If I had it all to choose, I would swap my life as a quiet Civil Servant & Blogger for that of a dashing Thespian & Highwayman.
Sarah -
HARRY, MY GOOD FELLOW! ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE THE VOCAL FORTITUDE TO UNDERTAKE A MISSION SUCH AS THIS. THE LIFE OF THE THEATER IS NOT FOR THE WEAK OF VOICE AND STAMINA!
Harry -
Hmm, my voice lacks a certain panache, and I'd be concerned about spending all that time sitting in trees. Imagine the back spasms. It may be for the best to stick to blogging.
But how about that Richard Mace? He's got the panache and a strong back, just don't ask him to do too much running.
Sarah -
Fortunately, there's not a whole lot of running to do in "The Visitation". Still, do be careful, Adric, you may trip on that fallen branch and hurt your ankle.
Harry -
That was a faceplant right out of the Carole Ann Ford school of tumbling.
Sarah -
Going back to the beginning, we start by meeting a charming 17th century family -- a surly son, apparently drunken father, cheerful daughter, and faithful servant. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for the viewers, they're all dead within moments of our meeting them.
Harry -
They weren't missed, really.
Sarah -
Cut to the TARDIS, where Tegan is about to be dropped off at Heathrow, just in time for her first flight as an air hostess! She and Nyssa have a touching farewell conversation, which quickly turns into Tegan yelling at the Doctor when they realize that they've arrived at Heathrow a few centuries too early. That's our Tegan!
Harry -
I didn't realize that Getting-Tegan-to-Heathrow was a season-long story arc. It doesn't come off as a comedic side story with much staying power. She's still flying off the handle after every botched attempt by the Doctor, and he still hasn't convinced her that time travel means that she won't miss her flight. He is doing an awful job of it, though.
Meanwhile, Nyssa and Adric are getting really good at finding something fascinating to stare at each time one of these little rows breaks out.
Sarah -
The Getting-Tegan-to-Heathrow arc doesn't quite have the same majesty as the Key to Time, but whaddayagonna do? Budgets were tight at the time.
Harry -
Anyway, now that we're 300 years in the past, let's enjoy this SF historical. Breathe in that air. Careful, though -- the villagers are alarmed and they're lighting fires. Oops! And now they've surrounded our friends. That was predictably quick.
But what ho! A mysterious highwayman in a tree! His pistols scatter the locals and he helps our friends escape. Richard Mace provides the most stylish of introductions.
Sarah -
"Stand and Deliver! Your Lupins or Your Life!" Oh wait, that was Dennis Moore, not Richard Mace. Back in the public television days, Monty Python was on before Doctor Who on Sunday nights, so the two are never far apart in my heart.
Harry -
These villagers would have torched all the lupins in their purifying bonfires.
Mace guides everyone to the squire's house, recently vacated but for a miller who continues to take deliveries away by cart. Inside, a disco android creeps around. To top it off, the Doctor vanishes behind a brick wall, leaving the others to face the peril alone.
Sarah -
Or has he? It seems our alien friends have created an optical illusion to keep out the tourists.
Harry -
Our historical takes a further sci fi twist as the Doctor discovers the hidden lair of some fugitive Terileptils whose ship crashed near the squire's house. Both the Terileptils and their dazzling droid were visually arresting. I would definitely like to see them make a return to the new series.
Sarah -
Glam Rock Robot is the best thing about this story! Yeah, the Terileptils are interesting baddies and it would be fun to bring them back, but Glam Rock Robot is where it's at!
Harry -
I liked that they were given a bit of backstory, and their leader even had some physical scarring.
Sarah -
The Terileptil costumes were actually quite impressive. They looked like they'd been dragging around the universe for a while.
Harry -
As it turns out, this particular group of space lizards has no desire to return to their home world, something the Doctor could relate to. He offers to help transport them to a safe new home, anywhere in the universe, but they have already planted their stakes on Earth. Their aim is nothing short of genocide via plague - to wipe out the human race and claim the entire planet for themselves. How rude!
Sarah -
It is quite the presumptuous plan, isn't it? Also a bit presumptuous of the Doctor to take them off any-old-where to start their new lives.
Harry -
I wonder if this story - the debut effort by Eric Saward - was penned long before the present group of Doctor and companions was assembled. You get the sense that Tegan, Nyssa and Adric are having to share the workload that may have been intended for just one companion. Tegan and Adric keep falling victim to the locals or the lizards, while Nyssa is dispatched to work on a sonic disruptor device for a long stretch of story time. I have to admit, one of my favourite moments in the story was when Adric got bored with waiting around inside the TARDIS and he boldly set off to search for the Doctor... only to be captured by some villagers three seconds after stepping outside the ship. Woops!
Sarah -
We can certainly understand his desire to do SOMETHING. We should note that when Adric pilots the TARDIS into the manor house to rescue the Doctor, Tegan, and Mace, the Doctor ends up berating him for taking so long. So much for doing something the Doctor couldn't manage himself.
Harry -
There's a lot of fillerish toing-and-froing in this story, as the Doctor and Mace sneak around between the squire's house, the Terileptil ship, a barn for a random horse stealing caper, and so on. Did you find yourself wishing they would just cut to the chase?
Sarah -
It was, in fact, my fondest wish. There are some nice moments here and there, but overall the story is so amazingly tedious that I really just wanted it to move along. When we finally reach the end, the Terileptils have set off for London to dispatch the plague that will kill all the humans. The Doctor manages to get the TARDIS exactly where it needs to be to stop them and, in doing so, inadvertently starts the Great Fire of London. Whoops!
Harry -
It was unique that the final showdown came down to an old fashioned punch up between our friends and the villains. That scene foreshadowed some of the "violent" Saward era to come. It also showed that try as he might, this Doctor's affable, sensitive approach is not really the best way to deal with malevolent aliens. For many seasons now, we've been watching Doctors who could hold their own in a physical confrontation. Pertwee would have had the Terileptils flipping, flying and landing on their arses with some Venusian akido moves. Tom Baker would have used his cunning to rig up a trap that also would have had them flipping, flying and landing on their arses. It's interesting to have a Doctor who isn't so much a bold man of action - unless pressed into it by dire circumstances.
Sarah -
I have to admit that I've been feeling a bit discontent with the Fifth Doctor era so far. The affable uncle keeping his young charges in line is already getting on my nerves.
Harry -
Overall, I liked the historical setting of "The Visitation," but it did seem to drag in places. The characters did a lot of drifting from one set to another, but I'm glad that most scenes featured the gravel voiced Mace, who stole the show here.
Well, let's find out if Getting-Tegan-to-Heathrow meets with success in the next adventure.
Sarah -
Best Line:
The Doctor : "How do you feel now?"
Tegan : "Groggy, sore and bad tempered."
The Doctor : "Almost your old self."
Favorite Moment: Tegan unloading on the Doctor for failing to get her to Heathrow in the correct century.
Lasting Image: Glam Rock Robot is where it's at!
5/10
Harry -
Best Line:
Mace: "I'm so impetuous, I'm always looking at the hills and missing the treasure at my feet."
Favourite Moment: Adric's 3-second capture by the villagers.
Lasting Image: the Terileptil leader.
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #120: Black Orchid...
No comments:
Post a Comment