Apr. 17, 2017 "The Doctor is in, but his companion is out": Today I found this article by Tina Hassannia in the Globe and Mail. I don't watch Dr. Who, but this was a good article.
It is the end of an era. At least, the end of one of many for Doctor Who, the cult sci-fi series that has dominated British television for decades. The original Doctor Who was on the air between 1963 to 1989, then came back in 2005 to the present, with a 1996 television film sandwiching the two editions.
That spirit of reinvention has defined the series since its humble beginnings as an educational program for children, when the original Doctor, played by William Hartnell, was replaced by a new actor so that the series could keep going. Since 1966, the conceit that the Doctor can shapeshift into a new body and personality has been built into the show’s DNA. Twelve actors have played the title character in the franchise’s television series.
For the past two seasons, Peter Capaldi has played the titular role. The upcoming 10th season of the series will be the last for the Scottish actor, who says it’s time to move on. But he won’t be the only key element leaving the show: This will also be the last season for showrunner Steven Moffat, who’s been at the creative helm since the fifth season in 2010.
Moffat has worked on the new edition of Doctor Who from the beginning in 2005, first as story writer. In his roles as both story writer and showrunner, his work has garnered him numerous awards from the likes of BAFTA, the Nebula Awards and the Hugo Awards. When asked what he’s most proud of as his term as showrunner, Moffat has a few different answers.
“I think I can maybe answer that in 10 years,” he says with a laugh during an interview in Toronto this past fall, before listing “obvious things” such as his casting choices, and highly ranked episodes such as the 50thanniversary special The Day of the Doctor. Mostly, Moffat is just happy that the show is still on the air. According to him, previous showrunner Russell T Davies said the second edition of Doctor Who would only last a decade.
“But it’s gonna go past 10 years!” Moffat says. “From a fan point of view, we were right. The BBC should never have taken it off the air. Those 16 years were wasted.”
Moffat and Capaldi have both previously remarked how the opportunity to work on Doctor Who had been a lifelong dream, being fans from childhood. But for Capaldi, his professional relationship with a beloved show is a little more complicated.
“I do think being a fan of the show is useful, because it’s sort of your bones,” Capaldi says. “Sometimes you find little moments [while working] that are very Doctor Who, but it’s difficult to put into words.”
While we’re on the subject of words, though, Capaldi is not a fan of the word “fan.”
“The people I meet who really like the show have an individual response to it. It’s a very intimate and special relationship that they have with it,” says the actor, perhaps best known for his work with satirist Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, In the Loop). “Although many enthusiasts of the show can find a community, the word ‘fan’ makes it sound like they’re the same. And they’re not.
“I definitely have to not be a fan when I’m making it. Because that’s not my job,” he continues. “My job is to act the best way that I can, to make it entertaining and interesting. Those are adult, mature responsibilities – as much as an actor can be adult and mature.”
The 59-year-old’s role is certainly the most mature representation of the Doctor in terms of age. Capaldi’s interpretation of the Doctor was an attempt to contrast the previous incarnation – an approachable, warm chap played by Matt Smith – with “a graver, darker” personality. “The virtue of being this age is you have access to those areas,” Capaldi says.
But in the last season, the Doctor has loosened up some, weaving in Capaldi’s natural comedic flair. The 10th season may find the Doctor exploring new territory in terms of character development, as a new sidekick will be joining him. For the past two seasons, Jenna Coleman played Capaldi’s “companion,” Clara, but in the coming season, newbie Pearl Mackie will be taking over, playing the franchise’s first openly gay companion in the role of Bill Potts.
Mackie says acting a regular television role is a welcome contrast to the character development she’s done in her theatre work. “With theatre, the story’s there. Your character is what’s written and what’s implied. With television, one of the most interesting challenges is not having it all there. You’re always responding to what’s on screen and make it up as you go along.”
Like Capaldi and Moffat, executive producer Brian Minchin has been a Doctor Who fan since he was a child. The show’s a “perfect home” for him because of its emotional capacity. “It’s a place with great imagination. Almost everyone who works on the show has some affection for [Doctor Who]. No one sees it as just a job. They know what it can be,” he says. “And you dream of making it as special as it was when you were eight years old. That’s a big challenge.”
Season 10 of Doctor Who premieres April 15 at 9 p.m. on Space.
Jun. 10, 2017 "Orphan Black tries to end smartly": Today I found this article by John Doyle in the Globe and Mail:
The final season of the Canadian-made science-fiction series that made the world in awe of Tatiana Maslany starts by making sense. This is good. Somewhere along the way, the only thing that made sense was awe of Maslany in all her multiple roles.
Orphan Black (Saturday, Space, 10 p.m.) returns for its fifth and final season and in the first few episodes available for review, it looks more character-driven and less laden with vastly complicated backstory and mythology. It is, for a start, a thriller. That was promised in a teaser for this end-season, with Helena, one of Maslany’s many clone characters, promising, “I will cleanse them from this Earth.” She’s got a knife and it’s several of the other clones she has in her sights.
Starting into Orphan Black at this point is a tricky journey. But, it’s possible. Fair warning, though – apart from Maslany’s outrageous multi performances, the series became a crock of ridiculous sci-fi indulgences. The acting, apart from Maslany’s work, descended into heavy-breathing wheezing of bromides and the script became a series of silly twists followed inevitably by chase scenes. But, it got some praise and Maslany won an Emmy, so potential viewers might well be enticed into it by the publicity. So here’s the story, such as it is.
See, three decades ago, a genetics company, Neolution, did a clandestine release of human clones, males and female. The males, called Project Castor, seemed to be a military project.
The females, Project Leda, were released and sprinkled into the general population but monitored. These women had no idea about their origins. Things continued clandestine until Sarah (Maslany), a young woman with criminal tendencies, accidentally stumbled upon the fact there were women who looked exactly like her.
On her journey to find out about herself and her “sisters,” Sarah had to learn more about the nefarious Neolution and discovered their shadowy parent companies, Dyad and Topside.
Worse, she came upon the existence of the Proletheans, a religious outfit determined to wipe out the clones.
At its heart, when it sticks to substance, the series is about nature versus nurture, the roles into which women are forced and, in the matter of nurture, about motherhood.
It’s motherhood that is the engine of the first new episodes. The season opener has an injured Sarah on a mysterious island attempting to find and rescue Cosima (also Maslany) from something or other. There are many small children in the plot, which guides everything toward Sarah’s determination to be reunited with her daughter, Kira.
This isn’t going to be easy because Rachel (Maslany, of course) has become even more sinister and eventually makes it clear that Kira has been kidnapped and held to be studied by some group or other that Rachel is now aligned with.
There is considerable violence in the second episode as the various clones are killed off and this is a relief of sorts – Maslany can be confined to playing two or three versions of the central character and the plotting becomes less an exercise in showboating and more concerned with characters worth caring about.
As usual, and if you are familiar with the series, you know it’s coming: Sarah induces her foster mother Mrs. S. (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and foster brother Felix (Jordan Gavaris) to help protect Kira (Skyler Wexler), but violent complications ensue. Felix delivers some good lines in his characteristically caustic style.
Here’s the thing about about Orphan Black – the first episode of this final season has a character saying, “I don’t get it, you were saved by a 17-year-old man?” and the other characters answering, “The science is real.”
It’s beyond ridiculous. And that’s the key element: It’s all utterly ridiculous and delivered in a heightened, madly hyperbolic style.
Yes, the series has some serious intentions. It is feminist in tome and attitude, and touches upon issues of of how women are pigeonholed into specific roles. But it touches very lightly on these themes.
It’s a series that promised so much, set the bar high and then failed to deliver.
The initial praise and fan intensity it received seemed to lead everyone involved to overestimate the show’s worth. It started smart, received international recognition and eventually disappeared up its own rear end.
For all its merits, it never belonged on a list of the best of contemporary TV.
The plot makes some sense in the final season, but it’s trying too hard, too late.
Comment:
Tinchote
3 days ago
I tend to disagree with this review. It is true that the plot over the four seasons has not been top notch. But the stories and scenes it generated were good entertainment.
More importantly (and more or less recognized by Doyle) Tatiana's performance is so outstanding that, on its own, it makes the show worth it.
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