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 2nd 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!
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