The final episode of the shortest season of Doctor Who at
this point and it’s the final story of the 22nd season. I mentioned
in the previous episode that the episode wasn’t as grim as I remembered. I still
don’t think that this episode was as grim as I remember but there are some
moments that do stand out as memorable. The cliffhanger from the previous
episode has some good things about it but I think that its instantly forgotten
just moments are the episode starts.
Jobel begins his interest in Peri and his dislike of the
Doctor from the very beginning. Jobel’s time in this episode is rather
entertaining. He walks around the place with arrogance. The attitude he has
aimed at Tasambeker leads to her killing him and its hard to muster any
sympathy for him. There is a little bit more sympathy when she is exterminated
by the Daleks. On the subject of Jobel’s death, it was another example of the
violence in Doctor Who at this point and its one of the more valid points.
There is a slight dark comedic moment in his final moment in the store when his
toupee falls onto the floor.
There is a solid moment with Orcini and Bostock when they
are on Necros and come across as Dalek. It ends with a spectacular explosion.
They don’t seem to feature in the episode as much as I thought they did but
when they are in then they are fantastic. Their next big scene is when they encounter
Davros but things start to go downhill for them and Bostock is the first to
fall. Orcini’s death is far better because it’s a noble death and he dies with
his friend next to him. William Gaunt has been a superb piece of casting.
I like how Davros sends some Daleks to ‘protect’ Kara and
Vogel. It’s at this moment that it’s clear that they won’t have very much time
left in this episode. Vogel’s death is rather amusing because it’s over the
top. Kara’s death is slightly better but only because it comes at the end of a
good scene where she meets up with Orcini and he stabs her. It’s hard to find
sadness in her death because whilst she might have started out with good
intentions, the fact that she was more looking out for herself sort of removes
any sympathy that the viewer should have.
The DJ in this episode is less annoying and becomes a more
likeable person. The first scene with him and Peri is a rather sweet and lovely
encounter. He is willing to fight against the Daleks that is good for the
viewer to see but I think that he was a bit rubbish in the seconds leading to
his death. He deserved slightly better. The casting of Alexi Sayle might have
been part of a long running problem that hung around this period of the show
but I thought that Sayle managed to that this was more than a one dimensional
character.
I had forgotten about the moment where the Doctor first
encounters the Daleks in this story. It’s good to have this brief encounter and
if there was one thing I would change about this story then it would be to have
more time between Colin Baker and Terry Molloy. Terry Molloy’s performance wasn’t
mentioned in the previous entry but he has really performed well in this
serial. He is just a head for most of this serial and yet he manages to be one
of the best things in this serial. Davros is very good in this episode and I
like the twist when it appears that Orcini and Bostock have killed Davros.
Davros does something that hadn’t been seen on screen before and that is he
floats in the air. It’s often mentioned that the Daleks floating in Remembrance
of the Daleks is the first time they are seen in the air but Davros beat them
by three years.
It seems like I have had to wait for ages to see the Doctor
meet Davros. There is a nice bit of continuity link back to Resurrection of the
Daleks. Another memorable moment for Davros apart from the levitating bit is
when his hand is blown off. The next time we see his hand is in metal form in
the new series. Davros is basically led out to survive and fight another day.
This seems like a plausible way of keeping the option open of using the
character in another story.
There are a new breed of Daleks that have the more traditional
colour scheme. The white and gold ones that are associated with Davros are the better
looking ones and thankfully they return in the next story. Compared to the
Davros aligned ones, the Daleks that are associated with the Supreme Dalek look
rather bland in comparison.
The final scene is quite sad because I know what’s coming
up. The Doctor talks about taking Peri on holiday is about to take her to
Blackpool but due to the show being cancelled before being renewed, that is
edited out so that we would have to wait until 2009 before Big Finish would
take us to Blackpool. It’s a shame that the show was put on hiatus at this time
because it seems like the show was still firing on all cylinders. Apart from
Timelash, I thought this had been one of the strongest and most consistent season
for quite some time. It would be 525 days before the show would return but it wouldn’t
have the soul that it had before. This would be the last great story that Colin
Baker would have but one thing is for sure the next fourteen days are going to
be a mixture of emotions but one of major change.
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