When Mary Shelley first
conceived the notion of Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus, I wonder if she
could possibly have known what massive resonance her story would have for years
and years to come. A timeless monster story about a twisted professor of science
totally subsumed with the feat of defeating the ultimate unknown: death. A
scientist who creates a monster from the dead of the human race and animates it
with the raw electricity of nature. It’s a ghoulish and unsettling notion and a
good reason why the story is definitively hailed as a classic. And it is easy
to draw parallels with the Cyber Race and Mary Shelley's story.
The Cybermen have long and
away been my favourite Doctor Who monster. The thought of a human being
dehumanized, shoved into a steel suit of armour and with pain inhibited as well
as all emotion is frankly a nauseating and horrific concept. Kit Pedler and
Gerry Davis, in creating the Cybermen gave Doctor Who one of its most enduring
and implacable villains. Whereas if the Daleks caught up with you, you'd just
be either exterminated or enslaved, its a far deadlier and creepier kettle of
fish with the Cybermen. The Cybermen will change you into mindless automata,
fixated with the notion of survival. But if the Cyber race have ever announced
they are emotionless, it’s obvious then that they lie. The desire to survive
and extend one's life is too an emotional drive, not just a physical one. Why
otherwise do so many Cyber leaders chant Excellent!? It is clear that the power
rush to live on must indeed be fuelled by emotion: the emotion of one wanting
to hold back death. To survive. So these Cybermen are just masking the plain
detail that they do still own some emotion. If they did not then they'd truly
be just total machines.
The Haunting of Villa
Diodati. Well what does this story do for the Cybermen? Well, Ashad, the single
lone Cyberman foretold by Jack Harkness, is a case in point. He's a Cyberman who’s
not yet been fully converted. More than that, he doesn't even seem to think he
needs completing in his conversion. He is mean and brutish and his resonant
anger and determination to capture the Cyberium is very very menacing indeed.
He is apparently the first Cyberman not to have been appalled by his half
conversion. So, we are presented with a Cyberman who still owns at least half a
soul. But that soul is rather black and evil. Patrick O'Kane is simply superb
as this most driven of Cybermen. He is powerful and his routine slayings of
both the manservant Fletcher and Elise are reminders of how potent and fearful
a race of aliens the Cybermen are.
Mary Wolstencraft Godwin,
soon to be Shelley too, is also sublimely portrayed by Lili Miller. Although as
a massive fan of Big Finish's range of audio stories one can’t help but feel a
little betrayed by the fact that the modern TV era seems to set itself flat out
to confuse what is and isn't canon at will. The Eighth Doctor in audio also met
Percy and Mary and Byron, and Mary joined the Doctor on his travels. But this
notion is totally unmentioned in The Haunting of Villa Diodati. Lili portrays a
quite sympathetic embodiment of Mary within this story, and she does get her
moment to shine towards the climax of the story when she is brave enough to
face the Cybermen and try to break through his conditioning. Even though she somewhat
fails, she does have the moral high ground on this occasion.
Maxim Baldry also gets to
unnerve for a while as Dr Polidari. And Jacob Collins Levy is rather odious and
and rather pompous and self-righteous as Lord Byron. A particularly great
little moment of this story is when he mentions to the Doctor that she is quite
lovely in a creepy situation and the snappy and needle-sharp retort she gives
him is brilliant and definitely gets my full backing in the back off you
promiscuous little devil department.
The plot thread of the
haunted house and Percy Shelley too unfolds well and at a decent pace. The mood
of this story is one of quiet fear and palpability. There are plenty of scares
that I'm sure Mary Shelley herself would have been proud of.
Bradley Walsh is given so
much beautiful light relief comic moments in this episode and again he is such
a delight to watch as Graham. Mandip Gill as Yaz and Tosin Cole as Ryan though
once more are the companions in the not given too much to do department once
again and its starting to become a bit of an irksome trait. They are all such
good characters, but maybe the notion that four is maybe a crowded TARDIS isn’t
too far from the truth. As with almost every episode of series 12 there is
always the lesser utilised companion run throughs. Mind you it is still a great
credit to the whole trio that they always perform at the height of their game
and deliver superb performances every single time. Maybe I'm just being a wee
bit nit-picky.
And maybe Ryan's declaration
of Percy Shelley being one man against the lives of everyone in space and time
does smack of a bit of coldness that doesn't fit his overall character very
well in my opinion. But the look of shame on his face when the Doctor berates
his condemning of Percy is sublimely played by Tosin and one is glad he knows
when he's spoken without thinking. Gives me that extra oomph factor to keep
liking him even with his little verbal slip ups.
And Jodie Whittaker? Oh
well. I just absolutely adore her Doctor. There are still plenty of happy go
lucky flashes in her as she had in abundance in season 11 but with season 12 a
deep and dark shade of Doctor 7 has crept into her performance and started to
make her a more meaty and mysterious incarnation yet again. Jodie is truly
proving what she can do with the role, and the Sylvester McCoy-ish nods come
with a round of applause and a whoop of joy from me as Sylv also happens to be
one of my favourite ever incarnations of the Doctor. The pain and the grief of
trying to keep her friends safe from the genocidal threat of the Cybermen is so
wonderful to see on screen. Jodie is absolutely knocking the ball right out of
the court with her take on the Doctor. I feel so moved when watching her attack
the role with her own unique energy and gusto. It’s so invigorating and
amazing.
What I get from The
Haunting of Villa Diodati is a return to the trusted Doctor Who formula of a
small human outlet besieged and under threat from a nasty and fearful alien
menace. This time its the house next to Lake Geneva in 1816 where the seeds of
the series 12 finale are being sown. The story may not be completely wholly
original but it is extremely stolid and reliably entertaining indeed. The
performances are all exceptionally good and the period feel is very prominent.
But one comes to expect no less of the BBC given their penchant for exceedingly
good period dramas. And I would say even just the one Cyberman present in this
story gives more menace than the new modern era type cybermen have for me for
quite some time. Absolutely top marks go to Patrick O'Kane. Exquisite
performance of the Cyberman: the modern Prometheus if you will.
Come and seek out this 50-minute
tale to curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart...
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