To celebrate the New Year, I’m reviewing something a little different. Today I’m reviewing Series One of fanfilmsUK’s Doctor Who. You can see the series so far on fanfilmsUK’s channel.
I have to say, fanfilmsUK’s original series, Doctor Who The Last Stand, was amazing. I was amazed by how much you could do in one house, with three cast members, and it inspired me. It told me you didn’t need a big cast or big locations, because sometimes the smaller look, the smaller feel and the bigger stories are the best way forward.
I was expecting great things from Nathan (fanfilmsUK) and his first series. Episode One has a werewolf in it, that’s fair enough. I’m not quite sure Nick Hammond is the most inspiring companion, yet he’s a Doctor-enthusiast so that kind of makes it better. Now I’ve always thought Nathan’s sword fights were brilliant, and he doesn’t disappoint. On the whole, episode one is good. It’s got a good monster, good action scenes and it shows how much the series has moved on since DLS.
The second episode is better than the first, it has to be said. The location of a castle really works well, and the return of the Cybershades is something that’s good to see.
Episode Three is incredible. OK, I’m slightly biased, because I wrote it. I wrote the script on the theme of witches, and I feel that that really came through in the script and episode. Episode Three seems to have a lot more effort put into it than the other episodes, implying the series is getting better and better. I’m still not convinced by Nick at this point, and some of my over the top lines are made even MORE over the top. Though I’m glad the drum roll in the preview clip I was shown was taken out. There are certain bits where I can spot holes (for a start the changing hairstyle of James) but I think I wrote such a heavy script, for that lot to do it and add their own stuff, they did a brilliant job, and the broomstick chase was better than I thought.
Episode Four appears to be the finale of the series, with the Weeping Wilderness proving great entertainment with the return of the Weeping Angels. Banes doesn’t fit in the series, he seems to have suited the other series better, and his performance as the Master on DLS was brilliant. But here, he seems like he’s almost TOO comical.
So, overall. The Doctor? Nick? And all the other Doctor Who stuff?
The Doctor’s costume is quite interesting, apart from the fact it stops you looking stupid in a public place, it is VERY different. It’s quite a good costume, though needs some more eccentricity. So that costume’s fine, it’s more the problem that everybody else’s costumes change… Episode Three is probably the biggest example of this. Nick wears something on the field, then wears a cardigan for a green screen scene, then has changed his top for another location, then he wears another one in another scene, it’s noticeable and in places distracting. However, I realise that this is sometimes unavoidable in a fan film, with so many people involved
Nick himself is a bit over the top, and I’m not sure him pulling various faces and poses all the time is quite necessary, but, back to basics, he is a good companion. He has everything he needs to be a good companion, and I think if he was a little less over the top it would be fine.
Doctor Who Stuff. The sonic screwdriver was fine, the costume I’ve talked about, the monsters were picked well, and the series gives monsters characteristics in the very long conversations. Though I can’t complain, watching ep 3 I realised that I managed to write VERY long scenes!
The biggest question for this series is: do locations and a bigger cast make a better series? Well the locations of the forest, the castle and the beach actually work really well, and apart from the wind, they seem to always make a good scene. Though does a bigger cast make a better series? Compared to the three used in DLS, and the vast cast used in this, I’m not sure it makes much difference. DLS shows us how story is important, and the three (including the Doctor) in that carry the story perfectly, and suit it really well. With more cast members in this series, it looks like it’s busy, it looks like its manic to arrange, and while it benefits the scripts A LOT, it just feels a lot to handle, and it’s quite nice to have a more relaxing story with less characters in the Weeping Wilderness.
Good stories, good ideas, well carried out on the whole, but if I’m honest, DLS was special, it was different, it was focussed and I think DLS might be better. BUT WAIT THERE! The Christmas Special is FANTASTIC!!!!! Brilliant acting, a superb scripts, superb effects, using three main actors like in DLS, and supporting members fit in perfectly. They are dream characters to write for, the locations and effects fit in well, and nothing is too over the top. It’s a perfect Christmas Special, and when I review the Christmas Special and I review Series Two, it could be five stars all round.
And of course, my writing talents will be on show again in Series Two in a very… different script.
James
No comments:
Post a Comment