(622) The Caves of Androzani - Part 4

Wow, this has come round fast. The 69^th and final appearance of the Fifth Doctor and like the previous three episodes, this isn’t going to be a laugh a minute episode. The previous episode ended with the Doctor seemingly about to crash land but when the episode starts again it doesn’t quite have the impact that the cliffhanger suggested it might be. The Doctor spends the first part of his final episode being shot at. Obviously out of the Doctor and Peri, he is the one that gets the worst time but it’s not exactly a barrel of laughs for Peri. Her condition is getting worst and so as a result doesn’t do very much until the final few minutes of the episode. The Doctor has to get the Queen Bat’s milk himself in what we are told are rather dangerous conditions. Morgus’ interacting with Stotz is something that comes across as the desperate measure that it is. His power has come to an end when Timmin appears in Morgus’ chair. It’s a great moment and Barbara Kinghorn gets her time to shine. She does a terrible job of not looking like she’s enjoying it. This is when we get to see Morgus walking the tightrope without a safety net.

Jek’s mask is pulled off similar and both Chellak and Peri respond in a rather scared way. We don’t see it until the end which I thought was a good idea because its one of the few shocks that the story has left. Chellak’s death is quite surprising because it comes out of nowhere and its quite creative given that this was a studio scene. Martin Cochrane has grown in the role over the course of the story. Stotz shooting Krepler and the other guy he’s with is very violent for Doctor Who and shows that this episode is going to have a high body count. The violent deaths were still to come. The encounter between Morgus and Jek is perhaps what we have been waiting for because they have been at war in this story. Jek, Stotz and Morgus all die within a minute of each other thus continue the rather alarming violence in this story.

The Doctor carries Peri and immediately drops her just by the TARDIS doors. There is a great rush in the final few minutes of this episode. There is no cheery goodbye from the Doctor but just a quick goodbye. “Is this death?” is one of the Doctor’s final lines and it’s a great one. The whole regeneration sequence is as sad as it should be. The Doctor gives his life basically for Peri and it shows how nice the Doctor is. The appearance of several of this Doctor’s companions is a nice touch. The appearance of the Master does seem to mirror what the Fourth Doctor saw in his final scenes.

Colin Baker’s first appearance as the Doctor ends with his looking straight at the camera and the tone in why he delivers his line about change is perhaps a big indicator about how the show is going to change. I wonder how many people watching in 1984 would have wondered what Maxil was doing away from Gallifrey.

This story has been the perfect way to end the Davison era. It’s been pretty much flawless and shows that even in the 1980’s Doctor Who was capable of being fresh and as final Doctor stories, this ahs to be one of the best. It will be the best story that Graeme Harper directs and it’s the best story for Robert Holmes as a writer. This episode did what it needed to do and it did it very well.

What can I say about the Peter Davison era? I think that its been pretty much as I thought and that it was always going to be difficult for someone to replace Tom Baker and Davison did as good as a job as he could. Some stories were good, some were bad and then there were three stories in particular that show the good times during the Davison era. Kinda, Earthshock and this story. There is something quite sad about departing the Davison era but there is something exciting about embarking on the Colin Baker era. What is slightly weird is that this isn’t the final story of the season. Colin Baker’s debut story will be the finale of the season but more of that tomorrow.

(621) The Caves of Androzani - Part 3

The penultimate episode of the Davison era and the reprise is the dragon like creature approaching the Doctor which is the second one that puts the Doctor in peril. Admittadley it wasn’t the biggest peril that the Doctor has ever faced but it served a purpose and it was put to one side quickly enough. The Doctor and Jek have a good scene in the early stages of this episode when Jek wants to know where Peri is and the Doctor’s being flippant. It’s fun seeing the Doctor being somewhat flippant because there have been few times during Davison’s time that he’s been able to be humorous but there have been several moments in this episode where he gets to do that.

Despite this, the Doctor’s time in this episode isn’t particularly good because Krepler and Stotz. He spends a bit of time chained up and has to put himself through some discomfort to get free. Peri’s bad time also continues as she is back in the arms of Jek and his obsession with her. If I were her then I would have insisted on being sent back to earth at the first possible moment. To be fair these three episodes have been superb for Nicola Bryant as she has shown what she can do with the character.

The death of the President by the hands of Morgus is quite a surprising thing but it shows that Morgus is a totally loathsome individual. He is very untrusting of pretty much everybody. Even though the shot of the President falling looks a bit dodgy but that doesn’t bother me really because the whole scene is fantastic. John Normington comes very close to stealing this entire story.

Graeme Harper continues to impress with his directing as there are a couple more moments which do seem like they have been pinched from other TV shows as we don’t get to see a Doctor Who story. It’s kind of frustrating that we will go back to how things usually are in the next story. This story isn’t just great because of the director but also because of the writing. Robert Holmes really has upped his game.

The episode ends with the Doctor seemingly about to die with the ship he’s on. Another situation where the Doctor’s life is in peril. This has to be the best of the cliffhangers because it’s the closest that the story has come to getting the Doctor into his regeneration. This was a strong episode but for some reason it didn’t quite have the pace that the previous episodes have had. I am really looking forward to the final Peter Davison episode.

(620) The Caves of Androzani - Part 2

I forgot to mention that yesterdays episode got an 8.00 rating which is the first time that a Peter Davison episode has got into the 8’s and also only the 8^th episode ever to get inside the 8’s. The previous episode ended with the Doctor and Peri being shot but things are not quite what they seem. They were in fact robots but it takes about three minutes for this fact to be revealed. It’s done when the Doctor and Peri encounter Sharaz Jek. Jek seems to have developed quite the crush on Peri although it turns a bit sour when she asks why he wears a mask and he reacts rather aggressively. The description of how he became disfigured is quite grim and its nice to get a bit of an understanding of his back story.

Once Chellak realises that he has shot androids, he thinks more about his reputation and this is where Salateen starts to make sense when he is whispering in Chellak’s ear. Salateen’s reaction when he discovers that Peri and the Doctor have spectrox poisoning is rather good. After not being one of the main characters in the previous episode, it seems like Salateen takes a step forward and becomes quite the chatterbox. He reveals that there is only one way to counteract the spectrox and its very difficult (what would you expect?) to get to. It’s nice that a small seemingly unimportant scene in the previous episode seems to be snowballing into something.

Despite being behind a mask it is quite impressive how Christopher Gable is able to comes across as well as he does. It’s very similar to Magnus Grel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang in that it’s a performance that is more audio than visual. It’s the sort of role that Big Finish could have done well with.

There is a bit where Stotz plans what appears to be a suicide pill in Krelper’s mouth that turns out to be a sweet. This is another grim moment in this serial. Grim is the most common word that will appear in the review for these four episodes but it’s the only word that I can use to describe some of the moments and compared to other stories in this series it is a just word.

Graeme Harper is doing a great job of directing there are a couple of fade overs from one face to another to another. There are other good shots and some nice hand held camera work. The lighting continues to work in the favour of this story and Robert Holmes’ script continues to be a reason why this story is one of the most loved stories in the shows history.

The cliffhanger isn’t perhaps as strong as the previous one but that is hardly a surprise. It is perhaps the only thing that was weak about this episode. It’s still been a cracking episode and its nice when I struggle to come up with things that are wrong with an episode. In recent episodes I have struggled to find positives about but its nice for it to be the other way around.

(619) The Caves of Androzani - Part 1

The Caves of Androzani is one of those stories that has everything right go for it. Some people regard it as one of the best stories of Doctor Who ever and its not hard to see why. I think that there are some better stories but this is probably one of the best Davison stories. This is the 20^th and final story of Peter Davison’s tenure. It’s fair to say that the current season has been a rather mixed batch with some great stories and yet some terrible stories. Thankfully Davisnon’s era ends on a high note. The opening scene is rather grim and sets the tone for the episode.

Peri becomes entangled in some sort of web fungus which isn’t treated with any importance but becomes vital later on. The Doctor and Peri don’t have the best time in this episode because they are accused of doing something they didn’t do and the cliffhanger is them being shot by a firing squad with red cloths over their heads. The purpose of the celery that has been part of the fifth Doctor’s costume is finally explained and it was never going to be a fantastic explanation but at least an effort has ben made.

The set designs are of the same quality as those seen in Earthshock. It shows how badly wrong they got sets like Four to Doomsday and Warriors of the Deep.

John Normington is brilliant as Morgus. He does a lot of looking at the camera which is something that had never been seen in the show before. Beside that every time he is on screen he just goes for it. The character isn’t the president but acts like it. He is a very unlikeable character yet there is something to like about him. Barbara Kinghorn is the only other female performer in the story apart from Nicola Bryant and she is also works brilliantly. She is a rather on the sidelines in this episode yet she there is still a bit of magic in her performance.

Martin Cochrane plays Chellak and his role is rather standard. That might sound like a critiscm but in a weird way by being standard he manages to come across as someone that still manages to hold his own in the scenes that he was in. Christopher Gable plays the great character Sharaz Jek but thanks to Graeme Harper’s superb directing, we don’t see him properly until the end when he turns to the camera and laughs just as the Doctor and Peri are about to be executed. Jek is mentioned a lot in the episode and so he becomes this mystifcal figure even though he doesn’t actually do anything.

Graeme Harper directs his first episode of Doctor Who brilliantly. Pretty much every second on screen is superbly set up. Somethings that have never been seen in the show before showed what could be achieved in the show. Robert Holmes is an old hand at writing Doctor Who stories and he hasn’t lost any of his magic. In fact this might be his best story ever because he has written a strong story with strong characters and this opening episode pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the serial. Peter Davison’s final story isn’t going to be a joy finale but what it looks like its going to be is a classic classic.

(618) Planet of Fire - Part 4

It’s clear that Peter Grimwade has saved the best until last because this is where so much is crammed into 25 minutes that I wonder why he waited until now to show it to us. Considering that this is Turloughs final episode it should come as now surprise that he features quite a lot in this episode. I cant remember the last time that a companion’s departure was so much a part of the story. There is a nice reference to Turlough’s first story when its revealed that people from Trion were on all worlds and the solicitor mentioned in Mawdryn Undead was from Trion. Sarn is a prison planet and Turlough’s father was being sent there which was a nice bit of back story and it gives a good feasible reason why Turlough had been put in exile.

The business with the mini-Master inside the TARDIS is quite good and some good effects used. In fact there were a few good special effects moments and Fiona Cumming did well in making these work. The effects of the great fire is something that looks slightly dated by 2015 standards but it still look rather good. The final scene with the Master is quite good because it seems to suggest that the Master is the Doctor’s brother. It also seems to suggest that this might be the last time we see the Master.

The Master is going to use the regenerative powers of the fire to help him get back to normal size. I have to give Grimwade credit for this because it was a problem that the Master needed to sort out and it wasn’t convoluted like most plans involving the Master are. Anthony Ainley has really done it all in this serial and I was impressed with the several scenes involving him in. Kamelion’s ‘death’ was a little bit sad but he has still been a useless companion. I am reluctant to use the word companion because Adrienne Hill appeared in more episodes and had a better impact that Kamelion. Grimwade also deserves some credit for using Kamelion in a way that was practical.

Turlough’s final scene is very sad and it does seem like Mark Strickson is sad to be leaving. Whether this was the case is up for debate but is obvious is that Mark Strickson did well with a character that was pretty empty and it wasn’t until this story that something was added to it. This has been a story that got better as it went along and I think that Peter Grimwade managed to make it work in the end but I maintain that he was a better director than writer. Fiona Cumming’s last story was one that was directed well.

It’s weird to think that there is just one story left in the Peter Davison era. It does seem to have gone fast and I think that the best of the Davison has been saved until last. The transition period is almost over but I think that it’s going a lot better than the Tom Baker transition.

(617) Planet of Fire - Part 3

The penultimate episode of Turlough’s time on the show is marked improvement on the previous two episodes. There is one thing that doesn’t happen in this episode that has in the previous two and that is some location footage of Lanzarote. I know that the story doesn’t suffer because of it but I like seeing it and thought that it added something to the story.

There is a great deal of time in this episode dealing with the Hall of Fire and this actually works out quite well in the context of the episode which is something that surprised me after being less than impressed until now. Narrative wise it seems that Peter Grimwade has finally got a handle on this story and is trying to make up for the lack of drama that there has been so far.

The reaction Malkon gives when he is shot is a bit silly. The thing about this group of characters from Sarn is that they just seem a bit too primitive and had this been set on earth during the middle ages then this might make sense but to be honest with everything else going on there wasn’t much time for me to be bothered by them. The stuff with the Master is easily the most interesting but I think that the stuff with Malkon is more interesting than it has been. I don’t know if that’s because the Doctor, Turlough, Peri and the Master are involved but something has changed. Something else that has become more noticeable is Turlough. I pointed out that this basically his story and he starts to become a stronger character in this episode. I like the droplets of information that seem to be coming out and it is still frustrating that we are only just getting some information about this character now. I think that had we had something in his opening story or some stories between then I think that Turlough would have ranked higher in people’s opinion.

The mystery of the Master is finally revealed at the end of the episode but there is a nice build up because there is a mysterious box that is wheeled into the Master’s TARDIS. There is some wonderful thinking in realising the Masters TARDIS and that is by simply painting the Doctor’s TARIDS console room black. The Master has been reduced to the size of a doll. This is quite a good cliffhanger and it ended what has been a greatly improved episode. It does at last feel like its building up to something which is something that I thought was missing from this story.

(616) Planet of Fire - Part 2

The business with the Kamelion Master and Peri is quite interesting. There is another fun scene where Peri says that she can shout just as loudly as anyone else. With the amount that Peri has to endure just in the first few minutes of this episode would send most people mad. She also has a rather torrid time when she slips down a steep bank. As far as debuts go, Peri has had the toughest one. She must have run around most of Lanzarote during the course of this episode.

One of the few things that this story has going for it is the small matter of what is happening to Turlough and Kamelion. I have been more interested with Kamelion in these two episodes than the first time Kamelion appeared. There is a mystery because we see Kamelion Master and yet we see the Master in another room.  The mystery of Turlough’s past continues with Turlough revealing that he is a chosen one. Turlough is taken to a ship that he believes belonged to his father. Why couldn’t more effort have been put into his backstory before this story. It’s one of the many frustrating things about this period of the show.

I still cant be bothered with the inhabitants of Sarn. They don’t seem have bothered to come up with any mode of transport to get around. They are all quite suspicious of the fire which is fine but its not enough to carry a story. Peter Wyngarde seems to be playing Timanov like he’s a character from a Shakespeare play. Sadly this story isn’t as interesting as any of the Bard’s plays.

The Master acts like some sort of American Preacher and its fun to see Ainley do this. The fact that we have waited until the latter stages of this episode is somewhat annoying bearing in mind how little the story has grabbed me so far. Again, this episode works because of the location filming. At the half way stage I find myself being somewhat disengaged with what I am seeing in this story. I think that despite the best efforts of Fiona Cumming and her excellent location footage this story seems to be continue the trend that this season which is rather inconsistent.

 

(615) Planet of Fire Part 1

Planet of Fire is the penultimate adventure for Peter Davison as the Doctor. It’s the middle of the transitional period of Doctor Who and so with the departure of one companion, there must be a new one. This marks the first story to feature Nicola Bryant as Peri. This story is also the final one for Mark Strickson as Turlough. Despite this being Peri’s first story, its definelty Turlough’s story as we finally get some back story about him. This story is famous perhaps for the fact that filming took place in Lanzarote. This is also the final story to be directed by the recently deceased Fiona Cumming. I have always thought that Cumming was one of the strongest directors in Doctor Who and she has perhaps ended her tenure on the show in fine fashion.

The story takes place of Sarn which doesn’t look like the most habitable of planets that the show has visited. We are introduced to two people on a journey but to be honest I find all the stuff that takes place on Sarn to be a  bit boring. The only releveance that it has to the story is that it has links to Turlough but that’s it.It’s five minutes before the Doctor and Turlough make an appearance. The first scene sees the Doctor annoyed at the Daleks and the loss of Tegan and then its ruined by the appearance of Kamelion who hadn’t been seen since The Kings Demons. Not one word has been mentioned about it until now. As much as I have really disliked this character at least they have gone to the trouble of writing him out instead of never mentioning him again which must have been very tempting.

I like Peri’s first scene. It’s not over the top and not understated. She has a nice scene with her step-father after she announces that she’s going to Morroco in an idea that doesn’t seem like it would be out of place in one of the Taken films. This episode (and indeed the story) is perhaps famous for the panning up shot of Nicola Bryant in her bikini. It’s clear from the beginning that she wasn’t destined to be a strong companion bearing in mind how after a moment in the sea, she needs to be rescued by Turlough.

Howard appears in the TARDIS but in a suit and acts like he’s seen the Doctor before. Peri doesn’t question why he’s change costume. This mystery doenst last long as Kamelion Howard has changed into the Master and this is the cliffhanger. It’s quite a good cliffhanger but the problem is that after 25 minutes, there isn’t anything that stands out at what the point of the story is. As this is a Peter Grimwade story this isn’t too much of a surprise because as I have mentioned before, he is a much better director than writer. It is looking like it will be one of this better efforts but at the moment this story is standing out more for its location filming than anything else.

(614) Resurrection of the Daleks - Part 2

So this is the final episode for Janet Fielding who is bowing out of the show after 64 episodes. She is the eighth longest serving companion and has appeared in 12 episodes more than Carole Ann Ford.  After being impressed with the first episode there was a fear on my part that it would have lost something in the concluding part but it’s a relief to say that this isn’t the case. The Stien truth s comes across quite good. Rodney Bewes is brilliant in this episode as during the course of the episode he becomes the hero of the adventure. He is the one that presses the self-destruct button. His death sort of happens thanks to the Daleks but it’s the last action of pressing the button is a nice moment.

Turlough’s new friends start the episode in the chamber for the self-destruct device. Turlough and Mercer seem to spend most of the time bickering which isn’t the best thing to do considering that there isn’t the time. In normal circumstances I would have really disliked Mercer for just being annoying but with every going on there wasn’t the time be bothered by him.

Tegan and Laird do a feeble attempt to pretend that Tegan is sleeping in the bed but instead use one of the capsules. I really do think that the character of Laird is very good and Chloe Ashcroft does a good enough job but ultimately it’s a rather poor character. Her death is something that Tegan finds sad but I just found her to be a bit of a redundant character and as such her death didn’t bother me.

The Daleks are going to duplicate the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough to go back to Gallifrey and assassinate the high council. This might be a little bit convoluted but compared to some of their plans, this is probably one of their best. The problem in Destiny of the Daleks is that the Daleks don’t look in the best of condition and the all looked tatty and tired. Whereas fast forward to this story and they look great and the colour scheme is very much like the traditional ones. Davros clearly doesn’t trust the Supreme Dalek 100% because he manages to get two Daleks to work for him. There is another flashback for the Doctor as we see all (or most) of the companions that the Doctor has travelled with including previous incarnations.  I always think that is fun when they sort of things happen and it’s better than the one used in Earthshock.

The scene where Tegan is running from the policemen who in turn shoot a stranger with a metal detector on the bank of the Thames is quite grim and I think that this is the moment when Tegan decides that she doesn’t find travelling in the TARDIS as much fun as she use to. After being somewhat side-lined in the previous episode, its good that Janet Fielding gets to be a bit more active.

We have to wait until the half hour mark before the Doctor gets to encounter Davros. There isn’t quite the chaotic feel to their scene that there was between Tom Baker and Michael Wisher or David Gooderson. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good performance and both Terry Molloy and Peter Davison match each other but there is just something different in this encounter.

The Doctor decides that he is going to kill Davros. Anybody who has been watching this show for a long time will know that the Doctor would never kill Davros so it’s quite a brave/silly thing to do to have the Doctor put in this situation. The alliance between Lytton and the Daleks really starts to unravel as the situation during the episode gets worst and the Daleks realise that Lytton isn’t quite the mastermind they thought he was.

It’s always good when Daleks decide to blow seven lumps out of each other. It is something that will happen in future Dalek stories but there are a few moments in this episode where it happens and its short but sweet.

The Daleks in the warehouse are defeated with the movellan virus. It is perhaps not the greatest way that they would be defeated but considering that its not the main area of action it is perhaps understandable that the Daleks didn’t get the perfect ending. The supreme Dalek’s appearance on the TARDIS scanner screen  is quite good but he tells the Doctor that some of his duplicates are placed in “strategic places”. This is a rather silly thing because its clear that the plan has been stopped. However you have to give it to the Daleks that they never throw in the towel even when its obvious that they should.

Lytton manages to escape by simply walking out. He obviously makes a return in a few stories time but I think that Lytton has been a good villain. I think its funny how he just walks off into the distance with two of his officers. Davros is stopped in his tracks by being affected by the movellan virus. It’s implied when Stien blows up the prison ship that Davros has been killed but obviously they wouldn’t kill him off like that. Terry Molloy has been very good in these two episodes and its easy to see why he returned for two further adventures.

I really liked Tegan’s departure scene. After everything that has happened during this story it is perhaps understandable that she doesn’t want to go on. It’s been a long time since a companion has had anything approaching a good departure. She decides that as its stopped being fun that she wants to leave and I think that her final words were a fitting end. “Brave Heart Tegan, I will miss you”. Really couldn’t have ended it any better. Tegan has been a really good character and have developed quite a lot since Logopolis. Her finest story was Kinda and even in Snakedance she still gave a solid performance.  It’s weird to think that it would be 22 years before she would return to play the role for Big Finish.

Resurrection of the Daleks is one of the strongest Dalek stories for a long time. In fact its one of the best Peter Davison stories and it missed the top 10 and at the moment is currently placed in 14^th place and also in terms of ratings it is better than Genesis of the Daleks and only Mission to the Unknown rates higher. I think that this was a great Dalek story and it does feel like the transition period that there was during Tom Baker’s final few stories is happening again. It’s weird to think that there are just two stories left featuring Peter Davison.

(613) Resurrection of the Daleks - Part 1

Resurrection of the Daleks is a story that should have gone out as a four part adventure to mark the departure of Tegan, however due to the 1984 Winter Olympics this was reduced to two forty-five minutes episodes which was in effect a trial for what would happen in the next season. Technically this was the first Dalek story since they made a cameo appearance in The Five Doctors but really their last story was Destiny of the Daleks back in 1979.

The opening shot is very grim and dank which is probably how things felt in 1984 (I wasn’t even 1 when this episode aired so I wouldn’t know). The setting of the police shooting innocent people is something that is still quite shocking. It was filmed at Shad Thames and the Doctor comments that it was once bustling with life and Tegan replies with that it might be once again and she is right because if you watch the documentary you will see that it has become quite a trendy place to visit. Lytton comes across in the early stages of the episode as the boss and the one coming up with the plan but once the Daleks appear, he loses a bit of that authority vibe and just goes back to being a slave of the Daleks.

The story is set in two places. 1984 London and a prison space ship. Firstly there is a mystery about the time corridor that the Doctor, Turlough and Tegan encountered in Frontios. It doesn’t take long for the Doctor to realise who is behind it and from that moment the story is off to the races.

The Daleks’ first appearance in the episode comes just fifteen minutes into the story and comes after a huge explosion which shows where the budget was going. It’s not immediately clear why they are there because their invasion plans tend to take place on a planetary scale. It doesn’t take very long for this to be revealed. They have arrived there to free Davros who had been cryogenically frozen in Destiny of the Daleks. I like how Davros is clearly being awkward. Lytton wants Davros to go back onto his ship and yet Davros wont budge. The Daleks want Davros to think that they are working for him but in reality they are going to try and use him for their own ends.

This episode has a great deal of famous faces. Firstly there is Rodney Bewes who plays Stein. Bewes is perhaps most famous for appearing in The Likely Lads (1964-66) and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads (1973-74). Stein is a character that has a stammer which is something that becomes relevant later on. Rula Lenska has been in a huge number of things including playing Mrs Peacock in the ITV game show Cluedo. She plays a character called Styles who doesn’t really care about the things that are going on around her and the sub-standards that they are working in. Maurice Colbourne had appeared in such things as The Day of the Triffids (1981) and The Onedin Line (1979). Leslie Grantham has a rather supporting supporting role as Kiston. Grantham would go on to play Dirty Den in Eastenders (1985-1989 & 2003-2005).

Mercer is someone who thinks that he can changes things on the space station which is perhaps naïve considering that there is very little evidence that people around him don’t feel the same. It’s a good performance from Jim Findley and he has some good war of words with Lenska’s Styles. Terry Molloy becomes the third actor to play Davros. I think that his performance of the evil genius is perhaps the craziest version that we see. It’s one that immediately captures my attention and it’s a good idea that Molloy hasn’t tried to copy what Michael Wisher had done and just done what a new actor would do in playing the Doctor and that is give the character a new style but still make it seem like the same Davros that David Gooderson played.

Lighting has been one the big problems during the Davison era but the levels of lighting that are used in this story seem to mirror what was seen during Earthshock. There are moments where the lighting is a bit brighter but its not to the level of Warriors of the Deep. The Prison Ship is where the main action takes place and it’s a good group of sets and even the warehouse sets are dark and dirty so it kind of raises the question as to why the sets were so brightly lit for most of the stories.

It’s clear where the cliffhanger was suppose to take place had this been a 25 minute episode. It would have happened when the Dalek appears in the warehouse. As a result that this isn’t a 25 minute episode it means that there is a weird feeling about this particular moment because it clearly looks like a cliffhanger but the resolvement doesn’t really work and then its forgotten in a moment.

Tegan gets a bump on the head and this pretty much renders her incapacitated for most of the story. Considering that this is her final story, I would have thought that they would have had her involved in the story a bit more in this story. Peter Davison spends most of the episode in the warehouse looking around for the contents of the Dalek. It’s a bit disappointing really but on a positive note he does get to fire a gun at it when it is under a blanket. When he does eventually leave he takes Stein with him in the TARDIS but this doesn’t happen until just before the end of the episode. Mark Strickson gets to be the most active when he accidentally ventures onto the prison ship. He ends up joining Mercer and Styles to try and blow up the prison ship.

The proper cliffhanger is quite good because its Stein pointing a gun on the Doctor and reveals that he is a Dalek agent.  It was a good way to end the episode and I think I am going to like the 45 minute format. The issue with the cliffhanger that never was isn’t something that can really be blamed on the production crew cause they didn’t know what would happen so they did the best they could. As a story so far, it is quite good with a vibe to it that has been missing from the show since the last Cyberman story and it looks like one of the strongest Dalek stories since Genesis.

(612) Frontios - Part 4

I was hoping that the episode would do its job of ending this episode in the way that it should. However despite it working, one thing I can say is that it didn’t have the feel that this was quite the epic finale that it should have been. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty to like about this episode but there was just something missing that I was hoping would be there. Something that is there in this episode is a bit of meat about the story of the tractators. We learn that the tractators basically lured them into a false sense of security by letting them settle for a decade before bombarding the planet with asteroids. This shows a sense that they are quite clever and are also very patient.

Bits of the TARDIS start popping up which shows that the show is starting to build to a finale. It seems like the next couple of minute are a bit of a rush job because the Doctor tries to lure the Gravis away. I actually like inside the TARDIS with bits of rock appearing all over. It adds something to the console room and it’s a shame that we return to the bright white layout. There is one shot where the Gravis appears to be nibbling on the side of the TARDIS console which I thought was quite amusing. The fact that the tractators are basically harmless when the Gravis is separated from them is quite a good idea and one that lends itself very well to the story. Sadly we don’t see the Doctor dumping it on a random world but I suppose its not really relevant to the story. The cliffhanger of the episode is suppose to lead into the Daleks’ return and so it’s a very intriguing way to end the episode and the story.

Frontios has really impressed me with just how good the performances and also the story has surprised me. I think that at the moment this may go down as one of the strongest Peter Davison stories and its definelty one of those which has changed in my opinion. After a rocky start to the twenty-first season, its fair to say that Frontios has been the first good story of the season and I genuinely didn’t think I would be writing that before I started this.

(611) Frontios - Part 3

The good form that this story seems to be going through continues with this episode. I haven’t been this surprised with a story since Kinda. The thing I didn’t mention was that the pink effect used in the cliffhanger and in this reprise does look rather dated. It’s one of the few (maybe only) dud effect that the show has had. It’s good that Tegan gets to save the day when freeing the Doctor and Norna. The supporting characters continue to impress with Brazen being the standout performance. Norna is also a good character that could easily have become a companion after this story, that is how good Lesley Dunlop has been during this story. I also quite liked William Lucas as Range, his character has been consistently good.

The tractators don’t really shine in the early stages of this episode but once they start speaking then they seem to improve greatly. I like the voice used as it seems to mix well with the design. It would have been nice for them to be involved in the story before now because there is clearly a story behind them and it could have worked out quite well into the story. It makes the threat that they pose over the humans even greater and something to look forward to in the final episode.

We learn a bit more about Turlough’s madness. He has experienced them before on his home planet. At first I was quite unsure with how the tractators managed to cause any problems. Despite this its fair to say that this is definitely Turlough’s episode as he gives another superb performance. Even though she’s not on the same level as Turlough, Tegan has one of her better episodes but I don’t think that she is given a great deal to do so it shows how hard Janet Fielding is working to make something out of nothing.

The appearance of Captain Revere is the cliffhanger which is lacking on drama but I like the visual and that is the main thing about this episode is that it lacks something dramatic there is still something great to watch. I do think that there is a lot for the final episode to achieve and I hope that it doesn’t disappoint because so far the work that has been done has been really impressive and I am perhaps more impressed that it’s a Christopher H Bidmead script more than anything.

(610) Frontios - Part 2

I like the idea that the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are basically forced to live on an alien world. The idea also that they cant just get up a leave is also something that works well for me. The episode starts off well enough but seems to take an unexpected shift in tone (for about a minute). Turlough threatens the people with the coat stand because they believe that the coat stand is the thing that’s causing the trouble. Who says that Christopher H Bidmead can’t do comedy and is obsessed with being 100% scientific? Clearly the years have mellowed him.

The whole business of Plantagenet about to die is something that works quite well. It ends with the Doctor saving his life and Plantagenet starting to believe that the Doctor is there for good. I like how Plantagenet starts to act a bit strange just moments later when he involuntary rolls onto the ground. His falling into the ground which is similar to what was seen at the beginning of the previous episode is a bit of surprising thing. Plantagenet’s change in attitude would normally happen in a later episode so it’s a bit of a relief that it happened when it did I have also grown to like Brazen in this story. Peter Gilmore has a bit of a odd position in this story because he is clearly the strongest character in the serial but has to try and not outshine Plantagenet.

Norna and Turlough spend the episode together and go on a bit of an adventure where we are introduced to some slug looking creatures which Turlough names Tractators. For some reason this causes Turlough to have a bit of a nervous breakdown. This is perhaps the first time since the Guardian Trilogy ended that Turlough has shown any character development and its great to see Strickson get to do something other than just be in the background.  Even Janet Fielding seems to be a bit more active in this story. She is actually trying to piece things together.

The tractators don’t have the greatest start to a story. All they seem to do is wander around and then put some pick ray over the Doctor and forcing him to move next to Lorna. It’s not a particularly good cliffhanger by any means but I still enjoyed the episode and think that after two episodes there is still plenty to like. Christopher H Bidmead has managed to see that the show has moved in the short time that he has been away from the show and has developed his story telling skills. Two episodes in and I think that this is still a strong story and easily the best story of the season (so far).

(609) Frontios - Part 1

Back to four parters and the return of Christopher H Bidmead who was the script editor for about 10 minutes in Tom Baker’s final season and wrote Castrovalva. I have never really had much fondness for this story but if there has been one repeating pattern over the period that I have been doing this marathon is that there is the possibility that my opinion might change. I have to confess that the omens for this story are very good. The opening scene is quite good and ends with a body disappearing. The first scene that sees the Doctor, Turlough and Tegan (thankfully no Kamelion) is a strange one because it doesn’t have any drama to it. Even when things seem to be going wrong then the Doctor didn’t show it. The Doctor doesn’t want to land but this is a clear sign that they are about to do this. It’s the standard TV thing of doing the opposite of what people say or do.

The Doctor goes from telling Range that he couldn’t get involved to basically offering his assistance. All in the space of one scene. He does make his stance more clear when he says to Plantagenet that he is going to leave as soon as possible. Plantagenet is played (brilliantly) by Jeff Rawle. Plantagenet seems to be enjoying his dictatorship but there is a part of this performance which suggests that there is an internal struggle. He doesn’t trust the Doctor and this that the stuff his father did for the colony is very important. Lesley Dunlop appears in this story, she would go on to appear in May to December (1989-1994) and has appeared in Emmerdale since 2008. In this she plays Lorna who is quite a nice character and nice characters are few a far between.

The story of the colonists is a nice one explained by Range. It turns out that they didn’t start the problems but a mystery force is wreaking havoc. The planet is being bombarded by meteors and something that isn’t referred to is that there isn’t any wood around. It’s all metal and I think that the whole planet is rather grim which probably plays into what Bidmead is trying to do with this story. Ron Jones returns to the directing chair after his previous attempt in the form of Arc of Infinity and he directs this episode in a solid way and its pace works quite well.

The cliffhanger is rather good because if you were watching this for the first time in 1984 then you genuinely wouldn’t see it coming. The TARDIS has been destroyed and all that survives in a white handstand that was given more screentime than would have been the norm. I like it as a visual symbol and what it represents. It’s a sound opening episode and I am really surprised that I have liked this episode as much as I have. After being somewhat bored with The Awakening, its nice that something of note has happened.

(608) The Awakening - Part 2

This story really doesn’t have anything going for it. Being a science fiction show it is not that surprising when non-science fiction stuff and on occasion it does it rather well. Sadly when the story cant quite make up its mind then that is when problems tend to arise and boy do they appear in this episode. It does seem like this story is more concerned with Sir George’s actions rather the Malus. Now I know that the two are connected by I think that as there are only two episodes then there isn’t really the time to split the story.

I wish we had had more of the Malus because it was quite a good creature and I think that more time should have been put aside to explain what it was and why it was there because it did seem a bit rushed. The Malus appearing in the TARDIS towards the latter stages of the episode is quite good. There is a good bit of CSO to realise this and its one of the few successes in the entire story. I honestly don’t remember how it was defeated because I was so disconnected with what I was seeing on screen that I am at a loss to explain it. The ooze coming from the Malus’ mouth is quite grim, another death which is perhaps stronger than it needed to be. Also the Trooper’s death was perhaps more shocking considering that you don’t actually get to see it.

The Malus’s destruction in the church is quite dramatic but the thing about blowing up church models is that it will never look as good as the one in The Daemons which really did look impressive and that was 12 years before this story aired. Ok so I think that on reflection this is an average story. No, forget that it’s a terrible story and just think how bad it would have been had it been four episodes long.

What makes the past two episodes even more frustrating is that Resurrection of the Daleks aired in two parts when it could have been shown in its intended four episode format. I know that this option is available on the DVD but it just shows that clear problems with the script should have meant that this story was cancelled and the Daleks story was extended but that’s all in the past and The Awakening exists but I think that the two episode format (as it is) thankfully ends but out of the three that there have been during the Davison era, this is by far the worst and that’s saying something considering how little there was in The Kings Demons.

(607) The Awakening - Part 1

I’ve decided (suddenly) that I don’t like two parters. I think that it’s got something to do with the fact that its simply not long enough to tell a proper story. There are plenty of examples of four parters that should have been two (such as Warriors of the Deep) but there aren’t any two part stories that I thought would have benefited from being a four parter. Warning, there is going to be a bit of history in todays review.

The episode does start off with a nice sequence of horse running. The location filming is rather good in this episode and its nice when there is this amount of filming in nice surroundings. This was filmed in July 1983 and the parts of Dorset that is used look really nice and one of the few positives that I take from this is the location filming.

The Doctor is trying to take Tegan to visit her grandfather. Though of course this story would be very good if this were the case. Not only Tegan get to meet her grandfather but by the end of the episode she is about to be the Queen of the May. Her costume that she wears at this point is possibly the best thing that she has worn since her air hostess costume from season 18.

Now here’s the history bit. The village is involved in War Games led by Sir George who is quite obsessed with ensuring history is remembered. There is a particular date in history Battle of Roundway Down which tookplace on July 13^th 1643 during the English Civil War which saw Lord Wilmot win over the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller in Wiltshire.

There is a moment which sees the Doctor in peril and saved by Will Chandler who by the looks of it could have been seen as a future companion. There is a nice bit where Will is looking at gravestones which seems like a nice bonding moment between the two. It’s clear that there is some potential for the character because it is intellectually the same as Leela although the limitations of having a character not know things and I think that after a short time it would have got a bit tiresome. The performances from the regulars aren’t really that good or bad. I think that the material doesn’t really allow them to do very much.

The episode ends with the crack in the wall in the church made even bigger and a face with green eyes appearing. It then engulfs the Doctor in smoke. This is a fairly good cliffhanger but its fair to say that this has been a largely unforgettable episode. I think that there was about five minutes of interesting stuff surrounded by 20 minutes of people running around, galloping on horses and more running around. This is perhaps the upside of there being two episodes is that at least it will be over tomorrow.

(606) Warriors of the Deep - Part 4

This is the fourth and final episode which does do what I hoped it would do at the end of the previous review and that is to save the story and boy does it do it in style. It’s hard for me to imagine just how bad the story started off and one reason why things picked up is that the Myrka doesn’t feature and that is a blessed relief because it means that my focus can move onto the important stuff. After spending an awfully long time getting ready, the Silurians are ready to put their plan into operation. The sad thing about what happens with the Silurians is that it is made less effective by the voice.

The Silurians want to use the base to launch a war so that the countries go to war with each other. Considering that they are suppose to be peace loving creature, its quite a change in character although they have been through quite a lot so maybe its not that surprising. I think as a design, the Silurians are a moderate success. I like the headlight that indicates which one of them were speaking but sadly the speech was something the just didn’t work. I think they could have turned it down a bit which would have helped. The Sea Devils didn’t need to come back because they lost any of the menace that they had during their debut story 12 years earlier.

The Doctor does try and find a peaceful way of ending things. When told he should kill the Silurians and sea devils he gets quite angry and it harks back to the days of Jon Pertwee which I thought was nice. It’s hard to be the Doctor in this episode because with time running out he is being nagged at by Tegan, Turlough and the others. The sadness that the Doctor shows on the last shot of the episode shows something that I don’t think I have seen during the Peter Davison era which is surprising considering that this is his 15^th story as Doctor. This is one of the strongest performances from Peter Davison for sometime. Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson haven’t been mentioned a great deal during this story but to be honest they haven’t really done anything of any note.

The gooey death that a Sea Devil goes through is quite grim and is in keeping with how deaths were done during this period of the show. What makes their death (along with the Silurians) is that they were warned to leave but refused to and so it could be argued that they only had themselves to blame so it’s a slightly confusing ending for them. It’s a shame that after over a decade away that things didn’t come together to make this story work. I know that there were circumstances that meant the show was never going to work as well as it should but the second half of this story helps salvage this and at the moment I have given this story a rating that places it above Four to Doomsday, The Kings Demons, Snakedance and Time-Flight. This is probably a fair position.

The show has quite a grim ending with all the Silurians, sea devils and the human dead. Only the regulars are alive which is the first time this has happened since Horror of Fang Rock. The opening story of the season doesn’t quite have the impact that maybe Arc of Infinity had and so its fair to say that the twenty-first season of Doctor Who has gotten off to an average start.

(605) Warriors of the Deep - Part 3

The first couple of minutes are excruciatingly bad. As you might have guessed its largely down to the Myrka. There are some laughable moments including a bit where about four of the seabase crew die in a rather OTT manner. Production problems include the door and the green paint that appears on Tegan. There is also the small matter of the Silurians costumes that have come untucked. It’s mentioned in the making of feature on the DVD that due to Margaret Thatcher calling a snap general election, JNT had a choice of either not making this story or making this story earlier than he would have liked. I think that on hindsight he should have postponed this because it would have given time for things to be made properly and the studio sets lit properly.

The entrance of the Sea Devils is quite good as its done in a slow way and not ruined by the incidental music. Also the black coloured Sea Devils against the White floors and walls work quite well. I still think that the Sea Devils should be the leader. This episode features one of the most ludicrous things ever (and I do mean ever) to be seen in a Doctor Who episode. For some reason, Ingrid Pitt decided to do a ninja kick on the Myrka rather than run away. It’s unclear as to whether she knew it would electrify her but it doesn’t get away from it. It’s a shame as well that her character had to die because she was the best thing in it.

The stuff with Maddox has been part of the story since the beginning but to be honest it hadn’t really gripped me. Today it seemed to although I am still a bit lost as to why its happening. Nilson seems to be quite a good villain. Solow was a fun person to watch but not a believable villain. One thing is for sure about Maddox (Martin Neil) is much less annoying when he wasn’t freaking out. The supporting cast on a whole were much better but I think that some of the annoying characters have gone to me their maker, they are an ex-supporting character.

The cliffhanger wasn’t particularly memorable but considering how good the This episode was the best one of the three which isn’t a hard thing to achieve but I think that the final episode might just save the day. It’s a big ask but I think that there is a possibility that this wont be the disaster that I was predicting at the beginning of episode one.

(604) Warriors of the Deep - Part 2

The previous episode ended with the Doctor being pushed over the railing and into the water and it wasn’t perhaps the best way to end the episode but it shows that cliffhangers can be improved when we see what happens next.

The diving sequence is quite impressive and not something that has been seen before in Doctor Who. In fact the first couple of minutes is quite interesting. I was genuinely thinking that this episode might change my opinion of this story because even after the first scene with the Sea Devils and the Silurians I thought things were picking up. Sadly things with the crew of the sea base start to take any fun that there was out of the story.

It was interesting to see that the Sea Devils would obey the Silurians. It would have been nice though to see a bit of conflict or tension leading up to them bowing to the Silurians. I still cant take the Silurians serious when they have huge smiles on their faces. It does slightly seriously ruin any chance they could have of coming across as a serious threat. The Sea Devils on the other hand are dressed in black and sound like they did in 1972 and so would have been the better choice.

Just after the midway point of the episode there is another mention of the Myrka. This is one of those instances where I wish I could go back in time and change the decision to include it in this story because its at this point of the story that the production problems start to appear on screen. When the Myrka breaks through the doors are really rubbish and look like plastic or rubber. The door ‘falls’ on Tegan and in the real world that door would have broken or shattered her leg into thousands of pieces yet she shows little to no real pain. The doors bend with tremendous ease and the problems are just starting but more of that in the next episode.

So far the story isn’t terrible but the things that are wrong are going to cause more problems. It’s a shame that Johnny Byrne’s story is being let down by some poor decision in the production. Any potential that this story had seems to disappeared in just this one episode. Well at least there are just two more episodes but its going to feel like twenty.

(603) Warriors of the Deep - Part 1

This is the first story of the 21^st season and it sees the return of the Silurians and the Sea Devils. After enjoying the 20^th Anniversary story, it was always going to be difficult to keep up the excitement. This is a story that has a lot of problems which I will come to later. Johnny Byrne is the writer of this story and I like Johnny as a writer because he wrote The Keeper of Traken and Arc of Infinity which are sound stories. The Silurians make their first appearance just under two minutes into the episode. It’s surprising that the Silurians are introduced so quickly. Normally when a familiar monster returns it doesn’t happen until the end. Sadly they don’t look as good as they did in Doctor Who and the Silurians. I like the light flashing on their head when they speak but the voice is rather poor.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough spend the first half of the episode trying not to be blown up but once they manage to avoid that they land in the under-sea base. The base itself is one that lends itself to feelings of its time in that there was the threat of war. This is a good idea and its one that Johnny Byrne has used well. Sadly the problem is that it has been filled with people who aren’t particularly believable as under sea personnel. The only person that has any value to them is the late Ingrid Pitt who makes the best of her role by pretending that she’s in some sort of 1970’s Hammer Horror film with that odd accent.

The Sea Devils’ make-over has been more successful because they appear to be a samurai-style costume but I like how they are kneeling on the floor. Whereas the Silurians appeared at the beginning, the Sea Devil’s don’t appear until the end which felt more like a Doctor Who story. It’s clear that the Silurians are the leaders of the story which I cant quite make my mind up  whether this is a good thing or not but I suppose time will tell on that one.

The thing about this episode is that large chunks of it are quite interesting but I feel like there are other things which don’t quite work such as the rather clunky 1980’s style computer graphics and also I think that such people as Maddox just make the sea base seem like its not that important. This might me being too harsh but when Ingrid Pitt isn’t on screen then I don’t really care about the rest of them.

The cliffhanger is rather impressive and one of the better ones for sometime. He is pushed over the railings and Turlough immediately thinks he has drowned. It’s quite a dramatic and unexpected way to end the episode considering it started off quite quiet for the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough. As opening episodes go its not the worst but its not the cracking opener it should be. It seems to me that this will be an average story at best. Maybe when the Silurians and Sea Devils get involved then my opinion of this story might improve but I still think that after The Five Doctors that anything was going to struggle to match it.