(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.

(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.

(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.

 

(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.  

(564) Kinda - Part 3

The third episode of this story is one that is a bit difficult to really but not because its boring or uninteresting but just because I found a lot of it on a level that I don’t understand. The episode starts off with us finding out the contents of what was in the box and some might be disappointed with it just being a puppet but I thought that in the context of the episoe that it was quite a fun resolvement. The thing about this episode is that it features very little of Tegan. In fact apart from a couple of quick shots of her on the floor asleep, she plays no involvement in the development of the plot which I thought was a rather bizarre thing to do for a character that has been so integral to the plot.

Adric spends his time trying to get out of playing games with Sanders and Hindle. Speaking of Hindle, he continues to be fantastic in this episode and what makes his performance so strong is that he gets to act against Todd who is just as barmy and I just think that this is the sort of double act that Big Finish could make a series out of these two. Adric is great in this episode and I thought that despite not actually doing anything he somehow manages to keep himself busy. The Doctor spends his time with Todd and they seem to steer the narrative of the episode and by the end they find themselves in sort of weird psycadelic world where they are watching over events. It’s another barmy moment but visually its an impressive sight and there isn’t a moment which I found myself bored with what was going on.

A big improvement came in the form of Aris who in the previous episode wasn’t convincing as the Mara but in this episode I thought that he was much better in this episode and was believeable as a baddie. This episode saw the introduction of the Trickster who I (and maybe you) have seen as the Landlord in the BBC sitcom ‘Bottom’ and as a teacher in ‘Grange Hill’ from 1990 to 2002. The Trickster is a character that fits in very well with this story.

I really liked the episode and though that it was building up to a thrilling conclusion. The performances were strong and the whole thing was directed very well and the thing about this story is that despite it being filmed entirely in a studio and there being things talked about that I either don’t understand or don’t care about, I still think that this is one of the strongest stories of the season so far after the wobble that was ‘Four to Doomsday’ its clear that the new series is going to survive not just a new Doctor but a new style in transmitting.

(563) Kinda - Part 2

The thing about this story is that whilst I may not understand all the bits and pieces about whats going on I can still say that I am enjoying it. This second episode is still just as bonkers as the first. The episode introduces two new characters who are quite integral to the story (well one of them anyway). The first is Panna who according to the information text on my DVD, appeared in the original version of ‘The Prisoner’. Anyway as Panna, she gives a rather dignified yet mesmorising performance and I liked her as a character. She was with Karuna who is a young girl and is basically Panna’s eyes. They are only really in the episode in order to give Sanders a box. The effect used when he looks inside the box is very good although I thought that Sanders’ contribution was a bit flat.

There are two performances which really stand out but before I mention them I have to talk about Nyssa because due to what is going on from start to finish, I didn’t think about Nyssa until I was writing this review. It shows just how unnecessary having three companions is. The two performances were Janet Fielding and Simon Rouse. Both give fantastic performances for different reasons. Fielding’s performance is great because it starts off as a rather scared Tegan where she is talking to herself (quite literally) and then by the end she has become the human form of the Mara. When she wakes up back on Deva Loka, she gives one of her best performances ever and she seems to be having the time of her life. The performance that Rouse gives is arguably one of the greatest in Doctor Who. His madness is unlike anything that has really been seen in Doctor Who before or since.

If I had to make one critiscm of the episode it would be that I didn’t find Aris convincing when he had the Mara on him. Considering he spent the previous episode and most of this episode as a mute then it would have been best to keep him that way because he just doesn’t really work as anything else. That is really as bad as it got because the cliffhanger wasn’t bad. The fact that Todd ended the episode screaming might be a bit bad but I thought that considering she hasn’t done it up until this point means that whatever is in the box really is terrifying (obviously I know different). But it works as a cliffhanger and ends the episode in a good manner and complimented the episode.

So two episodes in and my opinion of the story is that its working well and all the characters have something to contribute and others really stand out amongst a good group of performances.

(562) Kinda - Part 1

Ok so After not being bowled over with ‘Four to Doomsday’, it was time to get ready for this story which is one of those that I really disliked when I first watched when I bought it on VHS many years ago but in recent years I have started to appreciate the story. I have to say that on the basis of this episode I am going to like the story more than ever. This is a story that is Nyssa-lite and that’s because the problem with having a crowded TARDIS is evident and after a brief scene, she is hurried into the TARDIS and that is it until episode four. This story is a Tegan story because she features in it so much.

Tegan’s story is one that is very interesting because its all in the mind. She first comes across Anatta and Annica (Anatta played by Eastenders star Anna Wing). They are playing chequers which is mirroring what Nyssa and Adric were doing at the beginning of the episode and I think that was really clever and a nice thing by writer Christopher Bailey. The next interesting figure she encounters is Dukkha (played by Jeff Stewart). The three characters that Tegan meets are very striking and its hard to find something terrifying in their performances and how they look.

It’s not just Tegan that’s getting some good stuff to do in this story as Adric and the Doctor encounter the colonists. They are all brilliant with Simon Rouse being the best of the trio as Hindle. He starts off the episode as a bit of a whinger but by the end of the episode he is going to kill the Doctor and so has clearly gone barking mad. The next character that is fun to watch is Richard Todd who plays Sanders. He might as well be called Colonel Sanders because his views do seem somewhat outdated and really all that you can do is just laugh at his backward thinking.  Nerys Hughes plays Todd and is the only one out of the three that has any sense to her character. She is the one that actually treats the Doctor properly so is the one that will the fans will be liking.

The episode is a great opening one that tells two sides of the story well and sets things up nicely. I will be honest and say that I haven’t missed Nyssa despite being a big Nyssa fan but I think that just shows how well Christopher Bailey has written the story and how well Peter Grimwade has directed a story that moves along well and at no point was I bored during the course of this episode which wasn’t the case at all during the previous four episodes.