(595) Terminus - Part 4

Todays episode is the final episode of 2014 and also the final episode for Sarah Sutton. The thing that strikes me about this episode is how long it takes to get going. There seems to be an awful lot of not much happening. It takes about ten minutes before the episode seems to have a purpose and it also coincides with the first appearance of Nyssa. This is done when Nyssa comes to the realisation that there is no real system in place for treating people. In the course of a couple of minutes she discovers her purpose in life. She’s done more in a couple of minutes in this episode than she did in the previous three. Nyssa is about to create the green stuff that Valgard and his guys need and with that able to create a cure for Lazars disease. It feels like at this point that she has started to say her goodbyes.

It seems that Valgard has undergone a character transformation in such a short amount of time. He went from being a rather brash individual to someone who was quite willing to work with other people. It’s a shame that it came so late in the episode but it was still fun to see. The thing I liked about how this episode ended is that it didn’t end with Lazars being cured but the idea that things were going to be better and after all the grimness that there had been for the last few episodes, it was nice that a bit of optimism was allowed into the episode.

The goodbye between the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan is quite emotional. It’s made sad because Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton really do make it feel genuine. Peter Davison’s reaction is funny because the Doctor doesn’t want to lose Nyssa and is perhaps still gutted that he had to take Tegan back.

The episode ends with a strange cliffhanger. Its strange because we don’t normally get proper cliffhanger and yet this episode ends with the Black Guardian ordering Turlough to kill the Doctor. What a great way to end 2014. At least it does attempt to try and bring the purpose of the story arc back to the centre of people’s mind. I do think that the idea of Turlough trying to kill the Doctor is falling apart and it is something that is going to get in the way of the next story.

The past 365 episodes have been a wide selection and it’s weird to think that by this time next year the marathon will be over. The first episode of 2014 was the final part of ‘The Krotons’ which I think we can all agree is a bit of a rubbish episode and at least the year ended on a high note. It’s sad to say goodbye to Nyssa because I have really liked the character and she has been one of the best companions in Doctor Who. It has been frustrating sometimes with the way that the character has been treated because she has been put to one side because she is smarter than other people. Thankfully such problems don’t occur in the Big Finish plays that she does but that’s it for Nyssa and the TARDIS crew is back to just being a trio.

(594) Terminus - Part 3

Penultimate episode of the year and of Sarah Sutton’s time on the show. After being surprised about how much I have not hated this story, I was worried that it was going to go all badly wrong but that didn’t happen. The cliffhanger from the previous episode wasn’t great and to be honest it wasn’t dealt with in a good way. Kari saves the day but she does it in a rather over the top way. She fires at something that bounces it and it hits Valgard. There is a bit of fun which probably in other stories that I would have really been annoyed with but it works in this story and its that the Doctor and Kari are thought to be from the company that hired Valgard and his group. They are not being treated properly and try to find out what they know. There is also a power struggle between Valgard and Eirak with Valgard saying that if Eirak finds them then he will be leader.Olvr seems to have matured quite quickly after being a scaredy cat in the first episode and not being much better in the last episode its great to see him finally man up.

Nyssa’s bad luck continues. She continues to be with the lazars and then at one point is chained up to be picked up by the robotic wolf. Considering that this is her final story, it would have been nice if Nyssa had been more active in this adventure instead of being as sidelined as she seems to have been. When she is allowed to do something she still does it quite well. She shows the caring side which is something that has been at the core of the character and Sarah Sutton has done this well from the very beginning.

Tegan and Turlough finally make it out of the tunnel. It’s been quite an odd time for them because they have managed to bond yet not change the dynamic of their relationship that much. There is a brief moment with the Black Guardian although we only hear him but it does seem like an add on. Out of the four regulars it seems that despite being on screen for a long time, the Doctor doesn’t actually feel like much of a presence.

The purpose of the ship is explained some more and it implies that the ship caused the Big Bang. This is quite a impressive idea and follows the equally impressive yet but not as well told idea for Mawdryn Undead. As the episode ended, it did feel like the final episode was about something and this episode did a good job of building up to it. The cliffhanger was much better in todays episode because it actually had some sense to it and importance to it. As 2014 comes to an end, its good that it ends with a surprisingly good story. As I mentioned at the start of the episode one, I have ever really held this story high regard and whilst I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was story of the season but I still think that this story has highly improved upon watching.

(593) Terminus - Part 2

Nyssa’s final story is still one that is lacking any humour. After the announcement that they are on a ship with people contracting a deadly disease things get decidedly worse. Nyssa manages to shed her skirt meaning that its not technically a costume that she’s wearing. She has become infected and so it seems like she’s going to meet a grim ending. The only positive for Nyssa is that she finished the episode with more clothing than when she started and she has the healthiest complexion of anyone in that room. Tegan and Turlough are side-lined for most of the episode as they use tunnels to try and escape the lazars.

The episode sees other people introduced into the story and they don’t seem any better off than Kari and Olivr that we saw in the previous episode. I did like Olivr a bit more in this episode as there seemed to be a bit more effort put into why he was perhaps not as brave as he should be in his position. I still think that Liza Goddard is the better of the two. Of the new characters, its difficult to actually tell them all apart because they are all quite glum and they all look the same. The costumes that they have to wear aren’t the greatest because they keep clunking together everytime they move and it becomes distracting after a while. The masks they wear are quite impressive and suit the part very much.

What is also introduced is a big wolf thing with red eyes that doesn’t quite work. It doesn’t move or act right which might be a weird thing to mention but its true. It is perhaps the best thing that it didn’t speak because a silent massive wolf is perhaps the best thing that could be done to introduced what is going to be used more than once in this story.

The episode ends with the Doctor being strangled which is an odd cliffhanger because it does seem to have been building up from anything. Kari and the Doctor are looking around and Valgard spots them before starting to strangle Kari and then the Doctor. It’s perhaps the only thing that lets down an otherwise perfectly fine episode. I’m not disliking this episode as much as I thought I would. This story is one of those that seems to benefit from being watched an episode a day. I would say that I am struggling to figure out what the plot is except that there is a lot of Lazars and that’s clearly a bad thing. The previous story seemed to improve in the second half. I’m not saying that this story is bad but it just feels like its lacking the meat of the story and this story should go up even more in my estimation.

(592) Terminus - Part 1

Terminus is the final story for Sarah Sutton and also is the middle story in the Black Guardian trilogy. It’s not a story that I have ever really enjoyed but I think that after watching this episode the reasons will become evident (if at all) in the latter stages of this story. This story features yet another costume for Nyssa which makes four in four stories and at risk of sounding like a fashion blog, this is one of the worst ever. I don’t think that its in keeping with the character and just shows that it was perhaps the perfect time for Sarah Sutton to leave the show. After what started off as a promising start for the character, she quickly got sidelined for being the one companion that actually had some brains.

The episode starts off quite well because there is a great scene with Turlough and Tegan. Due to the fact that Tegan doesn’t trust him there is a nice little discussion about which approach to things is better, Tegan’s bull in a china shop approach or Turlough’s more subtle approach. It doesn’t really get resolved because Turlough plans of sabotage through the story into gear as the TARDIS becomes connected to what would become a ship that has the cure for lazar disease. The sets used for the ship are quite grim and dank which is in contrast to most ships used in Doctor Who.

The story has a nice pace to it and Mary Ridge has done a good job of keeping the pace going and Steve Gallagher has written a story that sets things up quite well. We are introduced to two characters who don’t get introduced in the best way. Kari (Liza Goddard) and Olvir (Dominic Guard) are introduced wearing the sort of helmets that wouldn’t look out of place in a Buck Rogers episode. Once they get those silly things off then they become much more believable as characters and Kari is quite a good character played as a strong lead by Goddard whereas Olvir is a bit of a wuss and unfortunately Guard has been given a rather dud role but is playing it as best as he can.

As this is her last story, Nyssa gets perhaps the better part of the story as she spends it with the Doctor. Sarah Sutton has always played the role perfectly and in this episode she continues that. At the beginning of the episode she is back to being scientist Nyssa which is one of the things that I liked about the character and then after that she sort of resorts to what she has become. Tegan and Turlough are stuck together but do have good chemistry and there will be plenty of time to enjoy that in future episodes.

On a related note, this story was directed by Mary Ridge becoming the fourth woman to direct a Doctor Who. Out of 47 directors only 8% of them have been female and out of 52 writers there have been 0. Given that there has been a lot of talk about women writers and directors in new who, its interesting to see how things work out in the classic era. It’s worrying that there have been 126 stories in Doctor Who and not one of those have been written by a woman.

As a opening story there seems to be some promise and with the rating that I have given it (7.52) at the moment it makes Terminus the highest rated story of the season. This wont last of course but its an interesting thought that Terminus is the best story of the season.

(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.

(587) Snakedance - Part 4

I went into watching this episode quite upbeat thinking that after the improvement in the previous episode that this episode would be a fine end to an ultimately underwhelming adventure. Sadly this isn’t the case because the episode starts off in quite a slow fashion and its takes about ten minutes before the episode started to get going and lead up to the crowning of Lon and ultimately the Mara completing its plan.

There are some good moments which worked quite well and these included the whole ‘coronation’ scene where Lon is about to put the crystal in the gap and I thought this is where the madness really shows and its actually quite a good end to the story. The thing is that Tegan again doesn’t appear for quite a long time and when she does she instantly makes the whole thing come alive. Some credit for this does have to go to Martin Clunes who plays it perfectly. This is despite the fact that he has to change in one of the most ridiculous costumes that I have ever seen and its used on TV whenever people want to do one of those ‘Before They Were Famous’ type programmes. How Clunes managed to deliver his lines with that on is a mystery. Back to Janet Fielding and her best moment comes when her head is positioned in the Mara and its one final reminder of how good she has been in this story and how good she was in ‘Kinda’.

Ok so I haven’t been a big fan of this story but the second half was definelty the stronger with the better writing and the better directing and acting that came from this. I have perhaps been too harsh on this story because whilst it might not have worked it was the sort of story that Doctor Who should be a least trying. The effects worked really well and showed how far they had come in twelve months because the big snake effect in Kinda was only made better with the addition of CGI, no new CGI was needed for this adventure as they effects stand up and even the ones that don’t work quite as well are still watchable.

The ratings for this story averaged at 7.28 which is down from the 7.44 which is Arc of Infinity got. At the moment this is the second weakest story ahead of Four to Doomsday. I think that is perhaps the right position for it because at the end of the day this is a story that is far weaker than the first Mara story and I think that as we know what was going to happen it kind of too some of the magic off what Christopher Bailey came up with. Due to the second half of the story Christopher Bailey and Fiona Cumming managed to snatch victory (or at least a draw!) from the jaws of defeat.

(586) Snakedance - Part 3

I know that I haven’t been too keen on this story but there is a small part of me that hopes this will change. Before I started to watch todays episode I watched two episode of Doctor Who and the Silurians on the Horror Channel and I was reminded just how close to perfect the show was and I remember how I loved this debut season of Jon Pertwee and then though of just how much I have disliked Snakedance. I had completely forgotten about the previous episode’s cliffhanger (which shows how poor the episode worked for me) so I was reminded and thought that it was ok.

The episode starts off in such a way that I thought that this would be where the episode picks up a lot and to be fair this is by far the most interesting episode of the serial. It’s the one where the plot actually seems to be working towards something and certain scenes are superbly performed. Janet Fielding is again the best thing in the entire episode. She totally steals the episode despite popping up at the beginning of the episode and disappearing for a large chunk of it. When she does return then it comes with one of the best scenes in the entire story. It features Tegan, Lan and Dugdale and the drama that is created during this short few mintues is highly enjoyable. It is intercut with scenes between Nyssa and the Doctor. These two work very well together and after a short amount of time I was convinced that this story had picked up.

I had struggled to understand just what the Mara wanted in this story. It seemed that the Mara had just be bought back for the sake of it whereas in this episode its main perfectly clear that the Mara is after a crystal. Why its taken until now for me to be able to pick up on this shows the flaws with this story.

Ok so this story is starting to work on me but I still don’t think that its as good as Kinda and it’s a shame that Christopher Bailey didn’t write another story for Big Finish because I think that he would have done well with whatever he came up with. Fiona Cumming has done well with what is in effect a very pedestrian story. The cliffhanger is an issue for me because whilst it’s the best one of the serial it does feature Nyssa crying which makes two stories running and with that and the new costume means that the decontrsuction of the character is pretty much done. With just one more episode of this story remaining, I find myself not dreading the final episode as much as I did when I finished watching the previous episode.

(585) Snakedance - Part 2

Any goodwill that I may have had for this story quickly evaporated over the course of this episode. Again Janet Fielding is the best thing in it. There is a nice switch between good Tegan and bad Tegan which shows in one scene just how underused the character was over the years. This episode really is the Tegan and Lon show because despite coming across as a rather spoilt brat but then after a bizarre scene with Tegan and a group of mirrors, becomes joined with the Mara and they both form this rather odd but ultimately story saving double act. It’s clear that Janet Fielding is loving the character at the moment. The problem is that Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are reduced to running around and not doing very much. Seriously, I struggled to actually think of anything constructive that they did which is a shame really.

Like yesterdays episode, when Tegan is on screen I am interested because she is so good but when she isn’t on screen then I find myself losing interest. The only saviour is John Carson who treats the role of Ambrill with the level of absurdity that it deserves. What happens in this episode is the introduction of a headpiece which is suppose to have six faces on and five are on the headpiece with the wearer’s head being the sixth and the shot of Ambrill wearing it is the one that is used regularly on the back page of Doctor Who Magazine.

I really have struggled to find something to write about in the previous two episodes so I am going to fill my 500 word count limit with some stats. This is Peter Davison’s 32^nd episode as the Doctor. It’s crazy to think that he’s already done that many. Janet Fielding has now clocked up 35 episodes and Sarah Sutton is on 37, she is just 3 behind Louise Jameson and Deborah Watling.  Eric Saward will be tied with Derrick Sherwin by the end of this story and John Nathan Turner will be just four episodes behind Philip Hinchcliffe in the producer ranks.

I cant believe that I still have two more episodes left to watch. I know that the idea was to bring back a familiar monster/villain during the 20^th anniversary but I think that more time was needed for this story to try and make something else. The only thing I have to decide between now and the final episode is whether this is as bad as Four to Doomsday or not.

(584) Snakedance - Part 1

After Kinda was a success it was inevitable that a sequel would happen but its surprising that it happened so quickly. I have never rated this story very highly but after having my opinion changed on Kinda, it might be possible for the same to happen here. This story features the first (and only) appearance of Nyssa’s new dress. I don’t quite know what they were thinking. Even by 1980’s standards this costume is terrible but the one thing that I remember after watching this episode is the performance of Janet Fielding. The one thing that was so good about Kinda was that Janet Fielding was so good when she was possessed by the Mara. This time the same thing happens because it allows Janet Fielding to do something different with the character. The best scene comes when she is under hypnosis and she shines during this moment.

Apart from Nyssa’s dress, there are some interesting things about this serial. The first is that it features a very young Martin Clunes. Before he would appear in the BBC sitcom Men Behaving Badly and more recently in the ITV show Doc Martin, he plays Lon who seems like a bratty figure. During this course of this serial he wears some truly bizarre costumes and its fair to say that Clunes doesn’t look at his time on the show very positively. Another thing is the build up to the cliffhanger. Some woman decides to take off Tegan’s hearing aid which is keeping the Mara at bay. This seems like a bit of a groan inducing moment.

The problem with this episode is that it just doesn’t seem to have anything new about it. It does have any of the freshness and energy about it that Kinda did. I wasn’t totally bored with the episode but I think that when Tegan wasn’t on screen then the episode was a bit weak and when she’s on then there is something interesting going on. After being trigger happy in the previous story, it seems that Nyssa has resorted back to normality because she seems to trying to be Tegan’s friend and shoots some stern looks at the Doctor.

I think that this story isn’t going to change in my opinion. It doesn’t seem like Christopher Bailey’s heart is really in the story and despite some good things that are going to appear over the course of the next four days, its not going to be two solid stories in a row. It’s a shame really but there is still a good chance that things might change.

(583) Arc of Infinity - Part 4

This is the episode which features a large amount of location footage, and considering this is filmed in another country then my excitement goes up even more. I’m sure that I have commented that I love it when there is location filming in real places because it shows us here in 2014 what places looked like in the past. Ok so it wont be a million miles different but its still nice to see this sort of thing and we get a lot of it so it does in a way make me want to go to Amsterdam, although not in mid-December. The episode sees the Lord President help the Doctor and Nyssa escape from Gallifrey to find Omega. This is quite good because its not an easy thing and also there aren’t many instances where the Timelords are good to the Doctor.

The first big scene comes when Omega has finished his transformation and reveals that he now looks like the Doctor. It’s a great effect with two versions of the Doctor and it starts the weirdest chase that there has been on British television. I say weird because it seems to go on for such a long time. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan are running around Amsterdam, running into people and trying t catch up with an Omega who is about to turn into anti-matter. There is one moment where Omega is standing in a crowd and a blonde boy barges past him. For one moment it looks like Omega is punch the little brat before there is a weird smile that goes across his face.

There is a rare moment that occurs in this episode which comes when Nyssa screams. It’s the only time that I recall that she screams during her time on the show and I think that it’s a shame because the character has always been a strong character in that respect and it just seems like something that the character wouldn’t do. Anyway that is perhaps the worst thing about this episode. The rest of it works rather well and Omega is defeated by the Doctor. Actually defeated by the hands of the Doctor. The Doctor is the one that fires a gun which in itself is something that rarely gets commented on when people talking about the Doctor’s reluctance to be violent.

The final scene is funny because the Doctor and Nyssa are on the verge on leaving and the Doctor is desperately trying to leave but Tegan has been fired from her job and her cousin is going to go back to Brisbane. The look of the Doctor’s face when he realises that he’s stuck with Tegan is priceless. This has been a great story that has some flaws to it but a lot of positives and I think that the location filming helped a great deal but also the return of Omega was done very well and despite not being totally impressed with Gallifrey I thought that this opening story to Doctor Who’s 20^th Anniversary gets the season long party off in style.

(582) Arc of Infinity - Part 3

The penultimate episode of the serial is the one where things start to progress. I know that this is where the plot starts to open up but it’s a relief when it finally happens. The brilliant thing about having the CGI is that it covers up a lot of the problems but the thing is that it doesn’t cover up everything. The Matrix is one of those things that has seemed like an amazing place and that impression was created in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. Fast forward to 1983 and the Matrix is less impressive. In fact it’s rather disappointing because it seems similar to the weird web like thing tht Adric was held in during ‘Castrovalva’. The wibly effect wasn’t great and the way that the Doctor and later on Tegan were positioned because it just didn’t look natural.

Colin Baker makes his last appearance for now and the enxt time we see him it will be as the new Doctor. His performance as Maxil isn’t that different from the initial episodes of his time as the Doctor.

Colin’s face at one point is amazing because its so weird. It seems like he was instructed to pull the stupidest face he could and he managed to do this. At least he is back to normal by the end of the episode. Tegan is still rather calm compared to the previous season. Tegan and Robin get zapped by the Ergon thing and that isn’t done very well because the reaction that they give isn’t the most convincing.

Omega (or the Renegade in the credits) is trying to get enough power to get a new body which is a perfectly valid reason to bring the character back. It’s revealed (finally) in this episode that Hedin is the traitor. I must admit that its not the best result because I just don’t think that Michael Gough’s portrayal in this story doesn’t make me think he’s the evil mastermind. I also thought that Leonard Sachs wasn’t the most believable President that the Timelords have ever had. His death was a bit bizarre and I wasn’t sad that the character was written out.  

Nyssa continues to be trigger happy in this episode but its fun to see but its not very often that Sarah Sutton gets to anything exciting. She has teamed up with Damon in this story and it’s a partnership that seems to work quite well. It’s almost like this could have been a good opportunity for Nyssa to depart. It’s a more likely relationship than Leela and whatever his name is.

It’s not until the 22^nd minute before the Doctor discovers that Hedin is helping Omega. Two big things to learn at the same time is something that doesn’t quite get the response it deserves and this is the first time I have noticed a problem with Davison’s Doctor and that it is he doenst respond in the way that I think Tom Baker or Jon Pertwee would have responded and don’t get me wrong, Peter Davison is a great actor and on the whole he does very well but I think he lacks that final burst of anger that the Doctor should have.

The story is building to a thrilling conclusion and the opening story of the 20^th season is turning out to be a great one.

(581) Arc of Infinity - Part 2

So this is the episode that stands out for two reasons. Firstly the episode is building up to the execution of the Doctor (more of that in a bit) but most importantly, its sees Tegan ‘return’ after being left at Heathrow Airport. The thing that is surprising is just how understated Tegan’s first appearance in this episode is. This is the theme really because this is a new and understated Tegan. Not only is she out of that terrible purple dress and also she has less hair than before. Janet Fielding’s whole performance was very enjoyable and it just shows how far the companion has come since the early days of her time with Tom Baker’s Doctor. There does seem to be some of the old Tegan in the performance but generally it’s a more toned down Tegan. Tegan doesn’t seem too concerned about the disappearance of her cousin. I know that she has seen a lot since she joined the show but if I had been told that my cousin had disappeared in mysterious circumstances then I would be a bit more hysterical than Tegan is.

Whilst Tegan is running around Amsterdam trying to find her cousin, the Doctor and Nyssa are tring to deal with the goings on with the High Council. They really do act before they think because within a few minutes of the Doctor chatting to the high council they are ordering his execution. Between that decision and the actual execution there is a lot of toeing and froing to find out who is the traitor. When Nyssa is held captive in the TARDIS, it would have been reasonable to assume that she was going to spend the entire episode in there but thankfully she wasn’t in it for too long. It’s fun to see Colin Baker interact with Peter Davison’s Doctor in this episode. It’s weird to think that Colin Baker will the tenant of the TARDIS.

The identity of the traitor is something that wasn’t going to be revealed in todays episode. There seemed to be a concerted effort to make us think that the Castelan was the one but its too obvious and the true culprit manages to stand out but not enough for people to suspect. This comes when he is the only person to vote against having the Doctor executed.

The ‘execution’ of the Doctor is made better with the addition of the CGI effects option on the DVD. Due to this it makes the ending quite good and Nyssa ends it by saying that she hopes they are happy. This cliffhanger is quite good but I didn’t enjoy in terms seeing a future Doctor shoot the current one. I am still enjoying this story and think that there is still some good stuff yet to come.

 

(580) Arc of Infinity - Part 1

Arc of Infinity is a story that I have always had a soft spot for. It’s the opening story of Doctor Who’s 20^th anniversary and Peter Davison’s second season as the Doctor. This is a story that has a lot of interesting things about it. Firstly the location filming took place in Amsterdam, another is that it sees the return of Omega who last appeared in ‘The Three Doctors’ 10 years before and perhaps more amusingly, it sees Colin Baker debut in the show as Maxil.

There is no Tegan at all in this episode which is a real surprise and the episode does seem a lot quieter without her shrieking all the time. This means that the Doctor and Nyssa get to do what I think people (including me) have wanted since the start of the previous season and that’s just the two of them because they work really well together. It also means that Nyssa gets more of the action which she wouldn’t normally. They do share some of the story with two backpackers named Colin and Robin. Colin has an Australian accent but its unclear whether we are suppose to think he is related to Tegan. Colin is the scaredy cat and Robin seems the more gung-ho of the duo. They decide to sleep in the crypt yet Robin seems to have a room booked at a Youth hostel which does raise the question why they spent the night elsewhere. Anyway its clear from the very beginning that their story wasn’t going to go well and pretty soon Colin was the victim of a weird bird looking creature which really looks a bit silly but that’s the only thing really wrong with the episode.

On a narrative note, its quite interesting because there is a question as to which Timelord is committing treason by working with/for Omega. The identity isn’t revealed (not that you would expect that) but its quite obvious who it is. The fact that Gallifrey features in the story is a welcome but sadly its not the Gallifrey that we saw in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ but it’s the 1980’s Gallifrey where things are lit very brightly and there is no mood or atmosphere anywhere.

The appearance of Colin Baker is quite funny because obviously in a couple of years he will become the next Doctor and its weird to think that I am just a couple of months away from experiencing his stories. He is quite stern and serious in this episode and his best moment comes when he features in the cliffhanger. At the time it would have just been a normal cliffhanger where the Doctor is shot by Maxil. Post 1984, this takes on a completely less serious feel as it just appears that Colin Baker is trying to get the job earlier than he does.

It’s a solid opening episode and its nice to get back to some decent storytelling after not being a huge fan of the previous story. The peace and quiet is about end though as Tegan is about to enter the story. Oh it was nice while it lasted.

(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.