(622) The Caves of Androzani - Part 4

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

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

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

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

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

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