Where were we? Oh yes, Robots of Death, episode 3.
Just a note—have just seen a season 18 Baker episode. I must say that I like his image here much better than the bloated head shot in that title sequence.
Cue reprise…
1. Ah, they have disabled Strychnine just in time!
2. Dask is rather calm under the circumstances.
3. Did the Doctor just imply that Dask sabotaged the systems?
4. A rather wise saying that, “If you are bleeding, look for a man with scars.” However, I wouldn’t bandage a wound with a itchy silver scarves.
5. Ah, now we get to the middle of the subplot that I don’t care about.
6. “Did you do that?” Leela is quite a useful companion.
7. Oh, hooray! I’m growing quite fond of Strychnine after all.
8. I like that the Doctor trusts Leela enough to have her guard Pool while he goes off to chat with the dumb robot.
9. The visual contrasts between Pool and Leela is quite striking and interesting.
10. Once again, all of the keypads make exactly the same sound.
11. Um… what part of “Don’t let him out of your sight” did you not understand, Leela?
12. Poor ravaged robot!
13. Oh… cue creepy robots… blood on the hand reminiscent of Wang Chiang.
14. Now we can tell who the human is behind this thing.
15. I find it intriguing how they portray the reprogramming of the robot and how he really wants to reject these orders that are countermanding his core laws. Well done and chilling—especially when his eyes return to black, and you can’t tell that anything is wrong.
16. Oh dear—the curtain reveal of the Doctor in the background, along with the chimes, and his grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Disturbing. It quite gives you the feeling that if he wasn’t on the side of right, he could do considerable wrong with glee.
17. I like how the Doctor treats D84 as an equal, unlike everyone else in the story.
18. The side-view close up on D84 does rather spoil the mask’s still effect because you can see the actor’s chin moving up and down.
19. “Priority Red”—poor guy. Having his hands move in a desperate fashion reinforces his helplessness. His other muscle circuits must be disabled, as those straps don’t look adequate to holding him down.
20. What’s up with the KKK cloak there, Dask-boy? We already know it’s you from your video message earlier.
21. Umm… having a close up on those hands was a bad idea—it makes it obvious that they are simply yellow kitchen gloves sprayed silver (palm bumps and all).
22. Poor robot—although they made an oops with the red overlay (look carefully, and you’ll see that some of it shows on the detached mask.)
23. “Typical robot, no imagination.”
24. “Correct”—what a strange cadence on that word.
25. “I have failed.”—now, if he were a Dalek, he would have to repeat that about 500 times with increasing hysteria, then blow himself to smithereens.
26. Poor dejected D84. He wants to help. He’s really just an early version of K-9.
27. Me thinks that robot takes a suspiciously masculine stance in her doorway.
28. She sleeps in a seashell? What is she, a Disney princess?
29. I think it would be annoying to have to look at the world through robot vision and echoy robot hearing.
30. Does SV7 have orders to only kill her if she is sleeping?
31. Whiny girl… and did anyone else catch that subtext about bringing Leela to her bedroom? [are we entering Radio Free Skaro territory here?]
32. Meanwhile, back where Leela is stuck…
33. Oh dear… I didn’t realize how loud I had the volume on the TV until Leela screamed “Help! Can Anyone Hear Me?!” It’s after 1 am here. I do hope none of my neighbors heard it and thought I really needed help. Oops.
34. For all that D84 is used to staying quiet, he won’t shut up about “I heard a cry.”
35. Very creepy—the robot giving orders to kill everyone.
36. Way to get the door opened just to be threatened with death by robot.
37. Oh dear, the red-eye is a bit wonky as the robot walks through light and shadow.
38. For all of the robot’s “You cannot escape,” Leela could have run right out the door just then.
39. I like that Leela’s not afraid to defend herself with her knife (even though it proves useless). “Oh, that’s just showing off.”
40. Um.. robot-dude, who are you trying to convince by repeating “You cannot escape”? ‘Cuz she just did.
41. Again—all door pads make same noise no matter how you press them.
42. “Because modifying brains is not something you do standing around in corridors, you know.”
43. A useful gadget, indeed.
44. Oh, gold-girl’s pajamas look very comfortable and cute. I want a pair.
45. Why is she taking her hat with her?
46. Arm caught in door is creepy. Toose is useless—a solid contrast to what we just saw with Leela.
47. Well, ask a stupid question, get the obvious answer.
48. It is frightening to be told “The door is not a barrier,” though.
49. Oh—well played, Leela!
50. Poor broken Pool. He’s all the more pathetic for how sarcastic and competent he was before.
51. Are these robots programmed by the Stone Angels from “Blink”? They can’t seem to attack when someone is watching them.
52. I like the Doctor’s black humor here.
53. Finally, a cliff-hanger I can get behind!
54. Did you see how many robot actors were in the credits? Beats the hell out of the 3 Daleks they can usually manage.
And so ends another episode… next time, the final part of Robots of Death. Join me, won’t you? For Part Four, click Here.