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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Doctor Who Rewind - The Dominators


At last a full story to watch and gloat over. The first of the sixth series, and alas, not the best season opener.

The Doctor thinks he, Jamie and new arrival Zoe could do with a bit of a holiday and so he takes them to the planet Dulkis, somewhere he's been before, and knows is a peaceful and pleasant place to stay.

Unfortunately, things have changed since his last visit. Just before the TARDIS arrives on the planet the fashionably challenged Dominator duo touch down on the Island of Death, a nuclear test site, housing a war museum. The two Dominators, Navigator Rago and Probationer Toba look like extreme fashion victims from the 80's, clad in thick body amour which have padded shoulders that would make Alexis Carrington drool with envy.

They both have short dark hair, and have been made up with dark make up which not only makes them look well moody, but also brings out their mature features. And of course it supports the already mentioned 80's fashion theme.

So the Dominators have arrived on planet Dulkis to bore into its molten core in order to get themselves some rocket fuel. The have these little robot slaves they call Quarks, who resemble walking filing cabinets with springy out arms, and rotating spiky heads. They are only large enough to be operated by dwarfs or children, and have severe difficulty when geographically challenged by even the most modest of hills. They can, however, when fully charged, pack a punch and unleash a pretty deadly explosive charge.

Just as the Dominators arrive on the island of death, some native thrill seeking Dulkions arrive in what looks like a flying chefs hat. Bored of life back in the city, this group has been whisked away by a chap called Cully, who is dressed like all other Dulkis folk in what looks like a white pleated dress made out of curtains. The thing looks entirely ludicrous covering most of the chest area as well.

As Cully persuades his travellers to venture out into what they think is the radioactive atmosphere (though the Dominators have already a absorbed it all), they come under attack from
a Quark. Only Cully survives the attack and flees to the war museum where he meets the Doctor and TARDIS crew.

The Dominators continue the work on the drill holes, while the Doctor tries to warn the city leaders that danger is imminent. The problem with the Dulkions however is they have long removed any need for violence or war and have become a totally peaceful race. Most of the time they are happy to sit around having a good chat. And by the time the Doctor and Jamie convince them that they need to take action it is far to late. These are the kind of people that have to have a meeting just decide if they want afternoon tea!

Meanwhile the Dominators are having a domestic. Rago is constantly bickering with Toba about his handling of things. It starts when Toba allows the Quarks to kill the three Dulkions, and continues when Toba is adamant that he wants to kill those Dulkions responsible for killing a Quark. To be honest, not much effort is needed in disposing of the little square rascals, as Jamie and Cully later demonstrate with an old bed sheet.

At one point Jamie and the Doctor are captured and taken to the Dominator ship, where the two brooding invaders, who frankly walk around like spoiled kids who can't get what they want, test them for any intelligence, and ultimately usefulness. Jamie is put on a bed and from the angle of the shot and the Dominators position, it looks like poor Jamie is going to get an anal probe. But alas he is given some kind of examination to judge his ancestry. As for the Doctor he is given an intelligence test involving slotting shapes into holes. He deliberately fails and the two are excused as being dimwits.

In the end, the Dominators and silly quarks prove to be incompetent to the point of not seeing the Doctor plant a bomb in their own ship and get what they truly deserve.

Despite a good all round cast, this story is let down by a some silly designed robots (which incidentally were supposed to be a replacement for the Daleks, as they were predisposed in filming the Peter Cushing Who movie etc) and a script which really just didn't shine on the screen.

Next time in Doctor Who Rewind we go all abstract, with a story starring Gulliver, some Toy soldiers and a forest of letters.





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