Doctor Who review blog...

Post Reply New Topic

REVIEW: The Power of Kroll by Robert Holmes

SERIAL: 5E, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


Robert Holmes would eventually have a long hiatus from writing from Doctor Who, but his last story before this hiatus had two prerequisites. Other than the quest to find another segment for the Key to Time, Graham Williams requested the biggest monster to ever be seen in the series. Holmes had stated later that this was a mistake, and that this was his least favourite story to write, but would this be reflected in the quality of the story itself?

Landing on the third moon of Delta Magna, the Doctor and Romana explore this swamp world, where a conflict is brewing between a group of humans manning a refinery turning methane into protein, and the original inhabitants of Delta Magna, the Swampies. Centuries ago, the Swampies were forced to the third moon to make way for human colonists, and the leader of the refinery, Thawn, is determined to wipe them out. A gun runner called Rohm-Dutt has apparently been sent by Swampie sympathisers to arm them. And deep in the swamp lives something very large and very dangerous, a creature that the Swampies worship as their deity, Kroll.

Compared to previous efforts by Robert Holmes, this story is rather messy. The characters lack the usual distinctiveness of Holmes' characters, and for the most part are unlikeable and singular. The plot is really just an excuse to bring the biggest monster Doctor Who had seen to that point (debatably so, given that they have had at least one living planet in the past), and while the mystery of where the methane comes from is intriguing, it somehow lacks energy, which is a shame, considering the quality of The Ribos Operation earlier this season.

While the characters lack the Holmes touch, the performances are quite decent enough at times, with John Abineri as Ranquin and Neil McCarthy as Thawn being the best performances. John Leeson puts in a unique physical appearance (as K9 is not seen in this story due to the swamp) as Dugeen, and puts in a competent, if not stellar peformance. Unfortunately, Philip Madoc is wasted as Fenner, though he does decently, but the rest of the guest performances don't work. Mary Tamm and Tom Baker do the best they can with their dialogue, but either Holmes was getting sick and tired of writing for the series, or else he did this in a rush.

One of the best things that you can say about this story is the extensive location work, with Delta III being a dangerous-looking place. However, the sets range from the decent to the abysmal, with the production design flaws at the time being noticed by a BBC executive. And the model work, usually a part of the series done well, is quite mediocre, with Kroll being rather disappointingly realised with a model that could have been better. One wonders if this was the story that lost quite a bit of design money.

While not truly abysmal, The Power of Kroll could have been much better, if the writing and production had been better. As it is, it sits rather below average for Doctor Who, and is the bad apple of the Key to Time season.


SCORE: 7/10

REVIEW: The Armageddon Factor by Bob Baker and Dave Martin

SERIAL: 5F, 6X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No


With the final story of the Key to Time saga, originally titled Armageddon, Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who had contributed many a notable character to the Doctor Who mythos (Omega, Eldrad, K9), ended their joint contributions. Although Bob Baker would later return to both write the serial Nightmare of Eden and create the spin-off series K9, and Dave Martin would later write a Doctor Who book, this story was to be their last joint story, one which would bring the Key to Time to its ultimate conclusion.

Atrios and Zeos, two planets at war with each other for the past five years. Atrios is ruled, in theory, by Princess Astra of Atrios, the sixth child of the sixth generation of the sixth royal family of Atrios, but in practice, by the war-mongering Marshall, who would like nothing more than to exterminate the Zeons. But no matter what the Atrians throw at the Zeons, the Zeon bombardments keep coming. Into this mess arrives the Doctor and Romana, who are searching for the sixth segment of the Key to Time, and shortly thereafter, Astra disappears. At first, the Marshall intends to have them executed, along with Astra's lover Merak, but changes his mind, apparently on orders from a third party, the malevolent Shadow who has Astra in his power, and who wants the Key to Time. Why are the Zeons apparently capable of bouncing back from any attempt at attack on them? Who is the Shadow, as well as his malevolent master? And what does it have to do with Princess Astra? The Key to Time may be reassembled, but the price may be too great...

It seems that, as a partnership, they saved their best for last. The Armageddon Factor is an ambitious story that managed to juggle multiple plotlines simultaneously. What is so amazing is that so much of it manages to work at once. We have the conclusion to the quest for the Key to Time, we have the Marshall at one end, and the Zeon supercomputer Mentalis on the other of the war, and the Shadow playing both sides against the middle. It could easily have been an utter mess, and yet it all slots together. There is even a brilliant twist for the sixth segment that plays into a moral conflict for the Doctor, and helps the conclusion of the saga.

The characters are all varied, and while not written optimally, are done well enough, along with their performances. Lalla Ward is rather functional as Princess Astra, a shame, given the way she shines as the second Romana later on, while Ian Saynor as Merak is rather melodramatic. However, John Woodvine as the Marshall, Davyd Harries as Shapp, and William Squire as the Shadow take roles that could have been too cartoony and, for the most part, make them good. Barry Jackson as Drax, the Del Boy-style Time Lord and former schoolfriend of the Doctor is a surprisingly good role. While Tom Baker's Doctor and Mary Tamm's Romana are good as usual, K9 and his voice, John Leeson, get an unusual amount of chances to shine, speaking to Mentalis and being controlled by the Shadow. Not to mention the surprise appearance of the wonderful Valentine Dyall as a very pivotal character indeed.

The production design is a triumph of design over budget woes. Although the sets are low budget and functional rather than spectacular, it works for the show. Atrios is a military bunker city starting to fall apart, Zeos is all sterile, abandoned but dusty, and the Shadow's world is one of the more convincing alien caverns in the series, with a variety of eerie effects being used to enhance it.

I think that the main problems with The Armageddon Factor are mostly to do with the performances more than anything else. They work, yes, but they could have been better, and I feel that at times, while William Squire's performance as the Shadow is done well, the writing of the part isn't as well done as it should have been. Ditto with Lalla Ward as Princess Astra. It is a little hard to see how they could have seen that (barring the haughty regal attitude) and thought of her as a replacement for Mary Tamm. And Drax's inclusion in the story seems a touch gratuitious, although he is a charming character.

The Armageddon Factor, however, lets Bob Baker and Dave Martin's joint writing career end on a high note, along with the whole Key to Time saga. Problem is, this is where the real problems begin...


SCORE: 9/10

Okay, now the DVD trailer for the next story, Destiny of the Daleks.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G8N7vkkd2k[/youtube]

REVIEW: Destiny of the Daleks by Terry Nation

SERIAL: 5J, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


With Blake's 7 being worked on, it's no wonder Terry Nation didn't have much time to work on Doctor Who afterwards. But when he was asked to contribute one last Dalek story, I wonder whether he knew whether it was to be his last. Unfortunately, what was to be Nation's last Dalek story would be also the worst he scripted...

The Randomiser deposits the Doctor and Romana on a devastated world, soaked in radiation and filled with ruins, with seismic activity from underground workings. Separated, the Doctor and Romana soon learn that they are on the planet Skaro, homeworld of the Daleks. While Romana is forced by the Daleks to work for them, the Doctor has been captured by the Movellans, a race of warriors who seem all too eager to help him against the Daleks. And the Doctor, with escaped slave Tyssan and the Movellans, soon realise what the Daleks are after. For Davros is entombed, deep within the remains of the old Kaled bunker, and far from being dead, he is about to be revived. But why do the Daleks want Davros, having left him for dead centuries ago? What are the Movellans' motives for coming to Skaro? And are they really the Doctor's allies?

Story-wise, Destiny of the Daleks is a mess. The concept of the Daleks being at a logical impasse against a robotic race is a good one, although it is often implied that the Daleks are no longer cyborgs but instead completely robotic. The Movellans are also an interesting invention. And yet, these concepts are buried beneath a storyline that is very average, with the Daleks utterly boring, and a rather confusing prologue where Romana apparently regenerates for no apparent reason (I can stomach her trying on new bodies like they were clothes without using up regenerations, but still...). The need for radiation medicine is forgotten swiftly, there seems to be a callous disregard to the prisoners (not on the behalf of the Doctor, who actually seems agonised about it) as cannon fodder, and the humour is used inappropriately much of the time.

The Doctor is rather too mercurial here, ranging from the ridiculously flippant to the overacting self-sacrificing, and while Lalla Ward is a delight as the second Romana, she doesn't get much positive things to do, being captured by both the Daleks and the Movellans. Davros is reduced to a raging tyrant with no subtlety (with the exception of a surprisingly pathos-filled line about him not accepting 'the luxury of death' until he is satisfied with the Daleks), and while David Gooderson tries his best to emulate Michael Wisher, his performance is below average, not helped by the lack of electronic treatment on the voice. Tim Barlow is decent as Tyssan, and the Movellans are performed quite well, despite the semi-ridiculous costumes and the slightly unfortunate implications of having a race of villainous robots played by ethnic actors.

The production design is fairly average. Although there's some pretty good model effects and special effects, the sets themselves, with the exception of the Movellan spaceship and a few areas of the Kaled city, are pretty mediocre. You can feel the budget stretching, especially when you spot amongst the Dalek prisoners costumes used before. However, Romana's Doctor-like costume, with coat and scarf, is an intriguing one.

Destiny of the Daleks, then, is a disappointing start to the final Graham Williams season, and disappointing for Terry Nation's last Dalek story. Mediocre and a waste, unfortunately, of good ideas that went nowhere fast.


SCORE: 6.5/10

REVIEW: City of Death by David Agnew (by Douglas Adams and Graham Williams, from a story by David Fisher)

SERIAL: 5H, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes


Given Doctor Who's budget, it is amazing that they manage to get any overseas location work done at all. But they do. In the new series, locations such as New York (Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks), Rome (The Fires of Pompeii), Croatia (The Vampires of Venice) and Utah (The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon) are used, and even in the classic series, locations ranging from Amsterdam (Arc of Infinity), Lanzarote in the Canary Islands (Planet of Fire) and Seville in Spain (The Two Doctors) have been used. But it was one story, hurriedly rewritten by Douglas Adams and Graham Williams, from a story by David Fisher, that started this trend, when "Cité de l'Amour" became the "Cité de la Mort"...

On holiday in Paris, 1979, the Doctor and Romana experience a couple of glitches in time, one of which happens in front of the Mona Lisa, where two suspicious figures, the Countess Scarlioni, and Duggan, are watching the painting. The Countess has an alien bracelet designed to scan the alarm systems around the Mona Lisa, while Duggan has been hired to investigate her husband, the enigmatic Count Carlos Scarlioni, who has been selling strangely authentic and valuable antiques that nonetheless seem somehow wrong. But Scarlioni is funding experiments in temporal manipulation, and intends to do so by stealing the Mona Lisa, and selling it, along with multiple copies in his cellar, all of them painted by da Vinci himself. What links Scarlioni with the mysterious Captain Tancredi in Renaissance times? What does he hope to achieve with the experiments in time? And what links it all to a long-dead race? The Doctor, Romana, and Duggan are in a gamble with time, one that may hold the fate of all life on Earth in the balance...

Given how supremely last-minute this story was, not to mention the period of Doctor Who history this was produced in, it is amazing how well this story stands up even today. This is probably the only Doctor Who story to be played more or less for comedy all the way through and actually work in the process. Everything is neat, simple, and with a lovely twist that involves all life on Earth. Witty and intelligent dialogue, interesting concepts, and a thumping good plot.

Tom Baker as the Doctor and Lalla Ward as Romana are at their finest here, with marvellous banter, and yet an ability to switch from the comedy to drama in an instant when required. Julian Glover is an absolute delight as Scaroth and his human splinters, giving an urbane charm and even a pathos at times that adds depth to the character, and Catherine Schell plays his wife wonderfully, taking part in many of their plans. David Graham makes a rare appearance in front of the cameras (he originally played Dalek voices in the sixties) as Professor Kerensky, and while his performance is rather comical, it also has an added sense of realism when he shows despair and tiredness, and only his death scene is actually ridiculous. Tom Chadbon as Duggan makes what could have been a singularly thuggish character immensely entertaining.

In terms of production, this story comes together in a wonderful way. Model work and effects work to their utmost (with an impressive explosion of the Jagaroth spaceship), the location work and the studio work have an impressive synergy, and the direction is Michael Hayes' finest hour. In fact, besides the aforementioned death of Kerensky, the only real bum note is the rather excessive showing off of the Parisian streets while the Doctor, Romana, and Duggan dodge traffic.

Although Douglas Adams is not the sole contributor of this story by a long shot, this is his finest work on the series. Robert Shearman (or was it Paul Cornell?) said that the golden age of Douglas Adams on Doctor Who was only four episodes long and was called City of Death, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. Brilliant, witty, and the best example of comedy in Doctor Who when done completely and utterly right.


SCORE: 10/10

And now, a DVD trailer for the next story, The Creature from the Pit.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUmAwZt5N-w[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Creature from the Pit by David Fisher

SERIAL: 5G, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No.


With the third season of Graham Williams' time on Doctor Who, and the investiture of Douglas Adams as a script editor, the rot began to set into the series. Tom Baker, by his own admission, became proprietorial around the role of the Doctor and harder to control by directors, especially where comedy was concerned. Adams' career with The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was taking off, and he found it hard to work on editing the scripts. And the budget was still shrinking, with much of it committed to the location filming for City of Death and Douglas Adams' ambitious finale Shada. Unfortunately, the rest of the season suffered, and The Creature from the Pit suffered in more ways than one...

Following a distress signal to the deeply forested but metal-poor planet Chloris, the Doctor, Romana, and K9 investigate, tracking the signal to a strange metallic egg. Soon, the Doctor is captured by the minions of Lady Adrasta, a tyrannical ruler who holds a monopoly on the metal wealth of the planet and who throws anyone who incurs her displeasure into the Pit, a decrepit mine with a gigantic green blob creature within. When Romana's attempt to rescue the Doctor goes wrong, she is captured along with K9, and the Doctor flees into the Pit, where he makes the acquaintance of astrologer Organon. But is the creature really a ravenous killer, or is it something else? Why does Adrasta seem intent on killing it once she thinks she is capable of doing so? And what links the creature to approaching destruction from far, far away?

The story concept of The Creature from the Pit is sound, and the structure is too. Simple, yes, but sound. The notion of making the creature, Erato, out to be a benign creature despite what is said about it is, while one done before in Doctor Who, a well used one. And some of the dialogue is amongst the best in the series, with Lady Karela, upon murdering a metal bandit by the name of Torvin, remarking that she had just added six inches of steel to his collection. Unfortunately, the execution brings it down.

The characters vary wildly. Lady Adrasta and Karela are both well-written and performed (if somewhat melodramatically) by the marvellous Myra Frances and Eileen Way respectively, and Organon, while a bit too comic, is nonetheless a good character brought to life by Geoffrey Bayldon. Unfortunately, the other characters, in terms of writing and performances, range from average to really bad, with the most egregious offenders being the metal bandits. Tom Baker is unfortunately rather too inappropriately comic here, and Lalla Ward as Romana tries not good enough with an admittedly poorly written role. David Brierley as K9 does a decent job, but cannot quite match John Leeson's performance.

I cannot really complain about the design work for this story, as the sets both in the studio and prefilming are quite good. So are the wolfweeds, predatory plants of Chloris. But the titular creature, Erato...I'm not sure how it could have been done better at the time (although the model shots of the larger creature proper are fine), but the big phallic pseudopodia doesn't help credibility, and it looks, even without it, like a big green plastic bag. Bubble wrap would have been far more convincing, unfortunately.

The Creature from the Pit had significant potential, but it was dragged down by story problems and pretty poor execution of a Doctor Who monster. Not really mediocre, but below what should be even average, and symptomatic of the problems with that season.


SCORE: 7/10

REVIEW: The Horns of Nimon by Anthony Read

SERIAL: 5L, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No.


There are three stories in Doctor Who's history that draw heavily on Greek mythology for inspiration, and were collected together later as a DVD boxset called Myths and Legends. The Time Monster drew on legends of Atlantis, while Underworld took a new look at the Jason and the Argonauts myth. Both, in my opinion, didn't do too well, so would the third, taking inspiration from the myth of the Minotaur, do any better? Well, if fan consensus is anything to go on, I would be in for a rough ride indeed...

The Skonnon Empire collapsed decades ago, but it looks set for a resurgence, with a mysterious being called the Nimon promising power beyond imagining, enough to found a Second Skonnon Empire. In return for tributes in the form of teenagers and radioactive crystals from the nearby planet of Aneth, the new Skonnon leader, former technician Soldeed, is apparently to lead a new war on the galaxy. While repairing the TARDIS, the Doctor and Romana crash into the Skonnon ship containing the last tribute from Aneth, and are separated when trying to free both ships from an artificially created black hole. While Romana and the Aneth teenagers are sent into the Power Complex to become victims of the Nimon, the Doctor struggles to save them. But what is the Great Journey of Life the Nimon speaks of? Why does the Power Complex look familiar from the sky? And what does the Nimon really want with the tribute?

I'll be perfectly honest. As a script, The Horns of Nimon is nearly perfect. The characters work, the Nimons feel sinister, and the concepts involved feel brilliant. There's a few howlers in terms of jokey dialogue with the Doctor, but other than that, I feel that with a different production, The Horns of Nimon would have worked far more effectively. As it is, in the production stakes, it got royally screwed over.

Unfortunately, Tom Baker is at his worst with his jokiness here, and David Brierly as K9 doesn't work well enough. However, Lalla Ward as Romana shines, taking the initiative and being a strong character, one of the few highlights of the production proper. While I don't know whether Graham Crowden as Soldeed was miscast, he certainly does things in a pantomime manner that is too much even for this era of Doctor Who, and Malcolm Terris as the Co-Pilot is almost as bad. The other performances are fairly average, and could have been done better, though John Bailey as Sezom performs his part better than pretty much the rest of the guest cast.

The production designs vary. Most of the sets are functional, although the Power Complex is one of the better sets of sets with the good idea of a reconfiguring labyrinth. However, the Nimons are an abysmally realisation of an otherwise excellent concept, and have got to be the silliest monster seen (in terms of costume and voice) ever in the classic series of Doctor Who. It is a crying shame since they are an excellent monster on paper.

Unfortunately, Shada never got completed, and thus, The Horns of Nimon remains the denouement of the Graham Williams era. A wonderful script utterly let down by a crappy production, it is an unfortunate mess that is more puerile pantomime than proper production. Still enjoyable, if you can stomach a pantomimey nature, but very disappointing.


SCORE: 6.5/10

PROGRESS REPORT FOUR: ABOUT TIME, OR CUTTING VIOLENCE, CUTTING HUMOUR, AND CUTTING BUDGETS

STORIES: Total for this era: 15

Cumulative total: 66. 14 William Hartnell, 6 Patrick Troughton. 17 Jon Pertwee. 29 Tom Baker

TIME: Total for this era: 10 days

Cumulative total: 75 days

PERCENTAGE NEVER WATCHED BEFORE: 10/15, or 66%

Cumulative total: 24/66, or 37%

MILESTONES:

First episode with K9

First female Time Lord (other than Susan)

First episode with Romana

First mention of the Guardians

The Key to Time season arc

Stories written by Douglas Adams

Largest monster in Doctor Who

Three years (1977-1980)

COMPANIONS: Leela, K9, Romana I and II

THOUGHTS: Although villified as the era where the show began to decay, the Graham Williams is of surprisingly high quality, at least for the first two years. The first season was more of a transitional period from the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era, with two stories that would have been right at home during that period, but it also introduced K9, one of the more popular, or at least famous companions of the Doctor, and while of varying quality, was of decent quality overall.

The Key to Time, conceived by Graham Williams as a means to justify the Doctor's otherwise random adventures, was a masterstroke, and most of the stories were of high quality, the only below average one being The Power of Kroll. We also meet Romana for the first time, first played by Mary Tamm, before being replaced by Lalla Ward. However, the budget began to decline thanks to economical problems at the time, and restrictions were being put on the storylines in order to avoid complaints from Mary Whitehouse.

The third and final season, unfortunately, was where everything really started to go wrong. Douglas Adams was brought in as script editor, and if the quality of many of the scripts are anything to go by, he was, intelligent though he may be, unsuited to the task. So too was the shrinking budget, with many shows appearing below par, and only City of Death being of excellent quality compared to the rest (although unfortunately, I am yet to watch Nightmare of Eden). Doctor Who veered more towards the pantomime, and Tom Baker began to make the show, and not just the part, more his own, more than he should have. The show, as a consequence, damn near fell apart, and the abandonment of what could have been an excellent story, Shada, didn't help matters.

Ultimately, though, while his era as producer ended as failure, most of Graham Williams' era should be seen as a triumph of managing to keep the show running through difficult times, as well as introducing characters who would continue to make an impact on the show to come. Overlooked, this era is in some need of reappraisal.


BEST STORIES: Image of the Fendahl, The Ribos Operation, The Androids of Tara, City of Death

WORST STORIES: Underworld, The Power of Kroll, Destiny of the Daleks, The Creature from the Pit, The Horns of Nimon

REVIEW: The Leisure Hive by David Fisher

SERIAL: 5N, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


After the debacle that was Graham Williams' last season as producer, the man who would later become the longest running, and the most controversial amongst fandom, producer of Doctor Who came in with a new look for the potentially ailing programme. John Nathan-Turner had had experience with the series for several years, and while his way of producing may have caused fans to deride him, there is no doubt that he brought Doctor Who into the Eighties, and his debut story, The Leisure Hive, is a marvellous example...

When an ill-fated holiday in Brighton ends up with K9 being damaged due to ending up in the ocean, the Doctor and Romana head to Argolis, the first of the Leisure Planets. But the Leisure Hive, with its entertaining possibilities in the science of tachyonics, has a dark history, for the Argolins are the last, sterile remnants of a race devastated by a nuclear war with the reptilian Foamasi. And one of the top Argolins, Mena, is desperately funding experiments by the human scientist Hardin to use tachyonics to reverse time, in order to save her dying race by rejuvenation. But something is going wrong as the Doctor and Romana arrive. Mysterious aliens stalk the corridors, a tourist dies during what should have been a harmless experiment, the Leisure Hive's human agent, Brock, has brought an offer from the Foamasi to buy Argolis, and Hardin's experiments turn out to be fraudulent. But can Hardin's experiments succeed? Why does the Foamasi White Lodge want to buy Argolis? And what is the deadly secret of the aggressive and glory-seeking Argolin Pangol, the impossibly youngest member of a supposedly sterile and dying race? Pangol is determined to lead Argolis on a suicidal course, and the Doctor and Romana will be hard pressed to stop him...

Although in theory, the production of The Leisure Hive should not have been quite so different from that of the previous season as, say, Jon Pertwee's first season was to the last of Patrick Troughton, but all throughout the story, there is a significant paradigm shift in the way things were done. While this caused significant friction between the lead actors of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, and the production team now headed by producer John Nathan-Turner, executive producer (and former producer) Barry Letts, and script editor Christopher H Bidmead, the end result is stunning, especially when you compare it to most stories in the previous season.

It looks more colourful, glossier, and there is a seriousness that was lacking for at least the past year. And while real scientific concepts had been used in the previous season (black holes, neutron stars and quantum mechanics), it feels more grounded in this story. At least three plots, all interlinked, make The Leisure Hive a complex story that is brought quite well to life. We have the Foamasi activities on Argolis, Pangol's machinations, and the experiments of Hardin, and how, while he has many things right, he was forced to fake his results for funding purposes.

The characters as written are entertaining, with the two main elder Argolin characters, Morix (played by Laurence Payne) and Mena (Adrienne Cori) having a strong level of pathos at their fate. David Haig's Pangol is a gleeful and entertaining warmongerer whose singular character and lack of depth is easily overlooked. I feel that John Colin as Brock could have been oilier, though he does a decent enough job, as does Nigel Lambert as Hardin, who is strongly implied to be a lover of Mena's (or as strongly as you can with a Doctor Who story). Lalla Ward as Romana is, despite the behind the scenes problems, a delight, and while Tom Baker doesn't quite give his all as an aged Doctor, is still quite good the rest of the time.

The production design is colourful and extravagant, although the Hive doesn't quite seem exactly like the tourist attraction it purports to be. And the direction by Lovett Bickford is also quite excellent, although this apparently led to the story going way over budget. However, the Foamasi costumes, I feel ambivalent about. While weird and alien, they also seem a little bit too cute and cuddly to seem at all menacing, or at least when seen in anything other than atmospheric glimpses of parts of their anatomy. And I have to wonder what the hell was with that nearly two-minute long pan over Brighton Beach at the start. It was utterly boring.

The Leisure Hive is an auspicious start to the Eighties era of Doctor Who, and the reign of John Nathan-Turner. Bringing Doctor Who into a new era is not something to be done lightly, and they managed to do it with an impressive story.


SCORE: 9/10

And now, a DVD trailer for the next story, Meglos.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6OxviNXK_s[/youtube]

By the way, I decided not to review K9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend. Instead, I intend to do it at the end of the classic series, along with the TV movie and the BBC website/Big Finish version of Shada. It's just so that I have an 'era' to lump it into...

Just caught up with your blog just in time. I am a huge Tom Baker fan. I don't think even David Tennant compares to his greatness. He was so eccentric and funny at the same time. And now you're talking about the Romanas, both of which top my list of best companions of all time. The first one was great for her witty banter with the Doctor (IMHO, she saved The Power of Kroll. turning it into "so bad it's good" instead of bad. The second one was cute and funny, and even had a somewhat childlike quality to her.
I'm gonna keep reading this. I'm anxious to see your opinions on the much-hated Colin Baker era.

REVIEW: Meglos by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch

SERIAL: 5Q, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No.


With the evolution of television technology comes new special effects techniques. The Doctor Who story Meglos is unique, if nothing else, for being a test run for a new special effects technique known as Scene-Sync that allowed moving shots with CSO to a precision never before achieved. But would these special effects help in this story of doppelgangers, time loops, and strange energy sources?

The Dodecahedron is the cornerstone of life on the planet Tigella, where its power is used to help power an underground civilisation, sheltered from the deadly plants on the surface. But there is conflict between the scientific Savants and the religious Deons brewing, and the Tigellan leader, Zastor, decides to bring old friend the Doctor in when the Dodecahedron begins to fluctuate. But soon after receiving the message from Tigella, the Doctor and Romana get trapped in a chronic hysteresis, or a time loop. The being responsible is Meglos, a sentient xerophyte from the nearby desert planet of Zolfa Thura, who has commissioned the Gaztak mercenaries to abduct a human for an audacious plan to steal the Dodecahedron. Taking over the human and reshaping the body into a double for the Doctor, Meglos heads to Tigella. When the Doctor and Romana manage to break out of the time loop, they head to Tigella themselves, unaware that Meglos is posing as the Doctor, and stealing the Dodecahedron for his own purposes. For the Dodecahedron was originally Zolfa Thuran in origin, and Meglos intends to use it as a devastating weapon.

On paper, Meglos has some intriguing concepts, including the conflict between religious fanatics and frankly bullheaded scientists, the Doctor being impersonated (usually the other way around), and the time loop being used to imprison the Doctor and Romana. Unfortunately, this is a rather pedestrian story whose best bits are not with the Doctor but with his doppelganger, the titular Meglos. And this is rather disappointing, as it could have been made better. Certainly one wonders why Meglos took so long to try and recover the Dodecahedron, or why a human was needed rather than another humanoid like a Tigellan (maybe humans are more biologically compatible with Zolfa Thurans?), or even how exactly the laboratory and screens were created. And the conflict between the two factions and Zastor's inability to mediate is irritating in the extreme.

Most of the characters aren't well written, and performances vary. Zastor must be pretty weak as a leader not to have stopped the stronger squabblings within his government, though Edward Underdown does well enough. Of the Savants, only Caris seems particularly well-written (being perhaps the only sane Tigellan), and even her role is not quite acted to its fullest by Colette Gleeson, though she does decently. Lexa is portrayed in the story as a religious lunatic, especially once she stages a coup and drives everyone, including Zastor, out onto the surface, and Jacqueline Hill (who played companion Barbara at the beginning of the series) is squandered badly here. The Gaztak mercenaries are a little better, being at least acted entertainingly, though not well enough for my liking, though Christopher Owen as the human (and, assumedly, as Meglos' original voice) is a delight for a small but pivotal role. Lalla Ward is wasted here, with Romana's role not well written. But it is Tom Baker's dual role as the Doctor and Meglos that deserves some consideration. He seems old, frail, and tired as the Doctor, but as Meglos, he is vividly evil, and manages to give Meglos a relatively restrained megalomania that only occasionally breaks through into chewing the scenery (thank Ti for that).

The production design varies. The screens of Zolfa Thura are spectacular in scope, and offer some of the best use of CSO and model work in the series ever. Meglos' laboratory is rather suitable, and the Tigellan undergound complex is at least functional, but the Tigellan jungle is a disappointment. So too are many of the costumes, like the Savants' white uniforms and blonde wigs, and the Gaztaks' hodgepodge uniforms, while intended to mark them out as scavengers, just make them look silly and comical rather than pragmatic and mercenary.

Overall, Meglos is a disappointing anomaly in what was supposed to be a new production paradigm for the series. Below average, but with some nice concepts to it.


SCORE: 7/10

And now, a DVD trailer for the E-Space trilogy: Full Circle, State of Decay, and Warrior's Gate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwwzYTQ6WCQ[/youtube]

REVIEW: Full Circle by Andrew Smith

SERIAL: 5R, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


Nowadays, it is common for writers of Doctor Who to have been fans of the show, but back during the classic series, this was less common. Douglas Adams was a strong fan of the show who took several submissions to get a writing credit, as did Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt later in the Sylvester McCoy era. But perhaps one overlooked fanwriter, Andrew Smith, wrote one of the better debut Doctor Who stories, the first part of the E-Space trilogy, Full Circle, at the tender age of seventeen. And he was far from the only young fan to debut with this story, for a certain young actor was about to make his debut as Adric, the new companion...

Summoned back to Gallifrey, both the Doctor and Romana are reluctant to do so, but when K9 loses control of the TARDIS during a strange event, they find themselves on a planet that seems to be at the exact same coordinates: Alzarius. Alzarius is in a smaller universe, E-Space, connected to the normal universe by Charged Vacuum Emboitments, and the Doctor and Romana are effectively stranded in a different universe. But they have no time to rest, for on Alzarius, a group of Terradonian colonists live, under the rule of the Deciders, in fear of Mistfall. When Mistfall comes, they flee to the safety of their crashed ship, the Starliner, to repair while monstrous beings stalk through the mist. But the Deciders have deceived the populace. The Marshmen may be dangerous, but as the Doctor finds out with young rebel Adric, there is even darker secrets held in the Starliner. The planet that slept is awakening, and the secret of the Terradonians is about to come full circle...

For a script from a first-time scriptwriter, Full Circle is actually quite excellent. I don't know how much of it is due to the work of script editor Christopher H Bidmead, but the story structures is good, and the concepts involved are excellent. A chilling, atmospheric story that questions what it means to be human, or more correctly, Terradonian, as well as giving a certain amount of satirical insight into politics and with a marvellous twist to the story that pretty much defines Full Circle.

The characters vary. The Deciders, for the most part, seem fairly interchangeable scriptwise, the actual performances of Leonard Maguire as Draith, Alan Rowe as Garif, and James Bree as Nefred notwithstanding (they range from good to decent). George Baker as Decider Login is an exception, bringing an understandable pathos to the role and being perhaps the best-written adult Terradonian. Dexeter is an interesting amoral character, but Tony Calvin fails to impress me in the role. The Outlers vary in both writing and performance from decent to not good enough, partly because the roles were written by a teenager for teenage actors. Matthew Waterhouse as Adric does not impress, although he puts in a decent enough performance. The Doctor and Romana are well acted by Tom Baker and Lalla Ward respectively, although Ward should have been a little more menacing when Romana is infected.

The production itself is a good debut for first-time director Peter Grimwade, who succeeds in conveying the atmosphere necessary for the story. The design works well, and while at times the Marshmen seem too blatantly like men in rubber suits, they are still quite a good concept, and the Marshchild is actually one of the most sympathetic creatures seen in the series to date, with its final fate rather sad. However, the marshspiders are one of the least well-realised monsters, looking like they were built from papier mache and painted by a child.

Overall, Full Circle is a surprisingly good start to the E-Space trilogy. While new companion Adric shows not enough promise and there are a few problems with characterisation, this is a richly written and performed story that proves that fan-written fiction is by no means always a bad thing.


SCORE: 9/10

REVIEW: State of Decay by Terrance Dicks

SERIAL: 5P, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


Back in season 15, for Graham Williams' first season producing Doctor Who, Terrance Dicks was commissioned to write a story. Writing The Vampire Mutations, it was noticed by BBC executives, who vetoed it. The reason why? They were doing a drama adaptation of the Dracula novel, and didn't want the audience to think that it was a send-up. The story had to be hurriedly put aside, and Horror of Fang Rock written swiftly to take its place. Three seasons and another producer later, Dicks was allowed to start again, with the story now set on a planet in E-Space...

Marooned in E-Space, the Doctor, Romana and K9 track down one of the few inhabited planets in the tiny universe. There, they find a world where a group of human colonists from the spaceship Hydrax have long since devolved into a medieval culture, and the Three Who Rule, King Zargo, Queen Camilla, and Aukon the Counsellor, ban all learning. They periodically take people from the village to become guards in their Tower, or else for a sinister purpose. While the Doctor and Romana make contact with both the rebels re-learning forbidden technology, and then with the Three Who Rule, K9 finds out that the Alzarian Adric has stowed away in the TARDIS, and Adric is brought to the Tower himself, to be made a Chosen One of the Three Who Rule. But are the Three Who Rule descended from the officers of the Hydrax, or are they the officers themselves? What is the secret of the Tower? And what does the creature sleeping deep below the Tower have to do with ancient and terrible legends about vampires?

Terrance Dicks can be relied upon to make, if not stellar stories, then solid and dependable ones. The story's concepts are intriguing, if dependent on vampire lore and cliches. There are nods to the show's past (Rassilon is mentioned as having participated in the war against the Great Vampires, and the Doctor tells Romana about K'anpo, his old mentor), and there are some nice touches (like the name-shifting applied to the original names of the Hydrax crew, and how the Doctor kills the Great Vampire at the end) that flavour what could have been a quite staid story.

The Three Who Rule are, for the most part, written fairly well and sinister, although there are a few times in both writing and performance when they become fairly campy vampires. William Lindsay and Rachel Davies as Zargo and Camilla respectively do much better than the more pivotal but less well-acted role of Aukon, portrayed by Emrys James. The humans range from decently written to less so, with Iain Rattray's guard Habris having a surprising touch of humanity about him. Clinton Greyn's Ivo seems to be sane at first, but later he seems to act more irrationally, although his motivation (to avenge his son) is understandable. Arthur Hewlett's Kalmar is less stellar, but Thane Bettany's Tarak, although itching to rebel, actually manages to do something constructive and helps Romana. Unfortunately, Lalla Ward's Romana is less written well, being more fearful than she should, although she has redeeming moments. Tom Baker does well as the Doctor, and while Matthew Waterhouse's first performance (this story was produced before Full Circle) as Adric is rather average, the character's self-serving traits seem surprisingly in character (he alludes to his brother's death and claims that he doesn't want to sacrifice himself for others any more, even though that is a bluff).

The production is lavish, but I feel that the design was let down in one major area: it is not made clear by design how the Tower was converted from the Hydrax. It should have looked less like a luxurious castle (at least from the inside) and a little more like a modified spaceship, at least for most of it. Some sets at least manage to convey this. The model effects of the Tower are mostly good, except for the scoutship liftoff, and the model hand of the Great Vampire (as well as the briefly glimpsed full creature) don't work well. And there are some parts of the story that lack a certain energy needed.

Still, State of Decay is a good story that brings vampires into the Whoniverse in an intriguing way. Not quite original, but notable. A pity the story that originally replaced it was better, but there you go.


SCORE: 8.5/10


Soon comes one of my favourite Who stories, Warrior's Gate.

REVIEW: Warriors' Gate by Stephen Gallagher

SERIAL: 5S, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


There are some stories that provoke a massive division in the fanbase as to how the story should be viewed, and Warriors' Gate is one of them. With some of the most surreal visuals and obscure storylines in the history of the series, and with a new writer and an ambitious new director, it was sure to provoke controversy as the conclusion to the E-Space trilogy...

While attempting to exit E-Space, the TARDIS crew find themselves hijacked by a leonine humanoid called Biroc, a member of the time-sensitive Tharils. K9 is damaged by the Time Winds in the process. Biroc, who has just escaped from a slaver ship where he was forced to navigate, then vanishes into the distance of a miniature universe that is at the intersection between N-Space and E-Space, with the Doctor setting off in pursuit to a mysterious gateway. The slavers, led by the increasingly frustrated Rorvik, explore the void, and finds the TARDIS, where Romana, trying to find new memory wafers for K9, agrees to go with them, only to find herself forced to be their navigator. While the Doctor explores the depths of the Gateway, in a strange world behind a set of mirrors, Rorvik is forced to take ever-incresingly drastic measures to destroy the mirrors when he becomes fixated on them as a way out of the void. But with the virtually featureless pocket universe contracting, time is running out for everyone...

Warriors' Gate, as a script, has only one fault: it takes time (usually multiple viewings) to understand what the hell is going on. But as a conception and storyline, it is sophisticated, intelligent, and brilliant, with the surreal sequences crossing the timelines within the Gateway contrasting with the slavers. Cerebral and surreal, a bad combination for some viewers, but not for me. Some sequences harken back to The Mind Robber, particularly the first episode. Romana's departure, already hinted at in Full Circle, is given more allusions so that her departure, along with K9, is not as abrupt as Leela's was in The Invasion of Time.

The characters all work well. Biroc seems proud and regal, but also has a certain pathos in wanting to have his kind redeem themselves. All the crew of the slaver ship are interesting, with particular praise going to Freddie Earle's Aldo and Harry Waters' Royce. The main villain, Clifford Rose's Rorvik, is a brilliant study in a man frustrated by inaction and the apathy of his men, and his last line, "I'M FINALLY GETTING SOMETHING DONE!! !" is one of the most unique and most chilling villainous warcries in Doctor Who history. The regulars each get meaty things to do, with the departing Lalla Ward and John Leeson giving their all for their final roles.

Perhaps due to Paul Joyce's work, this is a production where everything comes together. The sets are all effective, regardless of whether they be the stone Gateway or the decrepit interior of the slaver ship, the direction suits the story, and the special effects! Oh, the special effects! The void is extremely effective, the de-phased Tharils are great, the mirrors work well enough, but it is the model work that I enjoy the most, culminating in my all-time favourite explosion sequence from the classic series.

Warriors' Gate isn't for everyone. In fact, it is rather hard to follow. But those who do get it should agree that this is the best story in the E-Space trilogy, if not of Tom Baker's last season as the Doctor.


SCORE: 10/10

Here's the big bang that I was talking about. BOOM!


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxgetaRmXa4[/youtube]

REVIEW: The Keeper of Traken by Johnny Byrne

SERIAL: 5T, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: No.


With Tom Baker's final season as the Doctor drawing to a close, the production team knew that they should have some great threat to the universe to allow the fourth Doctor to go out with a bang. Thus, for the penultimate story of the season, they decided to bring back an old enemy of the Doctor's, and The Keeper of Traken helped set things up for the grand finale, as well as introducing a character who would become the Doctor's latest companion...

Now back in the normal universe, the Doctor and Adric have no time to rest. For they have been summoned to the Traken Union, a place of perpetual peace and harmony where no evil can exist, summoned by the Keeper of Traken, the fulcrum of the Traken Union's power. But the Keeper's death has drawn near, and though he has selected his successor, scientist and newly re-wed father Tremas, the Keeper knows that the transition of Keepers is a dangerous time, and asks the Doctor to help. Unfortunately, already there is a force working from within. An evil statue trapped on Traken, the Melkur, has influenced Tremas' new wife, Kassia, who is desperate to find any way to prevent Tremas from gaining the Keepership, and she is turning Traken against the newly arrived Doctor and Adric. With only Tremas and his daughter Nyssa as allies, the Doctor and Adric will be hard-pressed to stop Kassia and the Melkur's schemings. But the Melkur hides the face of an all-too familiar adversary of the Doctor's, and he intends to become the new Keeper of Traken, and conquer the universe with the Source of Traken...

The Keeper of Traken has many intriguing concepts in it, I have to admit, but I don't like the way it's written. It works well enough, and as a reintroduction to the Master it's actually quite good. But one sees holes in the plot, mostly to do with the characters, but seriously, wouldn't the Traken Union have better safeguards in place against such a possibility? Or is it just because they've become indolent and complacent? In fact, why do they even have weapons to give to the Fosters in the first place? And the interactions seem to be even worse paranoia than even the understandably tulmutuous time of the Keeper transition would suggest. Of course, these in themselves are not truly serious flaws.

However, most of the characters seem rather flat to me, performances notwithstanding. I lose all sympathy for Kassia partway through episode 2, as she seems to waver between trying to murder her husband and trying to spare him, though Sheila Ruskin gives her all. The other consuls are practical nonentities who just cause conflict rather than reacting realistically. However, Tremas is a decently written character, brought to life by Anthony Ainley (and it is startling to watch him play a nice character after seeing him play the Master so many times), and Nyssa, while Sarah Sutton's performance is only above average at this point, shows remarkable initiative, improvising a weapon from a tool and helping the Doctor and Adric. Matthew Waterhouse as Adric does rather well here, and Tom Baker as the Doctor, while tired, is still good. But it is Geoffrey Beevers' Master that deserves especial praise, both for writing (his characterisation and dialogue are excellently done) and in terms of performance, especially considering that the Master himself is only glimpsed until the final episode.

The production design is nothing spectacular, but does well enough in protraying the peaceful environs of Traken, and Melkur is a sinister and interesting design. However, the costumes, particularly for the Fosters, don't quite feel right. Still, they work for the story, and the direction, while lacking a certain energy, is still pretty much right for this story.

The Keeper of Traken is not really bad, but it just feels slightly awkward at this late stage in the series. However, as a vehicle to reintroduce the Master and to introduce Nyssa, it's pretty good.


SCORE: 8/10

REVIEW: Logopolis by Christopher H Bidmead

SERIAL: 5V, 4X25 minute episodes

SEEN IT BEFORE?: Yes.


"It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for." With ten words, Tom Baker bid a farewell that was felt by millions of viewers across the United Kingdom. With those words, seven years of playing the Doctor came to an end. And now, Doctor Who, with an actor who was practically the definitive article for the role leaving, was facing more uncertainty in the future. The final adventure of the final season of Tom Baker's tenure in the role set a new benchmark for universal danger...

Worried about the general run-down condition of the TARDIS, and learning that Tremas has disappeared from Traken, possibly the work of the Master, the Doctor makes plans to fix the TARDIS. Landing on Earth to make measurements of a police box in order to fix the chameleon circuit, the Doctor and Adric unwittingly take on a new companion, feisty Australian Tegan Jovanka, who mistook the TARDIS for a police box herself, and whose aunt was murdered by the Master. Watched by a mysterious, sinister figure in white, claimed by the Doctor to be a portent of doom, and with the threat of the Master hanging over his head, the Doctor heads to Logopolis, to repair the TARDIS and prepare to fight the Master. But the Master's target is not the Doctor. Logopolis, presided over by the genial Monitor and using pure mathematics to shape the cosmos, has a deadly secret, one which the Master intends to find out, no matter what the cost. Except maybe the cost may be more than even the Master is willing to bear...

Logopolis shows how well Christopher H Bidmead can write, combining concepts that have appeared in the show before (like recursion with TARDISes from The Time Monster, pre-regeneration incarnations from Planet of the Spiders, and entropy from throughout this season) with new ones. The concept of using entropy as a universal threat that dwarfs even the Master is a masterstroke (pun unintended), and as a climax to the fourth Doctor's era, it is hard to do much better. That being said, the Master, at least towards the end, isn't written as well as he should be, and the climactic fight could have been a little more brutal, instead of the Master resorting so soon to pushing buttons while cackling. His earlier appearances (or rather lack thereof) are still written well and atmospherically, and that, at least, ois an excellent way to do it.

Bidmead had a tough task. Amongst other things, he had to include incoming companion, air stewardess Tegan Jovanka, portrayed rather well, if a little irritating, by Janet Fielding (Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie! Oy! Oy! Oy!). Nyssa and Adric are protrayed fairly well by their respective actors, with Sarah Sutton in particular seeming more comfortable with the role, and giving a nice sequence where Nyssa mourns the death of her family and civilisation. Tom Baker as the Doctor gives a nice feeling of fear and dread as he is aware of his approaching demise. Anthony Ainley is perhaps a little too OTT as the Master, but otherwise does well. John Fraser's Monitor needs perhaps a little more gravitas, but otherwise does well. And while Adrian Gibbs' Watcher has no lines, he is both menacing and yet ambiguous.

The production itself is above average, with good location shooting, although some of the sets on Logopolis proper are a bit cheesy, and the use of dolls as the Master's victims is rather too noticeable this time around. But the story has a marvellously funereal air, enhanced by Peter Grimwade's direction and Paddy Kingsland's music. The regeneration sequence is poignant, and even made me weep a little.

Logopolis nearly makes it through to being perfect, but while it isn't, it's a fitting finale to the end of an era. It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for...



SCORE: 9.5/10