The Enemy of the World episode 2 discussion:
A: Accent soup.
MS: Crazy, just crazy.
Sp: He’s speaking his native tongue. Unfortunately, he’s a citizen of the world.
H: The accents always reminded me of Ricardo Montalban, so I never really had a problem with it.
M: It’s vaguely Spanish, but it’s not really Mexican.
H: I agree.
Sp: So Salamanders like heat, yes?
M: Well, the mythical salamanders do, yes. Actual ones, not so much.
Sp: That explains why this fake salamander likes volcanos and such.
R: Five bucks says he caused the eruption.
P: No bet.
Sp: Um. Jamie was right, Salamander’s security was terrible.
H: Well, Jamie did have a pass to get in. He lied to Salamander about that.
P: And he was on vacation.
Sp: But even then, all it took was a pass card and an exploding phone and a skirt, and there he is right next to the big bad. And Salamander, who employs a food taster, trusts Jamie on sight right after that. Eh, okay, sure.
P: And an unknown, unnamed companion.
Sp: A girl.
K: A girl, it’s fine.
R: <Salamander voice> “Eh! A woman eh? Eh! Eh! Ha ha ha ha!” I dunno, he’s no Mavic Chen.
H: But then, who is?
K: I thought our new favorite was still Clent.
<moment of silence>
Sp: <Salamander voice> “So, final thoughts? Eh! Eh? Eh!”
H: We can move to final thoughts if no one has a lot to say.
A: I loved the scene with the food taster and Fedorin, when he was pouring the drink.
K: I thought this one felt more like a historical. Independent of taking 2 hours to cross half the globe. But, heavy politics, not a lot sci-fi mechanics (traveling aside).
H: It’s also the first story in a long time that doesn’t have a monster yet.
P: Except maybe Salamander.
H: Ooo!
Sp: It’s not an actual salamander.
M: Is he a newt?
Sp & H: He got better.
K: Anyway, no “monsters.” No aliens. Feels like a historical.
R: I see your point. I can agree with that.
K: It reminds me of The Massacre and The Reign of Terror.
H: So, French then?
Sp: Sure, throw that on the pile. We’ve got every other accent.
K: No, the politics, intrigue, and challenging to follow plot.
Sp: I get your point about historical, because it does feel like we’re dropped in the middle of an already existing political setup and characters with their own agendas and just the feeling like they’ve been at this for a while. No one character or situation is really grabbing me yet, but just because I’m not relating to any one of them doesn’t mean that it’s not well put together.
R: And hey, everybody dresses like Huguenots. <Why did you make me spell that horrible word, Ronelyn?>
R: It’s a French word.
P: French people are not from this planet.
M: <Conehead voice> That is correct, we are from France.
H: So, accent aside, assuming that it doesn’t remind you guys of Ricardo Montalban, I thought again Patrick Troughton creating two very distinct characters were really good. I wish we could have seen him gesture as Salamander, as it would have been very expressive.
Sp: I will make a Salamander like prediction.
H: Please do it in an accent.
Sp: No.
H: You have to do an accent.
P: You can do any accent at this point.
Sp: Oh, that’s true.
R: Eh! Eh! Eh!
Sp: I think Ronelyn’s stuck.
R: Eh! Eh!
<laughter>
Sp: <some type of random European accent> “Oh damn, I lost my prediction. I look under the couch. Okay, this is my prediction, I got it” <sounds a bit like Chico Marx in my opinion> * honk honk * <that’s Harpo, Spoo> I got my accents confused. Anyway – I predict Peetrick Trawtan will confuse the ever living crap out of me when both characters are on the screen. I hope that episode is moooving.
P: Literally, and…
Sp: <more Chico> I think the only way I can do Salamander’s accent is when I channel Martin Landau doing Bela Lugosi.
K: You still sound like Chico Marx to me.
M: I thought you were doing Walter Matthau doing Peter Lorre.
R: Peter Lorre would totally do Walter Matthau.
Sp: <More Bela the something> “A joke that works on many levels.”
R: <Peter Lorre voice> “I would never do annnnything to…”
<laughter>
R: Now I’m picturing Walter Matthau as Mavic Chen. <Bad Matthau accent> “I would never do anything…”
<OMG, I cannot capture this. Accent’s fly. Mavic Chen comes for a visit in many voices. It’s silly. There you go.>
H: I think we’re ready for final thoughts.
R: Eh? Eh?
A: I liked it.
Sp: Say eh.
A: Eh?
Sp: There you go.
A: That’s all I have really.
H: Eh?
P: I liked the scene where… I think it’s Benik is looking at the photograph on the wall…
R: And the photograph is looking back.
P: Yeah! That is one case where the weirdness of the imperfection of the recon actually added to the scene, because the photograph was a higher resolution than most of the rest of the scene.
H: And was clearly taken from the next scene as well. The next scene is Salamander looking at the camera with the exact expression.
K: It might have been one of those fades where it zoomed on the picture and then zoomed out on him in the next scene, but the recon didn’t do that so we couldn’t tell.
H: That’s possible.
Sp: Yeah, that particular picture looked pretty impressive with his expression, and his eyebrows, and his outfit, there was some kind of Dark Shadows thing going on. He was channeling his inner Barnabas.
M: After being immersed in the TARDIS Project for a while, original Dark Shadows holds up quite well.
P: I thought Jamie as a spy was an interesting choice. I think he was more likely to get himself killed than aligned to a world leader.
K: Which makes him a good food taster, I suppose.
P: Yeah. And because no one else has mentioned it yet, I think that the Yeti line was ad libbed by the actors, and not in the original script.
R: Possibly. I enjoyed it.
P: Yes. Also, I enjoyed the line about getting Jamie a proper uniform instead of a skirt.
R: Or, as Salamander put it <in accent> “eestedav dees skort.”
H: Salamander is just going to be the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t he?
Sp: Yeah, but we’ll have no idea what he gave us.
<laughter>
M: Until you get that awkward phone call 2 months later.
<eww>
R: <Salamander voice> “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I have geevin you volcanoes.”
P: I done.
Cz: eh…
M: gee, wouldn’t it be cool if you guys started the episodes at 8PM. <he came in late, again, FYI>
H: But you did see at least half the episode.
Sp: And you got a full episode’s worth of accent.
M: I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I laughed, and it was fun.
Sp: Was is awe—some.
M: <sort of a conehead Dalek voice>”Yes!”
Sp: I think it’s my turn! Alright, so, name one interesting character in this episode that did not have an accent.
K:Victoria?
Sp: Accent.
K: British doesn’t count.
H: And she wasn’t really all that interesting.
Sp: I wasn’t asking for accented characters that were not interesting, I was looking for interesting characters who were interesting.
H: Astrid.
Sp: Not really. She got them fake passports and had her half of a phone conversation. And I have to tell you, I can’t stand it when people do that to me. I just want to take the phone from them and talk to it.
H: Wait! I have more evidence that she is interesting. She exploded a bomb that made it sound like the phone blow up. She met the guy under the jetty for the clandestine thing.
Sp: I wish I had written down the recon’s description for the beginning of that scene, because the sentence that described her going under the jetty to meet the man in the shadows, Denes – that sentence was so perfectly Doctor Who – it was about as Doctor Who as you could get without being in a quarry. Anyway, still not interesting. Try again.
K: Wine taster lady?
Sp: She had a good scene. Well done. Yes.
P: Did she have an accent?
H: Not really.
Sp: mumbles mumbles the project cannot tolerate that level of insensitivity mumbles mumbles. No, she did not.
Sp: Anyway, what I take away from this episode is a lot of fun with accents. And a man in a dress throwing an exploding phone.
Many people: Kilt!
Others: Skort!
P: A Scot in a Skort with an Ascot!
K: Did he have an ascot?
M: No, it was a lovely little neckerchief.
H: Minispoo?
MS: Let me think about this.
H: In that case, Ronelyn?
R: Okay. Let me check my notes. Did anybody else catch “Information! And I shall get it!”
H: No, that’s awesome.
R: It was right at the beginning.
H: We’re still pre Prisoner, aren’t we? I think, but I’m not sure.
R: The Doctor as Salamander says it when his security heavy asks what he is doing with these seditious people. And as far as the costumes this story, what I noticed was that in the future, turtle necks rule the Earth.
Sp: And ruffs. Salamander had a little ruffled collar.
H: Salamander looked very mod and fashionable in 1967 – 68.
R: A sort of swarthier Austin Powers.
MS: <pops up from behind the couch> It was awesome!
R: Sneak attack commentary.
MS: You didn’t see anything! <disappears> Nice one.
R: And really the only other thing I have to say about this episode is, I wish we had seen more of the Doctor.
MS: The Doctor.
H: It’s the limitations of the production company, eh?
Several people: Eh? Eh?
MS: I miss the old Doctor, and the Daleks. And they’d be running in the hallways. And it would go away for a long time, and then come back. And then to a new location where they finally found the Daleks.
K: I think he’s describing The Chase.
H: Gosh, that was a long time ago. Do you remember the Dalek who didn’t know how to count well properly?
MS: <nods> Also when he went “6” I heard a faint in the distance “8” and he went “8.” It was weird. Somebody else didn’t know how to.. they’re given them wrong numbers. They should really go to a pre-school.
R: <Dalek voice> “I do not want to learn how to shaaare! My mother does not make me take naps at home!”
H: <Dalek voice> “Gimme a cookie! A cookie!”
MS: <Dalek voice> “You have no hands. You cannot have a cookie!”
M: <Dalek voice> “These shoe laces are a Timelord plot!”
R: <Dalek voice> “Daleks conquer and eat paste! Daleks conquer and eat paste!”
K: I cannot follow that with final thoughts. I’m not bored. And it’s not feeling dragged out yet, even though I know it’s another 6-parter, which is a good thing. But I am finding the plot a bit confusing.
H: I can understand that. It’s an attempt to do a sci-fi spy show, with plots within plots. As I said earlier, this story has never been one of my favorites. I’m pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this episode. Something interesting that is clearly gonna be just me…
Sp: Eh?
H: The combination of the fact that it’s a recon and a clear use of library music, really reminded me of listening to an old BBC radio drama from this era. And I can’t quite articulate why.
Sp: <Salamander voice?> “Ah yeah, I completely understand and agree.”
MS: No you don’t! You don’t understand.
Sp: <Salamander voice?> “Oh, yes I do. I agree.” <looks at the Historian.> It was completely you. Take back your final thought. Take back your thoughts and wrap it in fine Corinthian leather.
H: So I’m going to be interested in seeing whether the future episodes surprise me, or whether I’m going to feel about this story by the end the way I felt about it before. We’ll see.
