Review: Doctor Who - Black Orchid
Jan. 17th, 2009 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafI didn't know very much about Black Orchid when I picked it up in the January sales - I vaguely remembered hearing that Peter Davison disliked it, but it was £3 and set in a country house in the 1930s, so I thought 'Why not?'
Black Orchid is unusual in that it is the last pure historical, and coming a long time after the others. The only aliens involved are the Doctor, Nyssa and Adric (and, to a lesser extent, Tegan, who is enthusiastic about the cricket, but who baffles the natives with her possibly rather stereotyped Australian slang). Oddly enough, the New Who episode it reminded me most of was not, despite the setting, "The Unicorn and the Wasp" but "Midnight", because one of the more interesting aspects of the story was its presentation of the Doctor who, when it comes to it, is an alien and object of suspicion who has great difficulty proving that he isn't a masked killer. It also reminded me of why I don't like the psychic paper; it makes things too easy.
The story is, in a way, about the dangers of trying to bring the alien home without openly acknowledging it. The alien - this being progressive Doctor Who - is not evil in itself (the eponymous black orchid; the Doctor may not be the cricket star he's mistaken for, but he's a county class player, and he sorts out the more serious problem concealed behind the superficial idyll), but the attempt to keep it under lock and key precipitates disaster. The apparently sinister-looking indigenous Brazilian is well-meaning (and while his costume was a bit of a chliche (perhaps they were trying to stop us noticing that the actor was actually Asian? *headdesk* he's portrayed as literate and thoughtful, if utterly crap at knots). The murderer, though in theory as far from alien to Cranleigh Hall as is possible, has been 'othered' by madness and disfigurement, but what is really disastrous is the family's decision to treat him like a dirty secret. This is why, despite everything, it's appropriate that the Doctor has to resolve the confusion and clear up the mystery by revealing himself as an alien, and offering demonstrable proof. The Doctor's choice of costume, a harlequin clown, is possibly also of significance - clowns turning the social order upside down, but paradoxically reinforcing it.
It's not, that said, a very serious episode: it centres around a fancy dress ball, and while that allows for a number of games with identity, some more serious than others, the air of frothy nonsense is never far away. The cricket scenes are fun, as long as you like cricket - incidentally, surely some of the Doctor's confusion at being complimented on an innings 'worthy of the Master' was that you might more obviously have referred to WG Grace as 'the (other) Doctor?' The murder mystery is patched together out of Gothic tropes - there's quite a lot of "Jane Eyre" in it, with a tiny bit of "The Phantom of the Opera" (or maybe "King Kong"?).
All in all: I enjoyed it; it's not one of the Best Episodes of Who Ever, but it's a solid, enjoyable bit of work. Some people might find the pacing slow in the first half, but I rather liked it, and it's nice to see the big Tardis crew teasing each other - and Tegan being cheerful and enjoying herself...
Also, watching this made me very sad that Peter Davison never played Peter Wimsey, particularly "Murder Must Advertise" - it would have been so nice to have someone playing Peter who looked convincing as a cricketer and not fat and middle aged in a harlequin costume...
Black Orchid is unusual in that it is the last pure historical, and coming a long time after the others. The only aliens involved are the Doctor, Nyssa and Adric (and, to a lesser extent, Tegan, who is enthusiastic about the cricket, but who baffles the natives with her possibly rather stereotyped Australian slang). Oddly enough, the New Who episode it reminded me most of was not, despite the setting, "The Unicorn and the Wasp" but "Midnight", because one of the more interesting aspects of the story was its presentation of the Doctor who, when it comes to it, is an alien and object of suspicion who has great difficulty proving that he isn't a masked killer. It also reminded me of why I don't like the psychic paper; it makes things too easy.
The story is, in a way, about the dangers of trying to bring the alien home without openly acknowledging it. The alien - this being progressive Doctor Who - is not evil in itself (the eponymous black orchid; the Doctor may not be the cricket star he's mistaken for, but he's a county class player, and he sorts out the more serious problem concealed behind the superficial idyll), but the attempt to keep it under lock and key precipitates disaster. The apparently sinister-looking indigenous Brazilian is well-meaning (and while his costume was a bit of a chliche (perhaps they were trying to stop us noticing that the actor was actually Asian? *headdesk* he's portrayed as literate and thoughtful, if utterly crap at knots). The murderer, though in theory as far from alien to Cranleigh Hall as is possible, has been 'othered' by madness and disfigurement, but what is really disastrous is the family's decision to treat him like a dirty secret. This is why, despite everything, it's appropriate that the Doctor has to resolve the confusion and clear up the mystery by revealing himself as an alien, and offering demonstrable proof. The Doctor's choice of costume, a harlequin clown, is possibly also of significance - clowns turning the social order upside down, but paradoxically reinforcing it.
It's not, that said, a very serious episode: it centres around a fancy dress ball, and while that allows for a number of games with identity, some more serious than others, the air of frothy nonsense is never far away. The cricket scenes are fun, as long as you like cricket - incidentally, surely some of the Doctor's confusion at being complimented on an innings 'worthy of the Master' was that you might more obviously have referred to WG Grace as 'the (other) Doctor?' The murder mystery is patched together out of Gothic tropes - there's quite a lot of "Jane Eyre" in it, with a tiny bit of "The Phantom of the Opera" (or maybe "King Kong"?).
All in all: I enjoyed it; it's not one of the Best Episodes of Who Ever, but it's a solid, enjoyable bit of work. Some people might find the pacing slow in the first half, but I rather liked it, and it's nice to see the big Tardis crew teasing each other - and Tegan being cheerful and enjoying herself...
Also, watching this made me very sad that Peter Davison never played Peter Wimsey, particularly "Murder Must Advertise" - it would have been so nice to have someone playing Peter who looked convincing as a cricketer and not fat and middle aged in a harlequin costume...
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-17 02:03 pm (UTC)Not sure if he'd have the overall presence to play Lord Peter, but I wouldn't at all mind seeing him try.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-17 06:38 pm (UTC)