(537) Full Circle - Episode 4

The final episode of the first story of the E-Space trilogy starts with the reprise of the Marshmen walking into the Starliner and I think that it’s a fantastic image that is again helped by the music. It’s weird that I always thought that the music of the JNT era was terrible and yet twelve episodes in and I have to say that my opinion has changed. I am sure that at some point the music will not work but at the moment I am impressed with how much I have enjoyed the music and its been used smartly during this story.

I’ve always been a fan of this story and nothing in the past four days has made me change my opinion of Andrew Smith’s writing. The writing has been strong and consistently engaging, its just a shame that Smith never got to write another DW story for the show but he’s written a few cracking stories for Big Finish which I highly recommend (especially The First Sontaran). I never felt like the story was plodding along and even though I haven’t been wild about the Outlers, I cant say that they have been detrimental to the story. I think that its given Adric a reason to exist and ultimately a reason to stowaway on board the TARDIS. The direction has been a revelation and I think watching this story in this manner means that the directing really stands out.

After telling the deciders that the starliner has been ready for centuries it seems that the main aim of this episode is to get them off Alzarius. It was never going to be that simple and during the course of the episode there are a few drops of information where it turns out that the Marshmen are the ancestors of the humans/deciders and I liked this because it bought back what Draith said in the first episode and was a good payoff for explaining the marshmen.

There is a bit where the Doctor is using K9’s head to scare off the marshmen, this is the most useful that K9 has been for quite sometime. The simplistic way that the Doctor tells the deciders how to take off is quite a fun way and I think that it was never going to be a scene that would go on for a while because quite frankly this would have taken too much time and required either another set or a more complex decider chamber. I liked how they went off in the starliner with no problems and thought that the deserved a nice exit.

The final scene with the Doctor and Romana in the TARDIS is quite a sad one and it seems like a surprisingly downbeat tone. They are travelling in E-Space which is still quite funny when its green but I like how they are feeling down about their current situation without realisation that things are about to get worse with Adric on board. I really must stop the hate for Adric.

This was a good final episode to what has been the best story of the season so far. I have rated this story overall at 7.56 with ‘The Leisure Hive’ at 7.51 and ‘Meglos’ at 7.46. In Tom Baker’s stories this is tied in 9^th place with Robot and overall it is the 30^th best story beating such strong stories as ‘City of Death’ (32), ‘The Talons of Weng Chiang’ (45) and ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ (65). I would be surprised if this story isn’t one of the highest rated stories of the season. On a slightly downbeat note, two weeks on Wednesday will see the last Tom Baker episode which seems to have come around really quickly. As the moment that has been prepared for gets closer I will be thinking about the state of the show and just what Tom Baker’s legacy will be.

(536) Full Circle - Episode 3

Something struck me as I started to watch this episode and that its weird to see Tom Baker’s face when the theme tune plays. It’s a title sequence that is more associated with Peter Davison and Colin Baker so its still weird even though this is the tenth time that this title sequence has played. Upon watching the reprise, I was hoping to see K9 get his head knocked off but sadly not. What is shown are the spiders which look worse than they did in the previous episode. It’s still a major problem that I have with the story and the only time that they look ok is when the Doctor is looking at one later on in the episode.

I have been thinking about the deciders and come to the conclusion that despite having the War Lord as one of their crew, I actually think that Login is the stronger of the trio. I think of Inspector Wexford rather than Login when I look at George Baker. Login is the nicest of the trio and the one that at least comes across as having any morals.

Tom Baker is perfect in this episode because he does seem to have gotten his mojo back and does both comedy and serious acting. His comedy comes with his reaction when the Outlers are coming out of the TARDIS instead of Romana. His serious side comes when he shows his anger at the deciders and also at Dexeter who shows his mean side when he is about to perform his experiments on the captured Marshman. I hadn’t noticed how good Tony Calvin was because he had really been in the background of all the characters that have been in the story so far. Lalla Ward doesn’t really give a bad performance but unfortunately doesn’t really

The story seems to progress quite quickly in the scene where the Doctor points out that the Starliner has been ready to take off for centuries and that people are replacing perfectly fine parts. This moment is added with the announcement by the deciders that no one knows how to pilot the starliner.

The cliffhanger is another good one and does slightly mirror the first cliffhanger in that it involves several Marshmen and the music adds to it. However this one is slightly better because it sees the Marshmen penetrate the starliner and this sets up the final episode perfectly. This was another solid episode and I think that over the past three episodes this serial has done what Doctor Who should do and that’s tell a fun story with some good characters and the E-Space Trilogy is a nice thing for the season to get involved in and keep peoples attention until the final few stories to see the departure of Tom Baker.

(535) Full Circle - Episode 2

I still like the sight of the marsh creatures coming out of the lake, the directing and the music help make it as effective as it is. The marsh creatures are quite good because not only are they visually impressive but there are little things included that make them seem quite good and most notably is that they can adapt to their surroundings. Such a simple thing can make a lot of difference in a creature that never actually utters a word.

The Doctor is very different in this episode and I mean that in a good way. The Doctor encounters a Marsh child and is surprised when it doesn’t react well to his welcome and he responds by saying something about usually being good with children. Throughout the entire episode Tom Baker doesn’t really take the roll up to 11, he spends most of it at 5 or 6 and he only really gets animated when he encounters the Deciders. The Doctor and Romana don’t meet during the episode and I feel slightly sorry for Romana because she is stuck with Adric and the rest of the Outlers who make Adric take them to the TARDIS. I like the bit where Romana hands the knife back to one of them after having it pointed at her. I have decided that Adric isn’t quite as annoying as I have previously thought (at the moment) but I am not so sure about his friends.

There is one truly fantastic moment and maybe one of the best moments of the entire season and that is when K9 gets beheaded and not in a going to be back to his normal self in the next episode kind of way.

If I had to pick one thing that was wrong in this episode then it would be that the spiders don’t look very scary. It would probably have been best to have them in low light or not much of them seen because they could have worked but in their current state they just look a little bit hokey and I don’t just mean by 2014 standards. Ok there might be another thing but its not necessarily a fault of the story but more of a shift in the rules of the TARDIS. I say rules but its more like guidelines. Despite only being in the TARDIS for mere minutes, he is able to pilot the TARDIS. Ok so he accidentally does this but I think that off all the buttons he presses he somehow manages to press the right one. This is a trend that occurs quite often during the JNT era where any bugger can operate the TARDIS. This in my opinion does weaken the magic of the TARDIS.

The cliffhanger was good but not quite on the same level as the previous episode. Romana being bitten by a spider and there being no sign of help is something that works really well and it’s the perfect way to end this episode. Two episodes in and this story is just as good as I have thought of it in the past. The writing, directing and performances have all been on good form and I cant really see how the next two episodes are going to see a change in this.   

(534) Full Circle - Episode 1

It’s quite fitting that with tonight being Halloween, that this is the debut episode for Adric. Adric is arguably one of the most disliked companions ever in Doctor Who. I wonder whether over the course of his run on the show, that my opinion might change. Part of this change has happened whilst listening to the recent Fifth Doctor Boxset released via Big Finish but I wonder what will happen over the course of the next couple of weeks. Full Circle is the first story of the E-Space Trilogy which sees the Doctor and Romana enter E-Space which is like normal space but green. Things start off with the Doctor and Romana about to return to Gallifrey but thanks to K9 meddling things go a bit wonky and they end up somewhere completely different despite the scanner suggesting they are on Gallifrey. I like the fact that there is a bit of mystery about this which doesn’t last too long but long enough to be interesting.

The story takes place on Alzarius and the first thing that strikes me about this story and episode is the location footage which looks fantastic and does look like a different world. People are getting ready to go on the Starliner and I like how it seems to be dividing people because there are those like the deciders which are leaving Alzarius on the starliner and a group on people (like Adric) who aren’t interested and they are called Outlers. Adric’s first scene is perfectly fine but its funny how the scene goes about two minutes before drawing attention to the star badge for Mathematical Excellence. The Outlers don’t exactly strike me as the wisest group of people and if I had to choose then I would have gone with the deciders.

Adric has only been in Doctor Who for one episode and his actions have led to the death of someone. Due to the fact he was trying to prove his brother’s friends wrong he tried to steal some fruit and got caught by Draith. Ok so maybe Draith shouldn’t have run after him but I don’t really buy that. It’s quite the debut for the character and he can hardly be accused of being dull and inactive.

The effect of Mistfall is one that is simple but works really well and the music helps to create a wonderfully atmospheric feel to it. Peter Grimwade has always been a better director than a writer in my opinion and this episode is proof of that. He directs the episode with a lot of enthusiasm and the writing works well and what we have is a pretty solid opening episode. Even Tom Baker was on good form and the look on the Doctor’s face when Adric enters the TARIDS is quite fun.

The cliffhanger is brilliant in my mind and one of the strongest for several episodes. The sight of these disgusting creatures out of the water and the music again helps with this and after being left slightly weary with ‘Meglos’ it good to get back to business and start enjoying Tom Baker’s final season and the next four episodes should work for me in exactly the same way as today’s episode. Good stuff indeed.

On a side note, this time last year I was watching episode seven of ‘The Evil of the Daleks’.