Castrovalva

With my eyes, no; but with my philosophy.

Castrovalva, in addition to being the first Fifth Doctor story, was the culmination of the trilogy chronicling the return of the Master. It also sets up what will be an unfortunate theme in the Fifth Doctor era. The Doctor is interesting, his companions are not (and poorly acted) and the story only gets interesting when others are brought in to interact with the Doctor.

Plot Summary

After regenerating at the end of Logopolis, the Doctor is helped toward the TARDIS by Adric, Nyssa and Tegan while being pursued by facility security. The guards catch the group and prepare to arrest them. They also bring up an ambulance for the Doctor. While Adric distracts the guards, Tegan and Nyssa steal the ambulance and get the Doctor back into the TARDIS.

Securing themselves inside, the two girls try to figure how to get Adric when the Master's TARDIS appears. He unleashes an electrical blast which knocks the guards out. It then disappears leaving Adric. The girls grab Adric and pull him inside. Adric goes to the controls and launches the TARDIS.

Nyssa and Tegan stay in the control room trying to figure out how to fly the TARDIS while Adric goes looking for the Doctor. The Doctor has wandered deeper into the TARDIS looking for the Zero Room, a place of neutral energy that will help stabilize his regeneration. Not trusting his judgment, he is leaving a trail of yarn that used to be his scarf. He also begins to channel previous regeneration's personalities, getting weaker as he approaches the zero room.

Tegan and Nyssa find the TARDIS instructional system an it informs them they are heading to Event 1. Not knowing what this is, they follow the yarn trail after the Doctor. They find the Doctor just outside the zero room but no trace of Adric. They help him inside and the Doctor immediately begins to behave normally. He instructs each of them, including Adric. As the Doctor slips deeper into a trance, a vision of Adric appears in a cell. He was captured by the Master and only a project of him entered the TARDIS, setting the route.

Nyssa heads back to the control room, noting the temperature rising. Sensing something wrong, Tegan follows. The Doctor tries to come to but is too weak outside the zero room. Returning to the control room, Nyssa informs Tegan that Event 1 is the explosion that began the universe and they are about to be caught in it.

The turbulence in the TARDIS causes a medical kit to be jarred loose, which also produces a wheelchair for the Doctor. He rolls into the TARDIS control room with the surge of adrenaline from the peril keeping him lucid. He has Nyssa turn the TARDIS to manual override and then instructs Tegan on deleting a quarter of the TARDIS rooms, using the mass shift to propel them out of the event. The plan works, much to the chagrin of the Master, who had been using Adric's mind to observe the TARDIS.

Looking through the computer, Tegan and Nyssa learn that the Doctor might recover in the city of Castrovalva. Tegan uses the computer to fly the TARDIS there while Nyssa tries to get the Doctor back to the zero room, only to learn that it was deleted in the Event 1 escape. The Doctor however instructs Nyssa on how to build a zero cabinet from the leftover doors.

After landing, the girls carry the cabinet with the Doctor in it towards the city, which is set on a rock outcropping. They are followed by two native warriors. Leaving the cabinet briefly, they look for a way up but cannot find one. They return to the cabinet to find it empty and a small patch of blood on the grass. The girls search for the Doctor but run away to avoid being captured by natives. The two spy the Doctor climbing the rocks where he is captured and taken into the city. The girls proceed to climb the wall to get in.

The Doctor is taken into the city and introduced to the natives who are very civil and learned. The healer, Margrave, offers him a drink which allows him to sleep and recover while the rest hold a small feast. He also meets the senior administrator, the Portreeve, who observes the feast from the balcony. As he sleeps, Nyssa and Tegan enter and are captured by guards. They are shown the Doctor resting and then escorted to quarters to rest themselves.

In the morning, Nyssa is confronted by an image of Adric who tells her that the Doctor must not leave Castrovalva until the regeneration is complete. Nyssa and Tegan head to the library to research while the Doctor continues to recover. He cannot recall Adric, although he knows there is a third companion. Talking with a young girl helps him remember and he grabs Tegan and Nyssa and moves to leave Castrovalva to find him. However, as they try to leave, they find themselves repeating the same location. The Doctor also weakens and they realize the city is a space-time trap.

They head back to the Doctor's room to get him back in the zero cabinet but find it gone. The Doctor stays to rest while the girls go looking for the cabinet. They find it being used to sort laundry by a group of women and bring it back. The Doctor, meanwhile has steadied himself and finds a clue to the city being off in a history book, hidden by the librarian Shardovan.

Margrave returns along with the head of security and the Doctor begins to show them the illusion they are under. When Nyssa and Tegan return, they decide to take the Doctor to see the Portreeve in the zero cabinet. However, the Doctor replaces himself with books and finds Shardovan. Shardovan is aware that something is off as the history books appear hundreds of years old but tell the story of Castrovalva to the present. Together they sneak into the Portreeve's house.

Unaware of the ruse, the Portreeve reveals himself to be the Master and breaks into the zero cabinet to find the Doctor missing. The Doctor confronts the Master and finds Adric hidden behind a tapestry. The Master used Adric's mind to create Castrovalva. Shardovan swings on the chandelier, breaking Adric's cell, although dying in the process. The Doctor grabs Adric and they try to leave the city, which is beginning to fold in on itself. The Master also tries to escape but his TARDIS is trapped within the city.

Adric is able to find the way out and the Doctor tries to bring Margrave with him. Margrave and the rest of the people hold back and attack the Master, trapping him within the city as it disappears. Fully recovered, the Doctor and his companions walk back to the TARDIS and prepare to leave.

Analysis

Castrovalva is a frustrating story. The elements of a really interesting story are there but you don't get there until Episode Three. It would have been helped greatly if the crisis began in Episode One was reduced greatly and Episode Two saw the TARDIS crew begin their adventures in Castrovalva. Cutting down the back and forth between Nyssa and Tegan would also have been nice as neither actress does a good job in my opinion. As hammy as he is, the Master is the best part of the first two episodes, although I did enjoy the moments where the Doctor was doing impressions of his first and second incarnations.

Focusing on the later half of the story, both the idea and execution are quite good. A false reality is created as a trap for the Doctor but the reality begins to take on a life of it's own and works to circumvent it's own existence as a trap. That is a genuinely interesting idea and I recall similar ideas of figments acting outside their original programing in Star Trek: TNG and to a lesser degree in Inception. The personalities of the Castrovalvans are also interesting and they help draw in you deeper.

It is rather amusing that through the series in the past, many times Episode Three was the stalling episode and suffered in relation to the others. Here however, Episode Three is the most interesting. Episode Four is decent as well, but the Master goes way over the top and that spoils some of the effect. Hamminess is fine when done in small doses and with a certain level of "mustache twirling." It becomes painful when overdoses and without any humor. It also doesn't help that it feels like the Castrovalvans are doing everything while the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan stand around not doing much. Adric at least has the excuse of being imprisoned for his inaction.

Another thing that is a bit disappointing is that Castrovalva does not appear to be a singular issue. I think the Fifth Doctor is quite good and I enjoy him personally. However, the producers and writers seem to think the asset of him being a younger Doctor is actually a detriment. As such, he is surrounded by young companions to give him the impression of being the older and more responsible one. However, even in the very first story, we see that this dynamic doesn't really work. The companions are whiny, bored and stiff actors.

The Doctor functions best when he is paired with people his own age or older. The scenes of the Doctor with Shardovan and Margrave flow nicely and there is a nice dynamic between them and the Doctor. There is very little flow between the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa. In Episode One when they reach the Zero Room, the Doctor turns into the tolerant schoolmaster who has to instruct the children on how to act. This dynamic is not fun. It has no real flow and takes away from the vitality of the youthful Doctor. It's just another contrast that jumps out at you and doesn't entirely give you the warm fuzzies for the unseen stories of this crew.

I will praise the set design and camera work of this story. The TARDIS is a bit mundane but that's to be expected. But it looked like the TARDIS the whole way through as opposed to something like The Invasion of Time where it was so obviously a location and not the interior of the TARDIS. Castrovalva on the other hand looked very nice. The exterior location was quite pretty and the sets of the city were well done. The story complimented the overuse of the same sets which saved them money but even then, different angles were used which added a measure of variety that was much appreciated. The effect of the city bending in on itself through the Doctor's window at the end of Episode Three was limited by 1980's technology but it probably looked pretty good at the time and it gets the message across even if it is dated by today's standards.

So the recommendation and rating. It's a tale of two halves for me. The first two episodes are not good but the latter two are. If you could get a five minute brief on the first two episodes and then just watch the latter two, I think that would be best. But you do have to sit through the whole thing to get the full measure of what is happening. In the grand scheme of things, I think my enjoyment of Episode Three outweighs my boredom with Episode One. Episodes Two and Four are more balanced with bits of good and bad on both sides. It's not something I would pick for myself, but if someone new wanted to watch, I'd power through Episode One and then enjoy the rest without much comment. Better than The Visitation, not as good as Mawdryn Undead would be a fair summation I think.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5