(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.