Doctor Who: The Daemons DVD Review

Lately, there have been too many Doctor Who reviews I've had to write about stories I happen to think are unassailable classics. The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) era has gone through periods of fan devotion, reassessment, and even resentment concerning the Time Lord’s cozier relationship to the establishment in comparison with other incarnations, and then recently a return to respect for one of the show’s most stable and popular periods. Well, I never stopped loving the Pertwee era, particularly the core seasons of the “UNIT Family” dynamic, and I love “The Daemons.” It’s a high point of this Doctor’s time on the show, a classic of the entire series in general, and an amazing document of a particular kind of fantasy horror adventure storytelling so wonderfully ’70s and British that it just never loses its charm. It’s appropriately magical.

I first saw “The Daemons” in black and white. Seeing the show on Maryland public television back in the ’80s, there were quite a few Pertwee stories that no longer existed except as black and white film copies recovered from overseas sales. Now that the wizards of the Restoration Team have worked their own brand of technical magic – building on earlier color work done on the story for a ’90s videotape release – and brought all the color back into these episodes, I have to say it’s both exhilarating and jarring. For me, this was one story that felt right in black and white, with its dark crypts demonic imagery, and thunderstorms sweeping along old stone streets. But I am very happy to see it restored to even beyond its former glory, if only to get the full effect of the Master’s (Roger Delgado) richly decorated red cloak, which not only puts him squarely in the role of the typical Hammer Films Dracula disciple trying to resurrect his own master but also links him to that otherwise inexplicably ostentatious future incarnation of the renegade Time Lord in the 1996 TV movie. 1999 San Francisco or 1971 Devil’s End – the man always dresses for the occasion. He even puts his name on his clothes so he doesn't forget (take a look at the runes on his collar).

The plot? Oh, all right. The Master has assumed the identity of a village vicar in order to contact an ancient alien – Azal the Daemon (Stephen Thorne) – left on Earth to monitor its race’s human evolution experiment. Mankind is about to be judged, and the ruthless Time Lord wants Azal to grant him the power to rule the Doctor’s favorite planet. Our hero and the stalwart forces of UNIT must protect the citizens of the aptly named Devil’s End – including local white witch Olive Hawthorne (Damaris Hayman) – and prevent Azal from empowering the Master and dooming humanity to a horrible end.

There’s so much delight to be had in the “The Daemons” that although I could certainly point out the flaws, I’d rather just look past them. The animated gargoyle Bok (Stanley Mason) is a memorable villain with a spring in his step, but he often looks like a guy with sagging tights; that’s OK. Poor Katy Manning as Jo Grant trips and falls like a sack of potatoes in one scene with Pertwee at her side to guide her myopic self along, but that’s OK too (and I hope she wasn't hurt). And most egregiously, the up-to-the-last-second organic and nearly godlike Azal suddenly and for no reason becomes a literal-minded robot that cannot “relate” Jo’s self-sacrifice, providing the story with a far too easy explosive ending familiar to fans of any American summer blockbuster of the last 30 years. But no, I still don’t care.

Because Delgado is at his best, persuading the villagers to follow him and then insulting them and threatening their lives the very next moment. Because Miss Hawthorne is an endearing, self-possessed woman that should have appeared again and should have a long-running Big Finish audio drama series built around her (I’ll write it!). Because the entire UNIT team gets involved: Benton (John Levene) and Olive are superb together as the knight and his long-in-the-tooth damsel, Yates (Richard Franklin) rides in on a motorcycle, plucky Sgt. Osgood (Alec Linstead) does his best with the Doctor’s impatient science lesson, and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) figures out the heat barrier without the Doctor’s help – he’s sharp and decisive, and not the buffoon he’ll become in just another season or so. And he knows just how many rounds to fire at a living gargoyle.

“The Daemons” is a high point, illustrated by nothing less than the actual capturing of the Master after a full season of that jackanapes causing trouble, and a May Day celebration with the cast dancing the day away as the locals happily watch the filming. It’s magical and meta at the same time. And as befits a story of this stature, we get two discs jammed with wonderful material, including a great behind-the-scenes documentary and a revealing, heartfelt look at the career of producer Barry Letts with contributions from his family. This is an indispensable release for any Who fan.

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Study: Networks seized on Romney's hidden-camera remark, downplayed Obama's

The big three broadcast networks devoted dozens of stories last week to Mitt Romney's supposed "47 percent" gaffe but gave just a fraction of that air time to covering an audio tape of controversial remarks by President Obama, according to the Media Research Center. 

The MRC examined how much total air time each story got last week and found coverage of the Romney remarks overpowered coverage of the Obama remarks by a 13-1 ratio. 

The center found that ABC, CBS and NBC - on their evening and morning shows -- spent 88 minutes and 42 total stories on Romney. They spent six and a half minutes and eight stories on Obama. 

The Obama quote purportedly was from a 1998 conference at Loyola University. In an audio recording posted online, the young Obama could be heard telling the audience he believes there has been "a propaganda campaign against the possibility of government action and its efficacy." 

"I think that what we're going to have to do is somehow resuscitate the notion that government action can be effective at all," Obama said. "I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution -- because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot." 

The Romney campaign tried to draw attention to that clip after Democrats had hammered him over hidden-camera footage of remarks he made to donors in May about people who don't pay taxes. 

He said: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. ... "There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it." 

Romney said that, as a presidential candidate, he didn't have to "worry about those people." 

The Media Research Center estimated that if the coverage of each was compared starting with when the Obama recording emerged last Tuesday night, the coverage of Romney still outpaces that of Obama by a 10-1 ratio. 

"The double-standard within just one week of the news cycle is staggering," the center wrote in its analysis.

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Republicans crank up pressure on administration to clear up facts on Libya attack

After two weeks of changing stories from the Obama administration regarding the Libya terror attack, Republican lawmakers are putting increasing pressure on the president and his advisers to explain why they made such "implausible" statements in the days following the strike. 

Members of Congress, frustrated over an apparently light-on-details intelligence briefing last week and the initial insistence by officials that the attack was linked to anger over an anti-Islam film, fired off a round of letters this week seeking clear answers. Mitt Romney, after initially laying low over the changing Libya narrative, also has started to hammer the president over the issue. 

Republicans now are openly suggesting that the administration may have covered up details of the attack for political purposes. 

"We are getting close to an election, and all I can think of is they're just trying to keep the facts unknown until after the election," Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News on Wednesday. "The way they're handling this is so incompetent." 

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that President Obama considers the strike a "terrorist attack." Though Obama did not refer to it as such in his address Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly, several administration officials, including Carney and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have used the term since last week. 

The administration, though, still has not publicly rejected comments made two Sundays ago in several TV interviews by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. Rice claimed on "Fox News Sunday" and other programs that the attack was a spontaneous assault tied to the anti-U.S. protests in Cairo. Rice, like other administration officials, said the attack was not pre-planned. 

Four senators wrote a letter to Rice on Tuesday asking about her "troubling statements that are inconsistent with the facts" and demanding an explanation. 

"By the date of your comments, it was already clear that the attack in Libya was a terrorist attack, and that heavily armed and well trained attackers appeared to have prepared for an opportunity to attack U.S. interests," they wrote. "Yet, you repeatedly asserted the implausible explanation that the attack in Benghazi was a spontaneous reaction to the video despite growing evidence to the contrary. ... We look forward to a timely response that explains how the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations could characterize an attack on a U.S. consulate so inaccurately five days after a terrorist attack that killed four Americans." 

The letter was signed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., wrote a separate letter Wednesday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking about security measures in Benghazi prior to the consulate attack. 

"Specifically, we are concerned over the apparent lack of security preparations made despite a demonstrable increase in risks to U.S. officials and facilities in Benghazi in the period leading up to the attacks," they wrote, citing attacks earlier this year on the consulate, the British ambassador's convoy and the International Committee of the Red Cross office. 

House Republicans including McKeon meanwhile sent a letter to Obama asking about intelligence leading up to the attack and criticizing the administration's discussion of the strike in its aftermath. 

"We are also disturbed by the public statements made by members of the administration that would lead the American public to believe this attack was a protest gone wrong, rather than what it truly was - a terrorist attack on the United States on the anniversary of 9/11," they wrote. 

Slamming the response to the attack as a "pre-9/11 mindset," they asked the Obama administration what it plans to do to protect other U.S. interests abroad from being targeted. 

Obama advisers, though, have denied any attempt to mislead the public. 

Carney said Wednesday that the administration has provided as much information as possible, stressing that the investigation must be allowed to take its course. 

Carney said the administration will provide more facts to the public as they emerge. 

The Romney campaign, though, pressed Obama to personally condemn the attack as terrorism. 

"This is now the second time the White House press secretary has said something that President Obama has declined to admit. If the president thinks the tragic events in Libya were acts of terrorism, he should say so himself," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said, echoing Romney's comments in an interview with Fox News a day earlier.   

Libyan President Mohamed Magarief, in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, reiterated his claim that the anti-Islam film had nothing to do with the attack in Libya.

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Podcast Unlocked Episode 72: Boners

While Mitch covers the Tokyo Game Show from Japan, Destin, Naomi, and Ryan discuss the biggest Xbox-related stories from the comfort and safety of IGN HQ. Metal Gear, Ninja Gaiden, Borderlands 2, and more are all covered. Oh, and Destin apparently has an unhealthy obsession with Killer Instinct, which is also in the news this week. How weird can it get? You'll have to tune in to find out!

Download Episode 72 of Podcast Unlocked right here.

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