(652) The Trial of a Timelord (Part 13): The Ultimate Foe - Part 1

So we are now at the business end of this trial which now in effect becomes the longest story in Doctor Who history. This is now one episode longer than The Daleks Master Plan which ran for twelve weeks during 1965 and 1966. This is where all the little threads of the past twelve weeks were going to become more significant and all the ‘evidence’ was gone. Sadly there is a great deal of sadness that goes with these two episodes. Not just that Colin Baker gets sacked at the end of this series but it is also the last to be credited by Robert Holmes. Holmes died just after giving the first draft of these two episodes and so Eric Saward worked on this episode thus meaning that this was Robert Holmes’ 64^th and final episode and goes down as the most credited writer in Doctor Who history at this point.

I love how at the end of the previous episode, it was shown that the Valeyard can change and add charges at his own pleasing. It does make the legal system on Gallifrey a bit of a laughing stock but I suppose that it pretty much sums up the Timelords.

The first few moments sees the Keeper of the Matrix summoned to the trial and it is basically to continue with the Doctor’s accusation that the Matrix has been manipulated. He then accuses the Valeyard and its at this point that things start to go a bit crazy. It doesn’t take long for the Master to make a shock return. The Master for some reason has spent the last twelve weeks of the trial watching from within the Matrix. It’s at this point that the Valeyard seems to be losing control and it is fun to witness. Sabalom Glitz returns and fills in a lot of blanks about what happened in The Mysterious Planet. The question about how Earth ended where it was found was done by the Timelords. It’s always fun to have the Master back although one of the problems with the pace that the story has, is that no reference was made to The Mark of the Rani and no question as to how either managed to survive what was going on at the end of that story.

The Valeyard turns out to be the Doctor. The Valeyard is between the bad parts of the Doctor between the Doctor’s 12^th and final regeneration. This was obviously at a time when the Doctor only had thirteen lives. It’s good when he flees the courtroom and it’s at this point that the episode really steps up a gear (not that it was really lacking a gear). All the stunts and attitude that the Valeyard has shown over the previous twelve episodes become understandable. He is the one that wants the Doctor’s remaining lives and was using the Master’s ‘skills’ to get this.

The Doctor gets pulled into a crate of water by mysterious hands. This was quite a shocking moment and this is the first example of things not being quite what it seems. Another example comes when Glitz is hit with an arrow. Yet more evidence of this comes with the introduction of Mr Popplewick (Geoffrey Hughes). He also plays Mr Chambers and Hughes manages to make the two characters very different. I would have liked more of Michael Jayston in this episode because after dashing out of the courtroom, we don’t see him again and he has been so good that he deserved more time. Also Bonnie Langford deserved to be more involved in the action (didn’t expect to be writing that one when I started this marathon). She was stuck in the courtroom to listen to the Inquisitor and the Master talking.

The Doctor finds himself in a wasteland which is in fact the Camber Sands and this leads to the cliffhanger which sees the Doctor pulled in quicksand. This leads us to our eleventh episode which ends with a close up of the Doctor’s face. On a positive note it’s only the second time that he has been animated when doing this as the other time came at the end of the first Mindwarp episode. I thought that despite the close up this was a very good ending to what was easily the best episode of the season. It started well and got better from there and I hadn’t realised how much time had passed by. This is always a good sign that an episode has worked and the only worry is that the next episode won’t deliver on what this episode has shown us. Anyone wondering if the show had lost its ability to produce good moments (I include myself in that) needs to watch this episode and then the will learn that the first was still burning. It might be burning as bright as it once did but it is still alight.

(643) The Trial of a Timelord (Part 4): The Mysterious Planet - Part 4

This is the final part of The Mysterious Planet part of this season. The thing is that it doesn’t feel like the end of a story.

The cliffhanger worked quite well because it seemed to show Merdeen about to shoot the Doctor. This of course didn’t mean that the Doctor would die three episodes in. Merdeen shot Grell instead of the Doctor and it’s a rather touching moment when its revealed that Merdeen convinced Grell to join the army. This has been the best episode for Tom Chadbon because he gets a good amount of stuff to do. The character has been unravelled over the course of the four episodes and this is the reward for that.

It’s still rather funny that Queen Katryca is still under the assumption that the immortal is dead. Her death and the death of Broken Tooth is rather grim but compared to some deaths it could have been much worse. Joan Sims has been rather good in the role and when you consider what she is best known for, it makes her performance in this serial even more impressive.

The courtroom scenes do still continue to disrupt the flow but the first one was quite fun because it allows the Doctor to do a rather over the top. The next scene comes after a scene between Glitz and Dibber bleeps out a particular word which creates more mystery.

There is a nice debate between the Doctor and Drathro about the meaning of life. It’s surprising that such time was given to this philosophical issue. Drathro isn’t defeated by the Doctor but really by Glitz. The Doctor does actually save the day but it would have been better if he had been the one defeating the stupid robot. Colin Baker has slowly been getting better in this serial but it seems that he’s not really allowed to be like his previous self. Nicola Bryant was pretty much silent in this episode. I cant really recall what she was allowed to do in this episode. Scratch that comment, there is one moment that I can think of but it isn’t a positive moment. There is a bit where Peri, Merdeen, Glitz and Dibber are in a food chute and there is a laser used which sadly doesn’t look very good.

The mystery isn’t really solved in this story but there are two questions that the Doctor (and the viewer) want to know and that is ‘Who moved Earth and what was in the box that Glitz and Dibber were after’. The final scene in the courtroom is rather good because the Doctor is basically goading the Valeyard and the last shot is a close up (again) of Colin Baker’s face which is still annoying.

This is the last full story that Robert Holmes would write (his last contribution coming later) and whilst it’s not his best offering by quite some distance. It’s hard to appreciate what Robert Holmes has done for the show and so as a result I don’t have it in me to be too critical of this adventure. There are some nice things that take place over the four episodes and some of the season long story arc start to gain some significance. Four episodes into this season and I don’t know whether I like the structure that this series is going to take. The idea of the Doctor on trial is all fine and dandy but I don’t know whether mixing it with four related stories is the best move.

(642) The Trial of a Timelord (Part 3): The Mysterious Planet - Part 3

The third episode of this season is one that doesn’t get going for about ten minutes. There is a lot talking and this doesn’t exactly come across as very exciting. One of the first court room scene is quite interesting and that is something that stands out in this episode that I found the courtroom scenes to be more interesting than what was going on on Ravolox. The scenes on the surface are moderately exciting that is only because Glitz and Dibber are quite amusing and I like seeing them on screen. The stuff underground is less interesting because it just looks rather sterile and looks like an awful lot of 1980’s Doctor Who studio sets that look too clean and I just find myself not quite so interested.

It’s quite fun that they the tribe think that they have killed the Immortal but instead have just killed its robot and start to embark on a trek to the Immortal’s Castle. It’s clear that things are going to end badly for them because they are happy and we are nowhere near the end of this story. It’s a shame that Joan Sims’ character is going to get a not nice ending.

Towards the end of the episode there is the start of the suspicion that there is something dodgy going on when evidence. This is perhaps the best thing about the episode because it is where the season arc is really going to get going. As far as the central performances, I thought that Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant were good. Baker was slightly more noticeable but it’s a warm performance from the pair of them. Michael Jayston is still the strongest of the supporting cast. It’s a shame that he doesn’t have more involvement in the story at this point.

Merdeen appears to shoot the Doctor which forms the best cliffhanger in the series so far. I think that the fact there isn’t the extreme close up. I think that this episode is an odd one because it just seemed to lack any sense of excitement. If this were a normal four part story then I think that they would be building up towards something. However with this story it doesn’t feel like its building up to anything and that this story is just a holding pattern until the business end of things appear. It’s quite disappointing so far.

(641) The Trial of a Timelord: The Mysterious Planet - Part 2

After being slightly disappointed with the opening episode, I was wondering that I was going to go back to the days of the Hartnell and Troughton era where I would be going through several days of unwatchable but I am happy to report that I don’t think this will be the case. The episode starts off with the court scene reprise which is still good and doesn’t have the zoom in. Like in the previous episode, the courtroom appears in the middle of the episode which again disrupts the flow of the Ravolox story. There is another courtroom seen scene a few moments later.

The Doctor in the Ravolox story was being stoned in the previous cliffhanger and this is stopped by Merdeen via the Immortal. The Immortal has two helpers who are blonde and quite intelligent. Sadly they are slightly annoying. Whether they are as annoying as Balazar is still up for question but I think that it’s a close call. Merdeen is played by Tom Chadbon who last time we saw him in Doctor Who was throwing punches like Amir Khan. Chadbon is different in this story. Merdeen starts off as a bit of a bossy boots but soon shows his true colours by letting Balazar escape to the surface and he has been doing this for a while.

This episode starts the joke about making fun of the Valeyard. Boatyard and Graveyard are two insults that the Doctor hurls towards the Valeyard. I like the childish behaviour between the Doctor and Valeyard. The thing that is clear is that the Valeyard is trying to use what is seen onscreen to use against the Doctor. The thing is that whilst he may have a point it is also easy to argue that without his involvement then the people of Ravolox would be still be repressed.

The immortal is a robot that is running the base like a dictatorship and won’t allow people to go to the surface to get much needed water. This is when the story is that of an overzealous robot that is taking his job role to the letter.

The cliffhanger is much better but there is still the close up of the Doctor which didn’t work the first time and it doesn’t work the second time either. Two episodes in and I feel slightly more positive to this series. It is one of those episodes that has more good things than bad things. It’s not a classic Robert Holmes script by any means but I thought that the pacing of the episode was far better than in episode one. I still have reservations about this season but I am starting to think that the previous episode might have been a blip but I will need to see a few more episodes to judge.

(640) The Trial of a Timelord - The Mysterious Planet: Part 1

Doctor Who was saved. After being cancelled the show was saved although its clear that the show was now living on borrowed time. Instead of 13 x 45 minute episodes, the twenty-third season would be 14 x 25 minutes episodes. So it was a shorter run because instead of 585 minutes there would now be 350 minutes. The idea that the season would have one theme is something that had been done before in the form of the Key to Time and the new series would have a similar idea. However to have the Doctor on trial when the show itself was on trial is something in retrospect wasn’t the strongest idea. First that is evident about this new season is that there is a new theme tune which I hated when I first heard it but over the years via Big Finish plays its grown on me.

The open shot of the space station is one of the greatest sequences in Doctor Who history. It’s impressive to the point that for a few moments it seems like Doctor Who had stepped up a gear since it was off the air but it wouldn’t take long for that to change. The opening scene where the Doctor has landed is quite well done. The Doctor had previously been on trial in The War Games (1969) and is put on trial for pretty much the same thing.

One of the two new supporting characters for the season is the recently deceased Lynda Bellingham who plays the Inquisitor. I don’t think that it’s a very rewarding role however I think that Bellingham does a good job of acting like she is in charge. Michael Jayston plays the Valeyard and he is one of the strongest things about this season. Jayston is most recognisable to me as the father-in-law of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses and also appeared in Emmerdale recently. He just has a sense of evil that he is rather enjoying and that is what makes the court room scenes half watchable.

The Valeyard intends to use two examples of why the Doctor is guilty and his first example form the first four episodes. When Peri appears in this story, its clear that their relationship is a lot more warm than it had been. It’s the only thing that is warm in this part of the story. There is a nice mystery (hence the title) about where they are. The planet is called Ravolox but soon its revealed to be Earth.

There are occasional moments where the action is broken up by a short scene back in the courtroom. To be this slightly ruins the momentum that the story has had. Instead of the bit in the middle which doesn’t contribute anything to the story. However the ending is slightly more important because it sees the Valeyard says he wants the Doctor’s life put on trial.

As this is a Robert Holmes story there is of course a double act. In this case its Tony Selby and Glen Murphy who star as Sabalom Glitz and Dibber respectively. They are quite a good team and Robert Holmes’ magic works in this department. They are both rubbish criminals and shouldn’t be taken seriously. That is why I like them because there is something comedic about them and that is what this story needs. Joan Sims is one of the big stars in this season. In this part of the story she plays Queen Katryca and I remember when Beryl Reid appeared in Earthshock and it was clear that she didn’t understand the part and so didn’t come across as a convincing space pilot. Here I think that Sims is far more convincing and as a result I buy into the fact that she is a Queen. There is a character called Balazar who is somewhat annoying and one of things that slightly ruins this opening episode. He keeps calling the Doctor “old one” which is funny at first but becomes quickly annoying.

The cliffhanger is basically a zoom in on Colin Baker’s face which is going to be a recurring theme during this season. It’s somewhat disappointing that this is the way they have chosen to end each episode but I suppose a cliffhanger doesn’t make or break a season. What has surprised me about this episode is just how underwhelming it feels. There doesn’t feel like the opening that it should. It doesn’t have the big selling point that Attack of the Cybermen or Warriors of the Deep had. It is sort of half-hearted in certain was which does worry me a little bit.

(635) The Two Doctors - Part 3

The first three parter since Planet of Giants (1964) ends with what needed to be a better 45 minutes than the previous two for the whole return of Patrick Troughton thing to be worth it. It hadn’t struck me until now but Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton hadn’t actually met. The first encounter between the second and sixth Doctors is one of the highlights of this episode. It’s slightly frustrating that its taken until now for this to happen.

The second Doctor is going to be turned into an andragum. Quite why Robert Holmes has waited until now for this to happen is a bit of a mystery. I say this because it by far the most entertaining aspect of the episode. The Second Doctor and Shockeye start going in for food. They form a more entertaining double act than Oscar and Anita. Their walk to find food does lead to some lovely location filming. The filming ends up in Seville itself and there is quite a lot of it which makes up the little that we had in the previous episode.

The tension between the Sontarans and Chessene really starts to rise to the boil as they set to wipe the other lot out. Chessene is the one that strikes first as she drops some acid bombs on them and acts like it’s a normal activity. Stike makes it and lasts a while before he tries to make off in his ship and that explodes. Once the Sontarans are out of the way its means that the threat comes from Chessene and Dastari. I have to say that I think that the Sontarans were very underused in this serial and suffer from being treated as secondary monsters. Chessene is the one that is calling the shots and Jacqueline Pearce is very convincing as a baddie. It’s only during a scene between the two that its clear that some of Dastari’s morals start to come to the centre. There is a rather odd moment when Chessene puts her hands in some of the Doctor’s blood and seems to smother it on her face but the camera cuts away to Dastari’s reaction.  One of the grimmer moments in Doctor Who in my opinion.

This episode features a scene which is far worst that the apparent accede bath scene in Vengeance on Varos. It is where the Doctor pops a cyanide laden sponge on Shockeye’s mouth thus killing him. Even if the Doctor weren’t the one doing it then it would be a shocking moment in Doctor Who but it is the Doctor doing it and so just seems worst that what was shown in the previous serial.  

Sadly Oscar returns in this episode and when he gets stabbed by Shockeye I was really happy about this because it means that he is leaving on a permanent basis. Even just after he is stabbed he over acts in such a terrible way that I just hate the character even more. It is funny how Peri and Jamie leave Anita to tend to the recently deceased Oscar.

The deaths of Dastari and Chessene come in quick succession and I was disappointed with the death of Dastari as I would have liked for him to have made it and either die trying to save the Doctor or decide that he’s going to work for good now. Sadly this wasn’t the case but at least things ended at just the right point. The goodbye between the two Doctors, Jamie and Peri is rather amusing and seems to be just as good as the goodbye scene in The Five Doctors.

This episode has definelty the better of the three just because it’s been the most consistent. Unlike the previous episode, this one didn’t get started at the half way point. I don’t think that this story needed to be three episode and I still stand by my idea of making one of these episodes a standalone episode. That said I think that for a non-anniversary story, they just about got away with it although the question about why the story was set in Spain was never answered. Well there are just two more stories left of this season and this is the weakest of the season so far. Sadly this is the last time that Patrick Troughton would appear in Doctor Who as he passed away two years after this story transmitted. Troughton’s final performance summed up what was magical about his era on the show. Ok so most of the stories weren’t that great but there were some absolute crackers and even when the story didn’t work you could always rely on Troughton making at least worth watching.

(634) The Two Doctors - Part 2

The thing about this being a three parter is one that I didn’t go into much in the previous review. The show went from 26 x 25 minute episodes to 13 x 45 minute and this means that there is going to be an odd number of episodes. They got around this in the previous season by having a two parter so I think that they could have don’t just a single 45 minute episode. The problem at the moment is that the fast paced feel that the previous stories have had has pretty much gone in this serial.

The cliffhanger is solved by Peri saving herself from the person that grabbed her. That person is Jamie. It’s good that the pieces of the puzzle start to slot into place so early on and its means that Jamie isn’t doing nothing. The opening scene with the Sixth Doctor, Jamie and Peri helps add a bit more to the story. The interaction between Peri and the Doctor is on fine form again with their usual bickering on display.

I like how the Doctor says he might be wiped out in a few centuries and Peri doesn’t seem to understand the rush and then he puts his head in hands. A funny moment in an episode that doesn’t have a great deal of comedy.

Shockeye’s eating habits are quite interesting. At one point he eats a rat and Dastari’s reaction mirrored my own. The group of villains is something that I think works quite well because it doesn’t feel like the old adage about too many cooks.  The trio of Shockeye, Chessene and Dastari work well together but there isn’t a clear leader amongst them which is perhaps the only thing that needs improving. Chessene does edge it a little bit but not by much.

Like the previous episode, this episode takes about 20 minutes before it starts to get going. I could tell where the point happened and that was when the Second Doctor wakes up and talking to Dastari and the others. Patrick Troughton has a rather easy time in this episode. He spends most of it either lying down or sitting in a wheelchair.

Like the previous episode, there is a nice amount of Seville on display here. Ok so its not the city centre but its still nice to see a bit of sun on Doctor Who that doesn’t involve a quarry.

Oscar continues to be annoying. He assumes that the Doctor is working for Interpol even when Anita points out that the police box sign isn’t written in Spanish. Sadly Oscar is quite involved in this episode. I don’t mind Anita but Oscar is totally annoying.

There is a nice reminder about the Rutans. For me this is a nice bit of continuity for the Sontarans. The question of the Sontaran’s involvement in the story is still something that doesn’t quite. Stike is the lead Sontaran but I think that Clinton Greyn doesn’t come across as a convincing Sontaran. I know that Sontarans are referred to as potatoes but I think that the design of the current costumes does make them look like a baked potato.

The Doctor was involved in the previous cliffhanger so it perhaps makes sense that Peri is involved in the ending. She is about to be menaced by Shockeye which is terrifying in itself because he has spent the previous 45 minutes acting in a really fun way.

I think that this has again been an episode of two halves but even the more active part hasn’t been as good as I would have expected. There were moments where things seemed to be just plodding along. I think that the final episode is going to make up for this but at the moment this has to be the weakest story of the season so far. It just doesn’t live up to the hype that this story has created for itself.

(633) The Two Doctors - Part 1

Despite this not being an anniversary story, we are treated to a Multi-Doctor story. This is the only three part story of the season which would be six 25 minute episodes in the old format. I have never been a fan of the longer story so it was going to be interesting to see how this serial would work. This story was written by Robert Holmes and this is his first story since The Caves of Androzani. He becomes the most credited writer in Doctor Who history with this being his 57^th episode. Patrick Troughton returns in his 125^th episode and Frazer Hines returns in his 115^th episode. The Sontarans also make a return for the first time in 152 episodes (3,598 days).This story sees the show filmed in Spain. Quite why I don’t know why and there doesn’t seem to be any explanation given. That said what we do see of Spain is quite nice but its not of the same quality that we saw in the previous story.

I like how they went to the trouble to start the episode in black and white to give a nod to the fact that the Second Doctor and Jamie were in the black and white era of the show. The Second Doctor and Jamie seem to be one a mission and I will state here and now that I won’t be going into continuity problems that arise with their involvement and their activities in this serial. The Doctor and Peri don’t really interact with anyone in this episode. They spend a lot of time fishing, a lot of time trying not to be killed by the computer and then spend the latter part of the serial in a weird area with lots of pipes. The chemistry that Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines had in the 1960’s is very evident in this serial. The problem I think with having these two in a story together is that they have a danger of overshadowing the current line-up. Speaking of the current line-up, the bickering style that they have does seem rather out of place considering how well the Second Doctor and Jamie get on.

This story has some interesting supporting characters which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering that it is a Robert Holmes script. The character of Shockeye is mesmerising and well performed by John Stratton. He is obsessed with food and turns into quite the food critic when he arrives on earth. Jacqueline Pearce plays Chessene and she really is very good as one of the main threats in this serial. She carries a certain elegance throughout and never raises her voice yet there is much more to her character which shows itself during this serial. Laurence Payne plays Dastari. Payne previous appeared in The Gunfighters (1966) and The Leisure Hive (1980). However I think that this is a stronger performance than in those two. The former I will be honest don’t really remember but recognised him from the latter. Dastari is a clever person but like most clever people in Doctor Who, he just wants to use his intelligence for bad purposes.

The introduction of Oscar (James Saxon) & Anita is something of a common theme as all Robert Holmes stories feature a double act and this story slightly changes the format with a courting couple. I do find Oscar to be an annoyance and Anita is there purely to work alongside Oscar but doesn’t contribute anything to the story. Oscar uses cyanide to kill moths which seems like a horrible thing nowadays but at the time must have seemed perfectly fine and fine enough to include on prime-time Saturday evenings.

The incidental music is particularly impressive. Peter Howell’s highlight is the Sontaran music because it’s very striking.

Even though their ships had been identified as Sontaran ships, we have to wait a long time for them to appear. There is a shot of one’s hand but its 25 minutes before we actually see one and even then it’s a rather understated first appearance. Bearing in mind that it had been about seven years since they were last on screen it is somewhat disappointing that their first appearance happened in this way.

Sadly the quality of the costumes is not very good. It’s not terrible but I don’t think is as good as previous designs. The question as to why they are even in this story is something that doesn’t get answered in this episode. Considering that the Sontarans are strong enough to act on their own it does raise the question as to why they would be in league with Dastari.

The cliffhanger is ok but nothing spectacular. The problem is that the final 10-15 minutes does start to show the episode has run out steam which is very odd for a Robert Holmes story. The opening episode of this ‘special’ story is one of two halves but I think that there are a lot of positives than negatives. I don’t think that I am going to have to endure the next two episodes which is a relief. Still wonder why the story was set in Spain.

(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.

(621) The Caves of Androzani - Part 3

The penultimate episode of the Davison era and the reprise is the dragon like creature approaching the Doctor which is the second one that puts the Doctor in peril. Admittadley it wasn’t the biggest peril that the Doctor has ever faced but it served a purpose and it was put to one side quickly enough. The Doctor and Jek have a good scene in the early stages of this episode when Jek wants to know where Peri is and the Doctor’s being flippant. It’s fun seeing the Doctor being somewhat flippant because there have been few times during Davison’s time that he’s been able to be humorous but there have been several moments in this episode where he gets to do that.

Despite this, the Doctor’s time in this episode isn’t particularly good because Krepler and Stotz. He spends a bit of time chained up and has to put himself through some discomfort to get free. Peri’s bad time also continues as she is back in the arms of Jek and his obsession with her. If I were her then I would have insisted on being sent back to earth at the first possible moment. To be fair these three episodes have been superb for Nicola Bryant as she has shown what she can do with the character.

The death of the President by the hands of Morgus is quite a surprising thing but it shows that Morgus is a totally loathsome individual. He is very untrusting of pretty much everybody. Even though the shot of the President falling looks a bit dodgy but that doesn’t bother me really because the whole scene is fantastic. John Normington comes very close to stealing this entire story.

Graeme Harper continues to impress with his directing as there are a couple more moments which do seem like they have been pinched from other TV shows as we don’t get to see a Doctor Who story. It’s kind of frustrating that we will go back to how things usually are in the next story. This story isn’t just great because of the director but also because of the writing. Robert Holmes really has upped his game.

The episode ends with the Doctor seemingly about to die with the ship he’s on. Another situation where the Doctor’s life is in peril. This has to be the best of the cliffhangers because it’s the closest that the story has come to getting the Doctor into his regeneration. This was a strong episode but for some reason it didn’t quite have the pace that the previous episodes have had. I am really looking forward to the final Peter Davison episode.

(620) The Caves of Androzani - Part 2

I forgot to mention that yesterdays episode got an 8.00 rating which is the first time that a Peter Davison episode has got into the 8’s and also only the 8^th episode ever to get inside the 8’s. The previous episode ended with the Doctor and Peri being shot but things are not quite what they seem. They were in fact robots but it takes about three minutes for this fact to be revealed. It’s done when the Doctor and Peri encounter Sharaz Jek. Jek seems to have developed quite the crush on Peri although it turns a bit sour when she asks why he wears a mask and he reacts rather aggressively. The description of how he became disfigured is quite grim and its nice to get a bit of an understanding of his back story.

Once Chellak realises that he has shot androids, he thinks more about his reputation and this is where Salateen starts to make sense when he is whispering in Chellak’s ear. Salateen’s reaction when he discovers that Peri and the Doctor have spectrox poisoning is rather good. After not being one of the main characters in the previous episode, it seems like Salateen takes a step forward and becomes quite the chatterbox. He reveals that there is only one way to counteract the spectrox and its very difficult (what would you expect?) to get to. It’s nice that a small seemingly unimportant scene in the previous episode seems to be snowballing into something.

Despite being behind a mask it is quite impressive how Christopher Gable is able to comes across as well as he does. It’s very similar to Magnus Grel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang in that it’s a performance that is more audio than visual. It’s the sort of role that Big Finish could have done well with.

There is a bit where Stotz plans what appears to be a suicide pill in Krelper’s mouth that turns out to be a sweet. This is another grim moment in this serial. Grim is the most common word that will appear in the review for these four episodes but it’s the only word that I can use to describe some of the moments and compared to other stories in this series it is a just word.

Graeme Harper is doing a great job of directing there are a couple of fade overs from one face to another to another. There are other good shots and some nice hand held camera work. The lighting continues to work in the favour of this story and Robert Holmes’ script continues to be a reason why this story is one of the most loved stories in the shows history.

The cliffhanger isn’t perhaps as strong as the previous one but that is hardly a surprise. It is perhaps the only thing that was weak about this episode. It’s still been a cracking episode and its nice when I struggle to come up with things that are wrong with an episode. In recent episodes I have struggled to find positives about but its nice for it to be the other way around.

(619) The Caves of Androzani - Part 1

The Caves of Androzani is one of those stories that has everything right go for it. Some people regard it as one of the best stories of Doctor Who ever and its not hard to see why. I think that there are some better stories but this is probably one of the best Davison stories. This is the 20^th and final story of Peter Davison’s tenure. It’s fair to say that the current season has been a rather mixed batch with some great stories and yet some terrible stories. Thankfully Davisnon’s era ends on a high note. The opening scene is rather grim and sets the tone for the episode.

Peri becomes entangled in some sort of web fungus which isn’t treated with any importance but becomes vital later on. The Doctor and Peri don’t have the best time in this episode because they are accused of doing something they didn’t do and the cliffhanger is them being shot by a firing squad with red cloths over their heads. The purpose of the celery that has been part of the fifth Doctor’s costume is finally explained and it was never going to be a fantastic explanation but at least an effort has ben made.

The set designs are of the same quality as those seen in Earthshock. It shows how badly wrong they got sets like Four to Doomsday and Warriors of the Deep.

John Normington is brilliant as Morgus. He does a lot of looking at the camera which is something that had never been seen in the show before. Beside that every time he is on screen he just goes for it. The character isn’t the president but acts like it. He is a very unlikeable character yet there is something to like about him. Barbara Kinghorn is the only other female performer in the story apart from Nicola Bryant and she is also works brilliantly. She is a rather on the sidelines in this episode yet she there is still a bit of magic in her performance.

Martin Cochrane plays Chellak and his role is rather standard. That might sound like a critiscm but in a weird way by being standard he manages to come across as someone that still manages to hold his own in the scenes that he was in. Christopher Gable plays the great character Sharaz Jek but thanks to Graeme Harper’s superb directing, we don’t see him properly until the end when he turns to the camera and laughs just as the Doctor and Peri are about to be executed. Jek is mentioned a lot in the episode and so he becomes this mystifcal figure even though he doesn’t actually do anything.

Graeme Harper directs his first episode of Doctor Who brilliantly. Pretty much every second on screen is superbly set up. Somethings that have never been seen in the show before showed what could be achieved in the show. Robert Holmes is an old hand at writing Doctor Who stories and he hasn’t lost any of his magic. In fact this might be his best story ever because he has written a strong story with strong characters and this opening episode pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the serial. Peter Davison’s final story isn’t going to be a joy finale but what it looks like its going to be is a classic classic.

499 - The Power of Kroll: Episode 4

Episode 499 is one that I wasn’t really looking forward to if I am being honest and that’s because of the last couple of episodes which haven’t been the finest in Doctor Who but I was hoping that something would get me back into the story and I am happy to say that this does happen. There is at least some excitement to start this episode with and it comes when Kroll starts to pick off some of the swampies.

The humans are trying to wipe out the swampies and vice versa which just shows that this is the final episode of the story. The shot of Kroll above the Doctor and Romana in their boat works ok but there is another shot of Kroll on the horizon which looks a bit unconvincing. Also there is a shot of Kroll attacking the refinery which really looks disappointing. This is the time of the season where money starts to run out so this is where quality starts to take a dip. There is a bit where the Doctor goes up a wobbly ladder to mess with a little circuit board and when he slaps the lid back the rocket wobbles. It’s always good to try and argue that walls rarely wobbled in Doctor Who but times like this it makes my job of arguing harder.

There is a shot where John Abineri is talking to a tentacle prop as if it the head part of Kroll. It’s due to the fact that Abineri is such a good actor that it doesn’t come across more ridiculous than it could have done. Whilst I haven’t been totally thrilled with the humans in this story, I thought that they made up for it in this episode because there was a nice bit of friction between all three of them and at one point K9 Dugeen gets shot by Thawn. His death is sad but I thought that Thawn’s death was quite shocking and surprisingly gory considering that Philip Hinchcliffe isn’t the producer.

Kroll is the fifth segment which perhaps shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. Due to the size of Kroll it was always going to be difficult for the Doctor to save the day against something that doesn’t speak and doesn’t communicate but somehow it works. The fact very little has been mentioned about the fifth segment seems to be a good way of covering up the fact that Kroll was the segment and one could argue that it was obvious when the Doctor and Romana were talking at the beginning of episode two.

One stat for today’s episode and that is this is the 52^nd episode to be written by Robert Holmes which ties him with Terry Nation. It will be a while before Robert Holmes returns to the show but I think that he managed to save the day with this episode. I feel slightly more positively about this story than I did at the end of the previous episode. I still stand that this wont be Robert Holmes’ best story but I think that Norman Stewart did a very good job of battling some tricky moments and making good use of the location filming.

The Power of Kroll - Episode 3

This episode was the first to be broadcast in 1979. There that is about as interesting as this entry is about to get.

I know that I have commented that this isn’t a great story, I think that this is the worst episode of the serial. The problem with the episode is that it just doesn’t really get going until the final five minutes. The Doctor and Romana start the episode about to be stretched to death. They spend nearly half the episode in this situation which does seem like a lot of padding was needed for this story. The Doctor is the one that saves the day by using his high pitched voice to shatter a window and use rain to stop the vines stretching them further.

It is perhaps the most obvious case of padding by having the leading characters do pretty much nothing of worth. The humans on the refinery do nothing apart from sit around and talk about things and the swampies also do very little. The only saving grace for the episode is that we do get some good location filming. Norman Stewart’s previous Doctor Who credit was ‘Underworld’ where he did a remarkable job in making that story work. He does the best he can but the problem with the story is the script so where the scrip allows it, the directing helps saves the day.

The performances from this episode are the sort that I would expect to see if nobody can see a reason to take centre stage. Not even Tom Baker’s comedy tone can help save him and if there was a time that his humour would have helped me get through an episode then it would have been now. As I mentioned the episode only really gets going in the final five minutes as the Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt are escaping from the swampies. The cliffhanger is of the Doctor and Romana sitting in a boat just in front of Kroll. If they were going to have the sight of Kroll looming over people then it would have been better if we hadn’t seen it already in pretty much the same way as we see in in the cliffhanger.

This is one of the weakest episodes for sometime. I have rated this episode 7.00 and it’s the first time that an episode has received this low a rating since episode two of ‘The Face of Evil’. That was back in July. Out of the five episodes of this season it is just about in third place ahead of ‘The Ribos Operation’ but out of Tom Baker’s entire run it is currently in 23^rd place out of 28 stories. It’s tied with ‘The Invisible Enemy’ on 7.30. Hopefully the final episode will do something that makes me think this story has some hidden secrets just waiting to be shown to us but I could be wrong.

The Power of Kroll - Episode 2

Today’s episode is the final episode of 1978. It’s been quite a year as far as the show has been concerned with some quite intriguing stories (such as Underworld). One companion has left and another replace her. I think that in terms of quality the show hasn’t really changed that much in a year. This is episode 497 and is close to celebrating it Quincentenary episode (500^th) and that means that I am over 60% of the way through the marathon. I am still on course to finish this marathon on August 2, 2015.

The opening episode was a bit of a disappointment and I commented that this story wasn’t going to be one of Robert Holmes’ best stories. The cliffhanger had Romana do something that I don’t think she does very often and that’s scream when something does seem to attack her. Sadly its not the for mentioned Kroll but someone dressed in a clam costume. There’s a nice mystery that’s set up during an early scene between the Doctor and Romana when the Doctor questions who is paying Rohm-Dutt when the Swampies don’t have money. Sadly this is dismissed quite quickly by Romana.

When the stories move to the refinery I just find myself being slightly bored with what going on. I never thought I would find myself saying that a scene with Philip Madoc being boring. Madoc, Leeson & Neil McCarthy (previously in ‘The Mind of Evil’) spend the episode looking at some screen trying to decide what to do.

I forgot that John Abineri appears in this story. I forgot because he is caked under green makeup and plays one of the swampies. Like Philip Madoc, Abineri has had some impressive previous performances in Doctor Who. I think that his best performance was in the 1970 story ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ when he played General Carrington. But its still a good performance and I think that he does the best with the green make up.

We get to see the Kroll of this story and its quite a good design and looks quite disgusting but it is certainly one of the largest monsters ever seen in Doctor Who. The effect used to show it infront of the swampies is perhaps a little basic but it could have looked a lot worse and it must have been quite difficult to achieve on location. Even though I know that Kroll turns out to be the fifth segment, its still quite good as how they get round the fact that they don’t know what the segment is by having all this drama about sacrificing and that’s quite a clever thing to do.

This is definelty a stronger episode than yesterday’s. The story feels like its actually going somewhere and building up towards something which wasn’t the case yesterday. I am still more won over with the location filming and the swampies than anything else but my opinion of the story hasn’t changed I think that this is the weakest of the Robert Holmes stories. That said I think that there is something about this story and its certainly stronger than ‘The Pirate Planet’ and also ‘The Ribos Operation’.

The Power of Kroll - Episode 1

T’was two nights before Christmas and Santa seems to have come early with the penultimate in the Key to Time series. I always forget that Robert Holmes wrote this story so this story might be the third story in a row that might be rated very highly. This is one of the least popular Robert Holmes stories and I think that if it were any other writer then it wouldn’t be such a problem but when you’ve written the sort of stories that he has written then a below par story is going to stand out. Like the previous two stories, there is an extraordinary quality of location filming.  I think that this season has seen some of the best location filming that I can recall. The fact there isn’t a road or a building in sight does a lot to create the impression that this is an alien world.

The first faces that we encounter are humans. They don’t seem to be terrible people but there are clearly the aliens and the ones that are in charge. There are also green skinned people called swampies who have become slaves to the humans. They do have their own group who are very afraid of Kroll. They do business with a human called Rohm-Dutt. Rohm-Dutt is a gun for hire, played very well Glyn Owen. He is perhaps the most interesting of the humans because the people working on the refinery seem to be rather ordinary. John Leeson makes an appearance, probably due to the fact that K9 doesn’t feature at all during this story and this was probably an attempt to keep him busy. Philip Madoc returns to the show but this was never going to be Solon from ‘The Brain of Morbius’.

The sacrifice of Romana seems to go on forever. It actually turns out to be about five or six minutes. The cliffhanger involves Romana yet again and she does something that I don’t recall her doing before and that is scream. She is screaming because something does appear to be attacking her so as a cliffhanger it works and gives the episode the ending that it needed because up until this point the story hadn’t really worked for me. The whole episode seemed like it was plodding along and not really leading to anything. I don’t think that this story is going to be quite as good as ‘The Stones of Blood’ and ‘The Androids of Tara’ but maybe the rest of the story might change my opinion on that.

The Ribos Operation - Episode 4

I have been continuing my tradition of watching the documentaries on the DVD’s after I finish the final episode of the story and I watched the one about the Graham Williams era on Doctor Who. It’s hard not to be impressed with Graham Williams considering just what he had to go through. What with strikes, budgets and Star Wars, it was amazing that all the stories he produced were anything other than rubbish. Ok so I haven’t been too positive about this story on the whole but before I even started to watch this episode I was feeling more positive towards this story.

I think that the scenes between Binro and Unstoffe are quite sweet really. It’s because Timothy Bateson and Nigel Plaskitt playing it perfectly. Binro’s final scene is quite sad and I think that it was the wrong thing to do. Sholakh is very good in this episode and seems like a more likeable person than the Graff Vynda-K. When he dies, its another sad moment. I was thinking that all the wrong people are being killed and also I wish that I noticed him earlier but I think that his role could have been made bigger. Paul Seed gives his best performance in this episode and it only really happened after the death of Sholakh. The fact he goes on roaming to avenge the death of Sholakh is perhaps a rather foolish if not quite accurate.

Garron gives a great little speech which feels like an act of defiance against the Graff Vynda-K. I have liked Iain Cuthbertson and thought that even his final scene shows why he’s such a great character. The seeker returns in this episode and she’s just as annoying as she was in previous episode, that’s why when she does meet her maker it comes as a blessed relief. Out of all the deaths in this episode, hers was the best.

The final scene between the Doctor and Garron and the business with the jethrik was quite funny. Garron tries to do a switch and the Doctor does a double switch and leaves Garron with a rock. I haven’t mentioned until now that the Jethrik was the first segment of the Key to Time. That’s because its largely been forgotten due to all the business with the Graff. The idea that all the segments would be disguised as other things helps narratively to make the task of finding them just that little bit harder.

Not only do I have to judge this story on its own merits, but I have to judge it as one part of a story arc. On its own it doesn’t really feel like Doctor Who. Had the Doctor and Romana not got involved then it wouldn’t have made much different and would have made a fine period drama. As part of the story arc it does a good job of pretty much setting up the upcoming season. It’s a perfectly fine serial and there are some good performances.

The Ribos Operation - Episode 3

The episode starts off with a bit of humour which seems to undermine any tension that there might have been at the cliffhanger. I know that the humour has replaced the darkness in these stories and I have no problem with humour in Doctor Who but I think that two seconds after the episode starts isn’t perhaps the right time to do this. It doesn’t take for the Graff Vynda-K to realise that he is being conned (even though he must have suspected something in the previous episode.

Binro the heretic is introduced in this episode and becomes a nice person when he helps Unstoffe hide from guards. He’s played rather sweetly by Timothy Bateson. In one scene he tries to prove to Unstoffe that there are other worlds and Unstoffe tells him that he’s right and one day people will believe him. In just a few short scenes he has become one of my favourite characters in the story. Primitive Mumbo-jumbo is the reaction from Sholakh when the seeker is doing her thing. Oddly enough it’s the same reaction I gave. I haven’t commented much of Sholakh because he’s sort of been one of the quieter characters but I thought that he was quite good and worked well with Paul Seed to make the Vynda-K and Sholakh just as good a double act as Garron and Unstoffe.

The story does come across quite good when the action moves into the catacombs because it shows us that there is more to Ribos than the two or three rooms that are starting to look less appealing as the story progresses. I suppose that this is one of the limitations of a studio bound story is that eventually the sets lose their appeal.

The duo of Baker and Tamm seem to working well together, there still seems to be a bit of a frostiness (forgive me for that one) but I like the dynamic between the two. I think that its better than the one the Doctor has with Leela.

The episode ends with the Doctor, Romana, K9 and Garron hiding from the Graff Vynda-K and it’s a rather disappointing ending. The whole episode felt a bit like the previous one in that there isn’t much happening. I mean stuff happens but I cant think that isn’t one of Robert Holmes’ best scripts. It’s not terrible but when you have written the sort of stories that he has written then anything below par is going to look weaker than if it had been written by another writer. I still maintain that the story is holding together and I still maintain that the excitement isn’t there really. Apart from that its ok.

The Ribos Operation - Episode 2

Today’s episode is Tom Baker’s 100^th episode as the Doctor. Sadly the episode is not as great as I would perhaps have liked. The episode’s studio bound setting was something that I thought would help add an atmosphere to the story but sometimes it works against it. I also get the feeling that this story could easily be held on earth because it has a very Russian vibe going on with the incidental music and the design of the sets. I like the fact that there aren’t computers and any futuristic things going on. There is a line that Garron gives when he responds that it will take a few weeks to get a response about something and the Graff Vynda-K reacts normally to it. The episode starts off with Romana about to become a meal of the Shrivenzale. I’ll be honest that I only knew it was called a Shrivenzale because it appears on the information text.

Graff Vynda-K does come across as a rather grown up child. He goes hysterical when talking about how he was betrayed. He is the male version of Queenie from Blackadder 2. Paul Seed is rather good as the Vynda-K and I think that I could easily see Bernard Horsfall play this role. Seed comes across as someone who would jump down your throat just because you asked what time it was. I like the partnership between Garron and Unstoffe. I think that Nigel Plaskitt (Unstoffe) is having a lot of fun with his accents. I mentioned in the previous episode review that double acts/partnerships are Robert Holmes’ calling card and he does it well but I think that Iain Cuthbertson (Garron) and Nigel Plaskitt work well together but I think that this con that they are attempting would make the worst episode of ‘Hustle’.

The thing I didn’t really pick on until the end of the episode is that the Doctor and Romana don’t really have a great deal to do. In fact I can only remember one scene that they had together that seemed to stick in my mind and that wasn’t a particularly spectacular scene. Mary Tamm is allowed to settle into the role and does seem like she’s been playing the role for more than two episodes. Sadly I would expect that Mary Tamm is wondering whether she made the right decision in taking on this role. At the moment, Romana is the only female character in the entire piece. I think that changes in future episodes but its rather worrying that more female characters weren’t introduced.

The way that the episode plods along is a worrying thing considering how much energy seems to have been on show during the course of the previous episode. It was only in the last few minutes that had anything about them. I think that there was too much talking and a lot of sitting down. I want more running and more action. Graham Williams was bought in to make the show less scary than it had been under Philip Hinchcliffe’s era and whilst I can say that the show has benefited from this (though I would like more scary stories), I think that Williams has done a top job as producer and whilst this episode was lacking in excitement I think that the story is holding together.

The Ribos Operation - Episode 1

It struck me as I started to watch this episode that there are three seasons of Tom Baker’s Doctor remaining. He’s about to reach the 100 episode soon and it feels like the end is approaching at a faster and faster rate. This is the first episode of the Key to Time season which is the first season/series of Doctor Who to have a story arc that ties all the adventures together. This wouldn’t happen again until the show was bought back in 2005 so this is quite a bold experiment that producer Graham Williams has embarked on. This episode also introduces the late great Mary Tamm as the first incarnation of Romanadvoratrelundar or Fred. I like how there is instantly a frosty reception between the two (forgive the pun given the setting for the story). It does remind me of the current Doctor and Clara’s relationship but this was is more frosty.

The opening scene has to do a lot considering the scale of what its about. The opening is unlike anything that the show has seen in the show in 480 episodes. The story introduces the White Guardian who look like he should be on the Costa del Sol. The explanation is rather good and shows that the journey to find the six segments isn’t going to be easy. At the very end of the scene we are told about the Black Guardian who is suppose to be this big force but we wont meet him until the end.

The camera seems to fall in love with Romanadvoratrelundar when Mary Tamm first appears on the screen. There is a snobbery about Romandvoratrelundar. She brags about how she’s smarter than the Doctor and inspects the cleanliness of the console. The friction between the two seems worse than the Doctor and Leela. It’s quite good that they have decided to go with someone who can challenge the Doctor intellectually because this hasn’t really happened since Liz Shaw was in the show. Compared to her predesecor, Romana isn’t going to get stuck in but is instead going to judge those that do and let her mind do all the action.

The planet of Ribos is recognised completely in studio and normally this would be an issue for me but I think on this occasion it adds something to the story. The only that disappoints in this episode for me is the creature. Unstoffe and Garron are the first two people we meet who seem to be a rather odd double act. Double acts are a recurring pattern in Robert Holmes stories. Another interesting character is the Graff Vynda-K (played by Paul Seed). Graff is someone who is looking to buy a planet from Garron and is hoping to seek revenge on the planet that forced him into exile. Unstoffe and Garron are conmen so it was clear that there were going to bring problems but if memory serves me correctly then they will be fun problems.

The cliffhanger sees Romana suffer her first peril when she becomes a potential meal. I don’t know whether it was a good way to use the character so new in the show. Apart from that and the dodgy monster that is munching on Romana, this is a good if perhaps ordinary opening episode. I think that this season of Doctor Who is going to be very different to any that Tom Baker has had.