Story #122 - Time-Flight (1982)

Harry -
Our recap of "Earthshock" went long, and we didn't get a chance to look back at the first season of the Peter Davison era. It feels like we covered a lot of ground since "Castrovalva".


Sarah -
It feels like it's been a long time since the regeneration, doesn't it? It's only been two months since we started the Fifth Doctor era, yet somehow it feels as though it's been much longer.


Harry -
It does, and I think the good variety of stories in Season 19 was a factor. "Castrovalva" was a bit loopy and we watched Anthony Ainley firmly establish himself as the new Master. "Four to Doomsday" was a good romp in space. "Kinda" was all kinds of crazy -- lame snake prop aside. "The Visitation" was a fun historical-SF mashup, while "Black Orchid" marked a brief return to the classic Hartnell Historical format. I always think that "Earthshock" was the final story in this season, but it was not. That's just one of many coping mechanisms I employ to help deal with "Time-Flight".


Sarah -
We're going to need something stronger to help us cope. Didn't we leave a bottle of gin tucked into one of the sofa cushions after the last regeneration?


Harry -
It's back there somewhere. Well, JNT has killed off Adric as he continues to reshape the show to his own design. The story begins with a brief mourning scene.


Sarah -
To be honest, I'm starting to wonder if the design was intentional or just a lot of stuff happening.


Harry -
Tegan and Nyssa remain, for now. The Doctor seems to be getting caught up in events more often than influencing them. It's been an interesting season so far. And we're about to find out if Tegan ever makes it to Heathrow...


Sarah -
The action in the TARDIS picks up immediately after the survivors from "Earthshock" are sent on their way. Nyssa and Tegan are still reeling from Adric's death and implore the Doctor to go back and save him. The Doctor becomes as tetchy as we've seen him in a while, "Now listen to me, both of you. There are some rules that cannot be broken even with the Tardis. Don't ever ask me to do anything like that again. You must accept that Adric is dead. His life wasn't wasted. He died trying to save others, just like his brother, Varsh. You know, Adric had a choice. This is the way he wanted it."

Not so sure about the whole "wanting it this way" thing, but after commenting that Adric wouldn't want them to mourn "unnecessarily," we're off on the next adventure.


Harry -
The whole scene was played awkwardly. Janet Fielding seemed unsure weather to be angry or weepy and landed somewhere in between. Peter Davison rushes through his lines, and Sarah Sutton stands back and lets the two of them play it out. Awkward, but they got through the minimal requirement of reacting to a recently deceased character.


Sarah -
The TARDIS finally makes it back to Heathrow, shortly after a Concorde has gone missing. Surely the TARDIS crew won't be suspected of being involved, will they?


Harry -
I think awkward is going to be the theme of this story. This was another odd scene. After being confronted by security, the Doctor suddenly remembers his UNIT credentials and name drops the Brigadier. In a matter of minutes, the TARDIS crew are leading the search for the lost Concorde. Naturally, this involves taking another one along the exact same flight path as the first one, so the Doctor can see what happens.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the second plane also disappears into some sort of time-slip.

Or does it? They seem to have landed back at Heathrow.

Or have they? They seem to have fallen for a psychic trick.

Turns out, both Concordes have landed 140 million years in the past. As everyone shuffles around the prehistoric stage set trying to look convincingly puzzled, a Mysterious Conjurer observes them in his crystal ball while jabbering nonsensical things to himself. Sharoom Sharoom!


Sarah -
You know what, Harry? I just can't. I cannot even deal with this story. Spoilers, everyone -- it's the Master with another of his cockamamie plans.


Harry -
Oh my word, that's cut to the chase. Only there isn't a chase, and the big plot twist is the Master wearing a pointless disguise. I'm not even sure I followed what his plan was.


Sarah -
The plan is crap. The Doctor foils it. Master defeated. Everyone back on the plane to Heathrow. Whoops, the TARDIS seems to have left Tegan behind. THE END. Move along. Nothing more to see here. On to Season Twenty.


Harry -
Can we at least say something nice about Captain Stapley, who was played by Canadian Richard Easton? He played the role with such pluck, and his acting credits are quite fascinating.


Sarah -
You can always count on a Canadian!


Harry -
Captain Stapley held things together with cheerful charm while the Doctor and Master resumed their ongoing series of flirtations. It was Stapley who came up with a solid solution to every dilemma. Need to remove a wheel from the Concorde without raising the place? Why, dig beneath it of course. Meanwhile the Doctor and Master kept exchanging technobabble to no one's amusement.


Sarah -
Captain Stapley is pretty much the hero of the piece, isn't he? What the hell is going on here, Harry? The Captain is even allowed to be in the TARDIS without the Doctor. It's like an open-door policy was declared during the Fifth Doctor's era. Everyone gets to come on board, it seems.


Harry -
It's crazy how many people are barging in and out of the console room these days.

It was a relief when they finally got back to Earth, and hey look at that, the getting-Tegan-to-Heathrow arc worked out in the end. Only, she doesn't seem at all interested in being there.


Sarah -
Poor Tegan.

Best Line:
Tegan's "So did I...", if only because it's the final line. The Doctor has inadvertently left her behind and Stapley says, "I thought you were going with the Doctor."

Favorite Moment: The one thing really I enjoyed in the story was the second Concorde crew meeting the first crew, who were under the Master's spell. "I didn't know you had a New York stopover. Meet you in the bar!" That was funny.

Lasting Image: Tegan's face when she's left at Heathrow -- the one place she's been wanting to go all season. Oh, the cruel irony.

2/10


Harry -
Best Line:
Airport security - "Are you responsible for this box, sir?"
Doctor - "Well, I try to be."
That kind of sums up the Peter Davison era so far.

Favourite Moment: So many moments of Captain Shipley being awesome that it's hard to choose just one.

Lasting Image: The Master's utterly pointless disguise. Sharoom Sharoom!

3/10


Sarah -
THREE! That extra point is for Stapley, isn't it?


Harry -
He was pretty awesome.

Our marathon continues with Story #123: Arc of Infinity...

Story #121 - Earthshock (1982)

Sarah -
We all have our favorite Doctor Who stories that we love and look forward to rewatching, knowing that it's going to be a perfect experience. We start to watch them and the love begins to flow from the very first frame. "Earthshock" is one of those stories for me. I'm not sure when I last watched "Earthshock", but it was as familiar as if I'd watched it last week. At the same time, I remember so well the first time I watched it in the early 80s on PBS -- it was the first time Doctor Who made me cry.


Harry -
It's been a few years since I watched "Earthshock", but I know what you mean. So often with a Doctor Who story, we find ourselves having to slog through several scenes of filler and pointless padding. They got the pacing perfect with this one. The whole story hurtles along with barely a pause, with the Doctor and his friends experiencing ever-increasing levels of tension until the final terrible moment, and the silence that follows.


Sarah -
It's all so tight, isn't it? Eric Saward's script keeps the story moving along and Peter Grimwade's direction is spot-on.

Speaking of Grimwade, on the commentary track, the cast discusses how difficult he was to work with. He would walk around the set doing that director-making-a-box-with-his-hands-and-looking-through-it thing. He'd grab actors and physically move them to where he wanted them. And, counter to BBC tradition, he would direct from the floor and not the control room. Still, it worked here.

Back to the story, I love that we don't even see the TARDIS Crew until several scenes in.


Harry -
Very long opening sequence.  It breaks the Season 19 mold of having each story start with our lead characters jumping right into things. Lovely wide quarry there.


Sarah -
We start with a group of soldiers climbing up a rope with Professor Kyle, whose entire team disappeared while they were excavating a system of caves for fossil remains. The soldiers are led by the Lieutenant Scott, who appears to be quite the man of action.


Harry -
Dishy!


Sarah -
Janet Fielding keeps calling him butch on the commentary. She seems a bit preoccupied by him, in fact.


Harry -
My eyes tended to follow him.


Sarah -
When the missing scientists don't show up on their scanner, Scott decides it's time to investigate the caves, with Professor Kyle going along to guide them. The caves scenes are so effective that they make me claustrophobic every time I see them. The tension is so palpable that I kept holding my breath.


Harry -
When we finally get to the TARDIS, there's more turmoil afoot, only this time it's sparked by Adric. Listless and frustrated at bearing the brunt of everyone's taunts, he wants to go home. The Doctor immediately rejects the idea of returning to E-Space. Tensions flare and another row ensues. The TARDIS lands and the Doctor skulks outside, with Tegan and Nyssa eventually following.


Sarah -
Ah, teenagers. We even get a glimpse of Adric's room. How adorable is it that he has a space chart up on the wall?


Harry -
It was such a sad opening to what becomes one of Adric's best stories, as he and the Doctor eventually make up and spend most of the adventure side by side.


Sarah -
He finally gets something to do, while Nyssa ends up spending most of the story tucked away in the TARDIS.


Harry -
This was definitely a "holiday" story for Nyssa. She literally had nothing to do.

It turns out the TARDIS has landed in the same caves that are being investigated by Scott and his party. Soon enough, the two groups meet up.


Sarah -
And, to the surprise of exactly no one, the TARDIS crew is accused of having killed the scientists.


Harry -
All the while, two dark and silent figures creep through the caves mysteriously.


Sarah -
How cool are the androids?


Harry -
Silent, faceless, all-black androids that shoot lasers out of their hands? Pretty damn cool!

There are several minutes of back and forth shooting, with the Doctor and friends pinned down with Scott and his team. The androids' controllers suddenly lock onto the Doctor. It's the Cybermen!


Sarah -
It's almost hard believe the series went seven years without a Cyberman story. John Nathan-Turner was so anxious about keeping their appearance a secret that he passed on a Radio Times cover for "Earthshock". My favorite aspect of the introduction of the Cybermen in Earthshock is seeing the clips of their previous encounters with the Doctor. I'm fairly certain these would have been my first glimpses of Hartnell and Troughton in action!


Harry -
I like that they continued with the "flash back to past Doctors" thing in the new series. Reinforces the continuity of it all.


Sarah -
It always makes me happy.


Harry -
But this is a very different group of Cybermen. They are aggressive, vengeful, dare I say emotional? They order the androids to destroy the Doctor, but Scott's team manages to destroy the androids instead.


Sarah -
They're certainly more cunning than their previous incarnations.


Harry -
Investigating what it was that the androids were protecting, an opened hatch reveals a bomb placed deep in the caves. Tegan logically asks why everyone can't pile into the TARDIS and escape, but the Doctor insists on defusing it and finding out who was behind it. Tracking a signal from the bomb, the TARDIS follows it to its source: a gigantic space freighter heading for Earth.


Sarah -
The space freighter of destiny! I love the establishing scenes on the freighter -- morale is low and the conflicts are high. Ringway is disturbed by the disappearance of several crew members, Berger is clearly sick of Ringway, and Captain Briggs -- played by none other than the legendary Beryl Reid -- just wants him to shut up so they can get their bonus.


Harry -
Beryl Reid! The stuntiest example of stunt casting in the JNT era. I can never decide whether casting the classic comedienne as a cantankerous space captain was bad or brilliant.


Sarah -
It's so bad I find it almost brilliant.


Harry -
Sometimes I think it was the worst example of Turner hiring a famous name to boost interest in the show. But this time around, I loved her. The scenes where she keeps fussing about her bonus lend an air of dark comedy to the story. It's not hard to believe that an entire army of Cybermen could be loaded onto the freighter right under her nose, as her short-sightedness is astonishing.


Sarah -
She doesn't appear to be the strongest leader, does she? Still, she is rocking that leather look.


Harry -
Rather than make a grand entrance, the Doctor materializes somewhere inside the ship's vast hold. Having made up with Adric, the two of them set off to explore. These scenes with Adric harkened back to when Matthew Waterhouse and Tom Baker first teamed up. Adric has matured since then, and I really liked seeing him and the Doctor working together again. There's so much foreshadowing going on in the first half of the story, it makes these moments all the more bittersweet.


Sarah -
These scenes really emphasize the disservice done to the companions in this era. Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa were all victims of poor writing and being shuttled off to the side while the Doctor cavorts with a guest character. Adric, like both Tegan and Nyssa, can be quite good when he's actually given something to do and is written in a consistent manner.


Harry -
Yeah, while it was great to see Adric feature prominently, and Tegan get to do some alien hunting aboard the ship, Sigourney Weaver-style, it was Nyssa's shunting to the side that disappointed.


Sarah -
Even worse, she was stuck in the TARDIS with the whinging Professor Kyle. That would put anyone in a foul mood, although it's always a bit shocking when she's killed by a Cyberman.


Harry -
But there really wasn't time to dwell on that too much. After the Doctor and Adric are apprehended and taken to the bridge to be questioned by Briggs, the Cybermen storm in and reveal themselves.

"So, we meet again, Doctor." Another hallmark of the JNT era is the transformation of the Cybermen from frightening body-horror monsters into stomping, fist shaking, space stormtroopers. Here, it works. I like to think that this particular group of Cybers was led by a rogue or flawed Cyberleader, who pulled hard on the last vestiges of his humanity to inject his actions with very human malice and melodrama. We don't find out until late in the story what their plot was, but this Cyberleader is all too happy to unleash his troops all over the ship and enjoy watching the havoc they wreak. And it's really not a proper Cyberman story without a mass Cyberman activation scene, is it?


Sarah -
It would be disappointing if we didn't have the shots of all the Cybermen activating and marching down the corridors -- even if it is the same shot used three times. These Cybermen really are different, using the Doctor's compassion to manipulate him by threatening to kill Tegan. David Banks' performance as the Cyber-Leader is chilling.


Harry -
Banks was the definitive 80s Cyberman. He even wrote a book about them. It's somewhere under the sofa, I'll have to dig it out so we can take a look.


Sarah -
Probably behind a cushion somewhere.


Harry -
Anyway, by the time we get to part four, the story is careening towards its explosive finish. The Doctor is almost overwhelmed by what's happening. Here's where some of the old bastard qualities of previous Doctors would have helped him immensely. Instead, events are getting away from him. Will the Cyber-plot to destroy an interplanetary conference by crashing the freighter into the Earth actually succeed? For a long while, it seems so.


Sarah -
I'm really starting to miss the old bastard Doctor. Things move fast in episode four. The Cyber-Leader decides to use the freighter as a weapon to destroy Earth in place of the bomb the Doctor diffused in the caves. He leaves the ship in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Tegan, while Adric, Briggs, and Berger are left behind to have their deaths observed by the remaining Cybermen. Scott and his troopers manage to retake the bridge and defeat the Cyber-guards. Briggs is ready to abandon ship when Adric suggests that they may be able to override the device controlling the computer and keep the ship from crashing into Earth. He starts to solve a series of logic puzzles, which allows Briggs to disarm the first segment -- and the freighter jumps 65 million years back in time. (Sorry, what?) And the TARDIS follows.


Harry -
I couldn't follow the logic that turned the freighter into a time machine, and things are always happening so fast at this point that I never stop to question it. Something something science.


Sarah -
I have an image of my head of Christopher Bidmead watching this story go out and shouting at the television, "That can't happen! That's not science!" Accompanied by much fist shaking, of course.


Harry -
Hah! He must have hated this story.

The most painful moment was when the Doctor and Tegan were bundled into the TARDIS and Adric says "Goodbye Tegan. I'll see you soon." Rrrrrr....


Sarah -
That is the moment that kills me every time. He just looks so impossibly young in that shot and it breaks my heart -- even more so now that I am the parent of a teenage boy.

The rush to disarm the remaining segments continues, until Scott forces everyone to abandon ship. Just as the door on the escape pod is about to close, Adric realizes how he can solve the final puzzle and jumps out of the pod. All of which leads, of course, to Adric's untimely death.


Harry -
Even though we know it's coming, and it's been foreshadowed through the entire story, it's always a horrible moment. While everyone around him was forced out of character, shooting guns and killing Cybermen, Adric returned to what he did best: mathematics. He just couldn't resist solving the final logic puzzle. Worst of all, he'd never find out if he was right.


Sarah -
It's satisfying to see him with something to DO for a chance of pace.


Harry -
Oh Adric. Gone, never to return. The moment was so heavy that the producers rolled the end credits in silence -- the only such memorial that a Doctor Who character has ever received.


Sarah -
I remember so vividly the first time I saw "Earthshock". I was absolutely devastated and couldn't stop sobbing. The silence under the credits is still a controversial ending, but I've always liked it.


Harry -
It's brilliant, and for me there's a major reason why this is so.

When we first met awkward, brainy Adric in this marathon, I couldn't help compare him to a similarly awkward, brainy character in the new series: Osgood of UNIT. Interestingly, both characters ended up dead.

Or did they? In some shape or form, it looks like Osgood will be returning in the coming season of Doctor Who. I'll be honest, that's disappointing, because it underscores one of the huge problems I have with the new series: no one ever dies. We see characters appear to die (Kate Stewart hurled from an airplane, for example), but Stephen Moffat just can't kill anyone off. Time and again, he saves a character he killed off two scenes before (Kate Stewart caught in mid-air by her dead, Cyber-converted father who was capable of flight). Apart from the ridiculessness of the moment, it takes away all the emotional impact of seeing a character die. If I know it's just a matter of time before a dead character comes back to life, I won't be too fussed if they get zapped by the Master or otherwise. Fans might like seeing a favourite figure return to the show, but for me it cheapens the viewing experience. I'm not being morbid when I say I'd like someone to stay dead, I just think the Moff is turning everyone into a Loony Toons character who can be re-set right after we've watched them die. And it's not good TV. And I don't like when Doctor Who is not good TV.

End of rant.


Sarah -
Preach it, Brother!

I am right there with you. Knowing a character could die absolutely raised the stakes for me. I saw this story early enough in my Doctor Who viewing that it made a huge impression. If it turns out Osgood isn't really dead there will be much fist shaking on my part -- and a few rants about science to make it all a bit more Bidmead-y.

So that's it. Adric is dead.


Harry -
Very much so.


Sarah -
You and I run counter to received fan wisdom in that we don't hate Adric, and he's really not as bad as we're supposed to believe. To my mind, he's firmly in the poorly served companion camp -- along with Dodo (she's mad, leave her be), Liz Shaw, and Martha Jones. They're all companions who started out with potential, but were poorly served by the series.


Harry -
I agree with all of these examples.


Sarah -
As I mentioned when we first met Adric in "Full Circle", my theory (ahem!) is that his greatest crime is being an annoying teenage boy in a series where a significant percentage of the viewership has always been made up of annoying teenage boys. He hits too close to home. Of course, the fact that his character was neglected for most of his time on the series didn't help either. Neither did the fact that Matthew Waterhouse wasn't going to win any acting awards.

That said, Adric had some excellent moments. His chemistry was much stronger with Tom Baker than it ever was with Peter Davison. He and Nyssa also had some good moments. I liked it when they paired off as a team -- two brainy kids geeking out together. Having been a teenager when I watched these stories for the first time, I was always put off by the paternal nature of the Fifth Doctor's relationships with these companions.


Harry -
I can't remember a story where the Doctor and companions were so directly responsible for killing so many enemies. If Cybermen could bleed it would have been a hell of a bloodbath.


Sarah -
Before we bid a final farewell to Adric, I'll mention that I had a cat named Adric back in the day. He was a bit of a scamp who often got into trouble and, alas, also died. To be fair, it wasn't while attempting to save the Earth and inadvertently causing the dinosaurs to become extinct, but he was an excellent cat.

My cousin had a cat named Tegan around the same time and she was quite bossy. Speaking of Tegan, "Earthshock" give us the classic Tegan line, "I'm just a mouth on legs" and marks the first appearance of "Brave heart, Tegan."


Harry -
Lots of landmark moments in this one.


Sarah -
If I ever get another pet, I plan to call it Mr. Fibuli, or perhaps Packer, which will delight me every time I call its name!


Harry -
If I ever get a dog, a large one like a greyhound for example, I'd definitely name him Brigadier. I can't imagine either of us getting pets without Who-related names.

Well, we made it through "Earthshock". I thought we might be might be gibbering wrecks by now, but we've managed to hold it together! With minimal drinking!

Best Line:
Captain Briggs upon hearing that Ringway is still alive: "Pity. I've just composed a particularly nasty epitaph for him."

Favourite Moment: the Doctor and Adric exploring the freighter together.

Lasting Image: Adric's badge for mathematical excellence, broken into pieces. Rrrrrr......

9/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "Now I'll never know if I was right."

Favorite Moment: The Cybermen reviewing their past encounters with the Doctor.

Lasting Image: Adric holding his brother's belt in his final shot.

9/10

Our marathon continues with Story #122: Time-Flight...

Story #120 - Black Orchid (1982)

Sarah -
What Ho, Old Boy! I have to admit that I have a soft spot for "Black Orchid", and not just because it's the first pure historical since "The Highlanders". It's not the strongest story, but it's a topping little romp, don't you think?


Harry -
Absolutely, ducks. It's a ripping yarn, and rather the quintessential story of the Peter Davison era. A quaint historical setting, a cricket match, a fancy dress party, and a spot of murder mystery. I always identify the Davison era with this group of companions, and they get to have a wonderful time in the roaring twenties before things take a very dark turn. Looking at it now, it's the last hurrah for this TARDIS team, a lovely little two-parter that's roughly the length of a new series story.


Sarah -
The actors may disparage it on the commentary track, but it's always fun to watch!


Harry -
Whenever I watch "Black Orchid" it makes me wish that there were more of these two-parters sprinkled throughout the classic series. "Short trips" as it were. Although the opening flurry of images was baffling the first time I saw it. Someone, somewhere, is being strangled. Somewhere else, Nyssa appears to be sleeping in a plush bed. Quick cut to a pair of legs bound up. Another quick cut to a South American tribesman reading a book. What the what now? Maybe the two-part structure caused things to be too rushed at the start, but as this was a repeat viewing for us, the rapid-fire opening was a nice prelude/refresher.


Sarah -
Having started the Great Fire of London, the TARDIS team is flitting about the galaxy in search of new adventures. Tegan is finally fully on board, having decided that she'll stay a bit before finally beginning her glamourous air hostess career. She even tells the Doctor, upon finding they've landed back on Earth, that he doesn't need to try to get her back to Heathrow. Of course, being Tegan, she manages to work in a crack about his inability to pilot the TARDIS properly. You can't expect too much change in one episode.


Harry -
The production team must have decided that having a row about Heathrow to start every adventure was too repetitive.


Sarah -
And for this we can only thank them!


Harry -
Instead of an aeroport, the TARDIS has landed at a train station in 1925. By a stroke of luck, a chauffeur is waiting to pick up a cricket player nicknamed the Doctor. Ever affable, our Doctor steps into the role, piles his friends into the open-top and away they ride to Lord Cranleigh's estate.


Sarah -
A case of mistaken identity, of course, as the chauffeur was meant to pick up a friend of Old Smutty, but who skips the chance to fit in a bit of cricket?


Harry -
The upper crust lingo being tossed about in this story was amusing, twicely so as Adric and Nyssa found it all baffling. Then again, they found the idea of a railroad baffling, so you never know.


Sarah -
I love that scene. Nyssa dismissing railroading as "a very silly activity" always cracks me up.


Harry -
The Doctor strolls onto the cricket pitch and starts batting and bowling like a seasoned pro. Meanwhile, Nyssa is about to confront the plot device that distresses me to no end: the identical twin character. Aargh!


Sarah -
Ah, the identical twin trope. Ann -- the fiance of Lord Cranleigh and former fiancee of his brother George, who mysteriously disappeared in Brazil -- is the spitting image of Nyssa. Oh, how the hijinks ensue when Ann suggests that she and Nyssa wear the identical butterfly costumes to the fancy dress party that evening. No one will be able to tell them apart! What could possibly go wrong?


Harry -
What indeed. Everyone makes their way to the garden for the party -- everyone except the Doctor. Having stepped into a secret passageway, he finds himself wandering empty staircases and corridors in the upper area of Cranleigh manor. "Why didn't I leave after the cricket," he sighs, then starts exploring various closets. A closet with old botany books, a closet with somebody's clothes, a closet with a dead butler. Dead butler, what that what?


Sarah -
Well now, that's quite awkward, what with all of Lady Cranleigh's guests about. Let's just keep this teeny, tiny secret between ourselves, Doctor. No need to create a fuss.


Harry -
Meanwhile, our friends party on unaware. Tegan kicks up her heels to the Charleston, Adric stuffs his face at the buffet, and Nyssa and Ann have fun swapping identities...


Sarah -
I love the party scenes. Check out Tegan making time with Sir Robert. That's the most flirting we've seen in Doctor Who in a good long time! And then there's the look of adoration on Adric's face when Nyssa cuts a rug on the dace floor. It seems there's just something irresistible about a fancy dress ball.


Harry -
...until the mysterious figure that snatched the Doctor's harlequin costume kills off another butler and attacks Ann next.


Sarah -
Now, this really is getting quite awkward. How is One to retain One's social standing with all this going on? Even more embarrassing, it seems to be Lady Cranleigh's allegedly missing son, George who seems to be the source of the kerfuffle. Poor George -- "Gee, thanks Mom for locking me in the attic so no one will know I'm horribly deformed and unable to speak. I wouldn't want to put a cramp in your social calendar." Bunch of upper-class twits!


Harry -
Although George causes the most death and destruction in this story, he ends up a tragic character worthy of the viewers' sympathies. The real villain of the piece is Lady Cranleigh, who puts public appearances above her own son's fortune, stowing him away like a broken lamp. Then she stands mutely by as the Doctor is accused of murder. She was ready to sell him down the river to protect herself from embarrassment. "How very unpleasant" indeed.


Sarah -
George's death is just brushed away. It's as if they're relieved to be rid of him!


Harry -
What awful people. On top of that, the Cranleighs all treated Ann like so much chattel to be handed off from one brother to the next as a matter of convenience.


Sarah -
What are they, bloody Tudors? Does Ann have no agency in this? Stand up for yourself, woman, you don't have to marry that prat!


Harry -
Then! At the end of the story, when the truth comes out, Lady Cranleigh buys her guests off with some gifts and party favours as though they'd only been inconvenienced in the mildest of ways.


Sarah -
Lalalala, here's a pretty dress and book. Off with you, now, peasants.


Harry -
If you scratch the surface of elegant Cranleigh Manor, there's nothing but foul gunk underneath. Can you imagine if we were doing a Marxist reading of "Black Orchid"? This review would be formatted in a raging ALL CAPS BOLD RED FONT, such would be our distaste with the British aristocracy.


Sarah -
The Cranleighs get my vote for first up against the wall when the revolution comes!


Harry -
I need a moment to calm down. And have a sippy of something.


Sarah -
May I suggest a screwdriver? Tegan finds them quite refreshing. Perhaps just orange juice for the children.


Harry -
I just can't think of Nyssa and Adric as children.

When the TARDIS team was bundled off to the police station, what did you think of that side jaunt to see the TARDIS?


Sarah -
Look, Old Chaps, it couldn't possibly be me -- here's my time machine! Can you imagine any other Doctor trotting the local constabulary into the TARDIS? The Doctor has been accused of murder dozens of times and this the lamest way he's gotten himself off the hook. And the best part is the cops' reaction, "Oh, well then, clearly you are a time traveler. That's all good, then. Carry on!"

What the what is going on here, Harry?


Harry -
That was one of the most ridiculous scenes in all of Doctor Who. "Blimey, it's bigger on the inside! Well no time to dawdle in here, we've just been called back to the old Cranleigh place. We'll forget all this the moment we step outside again. Hurry on, let's go!"

Rid. Ic. Ulous.


Sarah -
Can I just rant -- again -- that none of the previous Doctors would have engaged in this nonsense. Standards are slipping and I don't like this one bit!


Harry -
Anyway, everyone gets back to the manor in time to see a kind of King Kong/Phantom of the Opera melodrama play out as George starts a fire, breaks out of his room, snatches Nyssa and heads for the roof. I've never been wild about this ending because it's George who loses his life while the snooty snoots survive and move on as if nothing happened. I'm sure after the Cranleighs finally -- FINALLY -- got rid of that Doctor and the other riff raff, they had one of the servants sweep it all under one of the less expensive rugs.


Sarah -
Someone should have shoved Lady Cranleigh off the roof!


Harry -
Awful people. Let's move on.

Best line:
Stunned constable: "Strike me pink!"

Favourite moment: Tegan, Nyssa and Adric enjoy the fancy dress party.

Lasting image: the Doctor playing cricket.

6/10


Sarah -
Best lines:
Adric : "So what is a railway station?"
The Doctor : "Well, a place where one embarks and disembarks from compartments on wheels drawn along these tracks by a steam engine - rarely on time."
Nyssa : "What a very silly activity."
The Doctor : "You think so? As a boy, I always wanted to drive one."

Favorite moment: When Lady Cranleigh asks Nyssa is from and Nyssa responds, "The Empire of Traken." Lady Cranleigh, mutters, "Really..." and turns to watch the cricket, seeming appalled to be so close to anyone from vulgar Trakken.

Lasting image: The TARDIS crew in their fancy dress -- I do love those costumes!

6/10

 


Our marathon continues with Story #121: Earthshock...

Story #119 - The Visitation (1982)

Harry -
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...