Story #115 - Logopolis (1981)

Harry -
I keep muttering "block transfer computation" to myself.


Sarah -
Just watch out for that column behind you while you're muttering.


Harry -
Do you think you could ever work "block transfer computation" into a conversation?


Sarah -
Now I really want to find a way.


Harry -
It might help distract from the cold realization that the Doctor -- our Doctor! -- is no more.


Sarah -
I can't hear you. *fingers in ears* LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA

Wait! Is that the cloister bell I hear?


Harry -
There's a veritable cacophony of sounds that kick off Tom Baker's farewell story. We've got the cloister bell, we've got the chuckling Master, we've got the New Companion Klaxon -- it's all happening at once!

It begins in the TARDIS cloisters. The Doctor stalks around, preoccupied with something. Adric trails behind, trying to figure out what's on his mind. Turns out, it's the chameleon circuit. After all this time, the Doctor wants to finally repair it, using [dramatic pause] "block transfer computation." And what is that, we wonder. Why, it's creating solid objects through pure mathematics, something they do for kicks at a place called Logopolis. So! First it's nip down to Earth to measure an old police box, then a quick dash to Logopolis where something something something, and the chameleon circuit will be good as new.


Sarah -
I've been thinking perhaps we should add cloisters to the Sofa -- you know, give us a place for reflection between stories.


Harry -
Could have used it after this one.


Sarah -
There's a lot going on in the opening TARDIS scenes. In addition to something something "block transfer computation," we learn that the TARDIS was on Gallifrey for repairs when he "borrowed" her ("There were rather pressing reasons at the time.") and the chameleon circuit has been stuck ever since. To distract himself, the Doctor decides to repair the circuit, but first needs to get accurate measurements -- in twenty-seven dimensions -- of a police box, which requires materializing around a working police box.


Harry -
Lost? So was I. But in the meantime, here's Tegan Jovanka!


Sarah -
TEGAN! Her arrival takes away some of the sting of so much loss in this story.


Harry -
I love the leisurely pace of Part One. It takes five minutes just to get into Auntie Vanessa's car. Then she and Tegan spend the rest of the episode trying to fix a flat tyre.


Sarah -
It takes five minutes just to lock the front door! I love the scenes of Tegan and Auntie Vanessa bickering over the tyre. It's a nice was to establish the character's sense of adventure: automobiles aren't good enough for Ms. Tegan Jovanka -- it's air travel or nothing. I also have to say that I've always positively adored Vanessa's ensemble. I don't think I could pull it off, but she rocks that look.


Harry -
A whirlwind of fur and feathers, it's quite the style.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is conducting what could be construed as a very symbolic "one last look around the TARDIS", strolling through the corridors we haven't seen for some time, peeking in on Romana's old room, and finally landing around an actual police box. Only, the Master got there first, and he hurls the Doctor and Adric into a maze of TARDISes within TARDISes. I liked how each time they entered one TARDIS, the lights got dimmer and eerier.


Sarah -
The last look at Romana's room is touching, but sentiment can't be considered when it's time to jettison her room, French schoolgirl costume and all!

I love the "TARDIS inside a TARDIS inside a TARDIS" scenes. Each TARDIS manages to be more menacing than the last. As we end Adric's brief tenure as a solo companion, I found myself really enjoying his scenes with the Doctor. We know now how intimidated Matthew Waterhouse was while working with Tom Baker, but he pulls off some great work in these scenes. I imagine his frustration having been put to good use during the scene when the tension gets to be too much and they start shouting at each other. That felt quite genuine.


Harry -
Some very crabby exchanges there. I still think the brief Doctor-Adric combination worked more often than not.


Sarah -
I agree. Their timing in the measuring the TARDIS scene is perfect and I love the image of Adric atop the TARDIS.


Harry -
Frustrated by the discovery of a flat spare tyre ("Hell's teeth, Auntie Vanessa!"), Tegan sets off for a garage, but can't resist peeking into the police box standing by the roadside. Her exploration of the TARDIS -- layered with curiosity, bafflement and apprehension -- was a nice sequence.


Sarah -
If I can't manage to work "block transfer computation" into a conversation, I'm totally going to devote myself to making "Hell's teeth" a thing. Here's Our Tegan, taking the tyre off to the garage and then fearlessly exploring the TARDIS. She's got spunk!


Harry -
Alas, while Tegan was off exploring, Auntie Vanessa fell victim to the Master and his tissue compression eliminator (I'm not even going to IMAGINE trying to work that one into a conversation).


Sarah -
Poor Auntie Vanessa. The shot of her and the police constable shrunken on the car seat is heartbreaking.


Harry -
I have to admit, the flow of the story was a bit clunky. Part One was slow paced, but then things started jumping all over the place. The Doctor got this bizarre idea to flood the TARDIS, presumably to flush out the Master. They end up on the deck of a barge in the Thames. The Doctor then spots the Watcher and they have a chat on the Albert Bridge! as Adric looks on with the Battersea Power Station! in the background.

(I am inordinately excited about these places because this is one of the rare times that I have been to a Doctor Who filming location. I visited London back in 2001 and one day took a stroll around Chelsea and Battersea, where this filming took place. Permission to Squee?)


Sarah -
Squee away! I thought of you during these scenes and could almost hear the squeeing from Toronto to Chicago. The Doctor's plan to flood the TARDIS is perhaps the oddest part of the story. Other than holding back the doors, we don't find out much about his plan not to have himself and Adric drowned in the process.


Harry -
Following his chat with the Watcher, in which he glimpsed his future, the Doctor sets course for Logopolis immediately, just as Tegan returns to the console room. What an arrival!


Sarah -
The looks on the Doctor's and Adric's faces when Tegan bursts into the console room are priceless! It makes me laugh every time, but the humor ends when Tegan asks about her aunt and the Doctor realizes that she's been the Master's victim. Fortunately for him, the TARDIS has arrived on Logopolis and he is able to sidestep the question.

Logopolis is unlike any place we've visited before. Its inhabitants are able to model reality by pure mathematics and whatever they calculate can take physical form. They seem to spend their days sitting in little monk holes, muttering and working their abaci, but Logopolis turns out to be a more exciting place than it appears.


Harry -
The scale replica of the Pharos Project, for example. I didn't catch the purpose behind it, but I'm sure it was very sciency and Christopher H. Bidmead was immensely pleased by his having come up with it.


Sarah -
That whole part of the story was like, "science, science, Pharos Project, science, science, blah, blah, blah," but somehow still managed to be absolutely compelling.


Harry -
Anyway, the Master upsets one too many apple carts on Logopolis, triggering a series of missed calculations by the Logopolitans, with the effect that they can no longer stave off the entropy that threatens to engulf the entire universe. The battle against entropy -- one might imagine the showrunners seeing themselves battling a kind of entropy that had set in at the end of the Tom Baker era. This story is packed with symbolism.


Sarah -
The script practically writes itself! (Christopher Bidmead would love to read that, wouldn't he?)


Harry -
With Logopolis crumbling around them, it's up to the Doctor and Master to team up and prevent the end of the universe, while Tegan, Adric and Nyssa wait safely inside the TARDIS.

Nyssa's return. Bit of a surprise, but they gave it a decent explanation don't you think?


Sarah -
The Watcher brought her there to look for her father, it seems. She finds him, not immediately realizing that his body is now inhabited by the Master, but she's certainly suspicious when he forces her to wear a bracelet that can control her actions. It's not long before he turns her on Adric -- strangling him to force Tegan to comply with the Master's wishes. Oh, what tangled webs he weaves!

This is our first full story featuring Anthony Ainley as the Master. What do you make of him? Ainley was my first Master, so I can't help but having a fondness for him. I'm looking forward to revisiting his episodes in light of Roger Delgado having become my definitive Master.


Harry -
For sentimental reasons I can't not love this Master, but I remember having a negative reaction to Ainley at first. He seemed to be too much of a Snidely Whiplash character. Where the dapper Delgado presented himself with cool reserve, Ainley's Master came off more cartoonish, twirling his moustache and chuckling at his nefarious schemes. However, Ainley's interpretation has come to fit right in with the evolution of the character. Haunted by the task of four beats that pounds ceaselessly in his head, the Master has become further unhinged over time. Each time we meet him anew, he is more and more insane. By the time we get to John Simm, the Master is utterly manic, and the Missy-Master doesn't hesitate to describe herself as "bananas!". So Ainley has come to represent a middle ground between cool early Master and bananas contemporary Master.


Sarah -
The Master is on a one-way train to crazyville -- and we get to go along for the ride!


Harry -
The one constant, however, is that the Doctor always outsmarts his lifelong adversary -- even, as here, at the cost of his own life. His plans foiled, the Master jumps into his TARDIS and flees as the Doctor lies near death, having plummeted from the aerial dish tower after saving the whole damn universe.

As the Doctor's friends gather around his broken body, he announces that "It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for."

We've watched this scene a zillion times, perhaps two zillion, but it still retains its power. The longest era of Doctor Who comes to a quiet, unforgettable end.


Sarah -
This was my first regeneration and I didn't know it was coming at the time, so it hit me really hard. Every time I watch it, I will the Doctor to not fall. Every time is as dramatic and heart-wrenching as the first time I watched it and I'm reduced to tears despite myself.

Tom Baker is the reason I became a Doctor Who fan 30+ years ago and he will always be my Doctor. I often wonder if I would have fallen in love with the show if I had started watching during another Doctor's era and am grateful that I don't have to answer that question.


Harry -
The final scene is by far the best moment of the entire story. There's no better way for Tom to have gone out than by saving the entire universe from the grip of the Master. And it turns out the Watcher was him all along, in an advanced mid-regenerative state. He slips away knowing that everything will be alright...


Sarah -
If there's one thing viewers believe they can count on in Doctor Who, it's that the Doctor will survive his adventure to fight another day. In Logopolis, perhaps for the first time, it feels as though he could fail and the story leads us to the inevitable conclusion. The moment has been prepared for us and it doesn't feel forced or unnatural. We are (mostly) ready.


Harry -
...and along comes Peter Davison! Surrounded by his newly-assembled trio of companions, a new era of Doctor Who is ready to take off! Shall we dash along to the next adventure?


Sarah -
Peter Davison, looking so young and handsome. I'm looking forward to our first post-regeneration story in a while. Castrovalva awaits!


Harry -
Best Line: Rather than a best line, there were so many memorable and endlessly repeatable phrases, like "Block transfer computation," "Hell's teeth, Auntie Vanessa!" and "It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for."

Favourite Moment: the Doctor chats with the Watcher on Albert Bridge.

Lasting Image: the dying Doctor lays surrounded by his friends.

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "Never guess. Unless you have to. There's enough uncertainty in the universe as it is." This line is so representative of the Fourth Doctor and his need to keep all options open.

Favorite Moment: The Doctor and Adric reacting to Tegan bursting into the console room.

Lasting Image: Adric atop the TARDIS taking measurements.

8/10

 

Our marathon continues with Story #116: Castrovalva...

Story #114 - The Keeper of Traken (1981)

Harry -
Romana and K-9 have stayed behind in E-Space, but the Doctor and Adric have to keep on Traken, all the way back to N-Space and the titular planet of this story.

So many familiar faces in this one!


Sarah -
I felt like I was visiting old friends! I still remember the first time I watched "The Keeper of Traken" and how wonderfully exciting it was. I have to admit I still felt a bit of that excitement on this viewing -- which is probably #10 or so. This is the magic of Doctor Who, isn't it?


Harry -
Absolutely, old chum. There's a nice sort-of-symmetry in that John Woodnutt -- who appeared as the Duke of Forgill in "Terror of the Zygons" at the start of Tom Baker's second season -- appears here as Soron in Tom's second-to-last story. Rrrrrolling his R's all the way as one of the Consuls of Traken. Can you believe we've just watched all but one Tom Baker story in a row and not gone doolally?


Sarah -
Of course I can! He's Tom Fecking Baker! He's OUR Doctor -- the person who made us Doctor Who fans forever and ever. This has been the best year of viewing ever, which hardly seemed possible after the past three years of great viewing! Oh ye of little faith, Harry. We've rocked this!


Harry -
It took us on average one year to get through each of the first three Doctors, and there were some weeks when it dragged, but it feels like we've gone through the entire Fourth Doctor era in the blink of an eye.


Sarah -
All those recons were a drag. A year each for three seasons of the first two Doctors, just under a year for five seasons of the Third Doctor, and just a tad over a year for seven seasons of our Fourth Doctor. I wonder how our schedule will run from here on. Will we hit a wall or continue our breezy pace? Will we survive the Sixth Doctor's wardrobe? Will I reconsider my violent loathing of Peri? Can we bear to watch the dreaded movie kiss one more time? So many unanswered questions -- stay tuned, kiddies!

We were discussing something, weren't we? Oh, yes, "The Keeper of Traken", meeting old friends, familiar faces, etc., etc., etc. Carry on, Old Boy.


Harry -
Another familiar face -- even though he's unrecognizable in this one -- is Denis Carey as the Keeper. He was none other than Professor Chronotis from "Shada".

There's one more fun fact to be had here, in that this is the only story where Adric is the Doctor's sole companion. Although we barely get halfway through before it looks like Adric's made a new friend on Traken.


Sarah -
Yes, hasn't he? Nyssa wasn't meant to be a companion when she was introduced, but we'll get to that soon enough.


Harry -
I like how both Adric and Nyssa got a sort of "soft launch" as companions, compared to others. But yes, we'll get to that soon enough.

The Traken Union! One of the most peaceful and harmonious places in the universe. It's so nice there that evil forces literally seize up and calcify there. Backed by the power of the Source and aided by a group of Consuls, the Keeper of Traken is the union's figure of leadership and wise judgement.

But all is not well. The Keeper senses that a presence of all-pervading evil has descended upon Traken, and he seeks out the Doctor for help.


Sarah -
You know peace, love, and understanding are great ideas in concept, but imagine how boring it could be living in such a perfect place.


Harry -
The Consuls found the time to get fitted in some really swish looking outfits. Their Renaissance-inspired robes stood out against the slightly more modern looking clothes of the proctor and other citizens.


Sarah -
Apparently, when everything is perfect and harmonious, there's a lot more free time to focus on wardrobe.


Harry -
Just before the TARDIS arrives, a dead body is discovered in a leafy grove. The Doctor and Adric are immediately surrounded at gunpoint. "I wonder what we've done this time," the Doctor asks, as he teaches Adric how to raise one's arms in surrender.


Sarah -
Of course a body is found just before they arrive. Bodies are usually found just before the TARDIS arrives. To be honest, I suspect the only time bodies are ever found anywhere in the known universe is just before the Doctor shows up to be blamed.


Harry -
It's one of those things that practically defines a Doctor Who story.


Sarah -
With that in mind, learning how to raise his hands in surrender may be one of the most useful things the Doctor ever taught Adric.


Harry -
Despite what we've heard from behind the scenes, the Doctor and Adric have a friendly partnership going here. I would have liked to see them in more adventures.


Sarah -
I would be a strong proponent of that.


Harry -
Anyway, they find themselves hauled before the Consuls for a rapid interrogation. Our friends protest their innocence, and the Consuls refer to the Keeper for advice. As soon as he appears, the Keeper is stricken by fear of an evil presence nearby. Everyone assumes he means the Doctor and Adric, but no one notices the enigmatic creature peeking through the doorway: the Melkur.


Sarah -
The Melkur -- Traken's personification of calcified evil. We first meet young Kassia, protege of the Keeper, and later a member of his council, when she was assigned to care for the Melkur. Maybe it's just knowing what's coming, but I find even her initial scenes with the Melkur disturbing. The Melkur is playing the long game, luring Kassia under his spell, just waiting for her to become a member of the council so he can launch his plan. And, then, of course, the Doctor shows up just in time to spoil his best-laid plans.

Sheila Ruskin certainly chews up the scenery as Kassia, but the real standout guest actor is Anthony Ainley as The Ma.... um, I mean as Tremas. He shines in every scene -- strong, intelligent, loyal, a doting father to Nyssa. Widowed and entering into a second marriage with Kassia, he is the planned successor to the Keeper. While the rest of the council falls under Kassia's influence and are suspicious of the Doctor, Tremas eventually believes the Doctor's story of being summoned by the Keeper -- and finds himself under suspicion.


Harry -
I love seeing Anthony Ainley here. His thoughtful, positive attitude as Tremas is a brilliant set up for what will befall the Consul. I never understood how or why the showrunners went ahead what that character's name, which is such an obvious anagram for another character's name. I'm sure there have been hundreds of rationalizations circulated among fanhood after the fact, but it's such a clunky note.


Sarah -
The Master hadn't appeared in five years, so I suspect it's more obvious in retrospect.


Harry -
Another thing I loved was Kassia's massively teased out mane of hair. Her and Nyssa both have amazing looks in this story. It's so 80s and yet it works quite well with their Trakenite clothes.


Sarah -
There was a whole lot of hair going on in this story!


Harry -
Despite being newlywed, Kassia does not hesitate to zap Tremas and throw him into a cell with the Doctor and Adric, as the Melkur exercises total power over her. The Melkur's plot comes to fruition at the end of Part Three. Kassia briefly takes the Keeper's place, before she herself gets zapped into oblivion and replaced by the Melkur.


Sarah -
Poor Kassia. She was just a pawn in the Melkur's hand, which is a sad end for such an interesting and strong character.


Harry -
Now, if this story were broadcast in the present day internet era, the true identity of the Melkur would have been plastered on every social media outlet even before broadcast. Watching this story now, I'm surprised how late they left the confirmation that the Melkur was in fact... the Master! There were certainly enough clues fed to everyone. It just felt a bit rushed towards the end, and the inevitable Doctor-Master confrontation was no more than a couple of minutes. These days, they produce entire two-parters around the two characters playing off each other.


Sarah -
I almost don't mind the quick confrontation because it leads us to the real shocker when the Master steals Tremas' body for his next regeneration!


Harry -
Kudos to Geoffrey Beevers for his brief albeit memorably grotesque turn as the rogue Gallifreyan.


Sarah -
Beevers' disfigured Master is wonderfully evil. "The Keeper of Traken" was my first Master story, so I didn't know much about his history with the Doctor. That said, I still remember how shocked I was by this scene. I love that the Doctor and Adric head off believing that all is well on Traken, while we're all screaming at the television trying to warn him!


Harry -
This was the Master at his evil worst - bodysnatching a still living body to inhabit. What a creep! On the plus side, this is the start of a fresh series of Master stories to enjoy.


Sarah -
Hooray for more Master stories!


Harry -
Overall, this was a very straightforward story by Johnny Byrne (not a name we are familiar with, is it?).


Sarah -
It's not! This is his first story and here's a fun fact: because Byrne created Nyssa and she was only intended to be in one story, he received royalties whenever her character was used.


Harry -
Good on you, Johnny Byrne.  It's the wonderful characters that bring "The Keeper of Traken" to life. Tom Baker and Matthew Waterhouse were both great here. Tom boisterous but restrained, Matthew clever and industrious.


Sarah -
I love that he managed to lure good girl Nyssa into joining his caper and being mischievous. Adric is excellent in this story!


Harry -
We have completed the penultimate story of the Fourth Doctor era. Shall we proceed to the grand finale?


Sarah -
With a deep breath and a sadness in my heart...


Harry -
Best Line:
DOCTOR: "You criticise my logic."
ADRIC: "No. No, I'm just saying that a lot of the time you don't really make sense."
DOCTOR: "Ah. Ah. Oh, you've noticed that, have you?"

Favourite Moment: The Master seizes Tremas' body.

Lasting Image: Kassia and her fantastic 'do.

8/10


Sarah -
Best Line:
The Doctor: "If I knew everything that was going to happen, where would the fun be?"

Favorite Moment: Absolutely the stealing of Tremas' body. It's one of the most shocking moments in Doctor Who and I love anticipating it!

Lasting Image: The Melkur -- I love that design!

8/10

 


Our marathon continues with Story #115 - Logopolis...

Story #113 - Warriors' Gate (1981)

Sarah -
It's been a while since I've watched "Warriors' Gate". This is an unusual story, don't you think?


Harry -
It's definitely out there, even though the foundation of it is quite simple: at a point in existence where two universes intersect, several groups of people find themselves stuck. They spend the ensuing four episodes trying to get themselves unstuck.


Sarah -
It's a lot of bother when everyone shares the same goal of getting out of there.


Harry -
"Warriors' Gate" is also known for having been a difficult production. Writer Steve Gallagher delivered to the BBC what was, in his own words: "a novel in screenplay format." Director Paul Joyce and Script Editor Christopher H. Bidmead hacked it down to mere splinters, to Gallagher's dismay. Joyce then found himself stifled by the time and budget constraints of the Beeb, which impeded the grand cinematic visions he had for the production. A frustrated Joyce was temporarily replaced, but he returned to finish the job and the conclusion of the E-Space trilogy hit TV screens in the UK in January 1981.


Sarah -
One of the amusing aspects of the making-of featurettes on so many Doctor Who DVDs is watching the directors, writers, and crew members airing their grievances thirty years on. Still, "Warriors' Gate" seems to have had more drama than your average production.


Harry -
I love how passive-aggressive everyone is on the featurettes. So many lingering grudges!


Sarah -
Really, it's kind of perfect for Doctor Who fans, as we never let go of things ourselves.


Harry -
We get an immediate taste for Joyce's big screen ambitions from the long tracking shots that open Part One. The camera drifts over a group of shaggy humanoids who lay in stasis, before pulling away and roaming through the empty, graffiti-stained corridors of a space ship. Instant atmosphere.


Sarah -
I love those establishing shots. So evocative. The ship really looks lived-in and that carries over to the crew, who all look like they've been on this ship far too long. Royce and Aldo, the lowest-ranking members of the crew, provide the comic relief as the most apathetic members of an extremely apathetic crew.


Harry -
Royce and Aldo were charmingly unenthusiastic throughout. You could tell the rest of the crew was worn out from Commander Rorvik's constant bluster. Although he presented his ship and crew as "traders" to Romana, he left out that small detail that they traded in slaves, and their cargo was the room full of Tharils in stasis -- Tharils being prized as time-sensitives who provide a valuable resource as navigators.


Sarah -
While we don't know the entire story at the beginning, the scene where the Tharil is being used for navigation is just brutal. Rorvik's lack of concern with the Tharil's well being is our first clue that these "traders" are not the good guys.


Harry -
Biroc the Tharil managed to escape and traverse the time winds right into the TARDIS. There, he warned the Doctor and friends that, basically, stuff was about to get weird. And it certainly did.


Sarah -
The opening TARDIS scene, before Biroc arrives, is interesting. Romana is still trying to avoid going back to Gallifrey, while the Doctor thinks Adric will love it. Meanwhile, the TARDIS continues to struggle against E-Space, leading to a long discussion of the I Ching, which leads to Adric tossing a coin and pressing a button. The TARDIS lands just as the time winds are sweeping in, bringing Biroc into the TARDIS.


Harry -
All season we've been having these opening scenes in the TARDIS console room where we first glimpse our friends. Usually, they've been repairing K-9, or having some down time, or puzzling over where and when they are. That's the case this time. It was a bit garbled as they jumped from one subject to another before Biroc appeared and got the story going.

The TARDIS lands and the Doctor follows Biroc into the partial ruin of an old castle. Romana follows the crew back to their trade ship. Adric and K-9 spend some time roaming the empty space in between. Did you get any "Land of Fiction" vibes during those scenes? I was half-hoping that Lemuel Gulliver might appear out of the whiteness.


Sarah -
How great would it be to see Bernard Horsfall again? I was absolutely thinking of "The Mind Robber" during these scenes.


Harry -
Bernard Horsfall, or those noisy robots.

Inside the trade ship, Romana is mistaken for another time sensitive and strapped into the navigator's chair for a spot of terror.


Sarah -
That was terrifying!


Harry -
Back in the castle, the Doctor finds the dusty remains of an ancient banquet, complete with guard robots who conveniently spell out just what's going on. So convenient! Sort of. The robot's story was a bit garbled too, and didn't really explain how certain characters could start jumping between striations of time - literally going through the looking glass to do so.


Sarah -
Don't you love it when a handy plot device turns up? The Gundan robots are certainly visually interesting, not so much on the whole sticking-to-a-clear-narritive thing. The plot was even more confusing after the Doctor got the robot to "explain" the situation.


Harry -
On the other side of the looking glass, the Doctor discovers the ghosts (?) of dead Tharils at the banquet, and discovers that they too employed slaves - humans in fact.  O ho!  This twist seemed to render both the traders and the Tharils no better than the other. There was no angry speech from the Doctor this time, perhaps because Rorvik and his crew were growing increasingly impatient and violent, and the intersection between the universes started contracting. Time to find a resolution, fast.


Sarah -
The Tharils aren't the innocent victims we think they are, after all. The plot thickens.


Harry -
Eventually, everyone makes it to the banquet room for a final confrontation. Obsessed with getting through the looking glass, Rorvik and company decide to employ heavy weaponry to smash it. Adric saves the Doctor and Romana with another bluff, turning the MZ device on the traders. The idiots eventually blew themselves up as everyone else legged it back to the TARDIS.


Sarah -
I love the imagine of Adric perched about the MZ, staring down the traders. Before Rorvik kills the rest of the crew, we witness the death of Sagan at the hands of a Tharil. The final shot of his corpse nearly drove me behind the sofa -- so disturbing.


Harry -
There is a lot of horror and gore in E-Space - more than I remembered.

I'm not sure what happened with Adric and K-9 in this story. They got lumped together for a period of time, wandered around and didn't do much until right at the end. I wonder if Gallagher didn't have much use for them, or Joyce and Bidmead found themselves running long and shunted them aside. K-9's most memorable moment was when he got a bit panicky with a lot of "Danger! Alert! Warning!" shouts as the intersection continued shrinking in upon itself. Little did we know that this was his swansong.


Sarah -
Poor K-9.

How many times have we said that in this last season?


Harry -
No kidding. At least the fiends didn't blow him up.

Romana foreshadowed her own swansong earlier in the story, when she mused aloud about her and the Doctor going separate ways. As everyone returned to the TARDIS, she made her surprise announcement...


Sarah -
Overall, Romana has a good send-off. Having had her mind expanded by traveling with the Doctor, she's not content to go back to Gallifrey and sets off on her own to make the universe a better place.


Harry -
It was so sudden, yet so decisive, and totally cool. No emotional sendoff, just a calm, mature parting of two equals (despite what was going on between Lalla and Tom away from the cameras).


Sarah -
Sadly, this is exactly why JN-T decided Romana had to go. The Doctor having a companion who is an equal is a rare thing and those are the companions I always like the best. I adore both Romanas, but Lalla Ward is truly the Romana of my heart. Her parting from the Doctor is one of the most memorable moments in Doctor Who for me.


Harry -
Of course, it set up not only the best line of the story, but one of the best lines in all of Doctor Who.


Sarah -
"You were the noblest Romana of them all."

It makes me teary-eyed every time.


Harry -
According to the fine folks at Big Finish, Romana continued her adventures and eventually returned to Gallifrey to assume the Presidency. I really can't see her making a return in the new series. Most of the main companions in New Who have followed the same template: young female from contemporary Britain. And repeat. And Clara is back for another season. There have been flashes of that "team of equals" thing with Clara that the Doctor had with Romana -- to the point where Clara assumed the role of the Doctor herself a couple of times last season, in "Flatline" and "Death in Heaven." I like. Hopefully there will be more of that in the future.


Sarah -
Have you read Terrance Dicks' Blood Harvest? Apparently, Romana turns up again, still in E-Space.


Harry -
I don't think I have read that one, but it sounds fascinating!

As for K-9, he had quite a long run as a companion, although the version that joined up with the Doctor and Leela was succeeded by a second one at the end of "The Invasion of Time." Another one will be gifted to Sarah Jane Smith. Do we just assume that there is a continuity among K-9s? I don't know. Regardless, K-9 was wildly popular with the kiddies. Many adults who get asked about classic Who always go back to two things right away: the scarf, and the robot dog. I like that too. He was a very very very good dog!


Sarah -
A very good dog -- the noblest of them all!

Before we say our final farewells to Romana and K-9 and make our way out of E-Space, I wanted to ask if you thought Tom Baker look tired in this story. There were so many shots were he just looked exhausted and his hair seemed to have a will of its own. As we move into our final two Fourth Doctor stories, it really feels (in retrospect, of course) that he's just winding down in the role. It's all so bittersweet.


Harry -
It's funny because I was just looking at pictures of him in "Robot" the other day, and the physical changes between then and now are striking.


Sarah -
Best Line: "You were the noblest Romana of them all." *sob*

Favorite Moment: The Doctor and Romana's parting *sob*

Lasting Image: Romana and K-9 staying behind in E-Space

6/10


Harry -
Best Line: agreed on this one. One of the best lines ever!

Favourite Moment: the parting scene is up there, but I'll also mention those moments in the whiteness of space and time, when it seemed as if they were back in the Land of Fiction.

Lasting Image: those striking black and white backgrounds from the universe on the other side of the mirror.

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #114: The Keeper of Traken...

Story #112 - State of Decay (1980)

Sarah -
Still trapped in E-Space, the Doctor and Romana find themselves on an unknown planet with a medieval society consisting, it seems, of only a village and the tower. Of course, as one might expect, things aren’t quite that simple.


Harry -
It was an unexpected thrill to see Terrance Dicks' name in the credits again. I had forgotten that he wrote "State of Decay." Forgot most of the story too. Seeing that tower in the opening shot brought it all back.


Sarah -
It's always reassuring to see Uncle Terry in the credits, isn't it? "State of Decay" is one of those stories that remains extremely vivid for me. I've been eagerly anticipating our visit to the tower, which is inhabited by The Three Who Rule, who started out as the crew of the Earth spaceship Hydrax, which is now their tower. They were drawn into E-Space by a giant vampire – the lone survivor of a great war with the Time Lords – and are now vampires themselves, ruling over the village and preparing for the eventual return of the Great Vampire.

The villagers are also not all they seem to be. Seemingly docile, they allow themselves to be selected for delivery to The Three, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, a hearty band of rebels has a storehouse of technology from the spaceship, which they hope will eventually help them overthrow the vampires and find their way back to Earth.


Harry -
It's great how you can always sense what era a Doctor Who story is part of - and I mean beyond the obvious details like which Doctor and which companions are in it. An eerie, gothic air permeates this story right from the start. As The Three Who Rule vamped it up in the throne room, it felt like watching something out of the Hinchcliffe Horror era.

I did some reading up, and it turns out that Uncle Terry's story was intended to be part of the 1977 season. However, the Beeb was producing a version of Dracula that year, and they didn't want vampire overload, so the story got shelved for three years. Still a story for Tom Baker, but by then Romana had replaced Leela as the main companion.


Sarah -
Apparently "Horror of Fang Rock" took its place in 1977. It's amusing to imagine what Leela would have made of the vampires!

The Doctor and Romana set out from the TARDIS, quickly making contact with the village. Meanwhile, Adric reveals himself as a stowaway to K-9 and sets out after them.


Harry -
That kid from Alzarius stowed away! At least we found out where he went. I liked how he talked his way past K-9, entered the village unchallenged, and within minutes one of the local women was offering him food and clothing.


Sarah -
He does have a way about him, doesn't he?


Harry -
While Adric enjoyed the local hospitality, the Doctor and Romana met some of the other locals, an increasingly suspicious lot. First there was the villagers themselves, then some hooded characters who turned out to be a group of rebels. The Doctor helped them make some sense of the battered old computer equipment they were harbouring in a cave. After a brief bat attack (eek!), the Doctor and Romana talked their way right into the throne room, for their first encounter with the King and Queen of the land.


Sarah -
A spider in the last story, and now a bat. Hope you're holding up under all this, Old Boy!


Harry -
They did a great job scouting out the park for those external scenes. Some lovely old, gnarled trees there. Very atmospheric.

My word, they nailed the casting for The Three Who Rule, didn't they? William Lindsay and Rachel Davies play Zargo and Camilla with unnerving "deadness". Both have amazingly cold eyes. As for Aukon their chamberlain, Emrys James plays him with smooth malevolence. Campy or not, I love these vampires!


Sarah -
I love the vampires, love the camp, love the sets. Seriously, I just love everything about this story! It has one of the creepiest moments in Doctor Who for me: when the flying bat is super-imposed over Aukon's face. I'm getting the willies just thinking about it now. I still remember seeing it for the first time and it's still my lasting image from "State of Decay."


Harry -
There were many moments in this story that were decidedly not for the kiddies.

The closing sequence of Part Two was brilliant. Having realized that they were inside the shell of the Hydrax, the Doctor and Romana explore the tower. When they climb down to the fuel tanks, an ominous heartbeat can be heard. They find the fuel tanks filled with blood. They find a room full of drained corpses piled high. As Aukon sneaks up and confronts them, they discover that they are in the lair of the last Great Vampire. This was a fantastic few minutes of atmosphere and looming dread.


Sarah -
And so much blood! That has to be more blood than we've seen in all other Doctor Who stories combined. Get thee behind the sofa, kiddies!


Harry -
Part Three was a bit of a lull as the various forces in the story marshalled themselves for the final battle. Aukon realizes that the Doctor and Romana are Time Lords. The Doctor slips away to go read up on the Great Vampires (what a bizarre way to pull him out of the story for an episode). Meanwhile, Romana and Adric are both seized and prepared for sacrifice to the "Great One." The vampire attack at the end of this episode was another horror chiller.


Sarah -
As this story was written for another Doctor-companion combo, Dicks had to do a bit of reworking to get Adric in the story. It feels shoehorned in at times, but I do like the scene where Adric seemingly abandons Romana to her fate, saying that there's no reason for them both to die. We almost suspect that he is still in the thrall of the vampires -- or at least a completely heartless bastard! In the end, he mounts a rescue attempt that fails miserably, but redeems himself as a companion.


Harry -
Adric's heel turn was a shocker, but it turned out he was just bluffing, and, yes, his rescue attempt did fail miserably. He did get some flash threads to wear. I wish he could have kept that outfit and ditched the PJs.


Sarah -
I will admit I was admiring the brocade jacket-thingy he wore.


Harry -
Anyway, having completed his reading -- and provided John Leeson with some justification for his paycheque -- the Doctor rallies the rebellious villagers with a faux-St. Crispin's Day speech, and they storm the tower. (I couldn't help notice that Tom got a haircut halfway through the filming of this story. He has extremely shagged out hair in all the interior TARDIS scenes, but over at the tower, he's found the time to get a quick trim.)


Sarah -
I thought perhaps I was imaging the change in his hair. I read somewhere that Baker's hair had lost its curl due to health issues and he actually had to have it permed for this story.

In the end, of course, the day is saved when the Doctor uses one of the rockets that comprise the tower to drive a steel bolt through the heart of the Great Vampire. Romana, Adric, and the hirsute villagers scamper to safety, the not-so-great vampires crumble to ash, and all is well on this planet without a name.


Harry -
Uncle Terry couldn't be fussed with too many details, haha.

One of the best things about "State of Decay" is that the ultimate evil -- the Great Vampire -- remains concealed for almost the entire story. The Three Who Rule were wicked baddies, but to realize that they were merely servants to Something Even More Monstrously Evil, well, the imagination ran rampant. That is, until the villagers used the scanner to pick up an infrared image of the Great One as he stirred to life. That image was lame. Much better was the image of the gigantic talon-like hand pushing up through the ground as the Great Vampire began to emerge. That hand was all we needed to see. The scale of it was awesome. It was truly believable that this was a colossal monster stirring up from the depths of planet no-name.


Sarah -
The monster you can't see is always scarier than the one you can see. Don't you think?


Harry -
Absolutely, and perhaps especially in classic Who. And if there were any kiddies still left unscarred by the experience, we got to see The Three Who Rule decay, wither and crumble to dust in a matter of seconds, after the Great Vampire's hold over them was released. Oh my!


Sarah -
I wonder how the villagers will fare without their vampire overlords. Oh well, no time to stick around and find out -- Adric needs returning to the starliner.


Harry -
That was such an awkward goodbye scene. The villagers were so desperate for help escaping E-Space, but the Doctor clearly has no interest in ferrying people around the universe. He practically made a run for the TARDIS. And so ends one of the real standout stories of Season 18.


Sarah -
Best Line:
The Doctor: “Knowing’s easy. Everyone does that ad nauseam. I just sort of hope.”

Favorite Moment: When the Doctor tells Romana, “You are wonderful.” She responds with, “Me? I suppose I am. Never really thought about it.” Maybe I’m feeling a little emotional about Romana’s impending departure, but this scene summed up the wonderfulness of the Tom-Lalla on-screen partnership for me.

Lasting Image: The flying bat superimposed on Aukon’s face is still one of the most terrifying Doctor Who images ever!

9/10


Harry -
Best Line:
DOCTOR: "What is the Wasting?"
TARAK: "The Wasting?"
DOCTOR: "Yes."
TARAK: "The Wasting is... The Wasting.
DOCTOR: "Ah."

(I giggled at that one.)

Favourite Moment: Zargo and Camilla's synchronized hand-washing scene.

Lasting Image: The Three Who Rule.

9/10

 


Our marathon continues with Story #113: Warriors' Gate...