The Enemy of the World
Previous: The Ice Warriors
The Enemy of the World
Oh goodness, the TARDIS sounds ill today. Also, VICTORIA. MY MY WHAT A SHORT SKIRT YOU'RE WEARING.
(Short, as in Two can't use Jamie as a defense anymore.)
Aww, he's brought them to the beach for a little seaside vacation! How thoughtful. *counts minutes before things go horribly wrong*
("The Doctor meanwhile has stripped to his longjohns and is merrily crashing about in the surf.") Probably the only moment of Two stripping.
Ah, you must be Astrid! There are some characters here I've heard about so many times it feels like I know them already...
*hits stopwatch* Three minutes: people are already aiming guns at the Doctor.
So we already have burninated: wet, half-naked Doctor and a hovercraft chase scene with guns. And we're only 5 minutes in. *glares*
"Perhaps we've landed in a world of madmen!"
"They're human beings, if that's what you mean. Indulging their favorite pastime: trying to destroy each other."
Wow. One thing's for sure: the soundtrack people were certainly having a lot of fun with this.
("In the cockpit, Victoria clings to Jamie for dear life.") CANON-CLING.
"But what is this thing, Doctor!"
"It's a helicopter, Jamie!"
"Huh?"
"A chopper! You know, a whirlybird!"
"...He says it's a bird!"
I still don't understand why the Doctor keeps saying he's not a doctor of medicine when he clearly has a good amount of medical expertise.
Oh wow. Two gets one great compliment and suddenly he's a puppy at Astrid's feet. *scratches his ears*
"You resemble, very closely, a man who's determined to become dictator of the world. A man who will stop at nothing." SALAMANDERRRR
Sorry, I probably should've saved that until he actually showed up.
And then there was a s'plosion! That helicopter was so nice and patient for waiting until there were antagonistic men with guns on board.
Ooo yay, history lesson! Because it isn't a future-Earth Classic Who story without a history lesson.
So apparently the United Nations is the United Zones now.
Theeeeeeere he is, the man himself. And good god, with just the audio and telesnaps it's hard to take him seriously at all with THAT ACCENT.
"He seems to be a public benefactor, quite a speaker too and remarkably handsome, didn't you think so Jamie?" Jamie thinks you look gorgeous
Now this is interesting: I honestly wasn't expecting Salamander to be introduced as a positive public figure (with dark secrets, of course.)
So let's see how much of a chameleon Two can be. He has as many minutes to more or less *become* Salamander.
Aaaaaand it looks like he's about done it!
Patrick Troughton is brilliant beyond everything. He plays Salamander and Twomander similarly but still VERY distinctly.
And the best part, you can tell even with just the audio and stills. THAT, my dear followers, is some Serious Business acting talent.
You can still hear him trying to master the accent and everything oh my god
Now this is interesting: for once, Team TARDIS seems daunted by the prospect of saving the world. That's every day for them, isn't it?
BENIK! Someone else I feel like I know already because I've heard so much about you!
Ohhhh man, SO many awkward creepy close-ups of angry!Bruce in this episode...
SALAMANDEEEEERRRRRRR We meet at last!
And he's talking about volcanoes. I think I know where this is going.
Fariah! I know you too!
Ohhhhh my goodness, Jamie's sweatervest. How did I not notice that until now.
"Spot trouble"? I wonder if this is what they envisioned cellular telephones being like at this point in the future.
DEFUSED YETI. DEFUSED YETI. DISUSED JETTY.
Sorry, it WAS "disused Yeti" that Two misheard. But still, DEFUSED YETI.
Wait. Is it just me, or does Fariah have Princess Leia buns in her hair?
And she had "help" with her food-tasting duties...ahaaaaa, I knew there was something suspicious about that wine.
Suddenly, ACTION-JAMIE!
This interaction between Jamie and Salamander is blowing my mind a bit. Pat, you are a serious SERIOUS chameleon.
Also, I honestly have to wonder if Jamie means "girlfriend" as in "romantic interest" or "friend who is a girl."
"What an extraordinary young man!"
"I prize loyalty very highly, my friend, and I repay it very generously."
And very naively.
I mean, I'm honestly not sure how I'd react to some random dude coming up to me and claiming to've saved my life.
So we've got two of the three main female characters in this serial working the kitchens. Not sure how I feel about this.
On the other hand, Fariah is doing a great job of saving herself from utter racefail by being intelligent, cunning, and even a bit badass.
Ooohhhhh Salamander, you sly devious bastard.
And now all the jokes that the TPC make about him playing with volcanoes make sense.
Amused a bit that the reconner credits Patrick Troughton as Dr. Who Salamander.
Huh. Now that I can actually see Salamander moving, I can see a lot more Troughton in him.
Correction: a LOT lot more Troughton. Even hearing the accent sounds different now.
On another note, Jamie continues to be awesome and badass and now as an added bonus he's leatherclad.
And now that I can see Victoria properly, I see Jamie's rubbing off on her more: she's started wearing tartan kilts now.
Awwww, she's so happy remembering her pudding.
Another great moment of Jamie is Smarter Than He Looks: he certainly understands the methods of tyrants and political puppets.
"A sort of Jekyll and Hyde character, our Mr. Salamander." Same could be said here in general: Good Trought, Evil Trought.
"SECURITY! QUICK!" *shoves Two into a box*
"I hope there's plenty of air in here!"
Ah, Benik! Fancy running into you again.
So you can't force a man to leave his home outside the boundaries, but you *can* smash the everloving crap out of his stuff.
JEEEEEEEEEESUS Benik is a massive slimeball. MAAAAAAASSIVE slimeball. Grrrrrrrrrrrr...
"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them."
Two does not look to be taking kindly to your screaming nearly in his ear.
Wow. The Russian-sounding guard gets one look at Astrid unzipping her jacket to get her pass and he's already asking her out for wine.
Um...Astrid...I think you can zip your jacket up again now.
"How's the food? *sniff* Terrible, terrible. I'll get the sack tonight, I swear I will! Maybe they'll shoot me and I won't have to worry anymore. Nah, they wouldn't do that. The firing squad'd miss me." I really like this cook.
Yikes. Fariah's still got quite a bite. I wonder if we'll ever find out how she wound up with Salamander...
Uh oh, somebody's getting their food poisoned.
Or maybe not! Looks like the cowardly guy's still got a solid conscience after all.
Aaaaaaand now he's dead, thanks to poisoned wine. This really shouldn't surprise me.
Correction: I REALLY like this cook. Funny guy.
Well, that rescue plan failed. Also, that was an usually abrupt cut. Are a few seconds of this episode still missing?
Uh oh, Salamander's got his first hint of his doppelganger.
Ah, Pat's credited as Dr. Who Salamander here too, except with slightly more space so it looks more like two separate names.
Ah yes, the infamous Land of No Telesnaps. Let's see what the old-school reconners make of this...
Ooo yay, it's Loose Cannon again! Everything's in good hands.
"Why should you want to help him?"
"Because I hate Salamander probably even more than you do. I can help you destroy him!"
BAMF!Fariah.
Also, Benik really loves rolling her name around in his mouth, doesn't he?
So, um, no reaction from Fariah to seeing her boss's double? Or was she told already and I just forgot?
"What you really want me to do is to kill him, isn't it?"
"What *else* do you do when someone is evil?"
Ahhhha. Two, explain.
Escaping through the ventilation shaft, that works too...
BENIK IS A SHOUTY MAN.
Ohhhhhh crap. Fariah's going to die before we learn anything more about her (FROM her, anyway) D:
"You can't threaten me now, Benik. I can only die once. and someone's beaten you to it."
"Who was the other man?"
"Sir! She's dead."
"...Good."
And so falls An Awesome Woman.
Wait...what's Salamander doing now? I hope he finishes up soon because that buzzer sound is REALLY REALLY ANNOYING.
There we go. Also, I really wish this scene had proper telesnaps. The situation was just odd enough to really merit a specific visual aid.
Hello, who are these random underground refugee people?
It sounds like these are people that he's deliberately keeping underground under the impression that the surface is uninhabitable. But why?
Salamander's even faking radiation sickness. This is an odd plot thread to be introducing so late-ish in the serial.
So they've been down there for nearly 5 years? I suddenly feel like I'm watching a completely different serial.
This plot is even complete with a Rebellious Youth Who Doesn't Believe The Lies and His Lady Friend. Wow.
Aaaaaand now we've cut back to Two in full Salamander get-up! I remember what I'm watching now.
Also, considering their resources, Loose Cannon did a GREAT job of putting together the right telesnaps to recreate this episode. Kudos!
Ah, tracking device. Of course. So Salamander's man knows about Two now.
Wow. Astrid sure had an easy time swiping that gun. Are all the local women in this serial just really badass by default?
Two says he doesn't want any part of violence, but a few seconds later he asks for the gun. ...Well okay then.
Ahhhhh, I see what you did there. Now they've actually got Bruce on their side, to an extent.
Seeds of doubt cast in the mind of the Faithful Underground Elder thanks to the magic of newspaper dating!
"You've LIED to us, haven't you?" Ohhhh snap.
Wait. Wait...Wait. What does he mean by "the natural disasters WE'VE been organizing?" HOW HAVE THEY BEEN CAUSING EARTHQUAKES/VOLCANOES.
Not sure if Salamander's doing the best job of covering his tracks. He keeps making basically the same argument over and over again.
"Promise me one thing: you won't tell the others."
"Why shouldn't I?"
"BECAUSE I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG!"
#EVILTROUGHT
Aw, poor frustrated angsty Colin.
Jamie and Victoria are finally up! Feels like we haven't seen them in a while.
"Come now, you don't think I'm just going to sit here and ask questions, do you?"
"You must've been a nasty little boy."
"Oh, I was!"
BENIIIIIIIK. GREASY SLIMEBAAAAAAAALL.
"You lay a finger on her, I'll kill you." This is a James Robert McCrimmon Appreciation Post.
Suddenly, TWOMANDER! Wow. He's certainly nailing the accent this time.
Wait. Unless that's really Salamander. I am confuse. But it's probably Two because he mentioned the Doctor.
"Fariah is dead."
"DEAD?"
"You've had her murdered too, have you?"
"WHY YOU..."
"NO, VICTORIA, DON'T HIT ME! You wouldn't hit your old friend the Doctor, would you? I wouldn't leave you in the tender mercy of Salamander!"
"...Doctor?"
"You don't believe me? Oh..."
("He pats his pockets hopefully, before realizing that he is not carrying his recorder.")
DDD:
Saved by the Power of Music! Happy reunion! Awwww...
Confused Benik is confused.
Huh. Well, I guess now we know what happened to all those people that allegedly went with Salamander to the surface and never came back.
And I guess Swann escape after all to be rescued by Astrid! But it sounds like he's a total wreck.
Oh sure, give the man some random water dripping down a cave wall. I'm sure THAT'S safe. (Well, okay he might be dying, but still.)
Sneaky Benik and equally sneaky Two. Who's going to crack first?
And now Swann is dead. At least he got all the important information to Astrid in his final moments.
"Tell him where I am and just say 'redhead'."
"Redhead."
"Redhead. Is that clear?"
"Redhead...is that your wife?"
#jamiiiieeeee
Astrid finds the refugees and is immediately pelted by stuff from angry frightened people. Lovely. Ah thank you for the intervention, Colin.
So the Geiger counter was a set-up after all! And how does Astrid prove it? With a simple desk ruler. Nice.
You know, I didn't notice it until just now but...is it just me, or does Kent have an American accent?
Wait. WAIT. The Salamander Kent is talking to is actually Two? But...when did he get in the records room?
AND SUDDENLY EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AT ONCE.
Oh wow. Trought's got an EVIL laugh.
S'PLOSION! And Kent and Salamander are dead. Ne'er the twins shall meet.
OH. WAIT. NEVER MIND. THERE THEY BOTH ARE.
"We're going to put you outside, Salamander. No friends, no safety, nothing. You'll run, but they'll catch up with you."
"NO!"
("In a flash, Salamander has the Doctor pinned against the console.") WAIT. WHAT. AND WE CAN'T SEE THIS BECAUSE BURNINATORS.
Thrown out into the Time Vortex...wow, what a way to die.
Next: The Web of Fear