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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Review: The Ribos Operation
posted by clake at 4:56 PM
Since I've finished Season Two of Battlestar, I've decided to wait to see more until Season Three is officially out on DVD. I think it's a good time for a break. So now, my main sci-fi Netflix fascination is officially Doctor Who. I only watched this show occasionally growing up, since it was on so late and to tell the truth I didn't have much of an attention span. Later, I caught some episodes here and there in college, encouraged by fellow honors floor nerds who were passionate about the program. Then as a college graduate, I checked out a few episodes from the public library, which rekindled the interest and I spent some time as a regular viewer on Iowa Public Television.
This could not last, though, as the one person I most enjoyed spending my weekend evenings with - my wife - could not stand the show. There are a lot of reasons for this: The late night time slot led to a rather buzzkill end to the evening, as she fell asleep while I sat on our futon watching a bunch of gobbledygook about daleks and fenrics and such; also, the peak of my regular viewership happened to coincide with the Colin Baker years, which are rather controversial among fans due to the often iffy writing, violence, and dark subject matter; additionally, one must admit the show is just plain not suited to most people's taste.
I eventually turned to taping the show and watching it while tidying my house and folding laundry while Klake was away a-studying on Sunday afternoons. However, our laundry/study schedules changed and at some point my interest in the show waned such that it was no longer important to me to make any sort of special effort to see it. Phases, after all, come and go. (This is sort of how it went with Twin Peaks. I became very obsessed with Twin Peaks at one point, which coincided with the financially poorest year of my life. It was a great escape.)
So now, my latest opportunity to catch up on this series comes in the form of the Netflix "Watch It Now" service, which I have mentioned in my previous review of "City of Death". Among the episodes available via this service are all of Season Sixteen, known collectively as the "Key to Time". I begin my enjoyment of this story arc at the beginning, with "The Ribos Operation".
You're still reading at this point? Goodness, you are hardcore. Here are the highlights:
Plot: The Doctor and K-9 are prepared to give saving the universe a break and take a much-deserved holiday, when instead they are summoned by an entity known as the white guardian to collect the six pieces of the Key to Time (a mission similar to pretty much everything Super Mario has ever been called upon to do). Things are kept vague regarding why this is so important: The WG just says something about how every once in a while something goes screwy with the universe and the whole thing has to be stopped and started up again (like Microsoft Windows - ha ha). Who is the White Guardian? Why does he dress like the governor of some Caribbean island and sit in a high-backed wicker chair sipping space-brandy? What does this say about British colonialism? These are questions that may or may not find answers along the way. Isn't this exciting? The Doc returns to his TARDIS space-time-vessel-thing to find that someone has placed an articulate and refined lady there while he wasn't looking. Her name is Romana. This makes him very defensive. And off we go...
The doohickey the WG gave him to locate Key to Time pieces points them to the planet Ribos, where they spend the rest of the serial attempting to snatch a piece that has been hidden amongst the crown jewels of some medieval sort of culture. This gets them mixed up in the plans of an intergalactic con artist to "sell the planet" to a deposed prince. This is as much synopsis as I can muster. I have already told you too much.
Lame Monster: A rubbery sort of giant lizard thing that clumbsily crawls along with an unhappy BBC production assistant inside.
Most Unlikely Moment: The Doctor is accosted by a palace guard and escapes detention by pulling out a pocket watch and "hypnotizing" the soldier. Oh, come on!
Further Reactions: I for one really like the character K-9. He's a robot dog that takes everything you say literally. He's always trundling along at about half the speed that his companions are going on foot yet manages to keep up. That's already reason enough to find him charming, but then top it off with the abilities to chemically analyze almost anything as well shoot laser beams from his nose, and you've got perhaps one of the most compelling characters in western literature. If by "western" you mean "nerd" and by "literature" you mean "TV".*
Next up: "The Pirate Planet", penned by Mr. Douglas Adams.
*And if by "character" you mean "radio controlled box with something resembling a head fastened to one end".
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