Doctor Who Review Revisited - Logopolis "One last hope!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, as my previous post was for the penultimate story of Tom Baker's era of Doctor Who, The Keeper of Traken, I thought I would cover his final story here, which is Logopolis and its one I've done before, so I thought I would update it a bit more.

So, let's take another look at this story 43 years on from its broadcast and see how it fairs...

And yep the usual warning is coming......

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY

So, the story begins with the Doctor deciding to try and fix the TARDIS's broken chameleon circuit, which he sets about doing by measuring the exact dimensions of a police telephone box, which the TARDIS is currently modelled on with the help of his companion and mathematic genius, Adric (Matthew Waterhouse). Once the Doctor has the measurements he plans to take them to the planet Logopolis, which is inhabited by a population of mathematicians who will be able to repair the Doctor's circuit with their calculations.

In the meantime, an airline stewardess named Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) stumbles along the TARDIS as her car breaks down she looks to try and call for help, however instead she enters the TARDIS and get's lost in its maze of corridors.  The Doctor and Adric also soon learn that the Master (Anthony Ainley) is on their case after escaping from Traken (in the previous story, The Keeper of Traken) as he has materialised his TARDIS inside the Doctor's.  This causes a strange loop where the Doctor and Adric keep entering inside the Master's TARDIS over and over and the Doctor soon decides the best way to banish the Master would be to flush him out as they land the TARDIS at the bottom of Thames.

However, the Doctor looks outside and sees the TARDIS has in fact just landed on a boat by the river but the Doctor soon sees a mysterious white figure, the Watcher, which the Doctor meets with up, who advises him to travel to Logopolis as soon as possible.  The Doctor and Adric then set the TARDIS for Logopolis (with the Master's TARDIS now having dematerialised from the Doctor's) but enroute they discover Tegan onboard and the Doctor decides she has to come with them.

Once the Doctor, Adric and Tegan arrive on Logopolis, they are met with by the Monitor (John Fraser) the chief mathematician to whom the Doctor gives his new dimension calculations for the TARDIS to.  However, it is soon apparent that the Master has arrived on Logopolis also as he kills several mathematicians, which ends up sabotaging the calculations for the Doctor's TARDIS, which begins to shrink as a result.  This leaves, Adric and the Monitor to frantically try and work out a solution to attempt to get the Doctor's TARDIS back to full size.

Meanwhile, the mysterious Watcher figure has brought Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) to Logopolis, who is an aristocrat from the planet Traken (who appeared in the previous story TKOT) and she is reunited with Adric and meets Tegan.  The Doctor's TARDIS is eventually restored to full size, however at this point, the Master reveals himself and he uses a device to temporarily disable the Logopolitan mathematicians from their calculations, which soon causes them to erode and turn to dust.

This now has catastrophic consequences for the universe as the Logopolitans were using their calculations to excise off entropy in the universe into other universes through the use of charged vaccum emboitments (CVEs).  This now means that the universe could be in danger of being wiped out unless the Doctor and the Master can find a way to restore one of the CVEs.

And from here, the Doctor now must pull resources with the Master and form an uneasy alliance, so they can try and save the universe from certain destruction.......

THOUGHTS

As a swansong for the Tom Baker era, Logopolis remains a fine story and a very respectable send-off for the fourth doctor, although it has to be said its not a classic story by any means, however it still has plenty going for it.  The story also sees the introduction of a new companion in Tegan Jovanka, who makes for a pretty feisty and entertaining character, who although she starts off a bit brazen and annoying at first, she soon mellows a little becomes one of the more memorable companions of the 1980s.    

The plot of the story is pretty dense and complex but it remains a very intelligent script written by Christopher Bidmead, who himself was a former actor, who turned to being a writer and journalist and he wrote several articles for science journals.  Bidmead at the time of this story was also the show's script editor and in Tom Baker's last season he certainly helped bring back a bit more credibility to the show after some of the overt humour we had seen during the Graham Williams produced era of the show, particularly in Tom's previous season (season 17 and his 6th).  So overall this is a good story from Bidmead.

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

As for the performances, well they are for the most part very good here.

Starting off with Tom Baker, who is great in his final performance as the fourth doctor and by now he had grown so well into playing the role that he seemed to have wound himself well and truly up in the Doctor's own eccentric personality.  Although in this story we do get a more serious Doctor from Tom as he plays him with perhaps a sense of a man who is aware that the time of his incarnation might be numbered. 

Tom has plenty of good moments in the story that include his first when he talks to Adric in the cloister room (which is the room containing the bell that sounds in the event of impending danger) about how the TARDIS is starting to decay.  And the Doctor says to Adric "The second law of thermodynamics is taking its toll on the old thing. Entropy increases".  And as Adric asks "Entropy increases" the Doctor rambles in reply "Yes, daily. The more you put things together, the more they keep falling apart, and that's the essence of the second law of thermodynamics and I never heard a truer word spoken!  Come on".

Then there is the scene where the Doctor tries to flush the Master out the TARDIS by landing it at the bottom of the Thames river, however they end up materialising on Cadogan pier in Chelsea (London).  And as the Doctor and Adric step out, the Doc says "Ah. I thought there's be a perfectly simple explanation!" and Adric offers "Nearly got it right" but the Doctor says "Nearly, but not quite right. There's something not quite right about all of this".  Then the Doctor sees the Watcher in the distance on Albert bridge and waves at the Doctor to come up and the Doctor looks on rather worried saying "Nothing like this has ever happened before" then he goes off to speak to the Watcher.

Another good scene is when the Master reveals himself on Logopolis and Nyssa, who has mistaken him for her father (as the Master used Nyssa's father's body to regenerate) shouts out "Father" only for the Doctor to tell her "That's not your father. Tremas is dead, murdered by him, the Master!".  And Nyssa looks at the Master coldly and says "You killed my father??" and the Master tells her "But his body remains useful.  Without it I could not have conquered Logopolis!".  However the Doctor angrily tells the Master "This is not conquest, its devastation!" and the Master says "Its nothing more than a blanket of silence" and the Doctor tells him "Which is killing the Logopolitans and turning them to dust!" and the Master scoffs "You expect me to believe that?" and the Doctor shouts "YES!!".

Then there is the moment where the Doctor decides to pool resources with the Master in order to try and save the universe from its possible destruction at the hands of the entropy caused by the death of the Logopolitans.  And the Doctor tells the Master "We must pool our resources" and Nyssa interrupts "That creature killed my father!" and the Doctor annoyed says "I can't choose the company I keep!".  So, the Master smiles and says "An alliance with you, Doctor?" and the Doctor says "In the circumstances, yes" and the Master tells the Doctor "If we do cooperate, there will be no question of you ever returning to Gallifrey" and the Doctor reminds the Master "If we don't cooperate, there will be no question of Gallifrey!". 

Nyssa then objects again to the Doctor "But Doctor!" and the Doctor interrupts her and says angrily "I've never chosen my own company. Nyssa, it was you who contacted me and begged me to help you find your father. Tegan, it's your own curiosity that got you into this. And Adric, a stowaway!".  So after, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa depart in the TARDIS with the Watcher, the Master approaches the Doctor, he extends his hand out for him to shake it, saying "Together?" and the Doctor says "One last hope" and he reluctantly shakes hands with the Master.

And last of all is the scene where the Doctor (SPOILER!!!) manages to finally foil the Master's evil plans at a cost of his own life as he falls from the Antenna of the Pharos project to the ground where his surrounded by his companions.  And the Doctor thinks of his old companions and enemies throughout his 4th incarnation and he then looks up at his friends and says his last words "Its the end, but the moment has been prepared for..." and we then see the Watcher walk towards the Doctor and merge with him, which sees the Doctor begin to regenerate.

Matthew Waterhouse next up does fairly well in his role as Adric although it has to be said he never really looks that comfortable onscreen as he spends alot of time fidgeting about not knowing what to do with his hands!

And Matthew has some good moments here and there although I will only mention a couple such as the scene where the Doctor is detained by a police detective (Tom Georgeson) after they find the miniaturised corpses of Tegan's aunt and a policeman.  So the Doctor calls out for Adric to devise a ruse so he can get away from the police and in the scene Adric spots a bike and he uses it to pretend he has fallen off it.  And Adric yells "Help me!  Help me, please!  Quickly!  Help!!" and the Doctor then flees to the TARDIS and as the policemen approach Adric, he pushes the bicycle into them and he runs into the TARDIS too. 

And once they are back in the TARDIS, they both notice the police box that was previously inside the control room has gone and Adric says "The box has gone!" and the Doctor suggests "It could be anywhere in the TARDIS!" and Adric asks "Battlestations?" and the Doctor replies "Absolutely!".

Then there is the scene where Adric reunites with Nyssa on Logopolis, who calls out to him "Adric!" and Adric smiles and greets her "Nyssa!" and rushes up to her "How did you get here?" and Nyssa tells him "A friend of the Doctor's brought me here.  He's here somewhere".  Then Adric and the Monitor both watch as the TARDIS begins to shrink and Adric asks "What's the matter?" and the Monitor says "Transfer instability.  It may only be temporary".  But the TARDIS continues to shrink and Adric says "Something's wrong!" and the Monitor says "Yes, you're right" and Adric asks "Can't you do something?!" but the Monitor is lost for an answer "I don't understand.  I simply don't understand!".  And as the TARDIS shrinks even more, Adric looks in horror and says "But the Doctor's in there!".

Next is Janet Fielding, who is pretty good in her debut role as the airline stewardess, Tegan Jovanka, who ends up getting lost in the TARDIS, mistaking it for a real police telephone box before she meets the Doctor and Adric.

And Janet has a few scenes worth a mention such as her first one where Tegan get's in her car, wearing her stewardess uniform, along with her Aunt Vanessa (Dolore Whiteman).  And in the scene, Tegan's Aunt can't get the car started, so Tegan tells her "Okay, Aunty Vanessa, let's go. More choke. Easy on the throttle as you turn her over" and Aunt Vanessa tells her "While I do that, dear, I wonder if you'd mind shutting the front door!" and we see Tegan's house front door is left open.  And after Tegan comes back to the car, having closed the door, she swaps seats and get's in the driving seat instead and manages to start the car first time and she smiles at her Aunt and says "I've got the knack!". 

And just as Tegan is about to drive she goes through her little airline stewardess speech as if speaking to passengers onboard a flight "Ladies and gentlemen. Although the fasten seatbelt sign is now off, we suggest that you keep your seatbelt fastened when seated. If necessary, you may move about the cabin. Smoking is now permitted!". 

Then there is the scene where atfer Tegan has continually wandered hopelessly around the TARDIS's maze of corridors she finally ends up in the main console room to see the Doctor and Adric, who both look on in surprise.  And Tegan angrily says to them "I demand to see whoever's in charge of this ship!!" leaving the Doctor and Adric speechless.  Tegan then angrily says to the Doctor "You can take me right back where you found me, Doctor whoever you are! My aunt's waiting in the car to take me to the airport!".  This then sparks the Doctor's interest as he asks "You're aunt?  Woman in the white hat, red sports car?" and Tegan asks "You've seen her?" and the Doctor plays it down and says "Well, a little of her!".

Lastly there is the scene where the Doctor having sent Adric, Tegan and Nyssa off with the Watcher in the Doctor's TARDIS, we see Tegan come back out the TARDIS as she wants to find the Doctor to take her back home.  And Adric protests to her "Look, we all want to help the Doctor, but we've got to do as he says!" but Tegan tells him "Listen.  The Doctor's my ticket back to London airport, so I'm going after him!" and as Tegan is about to go, Adric calls out "Tegan!" but she turns to Adric and says "Have a nice trip!" and heads off.

Sarah Sutton is also pretty good (and looks rather cute in that outfit of hers!) as Nyssa, the young aristocrat from the planet Traken, who's father Tremas, was killed by the Master, who inhabits his body.

And Sarah's most notable scene comes when the Watcher having taken Adric and Nyssa out of time and space itself on the TARDIS, Adric get's back to the control room with Nyssa and sets the TARDIS co-ordinates for the Pharos project on Earth.  And Nyssa in the scene, flicks a switch that brings on a displays of a cluster of stars on the monitor screen and Nyssa says "Adric, the scanner" and Adric looks at it and says "The whole universe.  Of course.  We're beyond space and time!".  And after they spot Earth on the scanner, Nyssa looks closer at it and suddenly becomes a little emotional and tells Adric "Adric I can't see Traken".  And Adric has a look to see and says "Traken should be..." and Nyssa continues "I can't even see Metulla Orionsis. The Master killed my stepmother, and then my father, and now the world that I grew up in, blotted out forever!".

Then we have Anthony Ainley, who made his debut here as the Master, although he previously appeared as Tremas in the story prior to this one, "The Keeper of Traken".  And it has to be said that Ainley really seems to enjoy hamming things up here in his role as the Master as he always plays the Master with a rather cheesy evil grin on his face and has him often laugh out loud!  Despite this though I've always quite enjoyed Ainley's portrayal of the Master even if it can be a bit pantomine-esque and his debut here is still fairly solid.

And Ainley has his share of good moments too that include the scene where we finally see the Master in person on Logopolis (prior to that we just hear him do a lot of wicked laughter off camera!) just after the TARDIS has shrink, as a result of the Master killing a few of the Logopolitans, it sabotaged the dimensional calculations for the TARDIS's restructuring.  And in the scene as we see some of the Logopolitans carry the TARDIS off to the central register to try and restore it, we see the Master hiding in one of the doorways and he laughs saying "At last, Doctor.  At last I've cut you down to size!".

Then there is the scene where Nyssa first meets the Master on Logopolis and she thinks he is still her father, Tremas.  And Nyssa says to the Master "But what is this mission of yours, father?  You're so changed by it.  You look younger, but so cold!".  And the Master says to her "Logopolis is a cold place. A cold, high place overlooking the universe. It holds a single great secret, Nyssa, which you and I must discover together!".  And in the scene, the Master tells Nyssa she should return to the Doctor and Nyssa says "Father, I don't want to be parted from you" and the Master says to her "No need to, my dear.  Here, wear this" and he givs Nyssa a gold bracelet to wear, which he places on her wrist.  And the Master tells Nyssa "It will keep us in mind of one another. Remember to tell no one that you've seen me, yet!".

And lastly there is the scene where the Master and the Doctor, having pooled their resources to try and activate the one last remaining CVE at the Pharos project (which would in effect save the universe from being wiped out due to the catastrophic effects of entropy caused by the destruction of  Logopolis).

However in the scene, the Master plans to blackmail the universe by controlling the CVE and threatening to deactivate it unless they bend to his demands.  And in the scene the Master tells the Doctor "And now I think it's time for you to go and explain the presence of your friends. There's quite a hubbub outside" and the Doctor says "You're quite right.  One mistake now could ruin everything" and the Master tells him "I know that, Doctor, and it could happen so easily".  And the Doctor, suspiciously asks "What do you mean?" and the Master says "The universe is hanging on a thread. A single recursive pulse down that cable and the CVE would close forever. Even a humble assistant could do it!" and the Doctor looks shocked and says "You're mad!".

So, the Master then plays a recorded message of his blackmail to the universe over the Antenna control room's speaker system, leaving the Doctor appalled and he says to him "Blackmail" and the Master says "No, Doctor, I'm merely reporting the state of affairs. I have it in my power now to save them or destroy them!".  And the Doctor looks at the Master in disgust and tells him "You're utterly mad!!" and the Master holds his gun up to him and warns "Back, Doctor. The proceedings must not be interrupted!" and he looks at the control room and laughs to himself "It's mine. The CVE. It's all mine!".

And last of all is, John Fraser, who is very good in his role as the chief mathematician on Logopolis, the Monitor.

But to save time I will just mention one of Fraser's scenes as the Monitor and its the one where the Master turns on a device that acts as a sound canceller that temporarily will disable the Logopolitans from their calculations, however this leads to disastrous consequences.  And in the scene, the Monitor warns the Master "You're destroying everything!  It may already be too late!" and the Master says "You exaggerate, Monitor.  Logopolis is not the universe" and the Monitor shouts back "But it is! Logopolis is the keystone. If you destroy Logopolis, you unravel the whole causal nexus!".

And the Master says to the others "I can demonstrate the continued functioning of Logopolis from here. This device only creates temporary silence and can be switched off!" as he switches off the device but there is nothing but silence.  And as they run outside they see the Logopolitans having indeed decayed to dust and the Monitor dispairs "You will hear nothing. Local disruption of structure is now irreversible. Logopolis is dead!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the direction, Peter Grimwade does a fine job here with the story as he paces it out at a nice leisurely speed and it rarely ever lags and he also allows for the injection of some fun into the story with the arrival of Tegan and the Doctor and Adric trying to flush out the Master from the TARDIS.  Grimwade himself was already a member of the show's production crew prior to becoming a director of several serials (including "Earthshock" during the Peter Davison era) and so it remains that this is easily one of his better directorial efforts for the show.

Lastly we move onto the music score, which is by Paddy Kingsland, who was around that time already a member of the BBC Radiophonic workshop and he has prior to writing scores for Doctor Who also did the music score for the sci-fi radio show "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".  Kingsland would also go on to score other TV shows in the future such as Michael Palin's "Around the world in 80 days".   

As for Paddy's actual score here, its actually not too bad and it is purely electronic synthesizer based (although I think it does feature a guitar in there somewhere!) as were all the other scores were during the 1980's era of the show.  The score however is not that memorable in itself and it is better served simply to listen to while watching the story rather listen to it by itself as an isolated soundtrack but it is still fit for purpose and is pretty decent.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

Now flaws....does Logopolis have some???  Yes it does have some albeit nothing too drastic.

And to kick off it has to be said that with this story, Christopher Bidmead's script is at times just a bit too convoluted to follow as the whole plot can be quite difficult to follow.  And even though its an enjoyable story for adults I could easily see it quickly being a bore for children as it would most likely just confuse them!  

As for one of the big plotholes of the story, the biggest one for me was the Master's ignorance as to what the consequences would be if he tampered with the operation of Logopolis, as it really never occurs to him by doing this that he would potentially cause irriversible damange to the universe!  Yet the Master in the scene where he enables his signal cancelling device at the central register on Logopolis, he is totally oblivious to the results it will have, yet even the Doctor is aware!  It makes you think at times, the Master really isn't as bright as he would like to make himself out to be!

Another issue I had with the story was the silly scene where the Doctor and Adric decide to try and flush out the Master's TARDIS from the TARDIS by materialising it underwater in the Thames.  I mean its a pretty stupid idea and ultimately it never works because the Doctor lands the TARDIS on a pier instead!  Also the Master could have easily dematerialised his TARDIS before the Doctor even managed to try the manouvere in the first place. 

Then there are one or two continuity issues in the story itself with the main one being the scene where Adric creates a diversion so the Doctor can escape from the police, who have detained him, so Adric uses a nearby bike to pretend he has fallen off it and he lies down on the wet grass and when he get's up, his outfit is all damp and a bit muddy at the back.  However once we cut to the Doctor and Adric back in the TARDIS we can see that Adric's outfit is now completely clean and there is no damp or mud on it at all!  So its a pretty silly continuity error that obviously went unmissed.

There are also one or two laughable moments in the story too, such as the one where we see the Monitor lead the Doctor and the others through the corridors of the office on Logopolis, where we see the Logopolitans seated at work.  However as the Monitor goes through the next door we see a cardboard cutout of the previous room, which evidently exposes the show's rather modest budget at the time!

And then there is the laughable moment near the end where the Doctor tries to make his way out onto the Pharos project's radio antenna walkway but the Master has activated the dish, which makes the walkway start to spin around and leave the Doctor clinging on for dear life.  However in this scene we can also see another cardboard cutout of the Master in the background as the Doctor desparately tries to cling on to the walkway and again it just looks as fake as anything and laughable!   

Then there is the whole concept of the Watcher in the story, which is a strange one in itself as we later discover that (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!) the Watcher was in fact the Doctor all along.  Now that would suggest to me that if you hold to the theory in the Jon Pertwee story "The Three Doctors" if the Doctor's other selves co-exist together at the same time then this would transgress the first law of time itself.  So this means that yet again, the first law of time here had indeed been transgressed once more, and you also never get to the find out just where did the Watcher come from and who, if at all, sent him???     

And last of all is the Tom Baker's final scene where we see him lying on the ground after his fall from the radar dish scaffolding in his dying moments, as his companions gather around him. However, it has to be said, the way in which the Doctor has fallen down, he looks like he has been tucked up into bed as he lies in a nice comfy position rather than stay on his side or something. So, in the end, it looks like he just had a leisurely fall instead of a fatal one, which makes it look all the more silly.

And further to this, one last note on the final scene, what really annoys me about the end of the story is the sloppy direction choice of having witnessed Tom Baker regenerate into Peter Davison, we then see Peter Davison, as the 5th Doctor, just sudddenly sit up and look at everyone. It just always really struck me as a poor way to end the serial and a bit too jarring to have the newly regenerated Doctor pop up as if he just got out of bed! So, yeah, I was never keen on this story's ending.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum it all up, "Logopolis" is an enjoyable and worthy send-off for Tom Baker as the Doctor, even if the story itself isn't a classic, it still has plenty to commend it with its intelligent (albeit overly complex) script, fairly solid performances and decent direction.  The story however is of course a bit too complex at times to follow with its convoluted plotlines and the story isn't really a classic as such and yes arguably, Tom Baker could have recieved a better send-off than this one.

However despite these flaws, "Logopolis" is still well worth a look and as far as swansong stories, it does nothing to disgrace the Tom Baker era and it sees one of the show's most popular incarnations get a decent finale. 

So, I will rate Logopolis

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post hopefully before the month is over.

Until then its bye for now! 

Doctor Who - The Keeper of Traken Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, its time for another review on the blog and I figured I would do another Doctor Who story and this is a new review of a story I've not covered before, which is the penultimate story from the Tom Baker era, The Keeper of Traken.

So, this story is one that I've never been that keen on in the past although it is well regarded by fans but I thought I would give it another go. So, let's find out how TKOT is after 43 years.

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!

STORY

So, the story follows the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion, Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) who are intercepted on their travels in the TARDIS by the elderly keeper of the planet Traken (played by Denis Carey). The Keeper warns the Doctor that although he is set to transfer his powers to one of the council on Traken named Trimas (Anthony Ainley) he senses a great evil, which he wants the Doctor's help with. 

On arriving at Traken, the Doctor and Adric find a statue called Melkur, which is an evil creature that has become calcified, which is the source of the evil that the Keeper referred. However, as the mysterious Melkur statue kills two guards, the Doctor and Adric are soon blamed but Tremas comes to their defence. However, it is soon apparent that Tremas's wife, Kassia (Sheila Ruskin) is a worshipper of Melkur and is prepared to do its evil bidding but it is soon revealed that inside the statue is an old enemy of the Doctor's, who has revenge on his mind...

THOUGHTS (SPOILER AHEAD!!!)

Although I wasn't a big fan of The Keeper of Traken when I first viewed it, I quite enjoyed it this time around, even if it does still have some issues. The story itself does have a fairly intriguing concept, with the Doctor having to pit his wits against a malevolent statue that houses one of his oldest foes, the Master. The story also nicely introduces a new character in Nyssa, who is the daughter of Tremas and she would in the next story join the TARDIS crew on a long term basis well into the Peter Davison era. So, while its not one of my favourite stories from the Baker era, there is still enough here to commend it.

PERFORMANCES 

As for the performances in the story, starting with Tom Baker, he is great here as usual and adds a nice layer of sadness to personality here given that his faithful companion, Romana (Lalla Ward) departed in the previous story, Warrior's Gate even if it is somewhat glossed over. Tom also has som nice moments in the story where he shows his usual mix of cheerfulness and seriousness all rolled into one, even if this isn't a top tier serial, Tom is always watchable no matter what. However given this was he penultimate story, Tom naturally by then was keen to leave shown given the annoying changes at the hands of the then new producer, John Nathan-Turner. 

Matthew Waterhouse on the other is the weak link in the chain here (as he usually was!) as the somehwat petulant teenage mathematical genius, Adric. Waterhouse doen't have too many memorable moments in the story in all honesty although still does share a couple of nice moments with Sarah Sutton, playing Nyssa. 

Anthony Ainley is also excellent in his role as Tremas, the friendly Consul member of Traken named Tremas and this would be his first and only appearance as this character in the series, as he would later go on to play the Master himself for the remainder of the JNT era. Ainley actually gives a more restrained performance as Tremas before he would start really hamming it up as the Master during the Davison era. 

Sheila Ruskin is also very good in her role as Kassia, Tremas's wife, who is drawn to the statue of Melkur and secretly serves it but is really being manipulated by the Master himself, who is concealed within the statue itself. 

Denis Carey also is excellent in his role as the aged Keeper, who warns the Doctor against the evil on Traken, which he wants him to investigate. Carey himself appeared previously on the show in the incompleted serial in Baker's previous season, Shada as Professor Chronotis and Timelash, from the Colin Baker era. 

John Woodnutt is once again excellent in his role as Seron, one of the Consul members of Traken, who debates on the killings at the hands of Melkur. Woodnutt himself previously appeared in a couple of stories most notably in Spearhead from Space, Jon Pertwee's debut and also in Tom Baker story, Terror of the Zygons. Also rather curiously, Woodnutt adopts a Scottish accent again for this role like he did in the Terror of the Zygons, which is interesting!

Sarah Sutton also makes a good debut in her role as future regular companion, Nyssa, who is the daughter of Tremas, who fatefully later on (SPOILER!) will lose her father at the hands of the Master. Sarah also looks rather cute in her outfit with her queenly crown it has to be said and she actually manages a decent rapport with Matthew Waterhouse. 

And last of all is Geoffrey Beevers, who is pretty good in his role as the Master, who still takes a rather emaciated and disfigured appearance similar to how he looked in The Deadly Assassin with his cloak and hood. Beevers also makes good use of a creepy voice in his depiction of the Master, which is also distorted behind the statue of Melkur. Beevers himself was credited as Melkur during the story to avoid giving away from the twist that it was the Master. 

DIRECTOR

As for the director, John Black, does a pretty decent job here as the story's pacing is relatively swift at just four episodes and for the most part it doesn't really lag. Black would then go on to direct a couple more Doctor Who stories, Four to Doomsday in the Davison era as well as the spin-off episode, K9 & Company that featured Elisabeth Sladen also as Sarah-Jane Smith.

MUSIC

Moving onto the music, the score is by Roger Limb and its overall a pretty good one and its most memorable part is Nyssa's theme, which is very good and has a nice, jaunty feel to it, which is at odds to the rest of the score's tone. Limb often provided some excellent electronic scores during the JNT era and this was actually his first for the show, with the bulk of the rest being in the Peter Davison era and lastly Revelation of the Daleks in the Colin Bakera era. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws, yes The Keeper of Traken isn't perfect. 

For starters, I still feel this isn't exactly one of my favourite stories from the Baker era even though I did enjoy it a bit more this time round, I tend to think its just a bit overrated. And compared to Tom's more solid finale in the following story, Logopolis, TKOT just somehow doesn't quite do it for me as its characters are definitely a mixed bag. I also felt the story does lag a bit early on in the first episode before the Doctor and Adric even get to Traken. 

Another issue I had was to do with how the Doctor didn't twig sooner that the Master was behind the statue of Melkur as he dropped enough hints that he was an old enemy to him. However, the Doctor just keeps guessing who it is up until the moment where he finally meets him although I kind of appreciate this was an attempt to disguise the Master being in the story itself. 

I also felt that the story's climax was a bit silly where the Doctor is forced to punch in the code to shutdown the servo that powers the source of the keeper's power. This is silly because as far as I remember, the Doctor has to punch in three digits but when you look at how he hits the numbers on the panel, he appears to miss the final one quite badly! 

And last of all, I found it a bit strange as to just how does the Master manage to take over Tremas's body to regenerate? I mean he basically just merges into Tremas and bingo becomes the Master, but we've not really seen anything like that before in the show, so its weird to think the Master has such transformative powers at his fingertips, but I guess he does here.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, the Keeper of Traken is for the most part quite an enjoyable story with some good performances from Tom Baker and the supporting cast, particularly Anthony Ainley as Tremas, Geoffrey Beevers as the Master and Sheila Ruskin as Kassia as well as Sarah Sutton in her debut as future regular companion, Nyssa. Its not perfect of course with some pacing issues early on and some plot niggles as well basically being a bit overrrated in my humble opinion. However that aside, The Keeper of Traken is still a decent Doctor Who story and worth a look.

So, I will rate it:

7 out of 10

So, that's it for this one and I will be back hopefully with an updated review of Tom Baker's final story, Logopolis.

So, until then, its bye for now!   

Doctor Who - Colony in Space Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I figured its time for another review and this one will be on a Doctor Who story for a change, as I've been watching quite a few of them lately from the original series from the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker eras. So, the idea was for me to catch up on the stories I've not seen from the Pertwee era and this was one of them.

Now, Colony in Space (written by series regular of that time, Malcolm Hulke) isn't that well regarded by many fans, who see it as a pretty dull story and a letdown for Pertwee's first story that takes place outside Earth as most of his era saw the Doctor exiled on Earth by the Time Lords. But is Colony in Sapce really that bad?? Well, let's take a look.

So, I will issue the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!! 

STORY

So, the story begins with the Doctor and Jo taking a surprise flight in the TARDIS for the first time together, as unbekwonst to the Doctor, the Time Lords are piloting his spaceship to an alien planet named Uxarieus on a special mission. As the TARDIS arrives on the planet, the Doctor and Jo soon meet some human colonists who are farmers trying to grow crops by failing to do so. However, the colonists lead by Ashe (John Ringham) tell the Doctor that some of their number are being killed by reptiles but they also met with some resistance from the alien natives of the planet known as the primitives. The colonists also are met with some resistance by the IMC, Inter-Planetary Mining Corporation, who are lead by the callous Captain Dent (Morris Perry) and its not long before fighting breaks out between the farmers and the colonists. 

However, as the resistance continues, Dent then calls for an Adjudicator from Earth to arrive and resolve the differences between the farmers and the IMC. However, as the Adjudicator arrives, we see it is a familiar figure, the Master (Roger Delgado) who poses as the Earth adjudicator with fake credentials, but he is really after something on the planet, that will allow him to carry out his plan for universal domination...

THOUGHTS

Despite not being considered one of the better stories of the Pertwee era, Colony in Space actually somewhat surprised me as despite some lagging in its pacing, its actually quite an ejoyable story for the most part. The story's main plot involving a conflict between two parties on the alien planet, the colonists and the IMC for the most part held my interest and even the somewhat unsurprising appearance of the Master (as he appeared in EVERY story this season!) naturally helps prop up the story when it does lag. The story's introduction for Jo to travel in time and space was also well done as despite her initial anxiety, she soon adapts to her new surroundings very well and this begins to show Jo's growing maturity in her role.

PERFORMANCES (no notable scenes this time!)

As for the performances, the cast all do very well here but I will not really mention any notable scenes as there is a big cast and I won't cover all of them, just a select few. 

For starters, Jon Pertwee is great once again in his role as the Doctor, who takes delight in finally getting a trip in the TARDIS to an alien planet, despite not knowing its being controlled by the Time Lords. And Jon provides his usual mix of commanding presence, warmth, drama and humour all rolled into one, as well as his usual traits such as saying "my dear chap", "you know" to a lot of things and of course his mandatory neck rubs when the Doctor says something that's awkward for him. The Doctor also plays yet another important part in trying to negotiate for the protagonists in this story, as he has in quite a few already up to this point. 

Katy Manning is also excellent in her role as Jo Grant, the Doctor's trusty companion and also a member of UNIT, who is alarmed by the surprise trip to an alien planet but she soon adapts well to the situation. Katy also is starting to settle very nicely into her role and begins to really play the part with more maturity here than before, as she takes control of the several situations in the Doctor's absence. 

Roger Delgado is also great once more in his role as the Master, who pretends to be an authoritative figure from Earth called the Adjudicator, who is to preside over the matters of the colonists and the IMC. Delgado's entrance into the serial is somewhat late, however as he doesn't appear until the second half of the story but his presence is always a welcome one in any story and he looks to enjoy himself in his imposter role as the Earth adjudicator and presiding over the fate of the colonists and the IMC.

As for the supporting cast, John Ringham is very good in his role as Ashe, the governor of the colonists, who seeks the Doctor's help and is also somewhat manipulated by the Master. Ringham's character, Ashe also plays a very important part later on in the story, which will greatly effect the survival of the colonists but I won't sat more than that for now.

Nicholas Pennell also is pretty good as Winton, one of the stubborn colonists, who sparks civil war with the IMC, as he tries to take control of the colony as they learn they have been manipulated by the IMC lead by Captain Dent. 

Bernard Kay however provides the best supporting performance here as IMC miner, Caldwell, who is sympathetic to the miners and reluctant to carry out the ruthless orders of the IMC under Dent's command. I'd also say out of the supporting characters, he was probably the most memorable. Kay himself previously appeared in other stories from the William Hartnell era, namely The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Crusades. 

Morris Perry also is very good in his role as Captain Dent, the ruthless and cold IMC leader, who tries to quell the resitance from the colonists and his stern features are perfect for the role itself. Perry in fact almost resembles the American actor, Donald Sutherland at times and died at the ripe old age of 96 back in 2021. 

Tony Caunter also does well in his role as Morgan, another ruthless IMC officer and second in command to Captain Dent. Caunter himself would later on appear more memorably in the BBC soap drama, Eastenders as Roy Evans, a car dealer, who ends up in a romance with series regular, Pat Butcher. 

And last of all is a rare in-person appearance of Roy Skelton, who usually voiced the Daleks, but here he plays the character of Norton, who is (SPOILER!!!) a devious double agent working from the IMC but pretends to gain favour with the colonists. 

DIRECTOR

As for the director, Michael E. Briant, he does a good job for the most part here, however there are of course same pacing issues with the story as it does drag at times with some repetition of the action shown between the conflict of the colonists and the IMC. This is also an issue where it does show that 6 episode stories, such as this one, can tend to outstay their welcome but more on that soon. As for Briant however, he was one of the series stalwart directors, who worked on plenty of other stories in this era and Tom Baker's era even, and even though this isn't one of his best, its still a decent directorial effort overall.

MUSIC 

Moving onto the music score, it was once again composed by the series regular composer, Dudley Simpson, who provides another full electronic score, which he performed by himself and its not bad and features of course the Master's familiar sinister theme. The series producer in the Pertwee era, Barry Letts, later said that Simpson found writing and recording the electronic music himself provded too exhausting, so for the remaining seasons, Simpson would work with other musicians when composing his scores. Overall though, even if its not too memorable, its still a decent score for the story.

FLAWS

As for flaws...yes, Colony in Space certainly isn't perfect.

So, for starters, I think the main problem here is that the story being six episodes, is simply too long and the pacing of the story suffers badly at times as a result of this, which can make for some duller moments in the story itself. This results in a lot of padding when it comes to the conflict between the miners and colonists, as they have several shootouts in later episodes, which get's kind of boring and repetitive pretty quickly. 

I also felt the arrival of the Master took a bit too long in the story, as he doesn't show up until the second half in episode 4 (I think!) which was also a bit disappointing and a result of poor pacing. However, at this stage, the Master's constant appearances in this season (season 8 of the original series and Pertwee's second) got to be quite predictable at this point, so it was just a matter of time before he would show up!

I also thought that the alien race in the story, the primitives are pretty boring overall, as they don't do much other than slowly lumber around most of the time or wield a spear now and then. This, is also very notable in the scenes where Jo and the Doctor are held captive and they are given plenty of time to escape from their cell as the primitives are so slow to move or do anything to stop them! Plus their make-up is also pretty goofy looking, especially the make-up of their leader, who is much smaller and wears a naff looking mask. 

Another issue I had was to do with how the Time Lords did NOT let the Doctor that they were going to let him use the TARDIS for this trip but instead they just did it in a clandestine manner and wait for the Doctor to test out his TARDIS once again to see if it will work! I mean given the fact they were so concerned about the Master stealing confidential information that could lead to him gaining universal domination, I think it would have been more prudent for them to let the Doctor know about it in the first place, but nope, they just let him saunter off instead without any help!

And last of all (WARNING BIG SPOILER AHEAD!) its funny how the colony governor, Ashe, was able to fool Captain Dent into thinking that all the colonists were onboard their doomed spaceship after Dent forces them to leave, despite the fact he was the only one onboard the ship at the time. I mean, you'd wonder if they wouldn't have access to other video camera feeds from the ship to see if there were others onboard or even if Dent was remotely bothered to do a head count of the colonists just in case something was a miss. However, in the end Dent does care and is just glad to allegedly to see the colonists leave the planet, one way or another. 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Colony in Space is a somewhat underrated story from the Pertwee era imho as it tells a fairly enjoyable story of a conflict between two groups on an alien planet and again the regular cast of Pertwee, Manning and Delgado are all excellent. The story also features a solid supporting cast particularly with good performances from John Ringham as Ashe, Morris Perry as Captain Dent and Bernard Kay as Caldwell. 

The story is of course not perfect and does have some issues with its plot and slow pacing at times and it feels too long at six episodes and would have worked better at four instead. However, those issues aside, Colony in Space is really not that bad and if you go with low expectations, you might ending just enjoying it. 

So, I will rate Colony in Space:

6.8 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post, which might possibly be another Doctor Who one, we'll see. 

Until the next one, its bye for now! 

Lies of P Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, figured its time for another review as we are into October now and its been a while since I've done one and I've decided to review a game I recently completed, the action adventure game, Lies of P, which is another Soulslike video game that pays homage to Bloodborne and also the story of Pinnochio.

So, how does Lies of P stack up compared to the Soulsborne video games? Well, let's take a look...

STORY 

So, a bit about the story of the game, which is based loosely on the Adventures of Pinnochio written by Carlo Collodi and sees its main character, P, a silent puppet, rewakened by a voice and exits a train cart into the city of Krat. Krat was previously a flourishing city only then to be ravaged by a rare petrification disease that turned the people into essentially walking dead called caracases. The city has also seen its puppet inhabitatns effected by a strange frenzy that turns them hostile and resulted in a massacre of the city's population. 

So, P is summoned by the voice of a woman named Sophia, who tells him he must find his creator named Geppetto in order to help them out and then make their way to one true safe haven in the city left, Hotel Krat. However, in order for P to reach Geppetto, he must first fight his way past the hostile puppets and more powerful puppet enemies that stand in his way...

THOUGHTS

As far as Soulslikes go, Lies of P is a very solid and enjoyable game and one that pays as much homage to the acclaimed Fromsoft RPG, Bloodborne as it does to the story of Pinnochio. The game also makes good use of its period settings that give a Victorian-esque time feel albeit with the characters having mixed accents of English and American (as well as Italian!). The combat also borrows alot from the Souls format with a similar mix of weapons, powerful enemies and of course boss fights but does it in its own unique way that keeps its own formula fresh. And unlike the Souls games it also offers some morale ambiguities where P has to make choices at key moments to either lie or tell the truth, which helps keep the Pinnochio theme going, the only difference though is P's nose doesn't grow when he lies! Lies or not, this is still a really solid game.

GAMEPLAY  

As for the gameplay, the game adopts a similar challenging style of combat to the Soulsborne games but also adds some of its own ideas while also adopting the third person perspective for the action but I'll say more on the gameplay in the sub sections below.

COMBAT & WEAPONS

So, in terms of combat mechanics, P can perform strong and light attacks with each weapon and in addition to this, he can perform parries and block attacks with his own weapon, which will cause P to take some damage but he can restore it with a counterattack. P can also perform backstab (or more like back slash) attacks on sneaking up behind enemies for further damage. P can also perform rolls and dodges to evade incoming enemy attacks but this will of course drain his stamina. P can also break enemies weapons are several strikes depending on the strength of enemies themselves. 

As for the weapons, P has a good array of weapons to select from as he works through the game, you will pick up different melee weapons as he goes but you will start with the choice of just one initial weapon. So, each starting weapon will be of a different class with one for strength, one for balance (essentially a quality weapon in the Souls games) and one for dexterity. In a unique feature of the game however, P can also swap out weapon handles and use them with different blades, which will give weapons different abilities and movesets. The weapons available feature a mix of longswords, greatswords, axes, daggers, clubs, halberds and spears. 

P will also have his own unique mechanical arm called a legion arm, which has special abilities, and you can craft new arms for P at Hotel Krat as you progress through the game. The legion arm can perform different attacks such as fire and lightning attacks as well as perform grapple attacks and these can be modifed and created at the Hotel with the use of specific items. P can also use items called legion cartridges, to restore the usage of your arm's capabilities as P uses the arm in combat.  

FABLE ARTS 

Another unique feature in the game are fable arts, which are the special skills that can be used on different weapons to perform powerful attacks or strikes. P himself will need to however collect fable catalysts, which he can use on himself in order to use the weapon's fable art skills, some of which can also change the shape of weapons. As you progress through the game, P can also gain more fable slots that will allow him to reuse his fable skills but you can also restore his fable gradually on defeating enemies. 

ERGO AND STATS

As for the game's currency, its known as Ergo, which is a blue energy source that is dropped from enemies after P defeats them, which he can use to buy items or level up his stats. Also as P's character upgrades his levels, the amount of Ergo required will rise as well, simialr to the other Soulslike games and the Souls series themselves. 

Moving onto the game's stats, there are six main stats in the game that are vitality, that relates the amoutn of health P has, vigor, which connects to P's stamina. Then there is Capacity, which relates to the equipment load that P can carry, Moitivity, which is to do with strength, Technique which relates to dexterity and finally Advance, which boosts your elemental damage e.g. acid, fire or lightning attacks. Also as mentioned above, these stats can be upgraded and the amount of Ergo required will raise as you do so and P can upgrade himself via the character Sophie at the main hub of the game, which is Hotel Krat. 

THROWABLES AND CONSUMABLES

In terms of throwable items, this is basically Lies of P's answer to ranged attacks, as P can carry so many items at once that he can throw at enemies. These items include containers of fire, lightning or acid as well as other items as saw blades, sharp pipes, grenades and short puts. P however can only carry a limited amount although this can be increased by upping your skill tree level at Hotel Krat. 

As for consumables, P can also use items to restore his health or cure him from certain status ailments, which will effect him throughout the game. In terms of heath restoration, P's primary source are pulse cells, which he will gain more of as he progresses through the game but he can also use certain cubestones that do the same. P will take different types of damage as well in the game such as corruption, which is like poison, break damage, shock, which is lightning damage and worst of all is disruption, which will outright kill P if the disruption bar reaches full. So, P can take items such as attribute purification ampoules to cancel out these damaging ailments. 

HOTEL KRAT 

As for Hotel Krat itself, this is the central hub of the game similar to Firelink Shrine in Dark Souls or the Hunter's Dream in Bloodborne. So, here P can talk to several characters, who have questlines that he can follow or he can buy items from or sell to, as well upgrades his weapons and level himself up via Sophie. The hotel will also have many rooms that branch off in different directions and lead out to different areas of the game, which will unlock themselves as you progress. 

P ORGAN SKILLS & GOLD COIN TREE

There are also another couple of key aspects to the gameplay, the first being the P Organ skills, which are essentially a skill tree that can be unlocked during the game after a certain point. From here, P can upgrade many different abilities such as offensive and defensive capabilities as well upgrades to the ites he can carry or the ability to heal himself. The tree itself however can only be unlocked via the use of a special item called quartz, which P can collect in different areas of the game or from fighting powerful enemies or bosses.

As for the Gold Coin Tree, this is a special tree where P can collect golden coins that regrow on it, which he can talk to an NPC, which you can purchase special items from known as cubestones. These cubestones will also grant P different abilities such as stamina regen or HP recovery as well as restorative or enhancements to your summonable NPC during boss fights known as Spectre. 

STARGAZERS 

In terms of the travelling between different areas, P can use special devices known as Stargazers, which are essentially the game's version of the bonfires from Dark Souls, which allow P to fast travel between different points of the game. P can also perform other tasks at the stargazer as well such as switch his legion arm, store weapons or assemble them from different blades and handles. 

ENEMIES AND BOSSES

As for the enemies and bosses, there are plenty to be found in the game but they are mainly split into three different categories of humans, puppets and caracasses. The human enemies are generally of two rebellious factions known as the Stalkers and the Bastards, where as the puppets are a mixture of basic mechanical puppets that wield melee weapons such as swords or in some cases also guns, to far more powerful puppets that can deal greater damage. As for the carcass enemies, these are humanoid enemies that have been infected by the petrification disease and essentially almost like the infected in The Last of Us that are either standard or powerful elite versions that deal greater damage.

Boss wise, there are also plenty of bosses to be found here as P will face a mixture of powerful bosses to fight that are a mix of the above enemy type. The bosses usually start with the health bar and have two phases, which change at roughly half health but later bosses will have two separate health bars and will provide a greater challenge. The boss difficulty is certainly mixed here but there is a fairly decent challenge level here to be found all the same in line with the other Soulslike games.

LIE OR TRUTH SYSTEM

And last of all is the lie or truth aspect of the game, where P will be forced to either tell a lie or the truth when faced with a certain situation or NPC. This can also have an affect on the outcome of the game's ending depending on which choices P makes as essentially, the more P lies, the more human it makes him appear as puppets are seen as being incapable of lying. Also depending on P lying or telling the truth to different NPCs, he will gain different items that can be useful. 

GRAPHICS

Moving onto the game's graphics, Lies of P is quite a stunning looking game as it features beautiful environments and very solid character models. The game's environments are also very varied in choice as P will navigate abandoned train stations, beauitful hotels and other buildings, dilapidated buildings and factories as well as poison swamps. As for the character models, they also look very good and are step up from the models seen in the Souls game, which look pretty dated by comparison. 

MUSIC 

As for the music score, Lies of P, it was composed by Korean composer, Silun Lee and overall its quite a good one and features some good tracks. However compared to the soundtracks of the Fromsoft Souls games, it pales by comparison in terms of quality overall and even to the soundtrack of the similar Soulslike released at the same time, Lords of the Fallen, which was phenomenal (albeit Lies of P is the better game of the two imho!). Despite this though, the score does have some highlights particularly the theme for the boss, Laxasia the Complete, which is excellent and also the Hotel Krat main theme, which is poignant and haunting all at once. So, its a pretty good score in all even if not a world beater.

FLAWS

As for flaws...yes Lies of P isn't quite perfect.

For starters, I felt that the game at one point made some annoying choices that made things shall we say pretty difficult at one stage in the game. So, without TRYING to giving it away for sake of not spoiling things, there is a boss you need to fight (wont say who!) and at this point you are cut off from fast travel to other stargazers, so you can't buy any items and have to depend on farming nearby enemies for random items of use. So, this really annoyed me at the time as I was left with just 8 pulse cells for healing and that's all! So, I felt this was a really stupid decision by the developers to make, which really does leave gamers high and dry at this stage in the game.

I also felt the ranged weapon options in the game were distinctly lacking as you had to resort to purely using throwable items such as saw blades, pipes, or fire or lightning containers to throw at enemies from afar. This is further compounded by the fact that P can only hold so many, before you need to go and buy some more, which inevitably means you need to farm more ergo to get them in the first place! So, its a pity that didn't come with more effective ranged options than they did here, as even some guns or other projectile weapons would have been a good option (although the legion arms do offer a limited soultion to this).

I also found the boss difficulty again was a bit of mixed bag at times, as some bosses were very easy but others were frustratingly difficult but this is of course nothing new in Souls games. However, I did feel that the final boss for e.g. (won't say their name!) was somewhat lacking in challenge compared to the previous boss before them (again won't say who!). So, it would have been good if the final challenge in itself was a greater one, although there is apparently another boss at the end that does indeed offer greater challenge, which I didn't fight. 

The game is also guilty at times of some very frustrating runbacks to bosses, which is not a problem so much early on but much later into the game, it does become an issues, as there are some very annoying enemies you need to pass in order to get to certain bosses. So, I felt like boss runback definitely became an issue as the game went on. 

Another issue I had to do with the game, was the question of weapon durability as some weapons really had low durability (mostly the smaller or dex based weapons) but I was shocked also to find even some of the more potent weapons such as the bone cutting saw, a greatsword, was at breaking point with relative ease at one point! You can of course use grinder to repair your weapon, but it would be nice if they felt more durable than they are but I guess I just miss the infinite durability weapons had in Elden Ring! 

Last of all, I also felt the game is just a bit too long toward the end, as without giving anything away, you do have one massive climb up a big tower in order to get to the final boss but it feels like it takes FOREVER to get to the end of it! Also, the path up to them can be quite annoying at times to cope with as well, so that adds to your problems. So, I think towards the end, the game does slightly wear out its welcome and I was easily about 60 hours of gameplay by the end of my first run. 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Lies of P is overall an excellent Soulslike Action RPG, that offers a solid experience with plenty of challenging combat as well as unique features that help make it stand out over other games. It has a stunning visuals with some good character models and a decent soundtrack that features a mix of different styles in places. There are of course some gameplay issues and choices made here than can be frustrating to deal with at times such as lenghty runbacks, mixed boss difficulty and illogical developer choices too(!). But that all aside, this is still a very enjoyable Soulslike game that will keep you entertained and challenged for many hours.

So, I will rate Lies of P 

8.8 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with hopefully another review fairly soon.

Until then its bye for now! 

The Godfather Part II Review (Revisited) "You're no gypsy, Fredo..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, since I've taken another look at the epic crime drama, The Godfather, I figured I would look at its sequel, The Godfather Part II. So, this post is pretty big given the vast amount of characters and dialogue in it, so I will try and add a few bits here and there without making the post even more massive! 

So, after 50 years, let's take another look at this modern classic and see how it fairs half a century on...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!! 

So, I will for once deal with the plot in a more chronological fashion, given the film has a flashback narrative involving Vito as younger man interspered in between the modern narrative with Michael as head of the Corleone family.  

VITO'S STORYLINE

So Vito's sequence begins back in 1901 when Vito Corleone was a 9 year old boy, who flees to America after his family are killed at the behest of a local Mafia chieftan, Don Ciccio (Giuseppe Sillato), because his father insulted the Don.  As the film progresses it follows Vito's rise as a young man (played by Robert De Niro) into the life of organised crime and how he created his crime family in New York.  

Living as a decent ordinary civilian in New York, Vito is approached by one of the locals, Clemenza (Bruno Kirby) who tells him to keep some guns for him, which Vito reclutantly does. Not long after, Clemenza offers Vito a carpet as thanks for heling him out, so they go to a large apartment and steal the carpet. So, as Vito, Clemenza and Tessio (John Aprea) start a line in stealing dresses and selling them in their neighborhood, this alerts the attentions of crime figure, Don Fannucci (Gastone Mochin), who pesters him for a cut of their money, or else he'll go to the police. Vito then hatches a plan with the others to pay Fanucci less then he wants and he will convince Fannucci to accept it. 

So, on the day of an Italian festival, Vito meets Fannucci and gives him just a $100 and tells him he is short of money and needs more time to get it. Fannucci then laughs and says he admires Vito's courage and let's him off with it for now and takes the 100. So, Vito then follows Fannucci 's movements on the streets from the rooftops and waits for him outside his apartment, where Vito then shoots Fannucci dead and takes his money. Vito then destroys his gun and returns down to the streets and sits with his family, cradling a baby Michael. 

Later in his life, he returns to Corleone in Sicily once he has established his Genco Olive oil business, looking for Don Ciccio's blessing.  However its just an excuse for Vito to exact his revenge by murdering the Don and he escapes with his associate Tomassino (Mario Cotone) who is shot in the back, and later as we see from the first Godfather film, ends up confined to a wheelchair.  These sequences are in part also seen as a reflection from Michael Corleone's memory.  So the rest of this plot summary will be told from the modern day events. 

MICHAEL'S STORYLINE

Right so far the modern day stuff, the film begins in 1958, where the Corleone family have now moved to Nevada.  Michael Corleone (Pacino) on the day of his son Anthony's confirmation, also holds an extravagant party, and deals with business requests at the same time, similar to how Vito does in the first film.  

During the day Michael speaks to Senator Pat Geary (GD Spradlin) who demands pay offs from Michael in turn for a state gaming license, and he also insults Michael and his family.  Michael also receives a visit from a Sicilian mob associate, Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese) who is connected to the Jewish crime boss, Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), who Michael is doing business with.  Michael also on the same day has to deal with a rebellious Connie (Talia Shire), who is still angry at Michael for having killed off her former husband Carlo, and she now jetsets around the world with other men.  

And as well that, Michael also has to meet with Frankie Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), one of his caporegime's who is having trouble with a couple of mobsters, the Rosato brothers, who are backed by Roth, and he wants Michael to kill them off.  Michael however refuses as he wants to do business with Roth and doesn't want it disturbed.  Later that night after the party however, an assassination attempt is made on Michael at his home, as gunfire riddles his bedroom, however he survives as does his wife Kay (Diane Keaton).  Later that night Michael takes leave of his family, leaving Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) in charge, as he travels to Miami to meet with Roth.

On meeting with Roth at his home, Michael tells him that Frank Pentangeli tried to have him killed, and that he asks his consent that he orders Frankie's death, to which Roth doesn't object.  Later, Michael returns to New York, where he meets with Frank (who now owns the Corleone's former house) and he angrily tells him about the attempt on his life, but he also tells him that Roth was behind the hit, and that he wants Frankie to sort out his troubles with the Rosato brothers, in order to make Roth think his relationship with him is still good.  

Frankie agrees although somewhat reluctantly as he meets with the Rosatos at a bar, but they instead try to kill him, by garrotting him, however they are interrupted by a passing policeman, and they are forced to leave the bar.  Prior to this happening, we see Fredo (John Cazale), Michael's older brother, receive a phone call during the night from Johnny Ola, asking if Frankie will bring his men along to the meeting.  Although it is not entirely clear Fredo had something to do with the attempted hit on Michael, he angrily tells Johnny Ola that he was lied to and not to call him again.

Michael shortly after his meeting with Frankie, travels to Cuba to meet up with Roth as they prepare to do a big business deal, however on travelling there, Michael witnesses a rebel suicide bomber, which makes him realise that rebels could overthrow the Cuban dictatorship.  Fredo soon arrives with a suitcase of money, Michael's investment for the deal, and he and Michael go out for a drink together, where Fredo doesn't mention anything about his involvement in the attempt on his brother's life, but he does imply he feels guilty by saying he was angry at him.  Michael then tells Fredo that he plans on killing Roth before the New Year is reigned in, and prior to this he meets with Roth and holds back on making his deal with him.  

Later that night, at a New Year's eve party, Fredo unwittingly let's his guard down by blabbing that he knew Johnny Ola (as he denied knowing him to Michael earlier on) to the others, which leaves Michael quietly devastated.  Michael sends his bodyguard to kill Roth, who is at a hospital, and by this time he is in ill health from his heart.  The bodyguard kills Johnny Ola, but is killed himself by Cuban police before he can kill Roth.  Later at the party Michael confronts Fredo, grabbing him he kisses him on the lips, uttering the famous words "I know it was you, Fredo!  You broke my heart!".  After this revolution soon breaks lose as the Cuban rebels take down the dictatorship, and in the ensuing chaos, Fredo flees for his life, despite Michael's pleas to come with him.

Michael travels back to Nevada where he is told by Tom that Kay had a miscarriage, and also that Fredo got out and is possibly back in New York.  Soon after this, a senate commission in Washington D.C. bring forward a witness that can corroborate Michael's links to his crime family, the witness being Frank Pentangeli, who by now is in the FBI witness protection program, where he is lives at an army barracks with FBI agents.  

At the trial, Michael denies all claims of his activities in the crime family, and he reads a statement in his defence to the committee.  And on the day where Frankie attends the hearing, he is surprised to find his own brother Vincenzo Pentangeli, who was brought there by Michael to silence Frankie from talking and betraying the family. And indeed on being questioned by the committee, Frankie denies any knowledge of his links with Michael Corleone, or that he knew anything about the Godfather, as a result of this, the case is dismissed and Michael escapes prosecution.

However things are far from right for Michael, as he now has to deal with an angry and distraught Kay, who after hearing of his nefarious activities in court, and knowing them to be true, tells him she is leaving with his children.  The two of them row, after which Michael calms down and tells her he will change, and that he knows she blames him for losing the baby, but Kay then reveals that she had an abortion and no intention of having another one of Michael's sons due to his evil doings, which leads to Michael furiously smacking Kay and warning her that she won't take his children.  As a result of this Michael and Kay separate, and Michael cuts off her contact with their kids.  

Later on, Fredo finally returns to Nevada, at the same time when their mother is dying, and Fredo confides in Michael his involvement with Roth, and that he was angry at being passed over by his father, when it came to being the head of the family, but he swore he didn't know they were going to try and kill him.  Michael coldly tells Fredo he wants nothing more to do with him or see him again, and after leaving he quietly tells his capo, Al Neri (Richard Bright) that he wants nothing to happen to Fredo while his mother is alive. Once Michael's mother passes away, Connie at the funeral pleads with Michael to forgive Fredo, which he eventually agrees to, however as he embraces Fredo at the funeral, he looks up to Neri intently.  

And after his mother's passing, Michael then puts into play, his plans to deal with his enemies in Roth, Pentangeli and even his brother, Fredo... 

THOUGHTS 

The Godfather Part II is a superb continuation from the first Godather film, and sees the themes being expanded from the first film.  The scope of Part II is also far more ambitious as it incoporates the flashback sequences of Vito Corleone as a young man, making a name for himself and his rise to power, as well as the modern day themes and the troubles Michael endures.  It also sees how Michael truly has become more manipulative and evil in running his family, he has ruthlessly taken control and again uses his power for his own ends.  One such example is where he uses the Senator Geary, by framing him at a whorehouse, making it look like he had killed a prostitute, in order to get the senator into his pocket and help him get his gaming license.  

The film also introduces some new characters which we hadn't seen from the first film, such as Frankie Pentangeli, the wisecracking capo, who was once one of Michael's father's associates back in the olden days, but is now more of a hindrance for Michael, as he has his troubles with rvial gangsters, the Rosato brothers.  And Hyman Roth is a mastermind criminal, who plays Michael, on one hand he appears to be a guru to Michael, but realistically he plots to get him out the way.  And Michael appears to want to gain his trust and friendship until they go to Cuba, and its there we see Michael put his plan into motion to kill Roth.

Then there is of course the flashback sequences of the film, which tell the story of Vito's rise to power in New York, and as a young boy he escaped to America from Sicily.  Although for the most part though in the flashback scenes, we see Vito as a decent honest man, who wants to earn for his wife and children, although not long after he becomes involved in petty stealing and Don Fannucci goads him into making payments to him, its when he seems to make that full transition into the life of crime.   

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and is pretty big!).

Moving onto the performances and noteworthy scenes (which there are plenty of in this film!) the cast are all on top form and delivers first rate work.

Starting with Al Pacino, who is superb once again as Michael Corleone, who continues his powerful reign as the head of the Corleone crime family and despite showing his usual icy demeanour, we get to get some angry outbursts as Michael loses his temper more at those who anger or pressure him. 

And Pacino has so many good scenes in the film, its hard to pick all of them, so I will try and limit it to three or four at the most, so this review doesn't go on forever lol!

So, for starters there is the scene where Michael meets with Connie, who has a man with her she is looking to marry to which Michael disapproves of given Connie's past history with other men and her reckless behaviour.

So, as Connie reveals to Michael that she intends to marry her partner, Merle, Michael looks at her and says in disbelief "The ink on your divorce isn't dry yet and your getting married? You see your children on weekends. Did you know your oldest son, Victor, was picked up for some petty theft in Reno?!" and Connie angrily interrupts "Michael...!" and Michael becomes more angry and says to her "You fly around the world with men that don't love you and use like a whore...!" and Connie shouts back "YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!!" and Michael angrily asks her "Then why did you come to me then?!" and Connie tells him "Because I need money!". 

Michael takes a moment to calm himself and walks over to Connie and tells her "Connie. Connie, Connie. Connie, I want to be reasonable with you.  You have a house here, with us. You can live here with your kids...and you won't be deprived of anything. Now, I don't know this Merle; I don't know what he does for a living or what he lives on. So, why don't you tell him marriage is really out of the question; and that you can't see him any more, he'll understand, believe me". Connie then looks toward Merle and takes his hand but Michael then delivers a stern ultimatum in a calm voice "Connie...if you don't listen to me and marry this man...you'll disappoint me".   

Another great scene is when Michael pays a visit to Frankie Pantangeli not long after the attempt on his life and he tells Frank his plan for revenge. 

So, in the scene, Frankie enters his home and finds Michael in his study, so Frankie says to him "Don Corleone, I didn't know you were coming. I could have prepared something" and Michael calmly tells him "I didn't want you to know I was coming". So, Frankie shuts the door behind and Michael asks Frankie "Did you hear about what happened in my home?" and Frankie says "Mike, I almost died myself we was all so relieved...". However Michael without warning furiously shouts at Frankie "IN MY HOME!!! IN MY BEDROOM WHERE MY WIFE SLEEPS!" and in a calmer voice "Where children come and play with their toys. In my home". 

Michael then sits down and tells Frankie "I want you to help me take my revenge" and Frankie says "Michael, anything! What can I do?" and Michael tells him "Settle these troubles with the Rosatto brothers". Frankie however is baffled by Michael's request and says he doesn't have his brain for "big deals but this is a street thing!" and that Roth backing the brothers up. So, Michael then tells Frankie "I know he is. It was Roth that trying to have me killed in my home" and Frankie shocked says "Jesus Christ, Mike! Let's get em all! Now! While we have the muscle!". 

Michael however then goes off a tangent and recalls how Frankie's current home was once his father's,Vito Corleone and that he taught him many things in that room. So, Michael tells Frankie "My father taught me many things in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer". Michael then explains to Frankie "Now if Roth sees that I interceded in this thing in the Rosatto brothers favour, he's still gonna think my relationship with him is good?" and Michael asks Frankie in Italian if he understands and Frankie responds. So, Michael then says "That's what I want him to think. I want him completely at ease and confident in our relationship, then I'll be able to find out who the traitor in my family is".

Then there is of course the scene where Michael having learned of Fredo's betrayal as he let's it slip that he knows Roth and Johnny Ola, he let's Fredo know at a Havana New Year party on a dance floor. So, Michael in the scene grabs Fredo and gives him a big kiss and let's him know "I know it was you, Fredo! You broke my heart!" and he angrily shakes him and repeats "You broke my heart!" and Fredo fearfully backs away and runs off. And as revolution breaks in Havana that night, Fredo flees the scene but Michael standing by a car calls out to him "Fredo! Come with me! Roth is dead! Fredo, you're still my brother! Fredo!" but Fredo runs off. 

Another great scene from Pacino that shows Michael's explosive anger is when he returns to his home in Nevada and Tom tells him the bad news about Kay losing her baby. So, in the scene Tom briefs Michael on the news that his bodyguard is dead (shot dead trying to kill Roth) and that Fredo got out and is probably in New York. 

So, Michael tells Tom "OK. I want you to get in touch with him. Tell him, I know he's scared and Roth misled him and he didn't know they would try and kill me" and he refers to his men, Rocco and Neri "They can come back in now". Tom however then tells Mike "Oh, there was something else" and Michael asks "What?" but Tom looks reluctant to say, which annoys Michael and sharply asks "What?! Come on. What?!" and Tom tells him "Kay had a miscarriage, she lost the baby". Michael takes a moment to let the news sink in and he asks Tom calmly "Was it a boy?" and Tom answers "Mikey, after 3 and a half months..." which out of nowhere prompts Michael to explode and yell "CAN'T YOU GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER ANYMORE?! WAS IT A BOY???!!" and Tom says "I really don't know" leaving Michael frustrated.

And then there is arguably Pacino's best scene in the film where Michael and Kay argue over their marriage and Kay wants to leave him and take their children away, which is brilliantly acted by both Pacino and Diane Keaton and by the end of it, Michael is so furious he is ready to kill Kay with his own eyes!

So, in the scene Kay tells Michael that she intends to leave him and take their children, which naturally angers Michael, who we hear from outside the hallway tell her he won't allow it as their children run up and down. So, from outside we hear Michael firmly tell Kay "No! No one is going, Kay! Not you, not the kids! Now, you're my wife, their my children, I love you and I won't allow it!". 

And we cut to inside the room where Kay angrily says to Michael "Michael you say you love me and then you talk about allowing me to leave!". Michael then tries to reason with Kay "There's been things that have gone on between men and women that will not change and that's it!". Kay then becomes more angry and desperate as she tells him "My God, look what's happened to us, Mike! Look what's happened to our son, Michael?!" and Michael calmly says to her "Nothing's happened to him". Kay however then shouts at Michael "DON'T TELL ME THAT!" and Michael yells back "ANTHONY'S FINE!". Kay then pushes on and shouts at Michael "Anthony is NOT fine!" but Michael has heard enough and tries to shut her down and says "I don't want to hear about it!" and Kay yells at him "ANTHONY'S FRIENDS ARE YOUR BUTTON MEN!!" and Michael finally yells louder "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!! OVER!!!" and he goes over and pours himself a glass of water.

This then leaves Kay in a stunned silence before she tearfully tells him "At this moment I feel no love for you at all. I never thought that would happen but it has". Michael then tries to reason with Kay and tells her "Kay, what do you want from me? Do you expect me to let you go? Do you expect me to let you take my children away from me? Don't you know me? Don't you know that its an impossibility that it would never happen?! That I would use all my power to keep something like that from happening?".  

So, Michael tries a different tack as he attempts to calm her down and let's her know he is aware that she lost the baby and that they can try again in the future and that he will change his way of thinking. However, Kay refuses to listen to him and let's Michael know it was an abortion and not a miscarriage ad she says to Michael "I didn't want your son Michael! I wouldn't bring another one of your sons into this world! I know now there is no way you could ever forgive me, not with this Sicilian thing, which been going on for 2000...". And this whole time, Michael's eyes glare with rage and he boils over and lashes out and slaps Kay roughly who falls back onto the couch. Michael points at Kay, filled with fury he warns her "You won't take my children!" and Kay says "I will!" and Michael yells at her "YOU WON'T TAKE MY CHILDREN!!!".   

And last of all is the scene where Michael talks with Fredo once he has returned to Nevada and Fredo sits in a chair as he explains what happened and insists he doesn't know Roth would make an attempt on Michael's life.

So, in the scene Fredo tells Michael he met Johnny Ola in Beverly Hills and told him that with his help he could close out a big deal Michael was holding out on with Roth and there would be something in it for him if he helped them. So, Michael then asks Fredo "And you believe that story? You believed that?" and Fredo pleads with Michael "He said there was something in it for me! On my own!" and Michael tells Fredo "I've always taken care of you, Fredo". However at this point Fredo's anger and resentment spill over as he expresses frustration at being used for petty tasks and that he was stepped over when it came to succeeding his father. Michael then tells Fredo "That's the way pop wanted it" and Fredo angrily yells at him "That ain't the way I WANTED IT! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not dumb like everybody says! I'm smart and I want RESPECT!".

And lastly, Michael coldly tells Fredo "Fredo...your nothing to me now. You're not a brother, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or anything you do. I don't want to see you at the hotels. When see you or mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there, you understand?". Michael then walks out leaving Fredo to plead with him "Mikey...". Michael then approaches his capo, Neri and tells him quietly of Fredo "I want nothing to happen to him while my mother is alive". 

Robert De Niro next is excellent in his role as the younger Vito Corleone although most of his dialogue is in Italian, so its hard for me to quote it that much but I will mention a couple of his scenes all the same.

Starting with the scene where Vito meets with the local mobster, Don Fanucci, who extorts money from local businesses and employees. So, Vito meets with Fanucci in a cafe and he gives him just a 100 dollars for protection money and Fanucci sits down and puts his hat over it and warily says "It looks like there's $100 under my hat" and he lifts his hat and looks at it and sighs and says "Ah, I was right - only 100!" and he throws his over to Vito. Vito then calmly explains "I'm short on money right now. I've been out of work. So, give me a little time. You understand, don't you?". Fanucci then laughs and says "You've got balls, young man! How come I've never heard of you before?". So, Fanucci tells Vito that he could get work for him and tells him to enjoy the Italian festival outside and leaves. 

This is then followed by the scene Vito follows Fanucci's movements on the streets as he looks down at him from the rooftops and he then goes and waits quietly for him outside Fanucci's apartment. So, as Fanucci arrives, Vito stands quietly in the corner holding something in his hand wrapped in a towel and he moves forward just as Fanucci is about to enter his apartment. So, Fanucci bemused asks "What have you got there?" and Vito shoots him in the chest and then in the cheek after which Fanucci collapses. Vito then shoots Fanucci in the mouth and steals his wallet and pushes his body to the ground and he makes to the rooftops and breaks up his gun into pieces and throws them down chimneys before heading back down to his family. Vito then cradles his infant son, Michael in his arms and tells him "Michael, your father loves you very much".    

And last of all is the scene where Vito pays a visit to his home town of Corleone to get revenge over Don Ciccio, who killed his mother and two brothers as a child and by now is very elderly.

So, in the scene Vito approaches Ciccio and says "My respects, Don Ciccio. Please give me your blessing" and he kisses Ciccio on the hand who looks at him and says "Bless you". So, Don Ciccio asks "What is your name?" and Vito tells him "Vito Corleone" and Ciccio laughs "You took the name of this city! And what was your father's name?" and Vito tells him "His name was Antonio Andolini". And Ciccio asks him to come closer as he can't hear Vito due to his soft voice. So, Vito leans in close to Ciccio and says "My father's name was Antonio Andolini and this is for you!" and he suddenly pulls out a knife and stabs Ciccio in the chest and he flees from the scene with his associate, Tommasino, who shot in the legs as they leave, Vito helps him up and they escape in a car. 

John Cazale next up is great in his role as Fredo, Michael's weak willed brother, who betrays him to Roth and Michael is almost killed as a result in an attempted assassination. Unfortunately given how strong the cast were in the film, Cazale missed out on being oscar nominated here, but his performance is certainly worth of one here. Sadly, Cazale himself would later pass away only four years later at the age of 42 after losing a battle to lung cancer in 1978, who was also in a relationship with the acclaimed actress, Meryl Streep at the time, who co-starred with him in the epic war drama, The Deer Hunter.  

And Cazale has plenty of great scenes but I will only mention a couple, starting with the one where Fredo meets up with Michael in Havana and the two of them go out for a drink together. 

So, as they sit outside in a bar, Fredo laments over his wasted choices in life and his relationship with his sultry wife. And Fredo tells Michael "Sometimes I wish had married a woman like you did, like Kay. Kids, have a family. For once in my life be more like...pop" and Michael tries to reassure him "Its not easy being his son, Fredo". Fredo then confides in Michael "You know mama used to tease and said "you don't belong to me, you were left on the doorstep by gypsies". Sometimes I think its true" and Michael smiles a little and tells him "You're no gypsy, Fredo" and Fredo regretfully asks "Why didn't we spend time like this before!". Michael then tells Fredo that Senator Geary (who Michael setup to get him on his side) is flying to Havana with some people and he wants Fredo to show him a good time and Fredo says "My speciality, right?". 

And last of all is the great scene where Michael talks with Fredo back in Nevada after Michael learned it was Fredo that betrayed him to Roth.

So, in the scene, Fredo sits in a chair and Michael walks up to him and sits down across from him and Fredo says "I don't have alot to say, Mike" and Michael says "We have time" and Fredo says "I was kept pretty much in the dark. I didn't know all that much". Michael then asks "What about now? Anything you can tell me now?" and Fredo sits back and says "They've got Pentangeli that's all I can tell you".  

Michael then stands up and goes to the window and looks out at the wintery weather and Fredo pleads with him "I didn't know it was gonna be a hit, Mike. I swear to God, I didn't know it was gonna be a hit". Fredo then explains what happened "Johnny Ola bumped into me in Beverly Hills and he said that he wanted to talk. He said that you and Roth were in on a big deal together. And that there was something in it for me if I'd help 'em out. He said that you were bein' tough on the negotiations. But if they could get a little help and close the deal fast, it'd be good for the family". Michael however looks sceptically at Fredo and asks "You believed that story? You believed that?" and Fredo pleads with him and says "He said there was something in it for ME! On my own!".

Michael then turns away and says "I've always taken care of you, Fredo" and at this point Fredo grows angry and says to him "Taken care of me?! You're my kid brother and you take care of ME?! Did you ever think about that? Did you ever ONCE think about THAT?! Send Fredo off to do this, send Fredo off to do that! Send Fredo off to take care of some Mickey Mouse nightclub somewhere! Send Fredo to pick somebody up at the airport! I'm your older brother, Mike and I was stepped over!". Michael however dismissively tells Fredo "That's the way pop wanted it" and Fredo yells back "THAT AIN'T THE WAY I WANTED IT! I can handle things, I'm smart! Not like everybody says! I'm not dumb, I'm smart and I want RESPECT!!". Michael after a pause then asks Fredo "Is there anything else you can tell me about this investigation?" and Fredo powerlessly sinks back in his chair and says "The senate lawyer, Questadt. He's belongs to Roth". 

Michael then finishes by telling Fredo he means nothing to him now and he doesn't want to know him or anything he does and that when he sees their mother when she passes he wants to know a day in advance, so Fredo won't be there and he walks out leaving Fredo hurt, who says "Mikey...". 

Michael V Gazzo next up is also great in his role as the colourful Frankie Pentangeli, one of Michael's caporegimes, who comes into conflict with Michael over a feud he has with some rival gangsters, the Rosatto brothers, who are backed by Roth and as a result, Michael refuses to antagonise his relationship with Roth. Gazzo himself received an oscar nomination for best supporting actor in his role as did De Niro and Lee Strasberg. 

And Gazzo has plenty of great scenes, so I will limit it to two of his scenes starting with the one where Frankie meets with Michael his home in Nevada to discuss his troubles with the Rosato brothers. 

So, in the scene, Michael says to Frankie "Clemenza promised the Rosato brothers three territories in the Bronx after he died. You took over and didn't give it to them" and Frankie says "Yeah, I welched" and Michael asks "You welched?" and Frankie explains "Clemenza promised them nothing. He hated those son of a bitches more than I do!". Michael the tries to reason with Frankie and says "Frankie, you're good old man and I like you. And you were loyal to my father for years". Frankie then says to Michael "Michael, the Rosato brothers are takin hostages and they spit right in my face! All because they're backed up by that jew in Miami!" and Michael says "I know, that's what I don't want them to touched".

Pentangeli then asks Michael "You don't want them to be touched?" and Michael says "I want you to be fair to them" and Pentangeli laughs and says "You want me to be fair with them?" and he approaches Tom Hagen and says "Tom, how can you be fair with animals?! Tom, for Chrissakes listen, they recruit spics, they recruit niggers and they do violence in their grandmother's neighbourhoods! And everything with them is whores! Whores! La Vegana junk, dope!". Frankie then turns back to Michael and points a finger at him and says "Now, I want to run my family without you on my back and I want those Rosato brothers dead!" but Michael refuses "No!" and Frankie speaks Italian "Mort!". 

Michael then explains he has important business with Roth and he doesn't want it to be disturbed and that his father did business with Roth and respected him. So, Frankie warns Michael "Your father did business Hyman Roth, your father respected Hyman Roth but your father never TRUSTED Hyman Roth, nor his Sicilian messenger boy, Johnny Ola!". Frankie then speaks in Sicilian and says "You'll have to excuse me. I am tired and a little drunk!" and he switches back to English and says "And I want you to know there will be no trouble from me! Don Corleone!" and he turns to his bodyguard, Willi Cicci and says "Cicc, a porta!" and leaves. 

Then there is the scene where Frankie goes to court to testify against Michael after the attempt on his life by the Rosato brothers, believing that Michael was behind it and has now been placed in witness protection as a result. However, in the scene, Michael has brought Frankie's brother to the trial, Vincenzo who is from Sicily in an effort to silence Frankie on testifying against Michael.

So, in the scene one of the senators, questions Frankie " Were you a member of the Corleone family? Did you serve under Caporegime Peter Clemenza, under Vito Corleone also known as "The Godfather?". And Frankie takes a moment, looking a bit flustered and he finally responds "I, I never knew no Godfather. I have my own family senator!" and this creates much consternation in the courtroom. 

Then the Senate lawyer, Questadt asks Frankie "Mr. PENTANGELI you are contradicting a sworn statement that you previously made to me and signed. I ask you again sir -- you are now under oath -- were you at any time a member of a crime organization -- headed by MICHAEL Corleone". And Frankie feigns ignorance and says "I don't know nothing about that! Oh, I was in the olive oil business with his father but that was a long time ago". The Chairman of the court, frustrated says to Frankie "We have a sworn affidavit! YOUR sworn affidavit saying that you murdered on the orders of Michael Corleone! Do you deny that confession?". So, Frankie tries to play it all down and tells the chairman "Look the FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone 'cause that's what they wanted but it was all lies -- uh -- everything! And I kept saying Michael Corleone did this and Michael Corleone did that, so I said yeah sure, why not!". 

And last of all is the scene where Tom pays a visit to Frankie at the army barracks where he is being held and they take a walk and have a cigar. So, Frankie asks "Did my brother go back?" and Tom says "Yeah" and Frankie smiles and says "He's ten times tougher than me, my brother! He's old fashioned" and Tom smiles and says "Yeah, he didn't want to even stay for dinner, he just got back on the plane" and Frankie smiles again and says "That's my brother!".

So, as Frankie asks what he should do now and Tom reminisces over past history and they talk about the Corleone family being once like the Roman empire. So, Tom then says to Frankie "Frankie, when the plot against the Emperor failed, the plotters were always given the chance to let their families keep their fortunes". Frankie then says "Yea -- but only the rich guys, Tom. The little guys, they got knocked off and all their estates went to the Emperors. Unless they went home and uh, killed themselves -- then nothing happened. And their families were taken care of, Tom". Tom then says "Yeah, it was a clean break. Nice funeral" and Frankie says "Yeah they went home, sat in a hot bath, opened their veins and bled to death". Tom puts out his cigar and shakes Frankie's hand and says to him smiling "Don't worry about anything Frankie "Five Angels" and Frankie smiles and says "Thanks, Tom. Thanks" and Tom leaves.

Lee Strasberg is also great as the Jewish gangster, Hyman Roth, the wisened figurehead who appears to want to do business with Michael, but ultimately he plans to destroy him, and Michael vice versa.  Strasberg who was reknown as a great acting teacher and was one of the main innovators of the "method" acting technique and taught actors such as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Strasberg himself rarely appeared in movies and this was his first major appearance onscreen as prior to this he only appeared in two films Parnell in 1937 and China Venture in 1953. Strasberg himself was nominated for the best supporting actor at the Oscars as well as Michael V Gazzo and Robert De Niro, who won.

And Strasberg has quite a few highlights aswell but I will mention only two of his scenes as this review is long enough as it is!  

So, the first scene is when Michael pays Roth a visit at his home in Miami and Michael enters his home and we see Roth sitting watching TV. So, Michael says "Mr Roth?" and Roth warmly greets him "Hi, Michael, come in. Sit down". So, Roth tells Michael he is just finishing watching a baseball game "I enjoy watching football in the afternoon, one of the things I enjoy about this country; baseball, too. I've loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the World Series in 1919" and they both laugh. Roth then says to Michael "I heard you had some trouble" and Michael quitely nods his head and Roth ruefully says "Stupid people behaving like that with guns! Important thing is, that you're alright. Good health -- the most important thing in the world. More than success, more than money -- more than power!". 

Michael then sits close to Roth, who turns up the TV to drown our their conversation and Michael warns Roth there will be more bloodshed and Frankie was behind the attempt on his life. So, Michael says to Roth "Petangeli came to my home and he asked my permission to get rid of the Rosato brothers. When I refused, he tried to have me killed. He was stupid, I was lucky; I'll visit him soon. The important thing is that nothing interferes with our plans for the future. Yours and mine". Roth agrees and says "Nothing is imore important. You are a wise and considerate young man" and Michael says "And you're a great man, Mr Roth. There's much I can learn from you" and Roth says "Anything I can do to help, Michael".

After this, Roth's wife comes in with his lunch and then leaves and Roth tells Michael "You're young, I'm old and sick but what we will do in these next months will be history, Michael. Not even your father would dream that such a thing would be possible" and Michael asks Roth "Then Pentangeli is a dead man, you don't object?" and Roth starts to eat his lunch and says "He's small potatos!". 

And last of all is the scene where Roth and Michael meet up in Havana but Michael appears to be holding out on their business deal much to Roth's irritation and Michael asks who was behind the hit on Pentangeli.

So, Roth get's up and says to Michael "There was this kid I grew up with -- he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me -- you know. We did our first work together -- worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition -- we ran molasses into Canada -- made a fortune -- you father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him -- and trusted him. Later on he had an idea -- to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Green and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a plaque or a signpost or a statue of him in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order, when I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Moe -- I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, "this is the business we've chosen". I didn't ASK who gave the order  because it had nothing to do with business!".

Robert Duvall is also great once again in his role as Tom Hagen, the Corleone family's consigliere (i.e. mob lawyer and counsel) who stays loyal to Michael and acts as the don of the family in Michael's absence when he travels to Havana. However, their relationship does take a bit of a strain as the film progresses as Michael questions his devotion to the job. 

So, I will mention two of Duvall's scenes starting with the one where Michael returns back home from Havana and he talks with Tom. So, Michael asks "Kay know I'm back?" and Tom nods and Michael then asks "What about my boy? Did you get him something for Christmas?" and Tom says "I took care of it. It was a little car with an electric motor he can ride in, its nice". Michael then asks his men to step outside so he can talk privately to Tom and he asks Tom "Where is my brother?" and Tom sidesteps the question and says "Roth got out on a private boat, he's in a hospital in Miami. You're bodyguard is dead". Michael prompts Tom "I asked about Fredo" and Tom says "I think got out, he must be somewhere in New York". 

Michael then tells Tom to get in touch with Fredo and tell him that he knows he is scared but its OK as he realises Roth misled him and he asks for his men, Rocco and Neri to come back in. However, Tom then says "There is something else" and Michael asks "What?" but Tom looks nervous and pauses prompting Michael to become a bit annoyed and ask again "What? Come on, what?!". Tom then tells Michael "Kay had a miscarriage, she lost the baby" which stuns Michael and he sits forward and asks "Was it a boy?" and Tom smiles awkwardly and says "Mikey, after three and a half months..." but this enrages Michael who yells "CAN'T YOU GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER ANYMORE?! WAS IT A BOY?!" and Tom finally says "I really don't know".

And last of all is the scene where Michael talks with Tom and his capos, Rocco and Neri about taking out Roth and Pentangeli but Tom feels there is no need but Michael appears unhappy with his lack of support in his plan and also he is aware that Tom had another job offer. 

So, in the scene Tom asks Michael "Why did you ask me if there was something wrong when I came in?" and Michael paces around the room eating an orange "I thought you were goin' to tell me that -- you were going to move your family to Vegas -- and that you'd been offered the vice-presidency of the house and hotels there I thought you were goin' to tell me that". Tom nervously smiles and tells Michael "I turned them down. Do I have to tell you about every offer I turn down?!" and Michael seems to accept Tom's answer and says "Right, let's do business". 

So, as they sit down, Tom asks Michael "Alright -- just consider this Mike -- that's all just consider it. Now ROTH and the Rosato's are on the run -- are they worth it? And are they strong -- is it worth it -- I mean you've won -- do you have to wipe everyone out?". Michael however answers cooly "I don't feel I need to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies, that's all". Michael then coldly asks Tom "You gonna come along with me in these things I have to do -- or what. Because if not you can take your wife, your family, and your mistress -- and move 'em all to Las Vegas!". Tom appears offended and says to Michael "Why do you hurt me, Michael? I've always been loyal to you. I mean what is this?". So, Michael asks Tom in Sicilian "So, you are staying?" and Tom answers back in Sicilian "Yes, I'm staying" and he asks in English "Now, what is it you want me to do?". 

Diane Keaton is also great in her role as Michael's wife, Kay, who by the end of the film has come to see how much her husband has changed and she no longer wishes to be with him. 

And I will mention two of Diane's scenes with the first being the one where at the end of the big party at Michael's home in Nevada, Michael and Kay dance together. So, as they dance, Michael asks Kay "How's the baby?" and Kay tells him "Sleeping inside me" and Michael asks her "Does it feel like a boy?" and Kay smiles and says "Yes, yes it does, Michael". Michael then tells Kay "Kay, I'm sorry about all the people today. Bad timing but it couldn't be helped" and Kay says to him "It made me think of what you once told me - "in five years the Corleone Family will be completely legitimate." That was seven years ago" and Michael says to her "I know, I'm trying, darling".

And last of all is their big scene together, which is easily one of the best scenes in the entire film and indeed one of the finest acted scenes in cinematic history if you ask me! And it is the scene where Michael and Kay have a big row over her decision to leave him and take their children with her.

So, the scene starts with Kay trying to tell Michael she intends to leave but then changes the subject a little by asking about what happened with Pentangeli's brother at the trial. So, Kay asks Michael "What really happened with Pentangeli, Michael?" and Michael sitting down, leans forward and tells her "His brother came and helped him" and Kay says "I didn't even know he had a brother and where is he now?" and Michael says "On a plane back to Sicily" and Kay suspiciously asks "All he had to do was show his face?" and Michael says to her "It was between the brothers, Kay. I had nothing to do with it". 

And as we hear Michael and Kay row over her decision to leave, we cut to inside the room where Kay angrily says to Michael "Michael you say you love me and then you talk about allowing me to leave!". Michael then tries to reason with Kay "There's been things that have gone on between men and women that will not change and that's it!". Kay then becomes more angry and desperate as she tells him "My God, look what's happened to us, Mike! Look what's happened to our son, Michael?!" and Michael calmly says to her "Nothing's happened to him". Kay however then shouts at Michael "DON'T TELL ME THAT!" and Michael yells back "ANTHONY'S FINE!". Kay then pushes on and shouts at Michael "Anthony is NOT fine!" but Michael has heard enough and tries to shut her down and says "I don't want to hear about it!" and Kay yells at him "ANTHONY'S FRIENDS ARE YOUR BUTTON MEN!!" and Michael finally yells louder "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!! OVER!!!" and he goes over and pours himself a glass of water. This then leaves Kay in a stunned silence before she tearfully tells him "At this moment I feel no love for you at all. I never thought that would happen but it has".

So, as Michael tries to reason with her and calm her down and that despite her miscarriage they will go on and have another child. However, Kay bursts Michael's bubble with a hard truth and tells him "Oh, Michael! Michael, you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage, it was an abortion" and Michael's face changes and he looks stunned. Kay then continues emotionally at Michael "An abortion, Michael! Just like our marriage is an abortion! Something unholy and evil! I didn't want your son, Michael! I wouldn't bring another one of your sons into this world! It was a son and I had it killed because THIS MUST ALL END!! I know it was over, Michael, I knew then, there is no way you could ever forgive, not with this Sicilian THING that has been going on for two thousand...". And at this point Michael's rage boils over and slaps her face and stands over her and furiously tells her "You won't take my children!" and Kay says "I will!" and Michael yells "YOU WON'T TAKE MY CHILDREN!" and Kay tearfully say "They're my children too!".

Talia Shire also returns in her role as Connie, Michael's sister, who is still bitter towards him years after her first husband's murder (i.e. Carlo, who Michael had killed as Carlo set up Sonny to be killed). 

So, Talia has some good moments but I will mention just two of her scenes quickly starting with the one where Connie brings her new fiance, Merle along with her much to Michael's disapproval. So, Michael berates her and says "The ink isn't dry on your divorce yet and you're getting married?" and he carries on berating her and Connie yells finally "YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!" and Michael angrily asks "Then what did you come to me for?!" and Connie says "Because I need money".

And lastly the scene where Connie pleads with Michael to forgive Fredo and she says to him "I hated you -- for so many years. I think I did things to myself -- to hurt myself -- so you'd know -- .that I could hurt you. You're just being strong for all of us the way Papa was. Now I forgive you -- can't you forgive Fredo -- he's so sweet and helpless without you. You need me, Michael -- I want to take care of you now". So, Michael holds his hand and touches Connie's cheek gently and he says "Connie" affectionately.  

And last of all I will make a special mention to James Caan and Abe Vigoda who returned for their brief scene at the end of the film where Michael thinks back to a time when Vito had a surprise birthday party, and the family all meet together.  Its a great scene as well, and James Caan reportedly ask for the same fee he got for the first Godfather film, which he received. 

So, Abe doesn't have much dialoge but I will mention some of the moments of Caan's performance in this scene where he introduces Carlo to the family and to Connie on Vito's birthday set during World War II. Starting with the one where Sonny talks of the Japanese dropping bombs on Pearl harbour. So, Sonny says "So, what do you think of the nerve of them japs? Those bastards eh? Dropping bombs on our own backyard on Pop's birthday?". Sonny also then says of the US soldiers involved "They're saps because they risked their lives for their own country" and Michael sitting at the table says "That's pop talking" and Sonny says "You're godddamn right that's pop talkin!". 

However, as they talk more, Michael reveals that he enlisted in the marines to join the war effort, so as Michael tells his surprised family, Sonny becomes mad. So, in the scene, Tom says to Michael "Mike, your dad went to a whole lot of trouble for you to get that war deferment" and Michael says "I didn't ask for the deferment and I didn't want it". Sonny then grabs Michael roughly as the others try to pull him back and Sonny angrily says to Michael "Punk! Break your father's heart on his birthday!".   

DIRECTOR 

OK, so FINALLY moving onto the director, Francis Ford Coppola does a near flawless job once again and keeps both narratives moving along nicely, although if I am being a bit critical, I have to say that I much prefer the modern day narrative to the historical one about Vito.  There are certain scenes in Vito's narrative that are engrossing to watch, but there are also one or two that are a bit tedious as well.  But as for the modern day narrative, Coppola never sets a foot wrong and it remains superbly compelling viewing watching Michael's melodrama unfold within his family. 

On the production front this time round, Coppola had much more creative control than in the first film and had a smoother time making the film although he initially wanted Martin Scorsese to direct it, Paramount studios refused and Coppola returned to the helm. Coppola initially had some troubles with the casting as Marlon Brando refused to return for the day's shooting for the final scene in the film. Al Pacino also very nearly didn't star in the film also, as he was unhappy with the draft of Coppola's script, which forced Coppola to rewrite it in one night, after which Pacino was happy to come back. 

Any issues aside, this film is easily still one of Coppola's finest achievements in his career. 

MUSIC

As for the music score, it is again composed by Nino Rota and it is once again superb, and is as memorable as the first one, and I particularly like the passage he uses for when Michael visits Roth in Miami, which is also the main new plot theme in the movie for the modern day sequences. Its also worth noting that Francis's father, Carmine Coppola also provided some pieces of music for the film and conducted Rota's score and Carmine most notably composed the music for the festival sequence when Vito kills Fannucci. 

FLAWS 

As for flaws, well its hard to nitpick a film as great as The Godfather Part II but there are still one or two minor niggles.

For starters, I felt that as mentioned, the film is very long with its run time of 3 hours and 20 minutes, it covers a lot of ground both in its historical and modern day narratives. However, there are times where I felt that Vito's sequences were a bit slow in places in the early days of trying to get by and make an honest living before turning to a life of crime. So, I often find I tend to speed through these sequences similar to the Sicily sequences in the original Godfather film. 

Another issue I had was actually to do with the courtroom scene where Michael is questioned over his activities in the Corleone crime family and he denies them all and yet we see that Kay is sitting in the room a row behind him! It really does beg the question, just why the hell did Michael let Kay come along into the trial in the first place?! Surely, he would rather not let Kay hear about his nefarious crimes and even in the first film we hear him warn Kay "don't ask me about my business, Kay" yet here he is some seven or eights years on, having her join him in court where she hears everything about what he is alleged to have done! So, yeah I felt her presence in the courtroom wasn't necessary and maybe was added just to convince Kay even more that Michael is evil and she must leave him. 

I also felt that the scene where Frankie's brother, Vincenzo appears in the courtroom just as Michael is about to testify and this forces Frankie to stay silent, was a bit vague and not very well explained for the audience as to why Frankie changes his mind. I mean Vincenzo came from Italy, so I had to imagine that he was in a mafioso family himself I guess but its not really made clear in itself and I initially had to look it up as to why Frankie decided not to testify against Michael on Wikipedia. It makes sense now but at the time of initially watching, I found that scene a bit confusing.

Its also a bit unclear as to just how did Michael know that the hitmen that tried to kill him were "dead already" as he confides in Tom that they were killed by someone close to them and frightened that they botched it. It makes sense I suppose, whoever tried to do the hit and failed would be expendable anyway but Michael has remarkable sixth sense in finding this out but then he is a don! 

This is also brings to mind the lack of clarity as to Michael's plans to deal with Pentangili, as its not clear if he intended to kill Pentangili early on after their dispute at his home in Nevada or just use him as a scapegoat for the attempted hit on Michael even if he had nothing to do with it. It is somewhat clear that Michael was playing both sides here against Roth and Pentangili as he tells them both the other tried to have him killed. But when the Rosatto brothers drop Michael's name during their attempted hit on Pentangili, this further clouds things a bit as you wonder if Michael was behind this hit as well. So, yeah there is quite a bit of speculation here over Michael's true intentions toward Pentangili until much later on.  

And lastly there are still one or two loose ends in the film that were never really addressed properly, the first one being what happened to the Rosatto brothers? I mean all we got on them after the bungled hit on Pentangili is from Tom Hagen that they were "on the run" and that's all. So, in a way, it would have been good to see some closure regarding them in the film rather than just a brief line of dialogue from Hagen. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, The Godfather Part II is every inch as good as its predecessor and in some ways maybe a little better given the film's deeper scope and twin narrative of Vito's past and Michael's present. The film's performances are flawless as are the sets, photography (again by Gordon Willis) and the score by Nino Rota, which is memorable as the first one. 

And I would have to say that The Godfather Part II remains one of the greatest sequels of all time and just as essential viewing as the first film. So, with that said I will rate the film:

10 out of 10

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back with some post or other again soon.

Until then, its bye for now!