(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.