(595) Terminus - Part 4

Todays episode is the final episode of 2014 and also the final episode for Sarah Sutton. The thing that strikes me about this episode is how long it takes to get going. There seems to be an awful lot of not much happening. It takes about ten minutes before the episode seems to have a purpose and it also coincides with the first appearance of Nyssa. This is done when Nyssa comes to the realisation that there is no real system in place for treating people. In the course of a couple of minutes she discovers her purpose in life. She’s done more in a couple of minutes in this episode than she did in the previous three. Nyssa is about to create the green stuff that Valgard and his guys need and with that able to create a cure for Lazars disease. It feels like at this point that she has started to say her goodbyes.

It seems that Valgard has undergone a character transformation in such a short amount of time. He went from being a rather brash individual to someone who was quite willing to work with other people. It’s a shame that it came so late in the episode but it was still fun to see. The thing I liked about how this episode ended is that it didn’t end with Lazars being cured but the idea that things were going to be better and after all the grimness that there had been for the last few episodes, it was nice that a bit of optimism was allowed into the episode.

The goodbye between the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan is quite emotional. It’s made sad because Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton really do make it feel genuine. Peter Davison’s reaction is funny because the Doctor doesn’t want to lose Nyssa and is perhaps still gutted that he had to take Tegan back.

The episode ends with a strange cliffhanger. Its strange because we don’t normally get proper cliffhanger and yet this episode ends with the Black Guardian ordering Turlough to kill the Doctor. What a great way to end 2014. At least it does attempt to try and bring the purpose of the story arc back to the centre of people’s mind. I do think that the idea of Turlough trying to kill the Doctor is falling apart and it is something that is going to get in the way of the next story.

The past 365 episodes have been a wide selection and it’s weird to think that by this time next year the marathon will be over. The first episode of 2014 was the final part of ‘The Krotons’ which I think we can all agree is a bit of a rubbish episode and at least the year ended on a high note. It’s sad to say goodbye to Nyssa because I have really liked the character and she has been one of the best companions in Doctor Who. It has been frustrating sometimes with the way that the character has been treated because she has been put to one side because she is smarter than other people. Thankfully such problems don’t occur in the Big Finish plays that she does but that’s it for Nyssa and the TARDIS crew is back to just being a trio.

(594) Terminus - Part 3

Penultimate episode of the year and of Sarah Sutton’s time on the show. After being surprised about how much I have not hated this story, I was worried that it was going to go all badly wrong but that didn’t happen. The cliffhanger from the previous episode wasn’t great and to be honest it wasn’t dealt with in a good way. Kari saves the day but she does it in a rather over the top way. She fires at something that bounces it and it hits Valgard. There is a bit of fun which probably in other stories that I would have really been annoyed with but it works in this story and its that the Doctor and Kari are thought to be from the company that hired Valgard and his group. They are not being treated properly and try to find out what they know. There is also a power struggle between Valgard and Eirak with Valgard saying that if Eirak finds them then he will be leader.Olvr seems to have matured quite quickly after being a scaredy cat in the first episode and not being much better in the last episode its great to see him finally man up.

Nyssa’s bad luck continues. She continues to be with the lazars and then at one point is chained up to be picked up by the robotic wolf. Considering that this is her final story, it would have been nice if Nyssa had been more active in this adventure instead of being as sidelined as she seems to have been. When she is allowed to do something she still does it quite well. She shows the caring side which is something that has been at the core of the character and Sarah Sutton has done this well from the very beginning.

Tegan and Turlough finally make it out of the tunnel. It’s been quite an odd time for them because they have managed to bond yet not change the dynamic of their relationship that much. There is a brief moment with the Black Guardian although we only hear him but it does seem like an add on. Out of the four regulars it seems that despite being on screen for a long time, the Doctor doesn’t actually feel like much of a presence.

The purpose of the ship is explained some more and it implies that the ship caused the Big Bang. This is quite a impressive idea and follows the equally impressive yet but not as well told idea for Mawdryn Undead. As the episode ended, it did feel like the final episode was about something and this episode did a good job of building up to it. The cliffhanger was much better in todays episode because it actually had some sense to it and importance to it. As 2014 comes to an end, its good that it ends with a surprisingly good story. As I mentioned at the start of the episode one, I have ever really held this story high regard and whilst I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was story of the season but I still think that this story has highly improved upon watching.

(593) Terminus - Part 2

Nyssa’s final story is still one that is lacking any humour. After the announcement that they are on a ship with people contracting a deadly disease things get decidedly worse. Nyssa manages to shed her skirt meaning that its not technically a costume that she’s wearing. She has become infected and so it seems like she’s going to meet a grim ending. The only positive for Nyssa is that she finished the episode with more clothing than when she started and she has the healthiest complexion of anyone in that room. Tegan and Turlough are side-lined for most of the episode as they use tunnels to try and escape the lazars.

The episode sees other people introduced into the story and they don’t seem any better off than Kari and Olivr that we saw in the previous episode. I did like Olivr a bit more in this episode as there seemed to be a bit more effort put into why he was perhaps not as brave as he should be in his position. I still think that Liza Goddard is the better of the two. Of the new characters, its difficult to actually tell them all apart because they are all quite glum and they all look the same. The costumes that they have to wear aren’t the greatest because they keep clunking together everytime they move and it becomes distracting after a while. The masks they wear are quite impressive and suit the part very much.

What is also introduced is a big wolf thing with red eyes that doesn’t quite work. It doesn’t move or act right which might be a weird thing to mention but its true. It is perhaps the best thing that it didn’t speak because a silent massive wolf is perhaps the best thing that could be done to introduced what is going to be used more than once in this story.

The episode ends with the Doctor being strangled which is an odd cliffhanger because it does seem to have been building up from anything. Kari and the Doctor are looking around and Valgard spots them before starting to strangle Kari and then the Doctor. It’s perhaps the only thing that lets down an otherwise perfectly fine episode. I’m not disliking this episode as much as I thought I would. This story is one of those that seems to benefit from being watched an episode a day. I would say that I am struggling to figure out what the plot is except that there is a lot of Lazars and that’s clearly a bad thing. The previous story seemed to improve in the second half. I’m not saying that this story is bad but it just feels like its lacking the meat of the story and this story should go up even more in my estimation.

(592) Terminus - Part 1

Terminus is the final story for Sarah Sutton and also is the middle story in the Black Guardian trilogy. It’s not a story that I have ever really enjoyed but I think that after watching this episode the reasons will become evident (if at all) in the latter stages of this story. This story features yet another costume for Nyssa which makes four in four stories and at risk of sounding like a fashion blog, this is one of the worst ever. I don’t think that its in keeping with the character and just shows that it was perhaps the perfect time for Sarah Sutton to leave the show. After what started off as a promising start for the character, she quickly got sidelined for being the one companion that actually had some brains.

The episode starts off quite well because there is a great scene with Turlough and Tegan. Due to the fact that Tegan doesn’t trust him there is a nice little discussion about which approach to things is better, Tegan’s bull in a china shop approach or Turlough’s more subtle approach. It doesn’t really get resolved because Turlough plans of sabotage through the story into gear as the TARDIS becomes connected to what would become a ship that has the cure for lazar disease. The sets used for the ship are quite grim and dank which is in contrast to most ships used in Doctor Who.

The story has a nice pace to it and Mary Ridge has done a good job of keeping the pace going and Steve Gallagher has written a story that sets things up quite well. We are introduced to two characters who don’t get introduced in the best way. Kari (Liza Goddard) and Olvir (Dominic Guard) are introduced wearing the sort of helmets that wouldn’t look out of place in a Buck Rogers episode. Once they get those silly things off then they become much more believable as characters and Kari is quite a good character played as a strong lead by Goddard whereas Olvir is a bit of a wuss and unfortunately Guard has been given a rather dud role but is playing it as best as he can.

As this is her last story, Nyssa gets perhaps the better part of the story as she spends it with the Doctor. Sarah Sutton has always played the role perfectly and in this episode she continues that. At the beginning of the episode she is back to being scientist Nyssa which is one of the things that I liked about the character and then after that she sort of resorts to what she has become. Tegan and Turlough are stuck together but do have good chemistry and there will be plenty of time to enjoy that in future episodes.

On a related note, this story was directed by Mary Ridge becoming the fourth woman to direct a Doctor Who. Out of 47 directors only 8% of them have been female and out of 52 writers there have been 0. Given that there has been a lot of talk about women writers and directors in new who, its interesting to see how things work out in the classic era. It’s worrying that there have been 126 stories in Doctor Who and not one of those have been written by a woman.

As a opening story there seems to be some promise and with the rating that I have given it (7.52) at the moment it makes Terminus the highest rated story of the season. This wont last of course but its an interesting thought that Terminus is the best story of the season.

(591) Mawdryn Undead - Part 4

The final part of this story is by far the best one because it’s where the problems of the story are sort of forgotten because the main action takes my attention. This is where Mawdryn’s plan comes to fruition. Things start off in quite a fun way because Mawdryn allows the Doctor to leave in the TARDIS, its clear that this is a plan by Mawdryn to show the Doctor that he has no other choice than to help. This leads to a great couple of minutes where the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and 1983 Brigadier are involved in quite a grim turn of events where Nyssa and Tegan become quite old and then moments later become young with Nyssa turning into Lucy Benjamin who appeared in Eastenders.

After a few minutes they are back and the Doctor reluctantly decides to help them. This is where the episode starts to build up to the moment but another thing that seems to take up a fair amount of time is trying to stop the two brigadiers from meeting. I still don’t see why this would be a problem because the Doctor seems to do it without too much trouble. I seemed to be more interested in this than I realised because I was happy when 1977 Brigadier threw back Turlough to burst into the main chamber. The effect of the two Brigadier’s touching hands isn’t quite as good as I would have liked because they could have had both Brigadier’s faces on screen at the same time. They did it with the two Peter Davison’s back in Arc of Infinity so it makes sense that they could have done it in this story.

This story picked up in the second half with episode three being much better than parts one and two. I don’t think that at the time appreciated just how well the idea of time travel was used. I think that despite Peter Grimwade’s best efforts, the plot holes distract from what is a good idea. As the beginning of a story arc its ok but the main thing about it being that Turlough is still trying to kill the Doctor is something that is going to strangle the next two stories. I don’t mind the introduction of Turlough because there is something quite fun to watch in Mark Strickson but I think that more effort could have been put into introducing the character instead of a rather inplusable idea of the Black Guardian killing the Doctor. Oh well as a Peter Grimwade story, its his best story but compared to Timeflight that’s not really a compliment.

(590) Mawdryn Undead - Part 3

The third episode of this story is a strange one because the story does progress in terms of narrative but it still has the same problems as the previous two. Firstly there is still the problem that I cant buy the fact that Nyssa and Tegan believe that Mawdryn is the Doctor. Thankfully there are still things in this episode (like the previous two) that made the episode worth watching. The Doctor’s suspicion is made more obvious in this episode which is a relief and shows some sense in the Doctor for the first time. I still think that the Doctor and his Brigadier’s side of the story works much better than Nyssa and Tegan’s. They are very inactive in this episode which is a little bit frustrating.

The two Brigadiers moving around and just missing each other is something that is quite fun to see. It’s inevitable that they are going to meet and if you didn’t see it coming then you really aren’t trying. Even the Doctor puts a red flag up when he says what would happen if they met. Nicholas Courtney is playing the two brigadiers pretty much the same but its amazing what difference that the moustache makes to his performance.

Mawdryn is supposed to be this big figure in the story but doesn’t actually do anything to deserve that. He starts off ok trying to convince Nyssa and Tegan he is the Doctor and then when he leaves the TARDIS he spends an awfully long time dragging himself along the floor. It’s a shame that David Collings got lumbered with this role but its because of him that there is even something good to see.

There is one good thing that happens in this episode and the nonsense about Mawdryn being the Doctor because the Doctor comes bouncing into the TARDIS and this is when Nyssa and Tegan finally put two and two together. The Brigadier (1983) finds out a few moments later. Finally one problem gets dealt with. Just the big plot problem of Turlough trying to kill the Doctor. He makes no effort in trying to do this. I bet the Black Guardian wishes he had gone with someone else.

The episode ends with the Doctor revealing that Mawdryn’s plan would mean the end of him as a timelord. This is quite a good ending but its another episode which is a mixed bag. I don’t see things changing that much in the final episode. Well one thing is for sure, the festive spirit that I felt yesterday isn’t as strong.

(589) Mawdryn Undead - Part 2

With today being Christmas Day its fair to say that I am in the festive mood. I have just witnessed one of the best Doctor Who Christmas Specials for quite some time although people will probably have a go at it for being too scary or ridicule it because they had Steven Moffat. Yule have to wait until August 2^nd before I go into more detail with that. Back to today’s episode and despite my festive cheer, I still have some issues with this story and it’s annoying because it’s mixed in with some good stuff.

The reprise is ended with an explosion thus preventing Turlough from bashing in the Doctor’s head. I liked how this was dealt with which didn’t make either person look weak or silly. Sadly the problems soon appear because as I have commented before, Grimwade is a better director than a writer and so for some reason has a problem with making a story work because the story splinters into two times. The Doctor encounters the Brigadier in 1983 (more about the Brig in a moment) and Tegan and Nyssa end up in 1977 during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. I say and Nyssa but in reality its just Tegan because yet again Nyssa is banished in the TARDIS and only get a few metres away from the TARDIS.

At one stage, Nyssa and Tegan discover a burnt body that they assume is the Doctor. Ignoring the fact that the burnt figure isn’t wearing the same clothes as the Doctor. Getting the viewer to assume that this is the Doctor is Peter Grimwade asking an awful lot of us and I am not really prepared to do this. As a result of this the whole section with Tegan, Nyssa and the burnt figure is not very good. Thankfully things are much better in 1983 (the year I was born, in fact five days after I was born). This side of the story is better because it is where the story is explained and its wear it feels like things are progressing. Also its got Nicholas Courtney who is always watchable. I love the flashback montage that is used and shows several stories that he has featured in. It does create a problem in terms of continuity but I think that in the reckless 1980’s these sort of things weren’t considered.

Considering that this is where Turlough is suppose to kill the Doctor, its surprising that Turlough doesn’t feature too much in the episode. I may remember it wrong but I think he doesn’t feature too much. He does get one quite memorable moment when he thinks he is confessing his story to the Headmaster but the Headmaster (played brilliantly by Angus Mackay) turns into the Black Guardian. Valentine Dyall is superb in every scene he is in because his voice is so low and gravelly that it just suits the role perfectly.

The ending is good but silly in one go. The burnt figure has regenerated to the point that he is almost better but I am distracted by the bowl of spaghetti that is sitting on top of his head. It’s a shame that this is yet another problem with the story and I think that the festive spirit is preventing me from being harsher on it. Don’t get me wrong, this story has problems with it that cant be defeneded but I would be lying if I said that I hated this story. Even in the misery of the new year I would be hard pressed to rate this poorly. With two more episodes I am willing to sit through the weak stuff to get two more episodes with not one but two Brigs.

Last of all, Merry Christmas and Merry Christmas to all of you at home!

(588) Mawdryn Undead - Part 1

T’was the night before Christmas and if you have been following this marathon then you will probably have noticed that this is the same gag that I made last year. This is my second (and final) Christmas doing the marathon and this time last year I was watching episode four of ‘The Invasion’ which is quite fitting because this story sees the return of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart who last appeared 182 episodes ago in the final episode of ‘Terror of the Zygons’ which I watched back in June. This episode also sees the Black Guardian return. We last saw him in ‘The Armageddon Factor’ back in season 16.

Perhaps the big selling point about this story is that it features the character of Turlough. This is where the problems begin because this serial is the first in a trilogy of adventures and the whole idea is that the Black Guardian wants Turlough to kill the Doctor but if its such an important job then the explanation that the Guardian gives isn’t the most convincing. Another problem is that Turlough isn’t particularly likeable. From the moment he appears on screen he comes across as rather arrogant person who will tell one person something and then the complete opposite to someone else, all in the name of covering his backside. The third problem is how the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan treat Turlough like he’s been around for ages. There is no real questioning which goes on and that’s an odd thing in my opinion.

The first appearance of the Brigadier is a rather understated one. There is no real fanfare given to one the most popular characters in Doctor Who ever. He seems to have got quite bitter and harsh since he left UNIT. I say this because at no point during him time as a regular on the show did the Brigadier ever refer to someone as ‘disgusting’ which is what he does when talking to Ibbetson.

You may have noticed that I have got to this stage and not mentioned the actual story itself well there is a reason for that and that is because there isn’t a great deal that goes on. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan spend a lot of time in the TARDIS and then end up on a weird looking ship which doesn’t have anybody on it and that’s about it. The Doctor ends back on earth with his new friend and the episode ends with Turlough about to bash the Doctor’s head in.

This is a Peter Grimwade story and he is clearly a better director than writer and whilst this is at the moment a better offering than Time-Flight but he is still better at directing a story. The cliffhanger is a good one and I am enclined to say that this is a good opening episode. It’s far better and more entertaining than ‘Snakedance’ but time will only tell if the rest of the story works in the same way. At least Nyssa’s costume is better than the previous one.

(587) Snakedance - Part 4

I went into watching this episode quite upbeat thinking that after the improvement in the previous episode that this episode would be a fine end to an ultimately underwhelming adventure. Sadly this isn’t the case because the episode starts off in quite a slow fashion and its takes about ten minutes before the episode started to get going and lead up to the crowning of Lon and ultimately the Mara completing its plan.

There are some good moments which worked quite well and these included the whole ‘coronation’ scene where Lon is about to put the crystal in the gap and I thought this is where the madness really shows and its actually quite a good end to the story. The thing is that Tegan again doesn’t appear for quite a long time and when she does she instantly makes the whole thing come alive. Some credit for this does have to go to Martin Clunes who plays it perfectly. This is despite the fact that he has to change in one of the most ridiculous costumes that I have ever seen and its used on TV whenever people want to do one of those ‘Before They Were Famous’ type programmes. How Clunes managed to deliver his lines with that on is a mystery. Back to Janet Fielding and her best moment comes when her head is positioned in the Mara and its one final reminder of how good she has been in this story and how good she was in ‘Kinda’.

Ok so I haven’t been a big fan of this story but the second half was definelty the stronger with the better writing and the better directing and acting that came from this. I have perhaps been too harsh on this story because whilst it might not have worked it was the sort of story that Doctor Who should be a least trying. The effects worked really well and showed how far they had come in twelve months because the big snake effect in Kinda was only made better with the addition of CGI, no new CGI was needed for this adventure as they effects stand up and even the ones that don’t work quite as well are still watchable.

The ratings for this story averaged at 7.28 which is down from the 7.44 which is Arc of Infinity got. At the moment this is the second weakest story ahead of Four to Doomsday. I think that is perhaps the right position for it because at the end of the day this is a story that is far weaker than the first Mara story and I think that as we know what was going to happen it kind of too some of the magic off what Christopher Bailey came up with. Due to the second half of the story Christopher Bailey and Fiona Cumming managed to snatch victory (or at least a draw!) from the jaws of defeat.

(586) Snakedance - Part 3

I know that I haven’t been too keen on this story but there is a small part of me that hopes this will change. Before I started to watch todays episode I watched two episode of Doctor Who and the Silurians on the Horror Channel and I was reminded just how close to perfect the show was and I remember how I loved this debut season of Jon Pertwee and then though of just how much I have disliked Snakedance. I had completely forgotten about the previous episode’s cliffhanger (which shows how poor the episode worked for me) so I was reminded and thought that it was ok.

The episode starts off in such a way that I thought that this would be where the episode picks up a lot and to be fair this is by far the most interesting episode of the serial. It’s the one where the plot actually seems to be working towards something and certain scenes are superbly performed. Janet Fielding is again the best thing in the entire episode. She totally steals the episode despite popping up at the beginning of the episode and disappearing for a large chunk of it. When she does return then it comes with one of the best scenes in the entire story. It features Tegan, Lan and Dugdale and the drama that is created during this short few mintues is highly enjoyable. It is intercut with scenes between Nyssa and the Doctor. These two work very well together and after a short amount of time I was convinced that this story had picked up.

I had struggled to understand just what the Mara wanted in this story. It seemed that the Mara had just be bought back for the sake of it whereas in this episode its main perfectly clear that the Mara is after a crystal. Why its taken until now for me to be able to pick up on this shows the flaws with this story.

Ok so this story is starting to work on me but I still don’t think that its as good as Kinda and it’s a shame that Christopher Bailey didn’t write another story for Big Finish because I think that he would have done well with whatever he came up with. Fiona Cumming has done well with what is in effect a very pedestrian story. The cliffhanger is an issue for me because whilst it’s the best one of the serial it does feature Nyssa crying which makes two stories running and with that and the new costume means that the decontrsuction of the character is pretty much done. With just one more episode of this story remaining, I find myself not dreading the final episode as much as I did when I finished watching the previous episode.

(585) Snakedance - Part 2

Any goodwill that I may have had for this story quickly evaporated over the course of this episode. Again Janet Fielding is the best thing in it. There is a nice switch between good Tegan and bad Tegan which shows in one scene just how underused the character was over the years. This episode really is the Tegan and Lon show because despite coming across as a rather spoilt brat but then after a bizarre scene with Tegan and a group of mirrors, becomes joined with the Mara and they both form this rather odd but ultimately story saving double act. It’s clear that Janet Fielding is loving the character at the moment. The problem is that Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are reduced to running around and not doing very much. Seriously, I struggled to actually think of anything constructive that they did which is a shame really.

Like yesterdays episode, when Tegan is on screen I am interested because she is so good but when she isn’t on screen then I find myself losing interest. The only saviour is John Carson who treats the role of Ambrill with the level of absurdity that it deserves. What happens in this episode is the introduction of a headpiece which is suppose to have six faces on and five are on the headpiece with the wearer’s head being the sixth and the shot of Ambrill wearing it is the one that is used regularly on the back page of Doctor Who Magazine.

I really have struggled to find something to write about in the previous two episodes so I am going to fill my 500 word count limit with some stats. This is Peter Davison’s 32^nd episode as the Doctor. It’s crazy to think that he’s already done that many. Janet Fielding has now clocked up 35 episodes and Sarah Sutton is on 37, she is just 3 behind Louise Jameson and Deborah Watling.  Eric Saward will be tied with Derrick Sherwin by the end of this story and John Nathan Turner will be just four episodes behind Philip Hinchcliffe in the producer ranks.

I cant believe that I still have two more episodes left to watch. I know that the idea was to bring back a familiar monster/villain during the 20^th anniversary but I think that more time was needed for this story to try and make something else. The only thing I have to decide between now and the final episode is whether this is as bad as Four to Doomsday or not.

(584) Snakedance - Part 1

After Kinda was a success it was inevitable that a sequel would happen but its surprising that it happened so quickly. I have never rated this story very highly but after having my opinion changed on Kinda, it might be possible for the same to happen here. This story features the first (and only) appearance of Nyssa’s new dress. I don’t quite know what they were thinking. Even by 1980’s standards this costume is terrible but the one thing that I remember after watching this episode is the performance of Janet Fielding. The one thing that was so good about Kinda was that Janet Fielding was so good when she was possessed by the Mara. This time the same thing happens because it allows Janet Fielding to do something different with the character. The best scene comes when she is under hypnosis and she shines during this moment.

Apart from Nyssa’s dress, there are some interesting things about this serial. The first is that it features a very young Martin Clunes. Before he would appear in the BBC sitcom Men Behaving Badly and more recently in the ITV show Doc Martin, he plays Lon who seems like a bratty figure. During this course of this serial he wears some truly bizarre costumes and its fair to say that Clunes doesn’t look at his time on the show very positively. Another thing is the build up to the cliffhanger. Some woman decides to take off Tegan’s hearing aid which is keeping the Mara at bay. This seems like a bit of a groan inducing moment.

The problem with this episode is that it just doesn’t seem to have anything new about it. It does have any of the freshness and energy about it that Kinda did. I wasn’t totally bored with the episode but I think that when Tegan wasn’t on screen then the episode was a bit weak and when she’s on then there is something interesting going on. After being trigger happy in the previous story, it seems that Nyssa has resorted back to normality because she seems to trying to be Tegan’s friend and shoots some stern looks at the Doctor.

I think that this story isn’t going to change in my opinion. It doesn’t seem like Christopher Bailey’s heart is really in the story and despite some good things that are going to appear over the course of the next four days, its not going to be two solid stories in a row. It’s a shame really but there is still a good chance that things might change.

(583) Arc of Infinity - Part 4

This is the episode which features a large amount of location footage, and considering this is filmed in another country then my excitement goes up even more. I’m sure that I have commented that I love it when there is location filming in real places because it shows us here in 2014 what places looked like in the past. Ok so it wont be a million miles different but its still nice to see this sort of thing and we get a lot of it so it does in a way make me want to go to Amsterdam, although not in mid-December. The episode sees the Lord President help the Doctor and Nyssa escape from Gallifrey to find Omega. This is quite good because its not an easy thing and also there aren’t many instances where the Timelords are good to the Doctor.

The first big scene comes when Omega has finished his transformation and reveals that he now looks like the Doctor. It’s a great effect with two versions of the Doctor and it starts the weirdest chase that there has been on British television. I say weird because it seems to go on for such a long time. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan are running around Amsterdam, running into people and trying t catch up with an Omega who is about to turn into anti-matter. There is one moment where Omega is standing in a crowd and a blonde boy barges past him. For one moment it looks like Omega is punch the little brat before there is a weird smile that goes across his face.

There is a rare moment that occurs in this episode which comes when Nyssa screams. It’s the only time that I recall that she screams during her time on the show and I think that it’s a shame because the character has always been a strong character in that respect and it just seems like something that the character wouldn’t do. Anyway that is perhaps the worst thing about this episode. The rest of it works rather well and Omega is defeated by the Doctor. Actually defeated by the hands of the Doctor. The Doctor is the one that fires a gun which in itself is something that rarely gets commented on when people talking about the Doctor’s reluctance to be violent.

The final scene is funny because the Doctor and Nyssa are on the verge on leaving and the Doctor is desperately trying to leave but Tegan has been fired from her job and her cousin is going to go back to Brisbane. The look of the Doctor’s face when he realises that he’s stuck with Tegan is priceless. This has been a great story that has some flaws to it but a lot of positives and I think that the location filming helped a great deal but also the return of Omega was done very well and despite not being totally impressed with Gallifrey I thought that this opening story to Doctor Who’s 20^th Anniversary gets the season long party off in style.

(582) Arc of Infinity - Part 3

The penultimate episode of the serial is the one where things start to progress. I know that this is where the plot starts to open up but it’s a relief when it finally happens. The brilliant thing about having the CGI is that it covers up a lot of the problems but the thing is that it doesn’t cover up everything. The Matrix is one of those things that has seemed like an amazing place and that impression was created in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. Fast forward to 1983 and the Matrix is less impressive. In fact it’s rather disappointing because it seems similar to the weird web like thing tht Adric was held in during ‘Castrovalva’. The wibly effect wasn’t great and the way that the Doctor and later on Tegan were positioned because it just didn’t look natural.

Colin Baker makes his last appearance for now and the enxt time we see him it will be as the new Doctor. His performance as Maxil isn’t that different from the initial episodes of his time as the Doctor.

Colin’s face at one point is amazing because its so weird. It seems like he was instructed to pull the stupidest face he could and he managed to do this. At least he is back to normal by the end of the episode. Tegan is still rather calm compared to the previous season. Tegan and Robin get zapped by the Ergon thing and that isn’t done very well because the reaction that they give isn’t the most convincing.

Omega (or the Renegade in the credits) is trying to get enough power to get a new body which is a perfectly valid reason to bring the character back. It’s revealed (finally) in this episode that Hedin is the traitor. I must admit that its not the best result because I just don’t think that Michael Gough’s portrayal in this story doesn’t make me think he’s the evil mastermind. I also thought that Leonard Sachs wasn’t the most believable President that the Timelords have ever had. His death was a bit bizarre and I wasn’t sad that the character was written out.  

Nyssa continues to be trigger happy in this episode but its fun to see but its not very often that Sarah Sutton gets to anything exciting. She has teamed up with Damon in this story and it’s a partnership that seems to work quite well. It’s almost like this could have been a good opportunity for Nyssa to depart. It’s a more likely relationship than Leela and whatever his name is.

It’s not until the 22^nd minute before the Doctor discovers that Hedin is helping Omega. Two big things to learn at the same time is something that doesn’t quite get the response it deserves and this is the first time I have noticed a problem with Davison’s Doctor and that it is he doenst respond in the way that I think Tom Baker or Jon Pertwee would have responded and don’t get me wrong, Peter Davison is a great actor and on the whole he does very well but I think he lacks that final burst of anger that the Doctor should have.

The story is building to a thrilling conclusion and the opening story of the 20^th season is turning out to be a great one.

(581) Arc of Infinity - Part 2

So this is the episode that stands out for two reasons. Firstly the episode is building up to the execution of the Doctor (more of that in a bit) but most importantly, its sees Tegan ‘return’ after being left at Heathrow Airport. The thing that is surprising is just how understated Tegan’s first appearance in this episode is. This is the theme really because this is a new and understated Tegan. Not only is she out of that terrible purple dress and also she has less hair than before. Janet Fielding’s whole performance was very enjoyable and it just shows how far the companion has come since the early days of her time with Tom Baker’s Doctor. There does seem to be some of the old Tegan in the performance but generally it’s a more toned down Tegan. Tegan doesn’t seem too concerned about the disappearance of her cousin. I know that she has seen a lot since she joined the show but if I had been told that my cousin had disappeared in mysterious circumstances then I would be a bit more hysterical than Tegan is.

Whilst Tegan is running around Amsterdam trying to find her cousin, the Doctor and Nyssa are tring to deal with the goings on with the High Council. They really do act before they think because within a few minutes of the Doctor chatting to the high council they are ordering his execution. Between that decision and the actual execution there is a lot of toeing and froing to find out who is the traitor. When Nyssa is held captive in the TARDIS, it would have been reasonable to assume that she was going to spend the entire episode in there but thankfully she wasn’t in it for too long. It’s fun to see Colin Baker interact with Peter Davison’s Doctor in this episode. It’s weird to think that Colin Baker will the tenant of the TARDIS.

The identity of the traitor is something that wasn’t going to be revealed in todays episode. There seemed to be a concerted effort to make us think that the Castelan was the one but its too obvious and the true culprit manages to stand out but not enough for people to suspect. This comes when he is the only person to vote against having the Doctor executed.

The ‘execution’ of the Doctor is made better with the addition of the CGI effects option on the DVD. Due to this it makes the ending quite good and Nyssa ends it by saying that she hopes they are happy. This cliffhanger is quite good but I didn’t enjoy in terms seeing a future Doctor shoot the current one. I am still enjoying this story and think that there is still some good stuff yet to come.

 

(580) Arc of Infinity - Part 1

Arc of Infinity is a story that I have always had a soft spot for. It’s the opening story of Doctor Who’s 20^th anniversary and Peter Davison’s second season as the Doctor. This is a story that has a lot of interesting things about it. Firstly the location filming took place in Amsterdam, another is that it sees the return of Omega who last appeared in ‘The Three Doctors’ 10 years before and perhaps more amusingly, it sees Colin Baker debut in the show as Maxil.

There is no Tegan at all in this episode which is a real surprise and the episode does seem a lot quieter without her shrieking all the time. This means that the Doctor and Nyssa get to do what I think people (including me) have wanted since the start of the previous season and that’s just the two of them because they work really well together. It also means that Nyssa gets more of the action which she wouldn’t normally. They do share some of the story with two backpackers named Colin and Robin. Colin has an Australian accent but its unclear whether we are suppose to think he is related to Tegan. Colin is the scaredy cat and Robin seems the more gung-ho of the duo. They decide to sleep in the crypt yet Robin seems to have a room booked at a Youth hostel which does raise the question why they spent the night elsewhere. Anyway its clear from the very beginning that their story wasn’t going to go well and pretty soon Colin was the victim of a weird bird looking creature which really looks a bit silly but that’s the only thing really wrong with the episode.

On a narrative note, its quite interesting because there is a question as to which Timelord is committing treason by working with/for Omega. The identity isn’t revealed (not that you would expect that) but its quite obvious who it is. The fact that Gallifrey features in the story is a welcome but sadly its not the Gallifrey that we saw in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ but it’s the 1980’s Gallifrey where things are lit very brightly and there is no mood or atmosphere anywhere.

The appearance of Colin Baker is quite funny because obviously in a couple of years he will become the next Doctor and its weird to think that I am just a couple of months away from experiencing his stories. He is quite stern and serious in this episode and his best moment comes when he features in the cliffhanger. At the time it would have just been a normal cliffhanger where the Doctor is shot by Maxil. Post 1984, this takes on a completely less serious feel as it just appears that Colin Baker is trying to get the job earlier than he does.

It’s a solid opening episode and its nice to get back to some decent storytelling after not being a huge fan of the previous story. The peace and quiet is about end though as Tegan is about to enter the story. Oh it was nice while it lasted.

(579) Time-Flight - Part 4

The final episode of this story is the one where things improve greatly. This reprise where the Doctor says that the Master has defeated him still doesn’t work for me. The first couple of minutes is a bit confusing because it doesn’t seem like it was clear what was going on. Then suddenly something happened and it started to pick up and the whole episode became about trying to stop the Master escaping and getting concorde ready to try and the Doctor trying to get back to Heathrow before the Master. This was when I felt like for the first time I was starting to enjoy things.

There is a moment when it’s revealed that concorde was inside the Master’s TARDIS and I liked this moment very much. The vast size of Concorde isn’t the thing that most people would expect to find in a TARDIS so it would have been great to see that had the effects been around to make it happen. Sadly the problems with this story are on show again in this episode because as it’s the final story of the season, it means that there is pretty much no money to spend and it shows badly during these four episodes.

There is a moment where Tegan actually gets to be a stewardess. This is a role that Angela would have done but she disappeared in the previous episode and so as a result this means that Tegan shows us what sort of air stewardess she would have made. This is the episode where Tegan is ‘written out’ of the show because at the end of this episode she is left at Heathrow whereas the Doctor and Nyssa are off in time and space into a series of adventures for Big Finish. This was designed to be a season cliffhanger with the viewers. I think that this is quite a good idea and something that is done in the new series to give us a reason to watch the Christmas special. It’s great to think that the show started off with four people in the TARDIS and its 50% lighter just thirteen weeks later.

This story has been a disappointment largely due to the effects. Some of the performances have been entertaining but probably not for the right reasons but this shows that Peter Grimwade IS  a better director than writer. I think that this is a story that could have been made easier to understand if some changes had been made. The 20^th Season is about to begin and there are more changes to come but if memory serves me correctly then it will be largely good. Time-Flight is one that is an underwhelming story at the very least.

(578) Time-flight - Part 3

I usually find that after being quite down after watching an episode, the next one tends to leave me feeling a bit more positive which is the case for this episode. The Master enters this story properly now after pretending to be Kalid and this is where things start to pick up (not by much but enough). The explanation as to why he’s there and why he’s doing what he’s doing is explained and its explained well. The Master pops up every now and then but despite his brief moments in this episode he still manages to be the best thing in the episode. He was trying to get some energy to help him get away from the planet.

The problem that I still have with this episode is that despite some interesting stuff, I just cant muster any real enthusiasm with what I am seeing. There was something that annoyed me really bad and it came when the Captain and the other guy (presumably his deputy) start messing around with the TARDIS controls. Now its one thing when the companions are fiddling around with it but its completely different when anybody off the street can have a go. I think that this does support the argument that the mystery of the TARDIS was starting to be undermined.

The Professor was a delight in the previous episode and he continued this in todays episode. There was one line when he was talking about the other having to work and he says “it will be the first honest days work they have ever done!”. That’s a great line and it’s a shame when he is killed and I think that it was a mistake to ditch one of the few decent characters (perhaps the decent character) in the story.

There is a bit of development with the race called the Xeraphins. Design wise, they are really quite good and the effect used to bring them to screen works well. I also like the idea that there is a good and bad version but with everything going on, I couldn’t really follow what was being said. I think that the performances from the regulars in this scene with the two Xeraphins is bordering on pantomime. The cliffhanger is the Doctor saying the line “The Master has finally defeated me!” This should be a big moment but unfortunately due to the quality of the story, it just doesn’t have the impact that it should have done.

As an episode, it wasn’t as bad as part two but I think that the sooner this story is over with the better because knowing what is coming up it just makes me want to get through this story even more. You may have noticed that I haven’t commented too much of the performances and that is because despite their best efforts they haven’t really been able to do anything of any worth. Maybe this might change in tomorrow’s episode but for some reason I am doubtful.

(577) Time-Flight - Part 2

I’ve come to the conclusion (already) that I am not going to like this story. Probably because at the end of the 25 minute episode, I fail to really see any positives to what I have just seen. The episode does feature a cameo from Matthew Waterhouse, this is only so that people flicking through the Radio Times wouldn’t panic when they didn’t see his name in the credits. The scene is a nice one because the reactions of Nyssa and Tegan are different and yet rational. It’s Nyssa that comes to the realisation that he’s not real when she notices that his star is on him when it was destroyed in the previous story. There is a cameo of the Melkur from ‘The Keeper of Traken’ which is dealt with in the same way. This is perhaps the most exciting thing in the whole episode. That’s a pretty sad thing to say considering that this story features the return of the Master.

It’s good that the Master is bought back but it’s a shame that Anthony Ainley spends most of the episode under the mask of Kalid. I do like Kalid because its still impressive that you wouldn’t be able to tell that it was Anthony Ainley. The only slight issue with this is that when Kalid starts talking it does sound a little bit like Ainley. The death of Kalid does seem to be a bit less simple that it probably would have been with a different writer but its done and the death is quite grim which follows in the traits of other deaths that occur during this season.

I really have trouble coming up with anything in terms of talking about the narrative and that’s because there is simply nothing there. The characters from the two concords are just chewing up the scene and its hard to take anything serious about them. The Professor is perhaps the best of the supporting characters in this episode.

I think the word that comes to mind when thinking about the next two episodes is ‘endurance’. I don’t think that this story is as bad as ‘Four to Doomsday’ but its quite close. The problem is that a) there is no concorde and b) the story is slow and boring and doesn’t grab me in the way that a Doctor Who story should and even with the arrival of the Master, I cant see how this story is going to improve in the next two episodes.

(576) Time-flight - Part 1

So this is the first episode since Adric was killed and what better way to get over this and celebrate the end of season that having a story involve Concorde, which was in use from March 1969 until November 2003 (3 days after Doctor Who’s 40^th Anniversary). The thing about what happened in the previous story is that I would have thought that they would have started with that. Instead the first shot is of concorde and its rather drab if I am being honest. As nice as it is to see concorde in my favourite show, I do have to question the logic of having this in a Doctor Who story. Anyway when the story does get back the TARDIS, there is a few moments given to them trying to get over the grief about the loss of Adric with Tegan wanting the Doctor to go back and the Doctor wont do it. I thought that this was a nice part and they spend just enough time to show some respect to the character before their attention is turned to the current story and the running joke in this season has been to try and get Tegan back to 1981 and finally this is managed.

The sight of the TARDIS at Heathrow is a strange one but I like it. I also like the crew of the concorde because they are as camp as a row of tents. I think that they are fun and compared to the crews that we saw in ‘Earthshock’ this crew is a blast of fresh air. The shots of concorde are impressive but sadly if the production values aren’t as good then it doesn’t really matter whether concorde is there or not. Towards the end when they land in what they think is 1982 Heaththrow the CSO effect that is used to transform the background is pretty poor and that is when the production problems of this story really start. But there will be more time to talk about that in future episodes.

Peter Grimwade directed the previous story and has written this one and its fair to say that he is a better director than writer because if there wasn’t concorde in this story then there would be nothing of merit in this story. I think that the episode starts ok but soon loses steam and the only good thing about what happens in the latter stages of the episode is the inclusion of a figure which will turn out to be the Master but I think that the attempt to disguise the fact that its Anthony Ainley is done much better than in ‘Castrovalva’.

I have never been a big fan of this story and so far nothing has happened to make me think anything will change. Maybe this might change but I am worried that this season will end of a downbeat note.

(575) Earthshock - Part 4

This is technically the final episode for Matthew Waterhouse as a companion. Although he appears in the next episode as a mirage, this is really his final story as a companion and the last where he has any interaction with other people. This is pretty much what the episode is building up to because it feels like more effort has been put into the big bombshell as opposed to what the Cybermen are doing. I actually think that the Cybermen don’t really have much to do in this episode. They have done what they needed to do and so just spend a long time enjoying the misery that the humans are about to endure. They have turned the freighter into a bomb and they have put a device which only Adric can stop.

The Cyberman do get one good scene when the Cyber Leader has a nice interaction with the Doctor where they talk about the delights of smelling flowers and seeing a sunset and the Cybermen are talking about emotions being a disadvantage. It’s a nice philosophical discussion which sadly doesn’t last long. The use of the Cybermen have been largely good although I think that they didn’t quite shine as much in todays episode. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan get back into the TARDIS with several Cybermen and this is another episode where Nyssa has been stuck in the TARDIS. There was a possibility that she would get to go out but is stopped by Scott and his guys when he run into the TARDIS. Despite not being allowed out of the TARDIS I thought that Sarah Sutton was very good in this episode and did well with very little.

I know that I haven’t been particularly positive about Scott’s group and in particular Kyle but I thought that she deserved a better death than that because she’s not facing the camera when she’s shot by a Cyberman. That’s the only death that doesn’t work because obviously the death of Adric is one of the biggest selling points of this story. Adric tries to save the day by figuring out how the deactivate the machine that is hurtling this freight towards earth. He is convinced that he can do it and the moment where there is just one more bit to do the audience thinks that he can escape just in the nick of time but a lone Cyberman stops this. The goodbye scene between the Doctor and Adric is heart breaking because they haven’t always been the best of friends and the row at the beginning of the story highlighted this. The goodbye between Adric and Tegan was also quite sad.

I thought that Adric’s death (his last shot) was very dignified. He was holding his holding something that belonged to his brother and he doesn’t cry or run around screaming but just stands there before the thing blows up and the reaction of the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan to this is a bit mixed really because without the commentary it is quite sad but when you hear it then it loses some of the sadness because the regulars are laughing about it. That said I think that after the loss of a friend it should be treated in a sad manner.

I don’t know if I agree with the idea of having the credit roll over Adric’s broken star badge. Normally there would be some music but I think this over does the sadness that the viewer is suppose to feel. It’s a significant moment (first companion to die since Sara Kingdom) but I think that the end should have been a proper end with the theme tune playing. The episode did what it needed to do and I thought that it was a stronger episode than the previous two. I have been surprised with how much I have improved my opinion about Adric. I still think his costume is a bit silly but as a character I thought that Matthew Waterhouse did quite well and much of the cristiscm that he has faced over the years has been very harsh.

As a story this has been a good one. The Cybermen have been used well and David Banks did a great job as the Cyber Leader. Thankfully it wont be seven years before the Cybermen return but their first adventure of the eighties is a strong one and the final story of the season is going to see a familiar face return and the fallout from Adric’s death.

(574) Earthshock - Part 3

This is the penultimate episode for Adric and this is where the Cybermen final seem to be joining in on the action. This is where the Cybermen begin their plan and start to make their presence felt. At the end of the previous episode, Ringway tells the Doctor and Adric that murderers are executed on his ship. This is pretty much forgotten about after a short amount of time. Ringway became a lot more interesting in this episode once the Doctor and the others learn that he is working for the Cybermen. Sadly this new found interest doesn’t last long as he is killed by the Cybermen (will they never learn).

It’s interesting that both group of humans appear in this episode for a reasonable amount of time because they don’t really seem that dissimilar. I still don’t think that Beryl Reid is a believable captain and think that the crew are a little bit hapless which is how the army crew come across because they spend quite a lot of time stuck in the TARDIS before Scott leaves with Tegan. On that point, Tegan gets to leave the TARDIS but Nyssa spends another episode stuck in the TARDIS with Kyle.

I find it surprising that the Doctor doesn’t realise that the Cybermen are involved until about the 10 minute mark. Once he does then that is when the episode picks up and I really enjoyed what was appearing on screen but found myself somewhat less interested when they weren’t on screen. All the action was taking place in the control room and it seemed like we were missing the party when we weren’t there.

There are a couple of good effects used in this episode. The effect of the Cyberman mixed in with the door is a great visual effect and still looks good today. Another very good effect is the final shot of the episode which is a shot of Cybermen marching towards the screen but its been copied and pasted to make three liens thus doing a great job of implying that there are more than just a handful of Cybermen. The cliffhanger itself was quite a good one because just the visual of what this means is a great way to end an episode and even though it does have the impact that the first cliffhanger does doesn’t mean that there wasn’t something to like about it.

This episode does seem to be another one of two halves but unlike the previous episode, I thought that it worked quite well. I am impressed with how quickly the story seems to be moving. It’s weird to think that the end of Adric is almost here but I think that so far the first Cyberman story in seven years is one of the strongest for quite sometime and shows how a Cyberman story should be set up.

(573) Earthshock - Part 2

Well the shock came at the end of the previous episode with the return of the Cybermen. Thankfully we get a lot more of them in this episode but the thing is that it takes an awful long time for the action to get going because there is all the busy with the Doctor and his friends trying not to get shot by the androids. Once the androids are dealt with then the thing does feel like it’s actually trying to move on. I like how Adric gets to be a bit heroic for the first time in a long time when he destroys one of the androids. Adric really does shine in this episode for me. Apart from that moment, I like the scene with him and the Doctor where he announces that he doesn’t actually want to leave and did all the calculations just to prove a point. It’s the exact opposite of their opening scene in the previous episode. I suppose it makes what is about to happening even more heart-breaking (although I am a bit more cynical so won’t be wiping away a tear).

The hatch business did show me that the low lighting hides the fact that it’s a studio and the low lighting continues when the plot moves to a freighter which is on its way to earth. We are introduced to a team led by Briggs. Briggs is played by Beryl Reid who I have seen in the BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy playing the role that Kathy Burke played in the 2012 movie. The problem that I have with her casting is that she doesn’t come across as a captain, she just seems like a old woman who hasn’t got a clue about what she’s agreed to. Another problem is that Ringway is an irritating character and just seems like he’s there to whine and complain a lot. The only one who seems even remotely normal is Ringway (played by June Bland). Apart from that the crew of the freighter seem exactly the same as the cave crew.

This is where in the shows history that it starts the nostalgia nods. It does a nice job of pointing out some of the previous adventures that the Doctor has had with the Cybermen. I suppose its needed really because there will be people who haven’t seen any of the 1960’s Cybermen stories and as this is only the second story since the sixties finished then it’s a helpful addition. I just wish that the Cybermen were more involved in the story and the word that I would describe this episode is frustrating because I think that the Cybermen are somewhat out of the way in this episode and that’s a shame really.

I thought that the cliffhanger was a bit sloppy really because the Doctor and Adric are leaning over two dead bodies before Ringway announces to them that on the freighter, murderers are executed. I cant say that this is a particularly strong cliffhanger but I suppose that after the previous cliffhanger the rest of them were always going to be a bit of a let down but I just felt that it lacked something but I have seen much worse.

(572) Earthshock - Part 1

Earthshock is an important story in Doctor Who because it marks the return of the Cybermen and also the departure of Adric from the show. The former is more interesting because they were a regular feature in the 1960’s. They appeared in 5 stories in three years from 1966 to 1969 and in the subsequent 12 years, they only appeared in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’. In an interesting statistic, Cyberman episode accounted for 10% that were transmitted whereas during the 1970’s it was 1.5%. Anyway the most important thing about this story to many is the death of Adric. I have to say that before I started this marathon I would have been looking forward to this story but having recently found a new appreciation for Adric, I think that this story takes on a whole new meaning. I personally think that this is one of the best Peter Davison stories but it had nothing to do with not liking Adric before.

The story starts off with a crew that are going into some caves for people that have gone missing. I have to say that I think that they are some hapless during this episode that I struggle to muster any interest in them. They manage to get picked off by the androids with a great deal of ease. Even when they come across the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan it seems that they cant do serious with any great enthusiasm. The regulars start off with quite a row because Adric decides that he wants to go back to E-Space and this leads to the Doctor going a bit OTT about it. They end up underground and come across some bones.

The episode plods along rather well because of one new technique used. The lighting has been turned down and this means that there is quite an atmosphere which is something that cant be created with bright light. The claustrophobic feel to the adventure also helps make it feel like more happens in the episode than actually happens. The androids appear at moments and the lighting benefits them because then can move about quite easily. The Cybermen make their first appearance in 170 episodes and even though they are on screen for just a few seconds, its amazing what impact they have. It has to be one of the best cliffhangers in recent times on the show. Knowing that they appear does take some of the thunder out of the ending but watching in 1982 it must have been an OMG moment which doesn’t happen in Doctor Who. John Nathan Turner turned down a cover on the Radio Times to hide the fact that the Cybermen were returning. This was a brave and ultimately wise move. I remember how the human Dalek from ‘Daleks in Manhattan’ was ruined by the Radio Times so at least common sense was used here.

This hasn’t been quite the sprint out of the starting blocks that I hoped and remembered. There is some good stuff with the regulars but to be honest, when the story moves back to the hapless crew then I lose a bit of interest because I think that the regulars’ story is more interesting and the departure of Adric is the most interesting aspect of that.

 

(571) Black Orchid - Part 2

The bonus of having a two parter adventure is that there is very little time for padding so its easy to enjoy it more. If I look back at previous two-parters, they have all rated quite highly. I commented on the previous episode that this was already a better story for Terence Dudley than ‘Four to Doomsday’ and that’s definelty the case by the end of this episode. This is the 38^th episode for Matthew Waterhouse which ties him with Roger Delgado and Maureen O’Brien. If your interested Janet Fielding is on 22 episodes (3 behind Caroline John) and Sarah Sutton is on 23.

The first that tis dealt with the discovery that the Doctor made of the dead servant that was stuffed in the cupboard. The Doctor comes also comes across Lady Cranleigh who appears to be determined to hide things and the first chance she gets she achieves this. The fun thing at the beginning of the episode is that Adric is still eating although that quickly stops when the Doctor finds himself in trouble. This is the main bit of the episode because the Doctor is accused of the murder of the servant that the masked figure killed at the end of the previous episode.

It is perhaps the rather implausible idea that the Doctor is a victim of mistaken identity and the Doctor decides that he is going to prove that he didn’t commit the murder by showing everybody the TARDIS. It’s quite clear that given time, the truth would have been revealed and the Doctor wouldn’t have needed to show everyone and their dog the TARDIS and its interior. The idea that the Police Box has been transported from the railway station to the police station is one that seems like an odd thing to do because the story doesn’t really benefit from the story moving to the police station.

The episode sees the introduction of the disfigured murderer who is revealed as the person who was going to be engaged to Ann and what I like is that there is a whole wealth of backstory that is explained and in just under a minute its all explained which means that the viewers attention can now be shifted to the new threat of George taking Nyssa thinking that she is Ann. All the shots on top of Cranleigh House is rather exciting and is the most actioned packed part of the episode. It’s seems quite sad that after letting Nyssa go, that George falls to his death. It is perhaps a rather downbeat way to end the story which is a shame really because Lady Cranleigh is the one that should have met a grizzly end.

The final scene takes place after the funeral which is a rare example of the Doctor and company not leaving the story the moment the threat is dealt with. The last shot is of a book that the Doctor is given which was written by George Cranleigh before he became disfigured. It’s a rather downbeat way to end things but as it’s the first pure historical story since ‘The Highlanders’ way back in 1966/67 it was a good two part adventure. The story worked for the length that it was and the performances were as good as they could have been because it seems that something that is quite amusing and listening to the commentary, its clear that the regulars don’t really like this story (Sarah Sutton is perhaps more positive but is then reminded that she might be biased), but I think that this is a much better story that they think it is and compared to the next story, this one is quite upbeat in tone. The ending is coming for one of the regulars, but the moment has been prepared for.

(570) Black Orchid - Part 1

Black Orchid is an interesting story because it’s the 120^th Doctor Who story and also it’s the first two part story since season 12’s ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ and by my reckoning, its only the 4^th two parter story in Doctor Who so far. This is the 37^th episode for Matthew Waterhouse and this means he overtakes Anneke Wills and Michael Craze, its hard to believe he has been in for 37 episodes and sadly he doesn’t do a great deal in this episode because he stands and watches the Doctor play cricket (more of that later), then he tries to dance and then he starts eating. This story was written by Terence Dudley who wrote the less than stellar ‘Four to Doomsday’. There was no way that Dudley could write a worse story in two episodes that his debut story.

The big selling point in this story is that Sarah Sutton plays two characters in this story. Not only is she playing Nyssa as usual but she plays Ann Talbot, she looks and sounds exactly like Nyssa and its great to see the effects that are used to have two Sarah Sutton’s on the screen. I think back to the bit in ‘Enemy of the World’ where the Doctor and Salamander appear on screen and that was 1968 so its interesting to see how well things have progressed in 14 years.

The episode starts off with the Doctor and company at a train station and the Doctor gets taken to be another Doctor and within minutes he is playing cricket which is in keeping with his outfit. The Doctor as it turns out is quite good at Cricket and there is good couple of minutes which is given over to this but its quite entertaining but this would never have happened during the Tom Baker era.

The story is moving towards a ball which is taking place at Cranleigh house and this means that we get to see Tegan dancing which is quite good and its good enough I think to get Janet Fielding on Strictly Come Dancing. Tegan doesn’t do a great deal but then again there isn’t a great deal to do. As an aussie, she appreciates some good cricket and then becoming friends with Sir Robert Muir (Moray Watson). I thought that Watson is very good as Muir because he seems like he’s just come out of Downton Abbey but is better. Lady Cranleigh is another good piece of casting because Barbara Murray also seems to have come out of Downton Abbey. Her disbelief that Nyssa isn’t a Worcestershire Talbot is amusing. Michael Cochrane is great as Lord Cranliegh, I could watch Cochrane is pretty much anything and here he is just fantastic. The Doctor spends the latter part of the episode in a dressing gown (which is an odd thing to see) and goes looking for something after someone pinches his fancy dress costume. After doing such a great job in playing cricket that he deserves the chance to take it easy.

It’s a much better episode for Terence Dudley than ‘Four to Doomsday’ and Ron Jones has done a great job in keeping the story going and its easy to see why the story is a two parter because I don’t think that there is anything that would sustain four episodes. The cliffhanger is rather good because the masked figure (who pinch the Doctor’s costume) has strangled a servant and is about to strangle Ann so the end to the episode is perhaps the most exciting part of the episode but that’s not a critiscm as the whole thing works very well.

(569) The Visitation - Part 4

The cliffhanger from the previous episode wasn’t the strongest one in the world so the episode didn’t start in a particularly good manner. In fact the thing is it takes about 10 minutes for things to really get going. Thankfully once it does then it really gets going. Going back to the beginning I must admit that the way the Doctor gets out of his situation was quite clever and I didn’t see it coming. Now once the story moves to London it seems to find its feet. This is the episode where Nyssa finally gets to active her sonic boom thing that she spent so long of the previous episode putting together.

The funniest sight in the entire episode and perhaps story is that of Adric kicking the android to stop it from getting inside the TARDIS. It’s just a ridiculous sight and it’s a funny moment just before the android is blown to pieces.

The companions are all working quite well together and Adric’s best moment (apart from kicking the android) is when he actually pilots the TARDIS. This is something that is a bit of a burning issue because really the Doctor should be the one piloting the TARDIS. Plus the old short hop thing is something that never really got done before Tom Baker’s final set of stories and yet its done with regularity during the Davison era.

When the story moves to London I thought that the sets were really good and the film look to it worked really well and I wish that the story had moved to London earlier because the quality is much better. This is where a fire starts which suggest that the Doctor started the Great Fire of London. I like the idea that the Doctor causes historical events. I seems like it was all meant to be and well thought out and not just added on as a last minute thing.

I really liked this story but felt that certain parts of it didn’t work quite as well as I thought it did in the past. The crowded TARDIS thing wasn’t as much of a problem as it has been so far this season but as a four part story I thought that it worked rather well and I liked the location filming and the writing has been rather good. Eric Saward gets a bit of stick from time to time but I thought that the historical aspect helped the story. Peter Moffatt directed this story with a nice sense of enthusiasm and even made the TARDIS scenes to be interesting which is quite an achievement bearing in mind how static they can be from time to time.

(568) The Visitation - Part 3

It was obvious that the Doctor and Mace weren’t going to be decapitated partly because they are two central characters to the story and secondly the scythe that is used is too big to do any damage to the Doctor’s head. Once that is over the story sees the Doctor and Mace spend a little while locked up and then they have a scene with the Terileptil which does serve one purpose and that it explains just what the plan is and its simply to wipe out humanity and it does a great thing of using a real historical event (in this case the plague) for the purposes of television. Now that this has been explained it feels like the story can actually build towards something.

Sadly Adric does suffer from not doing very much because he goes from the house to the TARDIS and spends a bit of time there talking to Nyssa and not doing very much before leaving and then getting captured. Nyssa is slightly more productive but she’s stuck in the TARDIS for the entire episode making the sonic boom thing which may or may not work. Tegan perhaps has the best time during this episode although that is perhaps stretching the term slightly. She is still under hypnosis and by the end of the episode she is about let out the rats. Despite not really doing very much when its laid out like this, its surprising then that it feels like the story moved along as a good pace.

The episode is significant for being the last time that the sonic screwdriver would be seen in the classic era. The sonic screwdriver was first seen in ‘Fury from the Deep’ back on March 16^th 1968 and it was written out in quite a good way when its destroyed by the Terileptil. I don’t agree with JNT that it was a easy way out for the Doctor because its not like he used it literally for ever situation. Anyway it wont be seen on this marathon until April 11^th according to my list of dates and episodes. This is the thing that stands out about this episode which might sound like there wasn’t anything in this episode but I enjoyed it very much and the death of the Sonic screwdriver is the thing that stands out about this episode.

The cliffhanger is perhaps not as strong as it could have been because there cant have been that much peril from Tegan opening a box but at this point in the story I can forgive writer Eric Saward for this brief weakness.   

(567) The Visitation - Part 2

The second episode doesn’t have John Savident in it (booo) but it does have a lot of other things which work very well. The cliffhanger of the previous episode was quite clever really because the Doctor had disappeared but when the episode starts it turns out that he went through a energy barrier which was designed to give the impression that the stairs led to nothing. The effect used to create this was quite good and even compared to todays standards it holds up.

This is the episode where the regulars get separated. After being inactive in the previous serial, its nice that Nyssa is given something to do and is tagged with the Doctor and as a result gets a lot more screen time. Tegan and Adric spend the episode together and its nice that they seem to be getting on with each other. There isn’t any bickering or back biting that would normally have happened between these two. They spend a fair amount of time locked up and they managed to escape which I found to be rather implausible but the objective really was to split up Tegan and Adric.

The Terileptil is introduced in this episode and I think that the headpiece is rather splendid, the rest of it looks like a bloke in a suit but the headpiece is quite effective and striking because it looks like the flesh has rotted and for 1980’s Doctor Who its one of the best headpieces that there has been. The only thing about the Terileptil that is a bit confusing is just what is its plan? Apart from that I thought that the Terileptil’s involvement in the story was well done and I think as a villain its quite good.

The cliffhanger is one that we have seen before and quite recently. It sees the Doctor (and Mace) about to be decapitated which is what happened during one of the cliffhangers in ‘Four to Doomsday’ so it seems like if it worked once then it could work again. I actually think that this one is more effective than the previous one because the darkness of the tone allows this cliffhanger to be more striking than in the rather bland surroundings of ‘Four to Doomsday’. So at the halfway point this story is moving far too quickly for my liking, I wish there were more episodes of this story left but I suppose that this is credit to Eric Saward and Peter Moffatt for producing this story and making it work as well as it has so far.

(566) The Visitation - Part 1

The Visitation is one of those stories that I have always had a soft spot for. It’s a story that seems quite fun although in recent years I have been watching this story with the amusing audio commentary on it. After being really impressed with the previous story I was hoping that the good form would continue. This era of the show was one story would link into the other and so once the opening scene was completed the TARDIS crew started they are referring to the events of Kinda. Now I think this is a good idea because it’s a bit like the very early days of Doctor Who where most William Hartnell stories would follow one another. There is more reference to Tegan trying to get back to Heathrow 1981 and the ‘goodbye’ scene between Tegan and Nyssa is very emotional and it’s a shame that its spoilt by the revelation that they have arrived at Heathrow, but just 300 years early.

The opening scene is quite fun just because it features John Savident who is perhaps best known for playing Butcher Fred Elliot in the ITV soap ‘Coronation Street’ from 1994 to 2006. Every time I see him in this I am expecting him to act like he did in Corrie. Sadly, Savident isn’t in the story for very long because as soon as the seen is over then that’s it. The scene also does a good job in setting up the main thing about this episode and that is the mystery of just what has invaded the house. We never see the person that kills several people and causes some damage.

The Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric eventually leave the TARDIS and the first thing that strikes me about their first scenes outside of the TARIDS is just how nice the location footage is. I know that its something I have gone on about in recent stories but I cant help it. After spending the last eight episodes stuck in a studio, it was nice to be outside. The inclusion of Michael Robbins as Richard Mace was a masterstroke and is central to the reason why I like this story so much. He is fantastic from start to finish and after enjoying the performances from Richard Todd and Simon Rouse in the previous story, its nice that the strong performances continue.

This is an interesting opening episode because it sets things up nicely and the whole thing moved along quite quickly. The only thing that stood out and not in the best way is the robot that does appear. It looks very 1980’s and there is worse to come when there is a shot of its hand which looks like a cricket glove that has some gems on it. Apart from that this episode is just as fun as I have thought of it in the past and its good to have Nyssa back in the story.

(565) Kinda - Part 4

This episode is the one where there is some cracking CGI on offer. The beginning of the episode sees the departure of Panna but what’s quite clever is that the soul/essence goes into Karuna who really gets to get involved in the story and I think that Sarah Prince has been one of the underated people in this story. Due to the fact that there have been some stunning performances it was inevitable that she would fall down the pecking order but on a ‘normal’ story she would have stood out more. The standout performances from this story continue to be Hindle and Sanders. They have literally resorted to children because Hindle delivers a line to Adric and says “Outside is for grownups”. Both Hindle and Sanders are great from the very beginning where they are making people out of cardboard to the very end where they are back to normal and seem like friends. Both Simon Rouse and Richard Todd have been great and are probably my two favourite pieces of casting for this entire season.

The episode is building up to the big scene which actually starts in a rather nice scene with the Doctor and Hindle. Hindle tells the Doctor that the Kinda don’t like the mirror and it takes several minutes for the Doctor to twig what to do so when he does it leads the Aries being confronted in a circle of mirrors and this leads to one of the things that let the story down when it aired in 1982 and was released on VHS but is thankfully resolved on the DVD version. The big Mara snake is revealed and in the 1982 version it’s a bit disappointing, well completely disappointing however with the technology now much better what we get on the DVD version is a lovely snake which manages to make it look like it was apart of the original filming. It interesting that the Doctor doesn’t actually have to do anything to stop the Mara, its all done with the mirrors. One of the rare (ish) occasions where the Doctor’s actions don’t really save the day.

After being out of the story since the first couple of minutes, Nyssa finally makes an appearance in this episode but its not until the last two minutes of the episode where she says she’s fine and goes back into the TARDIS. It’s a shame that Nyssa got used in this manner, it would have been possible to find a way where Nyssa could have been used better and not be part of the story. It was done well enough in the previous story so this is the only thing that I think Christopher Bailey did wrong with the story. Apart from that I thought that this was a cracking story. Some of it I didn’t really understand but on the whole I enjoyed enough of it to think that this was the best story of the season but knowing what is coming up I cant say this will be the case by the end of the season. It’s definelty better than when I first watched it many years ago.