| Episodes |
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| 2 |
Directed by Simon Wellings.
The Plot: Chris and Jenny, two old friends, run down an oddly-dressed man on a country lane. He tells them that he is a space traveller on the run from an unstoppable race of machine creatures. Before they know it, Chris and Jen ny are caught up in a fight for the traveller's freedom and forced to choose which side of the moral war they are on. What is the traveller's real link with his enemy? Why does he have a sinister blemish on his forehead and cybernetic arm? And what is Chris's connection with the greatest time traveller of them all?
A Review by Paul Griggs 22/6/98
A dark, atmospheric opening. A victim of the cybermen howls as they implant a device into hs forehead. The man escapes, but is everything truly as it seems?
What's good about it?
The Cybermen, the effects, the decent quality equipment used, the ambitious and interesting title sequence, Richard Cale as Threlador Fabian.
What's bad about it?
Over reliance on pre-existing Doctor Who music and sound fx, shaky camera work, some dodgy cuts in the editing (some sort of distort between some of the CGI shots), most of the acting, the dumb 1996 TV Movie joke that I really didn't get until I saw the name of the character involved was Bruce (shame on you Paul), the gangsta rapper hand movements of the cybermen
Cold Blood, Warm Heart is a fair attempt at playing in the Doctor Who universe without using the Doctor; but the hero, Comic-book writer Christopher Lethbridge-Stewart (yes... It's Brig junior, a clumsy reason for him to know of the Cybermen) and his female friend Jenny aren't strong enough characters (or actors) to take the Doctor's place.
Far and away the most interesting character is Richard Cale's Fabian. While the truth behind the character isn't a real shock, Cale carries off the two sides of his character with skill, basically acting stealing the whole show from the Cybermen.
At fifty minutes the story is just the right length, but the story plods along in places, especially in the first half and could easily have been tightened up to about two-third's its length.
The direction seems to be fundamentally flawed and the camera work in some places seems no better. Of special note for its dreariness is the introductory scene of Jenny and Chris. There are more interesting ways of shooting a conversation between two people in a moving car than swinging the camera back and forth between them. This sequence also demonstrates the flabbiness of the script as you tear your hair out waiting for the story to get back to Fabian. Something that we witness later when the manic chase after the villain is interrupted by a moral debate between Jenny and a Cyberman (the Cyberman taking the high ground?)
On the production side I do have to give credit to Paul Shields who has obviosuly done a wonderful job of piecing something together out of the raw footage. Full credit goes to him for the opening and closing titles which I assume came under his job description. Much more interesting than a straight cast and crew list.
Worth having if you're bored with all your other videos, but don't expect too much.
To borrow the old DWM rating system: 3 out of 5 TARDISes.
Lots of heart but not much blood by Tim Roll-Pickering 18/1/03
To be fair to the makers of the video it is always good to see such enterprising fans and Cold Blood, Warm Heart contains a good attempt to make the most of extremely limited resources. Unfortunately it contains a number of clichés. We get to meet the Brigadier's son - just how many more relatives does he have lurking in one spin-off or another? - whilst the revelation that things are not as they seem is unexpected. There's an appearance by two ambulance men, one of whom is supposed to be 'Bruce' from Enemy Within but what on earth is he doing in a quiet part of Britain? There are also a number of in-jokes and attempts at continuity that don't quite come off. As a result the script is less than brilliant.
Productionwise it's clear that cheap cameras were used, though the computer model work and title sequences are a lot better than some contemporary fan efforts. The Cybermen was clearly made out of rubber suits and tinfoil over cardboard for their chest units but given the resources available it would be silly to expect more. However there are some real problems in both the camera work and the acting. Jenny and Chris are introduced in a scene in Jenny's car which is shot from the front passenger seat purely by moving the camera back and forth, sometimes not getting the entire of their faces in whilst the scripted explanation that Chris likes sitting in the back just doesn't feel natural. It is unfortunate that none of the three cast members give exceptionally strong performances and it would perhaps have been better if Chris Hoyle (Chris) and Richard Cale (Fabian) had swapped roles. The Cybermen suffer from hideous voices that are over modified and so are at times difficult to hear.
With a relatively weak plot there's little of substance to Cold Blood, Warm Heart at all. As a labour of love by Simon Wellings (writer, director, Cyberman actor) it is to be commended but it isn't the greatest spin-off seen. 4/10