Sofa of Rassilon EXTRA: Space and Time (2011)

Harry -

This two-part mini-episode was broadcast as part of the 2011 Comic Relief charity telethon. Clocking at under seven minutes in total, it feels like a deleted scene. For all we know, it could have been cut from somewhere else, or it was a bit of writing that didn't make it into a final script.

It was written by Steven Moffat and reinforces his fondness for the Ponds. I am very fond of the Ponds.

Sarah -

The Ponds are excellent. It's a timey wimey romp with a surprising amount of innuendo.

Harry -

We now know that two Amys would be Rory's dream come true. Amy's too for that matter.

Sarah -

Ponds are cute, the Doctor is cute. Fun for all!

Harry -

Every story in this era, even a mini-episode like this, underscores just how fun this TARDIS team is. Let's throw that wibbly lever and dive into Season 6!

Sarah - 

Series 6, here we goooooooo!!!!!!!!

Our marathon resumes with Story #214: The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon...

Story #201 - The Waters of Mars (2009)

Sarah -
I've been looking forward to this story, which I haven't watched since the first airing. I remembered it being the best of the Specials year and I was not disappointed.


Harry -
Everyone acted the hell out of this one, especially Lindsay Duncan as Captain Adelaide Brooke. Wow!


Sarah -
Duncan is definitely one of my favorite guest actors of the Tennant era. She’s spectacular as Adelaide.


Harry -
The only memories I had of this story were the "Gadget gadget" droid, and the dripping monsters. But I forgot how much of a horror story this one was. More haunted house than base under siege. What happened to the infected crew members was horrific.


Sarah -
"The Waters of Mars" is a proper horror story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The junior member of the Smith household, let’s call her Ace, commented that the story reminded her of Alien. Alien is my favorite horror film, so I’m down with that.


Harry -
Wicked!


Sarah -
I love that the chaos starts with a simple carrot.


Harry -
A simple carrot, bitten by the first unfortunate member of the crew, bringing something very ancient back to life and setting off a chain reaction for Adelaide and her crew.

I can't recall if there was an expectation that a story set on Mars would include the Ice Warriors. They did get a shout out by the Doctor quite late, but the menace he encountered here was something else entirely. An ancient race or intelligence (that understood a Northern Martian dialect, apparently), that craved or depended so much on water that it was ready to travel to Earth and soak up its seas. It was up to the Doctor to stop this invasion before it even got off the planet. Only, once he realized where he'd stumbled into, and who he was among, and what day it was, he suddenly wanted to leave the Mars base as soon as possible.


Sarah -
It’s so rare to see the Doctor react this way, which just amps up the tension even more. He knows how this is going to end and watching it happen is unnerving. He keeps trying to get out of there, but can’t manage to do so.


Harry -
Half the time he was was standing in a doorway in his orange spacesuit, knowing he should leave but desperate to stay. He hung around, then got completely carried away at the end when he should have just left.


Sarah -
We’ve already called out Lindsay Duncan’s performance, but the entire cast is fabulous. Watching them be infected one by one is terrifying. Maggie’s transformation while talking to Yuri is especially effective. Sharon Duncan-Brewster’s performance well and truly scared me. The moment that broke my heart was Steffi starting the video of her children when she realizes she’s about to transform. That was crushing.


Harry -
The props and costume crews outdid themselves here. The monsters were very unique and very horrifying.

Each time a crew member fell victim to the infection was traumatic. I forgot how powerful this story was. 

It all leads up to a series of confrontations between the Doctor and Adelaide. First, when she cottons on to the fact that he knows more than he's admitting. Then, when she refuses to let him leave until he lets her know what he knows. Their final face-to-face was the most explosive of all. Having gone completely apeshit movie hero, the Doctor rescued Adelaide and two remaining crew members before the Mars base was completely destroyed. Knowing her future history, and realizing that it has been altered with potentially massive consequences, Adelaide rounds on the Doctor with fury. How dare he play god and tamper with human history, and then act all full of himself for having saved a few lives, when he might have prevented the disaster from the very beginning. I love how she completely tells him off.


Sarah -
YES! The Doctor has had that coming for a while. What happened to, "you can't rewrite history! Not one line!"


Harry -
It was something he badly needed to hear. Left alone again, he finally admitted to himself, "I've gone too far" with his Time Lord victorious shtick.

He seems to hallucinate the appearance of an Ood on a London street, before retreating to the TARDIS with destiny about to crash down upon him. What a wild story.

Shall we see how the Doctor's song ends?


Sarah -
Let’s go!


Harry -
Best line: "I hate funny robots."

Favourite moment: Adelaide rips the Doctor to shreds.

Lasting image: Andy, the first victim, transformed by the waters of Mars.

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line: 
Adelaide: State your name, rank, and intention.
Doctor: The Doctor. Doctor. Fun.

Favorite Moment: Adelaide telling the Doctor off for rewriting history.

Lasting Image: Maggie after her transformation.

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #202: The End of Time...

Story #200 - Planet of the Dead (2009)

Harry -
Here's a story I probably haven't watched since around the time it was first broadcast. I didn't remember much about it aside from the setting of a London bus crashed on a desert planet, and the one-off character of Lady Christina de Souza.


Sarah -
It's definitely the first time I've watched it since 2009. I wasn't looking forward to watching it, remembering that I wasn't a fan of it the first time out. With expectations so low, I found myself not as annoyed by it as I expected, but not particularly engaged by it either.


Harry -
Watching it again the other day, the opening scene where Christina plunders a golden chalice from a museum brought to mind of all things the Cartmel Masterplan. If I'm remembering it right, Cartmel had planned to write Ace out of the show in 1990 and replace her with a cat burglar. History did not pan out that way, but Cartmel might have been amused to see the Doctor teaming up with a cat burglar years later.

Sarah -
I'm sure Cartmel would have had something to say about that. No one loves discussing his work more than he does.

I didn't remember much about the story besides Lady Christina and the bus, so it was a surprise to see Daniel Kaluuya as Barclay, long before his international stardom.

Harry -
That was definitely a "whoa!" moment.

There weren't many others here. After the museum alarm triggered a pursuit and bus chase, Lady Christina and the Doctor end up on the other side of the universe with a collection of baffled passengers. Back on Earth, the police call in UNIT, and the typical UNIT activities unfold. Roll in with heavy artillery, take total control and seal off the area until something Doctory happens.

Sarah - 
It was all a bit predictable, wasn’t it?

Harry - 
Things were a bit more interesting on the desert planet. The Doctor and Lady Christina strike up a friendship and go exploring. They discover another wreck, that of a spaceship piloted by anthropomorphic flies. The aliens were vastly superior in design to the buggy aliens from "The Web Planet", but they weren't given much to do. As characters go, they seemed to be as baffled as the folks back on the bus.

Sarah - 
Bafflement all around. It was sad when the aliens were killed while the Doctor was trying to get everyone back to the bus. 

Harry - 
To add some pressure to the situation of the broken down bus, the threat of a coming storm arises. The "storm" is in fact a swarm of metal-shelled, omnivorous flying beasties and it's feeding time.

So, the Doctor and Lady Christina utilize their skills and cleverness to figure out how to repair the bus, and the Doctor connects with UNIT to get their help in sorting out the mysterious portal through space.

Enter Dr. Malcolm Taylor. A force of nature all his own. I forgot that he was in this story as UNIT's brilliant and excitable scientific advisor. His scenes added some levity to the story, with a Quatermass gag thrown in.

Sarah - 
Malcolm is my favorite part of the entire story and I’m always down for a Quatermass reference.  It made me remember when we planned to watch one episode of The Quatermass Experiment at Chicago TARDIS and ended up staying up much too late to watch the whole story.  That was so good!

Harry - 
It was a great series.  The Holstian theme music still resonates.

And cue the race to the finish! The Doctor and Christina hoof it back with some fancy alien technology to power the bus. Malcolm rigs up the time portal, and UNIT stands by with guns ready. They went hog wild once the bus was back through with a few stray alien beasties, blasting them out of the sky and damn the consequences.

Earth saved, hurrah, etc.

Once the aliens are done away with, the Doctor helps Lady Christina slip away and escape on the alien-powered flying bus... which gave me a thought.

With a few tweaks, this could have been an Iris Wildthyme story. Swap her in for Lady Christina, give the story a more gin-soaked flavour, and find a way to introduce Panda. Maybe the crew of the second wrecked ship could have been tiny anthropomorphic pandas instead of insects. Iris rescues one and they become inseparable. Wahey!! The imagination runs riot thinking about this.

Sarah - 
Get Paul Magrs on the phone -- it’s time for a rewrite!

Harry -
Proof that it would not be too difficult to weave Iris into the show.  She would have made this one of the best stories ever.  I want this now!

Sarah -
The story is passable, I guess, but there’s little to inspire. 

Harry -
Well sure now that I've been whipped into a Wildthyme frenzy.

Sarah -
When Big Finish announced their Lady Christina series, I just shrugged. 

Harry -
I'll take Katy Manning any day.

Sarah -
I have no need to rewatch this episode anytime soon. 

Harry -
Are we still talking about this episode?

Sarah -
Ready for a trip to Mars? 

Harry -
Wahey!

Sarah - 
Best Line: 

Malcolm: Fifteen Malcolms. It's my own little term. A wavelength parcel of ten kilohertz operating in four dimensions equals one Malcolm.
Doctor: You named a unit of measurement after yourself?
Malcolm: Well, it didn't do Mister Watt any harm. Furthermore, one hundred Malcolms equals a Bernard.
Doctor: And who's that? Your dad?
Malcolm: Don't be ridiculous. That's Quatermass.

Favorite Moment: Malcolm meeting the Doctor.

Lasting Image: The bus is the most iconic thing about this story. 

4/10

Harry -
Best Line:

Captain Magambo: "I don't believe it. Guns that work."

Favourite Moment: Definitely Malcolm. "I LOVE YOU!!"

Lasting Image: the publicity shot of the Doctor and Lady Christina always comes to mind first.

5/10

Our marathon continues with Story #201: The Waters of Mars...

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...

Sofa of Rassilon EXTRA: The Curse of Fatal Death (1999)

Sarah -
Welcome to the Sofa of Reasonable Comfort, Old Boy! Have you been looking forward to this as long as I have?


Harry -
I have watched the opening minute of "The Curse of Fatal Death" countless times in the lead up to this. It's great that we could watch the whole thing again.

After the attempt at re-launching Doctor Who with Paul McGann fizzled, we were back to the wilderness years. BBC Books and Big Finish audios were cranking out content for diehard Whovians, but the show would remain absent from the small screen for the remainder of the 90s and into the 00s. We had to settle for this quirky adventure to fill the void. And how quirky was it?


Sarah -
I was given a VHS copy as a birthday gift and watched it over and over. It felt like this was the only Doctor Who we were ever going to get -- the end of televised Doctor Who.


Harry -
It would have been a great way to go out. An all star cast of Doctors goes on a merry romp against the Daleks and the Master. Jonathan Pryce's Master managed to be campier than Anthony Ainley's -- no easy task!


Sarah -
I adore Pryce's Master! He's clearly having the time of his life. As is Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor.


Harry -
Atkinson played the Doctor as a low-key, BlackAddery type and it was perfect.


Sarah -
And there's that up-and-coming writer bloke, S. Moffat. In the bonus material, he's clearly delighted by this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to write Doctor Who.


Harry -
It's amazing that he took his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and produced a female Doctor. Joanna Lumley is a brilliant Doctor. I don't care how many barking fanboys moan about it, I'd love to see a female Doctor next.


Sarah -
It almost feels inevitable. The barkers will be angry no matter what, so we can just trundle on without consulting them.


Harry -
Aye.  Lumley's sassy appearance followed the two handsome Doctors named Grant, and the shy Doctor. Jim Broadbent always manages to create so much out of so little. I love it whenever he shows up in a supporting role.


Sarah -
Jim Broadbent is one of my favorite actors. He's wonderful in everything -- including this! And let's not forget the love Julia Sawalha as Emma, the only companion the Doctor's ever "had." I'll point out that Moffat, who will go on to give us River Song, is the first Doctor Who TV writer to suggest a proper romance in the TARDIS. He also gives Emma the line, "Never cruel, never cowardly," to eulogize the Doctor -- a line we'll hear again in "The Day of the Doctor". Nothing like stealing from yourself!


Harry -
It was "an homage", surely!


Sarah -
But of course!


Harry -
As for the story, you can see the first signs of Moffat's intricate plotting, in the way the Doctor and the Master lay multiple traps for one another by going further and further back in time. And then, knowing that this might be his only opportunity to write Doctor Who for TV, Moffat fills the rest of the story with toilet humour. It's bonkers and fun.


Sarah -
It was a delightful gift to wilderness-era Whovians everywhere!


Harry -
I wonder how much this production influenced the BBC's decision to finally end the wilderness era, just a few years later.


Sarah -
I have to say I've enjoyed our little two-month wilderness era significantly more than the original sixteen-year version.


Harry -
The condensed version was so much better, and with way less youthful angst to work through. Once was enough for that. But I'm glad we made these side trips to appreciate how much the show still meant to so many people after it went off the air. RTD must have been chomping at the bit to revive the show after seeing this.


Sarah -
We could never have imagined where we'd be today. It's a whole new world for Doctor Who and I can't wait to revisit the start. Are you ready, Old Boy?


Harry -
I can't believe what we're about to watch next!

Our marathon continues with Story #157: Rose...

Sofa of Rassilon EXTRA: Dimensions in Time (1993)

Harry -
Wow. Just wow. What the hell was that?


Sarah -
Oh dear. Surprisingly, it was even worse than I remembered.


Harry -
"Dimensions in Time" might be the only Doctor Who story that gets worse on repeat viewings. It's like being trapped inside a John Nathan-Turner fever dream.


Sarah -
I nearly spit coffee all over my monitor just now. That's a frightening thought!


Harry -
Doctors running around willy-nilly, mismatched companions barely getting a word in, East Enders popping up at random, and the Rani stalking around inside what looks like a fan-made mock-up of a TARDIS console room. Wow. Just wow.


Sarah -
Kate O'Mara looks amazing! And she's got that cutie-pie boy companion. (Look at me, focusing on the positive.)


Harry -
The Rani's companion was the best thing about "Dimensions in Time."


Sarah -
Him and Liz Shaw charging the Rani. That's our Liz!


Harry -
This was produced as a Children in Need special, marking the 30th anniversary of Doctor Who. The late William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton were represented as disembodied CGI heads floating around somewhere within the Rani's imprisonment. The rest of the Doctors showed, to put it gently, varying degrees of enthusiasm for the production. After watching Jon Pertwee dive back into the role with relish, I had a dream about sitting near him at a convention as he spoke to everyone around him with the same relish. Dreams upon dreams.


Sarah -
He inhabits the role, wherever he may be!

Tom Baker's appearance is rather odd. He's not part of the action, but serves as something of a narrator, warning his other selves of the danger.


Harry -
I don't know the backstory of the production -- and I'm in no way inspired to do research on this. I'll assume Tom's availability was limited, or he was coaxed into appearing at the last minute, or he saw the script and wrote his own narrator role. He looked strangely shrunken in his costume. Speaking of costumes, I wonder what Lis Sladen's reaction was to seeing the Andy Pandy costume again.


Sarah -
In the end, it's a fun little piece of fluff. I'm always happy to see beloved Doctors and companions, even when it's all quite silly.


Harry -
Silly, and rushed and cheap with a weak story. Textbook JN-T, haha.


Sarah -
The true end of an era!


Harry -
It's too bad this was the Rani's final story, as she has not made a return appearance in the new series. She'd be a perfect adversary for Peter Capaldi's Doctor. Imagine her teaming up with Missy.


Sarah -
I'd love to see a Rani regeneration.


Harry -
The anniversary specials of the JN-T era are notable for their "everyone and everything but the kitchen sink" approach. They are amusing larks, but I can't take them too seriously. "Dimensions in Time" marks the finale of the classic era. It was thoroughly panto. The show really needed a clean break and a new team to take it in new directions. The first such attempt was a couple of years away. But we can start watching right away. Shall we?


Sarah -
Yes, let's!


Harry -
I can't be bothered to pick out a great quote or favourite moment from this mess. I'll give it a 3/10 and move on.


Sarah -
I don't think I can even give a rating. For me, it just sits out there as a wacky little piece of Doctor Who history.

Our marathon resumes with: The TV Movie...

Sofa of Rassilon EXTRA - Doctor in Distress (1985)

Sarah -
I've been looking forward to discussing "Doctor in Distress" for YEARS!


Harry -
First time in the history of the English language that that sentence has been written?


Sarah -
If only there was a behind-the-scenes-making-of video!


Harry -
Not sure if I can watch the music video a third time without rupturing something from laughter.


Sarah -
I've watched it three times and have noticed something new each time.


Harry -
It was a troubled time, back in 1985. Doctor Who was in crisis. Ratings were falling, the quality of the show was questionable at times, and BBC overseers just wanted it to go away. Early in the year, it was announced that the show was being put on hiatus. There would be no more Doctor Who for 18 months. Fans panicked, thinking this might be the end. Eighties superfan Ian Levine took it upon himself to help save the show. In the spirit of the times, the only possible answer could be... a supergroup charity single.

And so "Doctor in Distress" was born.


Sarah -
It was just a few months after Band Aid, so I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

In retrospect, Levine has declared "Doctor in Distress" "...an absolute balls-up fiasco. It was pathetic and bad and stupid." I can't disagree with him, but I'm still really glad it exists. "Doctor in Distress" doesn't reach the heights of "it's so bad, it's good," but it is so brilliantly bad that it makes me happy to be a Doctor Who fan.


Harry -
Performing under the awkward moniker "Who Cares?", the assembled supergroup was, well, a list of people:

Colin Baker
Nicola Bryant
Nicholas Courtney
Anthony Ainley
Earlene Bentley
Faith Brown (comedienne)
Miquel Brown
Warren Cann from Ultravox
Hazell Dean
Floid Pearce from Hot Gossip
Bobby G from Bucks Fizz
Jona Lewie
Phyllis Nelson
Richie Pitts from the cast of the stage musical Starlight Express
John Rocca from Freeez
Sally Thomsett (actress)
David Van Day from Dollar
Members of Matt Bianco (Basia Trzetrzelewska and Danny White)
Members of The Moody Blues (Justin Hayward and John Lodge)
Members of Tight Fit (Steven Grant and Julie Harris)
Members of Time UK (Rick Buckler, Ronnie Ball, Fletcher Christian, Jimmy Richards, Ray Simone and Nick Smith)

I love the fact that Jona Lewie was there. I still have his albums! Pretty sure you can spot him at the end of the video.

The music was composed by Hans Zimmer, who went on to mega success composing for Hollywood blockbusters. Here though, it sounds like he was trying out a new synthesizer for the first time.


Sarah -
I imagine this track didn't feature prominently on Zimmer's CV!

Everyone looks vaguely embarrassed to be there, don't you think?


Harry -
It's all summed up by Colin covering his face in the final shot of the video. However some of the performers looked like they are giving it their all as they belted out their one line. On the other hand, Nicholas Courtney and Anthony Ainley seem unaware of what they are supposed to be doing. Another tragic example of "when TV actors sing".


Sarah -
The moment when Anthony Ainley sings -- or whatever we're calling what he does -- "And a canine computer" may just be my favorite moment in the entire piece. I just want to watch it over and over.


Harry -
Ultimately, "Doctor in Distress" had absolutely zero impact on the BBC's decision, and the 18-month hiatus went ahead. The single was poorly received in all corners, and the BBC wouldn't even play it on radio because it didn't meet quality standards. It was a god-awful cock-up from start to finish. Poor Colin!


Sarah -
Poor, poor Colin. He deserved so much better. 

Fortunately, we don't have to wait 18 months for more Doctor Who. It's on to Trial of a Time Lord!


Harry -
Let's do it!

Sofa of Rassilon EXTRA: A Fix with Sontarans (1985)

Harry -
Wow. Just wow.

If there's anything that substantiates the Colin Baker era as the nadir of televised Doctor Who, it is this horrendous thing.

Sarah -
Poor Colin - and Poor Janet! OMG, that hair!

Harry -
Poor Janet indeed. That for her final televised appearance on Doctor Who, Tegan was inexplicably beamed aboard the TARDIS, wearing her air hostess uniform again (and OMG that hair!), and made to endure a bout of bickering with the Sixth Doctor during a Davison-era scene of console room pandemonium. The casual sexism that Eric Saward wrote into the script must have boiled her blood too.

Sarah -
There's something sweet about planning this skit in response to young Gareth Jenkins' letter. He's quite adorable in the Sixth Doctor coat his Nan made for him.

Harry -
The premise of the episode is charming. Not only did Gareth get to meet the Doctor, but they got to have an adventure on telly too -- it's every kid's dream come true! He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the experience, but what 8-year-old wouldn't be given pause after being barked at by Colin Baker?

Sarah -
Unfortunately, it was part of creepy pedophile Jimmy Savile's show. Still, Gareth has his own TARDIS wikia page, so there's something.

Harry -
Something to which we all aspire.

Still, "A Fix with Sontarans."  It's awful, awful, awful. The way Saville saunters onto the set, kisses Janet's hand and schmarms through the congratulations at the end. Knowing now what was going on, it's unpleasant to watch. Anyway, we agreed that as our marathon continues, we'll make the occasional stop to watch and review the many special episodes of Doctor Who that were produced over the years. I'm pretty confident this will be the worst, so it's good to get it out of the way.

Sarah -
Also from TARDIS.wikia:

- Colin Baker is seen to visibly wince when Jimmy Savile kisses Janet Fielding's hand.

- Colin Baker later told The Daily Mail that he found Savile "creepy and patronising", with "none of the professional respect that one would expect to be shared when two programmes combine for a special purpose". "I recall clearly the disappointment I felt for the young boy [Gareth] for whom I suspect the whole experience was daunting and overwhelming."

Harry -
When Saville's face appeared on the TARDIS scanner, Janet and Colin exclaimed -- very appropriately: "It's monstrous!  It's revolting!"

Saward's story itself was simple, but the production did underscore something for me that I mentioned in our review of "The Two Doctors". These Sontarans are giants!  The amusingly-named Group Marshall Nathan towers over the Doctor. Not for long, though. In murderous Saward style, the two Sontarans are hit with poison gas and they melt into pools of green and brown goo. Fun!

Sarah -
Good grief, but that was disgusting!

Harry -
I'm laughing as I write this because the whole thing is so awful. Did you have any positive takeaways from this one, Sarah?

Sarah -
I thought it was very game of Colin and Janet to do it in the first place. It's was a sweet thing to do for a little kid, which I appreciate.

And that's all I've got!

Harry -
Here's to you, Gareth Jenkins, participant in one of childhood Doctor Who fandom's most awkward experiences.

Our marathon resumes with Story #141: Timelash...

Story #129 - The Five Doctors (1983)

Harry -
It's the twentieth anniversary special -- we have watched 20 years' worth of Doctor Who. Time for a celebraish! Pop that champagne, Sarah!


Sarah -
Hang on, Chuck. The cork is sticking. *POP* Ah, there were go. Cheers, Old Boy!


Harry -
Cheers ducks.

Well, when it came to producing a fitting tribute to mark two decades of Doctor Who, JN-T followed the impulse that most of us would have, and he threw absolutely everything into it. He asked the legendary Terrance Dicks to pen the adventure and Peter Moffatt to direct it, and he managed to cram almost every Doctor and companion up to that point into the thing.


Sarah -
We Doctor Who fans do love to complain, but there's something here to make everyone (at least a little bit) happy.


Harry -
It continues the template from "The Three Doctors" and would be emulated in future anniversary specials. The story serves as a vehicle for a seemingly endless round of cameo appearances, each one delightful. So good to see characters like Jamie and Zoe, and Liz and Yates, even if just for a moment. Characters like Susan, the Brigadier and Sarah Jane get bigger billing in the story and Carole Ann Ford, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen step right back into the Whoniverse with ease.


Sarah -
It's like a school reunion!


Harry -
Best of all...five Doctors! Squee!


Sarah -
Well, five(ish).


Harry -
Technically, it was three actual Doctors. The late William Hartnell appears in a brief prologue, reciting his famous "One day I shall come back" speech. For the main story, his Doctor was played by Richard Hurndall. Tom Baker -- recently departed from the show -- chose not to appear in the story, so the producers made use of the punting scene from "Shada", which had not yet been broadcast. Both moves worked out for the best. Hurndall captured Hartnell's cantankerous feistiness, and the Doctor-Romana punting scene is one of my favourites. It's so sublime. We need to go punting sometime.


Sarah -
I'm game. Have you punted before? Do I get to lounge and read while you do all the hard work, or will we have to fight it out?


Harry -
We'll figure it out as we go, Doctor & Romana style.


Sarah -
That's the spirit! I love, love, love that the story opens with the Hartnell clip. It's reassuring to have the First Doctor inviting us into the adventure, isn't it?


Harry -
One of the best moments in Doctor Who's history, despite its sad context.


Sarah -
Only if you consider being abandoned by your grandfather on a planet that had been invaded by Daleks, after having lost your shoes, to be sad. Richard Hurndall really did a wonderful job. It was so good that Mr. Smith -- who is admittedly a casual viewer but has also been watching the show with me for more than 25 years -- didn't initially realize that it wasn't William Hartnell.

It sounds like there were weeks of back and forth between Tom Baker and JN-T -- he was coming back, he wasn't coming back, he was coming back, no he really wasn't coming back. Using the "Shada" footage was a brilliant way to have the Fourth Doctor in the story without having Tom Baker in the story.


Harry -
Once we've made the rounds and watched the first four Doctors getting scooped out of their time streams with varying degrees of success, the fifth and present Doctor collapses in pain. "I am being diminished," he says. Tegan and Turlough drag him back into the TARDIS, where he lies prone and fades in and out as if he himself is dematerializing. The TARDIS lands in a foggy wasteland. Whomever has been kidnapping the various Doctors has been plunking them down in the Death Zone. It's Gallifrey! It's time for another Time Lord conspiracy!


Sarah -
Oh, those Time Lords and their conspiracies!


Harry -
The high council of Gallifrey has been observing these events. In a strange turn, the Master is brought before them. President Borusa asks the Master to go to the Death Zone and rescue the Doctor in exchange for a new cycle of regenerations.


Sarah -
I quite like Anthony Ainley in this scene. He’s so wonderfully smarmy – like the class smart-ass called to the principal’s office. “What makes you think I want your forgiveness?” His reaction when they ask him to save the Doctor is priceless: “A cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.” This is probably Ainley’s best performance so far.


Harry -
Meanwhile, the various Doctors team up with their companions and head to a tall tower in the middle of the Death Zone -- the tomb of Rassilon.


Sarah -
The First Doctor and Susan get to dash down some quite stylish corridors, trying to evade a Dalek, before finding the Fifth Doctor’s TARDIS. I love when the companions all sit down to fancy drinks and snacks in the console room while the Doctors work out the problem.

Don’t you love the moment when the Third Doctor and Sarah meet the Master and the Doctor doesn’t recognize him? He’s so dismissive of the Master and even steals the seal from him. He gets the same reaction from the Fifth Doctor, who steals the recall device when they are attacked by Cybermen. The Master can’t catch a break when he’s trying to be good, which leads him to an faux alliance with the Cybermen.


Harry -
The First Doctor and Tegan take the high road, straight into the tower. The Second Doctor and the Brigadier take the low road, entering from beneath but not before a couple of scary encounters: first with a Yeti, then with Zoe in a bubble wrap costume.


Sarah -
Don’t forget our dear Jamie, who’s looking quite fetching in his kilt – sans bubblewrap – and Mike Yates and Liz Shaw!


Harry -
Great to see Liz Shaw get one more appearance after her abrupt departure from the show. After lifting Sarah Jane Smith from a perilous ditch of death, the Third Doctor takes her all the way to the top of the tower via zipline and they enter from above.


Sarah -
Speaking of Sarah Jane, what the hell is she wearing? That jacket makes her look hugely pregnant. It’s an absolute relief when she takes it off.


Harry -
The fashions of the 80s are something we shall never understand, even if we did live through them.


Sarah -
They weren’t all bad. I distinctly remember wanting Tegan’s dress when I watched this for the first time.


Harry -
In addition to the Master, there are brief encounters with some classic monsters (Daleks, Cybermen) and a new one: a Raston Warrior Robot, the most perfect killing machine in the universe. Is it terrible to admit that I get a kick out of imagining Terrance Dicks saying "Raston Warrior Robot" out loud?


Sarah -
It seems you haven’t watched the featurette, where you get to hear him say it! It’s brilliant!


Harry -
Hah!

I guess we could spare a moment to talk about the actual story here. "The Five Doctors" completes the informal Borusa cycle. We have seen Borusa four times over the years, each time played by a different actor. His rise began in "The Deadly Assassin", when he was a Cardinal. In "The Invasion of Time" he was Lord Chancellor and teamed (loosely) with the Doctor to combat the Vardans and Sontarans. In "Arc of Infinity" he was finally Lord President of Gallifrey, but something of a tired character while someone else's conspiracy played out around him. Finally, here in "The Five Doctors", Borusa's ambitions have been rekindled as he seeks the secret of true immortality and ultimate power from Rassilon himself. Thankfully, Philip Latham was not required to act with his hands for half the story.


Sarah -
Lantham is really brilliant as Borusa. The scene where he frames the Castellan, leading to his death, is chilling. What a bastard!


Harry -
Borusa was cool, calm and collected throughout the story. This is one of my favourite Borusas.


Sarah -
He's the most cunning Borusa, that's for sure.


Harry -
Eventually, everyone arrives at the tomb of Rassilon and the slow-moving story comes to a rapid conclusion. Borusa is unmasked as the conspirator du jour, having used virtually everyone else in the story as a dupe for his ambitions. He seeks the ring of Rassilon and the promise of immortality and never-ending power. Rassilon appears and offers it up without hesitation.

Naturally, Borusa is undone by his own wickedness and becomes imprisoned in the tomb for eternity. Having sorted that out, Rassilon gives a Brian Blessed-like laugh and fades away again.


Sarah -
Say what you will about the silly Great and Powerful Oz-like appearance by Rassilon, Borusa's entombment is horrifying. I feel absolutely claustrophobic just thinking about it.


Harry -
It's all in the eyes. Horrible fate. An eternity of living entombment is a chilling prospect.

Sadly for Borusa, no one felt too bad about what happened to him. That leaves our Doctors and their friends to make a big series of goodbyes as the story wraps up. I say "story" but "The Five Doctors" is more of a celebration, a greatest hits or whatever cliché you want to attach to it. This would be one of the first stories I would encourage new viewers to watch, just because it gives you a sampling of all the eras from the first 20 years of Doctor Who.


Sarah -
The story is a bit of an afterthought, which makes sense when you consider all the rewriting Terrance Dicks had to do as actors dropped in and out during the planning. Still, it's a delightful romp and a moment to pause and feel the love.


Harry -
Well, looks like the champagne didn't last very long. Shall we move on to Peter Davison's third and final season?


Sarah -
Final season? It feels like we just got started!


Harry -
I know, it's crazy!

Best Line:
SECOND DOCTOR: "And, er, and who is this?"
BRIGADIER: "That's Colonel Crichton, my replacement."
SECOND DOCTOR: "Ah. Yes, mine was pretty unpromising, too."

BAM! HAHA!

Favourite Moment: Really, every cameo was a favourite.

Lasting Image: The Doctors all congratulating themselves at the end.

8/10


Sarah -
Best Line: There are so many, but I have to go with the closer,

Tegan: "You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?"
The Doctor: "Why not? After all, that's how it all started."

Favorite Moment: The Second Doctor meeting up with the Brig.

Lasting Images: All the Doctors together!

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #130: Warriors of the Deep...