RIP Victor Pemberton

And another Doctor Who luminary is lost to us. Victor Pemberton has died at the age of 85.

Victor Pemberton first appeared on screen in The Moonbase as a crewmember infected by the Cybermen's poison. But then he became story editor for The Tomb of the Cybermen. He finally got to write a whole story in Fury from the Deep. He created the Sonic Screwdriver, a device used many times since and passed over to the modern series. In the 1970s, Victor wrote the script for Doctor Who and the Pescatons, a story released on LP with a similar ocean theme.

Sadly I never met the man in person. I remember seeing a 2002 production of Fury in Portsmouth, with Nick Scovell as the Doctor. I' later got to see the recons and enjoyed it. He will be remembered.

Seattle International Films: Broken Doors

In the early days of Doctor Who fandom, the fan writers created categories for certain types of story. These included 'historicals', 'pseudo-historicals', 'base under siege' or 'oddball'. The final Doctor Who film made by Seattle International Films would classify as 'oddball'. It is set in an alternative dimension where there are no rules. Strange and surreal things happen to our heroes. 

The Doctor and Carl are brought to this strange dimension when the Tardis crashes there, in a rocky wilderness. The Doctor needs to replace a valuable component. The Doctor and Carl vist a nearby house and are separated and forced to complete tests. The Doctor meets a masked figure who offers her a device, but Carl is tricked into killing the Doctor, forcing her to regenerate into a new, male, incarnation.

Out of all four films, Broken Doors is the one with the best production values. The shot on video look is reminiscent of the originals series. All of the locations, especially the quarry planet, could have been accomplished by the BBC TV series. 

Barbara Benedetti has settled in to the role of the Doctor. She is strong in confronting the masked man. It's a pit that we only got four videos with her. 

Randy Rogel is good as Carl. The character is used for comic relief but gets the significant role of being the one to inadvertently  cause of the Doctor's regeneration. 

Michael Santo is the voice of the masked figure, as well as the form of the regenerative Doctor. It is a shame that we never got to see his incarnation of the Doctor. 

The Seattle International Films have been fascinating to watch. Each one has improved on its predecessor and it looks like they finally got them to look great. If anything, these films definately prove a female Doctor can work. Let's hope Jodie Whittaker is up to the task. 

Seattle International Films: Pentagon West (Is There a Doctor In the House?)

Pentagon West isn't quite a Doctor Who film. Having completed two Doctor Who films, Ryan K Johnson was looking to make a TV pilot for a science fiction show. He ultimatey decided to put the Doctor and Carl in it. So this is an pisode of Pentagon West which just happens to have the Doctor in it.

Pentagon West is the story about a group of grad students. Their mentor, Doctor Komar, has completed his project but is becoming strangely reclusive and not allowing them access. The students investigate and run into the mysterious Doctor and her friend Carl, who are investigating Komar's experiments.

The student characters are a fairly decent bunch. Robin is the apparent leader of the group, being the most reasonable. Dr Komar is played as an eccentric scientist. He even has an eastern European accent.

The Doctor and Carl are not in most of it, but Barbara Benedetti and Randy Rogel still steal the screen when they are in it.

The story is very talky. The music is home made this time around. A big improvement. The opening sequence is a little abrupt but it is so much better to hear a special conditioned soundtrack to having theme bits stuck in.

6/10

Seattle International Films: Visions of Utomu

The Wrath of Eukor was a fairly decent post-regeneration story. With Visions of Utomu we get to see the Doctor and Carl having a standard adventure as Seattle International films branches out to give us a sci-fi adventure.

The story opens in a castle on a medieval planet. The Prince Germain and Princess Aldraina are meeting and are due to marry to unite two kingdoms. This plan is thrown into jeopardy when the Prince is kidnapped by the minions of the evil Utomu.

The Tardis lands in Castle and the Doctor and Carl are blamed for the Prince's disappearance.
Fortunately, the King recognize the Doctor from the legend and asks for her help in rescuing the Prince. The Doctor agrees. The Princess wants to go but the King prevents her.

The Doctor and Carl disguise themselves as entertainers to infiltrate Utomu's castle but the Princess has followed them, determined to rescue the Prince. Meanwhile, Utomu tries to persuade the Prince to join him.

Barbara Benedetti continues to be a great  Doctor. She is confident and brave. Carl continues to be the comic relief character. He gets the indignity of being hypnotised into being a great singer but he could have had more serious moments.

Utomu proves a more interesting villain than Eukor was. A former advisor who was banished from the Kingdom. He has the ability to predict the future but misinterprets the signs. Wesley Rice puts in a good peformance.

The Princess Aldraina is likeable enough. Just as the Doctor is now a woman the Princess takes on the rescuer role usually associated with the Prince. On the other hand Prince Germain is a book reader and has to be rescued. It's a nice gender role reversal.

While Wrath of Eukor was made on exterior this is made in almost entirely interior and suffers for it. The backgrounds look sadly unconvincing. The Tardis interior is just a white corridor. The music is once again recycled from previous adventures, specifically the medieval themed King's Demons. 

Ryan K. Johnson has written a much tighter script this time around with a lot more humour. It's a shame  the production values let the story down buut it is still a fun way to pass the time.

6/10

Seattle International Films: The Wrath of Eukor

Jodie Whittaker may be the first female actor to play the Doctor in the official series, but there have been other female Doctors in unofficial productions. In 1984, an actor called Barbara Benedetti played the character in a fan film created by a company called Seattle International and directed by Ryan K Johnson. The female actors since then have all been in comedy sketches but this is one of the few examples not to be a spoof.

The story opens with a pre-titles sequence, set in London, 1911. A chimney sweep, Carl Evans, discovers the female Doctor who is suffering the effects of her recent regeneration. The Doctor is wearing the multicoloured coat implying she is the seventh incarnation. Carl helps the Doctor back to the Tardis and discovers that it is bigger on the inside. It's a nice sequence. The only flaw in this sequence is that Carl shouldn't recognize a police box. Otherwise this is a far better way of bypassing a regeneration scene than  Time and the Rani would manage.

After the titles, the Tardis materialises in a modern day National Park where Vietnam veterans are living in the wild. A reporter is investigating the camp and is later killed by an unseen alien force.
The veterans accusethe Doctor and Carl are accused of the murder but the Doctor's curiosity is piqued and she helps to track down the force. One by one, the veterans are killed off.

The force responsible for these killings is revealled to be Eukor, an energy being. Carl unwittingly frees Eukor who possesses one of the vets. The Doctor and Carl take Eukor to an energy plant and the Doctor traps Eukor in a force field. Like Prisoner Zero in The Eleventh Hour, Eukor is basically just a blank slate for which this new Doctor can pitch herself against. His voice sounds a little bit like Zordon from Power Rangers.

Barbara Benedetti proves to be decent Doctor. She gets the confidence and the intellectual qualities of the part.  The obligatory sex change jokes are there at the beginning but once they're out of the way she just gets on with being the Doctor.

Randy Rogel is good as Carl, the Dick Van Dyke-alike companion. His performance is brilliant although his accent is incredibly distracting.

The supporting cast are a decent bunch of actors, although most of the characters are killed off too soon to really get to know them.

The production is fairly good. The outdoor filming gives the whole thing a sense of atmosphere. The only strike down is the incidental music is recycled from the early 1980s stories with Earthshock and The Leisure Hive featuring prominently. This music doesn't really suit the atmosphere.The title sequence is inspired by the Sid Sutton version, with Barbara Benedetti's face superimposed.



Overall this is a decent start to the series. It's nice to have largely exterior scenes. Time will tell whether audiences will accept a female Doctor but this fan film certainly proved it can work.

7/10