Doctor Who:
Attack Of The Graske
Somewhere in London, an alien menace is in the early stages of hatching a
plan for world domination, and since he's dropped Rose off to take part in
an important historical event (namely, the 1979 Abba concert at Wembley
Stadium), the Doctor asks you to help him find it. After the
Doctor ties into your remote control with his sonic screwdriver, your first
task is to monitor a seemingly normal family at Christmastime for any hints
of alien incursion. The Doctor suspects the alien is a Graske, who invades
worlds by replacing people, one at a time, with duplicates that he
controls. Once spotted, the Graske leads the TARDIS on a wild goose chase
through the time vortex, and the Doctor relies on you to help him operate
his timeship's controls in rapid succession. The chase leads back to
Earth, but in an earlier era, where the Graske decides to try launching his
invasion at a more vulnerable point in Earth's history. It's up to you to
spot the Graske and then to accompany the Doctor to the Graske's home
planet, where you have to crack the codes to break into the creature's
inner sanctum and then put an end to his invasion plans.
(BBC Interactive, 2005 - online/set-top game)
Available to viewers of the BBC's Freeview and digital satellite services,
Attack Of The Graske admittedly doesn't have tremendous replay
value. It's the TV equivalent of a choose-your-own-adventure book, with
only one right answer for each multiple-choice decision point. (I suppose
that also makes it a latter-day descendant of Dragon's Lair.) This
was carried off on a real-time broadcast by having two program streams
running simultaneously: one with scenes befitting the correct answers, and
one with scenes that play out when the wrong answer is given (the two could
be switched back and forth for the first challenge's "multi-angle" feature
as well). By giving the wrong answer, you would be switched to the "wrong
answer" channel, and if you gave the right answer on the next challenge,
you would be switched back to the "right answer" channel.
By its very nature, this also made Graske a shoo-in for a future
DVD bonus feature, and it has also appeared on the BBC's Doctor Who web
site in Flash form, although available only to British internet users.
With fairly limited replay value, what makes Graske worth even a
glance? Like the aforementioned Don Bluth laserdisc arcade games, the
appeal is in the audiovisual portion of the program. David Tennant's
dynamic, almost-hyperactive tenth Doctor is in full swing here, and keeping
in mind that this game was clearly aimed at a younger crowd, there's got to
be something completely thrilling about having the Doctor talk to
you on TV. Tennant's Doctor is gently chiding if a wrong answer is
given, so as not to be discouraging, but has no end of ebullient praise for
a correct response - and is nearly manic at all points in between.
Attack Of The Graske was written by Gareth Roberts, a Doctor Who
novelist who got his start with Virgin Publishing's New Adventures and
Missing Adventures books (he wrote the final title in the latter range),
and has remained a regular member of the Doctor Who authors' stable ever
since. Sadly, whether or not we'll see a follow-up to Graske is as
uncertain as any Doctor Who cliffhanger. Steve Absolum, the BBC Wales producer
behind Graske and a number of other interactive programs produced by
the BBC in recent years, drowned while swimming off the Caribbean coast on the
day after his latest creation premiered in 2005.
Attack Of The Graske is still available online at the link below.
(Must be in the UK.)
Rating: 
Four quarters - an exceedingly simple series of puzzles with an
exceedingly appealing star; this bodes well for the Doctor's interactive future.
Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Credits
- written by Gareth Roberts
- directed by Ashley Way
- music by Murray Gold
- Cast:
David Tennant (The Doctor), Lisa Palfrey (Mum), Nicholas Beveney (Dad), Mollie
Kabia (Girl), James Harris (Boy), Robin Meredith (Grandad), Gwyneth Petty
(Grandma), Jimmy Vee (Graske), Roger Nott (Older Man), Ben Oliver (Urchin),
Catherine Olding (Young Woman)
- Notes: Jimmy Vee featured in two roles during the first season
of the new Doctor Who with Tennant's predecessor, Christopher Eccleston; his
first appearance was as the Moxx of Balhoon in The End Of The World, with
an uncredited return as the "space pig" in Aliens Of London. Unusually,
Graske was filmed in a full-frame 4:3 aspect ratio; the series itself is
shot in 16:9 widescreen, and this was clearly evident when certain effects shots
of the TARDIS and the main titles were seen to be "stretched out" to fill the
screen. This is the only time to date that a variation of the main titles has
been seen which includes David Tennant's name without Billie
Piper's.
|
