My Dad and I have always
been avid fans of nature. Indeed, my Dad used to be a warden at a nature
reserve in Poole, Dorset. We have always been so concerned about the effects of
pollution and waste on wildlife. One day when we went down to the beach the whole
shoreline was festooned with plastic gunge and waste. It brought home to me at
an early age that the state of the planet is something we should all take
seriously and be concerned about. Every day acres and acres of forestry cut
down and replaced by concrete buildings that are ugly and minging. Not a very
pleasant vision of the future. But those trees give us our air, and they clean
it for us.
What has this got to do
with Praxeus? Well, rather a lot as it happens. Some may accuse Chris Chibnall
of having been very overtly political with his stories. But like I always say I
have no idea what in the heck is political about moral decency and stuff we
need to learn from and act upon. Praxeus presents its case for pollution and
the environment so well, easily in the bold vein of the Green Death with Jon
Pertwee and Arachnids in the UK with Jodie last season previously. Whilst some
people can have a problem with these sorts of moral pointers, all I can say is
come thick and fast with them. What kind of a race are we coming to if we don't
have any concern of the way we our poisoning ourselves and our planet?
Jodie Whittaker's Doctor
has seriously developed well over the course of this second season of hers, yet
she still retains all the amazing kindness and warmth that permeated her first
season. But these season 12 stories all seem to have a more serious streak
running through them and now we are seeing shades of other Doctor's
performances emerging in her beautifully judged performance. Her kind hearts
are still definitely in residence, but her sadness at the destruction of her
own planet has definitely left a heaviness on her hearts and made her a little
cagey like the Seventh Doctor frequently could be distant and unfathomable. And
yet her desire to get to the bottom of matters and bring about a happy
resolution always makes me so happy and delighted that Jodie is our Doctor now.
She has truly excelled and is beautiful in the role of the Doctor. I would love
to travel with her Doctor in space and time!
Bradley Walsh is as always
excellent. His scenes of helping Jake get over his doubts and sort out his feelings
for Adam are very well performed. But one really comes to expect no less from
Brad, as Graham is a brilliant and highly caring character that I just find so
easy to root for. He is quickly shaping up to be one of my all time favourite
new era companions and no mistake.
It is excellent to see
Tosin Cole being treated well as Ryan within this story, as one felt he was
rather side-lined in Fugitive of the Judoon. It’s great to see that not only
the Doctor can be called upon to be pro-active and truly help save the day at
times. It can at times be a bit of a strain on scripting having three
companions. But for once this episode has all three of the Doctors friends
actually feeling like they’re actively involved in the storyline and plot, and
not just a spare part.
(There is perhaps also a
nice little nod to The Empty Child as the bio hazard suited humanoids look
rather similar to the gas masked empty child. There's a very hilarious outtake
scene where one of these chaps is on the floor and as Jodie is examining them a
suspicious farting sound seems to emanate from the costume and it’s a very
funny outtake indeed.)
The scenes of the praxeus
virus attacking the humans are rather unpleasant and deliciously vivid and
impacting. The visual effects department did sensationally well with these
superb effects. The effects of the virus look wholly vomit inducing and
appalling and this is definitely one of the stronger elements of the story.
However perhaps the scenes
of the birds wheeling away in the sky don't look as quite as effective as they
could have been. Frequently the swarms of birds just look little more than
squiggles and this rather mars the effect they are assuredly meant to be having
on us. However, the scene of the dissected crow and its plastic innards makes
for uncomfortable and brilliantly impacting viewing. Just as powerful of how
upset I always get whenever I see pictures of oil slicked marine dead wildlife
after oil tanker accidents at sea. Really brought home the destructiveness of pollutants
so vividly. Who cares if the episode is being overtly preachy? Let it carry on
I say.
However, there are weaker
elements of the storyline too though. The whole "The One we thought was
the goodie turns out to be the baddie" thing is done again, and so it
comes over as being rather predictable when the character of Suki is revealed
to be the cause of the disasters occurring around the globe. But Molly Harris
is at least really good in the role and does give her character that bit of
sympathetic feeling so as to not make her just a run of the mill 2D villain. It’s
just that we seem to be seeing this kind of plot thread rather a lot, and it
can become tiresome very quickly.
I expect a lot of fans of
the show were hoping that Warren Brown's character would have been the same as
his role in Torchwood. Sadly, that's not the case. But the whole story of Jake
Willis and Adam Lang I also can’t help but thinking haven't we seen this kind
of thread before too. The parts are played strongly and well, but it’s nothing
earth shattering or original.
Gabriela's character,
although portrayed very strongly by Joanna Borja at the beginning when she sees
her blogging friend blown apart by the praxeus virus, also suffers from
petering out syndrome. What I mean is she shows great emotion upon the death of
her friend, but then she just seems to complete forget this and any spark of
the relationship that the two friends may have had feels betrayed by her
immediately taking to Yaz. One feels she should have been left a little bit
more bereft by the loss of her friend. However, the lack of fleshing out of
genuine sense of loss is a plot vein that the show over the years sometimes has
achieved brilliantly, and then also sometimes hasn't achieved brilliantly
either. And this story falls into the latter category sadly. It’s like yeah,
she’s sad for one second but then her friend isn't even dwelt upon once the
situation is sorted out at the end of the story. So, this felt like a bit of a
let-down for me.
Some of the character
direction may be a tad off, but this story on the whole still succeeds
admirably in making its point. It’s a very relevant point and the story can
bring it to us as blatantly as it wants in my own opinion. Praxeus may not be
perfect, but it is still at its core a very very good moral tale that sits well
with me. I really love Doctor Who when it is in lesson teaching mode. Just a
shame so many of its lessons it tries to teach us never seem to affect the
world at large at all. If we did try to learn these lessons the world would be
undoubtedly a healthier place. The harrowing and bleak image of the plastic
filled crow is the image that will stick in my mind from this story, and it’s a
very haunting and sobering image indeed. So, whilst maybe not as big a hit for
me as Pete McTighe's first script for the show (Kerblam!), this is still a very
strong story from him and I for one can't wait to see if he writes for the show
again.
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