Sofa of Rassilon EXTRA: Time Crash (2007)

Harry -
Martha has made a clean break with the Doctor to forge her own path. Alone again, he leans on the TARDIS console and chills. 

The moment passes, he turns and pulls a lever. The ship immediately spins out of control and the Doctor briefly flickers like a projection. Pulling things together again, he circles the console and bumps into his former self. The TARDIS has crashed into the TARDIS; it's the ultimate time crash!


Sarah -
I love "Time Crash" so much. Davison and Tennant are absolutely perfect and it makes me cry every time I watch it.


Harry -
Each Doctor plays his role perfectly. The older one is aghast to find an intruder aboard his ship. He's cranky and offended by this younger chap who plays a teasing game of "I know who you are, and you don't know who I am." Funny how the tables will be turned on this Doctor shortly.


Sarah -
It's only fun until YOUR successor shows up. At least he wasn't a dandy or a clown. 

It seems everyone remembers Davison's Doctor as the nice one, but after our last rewatch, what I remember most is how irritable he is most of the time. Davison has stepped immediately back into character for "Time Crash".


Harry -
After some cantankerous back and forth and trying to right the ship, each Doctor realizes that the solution was provided by the other. It all goes self-lovey as the younger Doctor dotes on his older self. The older Doctor is pleased to learn that he has a fun younger self to look forward to.


Sarah -
I can't not tear up when the Tenth Doctor tells the Fifth Doctor, "You know, I love being you. Back when I first started at the very beginning, I was always trying to be old and grumpy and important, like you do when you're young. And then I was you, and it was all dashing about and playing cricket and my voice going all squeaky when I shouted. I still do that, the voice thing. I got that from you. Oh, and the trainers, and (puts on glasses) snap. Because you know what, Doctor? You were my Doctor."


Harry -
Of all of Moffat's specials, this one gives off such warmth you could wrap yourself in it and stay cozy for hours.


Sarah -
It's definitely something we should rewatch more often. It's just delightful. 

I have to give a shout out to my favorite exchange about the Master:
Fifth Doctor: Does he still have that rubbish beard? 
Tenth Doctor: No, no beard this time. Well, a wife.


Harry -
That was sublime on multiple levels.

This special came during a time of great spin-offs in the Whoniverse. We've already seen Captain Jack and Sarah Jane get their own shows. As well, Doctor Who branched out into online and animated adventures. There were a couple featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha. I remember watching one of them back in the day. Having tried again recently, I don't think they've aged that well. "The Infinite Quest" was interesting, mostly for Anthony Head's voice acting. The other, "Dreamland" suffers from really stilted animation. I couldn't get through it.


Sarah -
There was a lot going on at the time. I had the same experience with "The Infinite Quest", but "Time Crash" is just pure joy!


Harry -
This was the perfect vignette to segue between Martha's departure and the arrival of The Titanic.  What?  What?  Whaaat??  Time for us to refill the gin glasses and embark on the next voyage.

Our marathon continues with Story #188: Voyage of the Damned...

The Peter Davison Era - Final Thoughts

Harry -
The Peter Davison Era marks the end of an era for me. His early stories were the last ones I watched on TVOntario as a kid. After that, I lost track of the Doctor for a time, as he wandered to other channels and my teenage interests wandered elsewhere. I wouldn't catch up with the Colin and Sylvester eras until years after their original broadcasts.


Sarah -
I did not know that. Perhaps it was a wise time to stop! Peter Davison was my second Doctor. I started watching Doctor Who with "The Ribos Operation", which was just chance, but is an excellent story with which to start. Fortunately, I had been primed by my cousin on the concept of regeneration (and the fact that WTTW would get back to showing Tom Baker again so I could catch up on the rest of my Doctor's stories).


Harry -
There will always be a warm glow about this era for us. I remember Adric as this amazing starchild who travelled with the Doctor. I didn't have any standout memories of the other companions, but I always remember this Doctor as "the friendly young one". Watching all the stories again in order certainly brought a whole new perspective.


Sarah -
In the years I was regularly watching Doctor Who, I would have had the chance to see all of the Fifth Doctor's stories at least twice. I've watched some random stories in recent years, but this is the first time I've watched them all through in order since the the 80's. I concur on having a whole new perspective.

While I loved the Romanas in the Fourth Doctor's era, the Fifth Doctor's tenure is when I really emotionally imprinted on the companions. I immediately understood Adric. I was around the same age and, yeah, he was annoying -- but I was surrounded by annoying teenage boys, so at least I could understand where he was coming from. As I've mentioned, I liked Adric so much that I named my cat after him. I've only named one pet in my entire life and I picked Adric. (So suck it, haters!) I'm still devastated every time I watch Earthshock and had forgotten that the Fifth Doctor's last word was "Adric."

Like all the companions in this era, he only had a few chances to shine and his best moments were with the Fourth Doctor. I’d like to see some Big Finish stories featuring Adric and Nyssa, with whom he always had the best chemistry.


Harry -
Both the novels of the wilderness years and the Big Finish audios have done well in filling the gaps between televised stories.


Sarah -
It was great to have Matthew Waterhouse join the TARDIS team for some stories. I'm hoping there will be more.

Nyssa has never made a strong impression on me and this rewatch made me understand why – she’s constantly being left behind in the TARDIS or shunted to the side. I need to make time to listen to the Nyssa-Fifth Doctor Big Finish stories to develop a better understanding of Sarah Sutton’s portrayal.


Harry -
I concluded that it was a lack of discipline on the show-runners' part at the time that writers were able to boot characters they weren't interested in into the TARDIS for an episode or two, or three.


Sarah -
And then there was Tegan. I loved Tegan and adored Janet Fielding's performance when I was a teenager. As an adult, I am so frustrated by the way the character was treated. Mister-Nice-Guy Doctor is surprisingly hostile towards her far more often than I remembered. While I appreciate the friendship between Tegan and Nyssa, I would say Turlough is her best match of all the companions.


Harry -
I very much enjoyed following Tegan's journey. She stood out from all the other companions by the force of her personality (and her accent). In addition to the far-too-many times that the Doctor dismissed her, it was sad that in the end she decided that she couldn't handle the violence and death that accompanied the Doctor wherever he went.


Sarah -
She suffered some brutal moments during her time in the TARDIS.

As for Turlough, he may be the most neglected companion of all. Once he stopped trying to kill the Doctor, there was almost nothing for him to do. Some of his scenes with Tegan stand out for me, but little else.


Harry -
One thing we got in these three seasons was a lot of returning monsters. Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, Sea Devils. Of the new monsters, I liked the Terileptils most and would love to see them return. Other than that, we got a lot of slow-moving, sad-looking props.


Sarah -
It was good to give some of the classic foes a break so we could appreciate having them back.


Harry -
In terms of the look and feel of the show as we moved deeper into the 80s, you could hear a much more "synthy" soundtrack in more stories. By the time we get to "The Caves of Androzani", the scenery is dominated by the pastel neons that are so much a part of that decade. Everyone suddenly grew giant shoulders and hair too.


Sarah -
It was a glorious time to be alive!


Harry -
After two consecutive "man of action" Doctors in Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, Peter Davison gave us a quieter, more affable Doctor. He was certainly one who was content to hold back and let others do some heavy lifting for him. I'm reminded immediately of Tegan and Nyssa hauling his zero room coffin up to Castrovalva!


Sarah -
There's something telling about a Doctor spending much of his first story in a box!


Harry -
One thing that struck me as we were reviewing "The Caves of Androzani": we both loved how much the Doctor returned to his "man of action" persona. It presented me with a bit of a conundrum. Because we liked the most Pertwee/Baker-esque of Peter Davison's stories, does that present an indictment of the entire Davison era? Was this Doctor too content too often to let the action happen around him, rather than driving the action himself? Did he force his companions to do too much, resulting in burn out, or in the most tragic case, loss of life? Having watched the entire era in order, I can't help wishing this Doctor had been more assertive in these stories, to stop events from spiralling out of control. Not sure if that makes sense. Am I being completely loopy here Sarah?


Sarah -
I think you've hit it on the head. I was really looking forward to reaching these stories and spending time with this version of the TARDIS team. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but it felt like a series of disappointments. Poor character development, sloppy scripts, some really, really sketchy sets and monsters -- and this on a series beloved for its sketchy sets and monsters!

There are some high points -- "Earthshock", "The Caves of Androzani" -- and low points -- "Time-Flight" -- but most of the stories are just mediocre. The blame is usually laid at the feet of JN-T and Eric Saward and I can't disagree. No one was taking care with Doctor Who. While devoting himself to the preservation of the series, it feels like JN-T wasn't paying much attention to the actual product. Doctor Who's history is filled with strong producers and script editors who made the show a success Doctor after Doctor.

If you had asked me my opinions of the Third and Fifth Doctors' eras at the beginning of this project I would have said that the Third Doctor's era was OK and the Fifth Doctor's was brilliant. Having rewatched all their stories, the Third Doctor's era has become one of my absolute favorites. I've gone back to rewatch many of John Pertwee's stories since we discussed them because there's so much there. We have Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks to thank for that.

Will rewatch any of Peter Davison's stories as we move along in our marathon? Maybe Earthshock and Caves, but I can't imagine wanting to see anything else for a long while.


Harry -
Knowing what's ahead, this era was the calm before the storm. Onscreen, the Doctor is about to become louder, brasher and more openly manipulative. Less sensitive, less likeable, I guess. As for the show itself, it is about to be plunged into troubled waters, as behind the scenes anxieties influenced the product on the screen.


Sarah -
It will be a big change from Peter Davison. How do you feel about his performance as the Doctor?


Harry -
Peter was only 29 when he signed on to play the Doctor -- the youngest by far to that point. He was bound to be different from the preceeding Doctors for that reason alone. After Tom Baker's larger-than-life portrayal of the character, the new Doctor was calmer by design -- a deliberate shift in character. In various commentaries Peter has said that he would have played a certain scene or a certain story differently, but everyone says that when looking back on their work. What stands out most about his Doctor is the very fact that he stands out. He's not in-your-face, he's more likely to draw you in towards him. He's affable, not bombastic. He's more likely to slip into a room than burst in. When he raised his voice it was in annoyance, not arrogance. Quite simply, he was nice. And that's a nice Doctor to be able to revisit once in a while.


Sarah -
Peter Davison is such a good actor and he's had perhaps the most successful career of all the actors to have played the Doctor. There are so many times when the script gives him nothing to do and his talents feel wasted. It's a pity he wasn't give more to work with.


Harry -
Not to keep harping on it, but knowing what's ahead, we will miss these, calmer, quieter days. Very soon I should think!

Shall we?


Sarah -
Brave Heart, Harry. I'll be right by your side through it all!

Story #135: The Caves of Androzani (1984)

Harry -
The saddest thing about viewing all the Davison era stories in succession has been watching all our friends depart the show, one by one. And now, the Fifth Doctor.


Sarah -
I find this departure particularly painful because Davison goes out on the highest note of the Fifth Doctor's era -- and one of the highest notes in the series' history. "The Caves of Androzani" regularly tops lists of best Doctor Who stories with good reason. It's absolutely brilliant and Peter Davison gives one of his best performances as the Doctor.


Harry -
What a contrast from "Planet of Fire", where the Doctor was practically a tourist as the story played itself out around him. Here, he explores, climbs, gets captured, escapes capture, runs, carries, gets executed, crash lands a spaceship, saves his friend's life at the expense of his own, and finally, he regenerates. WOW.


Sarah -
Imagine if he'd been given this much to do over the previous seasons!


Harry -
It was fitting that Davison's most Pertwee- and Baker-esque performance came in a story that felt so much like a Third or Fourth Doctor adventure. And look who wrote it -- hello Bob Holmes!


Sarah -
I was getting a drink during the opening, so I missed the writing credits. Halfway though episode one, I thought to myself, "This has got to be a Robert Holmes story." You can't miss the mark of the master!

"The Caves of Androzani" is also Graeme Harper's directorial debut in Doctor Who, having previously served as assistant floor manager and production assistant. His direction breathes so much life into the story, which is attributed to his direction from the floor, rather than the production booth.


Harry -
It begins quietly. Having departed the desert planet Sarn, the TARDIS lands in another desert, this time on Androzani Minor. Intrigued by some tracks left in the sand, the Doctor leads Peri towards some caves. These fleeting moments are the only stress-free time they will have together. Before long, Peri slips and tumbles down an opening in the caves. She lands in some webby muck that burns her skin and that of the Doctor when he examines her. Little do they know it, but their clocks have just begun ticking.


Sarah -
The moment when Peri slips is almost played for laughs and it really is quite unexpected when she topples over. We have no idea, of course, that she's stumbled into unrefined Spectrox and spread it to the Doctor.


Harry -
It's the unrefined stuff that will get you. Little do they know it, but they are also about to stumble into the middle of a hostile situation involving a business conglomerate that's mining the planet, some renegade gunrunners, and a mysterious saboteur and his band of android soldiers -- all battling over the life-enhancing drug Spectrox.


Sarah -
I love the political drama in this story. So many factions, so much double-dealing and backstabbing. Such Bob Holmes brilliance!


Harry -
Episode One might be one of the fastest moving episodes in all of Doctor Who. Once the Doctor and Peri plunge into the middle of things, we meet the various antagonists in rapid succession. Trau Morgus is the devious businessman who monitors developments from the safety of his headquarters on Androzani Major. (I love the glowing pastel shades of his office set -- so futuristically 80s.) Stotz is leader of the gunrunners who lurk in the shadows, alternately attacking the soldiers sent to flush them out, and fighting off the monstrous bat creatures that inhabit the caves. Last, and most creepy of them all is Sharaz Jek. He first appears as a Phantom of the Opera kind of character, but he takes a very unpleasant turn before long.

Oh, before we even get there, the Doctor and Peri are executed by General Chellak's soldiers. How very Bob Holmes!


Sarah -
Fortunately, Sharaz Jek managed to swap out the Doctor and Peri with a couple of androids, who take the bullets while the real Doctor and Peri are whisked off to Jek's lair. What seems like a rescue soon turns creepy. Jek becomes the first in a long series of characters to become obsessed with Peri. His scenes with Peri are some of the most uncomfortable endured by a companion since the attempted rape of Barbara in "The Keys of Marinus". Poor Peri.

The Doctor and Peri discover that Salateen, Chellak's right-hand man, is also being held captive by Jek, which means Chellak has an andoid double agent on his team. The plot thickens!


Harry -
I can't think of another Doctor Who story where we meet so many different villains all at once.


Sarah -
I'm not sure I would classify them all as villains. They're each serving their own interests, none of which line up with those of the Doctor and Peri.


Harry -
True. Interestingly, it will be the "military" characters Salateen and Chellak who turn out to be the most sympathetic to the plight of the Doctor and Peri. I can't say much for the acting of Robert Glenister or Michael Cochrane, who deliver some terribly panto laughs and screams as the story plays out.


Sarah -
Gleister's performance is confusing. His android Salateen is perfect. Even before he knows it's an android, Chellak seems unsettled by Salateen's too-perfect anticipation of his needs. The "real" Salateen starts out panto and morphs into a hero by the end of the story.


Harry -
However, John Normington and Christopher Gable were casting masterstrokes as Morgus and Jek. Normington's smooth, unblemished face is perfect for a Spectrax fiend. His opposite, Jek, is hidden under a mask, but the disgustingness of his character comes out in Gable's voice and the spidery movements of his hand as he strokes Peri. Total creep out.


Sarah -
Brilliant casting on both counts.


Harry -
And those asides by Morgus. I love them! He's so rich and powerful he can break the fourth wall if he damn well pleases.


Sarah -
Those are some of my favorite moments in the story. Morgus is just so reprehensible! We know, like all robber-baron villains, he will eventually get his comeuppance, but he gets so many opportunities to be the baddest baddie in the story!


Harry -
Jek is obsessed with Morgus. He and his androids collect and control access to the Spectrox. In exchange for it, he demands the head of Morgus. They were once partners in the conglomerate, but Jek was betrayed, disfigured in a mudburst and abandoned to die. Deep inside the caves is where he established his lair, plotting revenge. The arrival of Peri set him off. When she and Salateen escape back to Chellak's headquarters, he goes mad with rage, then kidnaps her back like a total psycho.


Sarah -
A lesser writer would just make Jek a ranting psycho. Holmes gives him a backstory that makes the character so much more interesting, and almost sympathetic.


Harry -
Almost, but not quite.

I have to mention here that Nicola Bryant delivered an amazing performance in this story. Her discomfort and distress as she was menaced by both Jek and the Spectrox toxemia were very realistic.


Sarah -
She really is so good. A few days ago Peri was on the beach and now she's facing death on another planet while trying to negotiate her way between a series of extremely disturbing situations and characters. Bryant captures the chaos of the situation while maintaining a strength of character. It feels like a long time since we've seen a companion given such strong material to work with.


Harry -
I'm getting angry thinking about it!

Meanwhile, the Doctor has slipped away ahead of everyone, crawled through a gun battle between the gunrunners and the cave bats, and gotten himself recaptured by Jek. He is handed over to Stotz, the leader of the gunrunners and they depart for Androzani Major.


Sarah -
We haven't talked about Stotz yet. How good is Maurice Roëves? He feels so dangerous -- threatening his crew to keep them in line, playing all sides, and not hesitating to kill anyone who gets in his way.


Harry -
He played the gunrunner role perfectly, throwing in a dash of rogueish charm, but not too much.

This is where we find out that Morgus is playing all sides -- funding the gunrunners, betraying (and murdering) the president, and assigning emergency negotiating powers to none other than... Trau Morgus. He announces that he is going on a mission to Androzani Minor to personally negotiate a settlement with Jek. It's all coming to a head fast and furious -- especially when the Doctor hijacks Stotz's ship and sends it hurtling back the other way.


Sarah -
Now THAT"S a cliffhanger!


Harry -
I have a bit of a quandry about this. A conundrum if you will. I don't want to derail us on a long analysis, so maybe I'll save it for our Davison era recap post. Please remind me to remember!


Sarah -
Oooo, a conundrum. I can hardly wait!


Harry -
Back to the crash scene. Actually, we never see the crash scene, or the crash itself. Clearly a massive hole in the production budget there, but we do get a good chase scene over the hills and dunes of Androzani Minor.


Sarah -
Chases are much easier on the budget than crashes, no?


Harry -
It was a lovely set of sand dunes. I wonder where that was filmed.

There's a final gun battle in the caves as all sides converge once again. Under the obvious sham of a peace negotiation, Morgus arrives with Stotz's troops to steal Jek's Spectrox store -- but not before finding out he has been deposed as head of the conglomerate by Krau Timmin (haha Morgus!).


Sarah -
Krau Timmin is awesome. She appears to be Morgus' faithful assistant, but she's just biding her time until he's exposed. Brilliant!


Harry -
I loved her feet-on-the-desk punctuation mark.

As well, Morgus has just been indicted by the presidium and faces a lifetime on the run from justice. What a turnaround. In the mayhem that follows, Jek and Morgus have their final showdown, which proves fatal for both of them. They didn't really explain the device that (presumably) killed Morgus, but after being shot, Jek draped himself over the arms of the android Salateen for a poetic visual.


Sarah -
Jek's final words -- "Salateen, hold me" -- are almost heartbreaking, as he collapses into the android's arms.


Harry -
Jek had been tending to a dying Peri when the Doctor arrived. With everyone dead or dying, our hero races down to the lowest levels of the caves in search of the milk of the queen bat -- the only known antidote to Spectrox toxemia. Carrying Peri back to the TARDIS, the Doctor looks like he's been through hell. The blood on his forehead, the mud and filth on his clothes, and his weakening state as he just manages to give the antidote to Peri. It was a thrilling race against time and I loved it.


Sarah -
Did you realize that the two women in the story -- Peri and Timmin -- are the only ones who survive?


Harry -
I didn't realize that Holmes knocked off everybody but the ladies.


Sarah -
Not a good day for the blokes. Everyone else is dead as the Doctor stumbles into the TARDIS with Peri in his arms. Unfortunately, there is not enough antidote for both of them and this Doctor's time is up.


Harry -
And then, regeneration.


Sarah -
Our first mid-season regeneration since 1966!


Harry -
"It feels different this time." It looks different too. The Davison changeover gives us a hint of the loud, fiery regenerations that will be standard in the current era. The Doctor's memories come flooding back -- Adric's death haunting him to the end, and a flurry of voices ring through his mind as his body regenerates. Everything builds up to a cacophonous climax that was inspired by the finale of The Beatles' "Day in the Life." BOOM! It's the end of an era. Farewell to the gentle, smiling, ever-so-affable Edwardian cricketer. At least we finally found out what the celery was about.


Sarah -
It's heartbreaking that his final word is "Adric."


Harry -
And then, Colin Baker sits up... and within seconds, he makes me miss Peter Davison already.


Sarah -
It's hard to erase all the Sixth Doctor baggage and try to remember how we felt when we first saw Colin Baker sit up as the regenerated Doctor. I have to admit that this time I found myself thinking Colin was quite handsome...until he opened his mouth to chastise Peri.


Harry -
The greatest of Fifth Doctor stories ends on such a sour note, with a new, arrogant Doctor snarking at Peri from the get-go. Ugh. It's a shame that Peter and Nicola couldn't have more adventures together. But that's where Big Finish comes in!


Sarah -
Thank you Big Finish! Now please take all my money!


Harry -
We'll have plenty to gripe about in the coming weeks, so let us raise a glass to Bob Holmes, Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant, all of the guest cast, Graeme Harper and all of the crew -- you produced one of the all time classics of Doctor Who. This might be the closest I'll ever get to a 10 rating. If every adventure was as brilliant as this one, the show would never have gone off the air.


Sarah -
I raise my pint to them all!


Harry -
It's hard to let go, knowing what's ahead. Perhaps we could have one more toast for Peter.


Sarah -
If we keep toasting, can we stop it from happening?


Harry -
Wouldn't hurt to try.

Best Line:
STOTZ: You'd better turn this ship around Doctor!
DOCTOR: Why?
STOTZ: Because I'll kill you if you don't!
DOCTOR: Not a very convincing argument actually, Stotz, because I'm going to die soon anyway...

Favourite Moment: the action packed chase scene after the offscreen spaceship crash.

Lasting Image: Sharaz Jek being utterly creepy.

9/10


Sarah -
Best Line:
SHARAZ JEK : "Don't mock me, Doctor. Beauty I must have, but you are dispensible.
DOCTOR: "Thank you."
SHARAZ JEK: "You have the mouth of a prattling jackanapes... But your eyes... they tell a different story."

Favorite Moment: Morgus breaking the fourth wall

Lasting Image: The Doctor carrying Peri back to the TARDIS

10/10

 


Our marathon continues with Story #136: The Twin Dilemma...

Story #134: Planet of Fire (1984)

Sarah -
I've had a bit of an uncomfortable realization while watching "Planet of Fire". Remember how annoyed we were when all the Rose fangirls and fanboys hated all over Martha the moment she was introduced in Series Three?


Harry -
Do I!


Sarah -
I have to confess that was me when the Perpugilliam Brown era began. My heart was firmly set against her from the beginning -- mostly just because she wasn't Tegan. Not that the horrible American accent helped.


Harry -
The moment something new and different appears onscreen, it's one of the grandest traditions for a swath of Doctor Who fandom to shout at the top of one's lungs: "I DON'T LIKE IT! CHANGE IT BACK!"


Sarah -
I'm usually the kind of fan who accepts changes as inevitable -- it's just part of watching Doctor Who and complaining is useless. That said, Peri really rubbed me the wrong way for most of her run.


Harry -
Peri had a tough act to follow, but props to Nicola Bryant for giving it her all.


Sarah -
Having not been a fan of Peri pretty much since "Planet of Fire" first aired on WTTW on 30 December 1984, I have to admit I wasn't super excited about revisiting her stories. I was prepared to have all my anti-Peri bias confirmed, but that didn't happen. She really wasn't all that bad. I even found myself sympathizing with her. The accent, of course, is still rubbish.


Harry -
The story of Nicola's casting, and her accent, and how it all came together in the character of Peri have been told and retold countless times. While rewatching "Planet of Fire" for the first time in years, what I found myself listening for were the audible tics in Peri's speech that give away Nicola's true nationality. Once in a while, we hear a drawn out English vowel sound where a sharper American one was required (like when she says "all"). It's a little amusement to enjoy on the side while taking in the story.


Sarah -
I remember getting into a strong disagreement with my friend Marc when Peri made her debut. He insisted Nicola Bryant was American so I spent the next episode making a list of all the things she said that were just wrong. To be fair, even Bryant was bothered by some of the dialogue they gave her and fought to make changes.


Harry -
I have to admit, this time around I found myself taken in by the story despite being totally prepared to hate it. Multiple branches coming together on the planet Sarn, multiple outcomes for the many characters, and multiple revelations along the way. Were all your memories of the story reconfirmed, or were you pleasantly surprised this time around, Sarah?


Sarah -
I was quite pleasantly surprised. I didn't remember too many details going in. Lanzarote, the egregious bikini shots, and Turlough dropping his drawers to save drowning Peri were about all I remembered about this story.


Harry -
So much skin in this one! In Lanzarote anyway. After a mysterious object is hauled aboard a vessel by hunky Professor Howard Foster, his stepdaughter Peri announces that she's leaving the island to travel to Morocco with a couple of British lads. They argue about it and Howard eventually strands Peri aboard the vessel, causing her to miss her flight.


Sarah -
Howard is such a dick! He lures Peri out to the boat by pretending he's going to give her money for Morocco and then traps her there. Things get even creepier later in the story when she's in the TARDIS having nightmares about Howard mistreating her. There is one seriously disturbing backstory there.


Harry -
There is one disturbing Boston accent there too.


Sarah -
Is that what it's meant to be? There were moments when I thought he might be Australian.


Harry -
The TARDIS databanks are inconclusive.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS has honed in on a signal and landed nearby. The Doctor ditches his long coat and sweater and has a look around while Turlough and Kamelion remain aboard.


Sarah -
I imagine a bit of rummaging through the TARDIS wardrobe in search of the jaunty little waistcoat he wears for the rest of the story.


Harry -
He finally got to change his look, however slightly.

Remember Kamelion? I sure as hell didn't. He's not only been missing since "The King's Demons," but he hasn't been mentioned in all this time. When the shape shifting android has a sudden screaming seizure in another room of the TARDIS, even the Doctor seems startled to remember him.


Sarah -
What was Kamelion doing in the weeks (months?) since the TARDIS visited medieval England? Lost in the TARDIS? Trapped in a cabinet somewhere? Meditating in the cloisters?


Harry -
This is one of my beefs with the JN-T era. We'd see characters introduced by one writer, then sidelined or ignored altogether by subsequent writers who didn't fancy writing them into their stories. Throughout the three-companion Davison era, we've often seen one or two of them sent away to wait inside the TARDIS because there wasn't anything for them to do. In Kamelion's case he was banished right out of the console room and out of our consciousness. What's the point of introducing characters if you won't do anything with them? This lack of consistency (or maybe it's a lack of discipline on the part of JN-T and Eric Saward) is another strike against the era.


Sarah -
That list is getting fairly long.


Harry -
Back on the vessel, Peri packs her remaining money, passport, and the mysterious object with the intention of swimming to shore and selling it. Halfway there, she tires and starts going under. Turlough spots her on the TARDIS scanner, strips down and dives in to rescue her. After carrying her back to the TARDIS, he notices the object she had with her -- it's clearly something he recognizes.


Sarah -
Oh, look! The symbol on the mysterious item is also imprinted on Turlough's arm. A mystery! Could it be Turlough is finally going to have something to do in a story beside trying to kill the Doctor or save his own skin? To be fair, he did go out of his way to save Peri, which I guess counts as character growth in the Saward era.

While asleep in the TARDIS, Peri begins to have her aforementioned creepy dream about Howard when Kamelion picks up on her thoughts and transforms himself into Howard. Things are rapidly become more uncomfortable.


Harry -
The Peri-Howard relationship is (thankfully) left unexplored. For now, Peri has Kamelion-Howard to deal with while the Doctor and Turlough go outside to explore the new location where the TARDIS has landed. Or rather, she has Kamelion-Master to deal with. He's baaaack!


Sarah -
Like a bad penny!


Harry -
Meanwhile, things are heating up on the planet Sarn!


Sarah -
Quite literally. The local volcano is about to blow!


Harry -
On this desert planet, the people are split between the adherents of the monotheistic deity Logar -- a kind of fire god -- and the non-believers, who find themselves pitched alive into a fire if they cross Timanov, the local elder tyrant.


Sarah -
Who seems to be singularly obsessed with burning the non-believers.


Harry -
Timanov is played by Peter Wyngarde, who gives it his Royal Shakespeare Company best, infusing the character with quiet menace and the occasional flash of temper towards Malkon. The youth, who bears an arm branding identical to that of Turlough, is hailed as the chosen one even though he is really just a puppet for Timanov.


Sarah -
Wyngarde's performance is masterful -- it's hard to watch anyone else when he's on screen.


Harry -
He's clearly the Guest Star of this one. As for Timanov, I suspect he might not have as much sway over the locals as he believes. Others take the piss out of him throughout the story and he barely bats an eye, like when the Master calls him a gullible idiot, or when he speaks of his encounter with Logar:

DOCTOR: Timanov, have you actually ever seen Logar?
TIMANOV: Yes, once, when I was a boy.
DOCTOR: Where?
TIMANOV: It was the summit of the fire mountain. The fire god spoke to me, encouraged me to inhale the gases. I felt intoxicated, invigorated. I felt reborn.
AMYAND: You were drunk.


Sarah -
I have to admit that exchange made me laugh out loud.


Harry -
This tiny settlement is the place where all of the story's threads come together, for various reasons, and with a few surprise revelations.


Sarah -
It seems young Malkon may be Turlough's brother, their father's ship having crashed on Sarn when Malkon was just a wee lad.

Can you think of any other companion whose entire backstory is revealed in their final appearance? In a series that excels in neglecting companions, Turlough has to be high on the list of the most neglected.


Harry -
Another classic quote from this era:

DOCTOR: Why have you never mentioned your home planet before?
TURLOUGH: No particular reason.

Good grief! Either no writer over the past two seasons was arsed enough to give Turlough a backstory, or JN-T and Saward weren't arsed enough to assign it to someone. We'll see another example of "You're leaving? Here's all the detail we've been meaning to fill in," in the next story.


Sarah -
I imagine Barry Letts sitting in front of the television, just shaking his head at the lack of care being given to the series at this point. There was none of that in the Third Doctor era!


Harry -
Wasn't Barry supposed to be a guiding hand at the start of the JN-T era? Maybe he had already stepped away from it by this point. I don't want to give too strong an impression that I didn't like this story. I did enjoy watching everything come together on Sarn.


Sarah -
I don't think our problems with the story are due to Peter Grimwade's script. It's a good, well-paced story. (She said, casting her eyes in a Sawardly direction...)


Harry -
Despite Timanov's tyranny, the locals experience a crisis of faith when Logar is exposed as a myth. The Master arrives, meaning to harness the restorative powers of the numismaton gas inside the volcano to recover from an accident he suffered during a tissue compression experiment. Turlough soon realizes that some of the locals are survivors of his father's crashed ship and they are Trionians like himself. The Doctor of course sees the big picture: this volcano is going to blow. Amid all that, we still have time for the Master-influenced Kamelion to stalk Peri across the sweeping landscapes of Sarn.


Sarah -
Poor Peri. Imagine, you're on an island holiday one moment and the next thing you know you're being chased across an alien planet by and intergalactic sociopath! I have to admit she did a good job of holding her ground through it all.

While watching the Master-Peri chase, I was thinking about how fluidly Ainley moves in his performance. He may be over the top in many aspects, but he moves almost as if he's dancing. His run across the landscape was wonderfully graceful. You know, for a homicidal lunatic. I had the same thought when he skipped across the chessboard in The Five Doctors.


Harry -
Ainley's nimble athleticism came from years of playing rugby and cricket.


Sarah -
Ah yes, that would do it. He moves like a cat.

Turlough contacts the home planet to send a rescue ship to Sarn, despite fearing that he'll be sent back into exile. But wait, there's been a chance in the regime and all sentences have been rescinded! Hooray!


Harry -
The revelations come fast and furious in part four. Some of the locals are from Trion, others are genuinely local. Ultimately, the religion of Logar is rejected in favour of a departure on the rescue ship. Beaten but unbowed, Timanov's final act on camera is to turn toward the flames, seemingly to commit a final act of zealotry upon himself.


Sarah -
It was crazy, but at least true to his character.


Harry -
After an amusing cat and mouse chase with Peri in his TARDIS, the Master is restored to full size by the numismaton gas, but is comsumed by the flames despite his pleadings to the Doctor. Having just watched the Master get burned alive, the Doctor then grants Kamelion's wish and destroys it with the Tissue Compression Eliminator. Apparently it works just as well on non-biological matter, as the Master demonstrated with the fire suits earlier.


Sarah -
Ah, Kamelion, we hardly knew ye. No, seriously, we didn't know you at all.


Harry -
What a waste.


Sarah -
I kind of loved the Small Master in a Box. Pity about the burning and all -- do you think he'll be back?


Harry -
Well, if so then I'm sure we'll get a convincing explanation of how he survived the fires of Sarn.

And just when we find out who Vislor Turlough is, he splits. The Doctor never really warmed to him and rightfully so. I didn't either. Sadly, this will be the last male companion we will see for some time.


Sarah -
When we watched "Mawdryn Undead", I mentioned that Turlough is a companion that I often just forget about. After revisiting the character, it's easy to understand why -- he's rarely given anything to out outside of trying to kill the Doctor or save himself. I quite like Mark Strickson, but Turlough definitely goes down on the list of neglected Doctor Who companions. I imagine he and Dodo will hit it off at the next neglected companions reunion.


Harry -
With Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion all gone, the only person left to accompany the Doctor is Peri. She assures him she doesn't have to be back at school for a while, and he agrees to let her come travelling with him (which makes no sense since he's a TIME TRAVELLER and all, but I'm done with the nitpicking for now).


Sarah -
Right? What was that? Who care how long her school vacation is -- YOU'VE GOT A TIME MACHINE! Sheesh.

Overall, "Planet of Fire" is a decent story, which I enjoyed watching.


Harry -
I liked the story, but the viewing of it was a bit dull. Despite the exotic landscapes, desert-settings are always drab.


Sarah -
Best Line:
"I am the Master!"
"I'm Perpugilliam Brown, and I can shout just as loud as you can!"

Favorite Moment: Peri standing up to the Master.

Lasting Image: Small Master in a Box.

6/10


Harry -
Best Line:
"Have I seen everything today. A transgalactic payphone, a stepfather who turns into a robot, and a robot who turns into a gangster."

Favourite Moment: Whenever someone took the piss out of Timanov.

Lasting Image: The Kamelion-Master bounding after Peri.

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #135: The Caves of Androzani...