Best Directing in Doctor Who?
![[Deleted User]](https://wb.vanillicon.com/v2/ba3c7b87c30ce62c4f974146c76c8f40.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 1,152 Forum Member
✭✭✭
We talk quite a bit about the writing and plots on here, but not so much about the cinematography or other aspects of the directing. So what do you think are particularly memorable moments in terms of this?
I thought that the reveal of the Dalek ('Dalek') and the Cybermen ('Rise of the Cybermen') were very well done, especially with the lighting. Also the choice of shots in 'The God Complex' and 'Night Terrors' made everything seem very surreal, which I thought worked very well.
Those are just of the top off my head, but what about you?
I thought that the reveal of the Dalek ('Dalek') and the Cybermen ('Rise of the Cybermen') were very well done, especially with the lighting. Also the choice of shots in 'The God Complex' and 'Night Terrors' made everything seem very surreal, which I thought worked very well.
Those are just of the top off my head, but what about you?
0
Comments
The moment when Sky Silvestry turns towards the camera after the "thing" has come on baord the ship ... gobsmacking. My tea went cold on the tray on my lap.
The best story of C21 DW, brilliantly, brilliantly done.
Since NuWho returned it has been remarkably high. Some of the most cringe-worthy aspects of the rotten old Who is sheer bad directing . Notable examples that spring to mind are the cut-to of the TV set about to announce Dr.Who in Remembrance of the Daleks (exactly how far up its own backside can a TV programme disappear?) along with various shots of monsters that go on far too long revealing patchy costumes, zips etc etc that should have been 'hidden' with clever camera cuts and faster action and criminal over exposure of small sets that should have shot from tight angles to hide the size. Take note - Warriors of the Deep, Leisure Hive, Paradise Towers et al.
My nominations are:
Old Who
The Ice Warriors - Great choice of incidental music and near "trans-dimensional" use of sets to achieve space/constriction as required.
Caves of Androzani - Ditto as above for use of sets but also a varied and purposeful mix of head/body/landscape shots that heightened every scene. Really puts well over 90% of what was shot in the 80s to shame and shows what sadly could have been - even on the 1980s budget.
Nu Who
The mentions above by shootydog and chuff are all good but I have to plump for...
Blink - Just how do you get a *real* statue to move? With masterful direction and studio room cutting. If Blink had been badly or even mediocrely directed then it would have been toe-curling and laughable. Added to this, atmospheric lighting a range of well chosen camera angles, getting every last drop of talent out of your cast, genuinely new perspectives for Who and what you have is Sci-Fi perfection.
I'm pretty sure that's not the director's fault, at least not all of it.
I remember hearing somewhere (*) that it reflected the production team's idea that Doctor Who took part in a reality/continuity similar but not identical to our own and that the "actual" show being announced would have been something else, Dr Who's fictional counterpart in that universe or whatever.
(Having looked up this point this article also remarks that there's supposedly too much daylight for the early evening in 1963. Then again, that was the same story that had clearly modern (late-70s / 80s style) houses in the background of one outdoor scene, so perhaps the former was just a blooper!)
Of course, it's still quite clear that they were having "fun" with this point, but I'm not a fan of meta-references in TV shows in general, even when there's a "rational" explanation- they're a self-indulgent ("up its own backside"), fanboy-pandering wink to the viewer and break the suspension of disbelief.
Oh, and I agree- Caves of Androzani is ******* excellent.
(*) Most likely on the DVD commentary or features- I rented it several years back
Shame they haven't been invited back (or been available) for the Moffat series.
There is a place for metafiction - it works well in quirky, self-referential shows like Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords etc but this is an entirely different genre to sci-fi.
If you're going to do it in sci-fi, a genre where realism is key to the suspension of belief then you either have to do comic sci-fi (eg. Galaxy Quest) or place it very subtly in a manner that does not break the spell of the created world.
A very good example of this in NuWho is in 'Rose' when the man who runs the website turns to his wife and announces that a girl has come about his site, to which she replies, "A girl? Are you sure?"
The bit in Remembrance *could* have worked if it hadn't been so bleeding ham-fisted. Perhaps the voice over on the telly could have been heard as the characters were departing the room rather than several rels afterwards? Given that the TV is in shot anyway, why pan slowly down to it? And it really should have cut away long before the 'doctor' - we'd all got the reference long beforehand.
It was ill-conceived and even more disastrously executed. Whether it was the directors idea or not, they must take the blame for either (a) not putting their foot down and refusing or at very least (b) doing a far, far better job of it.
No matter how the 'production team' try or tried to justify this torrid and evidently booze inspired conception, it simply won't wash.
It is terrible TV.
I don't know that I'd blame him specifically for that. There were also other people considering Who's direction in its final days (I remembered this from an extra that I had on one of the Who DVDs I do own, and having done a bit of online checking, here's the link:- Cartmel Masterplan.)
So this may have been a small (albeit badly-executed) glint of the backstory they were trying to build up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX2T5xryoE4
Apologies - Let's get back OT!!
He managed to create a real sense of space and depth to the web planet, despite being stuck in a tiny little studio; there were many inventive shots used and the camera effect used for all of the Web Planet scenes worked brilliantly in giving the planet an alien, twilight property.
This is generally a very undervalued story; it's a real shame that it's usually considered one of the weakest Dotor Who serials. There was real ambition to it and it's one of the few Doctor Who stories that actually seems to be set on an alien planet rather than a weird, alternative version of Earth. Episode 1 was something of an eerie masterpiece and there was some great imagery throughout: the Doctor speaking to the Animus through the 'hair dryer', and later, covered with webs alongside Vicki. Some memorable stuff, whatever you think of the story.
Sure, it's long and slow but that doesn't stop people (rightly) heralding stories like Inferno or The Silurians, or many Troughtons. If you said to me 'interminable Doctor Who story' something like 'The Wheel in Space' would immediately spring to mind: 6 episodes of running around with a grotesquely overused villain, doing exactly the same things as in their numerous previous appearances. The Web Planet was original.
I was really pleased to hear the cast and crew speaking highly of the story in the commentary and interviews on the DVD extras, rather than listening to the weight of accumulated opinion over the years and being embarrassed by it. They did very good work on that story.
When you consider that Richard Martin also directed the original Daleks story you have to say he was one of the best early Who directors, certainly at realizing alien worlds.
He has directed some of my favourite stories and episodes.
The Caves Of Androzani, Revelation Of The Daleks from Classic Who and the Series 2 and 4 finales in the New Series which rank as the very best episodes for me.
What every single one of those stories/episodes has is the 'P' word I love mentioning so often. Pace! He gives everyone of those stories absolute clout by moving things along at breakneck speed with loads of action.
I see from a poster above that he hasn't been back since Moffat took over and that for me explains hell of a lot!
I'm not particularly clued up on the subject, but I remember thinking across these episodes that they felt hugely cinematic and that the director had done a brilliant job in giving each of the three separate stories a unique identity. As episodes go, I wasn't too fond of The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon but honestly felt that it was shot in such a striking way.
Of the selection, I think A Christmas Carol stands up as the best of the bunch. Whilst it's one of my favourite ever episodes, I know a lot of people don't share that view, but I honestly personally think it was the best realised episode of Nu-Who. The camera work is amazing through out, the selection of colours used was a brilliant conflict of festive and macabre (quite like Dicken's own Christmas interpretations really) and even the shots of the characters were done in a visually striking way. I loved it.
I find the scripts and acting are just as strong now as then. But something is very different with the production these days. It doesn't have the same energy about it. I just can't put my finger on it, but it seems to lie in this area of Directing and Producing - just seems a little slow at times to me.
As for who the best direction comes from, well I suppose you have to give James Strong a nod...
Christmas Carol has to be the most downright beautiful episode of Who ever made.
Anyway. I thought the direction in The Eleventh Hour was very good. It actually sticks out in my mind, in a good way.
Yes, and he did a Sarah Jane Adventures too.
Of his New Who work, Turn Left and The Waters of Mars are surely the stand outs.
IMO Turn Left is one of the best episodes of Nu Who altogether
In 'Asylum of the Daleks', I thought Clara's reveal as a Dalek was brilliantly done; The Doctor's reaction, and then the camera slowly pans around him and a Dalek comes into view.
The other stand-out scene for me was Brain sitting on the edge of the TARDIS in DoaS.
ATCM was generally very well shot, especially the landscapes. Let's hope this high standard of directing continues!
In Dinosaurs - the sets were brilliant but I loved the little things that went on in the background - like tricy sitting down like a dog after fetching and dropping the ball.
In Mercy - it was the warm colours and the camera positions - almost every outdoor scene showed full bodies and indoor scenes were cropped - they could almost have filmed it in a empty room and you'd still have known which scenes were mean to be out of doors. Plus - as cliched as it was - that final scene with the gunslinger standing alone on the rocks and keeping watch was spot-on.
{edit - sorry, meant to say, good thread}
The Time War sequences in Day of the Doctor were great; although there weren't an awful lot, the fall of Arcadia could stand up against a modern blockbuster in terms of the VFX. Also, the shot through the painting was very well done.
Series 5 brought a very distinct visual style. The series had been getting increasingly vivid and colourful, but series 5 dialled it right back, everything was muted, and the show somehow looked more enchanting for it. It was a bit more eldritch, Pan's Labyrinth type of thing. The show's been steadily getting more colourful again since, but it's still absolutely beautiful. The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon are quite rightly held up as a sort of gold standard, and Day of the Doctor's no slouch, either. The show has never looked more beautiful and stylised than it does right now.
I'd be tempted to give the nod to The Girl Who Waited. That could look rubbish, all those blank rooms, but it looks perfectly sterile and completely gorgeous all at once - I entirely buy that the garden's inside the two streams facility. I know it must be an outside location, but I forget, and that's job done. It also does a tremendous job of conveying what could be quite a spidery time-travelly sci-fi plot in emotional terms that would make sense to everyone. That's the sublime script, too, of course, but placed in the right hands. I do rate Nick Hurran. One of the best directors the show's had.
I was in two minds wheather to say The Brain of Morbius for the "C20th" Who one, but I didn't. I thought Caves was directed better.
Gareme Harper is IMO the best "Who" director. Anyone agree with me?