by Jonathan Andrew Sheenby Jonathan Andrew SheenWow! This ROCKED!
I feel I'm bound to do Jon Blum a grave disservice -- he sweats bricks to write amazingly well-structured, detail, witty and scholarly reviews for radw, and all I can provide to return the favor is a meandering gushfest, with little structure, and, in the end, no more point than can be found in the first line above. Still, I've gotta try.
First, the package: They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but you certainly can judge this videotape: Polished, professional, exciting, intriguing, with marvelous layout and design. It would look at home amongst the big-studio releases you might rent from your local video store, with almost nothing about it -- save one deliberately explicit sentence -- to suggest that it's a fan-produced video.
The story itself is gripping, daring, full of twists and surprises, marvelously neat dialogue, witty asides, and soul-searing monologues. I could rattle off dozens of marvelous lines and characterizational bits -- the Doctor and Ace, arguing about the ethics of time travel, for example, or the first confrontation between Ace and Ray -- but I prefer to leave those for the viewer to discover for himself/herself/whoever.
Direction is fine, stretching the limits of limited production facilities, not to the point that you'd believe that this was a professional production, but at least to the point were you could easily see Jon at the helm of one. There were some technical problems with varying sound quality -- wireless mics, Jon! -- bits of lighting mismatching that were occasionally jarring, but these faded into insignificance as the story continued. In the end, I wasn't noticing the directing. I was too busy watching the story. Is there anything else a director wants to accomplish?
Special effects are frequently quite good -- especially a rather large space fleet, which is so good it looks like it was lifted from a major motion picture -- and the props are terrific, especially the detailing on Ray's anti-Dalek laser-tag gun.
The acting varies from character to character, but is better than otherwise most of the time.
Jonathan Blum's performance is astounding, a faithful imitation of McCoy's Doctor, never quite slipping over the line into parody. It's good enough, in fact, that his appearance is a continuing shock: You're lulled by the spot-on voice, performing dead-solid-perfect dialogue, into accepting this as your old friend, the seventh Doctor, so when the close-up comes, and you're looking at this earnest, black-haired college kid, it's jarring. I find myself wondering if an attempt at aging make-up -- maybe even just a curly, light-brown wig -- mightn't have helped.... But then again, given the luck the production had with "Mr. Hartnell's" mustache, perhaps avoiding artificial hair was for the best!
A.C. Chapin is about as far from a physical double for Sophie Aldred as Jon is from Sylvester -- but, at her best, she also proves that a rock-solid performance will draw a viewer past that, and into the character. Ms. Chapin was Ace, with a nearly perfect vocal inflection, and a nearly-perfect attitude. There were moments when she slipped -- certainly more than Jon had -- but, at the top of her form, she turned in a performance that mesmerized.
Itzy Friedman turns in a wonderfully dry performance... which seems a little out of touch with the more melodramatic flair I expected from his character. Still, his solidity, wit, and professionalism show, and render him one of the strong touchstones that hold Time Rift up.
Marsha Twitty brings a fine, quiet, air of military professionalism to General Kramer. With her in charge, we feel that UNIT USA is in good hands.
David Dougherty and Eldridge Brown turn in a predictably mixed performance as Mr. Hartnell, with some fine moments of drama, and some remarkably lifeless readings.
Kevin Cherry's Captain Walker seems perhaps a bit lightweight on first viewing, but there's a dryness and wry wit that come through strongly on later viewings, and his handling of action sequences is terrific.
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Amy Steele as Ray proved to be |
I have, of course, left the best performance for last: Amy Steele's Ray is a joy and a wonder to behold. Her performance is breathtaking -- fraught with tension and laughter, danger and pathos. Her expressive, mercurial face is always animated, and the camera loves her: While she's on-screen, it's hard to place your attention anywhere else. she is by turns lethal and perverse, sweet and vicious, lost and centered. Ray is a fragmented character, various aspects and facets rising to dominance and falling away. It's a tough character, requiring acting that's both complex and gutsy, and Ms. Steele delivers in spades. (It doesn't hurt that she's also a major babe, but that's almost irrelevant to the magic of the performance that so captivates us.)
I also can't close this review without a mention of Neil Marsh's exquisite soundtrack. Marsh refers to pop-culture touchstones, and harkens back to the sound of the better "real" Doctor Who soundtracks, without ever slipping into plagiarism or parody. It is marvelous!
I guess the best way to say it is, I feel like I've just watched a new Doctor Who episode for the first time. I'm looking forward to it becoming a favorite.
