Top 10 Dark Souls III Themes Part 1 - No's 10-6

OK, its time for me to continue with my look at the Soulsborne games soundtracks and my picks for the best themes from these games and I will conclude it with my look at Dark Souls III, which had a superb soundtrack making this no easy task!

However I will do my best to pick out my favourite tracks from the soundtrack and again I will split the list into two parts.

So, with that said let's take a look at my top 10 list of themes from Dark Souls III...

10. Darkeater Midir

So, at No.10 is the theme for what is arguably the HARDEST boss in the entire Soulsborne series, Darkeater Midir, a ferocious dragon with some absolutely fearsome fire breath and brutal melee and dark magic attacks.

As for Midir's theme, its actually pretty damn good! In fact one of the things I like most about this theme is that it is fairly light hearted in its tone in comparison to alot of the other tracks in the game, which have a very sombre, grim feel to them. However here we almost have what sounds a like bizzarely romantic theme for a giant fire beathing dragon! And it has a nice mix of orchestrations and choral voices (I will be using the words "choral voices" ALOT in this list!) although just perhaps the female opera voice is overdone here a little bit.  But what is also great about the theme is it has that element of danger to it thrown into the strings that reminds quickly that you are fighting a truly dangerous enemy.

So, while there are certainly better themes in the game, Darkeater Midir's theme is definitely one of the lighter ones in the game and it certainly is worthy of a place on the list at No.10.

9. Sister Friede 

At No.9 is what is most likely a fan favourite of the game, which is the theme for Sister Friede and her theme is certainly an excellent one and well worth a listen in my humble opinion although I would say there are better themes in the game though myself but I don't mean to take away from it of course.

As for the theme itself well what is really good about it is that it has a very beguiling quality to it in that there is that soft piano intro along with the operatic singer but it also has those great off-notes played on the piano that really help make the track. In fact another thing that is really good about this score early on is that you can almost hear the soft sound like whispers in the first part of the theme just like when Sister Friede does her disappearing attack and its a neat inclusion. As for the second phase, the theme becomes a lot more vocal (literally!) as the choir voices really come in along with the very strident sounding strings and it has a pretty powerful impact and builds itself well toward the climax of the track.  

So, overall Sister Friede is an excellent theme from the game and its quiet and loud dynamics in the first and second phases work very together to produce a memorable track that certainly deserves its spot on the list.


8. Ancient Wyvern

At No.8 is a dragon theme, the Ancient Wyvern and yeah OK will this boss is easily one of the weakest in the game his theme certainly is anything but and it really has a wonderfully brooding quality and its also scores in being one of the more lighter sounding tracks in the game (well kind of!).

And the theme kicks off very well with the dramatic choral voices and the strings and the thing that is also quite interesting about this theme is that it has the feel of the Dark Souls 2 soundtrack to it and it wouldn't been out of place in it either. And for me I think the choir voices are one of the highlights of the track here and what I would dare say is the chorus section of the theme (no pun intended!) is certainly a highlight in that it adds in an element of surprise as the notes take a different turn although it is kind of hard to explain in words for me but if you listen to it you might get what I mean better.

So, to sum up, the Ancient Wyvern really is a very solid theme from the game and even though it is for a pretty mediocre naff boss, its still an excellent one and it deserves to take its spot on the list here at No.8.


7. Deacons of the Deep

At No.7 is a theme for another boss that is often considered to be one of the weakest in the game but I have to admit its one that I personally rather enjoy and that is the theme for the Deacons of the Deep.

And what is so good about this theme is of course the organ that plays throughout it as it gives the whole track a very sinister foreboding feel to it and again its a great marriage between the organ and the choral section as they both essentially rise together throughout the track. Its a pretty grim and ominous sounding theme throughout but it works very well with the fight itself given all those sinister looking deacons that surround you as try and fight them off! The track was also written by Nobuyoshi Suzuki who composed various tracks for Bloodborne and this track definitely does somewhat echo that score here, which is no bad thing in itself.

So overall I would have to say the Deacons of the Deep theme despite its rather grim tone is still an excellent theme and one of the best in the game and its use of organs, choir voices and of course that memorable chiming bell used throughout all add up to a very sinister and high quality track that deserves to be on the list at No.7.

6. Iudex Gundyr

So, at No.6 is the theme for the opening boss of the game, Iudex Gundyr and by heck its a real cracker of a theme too, which beautifully sets up the tone of the game.

And the theme does have a slightly different sound to it to alot of the other tracks in the game mainly because it was written by a different composer, Tsukasa Saitoh, who also worked on Bloodborne and right off the bat its dramatic opening strings really pull you into the track. The theme also has a very memorable chorus to it with its dramatic and urgent sounding strings that really ring out and if you are familiar with the Souls series you should recognise it when you hear it. The second phase of the track is of course a bit more sinister as ol Gundyr changes his form into an abyssal beast and gets a little faster in tempo as you have to act quickly to take him down.

So, I would have to say overall this really is a very strong theme in the game and its also a great opener to pull the audience in and to kind of give them an idea of what to expect theme wise and for that alone I think it deserves its place here at No.6.

Right, so that's it for my first part of the list and I will be back soon with Part 2.

So, see you soon!

Red Dead Redemption II Review

Right! So, its time for a new review with new content again (no revisits yay!) and this one will be a review of a game I have just completed (well mostly!) and that is Red Dead Redemption II, which I played on the PS4 and is a prequel to the events of the critically acclaimed original.

So, given all the hype surrounding this game on its release and thereafter, how does RDR2 stack up??? Well, let's find out.

And as I will mention a little about the story I will give the follow warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!! (BUT NOT TOO MANY!)

ALSO THIS SMALL BIT OF PLOT WAS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA 

STORY

"After a botched ferry heist in 1899, the Van der Linde gang is forced to leave their substantial money stash and flee Blackwater. The gang realize that the progress of civilization is ending the time of outlaws, and so decide to gain enough money to escape the law and retire. They rob a train owned by Leviticus Cornwall, who responds by hiring Andrew Milton and the Pinkertons to apprehend them. Arthur and the gang perform numerous jobs and heists in Valentine, and Dutch continually promises that the next heist will be their last"

And its from here that Arthur must find a way to keep surviving against the law, rival gangs as well as maintain his loyalities to Dutch and his gang as events keep taking a series of dramatic twists and turns...

THOUGHTS

As a sequel (or really a prequel) Red Dead Redemption II is a very entertaining, solid game with a terrific story that is gripping from start to finish and it has plenty of very engaging and memorable characters. And I really would have to say that the story is the game's main success and its main character, Arthur Morgan is easily perhaps one of the most likeable characters in a video game in recent memory, as despite being an outlaw, Arthur shows plenty of compassion, heroism as well as a good, dry sense of humour throughout the game. The game also succeeds in making the villains pretty loathsome as well but I won't say too much about them as I don't want throw in spoilers here!  The game however does have some gameplay issues that don't quite make it perfect but I will save those for the flaws section.

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, well this is where things suprisingly are a big mixed as the gameplay has it strengths and weaknesses but I wil get more into them in the flaws section of the review.

OPEN WORLD STRUCTURE AND MISSIONS

However for starters I would say that the gameplay is largely the same as in the original game as it is from a third person perspective and you basically can ride around on horses and shoot people and that's about it! Just kidding of course! No, but in the game it has the same open world structure to it as the first Red Dead and indeed similar to the GTA games where the player also take on a series of main story missions as well as side missions that will allow the player to interact with strangers and other characters.  The main story missions are of course required to be completed in order for the player to progress through the game whereas the side missions could also potentially earn the player more money (e.g. bounty hunts) or gain new contacts.  

WEAPONS AND COMBAT

As for weapons, your character, Arthur, get's a large selection of firearms to use such as pistols, shotguns and rifles in addition to this he also can use melee weapons such as knives, bows and tomahawks in addition to explosives such as fire bombs and dynamite. Arthur can also even use a lasso to rope in enemies such as when he is on bounty hunting missions and is trying to capture a criminal. As for hand to hand combat, Arthur can engage in fist fights with enemies, which will require him to either block or hit his opponents in order to subdue them. Arthur can also use a targeting system known as "Dead Eye" which enables him to slow down time and aim more precisely at his enemies, which can be refilled by the use of certain items such as coffee or snake oil.

HEALTH, STAMINA, CORES & MAINTAING ARTHUR

Throughout the game, it is important to try and maintain Arthur's health as his performance in the game will also largely depend on his health and stamina but it can also be dependant on his weight too. So, its important for Arthur to eat fairly regularly in the game to keep his weight up to a reasonable level because if he is underweight, he will have less health but he will have more stamina whereas if he is overweight, he will have higher health but lower stamina.  In addition to this, Arthur also has health and stamina cores that will regenerate at different rates and they can also be refilled via the use of specific items. Arthur will also require sleep to function well because after a while he will become visibily exhausted and you can have him either go to sleep at the gang's camp location or set up a tent when he is out on horseback. And lastly, Arthur can also get haircuts and trim his facial hair to keep himself tidy because he will end up looking like Grizzly Adams if he doesn't!


HORSES, WAYPOINTS AND FAST TRAVEL

As in the original game, horses are by far the most common form of transportation in RDR2 and Arthur can either buy horses or claim them from the gang's camp and you can even name his horse! Arthur can also interact with the horses in different ways such as patting and feeding them or if they become agitated, he can calm them down by speaking to them. In addition to this, Arthur can also equip horse saddles and stash equipment in them such as tents, food supplies and even weapons such as rifles or bows.

You can also set up waypoints in the game from the game's map that will allow you to set out a path to lead you to a mission or certain point of interest in the game. This can be very useful especially if you have a long way to travel to get to your next mission, which can often be the case! However an even better shortcut system in the game is the use of fast travel, which will allow Arthur to use a map and set his destination and the game will automatically take you there without having to control Arthur although there are a limited amount of fast travel options in the game.

HONOUR AND MORAL CHOICES

Another key aspect of the game comes from its honour system, which determines the level of Arthur's morality because for Arthur to have high honour, he will need to keep doing good deeds and choosing positive outcomes in missions or side-missions or in helping out strangers while enroute. Having low honour however will result in Arthur making amoral decisions such as hurting people in need of help, making evil choices in main story or side missions and without giving anything else away your level honour can also affect the outcome of the game's ending. So, it is another staple of the game's missions that Arthur will have to make these choices for himself and decide the impact they will have.

HUNTING ANIMALS

Another aspect of the game is hunting animals, as Arthur will at times be required to hunt them for food either to bring back to the camp to eat or for Arthur to eat while out in the wild. Arthur can also hunt and kills animal for their skins, which Arthur will cut off with a knive and can stash them on his horse to take back to camp where the animal skins can be used to make new bags to increase Arthur's ability to hold more items. If Arthur intends to skin animals however, it is best he uses a sniper rifle to go for a head shot, so that animal skin is kept in good condition as it will be worth less to sell on it isn't. It also recommended to cook the dead animals fairly quickly as they will decompose over time if Arthur doesn't return to camp with them in time.

BOUNTY SYSTEM

Similar to the original Read Dead, RDR2 brings back the bounty system, which determines Arthur's wanted rating and this will vary depending on the severity of his crimes as the bounty can range from a small amount up to "Dead or Alive". This means if Arthur is wanted in a certain area for a crime, he will need to escape that area if the law comes after him or if he returns to that area he will need to be careful not to be shot and killed. Arthur however can pay off bounties if he has the money by travelling to a post office and posting the bounty off to a sherriff's office for a specific area. Arthur can also even surrender himself if he has committed a crime in a public area and law officials surround him, he will be taken into custody but later let go after which a small fee will be deducted from him money.

MAKING MONEY 

As for making money in the game, Arthur usually can make money through quite a few of the main story missions and indeed the side mission ones also. However, Arthur can make money through other means as well such as playing card games or even just simply looting dead bodies. Another way Arthur can make money is buy selling items to general store workers or to fences Arthur has made contact with and items that tend to sell well are watches and jewellery.

CHARACTER INTERACTION

Arthur can also interact with the main gang characters in the game while he is at camp as he can often stroll around the campsite and chat to them either simply saying hello but sometimes Arthur will speak to a specific character about what happened on a previous mission. This is actually a pretty neat inclusion in the game as it let's the player have a little extra bit of insight into what Arthur and the other characters are thinking.   

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, well this is another area where the game excels as the visuals are simply stunning and the game's environments are rich, detailed and very varied in design as there is a great mix of open landscapes to urban/city areas as well as the inclusion of different environmental weather effects. The character models are also for the most part pretty good too although they are perhaps a bit crude looking in comparison to some games but the main characters such as Arthur, Dutch and Micah are all well done. Overall though, RDR2 visually is a real treat for the eyes and it certainly remains one of the best for either the PS4 or Xbox One consoles.

VOICE ACTING

Next up is the voice acting, which is excellent in RDR2 and the voice cast all put in top notch performances as they have been given a great script to work with but for time I will only mention a few of the voice cast.

Starting with Roger Clark, who is great in his role as the game's main character, Arthur Morgan and he plays Arthur with a rather dry, droll sounding tone but more importantly he also nails Arthur's innate goodness as a decent man trapped in a bad life. Benjamin Bryon Davis is also excellent in his role as Dutch, the charismatic gang leader, who preaches to his camp like some sort of evangelist with promises of loads of money and paradise but let's just say things don't quite go according to plan!  

Rob Wiethoff also returns in his role of John Marston (the main character from the original Read Dead Redemption) and he does a good job although my only complaint is that he gives Marston such a raspy voice like he's just chain smoked a 100 cigarettes! Peter Blomquist who is also excellent in his role as the loathsome outlaw Micah Bell, who is part of Dutch's gang but is frequently at odds with Arthur, who despises him and Peter really does a great job at making Micah hateful and despicable.

And the last a few I will mention are Curzon Dubell as Hosea Matthews, Dutch's best friend and co-gang member, who acts as the voice of reason and Dubell certainly does an excellent job with his role. Noshir Dalal is also excellent as the Native American member of Dutch's gang, Charles Smith and he always seems to talk in a very hushed tone most of the time! And last of all is Alex McKenna as Sadie Adler, another one of Dutch's gang, who is a female bounty hunter not to be messed with and she gives a fine performance and its safe to say that Sadie is the female equivalent of John and Arthur in the game and the best female character overall here.

MUSIC

As for the music it was composed by Woody Jackson and its an excellent score overall, which perfectly captures the tone and the period of the game as the score can be atmospheric, haunting, sad and playful all at once. Jackson also composed the original Red Dead and also quite a few of Rockstar games previous titles such as L.A. Noire, Max Payne 3 and Grand Theft Auto V.

FLAWS

As for flaws, does RDR2 have any worth pointing out??? Well, yep despite how enjoyable and good it is, I'm afraid it RDR2 still has quite a few worth pointing out.

For starters I would have to say my main complaint with RDR2 is to do with its game save system, which in my opinion is probably the WORST I have ever seen! And the reasons why it so bad is first off because the game will NOT let you save your progress as you go along properly, as it randomly autosaves it for you at different points, so if you want to load in a save you made at a certain point, the game will not reload it into the very point you left it, which is a real pain and it will load you in somewhere else! 

However, second of all and what is even worse is if you are in the middle of a mission and at any time for any reason have to switch the game off, it will NOT save the game during the point you were at, it will reset to BEFORE you started the mission! And this can be hugely frustrating especially later on as there are some missions that can require a fair bit of backtracking to get to and the game will reload MILES away from where the mission is located! Further to this point, I feel like the game forces you to try and complete missions in one sitting because this is its way of punishing you if you don't! So, yep to say that I am not impressed with this game's save system would be a huge understatement! In short it sucks!

Another issue I had with the game is that certain missions have some VERY lengthy travel dialogues where Arthur and his fellow travellers can take ages to reach their destination and will spend alot of that time yakkin on and on and you cannot cut through any of it! Thankfully for the most part, the dialogue tends to be fairly interesting but it doesn't fully prevent the whole travel thing enroute being a bit tedious.

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS A SPOILER!

Further to this issue, I found there are also some moments in the game where you have to physically make Arthur walk or ride his horse in order to progress the mission and again that can take ages! This is especially notable in the mission where Arthur is shipwrecked on a beach on an island near Cuba and you have to make him walk for ages to initiate the chapter properly as he wanders dazed around the island! And this all begs the question: rather than have you control Arthur, to save time, why not simply have a cutscene perform the same function?! It would make things much quicker to get through! But I just think that Rockstar games is trying to over-egg the pudding when it comes to reality by making you take control of Arthur rather than the game.

I also felt that at times the reasons for certain mission failures was a bit pathetic to say the least! As an example there is a mission where Arthur and his colleagues have to steal some horses from a stable and I ended up failing that mission simply because I didn't leave the stable with the horse fast enough! I mean WTF!!! I cannot imagine a LAMER reason to fail a mission in any game than that one! Another example is in a mission where Arthur, Dutch and the others attend a party in Saint Denis and Arthur has to follow the escort but I ended up getting lost and the mission failure reason was "The escort was abandoned". Again, what the hell?!! I mean all Arthur had to do was turn around and head back up the stairs to catch up with the escort! He didn't have to fail the mission for that alone! I mean, Jesus, Rockstar! You've got to try and do better with your mission failure rationale as it really is pretty crap at times!

Another problem is to do with some of the controls as there are times e.g. you will select your gun but want to also use an item such as chewing tobacco to restore your dead eye and when you finished using the tobacco, it doesn't it automatically let you re-select your gun right away you need to wait a few seconds for Arthur to retrieve it! So, yeah that's pretty annoying for sure!

There are other control issues as well that are prevalent in certain missions, such as one where Arthur goes with his Native American friend, Charles, for a ride in a canoe and he tells you to get into the canoe but for the life of me I COULDN'T figure out how to actually get Arthur into the bloody canoe! I thought it was usually the square button (on the PS4 anyway) you press for Arthur to climb up on and into things but nope not this time it was another button entirely! I later found out you use the triangle button to get Arthur into the canoe but it is really frustrating how the game just does not make this clear.

I also felt that some of the missions towards the end of the game are a bit tedious and more often than not they descend into another long drawn out gunfight, where you have to kill so many enemies before progressing onward. The gunfights and combat can tend to be fun depending on the mission but later it does have to be said that they soon become a bit too repetitive.   

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So in summing up, RDR2 is for the most part an excellent prequel to the original game and the main game itself has plenty of good action, great visuals and above all else a terrific story to tell with a very likeable and engaging main character in Arthur Morgan and without saying anything else the end of the main game is one of the most heart wrenching in gaming. The game of course does have its drawbacks with its hugely frustrating save system and some annoying control issues. 

However if you can forgive that then RDR2 is still well worth checking out and its pros still outweigh the cons and I'm sure its a game most people will enjoy.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back next month with another post.

Till then its bye fer now, partner!  

Reservoir Dogs Revisited "I'd go over 12% for that!"

Right, well its time to revisit yet another previous post from this blog and this one goes a fair way back by 5 years on the blog and the subject of the post in question is Quentin Tarantino's debut film, Reservoir Dogs. So, I will do the usual rewrite stuff to expand on the sections and give the sections actual headings like I do now to make things a bit easier to read etc.

So, with that said let's take a look at this modern crime classic and see how it stacks up after almost 30 years (yep its been nearly that long!).

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
 
STORY
 
So it all begins with eight men sitting in a diner have a discussion, the men in questioning are going to perform a heist at a jewelry store.  Six of the men are given alises of Mr Brown (Tarantino), Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr White (Harvey Keitel), Mr Blue (Edward Bunker), Mr Orange (Tim Roth) and Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi) for the purposes of the robbery and the organiser and mob boss, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) doesn't want them to use their christian names.  Cabot also organises the heist with his son and underboss, "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn) and together they discuss a lot of trivial things and then leave.

The next scene cuts to Mr White driving a car with Mr Orange in the back, who has been shot in the stomach and is bleeding badly.  White drives them to an abandoned warehouse, the agreed meeting point for the thieves and takes Orange in and tries to reassure him he will be okay.  Not long after Pink arrives, who is convinced that they were set up by the cops, given the fact that they showed up so fast at the scene of the crime.

White tells Pink that Mr Brown as killed at the scene of the heist as well and they both discuss how Mr Blonde killed several civilians during the robbery when the alarm was sounded, and White is angered at how Joe would employ a psychopath like Blonde.  Afterward White and Pink argue with one another over whether or not they should take Orange to a hospital, which becomes heated as they pull guns on one another, but it is soon diffused by the arrival of Mr Blonde.

White berates Blonde for his actions at the jewelry store, but Blonde quickly dismisses the criticism and tells them he has spoken to Nice Guy Eddie who has told them to stay put.  Blonde then takes White and Pink out to his car and opens the boot to reveal he has taken a police officer hostage, Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz) and the three of them beat up to try and force him into revealing any information of an informant.

Later on Eddie arrives at the warehouse and confronts the men over the bungled heist and the possibility of a setup, which he refuses to accept and tells White and Pink to come with him to ditch the stolen cars and retrieve the stashed diamonds (which Pink has secured) leaving Blonde alone with Nash and Orange, who is unconscious.

Blonde then decides to torture Nash for his own amusement and while listening to a show on the radio named "K Billy's Super Sounds of the 70s" he tortures Nash by slashing his face and cutting his right ear off with a straight razor.  Blonde then goes outside and comes back in with some gasoline which he douses Nash with and prepares to set him alight, but at this point Orange regains consciousness and shoots Blonde dead.  Blonde tells Nash that he is an undercover cop and that the police are waiting in force to storm the warehouse once Cabot shows up there.

And from here we get Orange's back story, which leads into the events prior to the heist and then it cuts back to the aftermath of the heist, which leads into the film's dramatic climax....

THOUGHTS

It has to be said that Reservoir Dogs remains one of the most impressive film debuts in recent years of an any filmmaker, although for me it still remains one of my least favourite Tarantinto films, but its still a compelling, intense and entertaining film nonetheless.  Tarantino, was a former video store worker, who had an indepth knowledge of films and his passion for film is clear in his works not only in Reservoir Dogs but his other films as well.  Tarantino also loosely based the plot of the film around Stanley Kubrick's film, The Killing, and it also pays homage to The Taking of Pelham, one two three, where they used similar aliases as Mr White, Mr Pink, etc, as well as the film's final stand-off resembling a climactic sequences from the Chinese action film, City on Fire.

Tarantino initially planned to make the film for only $30,000 using 16mm film but his screenplay soon gained the attention of Harvey Keitel, who helped raised funds to get it made into a proper film feature, with the film's final budget being 1.5 million dollars.  The film on its release was a critical and commercial success although it also received some controversy over its violence, but this of course is something that would feature heavily in Tarantino's other films.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!).

Getting onto the performances, this is where Reservoir Dogs really excels as they are all top notch and Tarantino has assembled a great cast.

Starting with Harvey Keitel, who is superb in his role as Mr White and one of the more compassionate thieves who helps the dying Mr Orange, after he has been shot.

Keitel has plenty of highlights in the film, such as in the opening scene where he gets fed up with Joe Cabot reading from an old diary, and he grabs it off him.  And in the scene Keitel as White says "For the past 15 minutes, you have been droning on about names.  Toby??  Toby Wong.  Toby Wong??  Charlie fuckin Chan!  I've got Madonna's big dick coming out of my right ear and Toby the jap out of my left!".

Keitel also has some good moments with Tim Roth, especially in the scene just after the credits when Orange is writhing in pain after being shot in the stomach by a female driver, who's car they steal. So, in the scene Orange in agony says "I can't believe she killed me, Larry! Who'd have fuckin thought that!" and White says "Cancel that shit right now! You're hurt, you're hurt real fuckin bad but you ain't dying!". Orange continues to panic and says "All this blood is scaring the shit out of me, Larry! I'm gonna die I know it!" and White retorts back "Excuse me, I didn't realise you had a degree in medicine! What we're gonna do is get Joe to call you a doctor, the doctor's gonna fix up and you're gonna be OK!". Orange however continues to fight with the pain and White tries to encourage Orange and shouts at him "You're gonna be OK! Say the goddamn words "You're gonna be ok!" but Orange continues to writhe in pain. So, White shouts "SAY THE GODDAMN FUCKIN WORDS! SAY IT!" and Orange finally calms down a little and says "OK, Larry" and White with a little relief says "Correct!".

Then just after they arrive at the warehouse and White tries to reassure again that Orange will be OK and says to him "You're not gonna fuckin die, kid, alright?  Along with the kneecap, the gut is the most painful area a guy can get shot in.  But it takes a long time to die from it.  We're talking days, and time is on your side". 

Then there is the scene where White and Pink argue over how White had told Orange his first name and where he was from.  So, Pink angrily asks White "What was telling him your name when you weren't supposed to?!" and White angrily replies "He asked! He had just got shot! It was my fault he got shot! He's a fucking bloody mess! He was screaming and I thought he was gonna die right then and there! So, I kept telling how everything was going to be alright and that I'm gonna take care of him! I mean the man was dying in my arms...WHAT THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO??!! Tell him "Sorry! I can't give out that fuckin information! Its against the rules! I don't trust you enough! Or maybe should but I couldn't!". And as Pink is about to reply White yells "FUCK YOU AND FUCK JOE!!" and Pink mockingly says "I'm sure it was a beautiful scene between you two" and White furiously says "Don't fucking patronise me!". Pink then asks White if they have police sheet on him where he is from and White says "Yeah!" and Pink warns him now that Orange knows his name, where he is from and his specialty. Pink then asks "You didn't give him anything else to narrow down the selection?!" and White on his last nerve with Pink warns him "If I to tell you to back off again you and me are gonna go round and round!". 

Another scene is where White confronts Blonde at the warehouse over his killing spree at the store and White says to Blonde "You better start talkin, asshole!  Cos we've got alot of shit to talk about!  We're already freaked out, and we need you acting freaky like we need a fuckin bag on our hip!".  And as White is about to leave Blonde tells him not to take a step further, White pulls out his gun and points it at Blonde and yells "FUCK YOU MANIAC!  Its your fuckin' fault we're in this trouble!" and Blonde asks him what's his problem and White yells back "What's my problem? !Yeah I've got a BIG FUCKIN' PROBLEM!!  With any trigger happy madman, who almost gets me shot!".  And this is followed by "You almost KILLED ME!!  ASSHOLE!  If I knew what kind of guy you were I never would have agreed to work with you!".  So, as Blonde smoothly threatens White by saying "Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie or are you gonna bite?" White trying to restrain his anger asks Blonde "I'm sorry I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it???". 

And later on in the film where in the flashback scene, White tells Orange on how to handle a tricky customer at the jewelry store and he tells him what to do if the manager gives him hassle.  And White says "Now managers usually know better than to fuck around, but if you get one who's giving you some static, cut off one of his fingers, the little one and then tell him his thumb's next.  After that he'll tell if he wears ladies underwear!".

WARNING: SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

And last there is the final scene where Joe finally shows up at the warehouse and identifies Orange as the rat and working as a cop to the others but White refuses to believe and when Joe pulls a gun on Orange, White pulls his gun on Joe and Eddie in turn pulls his gun on White.

So, in the scene White says to Joe of Orange being the rat "Joe, I know you're hot and super fuckin pissed! We're all real emotional but I know this man and he wouldn't do that!".White then asks Joe "How do you know all this?" and Joe tells him "He was the only one I wasn't 100% on and I should have my fucking head examined going ahead when I wasn't 100%".  White however is not convinced and shouts "THAT'S YOUR PROOF?!" and Joe tells him "You don't need proof when you have instinct! I ignored it before but no more!". So as Joe pulls his gun on Orange, White does the same to Joe "Joe, you're making a terrible mistake I'm not gonna let you make" and Eddie tries to reason with White while pointing his gun at him. White however tells Joe "Joe, you kill that man you die next. Repeat, you kill that man you die next!".

Tim Roth is also excellent in his role as Mr Orange, the undercover cop who infiltrates the gang and takes part in the robbery, which goes awry and later suffers a gunshot wound to the stomach and spends most of the film lying in his own blood in the warehouse.

Roth also shares some excellent scenes with Keitel, especially in the scene where White takes Orange to the warehouse and Orange pleads with White to drop him off at the hospital and he says to White "Look in my eyes, man.  Look in my eyes.  I swear to fucking God!  I won't tell them anything!  You'll be safe, man".

And later on when Blonde regains consciousness and shoots Blonde just before he burns the cop, Nash, he quietly asks Nash his name and tells him that the police are waiting just a block away.  And when Nash petulantly yells at Blonde about his sliced off ear and slashed face, Blonde musters all he can and shouts back "FUCK YOU!  FUCK YOU!!! I'M FUCKING DYING HERE!  I'M FUCKIN DYING!!". Nash then calms down and Blonde says to him "We're gonna sit here and bleed and wait for Joe Cabot to show up, so don't pussy out on me now, Marvin".

And later on in the film during Orange's backstory, Orange talks to his fellow cop, Holdaway (Randy Brooks) about the group of thieves.  And at the start of the scene, Orange walks into the diner and up to Holdaway and tells him "Say hello to a motherfucker who's on the inside. Cabot's pulling a job and take a big fat guess who's on the team?" and Holdaway says "This better not be some Freddie joke" and Orange tells him "Its no joke. I'm there I'm up his ass!" and the two men hug. Orange then talks about how he met with Eddie and that he was a good thief "Eddie, said I was a good thief. I didn't rattle".

So as Holdaway asks what does Cabot look like, Orange says "Do you remember the Fantastic four??" and Holdaway "Oh yeah, that invisible bitch and flame on guy" and Orange dramatically holds out his hands and says  "The Thing!  The motherfucker looks just like the Thing!".

And lastly there is the climax scene where White, Pink and Eddie return to the warehouse to find Blonde dead and a shocked Eddie asks "What the fuck happened?!" and White tells him "He slashed the cop's face, cut off his ear and was gonna burn him alive". Eddie asks again as he approaches Nash and Blonde repeats himself "I said Blonde went crazy, slashed the cop's face, cut off his ear and was gonna burn him alive". Eddie then pulls out his gun and says to Orange "This cop?" and proceeds to shoot Nash dead and Eddie asks "He went crazy? Something like that? Worse or better?". Orange however insists "Eddie, he was pulling a burn, man. He was gonna wait for you to return, blow you to hell and leave with the diamonds. However Eddie refuses to believe Orange and goes over what he said again and asks Orange if that is what he was saying and Orange says "I swear on my mother's eternal soul is what happened".

Steve Buscemi is terrific in his role as the highly strung Mr Pink, who is the most sussed out of the group and realises quickly that they were set up.

Buscemi has plenty of great moments in the film such as in the opening scene where Pink disagrees with tipping waitresses much to the dismay of the other members of the group.  And Buscemi get's some good lines in this scene where he rubs his fingers together saying "You know what this is?  Its the world's smallest violin playing just for the waitresses!". However as White tries to reason with Pink about how waitresses deserve their tips as its the only jobs non-graduates can get and live on, Pink dismissively says "Fuck all that!" and the others laugh in disbelief. Pink then continues "I'm sorry but it appears that the waitresses are one of the groups that the government continues to fuck in the ass on a regular basis, that's not my fault! If we put it to a vote, I'll vote but what I won't do is play ball. And this non-college degree bullshit you're throwing me, I've got two words for you "learn to fucking type". However Joe soons comes back to the table and confronts him over it and Pink relents after Joe calls him a cheap bastard and says how he paid for his breakfast, so Pink says "Alright, since you paid for the breakfast I'll throw in but I don't normally do this".

Then there is the scene where Pink chastises himself for getting involved the job in the first place and that he sensed something was off. So, he says to White "What the fuck am I doin' here, man? I felt funny about this job right off. As soon as I felt it I should have said, "No, thank you," but I never fucking listen. Every time I ever got fucked buying weed, the same thing. I didn't trust the guy, but I wanted to believe him. If he's not lying and it really is Thai stick, then it's great. But it never is, and I always said that if I felt that about a job, I'd fuckin' walk. And I didn't! I DIDN'T BECAUSE OF THE FUCKIN' MONEY!".

And another great highlight in the film is Buscemi's scene with Keitel where White and Pink face off against each other in the warehouse and pull their guns on each other.  And Pink yells "You wanna fuck with me??!! I'll show you who you're fuckin with?!" and White shouts back "You wanna shoot, you little piece of shit?! Go ahead, take a shot!!" and Pink shouts "Fuck you, White!  I didn't create this situation I'm dealing with it!  You're acting like a first year fucking thief.  I'm acting like a professional!  You lookin at me like its my fault?  I didn't tell them my name or where I'm from!  Shit, 15 minutes you almost told me YOUR name! You and your buddy are stuck in a situation you created, so if you wanna throw bad looks somewhere, throw them at a mirror!".

And in the next scene where Pink diffuses a potential barny between White and Blonde and gets in between them shouts "You two assholes calm the fuck down! Hey come on! Am I the only professional here?! Fucking guys are acting like a bunch of fucking niggers! You ever work with niggers huh?! Like you two, always trying to kill each other!". White then says to Pink of Blonde "You said yourself you thought of taking him out!" and Blonde a bit annoyed asks "You fucking said that?!" and Pink tries to back pedal and says "I did! But that was then! Right now this is the only guy I completely trust! He's too fucking homicidal to work with the cops!". 

White then angrily asks Pink "You taking his side?!" Pink yells "Fuck sides man what we need here is a little solidarity!  If someone is sticking a red hot poker up our asses I wanna know who's name is on the handle!". Pink calms down and then says to White and Orange "Look, I know I'm no piece of shit" and he looks to White "And I'm pretty sure you're OK" and he looks to Blonde and says to Blonde "And I'm fucking positive you're on the level. So, let's try and figure out who is the bad guy here, alright?". 

And later on Buscemi also has a fun moment where he complains about being named Mr Pink for the heist, and Pink says to Cabot "Mr Pink sounds like Mr Pussy!" and White says to him who cares about the name and Pink says "Its easy for you to say, you've got a cool sounding name.  So if you don't mind being Mr Pink, do you wanna trade?"  And as Cabot grows tired of Pink's complaining, Pink says "Jesus Christ, Joe, let's forget about it.  Its beneath me.  I'm Mr Pink.  Let's move on".

Michael Madsen provides a memorable and rather chilling performance as the cool headed sociopath, Mr Blonde, who engages in a killing spree during the heist and later tortures the cop, Nash in the warehouse (the heist itself however is never seen).

Madsen in his role gets some good glib dialogue as Blonde, and his flashback story provides a nice introduction to his role, where Blonde (or Vic Vega as his real name is) meets up with Joe and Eddie.  And Blonde has some playful rapport with Eddie the scene where the two of them wrestle on the floor and Eddie comically accuses Blonde of trying to fuck him, and Blonde says "If I were a butt cowboy, I wouldn't even throw you to the posse!" followed by "Eddie if you keep talking like a bitch, I'm gonna slap you like a bitch!".

And after Eddie tells Blonde that he could get him a job as a dock worker to get his parole officer off his back, Blonde asks them "Look, I appreciate what you guys are doing for me but I want when I can come back and...you know...do some real work?". So, after some hesitation, Eddie suggests to Joe that they use Blonde in an upcoming heist job. So, Joe asks Blonde "Well, Vic, how would you feel about pulling off a job with about five other guys?" and Blonde smiles and says "I'd feel great about it".

Another amusing moment Madsen has is in the scene where Nice Guy Eddie turns up at the warehouse and White complains again about Blonde's behaviour at the jewelry heist. So, Blonde warily complains to Eddie and says "You see what I've been putting up with here, Eddie? I fucking walked in here and Mr White is sticking a gun in my face, calling me a motherfucking, saying he's gonna blow me away and blah, blah, blah!". So, White says to Eddie as he poins his finger "He was like this... BAM!  BAM! BAM!".  And Blonde wearily says "Yeah bam, bam bam!  I told them not to touch the fuckin alarm and they did!  If they haven't done what I told them not to do, then they would still be alive!" followed by sarcastic applause by White who says "My fucking hero!" and Blonde takes a little bow smiling and says "Thanks!". So, White asks Blonde "So, that's your excuse for going on a kill-crazy rampage?" and Blonde tells him "I don't like alarms, Mr White". 

And later on in the scene where Blonde is left alone with Orange and Nash, he walks up to Nash, who is tied to a chair and says to him "Guess what?  I think I'm parked in the red zone!".  And in the same scene Madsen delivers that immortal chilling line where he says to Nash "Look, kid.  I'm not gonna bullshit you.  I don't really give a good fuck what you know or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway! Not to get information, it amuses me to torture a cop. You can say what you want as I've heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain't gonna get!". So, Blonde pulls out his gun and points it at Nash, who writhes around in panic but Blonde just laughs and puts his gun down and goes over pulls out a razor from his boot and he asks Nash "Have you heard K Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's?" and he goes over and switches on the radio and says "Its my personal favourite!".   

Chris Penn is also great in his role as Joe Cabot's son, Nice Guy Eddie, the underboss who co-organises the heist.  Penn also has some really good moments such as his first scene at the diner where Pink refuses to thrown in a tip for the waitress and Blue says to Pink "Hey this girl was nice" and Pink says "She was OK, she was nothing special" and Blue asks him "What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick?" and the men all laugh and Eddie says "I'd go over 12% for that!".

And then there is the great scene where Eddie arrives at the warehouse to find White, Pink and Blonde beating up the cop and he asks what is going on. So, Pink tells Eddie "We were set up, the cops were waiting for us!" but Eddie angrily says "What?! Nobody fuckin set anybody up!" but Pink angrily says "Hey fuck you, man! You weren't there! The cops were staked out and waiting for us!". So, Eddie angrily asks Pink "OK, Mr Fucking Detective, how did it?" and Pink shouts "What the hell do you think we've been asking each other?!" and Eddie furiously asks "And what did you come up with? Do you think I did it?! DID YOU THINK I FUCKING SET YOU UP?!" and Pink says "I dunno but somebody did!".

Eddie with disgust at the situation says "Nobody did! You fuckin assholes turn a jewelry store into a wild west show and you wonder why the fuckin cops show up?!" and he asks why they are beating up the cop.  And Eddie says "If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he's gonna tell you who started the goddamn fuckin Chigaco fire!  But that don't necessarily make it fuckin so!  Come on, man, think!".  So, at the end of the scene, Eddie tells White and Pink to come with him and get rid of the cars outside and as Eddie tells them that they should never have let the cop out of Blonde's car boot in the first place, Pink says "We were trying to find out what he knew about the setup!". And Eddie and yells "THERE IS NO FUCKIN SET UP! Blonde you stay here and babysit these two! White and Pink come with because if Joe comes here and sees all these cars outside, I swear he's gonna be just as mad as me as he is at you!".

And later on Penn has a funny scene where he tells the story of "Lady E" a woman who's abusive partner lead her to play a practical joke on him.  And Eddie says in the scene "She buys this wacko glue and glues his dick to his belly!  The paramedics had to cut the prick loose!" and White asks if he was pissed off and Eddie laughs and says "How would you feel if every time you had to take a piss you had to do a handstand!".

And later Penn has one of his best moments when he confronts Orange over what happened to Blonde when Orange killed him and he refuses to believe Orange's excuse.  "You're telling me this man who did five years for us, and we're making good on our commitment to him, he's GONNA DECIDE OUT OF THE FUCKIN BLUE TO RIP US OFF???!!  Why don't you tell me what REALLY happened?!".

WARNING! SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Last of all is the Mexican stand-off scene where Joe is about to shoot Orange after he tells the others that Orange was the one that set them up and Joe pulls out his gun to shoot Orange, only for White to pulls his gun on Joe. So, in turn Eddie pulls out his gun and points it at White and asks him "Have you lost your fucking mind???" and White says to Joe "Joe, you're about to make a terrible mistake I'm not gonna let you make". Eddie then tries to reason with White "Look, we've done a lot of jobs, done a lot of time but there's no need for this man". White then warns Joe "Joe, you kill that man you die next, repeat: you kill that man you die next". Eddie then warns White "Larry, we have been friends and I respect you but I will put bullets through your fucking heart if you don't put that gun down NOW!". White then gives Joe a final warning "Goddamn you, Joe. Don't make me do this!" and Eddie give his final warning and yells at White "LARRY STOP POINTING THAT FUCKING GUN AT MY DAD!!!".  

Lawrence Tierney also is very good in his role as the gruff aged mob boss, Joe Cabot, who organises the jewel heist.

And Tierney's best scene comes when he tells the men their names "Here are you're name, Mr Blonde, Mr White, Mr Blue, Mr Brown and Mr Pink" and when Pink asks "Why am I Mr Pink?" Joe sharply says "Cos you're a faggot alright?!!!".  And when Pink asks why can't they chose their own colours, Joe says "No, no way.  Tried it once, it doesn't work.  You got four guys all fighting over who wants to be Mr Black, but they don't know each other so nobody wants to back down!  No way.  I pick!  You're Mr Pink!  Be thankful you're not Mr Yellow!".  And at the of the scene Joe says to the men "I'm so goddamn mad hollering at you guys I can hardly talk!  Let's go to work!".

And last of all is the last scene where Joe finally shows up at the warehouse just as Eddie angrily confronts Orange over what happened with Blonde's death. So, as Eddie furiously asks Orange "Why don't you tell me what REALLY happened?!" Joe arrives and says "What the hell for?! It would just be more bullshit!" and Eddie says to Joe "Dad, I'm sorry but I don't know what the hell is happened". Joe then says to Eddie "Its alright, Eddie, I do" and he points to Orange says "This man set us up" and White shocked ask "What do you mean?" and Joe tells him "That lump of shit is working with the LAPD!".  And as White refuses to believe it, Joe says "You don't know what's goin on! I do! Mr Orange tipped off the cops and had Mr Brown and Mr Blue killed!" and Pink asks "Blue's dead?" and Joe delivers the great line "Dead as Dilinger!".

White then asks Joe "How do you know all this?" and Joe tells him "He was the only one I wasn't 100% on. I should have my fucking head examined going ahead when I wasn't 100%".  White however is not convinced and shouts "THAT'S YOUR PROOF?!" and Joe tells him "You don't need proof when you have instinct! I ignored it before but no more!".

Kirk Baltz is also very good in his role as Marvin Nash, the cop who is taken hostage, beaten and then tortured by Blonde, and I still find it hard to look at the open wound of his severed ear in the film to this day!  Yeeughhh!

Baltz also does very well in the film's most unsettling and difficult scene where Nash begs with Blonde to spare him just as Blonde douses the cop in gasoline and prepares to burn him. So, in the scene a terrified Nash shouts to Blonde "STOP! STOP! Look I've got my own kid now, please! I don't know anything about any fucking guys! I'm not gonna say anything!".

And after Orange kills Blonde, he asks Nash his name "What's your name?" and Nash tells him "Marvin. Marvin Nash" and Blonde says "Listen, Marvin Nash, I'm a cop" and Nash says "Yeah, I know". Blonde a little surprised asks Nash "You do?" and Nash says "Yeah, your name is Freddie something" and Orange says "Newendyke, Freddie Newendyke". Nash then tells Orange "Frankie Ferchetti introduced about 5 months ago" and Orange says "Shit, I don't remember that at all". Nash then asks Orange "Freddie...how do I look?" and Orange smiles sympathetically and says "I dunno what to tell you Marvin". 

So, Nash almost sobs and shouts re: Blonde "That fuck! That sick twisted fuck!" Orange tells Nash "I need you to hold on, Marvin. There are cops just waiting a block awat". So, Nash shouts  he says "What the fuck are they waiting for?!  I mean this guy slices my face and cuts my fucking ear off!  I'm fucking deformed!" and Blonde yells at him that he is dying and not to pussy out and wait for Joe to show up.

Randy Brooks is very good also in his role as the undercover cop, Holdaway, who helps out Orange and tells him to use a "commode" story to tell to Joe's men to amuse them to back his cover story as a drug dealer.

So, in Brooks scenes with Roth, Orange meets with Holdaway in a diner and they discuss he is undercover work and how he has infiltrated Joe's team. So, as Orange tells Holdaway about White, Holdaway says "I bet you from a diddle-eyed Joe to a damned-if-know, this motherfucker's from Wisconsin" and Orange says "bing!" and Holdaway says "So, what I want you to do is look at all the mug shots from, Wisconsin and identify this Mr White motherfucker's ass". Orange then discusses how his referral from another cop, "Long Beach" Mike helped him to get inside. So, Orange says to Holdaway "So, do right by him, he's a good guy" but Holdaway shakes his head and says "No, no, no, no, no. "Long Beach" Mike isn't your fucking amigo,  "Long Beach" is a fucking scumbag. He is selling out his amigos, that's what kind of nice fucking guy he is. So, you keep low-life scumbag outta mind". So, after a pause, Holdaway asks Orange "You use the "commode" story?". 

So, in the following scene up on a rooftop building somewhere, Holdaway explains the "commode" story and presents a four page script to Orange to rehearse. So, Holdaway says of the script "This is something funny that happens to you while on a fucking job. You remember what you need and make the rest your own, alright?".  Holdaway then tells Orange "To do this job you need to be a great fuckin actor, you need to be Brando. A bad actor is bullshit on this job!". Holdaway then insists Orange remembers the specific details about the commode itself and he tells Orange "You gotta remember if it stinks, if some nasty low-life motherfucker, man, sprays diahorrea all over the bowl! You gotta remember EVERY detail about this commode! Its all about you and how you perceived the events that went down. And the only way to do that is to keep saying it, saying it, saying it and saying it!". 

Edward Bunker also does well in his very brief role as Mr Blue. Bunker interestingly enough himself in reality had a criminal background as he was once a convicted felon, who served prison sentences for crimes such as armed robbery, drug dealing and extortion before he finally went straight in 1975. Bunker later died in 2005, aged 71. 

And Bunker's only comes in the opening diner scene where Blue says to Pink about the waitress that served them "Hey this girl was nice" and Pink say "She was OK, she was nothing special" and Blue asks him "What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick?!" and as the men all laugh, Eddie ponders and says "I'd go over 12% for that!".

And last of all Quentin Tarantinto provides his own tuppence in the film as Mr Brown who delivers an admittedly silly and annoying monologue about the real meaning of the Madonna song "Like a virgin" and he refers to the woman in the song "Its all about this cooz who is a regular fuck machine, I'm talkin morning, noon, day and night! Dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick!"  And Blue then asks "How many dicks it that?" and White dryly says "A lot!".  And Brown continues by saying "You see the pain reminds a fuck machine what it was once like to be a virgin.  Hence like a virgin!".

And later on when Brown is given his alias of Mr Brown by Joe at the heist meeting, Tarantino delivers his best line when complains and says "Mr Brown it a little too close to Mr Shit!".

DIRECTOR

So finally getting onto the director, Tarantino does an excellent job with Dogs and given that it is his debut its also a fairly impressive technical film, with Tarantino using a string of long takes to give the actors good distance from one another and it goes without saying his writing is of a very high quality as his script witty, immensely profane, and above all very clever.  Tarantino also paces the film to perfection as it clocks in at just 95 minutes so there is not a minute's flab in there (well in movie length weight terms that is!).

MUSIC 

As for the music in the film, Tarantino here rather than go with an original score has chosen a number of classic pop/rock tracks from the 1970's and has created his own fictional radio channel "K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's" that is voiced by stand-up comedian, Steve Wright. The soundtrack itself is a pretty good mix of tracks such as "Little Green Bag" by The George Baker Selection, "I Gotcha" by Joe Tex, "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede and of course "Stuck in the middle with you" by Stealers Wheel. The soundtrack of course also has helped a lot of these songs to become iconic and anthems of their own for the film.     

FLAWS 

As for flaws does Reservoir Dogs have any glaring ones??? Yeah it does have some.

And to start off, I think the film's violence could be a real turn-off for some audiences specifically regarding the torture scene with Blonde cutting off the cop's ear even though you don't see the action itself.  The film was also even delayed its initial video release by the British film censors due to the timing of its impending video release with the Jamie Bulger murder, which occurred roundabout that time and as a result the film wasn't subsequently released until 1995 although I have to say I don't think for a second this film influenced that killing itself.

The film also has some rather uncomfortable racist and misogynistic tones to it especially in the language of the thieves which comes over in the scene where White, Pink and Eddie talk about how black men treat women.  And in this scene for example Pink says to the others "What a white bitch would put up with a black bitch wouldn't put up with for a second" and White says "If this is such as truism, how is it every nigger I know treats their woman like a piece of shit?".  And another scene is where Pink yells at White and Blonde in the warehouse and he says "Fuckin guys are acting like a bunch of fuckin niggers, man!  You ever worked with niggers?  Just like you two!  Always trying to kill each other!".

And in Reservoir Dogs it is a predominantly male orientated universe and women play very much second fiddle to them, where the only women we see in the film is the one who is dragged out of her car window by Pink or the other one who Orange shoots dead in retaliation for her shooting him in the abdomen. However, Tarantino would of course go on to have more female leads in his films, most notably Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction as well as Pam Grier in Jackie Brown. 

I also felt Tarantino's small performance is very much superfluous to the film itself and his whole monologue on Brown's analysis of "Like a Virgin" is pretty annoying where the smug criminal tells the men his pointless and silly theory on the meaning of the song.   But at the same time you get that Tarantino wanted to announce himself on and off the screen as well so people could quickly put a name to the face but its still the most annoying scene in the film that to this day still makes me cringe to watch.

And last of all, I found the whole idea of Mr Orange's cover story a bit daft in that he has to rehearse a four page script of a time he was in a men's room and his fellow cop, Holdaway wants Orange to memorise all the details about the commode, i.e. what paper towels they used, condition of the stalls, if it had hand driers etc.  Now, OK I'm willing to buy that Orange would be able to learn the details of the story from a dealer stand point but I find it a bit ridiculous that he would be expected to remember all the details of the condition of the commode itself. I mean the story was set back in 1986, so by the film's production it was 1991, so basically he is supposed to remember the condition of the toilets from 5 years ago! So, I just think Holdaway's expectations are a bit daft.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So, to sum up Reservoir Dogs still remains a very impressive film debut by one of cinema's most talented and controversial directors and while it does have its flaws and isn't one of my favourite QT films, its still testament to his quality as a writer/director and Reservoir Dogs is still well worth a look 27 years on. 

So, that's it for now and I will be back hopefully once more before the end of the month.

Till then its bye for now! 

Top 10 Bloodborne Themes Part 2: No's 5-1

Ok, so its time to continue my list of my pick for the best themes in Bloodborne.

So, with that said let's gear up and take a look at which tracks made it into the top 5...

5. Blood Starved Beast

So, to kick off the Top 5 is the theme to one of the more challenging early boses in the game, the Blood Starved Beast and this theme is a real cracker and it is easily one of the biggest adrenaline rushed ones in the entire game!

As for what the makes the theme so good, well its just simply that from the get-go with that one sinister (a word used alot in this post!) chord it sets up the theme perfectly before we get that slow and quiet build up of the main orchestrated staple that runs throughout it. And as the theme get's going with its staple we then get that real sense of an adrenaline rush and its chorus part (if you like) is just wonderful and it has almost Bernard Hermann like quality to it. And again its a theme that keeps on building and remains relentless until the end.

So, I really would have to say the Blood Starved Beast's theme is easily one of the best from the game and it more than deserves its place in the top 5 as its just too damn good not to be in there.

4. Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower

So, at No.4 is Lady Maria's theme and by heck its an absolute belter and it was composed by Yuka Kitamura, who would go on to compose for Dark Souls III and solely compose the score for From Software's latest game, Sekiro.  Maria herself is of course easily one of the most challenging bosses in the game, so its only fair that she would have an epic theme to go with her fight.

As for the theme itself it really kicks off brilliantly with its strings bubbling under the surface before its comes in and its fairly safe to say the theme does echo Gehrman's theme early on. However the theme also foreshadows another one in Dark Souls III, The Twin Princes theme as they both sound very familiar in the chorus section, which is tremendous. And its a theme that keeps on building itself up to a crescendo just like the best ones in the Soulsborne games do.

So, in the end Lady Maria's theme is terrifi and one of the real standouts of the Bloodborne soundtrack and it more than deserves its spot at No.4.

3. Laurence, the First Vicar

At No.3 is the theme for a boss I don't really care for in the game, Laurence, the first vicar but his theme however is bloody tremendous and one of the very best in the game.

As for what is so good about the theme well it perfectly underlies the tragedy of Laurence's character, a former scholar of Bergynwerth, who goes on to become a founder of the healing church but only to eventually fall foul to the beasts scourge and become one himself. The score itself however does sound very similar to the Cleric Beast theme, which is great in itself but Laurence's theme transcends it and its largely thanks to it mid-section where the theme changes from sinister to beautifully tragic. And I have to say it was while playing against Laurence in the game, I just managed to overhear the score over his loud screeches at this point and only then realised how good his theme was as the choral voices hit their crescendo and the themes ending returns to the sinister qualities again before its end.

So, there is no doubt that Laurence, while he may well be a somewhat underwhelming boss in the game, his theme is just superb, tragic and beautiful all at once and it more than deserves it place in the top 3.

2. Gehrman, the First Hunter

So in the runner-up spot is the theme for Gehrman, the First Hunter, who must easily remain the saddest and most tragic figure in Bloodborne and his theme echoes this beautifully as its both gorgeous and haunting. In fact there is very little between Laurence and Gerhman's theme so it was a pretty close-run thing but I just think for elegance and poignancy, Gerhman's theme pips it to the post.

As for why its so good, again it captures the sadness of the character and its almost like Gerhman is resigned to his fate and duty to take out the hunter (your character) from the Hunter's Dream but during Gerhman's restless sleeping moments, its clear that he wants to escape the dream and its up to the hunter to perform what is essentially a sort of mercy killing. The theme also perfectly mixes the orchestrations and choral voices and they come together so well here like few other themes do in the game.

So, for me Gehrman's theme is one of the finest in the game and also one of the most hauntingly beautiful themes in gaming and it certainly earns its place in the runner-up spot here but for me there is just one more theme that betters it.

And so the No.1 theme in Bloodborne is...drum roll...

1. Ludwig the Accursed/Holy Blade

Yep at No.1 is of course many a fan's favourite theme and its certainly mine, the theme for the infamously difficult boss, Ludwig, who is a demented horse-beast-man creature who shrieks like no other maybe in gaming history! However he is of course a pretty good boss overall but his theme is absolutely stupendous and one of the real jewels in the crown of the Soulsborne series.

So, why is it so good? Well, this theme unlike the others before it doesn't actually have any real sadness attached to it but its primarily more genuine sense of dread and everything sinister. And the theme itself is of course of two halves as the first stage bubbles under the surface as the choral voices sing out the menacing notes as Ludwig proceeds to squeal and stampede all over the hunter! And the great thing is this is a theme that is building its momentum all the time and even in its mid-section lull (where Ludwig falls after the first phase he soon finds his beloved Moonlight Sword) the voices bubble under the surface before the strings rise again. And its second phase where this theme really scores big time and it soars into a truly wonderful piece of music and again the choral voices are just magnificent and he orchestral strings just hit it out the park.

And for me this theme is the pinnacle of Bloodborne's terrific soundtrack and its the perfect mix of all things sinister but it also has feeling or adrenaline and excitement that makes it stand head and shoulders over the rest of the score, which is some achievement in itself.

So on this basis, Ludwig's theme is a worthy winner that deserves to take the top spot as the best theme in Bloodborne.

Right, so that's it for my pick of the best themes in Bloodborne and I will be back at some point in the near future with another.

So, till then its bye for now!

Top 10 Bloodborne Themes Part 1: No's 10-6

Right, so I figured its high time I did a post on this channel with NEW content for a change rather just a bunch of revisitational posts.

So, the theme for this post will be well...themes! So, yep here I will continue my look at my pick for the top themes in the Soulsborne games and this one will cover my pick for the best themes in Bloodborne. And Bloodborne has its fair share of terrific themes as it is a great soundtrack and has some of the very best themes in gaming as far as I am concerned and given there were six composers working on the score it certainly has a pretty diverse sound to it making one of the best.

So, with that all said let's get started...

10. Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos

So, at No.10 is the theme for Ebrietas, that weird squid/octopus like boss with a rather questionable looking facial opening! However what isn't so questionable is Ebrietas's theme, which is excellent and I only really remember hearing the opening parts of it while fighting Ebby but the overall theme is well worth a listen.

As for why its good, well I really have to say the second part of the theme is great and it the choral voices work really well throughout but in the 2nd part it acts as a precursor to the sound of the Dark Souls III soundtrack, which this tracks composer, Yuka Kitamura would go on to be the chief composer for. Again its one that can be hard to hear over the noise of the boss fight itself but it does certainly rise in quality as the track progresses and its other-wordly feel also makes more unique to a lot of the tracks in the game.

So, Ebrietas's theme is certainly a very good one and well worth putting on the list here at No.10.

9. Father Gascoigne 

At No.9 is the theme for Father Gascogine, who is easily one of the most recognisible and memorable bosses in the whole game, so its only fair to say that he should have a pretty darn good theme to go with it.


As for the theme itself, it actually has a really kind of Danny Elfman quality to it and it actually really reminded of the sort of score you would expect from Tim Burton film, Sleepy Hollow and its main section is very memorable and quite sinister. And then we get to the second phase part of the score where Gascoigne goes from human form and mutates into a large beast, who can whip your butt with some ferocious combos and from here the score becomes much faster paced and dangerous and it becomes a bit more choral in the section before the finish.

Now admittedly I have to say there are definitely stronger themes in the game but Father Gascogine's theme still remains a pretty impressive and menorable one in its own right and as such deserves its spot at No.9. 

8. Cleric Beast

So, at No.8 is the theme for who is often considered to be the very first boss in Bloodborne you will encounter, which is the Cleric Beast and his theme is a pretty darn good one and it sets up the sinister, strident tone of the game. It also has to be said that the Cleric Beast himself sets the tone of the VOLUME of the beast bosses in the game as they tend to be pretty noisy, so you may have to turn his down a bit to properly appreciate the score here! In fact he sounds pretty much identical to one of the later bosses in the DLC, Laurence and he also sets the pace for dealing with many of the beast bosses you will encounter.

As for the track itself, it is an impressive mix of orchestration and choral voices, which again is a big staple of the Bloodborne soundtrack and it really is a theme that grabs your attention straight away and let's you know that you will be in for a quality time music wise.  Further to this as I said it captures the game's grim tone straigh away but also the excitement and danger of the boss fights you will encounter.

So, for me the intro boss certainly has one of the standout tracks from the game and as such the Cleric Beast's theme deserves its spot at No.9.

7. Living Failures

At No.7 is the theme for one of the DLC bosses, the Living Failures, who lore wise, were believed to have been rejected as Great Ones hence I guess their names as failures and love to spam you with arcane (magic) attacks aswell as melee ones (still they fight you in a pretty garden!).

As for the theme itself, its another cracker and for me it has got to be the MOST cinematic theme in the entire game as it just has a really big sound to it overall. The theme also again has a very impressive mix of orchestration and choral voices and they really do reach a crescendo as the theme goes and reaches near its end and that for me is the really cinematic sounding bit.  Overall it is a pretty impressive one and its main chorus has quite a potent impact and is what stands out most in the track.

So, the Living Failures theme is definitely another excellent one from the game and certainly deserves its place here at No.7 on the list.

6. Orphan of Kos

At No.6 is the theme for what is without a shred of doubt the HARDEST boss in the entire game and that is the Orphan of Kos, a boss that tortured and took weeks off and on of atttempts before I finally was able to defeat him solo!

As for the theme itself its really one of two halves with the first part being somewhat mellower and it has an almost sad lullaby feel to it despite the fact the Orphan is screeching "YEEEEEOOOOW!" at you and trying to bludgeon you to death with that giant placenta of his! Now, I would have to say that this part does almost kind of feel out of place given the ferocity of the Oprhan's attacks but its still a pretty good part of the theme and it does sort of highlight the grief and sadness for the Orphan.

However, its in the second phase where this theme REALLY kicks in and as the Orphan becomes even more aggressive (as if that were possible but believe me it is!) the theme really rises in quality and becomes far more sinister in feel and way more fitting to the tone of the fight. And the highlight of the second phase of theme comes toward the end as the choral voices and orchestrations rise together as it acts as preparation for that miraculous moment where you might just finish the Orphan off!

So, for me the Orphan's theme is definitely one of the best in the game even if it as a theme of two different tones and the second half in particular is just terrific and for that reason alone it takes the No.6 spot.

Right, so that's it for Part 1 of the list and I will be back soon with Part 2.

Till then, its bye for now!

Doctor Who - The Brain of Morbius "Ding dong!"

Right, I've decided to go back into the vaults of this blog once again (I know! I know!) and dig out one of my old posts and give it an overhaul of sorts. So, the post in question is my review of a Doctor Who story from the Tom Baker era, The Brain of Morbius, which hails from the acclaimed Philip Hinchcliffe producer  era of the show.

So, with that all said let's take another look at this classic story from the original show...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the story is set on the planet Karn and begins with the TARDIS materialising on the planet and the Doctor (Baker) angrily storms out and looks up at the sky and curses the Time Lords, blaming them for dragging him off course.  Accompanied by his companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) they both soon stumble across a headless body of alien insect lifeform and look out to see there are dozens crashed spaceships over a valley.  The Doctor and Sarah then spot a castle in the distance just as the rain comes on they make their to it, but they are being spied on by a girl wearing a strange headdress.

The girl, Ohica (Gilly Brown) then reports back to the leader of the sisterhood on Karn, Maren (Cynthia Grenville) of the arrival of the TARDIS, which alarms Maren who insists that no spaceship can land on the planet without their presence.  Maren also warns Ohica that the Elixir, they use to prolong their lives is running dangerously low and there is precious little left.  Maren also suspects the Time Lords may have sent agents to steal the Elixir and tells Ohica to summon the other members of the sisterhood.

Meanwhile the Doctor and Sarah arrive at the castle and are greeted by its owner, Solon (Philip Madoc) a once renowned surgeon, who resides there with his dim-witted manservant, Condo (Colin Fay) who has only one hand and a hook in place of his other.  The Doctor asks Solon about the wrecked spaceships who tells him that it must due to the magnetic radiation around the planet that they crashed and Solon also tells them that he saved Condo's life as he dragged him from a wrecked spaceship as well.

The Sisterhood meanwhile chant together using their powers they manage to physically summon the TARDIS to their shrine and they examine it and realise it is a Time Lord spacecraft and that they must have sent an agent to steal the Elixir.  Maren then decides they must try and locate the Doctor and bring him to them and they began their chanting again.  The Doctor in the meantime sharing a drink with Solon, tells Solon that he has heard of him and of his advanced work involving microsurgical tissue transplants and also how he was rumoured to be linked with the cult of Morbius, a former renegade Time Lord who was executed after he formed a rebellion army against his race.

The Doctor soon realises however that Solon has a statue of Morbius in his castle but he suddenly falls over unconscious as Solon had his wine drugged.  Solon now intends to use the Doctor's head for a surgical operation of which will soon be revealed.  Meanwhile Sarah fakes unconsciousness and sneaks downstairs into Solon's laboratory where she finds to her horror the body of a headless creature made of different body parts.  The Doctor's body however is transported by the Sisterhood to their shrine before Solon and Condo can start the operation.

The Doctor then comes to in the shrine where Maren accuses him of being there to steal the Elixir which the Doctor denies and tells them the last thing he remembers was having a drink with Solon and Morbius, an impression leaves him shaken, as he realises he felt the mind of Morbius reach out to him.  Maren however insists that Morbius is dead as he was executed on Karn and that he too will soon die.

Meanwhile Solon and Condo discover the Doctor is missing and Solon realises the sisterhood must have taken him and he swears for revenge and tells Condo they must go to the sisterhood and get the Doctor back.  The Doctor is then tied to a steak and the sisterhood began chanting with torches they prepare to burn the Doctor, but Solon and Condo intervene.  Solon pleads with the sisterhood to let him have the Doctor, and even offers Condo when Maren reufses, who tells Solon to leave who does so with Condo.  Maren and the sisters then resume the ceremonial sacrifice of the Doctor, who is released by Sarah, who is digsuised in the sisterhood robes, but as they escape Maren fires a bolt of energy from her ring at Sarah which blinds her.

The Doctor then returns to Solon's castle and asks that he examine Sarah, but Solon tells him that her eyesight is almost completely destroyed and only the Elixir could restore her vision, which sets the Doctor off to the sisterhood again.  Solon writes a note for the sisterhood to warn them of his ruse to send the Doctor back and he dispatches Condo to deliver it before the Doctor arrives there.

In the meantime Sarah stumbles blindly around the dining room and knocks over a glass, after which we hear a voice call in the distance.  Sarah blindly walks downstairs into Solon's lab to find the source of the voice, a glowing brain which turns out to be the remains of the renegade Time Lord, Morbius...

THOUGHTS 

The Brain of Morbius for its time and era remains one of the series most graphic and macabre stories, which understandably caused some controversy at the time of its original broadcast and outrage with the prim and proper Mary Whitehouse, the head of the National Viewers and Listeners Association (NVALA) who was said to have been horrified by some of the story's content.

Some of the scenes in the story certainly reflect that such as the moment where Solon and Condo struggle with one another in the lab and Solon shoots Condo in the chest and we see blood spatter on his shirt.  This certainly is one of the most violent scenes in the original show and of that era and was also followed by the scene where during their struggle Morbius's brain is knocked onto the floor along with a puddle of green goo! (which was the fluid used inside the tank to support Morbius's brain).  It is in itself a fairly sickening scene even though it is still pretty tame in comparison to your average horror film.

But the story itself is still a very entertaining one and its brooding atmosphere makes for a welcome change and the Frankenstein-esque storyline also makes it a bit more unique.  The story also expands on the history of the Time Lords a little with the introduction of Morbius, a former renegade Time Lord as well as the Elixir of life used by the sisterhood and was once shared by the Time Lords.

It also event hints at the Doctor's birth place was within "a couple of billion miles" from Karn and also further utilises the Doctor telepathic abilities in the scene where he says to Maren how he felt "the mind of Morbius reach out and touch mine".  Terrance Dicks also who initially wrote the draft for the story had the story heavily re-written by the script editor of the time, Robert Holmes, which angered Dicks and insisted he wanted his name to be taken off the credits.  And Holmes asked Dicks what name should he use instead and Dicks famously said to him "I don't know.  Why not use some "bland pseudonym!" after which Holmes used the pseudonym of Robin Bland, much to the amusement of Terence much later on!

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Performance wise the cast are all excellent here.

Starting with Tom Baker who does yet another wonderful job as the Doctor and by now he really had started to find his feet in the role, given that it was his second season.  In Tom Baker's second season (and 13th overall of the show by then) he showed different sides to the Doctor's personality where in stories such as Pyramids of Mars and The Seeds of Doom he was deadly serious, but here Baker give the Doctor's character a nice balance of playfulness and seriousness.

And Tom has various highlights in the story such as in his opening scene where he storms out of the TARDIS and looks up at the sky as he rants at his own people "Come out!  Meddlesome interferring idiots!  I know you are up there so come out and show yourselves!  Messing about with my TARDIS!  Dragging us a thousand parsecs off course!".  And later in the scene the Doctor stubbornly refuses to look around the planet and sits playing with is yo-yo and Sarah asks if he is coming and he says "No thanks.  I'm just going to sit here and practice my double loops!".

Tom also of course shares some nice chemistry with Lis Sladen especially in the scene where Sarah has been blinded by Maren's ring he examines her eyes and says "Flash probably numbed the optic nerve" and as Sarah pities herself the Doctor says "If you're going to sit their wallowing in self pity, I'll bite your nose!".

Another amusing moment is where the Doctor goes back to the shrine of the Sisterhood and he arrives inside and says "Ding dong!" and all of the sudden the sisterhood all surround him and throw a net over him and he says "We can't go on meeting like this!". And the Doctor later on tells Maren when she says to him that he has been condemned to die "Look if I wanted to steal from you, would I have come in through the front door?!". And as the Doctor tells Maren about Morbius, he soon also takes a look at the sacred flame and how low it is and he then uses a small item looks like a firecracker and he says to the ladies "Stand back" and Maren asks what it is and he says "A little demon!". However the flame goes out as a result of the flash bang that the Doctor uses, which forces Maren to have the Doctor seized and ready to be killed but at that point the flame is restored by the Doctor's flash bang. So, the Doctor cheerily tells them "Soot! That's all, there will be no charge!". 

Then there is the scene where the Doctor teases Morbius by commentating on his monsterous body "You know, you can't really go on calling yourself Morbius.  There's very little Morbius left!  How about Potpurri?"  and Sarah pitches in with "How about Chop Suey?!" and the responds the Doctor "Chop Suey the galactic emperor!". And the Doctor says to Morbius taunting him "Brain getting a little overheated is it?  Careful, not as strong as it was!" and Morbius says "My brain functions perfectly!" and at that moment the Doctor lunges forward and shouts "I DOUBT IT MORBIUS!!  All that time in a tank it's gone soft! All that time in a tank its gone soft! You dare put it to the test!". So, Morbius asks "What test?" and the Doctor says "I challenge you to a mind-bending contest!" and Morbius scoffs and says "I am a Time Lord of the first rank! Who are you?!" and the Doctor shouts back "Nothing! A mere nobody but I don't think you're in the first rank anymore!". So, as the two of them prepare to engage in a mental battle, the Doctor says to him "Engarde, Morbius!".   

Philip Madoc is also terrific in his role as the villainous Solon who intends to resurrect Morbius and use the Doctor's head as the icing on the proverbial cake (so to speak, although its not a very tasty cake!).

Madoc has numerous highlights in the show and even from the first scene he provides a very commanding presence with his deep booming voice.  And in the scene he takes the head of an alien insect that Condo killed and he looks at in disappointment he shouts at Condo "That is an insect!!  Even a half-witted cannibal like you can see it won't do!". Condo however says to Solon "But the big heads never come to Karn, Master" and Solon insists "They MUST, Condo! One day, a true humanoid species, warm blooded, with a central nervous system. One such specimen, just one, and I can complete my work here!". 

And later when the Doctor and Sarah arrive at the castle, Solon greets them warmly and takes the Doctor's hat off and says to him "What a magnificent head!" and later when they have wine and dinner he says to the Doctor "You know I always knew that one day I would have a guest with a head for such a good vintage!".

And one of my favourite lines comes in the scene after Solon and Condo discover that the Doctor has vanished after the sisterhood have transported his body away.  And Condo says "Doctor gone!" and Solon in a silent rage says "I can see that you chicken brained biological disaster!". Solon then asks Condo regarding the drugged wine that rendered the Doctor unconscious earlier "Did you put it all into the wine?" and Condo says "Yes, Master, all little bottle in big!".  Solon then angrily says "Then he must still be unconscious! He CAN'T have moved!". However it soon dawns on him what has happened and he says with anger "That squalid brood of harpies, the Sisterhood! That accursed hag Maren found I was holding a Time Lord and rescued him! May her stinking bones rot! I'll see her die, Condo. I'll see that palsied harridan scream for death before Morbius and I are finished with her!". 

Later on Madoc has other good moments such as the scene where having shot Condo he grabs Sarah and forces her to work the pump during the operation.  And in the scene after Solon shoots Condo, he shouts after him "You murderous animal!".  Sarah, who is strapped to a table and still blind asks "Solon, what has happened?!" and Solon emotionally tells her "It was an accident. Morbius's brain was knocked on the floor. I don't know what damage has been done!". So, Morbius then releases Sarah and tells her "You've got to help me. I can't do the operation on my own!" and he forces Sarah to stand by a pump next to the operating table and he tells her "Put your hand on this pump! Now every three seconds..." and Sarah in a panic shouts "What if I make a mistake?!" and Solon grabs her and says threateningly "If he dies, you die!".

Elisabeth Sladen is also really good once again as Sarah Jane Smith and she has some good scenes in the story such as the start where she looks out onto the valley of wrecked spaceships and Sarah says "There must be a dozen wrecked spaceships out here!  Its like the Sargasso sea!".

Also there is the scene where Sarah is blinded by Maren's ring and she tells the Doctor she can't see after they escape. So, in the scene the Doctor and Sarah stop for a breather after they escape the Sisterhood and the Doctor says "I think we've given them the slip! The barbecue is off!" but Sarah then says "I can't see!" and the Doctor asks "What!" and Sarah panicking says "I've gone blind!". So, the Doctor examines her and says "I can't see anything, they look perfectly normal to me" and Sarah says "Oh, is that hopeful?" and the Doctor reassuringly tells her "Of course it is. The flash probably numbed the optic nerve, it should wear off in a few hours".  Sarah however soon starts to feel sorry for herself and wraps the sisterhood robe around her head "Hey, you know I could always sell flowers. You know luvly fresh violets, guvnor.  If we ever get back to Piccadily!". So, the Doctor tells Sarah they hare going back to Solon's and she warns him "No, Doctor, he's maniac! He's got a body there! No head. Just made out of lumps and things!".

And later on in the scene where Sarah (having recovered her eyesight) and the Doctor are trapped inside a room of Solon's castle, the Doctor makes cyanogen gas and places it above the vents to let it filter upstairs into Solon's lab.  And Sarah afer having asked if it will work and the Doctor says "Well if we are still here in a month...." and she says "It hasn't worked!" and the Doctor replies "Correct!" and Sarah then asks "How many hours in a month?".  Then Sarah asks "How many seconds are there in a month?" and the Doctor quickly replies "2,678,400" and Sarah says "Short month!" (although that is how many seconds there are in 31 days, so strictly speaking that's not entirely accurate for all months of the year!).

Cynthia Grenville is also very good in her role as Maren, the leader of the Sisterhood on Karn and she shares some good scenes with the Doctor. 

And some of her good scenes include the one where the Doctor has been transported to the sisterhood via their special telekinetic powers and Maren condemns him to death for allegedly trying to steal the Elixir.

So, Maren says to the Doctor in the scene "Confess that you were sent to steal the Elixir of Life and your death will be made easy" but the Doctor insists "I haven't faintest notion of what you're talking about! The last thing I remember was having dinner with Solon and Morbius" but Maren says "Morbius is dead" and the Doctor says "Yes, Morbius is dead..." but is shocked by his admission and says "How did I get that impression?!". So, Maren says to him "The Time Lords destroyed Morbius here on Karn for his crimes" but the Doctor tells her "Solon had a clay model of his head but it was more than that, it was a living mental contact. I felt the mind of Morbius". Ohica however explains how Morbius's body was destroyed in a dispersal chamber but the Doctor still insists he felt the mind of Morbius. So, Maren says to the Doctor "I suppose you think raising these old fears can somehow help you, but I was present at his execution. Morbius is dead, Doctor, and you will join him very shortly!". 

Another good scene is when the Doctor returns to shrine and is captured again and taken to Maren where she warns him "You have been condemned to die!" and the Doctor says "Oh come on, not all that again! If I really wanted to steal through would I come in through the front door?!". So, Maren asks him "Why did you come to Karn if not to steal?" and the Doctor tells her "I can't answer that, Maren until I know what Solon intends but I have a feeling something incredibly evil is brewing".

Maren then says "Nothing on Karn happens without our knowledge!" and the Doctor tells her "A Time Lord could live on Karn without your knowledge and place a barrier around his mind!". Maren then asks "What are you suggesting?" and the Doctor says "Morbius was a Time Lord" and Maren with disgust says "That name again! I tell you, I saw his execution. I saw his body placed in the dispersal chamber. Nothing of Morbius, not the smallest atom, still exists!". The Doctor then asks her "Was Solon on Karn at the time?" and Maren tells him "I believe so. There were many on Karn at that time. They came from all across the galaxy to attend the trial of Morbius".

WARNING: NEXT PARAGRAPH HAS A SPOILER IN IT!!!

And last of all is the scene where the Doctor is dying from his mental battle with Morbius and he is taken to the sisterhood where Maren contemplates saving his life. So, in the scene Maren says to Ohica "The Time Lord dies. Only the Elixir of Life can save him" and Ohica says "And we have none". Maren however then goes over to the flame door and opens it and takes a goblet and says "Enough has formed, Ohica. Enough for the Doctor" and Ohica says "But High One, your OWN need!" and Maren says quietly as she gives Ohica the goblet "Here take it. Perhaps the Doctor was right. There should be an end" and she she proceeds to sacrifice herself to the flame.

Gilly Brown also does well in her role as Ohica, Maren's second in command of the sisterhood although she does have a tendency to overdo when she widens her eyes, so much so in fact she could give David Tenant a good run for his money in that department!

And Gilly has some good moments in the story also such as the one where Ohica expresses her concerns after one of the sisterhood has been killed at the hands of the Morbius creature. So, in the scene after looking at the sister's dead body, Maren gravely asks "Who could have killed our sister? and Ohica says "She was found near Solon's habitation, High One" and Maren asks "Solon?" and Ohica says "The sister who found her saw a creature high among the rocks". Maren asks "What creature?" and Ohica tells her "She only saw it briefly, but then she later saw the Doctor and Solon hunting for it". So, Maren gravely says "So, Solon has succeeded in his vile experiments!" and Ohica fearfully says "And if the Doctor is right, High One, he will have given it the brain of our ancient enemy, Morbius!". 






And lastly there is the scene where Ohica pleads with Maren to help out the Doctor in his fight against Solon and Morbius and to lead the Sisterhood to cast out Morbius. So, Ohica asks Maren "IS it right for the Doctor to fight our own battles for us?" and Maren asks "What are you saying?" and Ohica says "Morbius is our enemy also" but Maren insists there is no proof and that it is only the Doctor's theory. Ohica however remains vigilant and says "One that makes meaning of Solon's meaningless work. And Solon himself is evil. The blood of our sister Kelia stains his hands!". Ohica then insists that they should do what they can to help the Doctor and Maren wearily says "I'm too old, Ohica to leave the Shrine. I cannot lead you" and Ohica then says "Then let ME, High One! Let me lead the Sisterhood!". 

Colin Fay also puts in a good performance aswell as Condo, Solon's slow-witted but sympathetic manservant.

Fay (who was an opera singer) has some good moments in the story as well such as the scene where he get's angry over Solon offering Condo up as a sacrifice to the sisterhood in order to spare the Doctor from being sacrificed by the sisterhood.  And Condo says "Condo, good servant.  You give sisters, let kill Condo!  Condo kill you!" and he grabs Solon and says "You make Condo fool!  Now you die!" but Solon tries to get out of it by saying it was just a "stupid joke" and Condo says "Condo not joke, you lose hand!".  Solon then makes a least desparate plea for his life and offers Condo his real arm back, so Condo cheerfully asks "Take hook. Give good arm?" and Solon tells him "I have the arm and that's what you've always wanted, isn't it?" and Condo says "Give arm, Condo not kill".

Also later on there is scene when they prepare for Morbius's operation and Condo looks over at the headless body that Solon has created for Morbius and he notices that one of the arms is human and he puts two and two together, realising that it is his own hand.  And Condo says to Solon in shock "You take Condo's arm for this!" and they have their fight which ends with Condo being shot in the stomach, but he survives and limps out into the corridor (poor guy).

There is also an amusing scene where Condo goes to find Sarah who at this point is still blinded by the effect's of Maren's ring and he picks her up and takes her away saying "Better you come now. Master want" as Sarah is kicking and screaming (although in this scene I can swear I hear Lis Sladen actaully laughing!).

And last of all Michael Spice does an excellent job as the voice of Morbius and Spice's powerful voice is electronically treated as he delivers Morbius's potent threats (yet impotent as he is just a brain in a jar for the most part).

Spice is also given quite a dramatic and effective entrance when Sarah stumbles downstairs into Solon's lab and he angrily asks her "Are you one of the sisterhood?!  Did Maren send you to destroy me?!" and Sarah says no and Morbius angrily replies "Yes she did!  You she-devils want to destroy me!  Now before I can have my revenge!".

And later Spice has another good moment where Solon talks to Morbius, who angrily tells Solon "Trapped like this!  Like a sponge beneath the sea.  Yet even the sponge has more life than I!  Can you understand a thousandth of my agony?!  I, Morbius, who once lead the High council of the Time Lords, now reduced to this, to a condition where I envy a vegetable!". 

Then there is the scene where Solon tells Morbius the Doctor is a Time Lord and he intends to use his head to incase Morbius's brain. So, Solon says to Morbius "It will be the crowning irony!" but Morbius furiously shouts "FOOL!" and Morbius says sheepishly "I'm sorry, the pun was irresistable!". Morbius then continues to rant "You fool, Solon! Don't you see what this means?! The Time Lords have tracked me down!" and Solon says "No, you're wrong!" but Morbius insists "I am NOT wrong! I know the Time Lords! Pallid, devious worms! You had the Doctor here and you let him go. You were tricked!". Solon then asks "You mean the Doctor and Maren plotted together?" and Morbius shouts "Of course they did! And now the Time Lords will return to finish their work! They'll destroy me! Because of you, they'll destroy me!". 

And last of all is the scene where after Solon successfully completes Morbius's operation and Morbius soon wakens (just after Solon is killed by poisonous gas released by the Doctor) and goes after the Doctor and Sarah. So, in the scene, Morbius in his new body says to the Doctor "What an ingenious idea, Doctor but ineffectual. Your poison only worked on Solon. I have the lungs of a biristrophe!" and the Doctor says "With a methane filter!". The Doctor then mockingly asks Morbius "What does it feel like to be the biggest mongrel  in the universe, Morbius?!" and Morbius says to the Doctor "Solon designed this body for efficiency, not for its appearance. To be free again is all that matters!". The Doctor then asks "Free to cause more havoc and destruction?" and Morbius says "The Time Lords will not oppose me again, nor the Sisterhood. When it is learnt that I, Morbius, have returned from the grave, my followers will rise in their millions!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

As for the director, Christopher Barry does an excellent job here with the story and he keeps the atmosphere very intense and brooding throughout and expertly keeps the lighting dark to suit the tone of the story also. Barry also previously directed several stories, most notably the original Dalek story during the William Hartnell era and later on The Daemons during Jon Pertwee's era.  

The music is again by Dudley Simpson and his score is excellent as well and it has plenty of dramatic passages which work well for the story and it showed once again how Simpson was the perfect choice of regular composer for the show and its remarkable to think just how prolific he was during the show's early years.

FLAWS 

So regarding flaws does The Brain of Morbius have any worth mentioning? Well, yes it does have some.

For starters the one that springs to mind straight away is why did the sisterhood decide to give the Doctor back to Solon after he helps them out by reviving the flame of their Elixir?????  I mean it should be a case of "Thank you, Doctor, you have restored our scared flame!" but no instead "we will render you unconscious and take you back to Solon and leave you for dead!".  Now that is gratitude!!  Not unless of course the Doctor planned it that way to make it look like he was dead although he simply woke up when Sarah found him at the start of the last episode of the story.  And it has to be said the logic of that scene just isn't very well explained at all and you are just left to imagine how and why the Sisterhood decided to give the Doctor back rather than just let him travel back himself!

Further to this point, it was pretty naive of Solon to assume that by writing a note to Maren that should would willingly just hand over the Doctor's head to him! I mean was she wasn't too willing to hand over the Doctor's head the first time round when he interrupted the Doctor's sacrificial ceremony, so why would she more inclined to do it a second time?!  So, basically I always felt that this was another poorly thought out scene in the story. 

Another issue is with the set production, which is largely excellent but one of the backdrops is clearly a canvass that has been painted of a blue sky in the background in the scene where Sarah stumbles blindly around the surface of Karn when Condo finds her, and it basically looks pretty cheap and obvious in that instance.

And another thing that bugged me was the scene where the Doctor challenges Morbius to a mind bending contest at the end of the story and we see images of the Doctor's previous lives come alive on a projected image while they do mental battle with one another.  And as we know the doctor has only regenerated three times up to this point yet we see other faces prior to that of the first doctor (William Hartnell of course) all of which are actually members of the Doctor Who production team of that time which included Robert Holmes, the script editor, George Gallaccio, production unit manager, Graeme Harper, the production assistant and one of the show's directors, Douglas Camfield.  Hinchcliffe at the time said he wanted to imply that William Hartnell was not the first doctor, however if that were the case by then the Doctor would have been on his 8th or 9th regeneration by then!

However with this all in mind, the background of the Time Lords was just in its infancy back then of course and it would be The Deadly Assassin where it would introduce the concept of a Time Lord having a maximum regeneration cycle of 12 times.  So again it did raise some inconsistencies in the story and also the history of the Doctor and the Time Lords lifespan as well. 

Also lastly another plot hole is in the scene where the Doctor makes cyanogen and he places it next to an airduct so it filters through into Solon's lab.  However as the cyanogen gas kills Solon, the Doctor was taking a bit of a gamble as what if Solon hadn't finished the operation and Morbius was still inert then he and Sarah would still have been trapped inside the room!  So it was just as well the Doctor timed it just right to use the cyanogen gas otherwise Morbius wouldn't have got up and found them in time! 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, The Brain of Morbius is an excellent story from the Baker era and it has plenty of atmosphere and menace to it and even remains one of the most graphic and macabre stories from the Hinchcliffe era with its use of blood and brains (yuck!) it stirred quite a bit of trouble from Mary Whitehouse! The story also features fine performances from the main cast of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen and the supporting cast are all great too, particularly Philip Madoc as the twisted surgeon, Solon. And despite any of its drawbacks that do little to prevent this story from being a classic from one of the original series strongest eras.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.

Till then its bye for now!