Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis (Story 154)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Silver Nemesis" is "Doctor Who"'s 25th anniversary story only in the sense that Part One aired 25 years to the night after the first episode of "An Unearthly Child". It wasn't even the season premiere, and there wasn't a whole lot of celebrating going on. Most of the nods to "Unearthly", in fact, came in the Season 25 opener, "Remembrance of the Daleks". What made "Silver Nemesis" the anniversary -- apart from the token appearance of classic "Who" adversary the Cybermen -- was the plot, which purported to reveal great secrets about the Time Lord's true origin.

As an actual story, "Silver Nemesis" never got off the ground. Most of the best material was left on the cutting room floor, as evidenced when the extended VHS release added nearly half an episode's worth of extra scenes.

Each of the three parts of "Nemesis" contains one utterly pointless extended sequence that adds nothing to the ongoing story, except lame laughs. In Part Two, 17th century villainness Lady Peinforte is stalked through the streets of 1988 Windsor by a couple of skinheads, who repeatedly berate her as a "social worker". What the heck is that about? In Part Three, Peinforte takes a long car ride with a tourist from Virginia, who speaks in the most inflated Southern accent since the movie "Steel Magnolias". All right, this actually gets funnier in retrospect, but it sure wasn't amusing in 1988. In Part One there is some promise, as "Doctor Who" veteran Nick Courtney makes an unbilled, dialogue-free cameo as a tourist at Windsor Castle. A stand-in for the Queen also shows up, walking her dogs.

The best version of "Nemesis" that exists is neither of the "official" ones (broadcast or VHS). A "lite" edit circulated around the Internet a couple of years ago, which eliminated all of the go-nowhere scenes listed above, and replaced them with the most interesting extra bits from the VHS release. The story is made markedly tighter by this substitution, while still coming in at a manageable three parts. The most interesting alteration is the change of cliffhangers: Part Two no longer ends with the non-terrifying revelation that "thousands" of Cybermen spaceships are orbiting the Moon. Instead, it concludes with a screech as the story's Nemesis -- the living Gallifreyan statue forged as the ultimate weapon of mass destruction -- comes to life in a shower of impressively digitized sparks. As the story is really about the Nemesis (not the Cybermen) and what she knows about the Doctor, "Silver Nemesis" takes sharper focus when she's given center stage.

But "Silver Nemesis" ultimately cannot deliver on any meaningful level. It asserts that the Doctor has "secrets", about "the old time, the time of Chaos". However, no matter how you edit the story, those secrets will never be revealed. Oh, Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred still have terrific by-play together. You'll find out a little more about the Doctor's ongoing chess game with the shadows in Lady Peinforte's study, solved in the following season's "Curse of Fenric". However, it will still end with Ace asking the Doctor, "Who ARE you?", and will still end with Sylvester shushing her. That's not an anniversary. That's just par for the course.

When Silver Nemesis came out on video in the 90s, it was in the form of a greatly extended director's cut. The video was accompanied by an excellent documentary on the making of the story produced by an American PBS station. As a package, it was an excellent value and a fan's delight.

This DVD release of the story is, by comparison, a wasted opportunity. The stories from the seventh doctor's era were often poorly paced and nonsensical, in part due to extensive edits for timing. Silver Nemesis is a prime example. The added footage (more than 20 minutes' worth) in the video release wasn't just for kicks, but actually improved the coherence of the narrative by leaps and bounds. And the accompanying documentary added valuable insight into the characters and the philosophy of the writers.

I can understand why the documentary may have been left out for reasons related to copyrights, but to release this story in "vanilla" form when hours of extant material exists in the BBC archives is, frankly, cheap. I'm going to hold off on buying this DVD and hope it gets the "Revisitation" treatment as several other Doctor Who stories have.

In an untelevised adventure in 1638, the Second Doctor launched an asteroid containing a statue made of the living metal (yes, living metal) validium into space, but got the sums wrong, so that its decaying orbit would lead it back to Earth on 23 November 1988 (read, Doctor Who's silver jubilee).

Three parties are striving to control the statue, named Nemesis: Herr De Flores, leader of a band of neo-Nazis, Lady Peinforte and her servant Richard, and that silver menace whom De Flores calls the Giants (q.v. Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen), the Cybermen. The Doctor and Ace get involved in this when the former's alarm sounds at a Courtney Pine concert. They jet back and forth from 1988 to 1638 to discover answers, answers that the Doctor already knows but is keeping from Ace.

Our heroes must gain possession of the Nemesis to correct the Doctor's mistake, and it ends triumphantly when the everybody in the other three parties perish, save one.

Dolores Gray has a pleasant moment as a kindhearted Virginian tourist who gives Lady Peinforte and Richard a lift in her limo, replete with accent.

And the pair of skinheads mistaking Lady Peinforte and Richard for social workers is cause for a chuckle or eye rolling.

The concept of a comet causing events on Earth with its arrival every 25 years is interesting, as evidenced by the eve of the Great War (1913), the Anschluss of Austria (1938), Kennedy's assassination (1963), and the Cybermen invasion of Earth (1988). What other events did the Nemesis influence? The eve of the War of the Ausberg League (1688), the eve of the French Revolution (1788), the Battle of Gettysburg (1863)? Maybe.

A few questionable aspects to this story is the use of the Gregorian calendar (1752) in England re the Doctor's calculations, the motives of the Cybernized people shooting at the Doctor and Ace after the concert (maybe they also hated people whose alarms went off at concerts), and the existence in 1638 of Roundheads. Still, this doesn't detract from the story.

The Cybermen outfits must be brand spanking new compared to Attack Of The Cybermen, as they are polished and glittering, and as such, are a sight to behold. Still, glitter does not obscure the fact that they are still easily killed by gold coins, unless they were made with sharpened edges--who knows?

This is the second of what I call the "Ace Enigma Trilogy," the first being Dragonfire, the third being The Curse Of Fenric. For those who don't know what's going on, think--who moved the chess pieces after the Doctor's first visit to Lady Peinforte's house? And why does he bother playing the game in the first place.

Pity the series ended with Survival, otherwise we might have seen the story where Gainsborough did his painting of Ace.

Following the story are outtakes and a making of documentary, where the viewer gets to see the use of glowing paint for the Nemesis bow, Cyberleader David Banks demonstrating his new Cyber costume, rehearsal sessions in the BBC studio, the importance of first showing actors firing guns the safety catch, and other things.

As a silver anniversary celebration, Silver Nemesis, and its companion documentary has its hearts in the right places.

This review applies to the 2010 DVD release of Silver Nemesis, which - amazingly - is much less interesting than the old VHS release. You see, the VHS version featured an extended edition of the story with many deleted scenes worked back in; it also included a good "making of" documentary made by an American PBS station. Alas, while this DVD does include the deleted scenes, they are only viewable as a separate special feature (in other words, there's no option to watch the extended edition of the story); and the American documentary is nowhere to be found here.

In short, this is a lazy DVD release. Other Doctor Who stories have gotten better treatment - extended editions, new special effects, multiple new documentary features - but here, we get only one short retrospective and no fancy extended version.

Of course, the laziness of this release is easy to explain - Silver Nemesis is a much-hated serial, and perhaps rightfully so. I enjoyed this story when I was nine years old, but now that I'm older, I find that I have little tolerance for its sloppiness. Silver Nemesis suffers from a glut of poorly developed characters and concepts, and intrusive humor segments that only occasionally manage to be funny. The Cybermen - allegedly Doctor Who's second-most-important villains - serve no function in this story, except to make stupid decisions and die pathetically. And the plot, as many other reviewers have pointed out, is a rehash of the far superior Remembrance of the Daleks.

To make matters worse, the production style of 1980s Doctor Who has aged terribly. Somehow, the studio-bound Tom Baker episodes of Who look less dated to me than Silver Nemesis; cheap BBC videotape footage of a studio set doesn't look too bad, but cheap videotape footage of real-life locations (as featured here) smacks of amateur home-video making. Also, the soundtracks of Tom Baker's episodes featured real instruments, whereas here the music is all done on a dinky synthesizer. More importantly, Tom Baker and Louise Jameson were gifted and magnetic character actors, whereas Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred are comparatively flat and dull. In other words, older Doctor Who has aged better than this tacky product of a tacky time.

But perhaps I'm being too harsh. Silver Nemesis does have its good points - a fast pace, amusing action scenes, well-acted villains, and Kevin Clarke's occasionally literate dialog. But it's clear to me that Clarke didn't fully understand Doctor Who, mistakenly regarding it as some kind of dopey sci-fi comedy with no need for coherent plotting. And it's also clear to me that the BBC had no real interest in Doctor Who during the late '80s, and was perfectly willing to let it limp on with a miserable budget and poor talent behind the cameras. It's sad, really, because there's a germ of a good story in here somewhere.

I'd say from reviews of this story that Silver Nemesis is one of those Dr Who tales you either love or hate. For the record, the story involves a living metal which was sent into orbit by the Doctor, but which crashes to Earth in the late twentieth century. Its arrival heralds the appearance of the Fourth Reich, the time-travelling medieval Lady Peinforte, and the Cybermen. Okay, so this episode has some pretty silly concepts (anything orbitting the Earth with a decaying orbit would not take 25 years to go round, the Cybermen are too weedy for words - military weapons fail to penetrate their armour, yet a gold-headed arrow can do so easily (gold being a soft metal) and the way the Doctor escapes the guards in the castle just defies camp comedy). But why can't people just enjoy this for what it is - three episodes of entertaining, sci-fi escapism. The action is fast-paced, the story is filled with interesting characters, there are plenty of humorous touches and the music is great. This video also contains the making of Silver Nemesis, which is a bonus.

Doctor Who in the late 80s was clearly a show staggering toward cancellation, and this story, and the special features that go along with it, show why. We see stereotypical characters, ham-fisted over-acting, and some really poorly written dialog (but I am eeevil....) A once-serious antagonist is reduced to a bad joke. The Cybermen, originally written as a terrifying look into humanity's possible future if we allow ourselves to become too wedded to and dependent on machines, complete their decay into oafish posturing lummoxes who can be taken out with a slingshot.

The special features reveal that the story looks so thrown-together because it is -- the writer didn't even have an actual story idea when he went in to deliver his story pitch to the producer, but got hired on the basis of an extremely vague off the cuff presentation. Concern for tight, serious story-telling had declined that much in the Doctor Who production office by the late 80s.

The sloppiness of the original production is matched by the sloppiness of the DVD presentation. The VHS release of this story included extra scenes that many viewers felt enhanced the story greatly, but rather than present both versions of the story (as has been done on several other Doctor Who releases) we are only given the original TV version here. Some of the extra scenes appear out of context as a DVD special feature, but (in spite of promises from 2|Entertain, the company that releases Doctor Who on home video) not all. The reason? They forgot.

Oops.

If you're a completist you may still want to get this. Or perhaps not. 2|Entertain has rereleased several other Doctor Who stories with enhanced extras packages, they may do so with "Silver Nemesis" in hopes of getting fans to double-dip.

The only reason this DVD rates 2 stars instead of 1 for me is the behind the scenes information, the interviews that help show how and why this story went as badly wrong as it did. Good material for rabid fans, but not for the casual viewer.

In general I love Doctor Who. In the case of this particular release I'll make an exception.

Yes, alright, so the meteor containing the statue would take less time to orbit the earth each time if its orbit was decaying. But would it? Perhaps the statue, made of a mysterious living metal the statue, sent into orbit by the Doctor to stop it falling into the hands of a medieval woman with dangerous powers, might have some influence over its orbital time.

Whichever way you look at it, Silver Nemesis is everything that has made Dr Who great - an interesting plot, genuine characters, the Doctor as an enigmatic figure, plenty of gripping suspence and spectacular sci-fi action. The Cybermen return, as ruthless and entertainingly evil as ever, and Anton Diffring, playing the leader of a neo-Nazi organisation hell-bent on gaining possession of the powerful living metal, makes one of the most memorable human villains of the Sylvester McCoy era.

And the addition of scenes cut from the original TV broadcast, together with the Making of Silver Nemesis, make this a must for everybody even slightly interested in sci-fi. And if you're not into sci-fi, then this will convert you into a fan.

Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis was the series'25th anniversary story that debuted on it's anniversary date itself on November 23, 1988. (It was the third story of the 25th season, which was Sylvester McCoy's second year.) With the release of Revenge of the Cybermen that came out with Silver Nemesis, all of the complete Cybermen stories from the classic series are now available on DVD.(Only The Tenth Planet, their first story, which is missing it's final episode, remains.)

DVD FEATURES:

- All 3 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, script editor Andrew Cartmel and director Chris Clough.

- Optional Dolby 5.1 sound mix. (The default is the original 2.0 stereo.)

- Isolated Music option. This plays the story with only the music soundtrack audible.

- Information Text subtitles option. Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- "Industrial Action" A 33-minute featurette about the making of this story with interviews with actors Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, and Gerard Murphy(Richard), jazz musician Courtney Pine, stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard,writer Kevin Clarke, script editor Andrew Cartmel, and director Chris Clough.

- Deleted and Extended Scenes. A 23-minute package of 23 different scenes deleted from the finished program to meet the timeslot.

- Trails and Continuity. A 6-minute package of the BBC's trailers and introductions for this story, including a special trailer called "8891 Royale" that was only shown to the press (the music for which could also be heard on the "25th Anniverary Album" which came out at this time)

- Photo Gallery. 8 minutes of still photos taken throughout the making of the story.

- PDF Materials. Place this disc into your computer and you'll have access to PDF files containing the original 1988 Radio Times TV listings for this story, which include some extra articles about the show to tie in to the 25th anniversary.

- Coming Soon trailer for the forthcoming Time and the Rani.

*** When this story was released on VHS in the early 1990s, it came out as the Silver Nemesis Extended Edition, where 11 minutes of the footage originally cut from the finished episodes to fit the timeslot was rather crudely reinstated. The version on this DVD is the broadcast version, without those 11 minutes put back into the episodes. Most (but not quite all) of that material can be watched in the deleted scenes package in the special features, along with some scenes that were not reinstated. That VHS edition also contained a 60-minute documentary that was live on set during the making of this show (very like Doctor Who Confidential is nowadays on the new series). That documentary was made by American PBS' New Jersey Network, and has not been included on this DVD as it was felt the rights clearances these days would be too expensive for this title.

I really wanted to like this story. It is the last Cybermen adventure of the Classic Series and the only encounter McCoy got with the silver baddies. However, the writer, Kevin Clarke, tried to cram everything and the kitchen sink into the story and nothing really seems to add up. We get hammy performances, flimsy dialogue, mindless running, padding in a 3-part story, and a rip-off of an earlier story of this season Remembrance of the Daleks (which was much better by far). Amidst it all, Silver Nemesis remains watchable, but only just. It's a fun trip the first time and seeing the Cybermen could mean a lot to someone, but there's not enough there to merit multiple views or even appreciation. It's easily one of the weakest McCoy stories, down there with Dragonfire, Time and the Rani, and Paradise Towers.

The story (if I can call it that) revolves around the living silver being, the Silver Nemesis which grants lots of power to the wielder (like the Hand of Omega in Remembrance... hmm...) and it was sent into orbit by the Doctor in 1963 and comes back in 1988 (hmm... Remembrance... again?) and the only reason this is the 25th Anniversary episode is because the 1st part aired on November 23rd 1988 and the original pilot of the show did the same back in 1963. Difference there, is the pilot was much, much better. From here things just get weird. There's the Fourth Reich, Lady Peinforte and Richard her servant who travel into the future to claim the Nemesis, both armed with the means of waking the thing, the Silver Bow and the Silver Arrow. But look, the Cybermen want it too. Lord...

It's 3 episodes of plain muddle. There's no clear story and the music is God-awful. There are so many wooden performances and only Richard is likeable here. The Seventh Doctor and Ace continue to bond together and show great chemistry with strong performances and the action is really cool, especially for back then, even if that gold weakness is taken a bit far. Visually, it is impressive, and there is over 20 minutes of deleted or extended scenes that are worth admission alone.

Another weakness however is the DVD itself, lacking the Extended Version put on VHS years and years ago. It's a shame, as the added stuff is much better and makes for a more fun episode. Not even all of the deleted materials are here and the making of commentary pales to the VHS version. This could've been a highlight for McCoy, really. Sadly, this idea never became a story and those Cybermen were wasted. A pity really.

Earth 1988 The Doctor and Ace decide to relax and take in the day by listening to a local jazz group and just enjoy that nothing is going wrong. That is until the Doctor has a reminder that something is going to happen on some planet at some crucial time. Meanwhile in South America an elderly man who goes by the name of Deflore along with his personal troops have been planning and waiting for something to come to Earth. Something that he has waited since the days of WWII. In the past 1638 a lady by the name of Panefor along with her servent Richard are waiting for a local scholar to finish his mathmatical calculations and discover when an asteriod would return to Earth. Something that she helped launched and won't be returning to Earth for sometime.
Soon the Doctor realizes that it is the Earth itself in danger and the very thing being the Nemesis Comet. For inside the Comet itself is a weapon of such awesome power and destruction that the Doctor alongside the Lady Panefor and a few others sent it into space never to be used. What the Doctor does know is that the weapon was in three peices and stolen from thier resting places. The first being a bow that Deflore took during the last days of WWII and escaped to one day bring the Reicht back to power with the aid of Nemesis. Lady Panefor held onto the arrow and with it will allow her to follow the other two pieces anywhere so long as she has the correct time and place she can use her unearthly powers to find it.
The Doctor and Ace become tangled in an all out war between Defloures and Lady Panefor for control of the Nemesis. But when it seems that the Doctor can outwit both sides he encounters an old enemy waiting in the shadows for the right moment to strike..the Cybermen. Can the Doctor stop this new threat in the form of the cybermen and keep all the players from gaining control of the Nemesis? Will the Nazi's rule the Earth? Will the Cybermen? And what dark secerts does the lady Panefor know about the Doctor that could very well change the way we see the Doctor forever?
On a personal note sadly this dvd does not have a very extensive amount of extras and seeing as how there are only a handful of McCoy era episodes left one would think they would want to pack in as much as possable. But not so. With one documentry about the epsiode and with Sophie Aldred and Slyvester McCoy among a few others that's about it.