Post by michael on Jun 25, 2010 15:22:13 GMT -5
I've been thinking over the contetious issue of was Doomwatch a pale shadow of its former self by the third series in light of these New Scientist articles...
When I first got to see Doomwatch episodes back in 1990 and 1991, on wobbly, green and white, picture jumping all over the shop pirates, I had the fortune of watching them in order, more or less, of transmission, normally four at a time. It hooked me immediately. Occasionally, an episode like Re-Entry Forbidden didn't quite cut the mustard as the previous three did, but generally that first series was fantastic. By the time we got to the second series, something happened. After a cracking good first episode with lots of shouting and infighting, I noticed the episodes were beginning to get a bit, well, unimpressive. Invasion was fantastic, as was Martin Worth's other superbly characterised Flight Into Yesterday, and The Iron Doctor, but episodes in between these monoliths seemed to be, sort of, well, nothing really happening, lots of chat, slowly does it, etc... They didn't feel as engaging or draw you in. The regulars felt side lined in a way. In The Dark seemed to be a form of Doomwatch's greatest hits, and The Inquest had me howling with disappointment. Thankfully, The Logicians and even Public Enemy cranked up the interest. A bit.
By the time I got to embrace the few third season episodes, it did indeed seem to be a shadow of The Plastic Eaters or Tomorrow The Rat. I understood why the third season was not received at all well by its initial audience. It was a bit 'meh...'
So why did, on first viewing, the power of Doomwatch felt more and more diluted? Was it the story-telling?
In the early Doomwatch there was a variable formulae: here is an EFFECT, what is the CAUSE and what was the REASON? Normally, an effect in Doomwatch is someone dying or falling ill or acting out of character. The effect is often mis-diagnosed with something in the known sphere of things: suicide, drugs overdose, food poisoning, Something does not add up right or an association with a project rings an alarm bell in Doomwatch and they act as scientific detectives and find the true cause and the reason behind it (sloppy labs, financial or political pressures on a business, cost, etc.) Other times Doomwatch gets involved by coincidence - researching their new Minister's constituency in The Battery People leads to discovering abnormal behaviour amongst ex-Welsh miners; Bradley demonstrating equipment in a Northern working man's club uncovers hidden microphones, Wren gets suspended, or an acquaintance of Quist brings Doomwatch into the field. And in Survival Code, they are called in as part of regulations. Often an episode sees the team doing mundane, bread and butter work, investigating nitrate levels in fields, or less mundane testing a new aerosol weapon like Project Sahara.
They act as scientific detectives rather than environmentalists. They are not anti-science but against short cuts and ethical minefields. The ends, as they say, do not justify the means. They are powerless to stop most of what they discover, such as in The Red Sky, but they can expose wrong doing such as in The Battery People, but the harm has been done.
They expose the mess - perhaps clear it up.
I'll blather on in the next box!
When I first got to see Doomwatch episodes back in 1990 and 1991, on wobbly, green and white, picture jumping all over the shop pirates, I had the fortune of watching them in order, more or less, of transmission, normally four at a time. It hooked me immediately. Occasionally, an episode like Re-Entry Forbidden didn't quite cut the mustard as the previous three did, but generally that first series was fantastic. By the time we got to the second series, something happened. After a cracking good first episode with lots of shouting and infighting, I noticed the episodes were beginning to get a bit, well, unimpressive. Invasion was fantastic, as was Martin Worth's other superbly characterised Flight Into Yesterday, and The Iron Doctor, but episodes in between these monoliths seemed to be, sort of, well, nothing really happening, lots of chat, slowly does it, etc... They didn't feel as engaging or draw you in. The regulars felt side lined in a way. In The Dark seemed to be a form of Doomwatch's greatest hits, and The Inquest had me howling with disappointment. Thankfully, The Logicians and even Public Enemy cranked up the interest. A bit.
By the time I got to embrace the few third season episodes, it did indeed seem to be a shadow of The Plastic Eaters or Tomorrow The Rat. I understood why the third season was not received at all well by its initial audience. It was a bit 'meh...'
So why did, on first viewing, the power of Doomwatch felt more and more diluted? Was it the story-telling?
In the early Doomwatch there was a variable formulae: here is an EFFECT, what is the CAUSE and what was the REASON? Normally, an effect in Doomwatch is someone dying or falling ill or acting out of character. The effect is often mis-diagnosed with something in the known sphere of things: suicide, drugs overdose, food poisoning, Something does not add up right or an association with a project rings an alarm bell in Doomwatch and they act as scientific detectives and find the true cause and the reason behind it (sloppy labs, financial or political pressures on a business, cost, etc.) Other times Doomwatch gets involved by coincidence - researching their new Minister's constituency in The Battery People leads to discovering abnormal behaviour amongst ex-Welsh miners; Bradley demonstrating equipment in a Northern working man's club uncovers hidden microphones, Wren gets suspended, or an acquaintance of Quist brings Doomwatch into the field. And in Survival Code, they are called in as part of regulations. Often an episode sees the team doing mundane, bread and butter work, investigating nitrate levels in fields, or less mundane testing a new aerosol weapon like Project Sahara.
They act as scientific detectives rather than environmentalists. They are not anti-science but against short cuts and ethical minefields. The ends, as they say, do not justify the means. They are powerless to stop most of what they discover, such as in The Red Sky, but they can expose wrong doing such as in The Battery People, but the harm has been done.
They expose the mess - perhaps clear it up.
I'll blather on in the next box!