After being somewhat disappointed with Paradise Towers, I wasn’t
looking forward to this story because it’s never been one of my favourites. One
of the arguments that people use to critisce John Nathan Turner is the use of ‘stunt
casting’. One of the examples used for this argument is this story where it
features the appearance of Ken Dodd. This is the first three part story since
Planet of Giants (1964) and the three episode format will become commonplace
during this period of the show and an advantage of the three episodes is that
there isn’t going to be a much padding and that will mean there is a faster
pace to proceedings.
The action starts pretty much from the moment that the
titles finish. There are explosions and there is a nice gun battle. Sadly there
are some green creatures who look like the toy soldiers from the Toy Story movies.
That does somewhat devalue the moment. What does work in these scene is Gavrok.
Gavrok is played by Don Henderson and was perhaps the big name in this serial
and definelty not considered to be stunt casting.
The Doctor and Mel arrive in a huge hanger deck and I like
how this freaks the Doctor out and he wants to leave but then trouble appears. Whilst
I don’t agree with the argument that Ken Dodd was stunt casting, I do think
that his first appearance is rather poor. It is just cheesy and totally not
what the show should be about. Somehow the Doctor and Mel are the 10 Billionth
people to visit. Even the Doctor is surprised that 10 billion people have use
the shuttle. The introduction of the pilot leaves me rather downhearted because
I think that this is an example of just how tired the show appears because it’s
hard to believe that this would have taken place even just a few years ago. When
they start singing Rock Around The Clock, I start to get frustrated because it
just seems to add fire to people’s arguments against JNT. Hawk and Weismuller
are a double act that appear quite early on. They are a couple of Americans. I
know that they are American’s before they open their mouths because Weismuller
is wearing a New York Yankees jacket. Then they proceed to look like a couple
of inept spies. Imagine Jago and Litefoot but without any of the charm and they
are treated as a duo that are being kept out of the way. Sadly they are in our
way.
Delta escapes from her planet and leave on a ship and lands
by the Doctor then manages to get on the coach before it takes off which seems
rather odd and then blurts out who she is when she is supposed to be keeping a
low profile.
The story takes place in a holiday village which doesn’t look
like the nicest place to visit. I have never visited such a place and have
never really seen the appeal of them. Then there is a ‘getting to know you
dance’ which just seems horrible to me.
Billy is a rather bland individual who for some reason
decides to fall for Delta instead of Rachel. This is just what the story doesn’t
need, a love triangle. Rachel could have been a companion if JNT had not chosen
Sophie Aldred. I don’t think that she would have worked as a companion but in
the context of this story I thought that she worked quite well. There was
something rather charming about Sara Griffiths’ performance.
Delta’s baby is perhaps the most disgusting thing that I
have ever seen in Doctor Who before or after. I know that I have commented on
how horrible some effects look when an aliens head ooze but this is way beyond
what I think is acceptable in a Doctor Who story.
This isn’t a story that I truly hate but I am really
struggling to find something positive in this episode. I think that this being
three episodes long is something that is going to work in the serial’s favour
but as I continue through this season I am convinced that nothing will change
my opinion of this season and at the moment it’s the worst season in terms of
average ratings. Season 2 has the lowest average rating which shows how bad
this season has gone so far.
On a ratings note, this episode was watched by 5.3 million
people whereas 16.3 million people were watching Coronation Street. That’s the
widest margin since the season started.
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