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strange_complex) wrote2020-05-09 08:29 pm
strange_complex) wrote2020-05-09 08:29 pm
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Classic Who: The Daemons (1971), The Awakening (1984)
I had initially intended to follow up my little trip out to greet the sunrise on May morning with a ritual viewing of The Wicker Man, but I have seen that film quite a few times now, and the more I thought about it the more I realised that actually I had a copy of the classic Doctor Who story The Daemons recorded on my Sky box (from back when the Horror channel was showing it), which is also set on and around May Day. Furthermore, I had been meaning for ages to track down and revisit The Awakening, which I remember vividly from my childhood for involving one of the Doctor's companions (I'd misremembered Peri, but it is actually Tegan) being about to be sacrificed as a Queen of the May. So a May Day double bill was born.
Third Doctor: The Daemons
I had seen this once before, I think actually at the University of Bristol DocSoc (officially called the Behind the Sofa Society), but couldn't honestly say I had remembered much about it other than a general sense of enjoyment and the demon called Bok with his permanent (what we would now call) blep. I've sharpened my knowledge of related genre film and TV then, though, so a lot of my experience of viewing it this time consisted of dots joining inside my head. These are some of the obvious influences I could see at work, in roughly chronological order:
I was also rather taken aback by the following dialogue:
Influences aside, the story's meta-referential interest in television and its production is striking, and another quite common feature of Doctor Who, from the Time-Space Visualiser to Satellite 5. It's always been a very self-aware programme, which is one of the things I really like about it. Speaking of which, I was astonished to rediscover the character of Osgood, the nerdy UNIT sergeant, who I assume we're supposed to understand the Osgood introduced in The Day of the Doctor as a relative of. I also enjoyed Katy Manning's performance as Jo Grant. She's not the brightest, the bravest or the most physically competent of the Doctor's companions, but she is so warm-hearted and gung-ho that you can't help but love her, and her trouser suit in this episode was a triumph. Some people see Azal's reaction to her willingness to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor as a weak way of wrapping up the story, but for me it worked, especially if you remember that this is essentially Doctor Who does folk horror. In the types of stories it is drawing on, Azal would be literally the devil, and so of course an act of absolute good such as Jo's would destroy him. I'm quite happy to overlook that not working quite so well in a story where he is actually supposed to be an alien for the sake of the rest of it.
Fifth Doctor: The Awakening
This one is a Fifth Doctor story featuring Tegan and Turlough, which I don't think I had seen since childhood, but had remembered all that time. It seems to be consciously nodding towards The Daemons, sharing several prominent motifs as follows:
It's a shorter, simpler story than The Daemons, and I probably didn't see it at its best, due to watching it via poor-quality copies on Dailymotion, but even trying to allow for that I think it felt a bit flatter anyway, for reasons I can't wholly put my finger on. There seemed to be quite a lot of scenes of people standing around talking to each other, which hadn't struck me so much as a feature of The Daemons. I was also quite surprised on jumping from a Third Doctor story to a Fifth Doctor one by how quickly Five seemed to piece together what was going on from just a few minor clues (mainly a lump of metal). I suppose that is necessary in a shorter story, but it meant the sense of mystery and tension wasn't preserved for as long. Still, it is certainly a perfectly competent narrative, with the characters of Jane Hampden, the perceptive and individualistic school-teacher, and Sir George Hutchinson, the greedy associate of evil, as particular strengths. The May Queen scene wasn't as climactic and richly-detailed as I had made it in my imagination over the years, but it was still good.
All in all a good way to mark May Day, and perhaps also a timely reminder to myself that lockdown poses an excellent opportunity to fill in some more of the Classic Who stories which I've either never seen, or not for too long.
Third Doctor: The Daemons
I had seen this once before, I think actually at the University of Bristol DocSoc (officially called the Behind the Sofa Society), but couldn't honestly say I had remembered much about it other than a general sense of enjoyment and the demon called Bok with his permanent (what we would now call) blep. I've sharpened my knowledge of related genre film and TV then, though, so a lot of my experience of viewing it this time consisted of dots joining inside my head. These are some of the obvious influences I could see at work, in roughly chronological order:
- M.R.James' 'A Warning to the Curious' (perhaps surprisingly, not via the BBC adaptation, which was Christmas 1972 so too late) - an archaeological dig into a barrow releases malign spirits.
- M.R. James' 'Casting the Runes' (this time pretty clearly via Night of the Demon (1957)) - a couple of references to actually casting the runes (though in a context which suggests looking for omens rather than cursing somebody); a fake vicar (the Master) summoning demonic winds.
- The Midwich Cuckoos, probably via Village of the Damned (1960) - a village is cut off by a force-field.
- Quatermass and the Pit (1967) - an archaeological dig uncovers a (tiny) space ship; the Devil was aliens all along.
- The Devil Rides Out (1968) - Satanic rites with nonsensical chanting; chases involving a yellow vintage car on country roads.
- Witchfinder General (1968) - a direct reference to witches hiding from Matthew Hopkins.
- Taste The Blood of Dracula (1970) - Satanic rites conducted in a church.
I was also rather taken aback by the following dialogue:
MASTER: Azal, the time for decision draws near. Once more, I demand the power...which didn't half remind me of this from Dracula AD 1972:
AZAL: You DEMAND?
JOHNNY: Master, I did it! I brought you here! I released you! In return, I was to be given the power! Now I demand the power of immortality!We all know Doctor Who borrowed heavily from Hammer, but did Hammer on this occasion nick a bit of dialogue from Doctor Who? For once I think it's just possible.
DRACULA: You DEMAND?
Influences aside, the story's meta-referential interest in television and its production is striking, and another quite common feature of Doctor Who, from the Time-Space Visualiser to Satellite 5. It's always been a very self-aware programme, which is one of the things I really like about it. Speaking of which, I was astonished to rediscover the character of Osgood, the nerdy UNIT sergeant, who I assume we're supposed to understand the Osgood introduced in The Day of the Doctor as a relative of. I also enjoyed Katy Manning's performance as Jo Grant. She's not the brightest, the bravest or the most physically competent of the Doctor's companions, but she is so warm-hearted and gung-ho that you can't help but love her, and her trouser suit in this episode was a triumph. Some people see Azal's reaction to her willingness to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor as a weak way of wrapping up the story, but for me it worked, especially if you remember that this is essentially Doctor Who does folk horror. In the types of stories it is drawing on, Azal would be literally the devil, and so of course an act of absolute good such as Jo's would destroy him. I'm quite happy to overlook that not working quite so well in a story where he is actually supposed to be an alien for the sake of the rest of it.
Fifth Doctor: The Awakening
This one is a Fifth Doctor story featuring Tegan and Turlough, which I don't think I had seen since childhood, but had remembered all that time. It seems to be consciously nodding towards The Daemons, sharing several prominent motifs as follows:
- The title, recalling Azal's references to his 'awakening'.
- The devil-figure was an alien all along.
- It lurks within a church.
- The village is sealed off from the outside world (though we're never told how).
- Their May Day celebrations include sacrificial rites.
- The church explodes at the end.
It's a shorter, simpler story than The Daemons, and I probably didn't see it at its best, due to watching it via poor-quality copies on Dailymotion, but even trying to allow for that I think it felt a bit flatter anyway, for reasons I can't wholly put my finger on. There seemed to be quite a lot of scenes of people standing around talking to each other, which hadn't struck me so much as a feature of The Daemons. I was also quite surprised on jumping from a Third Doctor story to a Fifth Doctor one by how quickly Five seemed to piece together what was going on from just a few minor clues (mainly a lump of metal). I suppose that is necessary in a shorter story, but it meant the sense of mystery and tension wasn't preserved for as long. Still, it is certainly a perfectly competent narrative, with the characters of Jane Hampden, the perceptive and individualistic school-teacher, and Sir George Hutchinson, the greedy associate of evil, as particular strengths. The May Queen scene wasn't as climactic and richly-detailed as I had made it in my imagination over the years, but it was still good.
All in all a good way to mark May Day, and perhaps also a timely reminder to myself that lockdown poses an excellent opportunity to fill in some more of the Classic Who stories which I've either never seen, or not for too long.
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And I can see other similarities too, now that the connection is secure - e.g. the white robe with the low neckline which Jo wears to be laid on the sacrificial altar is a lot like Stephanie Beacham's, and it also helps to explain why Dracula lurks around in the church for the whole of AD 1972. It's not just because he can't handle the modern world, or the production team felt he worked better kept in a Gothic setting. It's also literally because that's what his archetype does in The Daemons.
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If this were originally to be the third of Houghton's Who scripts, then there might be a thread. In Inferno, the Doctor barely escapes the destruction of a parallel Earth. In The Mind of Evil, a creature brought to Earth by the Master and which feeds on fear reveals that the Doctor's greatest fear is seeing Earth destroyed. Maybe, rather than Dracula destroying Earth as part of his death wish, Houghton's story idea was the Master destroying it in order to destroy the Doctor? Rigby points out that Lee has the line, "I am the Master" in Satanic Rites.
Also, posing as a property magnate is very much of a piece with the Master posing as a vicar, a university professor etc.
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Ooh, yeah - I could see the Master getting to that same point of destructive ennui that Dracula has reached in Satanic Rites, actually.
Completely agree about the similarity around Dracula taking on an assumed identity, too.
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You have definitely sold me on The Daemons.
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Random amounts? A bunch of the Fourth Doctor as a child, a bunch of the Seventh Doctor in 2013, The Robots of Death (1977) specifically a couple of years ago. I have visual recognition of all of the other Doctors, but I am not sure that I have ever seen an episode rather than clips or gifs of Pertwee's Doctor, for example. My non-classic Who familiarity is also patchy. I just don't watch that much TV, at least not compared with most people I know.
In any case, I'll look for it!
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Oh, well The Daemons would be pretty much the perfect introduction to him, then! Indeed, I'd go as far as to say that if you only ever see one Pertwee story in your life (though that would be a pity), you should make it this one.
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(Indeed, given how random BBC Enterprises boxsets grew towards the end, that would have been a comparatively sensible boxset.)
The Daemons is really good at the start, but then rapidly loses steam, though the ending is def. UNIT family at its most charming, so I have mixed feelings about it. (I always start going, "This is fab! Why is it not a fave?" And then it loses steam again and I'm, oh, that's why.) Whereas I have a fondness for Five (and Tegan! ♥) and The Awakening may be one of those odd two-parters, but the Malus is pretty good, as are the guest characters, and I like it. Probably not as much as I loved the Target novelisation of it way back, but probably overall more than the Daemons. One could do with less eps, the other with more! The Awakening is a bit S&S influenced, though, which helps.
Image is my favourite of DW's folk horror efforts, though.
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I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to. I think in the past it has suffered for my from its reputation in late 70s/early 80s fandom as *the* Pertwee/UNIT/Master story, and was very fondly remembered both by the cast and by fans who saw it at the time. Also, the Barry Letts novelisation is very good which, as is the case with a lot of the Pertwees, is a double-edged sword when you see the TV episodes and compare them. When I finally saw it (on the BBC2 1992 re-coloured showing) it couldn't help but be a bit of a letdown.
Watching it again now, it's great. Lots of interesting characters and an interestingly non-traditional story that keeps a lot of the explanation unsaid. It's also low-stakes and almost claustrophobic for most of the story; until the end, you've really only got the Doctor and the Master's word for it that this affects anything beyond Devil's End. When I saw it before I found that frustrating, because I was expecting something epic. Watching The Daemons shorn of that unwanted context, I really like it, and it adds to the spooky horror setting.
In short, I think it works better as an interesting new take on The Doctor's time on Earth and the sort of story they can do (which in the context of season six it is) than as a story that stands for what was great about the Pertwee UNIT era, which is how I first approached it.
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That said, I must read the novelisation (which I think I might even have a copy of that I haven't read), because you're not the first person I've heard recommending it. Hopefully in this case that won't result in too much disappointment on my part!
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And, while Tegan's May Queen scene is pretty short, it *is* still one that leaves a lasting impression. I watched it first as an adult, about 15 years ago, and it's still the scene that sticks in the memory.
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