The Edge Film, DVD, TV: Shakedown

Shakedown
Kevin Davies, UK, 60 minutes
DreamWatch Media, £11.99
Tape also includes a 30 minute ‘Making of’ documentary, making a total running time of 90 minutes
Review by David Clark (1997)

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans is an independent Doctor Who spin-off utilising well-known British telefantasy actors, which has finally made the High Street after two years availability from specialist shops/on mail order.

Spaceship captain Lisa Deranne (Jan Chappell, the telepathic terrorist from Blake’s 7) of the solar yacht Tiger Moth takes a consortium of co-owners on a shakedown cruise en route to a Solar Yacht Race. Spoilt brat Mari (Sophie Aldred, Ace from the final two series of Doctor Who, which was superbly scripted when she was in it), her oily boyfriend Nikos (Rory O’Donnell, thankfully soon killed off) bitchy fashion designer Alexis Carrington wannabe Zorelle, (Carole Anne Ford, Doctor Who, Compact, various sixties films), and self-made millionaire Kurt, (Brian Croucher, Blake’s 7, now EastEnders). Also present is ship’s engineer Michael Wisher (Doctor Who again).

Casting apart, the Doctor Who link is provided by the arrival of the Sontarans, led by Steg (Toby Aspin) and his lieutenant Vorn (pantomime acting from Tom Finnis, the only bad performance). The Sontarans are ugly, hard-to-kill clone warriors, outwitted by various Doctors. Potato-heads. They’re locked in perpetual war with the Rutans (pronounced Roo-tans for some reason), floating-in-midair jellyfish-like shapeshifters, one of whom has mischievously snuck aboard the Moth. Rutans kill their victims and then enter their bodies; you never know who this one will ‛penetrate’, as they call it, next.

Arguably an amateur production, the standards all round are easily up to the standard of any BBC SF show. The fact is that 99% of the people who worked on it are experienced professionals. Some of Doctor Who was a bit better than this, but a lot was worse, and the same could be said of Blake’s 7. The plan seems to have been to recreate the feel of Pertwee era Doctor Who, crossed with something later, like Blake’s 7 or Star Cops. Shakedown succeeds perfectly in this, helped along, perhaps, by its writer, Terrance Dicks. I’m not a fan of Terrance Dicks, who was script editor for the very worst period of Doctor Who’s long and shabby history. Dicks usually knocks out basic, generic stories with stock characters, but this is one of his better efforts.

I’m sure proceedings were greatly facilitated by Kevin Davies’ direction. All too often, telefantasy aspires to the condition of pantomime, with ‛not really trying because it’s silly and it doesn’t matter’ and ‛having a laugh’ performances among the supporting characters. It looks as if DreamWatch Media wanted to avoid this and made sure they got the right production crew in. This is played, exactly as it should be, as drama.

Mark Ayres’ music tries to sound like that of Alien at the beginning, inviting us to make an inappropriate (this is ‛telefantasy’, not ‛film’; two very different media, in my view) comparison which does Shakedown no favours, but this apart it works. Ayres is a veteran of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

The Sontarans look different to their appearances in Doctor Who – permission was obtained for the Sontarans to be used, but their design has had to be changed – and one has to say it’s not an improvement. I suppose they look OK, but the differences with the original might irritate. Not so much potato-heads now as plastic-heads. But the effects are generally very good, the Tiger Moth, seen in space, looks original, camera work and editing are fine.

The direction, dialogue and acting are a bit patchy but up to scratch compared to, say, most of the final two series of Blake’s 7 (a hugely under-rated series) or Star Cops. The set – HMS Belfast – does nicely. It’s a common complaint that the sets in these things look too cheap. But do they? In an age of space travel, wouldn’t a lot of ships look like this? Perhaps the Tiger Moth is a slightly down-at-heel yacht with aims above its station, a cheapo timeshare for those not quite wealthy enough to afford top of the line cruising.

If you’re looking for a movie you shouldn’t bother with Shakedown. It may not have been on TV, but genre TV (of one kind or another; you could make some kind of TVM version without the SF elements) is what it is. Make sure you’re in the right mood for it.