name Here‘,” he explains. A fabulous idea brought to life by the ever-dependable David Walliams.

But it was the final denouement that really lifted this episode up with the best this season has had to offer. The Doctor finally letting Amy and Rory go after – lets face it – royally screwing with their lives. It was a poignant finale to a rather fabulous episode of Who and I challenge anyone not to have a lump in their throat after seeing Matt Smith all alone in the cavernous TARDIS – the “Lonely God” once more. Sob.

So who does he turn to? Why, Craig from ‘The Lodger’ of course! Next week sees the return of my favourite character from Season 5 (hurrah!) and Cybermen. Let the good times continue to roll…

Doctor Who: 'Night Terrors' Review

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After last years’ dismal ‘Victory of the Daleks’, renaissance man Mark Gatiss returns to his writing duties on Doctor Who with ‘Night Terrors’, a straight out fright-fest complete with spooky dolls and a creepy haunted house. Gatiss famously delights and revels in the macabre and the gothic, so “Night Terrors” should be a triumphant return to form…

It wasn’t.

Now don’t get me wrong, ‘Night Terrors’ has a great deal to recommend it. It’s beautifully shot and the art direction throughout is marvellous. There’s a fantastic atmosphere of gloom and mischief in the opening scenes and, at its heart, it has a decent, fairly solid sci-fi idea – a cuckoo in the nest. There was also imagery in there that I’m sure sent many of the nation’s little darlings scurrying into their parents beds, smelling faintly of wee.

But this was not enough to save it.

Firstly, the episode – with its monster in the wardrobe, parent at the end of their tether, ‘alien’ child causing mayhem, random old lady, and love-will-conquer-all ending – gave me a distinct and unsettling feeling of déjà vu. Hadn’t I seen this before? Yes I had, in the Season 2 Doctor Who story ‘Fear Her’.

While not a direct retread, it bore enough similarities and repetitions to make the story feel highly derivative and, as a result, deeply unsatisfying.

And then we have the pacing of the story which was nothing short of bizarre. New-era Doctor Who gives you 45 minutes within which to tell your story. To spend a whole 20 of those minutes on set-up and exposition is a brave move which, in this case, failed completely.

The problem was that the story doesn’t introduce an actual threat to any of the characters for half an hour. HALF. AN. HOUR. In 45 minutes of screen time!

Sure, people were occasionally whisked off to a spooky house but, once there, they roam the halls unmolested and unthreatened. Meanwhile, the Doctor, rather than actually talking to the kid at the centre of the trouble (or realising there was any trouble to be had) has a very long chat and a nice cup of tea. It took him even longer to turn his attention to the obviously dodgy wardrobe and, when he did, he got scared and… had another cup of tea and another long chat with Dad. Are you bored yet? Because I was.

Indeed, no one opens the sodding wardrobe at the centre of the story for a whole 35 minutes, leaving just 10 scant minutes for the Doctor to diagnose the problem, get chased a bit and finally convince the alien cuckoo child to stop throwing silly tantrums. This he does with a cunning combination of yelling at the child (which really works on scared kids, so I understand) and convincing his Dad, who has just found out that his son is a) not his and b) an alien, to give him a hug.

Now that all sounds like a bit of a rant on my part and, indeed, I may be being a little unfair. The aim of the episode was surely to scare the kids silly and I’m sure, in this regard, ‘Night Terrors’ was a roaring success. I’m probably being a little churlish and miserly to expect anything more from it.

But my issue is this. Mark Gatiss is a brilliant writer. A truly, hands-down, brilliant, wonderfully creative mind capable of structured, intelligent and inventive comic drama. So why is ‘Night Terrors’ such a dramatically dull, highly derivative, poorly-paced mess? This is Mark’s favourite show, his dream job, an opportunity that he’s dreamt of since he was a nipper. It should have been brilliant.

And that’s what’s so frustrating.

Doctor Who: 'Let's Kill Hitler' Review

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Doctor Who has never been more bonkers. And there are some who would argue that it’s never been better. After a storming opening run to series 6, I’m beginning to think that they may just have a point.

So, Let’s Kill Hitler. Rory and Amy, impatient at waiting for news of their daughter (the soon-to-be River Song) form a crop circle to bring the Doctor back into their lives. When it works, we’re off into another adventure into Steven Moffat’s, frankly potty, Scottish head. And what does he give us to delight us on a Saturday night? Numbskulls vs. Hitler.

Let me repeat that, just in case it hasn’t sunk in.  NUMBSKULLS vs. HITLER!! It shouldn’t work, it sounds awful, it should be cringe-worthy trash,… but it wasn’t. It was brilliant.

Of course, that was just a side show really. This episode was really about two people, Mel and River Song. Who were, in fact, the same person (keeping up? Not for long,..). Y’see, Amy and Rory have been living with their own daughter since they were children at primary school together. Indeed, their bessie-mate, Mel, was not only young Melody Pond all along, but was also the person who brought Rory and Amy together in the first place (still following? We’ll see about that…). And, of course, she wanted to kill the Doctor. Then Hitler shot her and she turned into Alex Kingston.

Let’s face facts. Even if you put Numbskulls vs. Hitler to one side (Numbskulls vs. Hitler!!), it’s still completely insane.

That it worked was testament to the ‘human’ story at the centre of it all – the rehabilitation of the psychotic River Song into the Doctor’s future missus, and the Doctor’s struggle with his own inner demons (“Is there anybody in the universe that I’ve not screwed up?”). Matt Smith and Alex Kingston put in truly superb performances in this episode, helped enormously by a cracking script that fizzed with energy.

Their intellectual jousting was a joy, with the Doctor disarming every weapon that River could pull on him, but failing to foresee a deadly kiss.

And what of Amy and Rory? Well, we have a lovely bit of backstory early on in the episode and Arthur Darvill gets to put more meat on his ‘action man’ persona after smacking the Fuhrer in the mouth and nicking a motorbike from a Nazi (very Indiana Jones). Apart from that, however, Mr. and Mrs. Pond stay on the sidelines for most of the story – inside robot Amy’s head (I know!).

But that’s the great thing about the rejuvenated Doctor Who, it’s the only show on television that has the balls to be quite this loopy. And I like loopy. In today’s world of dreary crime dramas and celebrity-obsessed talent shows, Doctor Who has become a beacon of light to those of us who don’t want to be talked down to by our Goggle Box. It’s insane, confusing, quick, fun, and it doesn’t make any concessions for people who can’t keep up.

It trusts that you will.

Which makes it the best thing on TV.

Acting Up! Returning to a Life Less Ordinary

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Well, it’s been a funny old year. About this time in 2010, I was sitting at a desk in a soulless office, writing websites, drinking coffee and watching my life and my ambitions swirl slowly down the drain. I’d only taken the job to pay for my wedding and already it had taken over my life, and not in a good way.

I was depressed. This wasn’t me. I’d been touring theatre and producing shows since I was 17. I was a performer, a creative thinker. Now here I was, getting fatter, grumpier and watching my life hit a brick wall in teeth-shattering slow motion.

So I stopped. One day I just walked into work and told my employers, in an embarrassingly polite, wet liberal way, where they could stick their job (“Sorry! I hope it’s not too inconvenient, I know you’re busy.”)

Some people said that I was insane. Mind-bogglingly, eye-wateringly insane. I’d just resigned from a secure, reasonably well paid job in the middle of a recession. Insane!

But there were others who said something quite, quite different.

They said “Well done”. They even used the word, and I’m embarrassed to repeat it because I still don’t really believe them, “brave”.

Truth be told, I’m not insane. I’m not particularly brave either. I just made a choice. Move sideways into another dead end job or move forward into a career that I actually enjoyed. Simple really.

But has it worked? Am I happier, more fulfilled, more engaged and more successful now that I’m back in on stage and screen?

Well over the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing my experiences, thoughts, triumphs and failures with the readers of Frost Magazine. There have been good times, bad times and just-plain-weird times. I’ll also be sharing a bit of the wisdom I’ve learnt from casting directors and actors along the way.

But first, I’ll leave you with a question; What is the most impulsive choice you’ve ever made,… and did it work?

You can find out more about Tim Austin at his WordPress page; http://actortim.wordpress.com.

Check back next Wednesday for more Acting Up!