Doctor Who - The Stones of Blood
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List Price: $9.98
Features
• Color
• Original recording reissued
• NTSC
In Theaters : 29 September, 1975
Video Release : 19 July, 2000 |
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Doctor Who - The Stones of Blood Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
"Theoretically absurd"
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In "The Stones of Blood" hyperspace is described as theoretically absurd, and yet there it is, the location for much of the latter part of the story. Likewise, this whole storyline in theory falls apart abysmally, and yet it somehow manages all the same.
In some ways it's the perfect 100th storyline, starting off as it does in a mode highly characteristic of this show--horror movie themes and motifs given a slight but sufficient sci-fi spin. Blood sacrifice by modern neo-Druids, unsolved deaths associated with a mysterious ancient stone circle, crows with the evil eye, and of course vampire rocks with inexplicable mobility. The second half of the story shifts into a different mode equally characteristic of the show, more along the lines of the prior adventure ("The Pirate Planet"): ambitiously conceptual science fiction blended with subtle yet sharp social satire, all spiced up with just the right dash of adventure. A prison barge in hyperspace, blindly legalistic justice machines (the Megara) objective to a fault, and keys to time that allow cosmic beings to realign the cosmic balance.
This is all the stuff of greatness. Unfortunately, these two modes don't cohere very well in practice, at least as they unfold here, and so the whole story seems rather disjointed. Far too many loose ends from the first half are just sort of swept under the rug without ever being resolved--the relation between the neo-Druids and the story's main villain, especially. This is never adequately explained, nor are her motivations for associating with these weirdos (if she is. Even that's a bit unclear). In fact, her motivations for hanging around on earth for millennia after trapping her jailors in their own prison and escaping are utterly glossed over, and she remains thus an unconvincing and rather hokey character.
Still, these noticeable flaws are offset somewhat by some excellent directing making the most of the story's creepy atmosphere, some fine location shooting accentuating that atmosphere, and some classic moments of wit by the Doctor that serve to defuse the lingering moods of darkness wonderfully. The archaeologist and stone circle expert Emilia Rumford also helps immensely as a memorable supporting character with a nice chemistry with the Doctor, Romana, and even K9. And the effect used to render the Megara is visually stunning and highly inventive, especially given the show's limited resources. Finally, the overall story ideas are good, even if their execution leaves a little something to be desired. So "The Stones of Blood" may very well not be "Doctor Who" at its best, but it's quite good and entertaining nonetheless.
P.S. Since "The Stones of Blood" is the third storyline in the six-part "Key to Time" saga of the sixteenth season, this DVD is also included with five other DVDs in a box set, [[ASIN:B000067FPE Doctor Who - The Key to Time Collection]], so unless you have a particular interest just in this one storyline, that may be the better option both in terms of economics and convenience. |
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