Fifth Doctor Summary

For a lot of the podcasts and other fan interactive media that I partake in, the Fifth Doctor has a very nostalgic following. As someone who does not have that nostalgia bent, I think I have to take the unpopular opinion that the Fifth Doctor era is near the bottom of my list. There are some good stories and good performances, but the era overall suffers from a myriad of problems and a number are just the type that you can't hand wave away.

Peter Davidson himself has a very interesting take on the Doctor. He is the least confident and least in control Doctor of all of them. He also seems to be the one that makes a wrong guess or make the situation worse in the short term most often. That is not a unique trait (after all, how many times did the Third Doctor muck things up due to his arrogance) but it did seem to happen more often than not to the Fifth Doctor where he spends so much time dealing with a situation that could have been nipped in the bud at the beginning of the story.

He also seems to be the most empathetic of the Doctors. The Second Doctor was also caring but in that kindly uncle way. The Fifth Doctor seemed more like someone you could sit down and just be consoled with. He was kind and always looking for a way to solve a conflict without resorting to violence. It is rather ironic that his era became one of the bloodiest and bleakest eras.

One of the most telling things about the Fifth Doctor era is how the producers of the show were aware of one its worst flaws, but took no steps to address it. That is the companions. The Fifth Doctor was shown over and over again to be at his best when paired with an older person. Either sex did fine but being paired with older women seemed like the normal solution. But until Peter Davidson was cast, the Doctor had always been an older man and there was this idea that he should be a mentor figure to younger people. Even Romana, who carried herself as older, was played by actresses who were nearly 15 years younger than Tom Baker.

As such, there seemed to be this idea that the Doctor always had to be older than his companions. For the thirty year old Davidson, this idea meant traveling around with a bunch of teenagers and early 20-somethings. They also had the maturity of that age (and younger) which gave the show the feeling that the Doctor was babysitting rather than going out to explore and have adventures. Any story where the companions were split off and the Doctor was paired with a more mature companion to whom he could talk normally instantly became that much better.

Another problem with the Fifth Doctor era was that camera technology was going through some very significant improvements but the understanding of this technology (along with the overall budget of the show) was not keeping up. As such, you have scenes where sets, costumes and monsters are used that would have been fine in earlier eras but have their flaws exposed in the current era. You also get studios that are over-lit, exposing even more rather than in the dark and gloomy settings that would have covered some of these flaws. Many of the stories that are celebrated in the Fifth Doctor era (Earthshock, The Caves of Androzani, etc.) do simple things such as this and it pays off significant dividends.

Probably the biggest problem of the Fifth Doctor era was that it was a period of significant change and the show had some major growing pains during this era. The later half of the Fourth Doctor era oscillated wildly in its effort to get away from the Philip Hinchcliff era. John Nathan-Turner tried very hard to pull the show into a more dynamic style that fit the 80's, often while getting heavy friction from the BBC brass who were starting to actively work to kill the show. In many ways, the show didn't really start to find it's feet again until around Season 25 and the second year of the Seventh Doctor era.

Though we might want to cut the show some slack, you still have to watch what is given. There are some really good stories in the Fifth Doctor era but from an overall standpoint, without the pull of nostalgia, this era just doesn't do much for me and I would have to put it near the bottom of my list for re-watch.

Highest Rated Story: Earthshock - 4.5

Lowest Rated Story: Time-Flight - 1.0

Average overall rating: 2.85

Castrovalva
Four to Doomsday
Kinda
The Visitation
Black Orchid
Earthshock
Time-Flight
Arc of Infinity
Snakedance
Mawdryn Undead
Terminus
Enlightenment
The King's Demons
The Five Doctors
Warriors of the Deep
The Awakening
Frontios
Resurrection of the Daleks
Planet of Fire
The Caves of Androzani

The Caves of Androzani

You have the mouth of an itinerant jackanapes, but your eyes...

The Caves of Androzani won the #1 spot in the 2009 Doctor Who Magazine poll and finished #2 to The Day of the Doctor in the 2014 poll. By many it is easily considered to be the best story of the classic era. That's a rather high bar to clear and it does set expectations rather high. That it also has Peri, who is my least favorite companion, also gives me that feeling of a story's expectations being set too high. I have seen this once before but I was very distracted while watching it and didn't give it my full attention. We'll see if it holds me better a second time around.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Peri land on the planet of Androzani Minor where the Doctor is surprised to find evidence of mechanical activity given that the planet is supposed to be uninhabited. He and Peri venture into a cave system where Peri stumbles into a nest of fungus. The Doctor helps her out, getting some of the fungus on him as well. They continue down the caves where they find a stash of weapons and are immediately arrested by soldiers believing them to be arms smugglers.

Taken to General Chellak, the Doctor learns that they are mining a substance called Spectrox which extends human life, but are fighting a guerrilla war against Sharaz Jek, a rebel with a talent for building androids. Summarily convicted by Chellak, he puts them in a holding cell while calling back to Androzani Major to report in.

Chellak contacts Morgus, the head of the company that owns the Spetrox mines and is a close confidant of the President. Morgus congratulates Chellak on his capture and orders the summary execution of Peri and the Doctor. Shortly after the call, the President informs Morgus that the government is considering parleying with Sharaz Jek as the price of Spectrox has gone up so much that the people are revolting.

At the same time, the real arms smugglers, led by a man named Stotz, lead a raid and kill one of Chellak's patrols. The patrols are working extra as several miners have been killed due to an attack by a creature living in the caves known as the Magma Beast. All of these instances are monitored by Sharaz Jek who uses them to create further destabilization in the mines.

The Doctor and Peri are brought out for execution by firing squad, although Chellak is starting to doubt that they are gun runners. They are draped in red cloaks, lined up and shot. After the soldiers are dismissed, Chellak looks at them and realizes they are actually android duplicates. The real Doctor and Peri were spirited away by Sharaz Jek.

In his lair, Jek informs them that he intends to keep them as company, Peri for her physical beauty and the Doctor for his stimulating mind. He also reveals that he has captured Chellak's aide Salateen and replaced him with an android as well as his plan to restrict the supply of Spectrox until Androzani Major agrees to give him Morgus, whom he blames for his mutilated state.

While imprisoned with Salateen, Salateen recognizes their symptoms and informs them that they will die of Spectrox Toxemia in a couple of days. The only antidote is the milk of a queen bat that lives deep in the minds where there is no oxygen. Motivated by the deadline, the Doctor elects to escape quickly.

Stotz, determined to get paid even though he lost the arms to Chellak's men, signals Sharaz Jek and Jek agrees to meet with him in person in the caves. Knowing that the androids are programed to kill any human without a special modulator on their body, the Doctor exits the cell, hoping his non-human physiology will allow him to pass. He gets past the android guard and deactivates it, beckoning Peri and Salateen to follow. They are spotted by another guard who attacks them. Salateen destroys it with the gun taken from the deactivated android but the Doctor is knocked out by a stray bullet glancing off his head. Salateen pulls Peri along the passage, leaving the Doctor behind.

Jek meets with Stotz and his men and negotiates to pay them just under half of the original agreement. Jek leaves to get it but Stotz orders his men to follow Jek and steal the whole supply of Spectrox. As they enter, they are attacked by the Magma Beast who seems to be immune to their bullets. The Doctor wakes just as this beast attacks and takes cover behind a rock. The beast is driven off and the Doctor is captured by Stotz who takes him back to their ship on the surface after getting the Spectrox as negotiated.

Salateen brings Peri back to Chellak and fills him in on everything. Chellak decides to use the android Salateen to try and trick Jek into a trap. However, when briefing the android Salateen, it picks up the real Salateen and Peri's heat signatures and then reports this back to Jek. Jek orders Salateen to lead Chellak's men into a counter trap while he breaks into Chellak's base and re-kidnaps Peri.

Stotz flies the Doctor back to Androzani Major and communicates with Morgus on their next move. Morgus orders them to stay in orbit while he decides their next move. Morgus becomes convinced that the Doctor is a government plant and that the President is on to him. He kills the President, making it seems as though it was an accident and then flies in his own shuttle to Androzani Minor to take Jek's supplies of Spectrox.

While in holding orbit, the Doctor manages to take control of the ship and reroutes it to Androzani Minor. He crashes the ship and runs to the caves to try and rescue Peri. Stotz and his men give chase but they are forced off when a superheated mud burst occurs, forcing them to take shelter. The Doctor continues in to the caves.

Jek's androids, reprogrammed with information from Peri, attack Chellak's men, killing a number of them but they are overrun by sheer numbers. Chellak himself fights his way into Jek's hideout where he engages Jek. Jek fights him off but he loses his mask in the process. Chellak is thrown out of the bunker just as a mud burst occurs in the passage, killing Chellak. Peri herself sees Jek without his mask and her horrified reaction breaks him.

With the rest of Chellak's men dead or running to escape the mud bursts, the Doctor enters Jek's bunker unimpeded. He finds Jek with his mask back on but fretting about the dying Peri. He gives the Doctor an oxygen cylinder to help him as the Doctor heads deeper into the caves to get the milk of a queen bat. On the way he finds the Magma Beast which was also caught in the mud burst.

Morgus lands on Androzani Minor but upon contacting Major, he finds that his secretary, Timmin, has turned over evidence against him, getting him charged with treason and taking over as head of the corporation. With his assets seized, Morgus agrees to work with Stotz and split the Spectrox 50-50. Stotz's men refuse to help and Stotz kills them, leaving him and Morgus.

The two of them make their way into the caves and follow the trail of bodies to Jek's bunker. Seeing Morgus, Jek rips his mask off and attacks Morgus. Stotz, briefly thrown aside, shoots Jek but is in turn shot by the Salateen android. Jek kills Morgus by shoving him into an engine and then dies in Salateen's arms, who goes inactive with Jek's death.

The Doctor manages to make his way to a queen bat and gets two vials of milk from her. He makes his way back to Jek's base and grabs Peri. He carries her back to the TARDIS but as he reaches for the TARDIS key he drops one of the vials. He pulls Peri into the TARDIS and gives her the remaining vial. Peri recovers but with no cure, the Doctor feels the poison take effect. He sees a vision of his five previous companions as well as the Master who urges him to die. With that, he regenerates into the Sixth Doctor, shocking Peri.

Analysis

I will certainly not quibble with any fan who says that The Caves of Androzani is the best Fifth Doctor story. I think and argument could be made regarding Kinda or Earthshock, but The Caves of Androzani is unquestionably a top notch story. However, is it worthy of the #1 ranking in all the classic era? I would say no. I liked it a great deal, but the answer is still no.

As good as the writing and most of the acting is, the thing that truly sells this story is the direction. Graeme Harper went full stop and gave some wonderful scenes using unique angles, proper lighting and strong, intense performances from the actors. In lesser hands this story could easily have been middle of the road as it does not tread any new ground for Robert Holmes, but Harper is able to infuse it with a pathos that is lacking in many other stories.

Now, I must detract Harper as well because one of the few quibbles I had with this story is also due to Harper's direction. I hate it when the actors stare down camera and it happens multiple times. There's the big obvious one with the Sixth Doctor directly addressing the audience at the end and that was not good but I could have gotten past it. What I really didn't like was how it was used by Morgus. He looks directly down shortly after being introduced in Episode One but in Episode Three, he constantly looks away and down the camera while talking with Stotz. This is the sort of thing that I would expect in a Moliere play which is always tongue-in-cheek about it's own existence. This is trying to be serious and the constant asides to the audience, with a character offering commentary, takes you right out of the experience.

But since we're here, let's talk about Morgus. Morgus is probably the weakest performance of any of the main cast but it's still not bad. I mentioned before his asides and how off-putting they were, but he also had a rather flat delivery. I believe the intent was to make him colder, very much in the mold of an 80's industrialist but by sapping all his emotion, he became boring. He needed a bit more color, not enough to make him mustache twirl-y, but enough to show that he had depth. Smugness during his conversations with the President, anger at Stotz or a bit more open fear when he thinks the Doctor is a government agent would have fleshed him out and made Jek's revenge feel that much more satisfying. I still liked him but more would have been better.

Keeping with the villains, I liked Stotz a lot more. He was emotional but not stupid. He was a thug but one who could think and plan on his own and that made him so much more enjoyable than Morgus. When he's cutting through the bridge door and threatening to murder the Doctor at the end of Episode Three, you really believe him and it ups the peril you feel for the Doctor in the cliffhanger. It also feels that much more satisfying when the android Salateen shoots Stotz in the back. My only quibble with Stotz is that they gave him and his fellow gun runners Stormtrooper aim when the Doctor is running away. It makes the villain seem less potent when they have ample opportunity to kill the hero but don't because they can't shoot straight.

Going to the Doctor, this is an interesting performance because he is such a secondary character in the story. Had the Doctor not intervened, things would have remained in the status quo with Jek slowly infiltrating Chellak's men and eventually driving him to the point of parley. Instead, the Doctor galvanizes things by exposing Jek's mole and forcing a full confrontation between Chellak's and Jek's forces. He also draws in Morgus which brings everything to a head there. In it all, the Doctor mostly just stands by, offering a snappy comeback here and there. His only moments of actual action are in the escape attempt with Peri and Salateen and his rush back to rescue Peri. Everything else just swirls around him.

In a way, that seems rather fitting for the Fifth Doctor. More than any other iteration, he seemed to be always on his back foot and reacting as things unfolded around him. He tries to help but either comes up short or drives things to a conclusion that was probably going to happen anyway. The situation around him is interesting and I like the Doctor's wit in both dealing with what he can and also in still maintaining some level of humor about things. But he is truly not the central focus of this story, despite his name in the title.

If the Doctor didn't have much to do, Peri had even less. She does have a nice interchange with the Doctor before everything goes to pot and she seems to pair well with the Fifth Doctor. I also like how stoic she was in this story. In later stories with the Sixth Doctor, Peri would get snippy and rude in as much as the Doctor would. Here she just gives it the full "stiff upper lip" and accepts what she can. My personal favorite moment is at the end of Episode One when facing the firing squad. Even though she's an android double at that point, you believe it's Peri when she tells Chellak to just get on with it. That's the reaction and attitude that I enjoyed her having and she would have been a much better companion if that attitude had stayed a permanent part of her character. Some of her whininess does come through but you feel she has earned it a bit more given that she is dying and feels she has been abandoned by the Doctor at one point. So Peri works much better here than in other stories.

The unquestioned star of this story is Sharaz Jek. In many ways, he is nothing new. The maimed figure seeking revenge is very common (see most pre-Weber Phantom of the Opera adaptations for example) and Robert Holmes has even used this type of figure before in the full villain Magnus Greel. But, Sharaz Jek is given a number of pretentious and artistic lines that give him a veneer of being a more cultured monster than the rest of them. He is also so expertly performed by Christopher Gable, especially given that only his lips and one eye are available to him. It's almost all done with his voice and body language. Gable also makes sure to express that Jek, while a somewhat sympathetic figure, is still just as dark and malicious a character as Morgus or Stotz. He kills others without thought and shows no mercy or pity when it does not suit him. His ego, even after disfigurement, is almost as large as the Doctor's so he still is a very unpleasant individual.

In fact, it is this devotion to Jek's unpleasantness that exposes another small flaw in Episode Four. Jek is not stupid and you would think that he has seen the effects of Spectrox toxemia before. So why is he so broken up about Peri's impending death when the Doctor arrives? He should have been aware that Peri was dying the moment he recaptured her in Episode Three. I can only think that his exposure by Chellak and Peri's reaction to him broke something in his mind. He could not even delude himself at that point that she would learn to love the façade he presented, much less the real him. With this realization, the only hope he had for beauty was to keep her alive, even if it would be lost to him once again. But that does take a bit of intuition and head cannon. If not paying full attention, you might be lost at Jek's rather sudden tolerance for the Doctor, his desire to preserve Peri and his loss of focus on his revenge.

I enjoyed the writing of this one as I usually do for Robert Holmes. Of course, there is nothing new here. Nearly every aspect of the story has been used by Robert Holmes in a different story. But it doesn't feel recycled and that is the important thing. How much of that is due to Holmes and how much of that is due to the actors or the directing is up for debate, but ultimately the story does feel at least mostly new. Even if it does feel a bit familiar at points, you get peppered with proper Robert Holmes witticisms which are so enjoyable that you stop caring if the characters seem familiar or not.

There is one point of weakness in the writing of the story and I think that is how it was adapted to be the Fifth Doctor's final story. The Doctor retrieves the bat's milk near the end. I assume he cannot drink it himself immediately because he is holding his breath but once he makes it out of that portion of the cave, there is no reason he couldn't. He certainly could have drunk his and even forced Peri to drink hers before running out of Jek's lair. If he was concerned about speed, he still could have carried her while the milk took effect. The waiting and dropping of one vial just seems like a bit of idle chance that was thrown in because it was time for the Fifth Doctor to die. In the non-regeneration version, I'm betting they would have drunk the milk sooner or the Doctor would not have dropped it getting back in the TARDIS. A simple difference between regenerating and not regenerating.

I am relieved to say that I did enjoy this one greatly. Perhaps not quite as much as others but I would still consider it either the #1 or #2 story of the Fifth Doctor era (can't quite decide between this and Earthshock). Even with my concerns and the quibbles I found in it, it is still an excellent story and I'd happily recommend it to anyone curious about it. I will throw in the caveat that I would not place it as the #1 overall classic story. In fact, I doubt I'd even place it in the top 10, but with 159 stories to choose from, that's rather understandable I think.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5

Resurrection of the Daleks

I am very difficult to kill. You should already know that.

Resurrection of the Daleks is a fairly well known story both for it being Tegan's final story and for also being the most death soaked story in Doctor Who history. You could argue that other stories (such as Logopolis) had greater death tolls with the destruction of planets, but this story gets up close and personal with all the deaths. From what I've been able to tell, it seems to have a fairly good reputation although some fans find it a bit too grim to full enjoy.

Plot Summary

A group of soldiers and scientists attempt to escape from an abandoned warehouse in London in 1984. Almost all of them are gunned down by guards dressed as police men who then vaporize the bodies. Two men escape but one is later found by a patrol and also killed, leaving Stein as the sole survivor.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough try to fight their way out of the time corridor that sucked the TARDIS in at the end of Frontios. The Doctor is able to perform an emergency maneuver that gets them out and they materialize outside the warehouse where Stein has collapsed. They tend to him and he takes them inside when the Doctor asks about the time corridor.

Elsewhere, a dilapidated prison ship is holding location in space as a new junior officer, Lt. Mercer, rotates on. While he is on duty, the ship is attacked by a Dalek battle cruiser. The Dalek ship overwhelms the defenses but the initial boarding wave is repulsed. A second wave, led by a mercenary named Lytton, overwhelms the defenses and they secure the primary prisoner, Davros, who has been held in suspended animation.

While exploring the warehouse, Turlough is accidentally sucked into the time corridor and finds himself on the Dalek ship. He hides as a Dalek is dispatched from the ship down the corridor to recover the Doctor, whom they have detected at the other end. The Dalek materializes just as the Doctor, Tegan and Stein are confronted by a small group of army personnel who had heard the Doctor shouting for Turlough. The Doctor directs the soldiers to shoot the eyestalk of the Dalek. Blinded, the Dalek is unable to defend itself as the soldiers push it out the window where it explodes upon crashing to the ground.

Tegan is injured in the fighting and is taken to a makeshift hospital area. The man in charge, Colonel Archer, leaves the warehouse to call in for reinforcements as well as medical supplies to assist the wounded. The outside phone has been disabled but he finds two police officers and asks to use their radio. They however, are the same policemen who killed the escapees and attack Archer.

On the ship, the Daleks are aware of Turlough but leave him alone, hoping to use him as bait to lure the Doctor. Turlough instead runs into the last of the crew who killed a group of Dalek-allied humans and stole their uniforms. They interrogate him but finding he knows nearly nothing about what is going on, take him with them in their plan to destroy the ship.

Davros is brought out of suspended animation and informed that the Daleks lost their war with the Movellans due to the implementation of a virus. Davros is being brought back to concoct a cure, although neither Davros nor the Daleks trust the other. Davros agrees but only if he can set up a lab on the prison ship. He manages to inject the engineer who had been repairing his chair with a serum that brings him under his control and then takes him with to the lab.

The Dalek mutant survived the explosion and crawls out of the wreckage. It attacks a soldier, injecting him with an agent. The Doctor and soldiers find the creature and kill it. The Doctor and Stein then head to the TARDIS to trace the time corridor to find Turlough. The Doctor locates the source when a group of Daleks travel down the corridor and invade the warehouse. The Doctor materializes the TARDIS on the Dalek ship but once on board, Stein turns his gun on the Doctor as he is a Dalek agent.

Stein and the Daleks take the Doctor into a lab where the Daleks have made duplicate versions of the soldiers on Earth and of the Doctor's companions. They intend to make a controlled copy of the Doctor to infiltrate Gallifrey and murder the High Council. The machines are activated and they begin to copy the Doctor's thought patterns. The Doctor appeals to Stein, who's copy is beginning to fight the control and reintroduce his original thought patterns.

The team with Turlough make their way to the self destruct mechanism. The Daleks become alerted to this development and dispatch Lytton and his team to deal with them. Before they arrive, Turlough and Lt. Mercer leave to see if they can access the time corridor and escape before the prison ship blows up. They map the access but upon returning, find Lytton's men have overrun the position and killed the rest of the team.

On Earth, Tegan and her nurse, Professor Laird, come to the conclusion that Col. Archer and his men have been taken over by the Daleks. Laird sets up a covering that makes it look like Tegan's asleep and then has her run out. Archer discovers the ruse quickly and orders a search. Tegan is apprehended by the two Dalek allied policemen outside, killing a local fisherman whom Tegan tried to flag down for help. She is taken back inside to be transported through the time corridor to the Dalek ship with Laird. Laird tries to fight and is shot by Archer.

Davros works quietly in his lab requesting samples of Dalek tissue and a sample of the Movellan virus. However, as new people come in, they are injected with the same serum and brought under his control. He takes control of a technician, one of Lytton's men and two Daleks, with whom he plans to reform the Dalek race in an image loyal only to him.

Tegan is sent to the Dalek ship on her own where she is nabbed by Turlough and Mercer. They enter the room where the Doctor had been held to find he has been set free after Stein fought off the Dalek's programing of him. The Doctor destroys the information recorded and the whole group heads to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor orders Tegan and Turlough to stay while he goes to kill Davros. Mercer and Stein come with him.

Davros, unaware that the Doctor was captured on the Dalek ship, sends his Daleks and converted soldiers down through the time corridor to capture the TARDIS. He also sends out his technician with a sample of the Movellan virus to kill the original Daleks. The Supreme Dalek becomes aware of the Doctor's escape as well as Davros' plans. He dispatches Lytton and his men to kill Davros and his converts.

The Doctor arrives to kill Davros but hesitates as Davros explains his plan to change the Daleks. However, even after learning that they will still be killing machines he still hesitates in pulling the trigger. He is distracted by the sounds of gunfire in the hall. Stein and Mercer have killed four of Lytton's men but Mercer was also killed and Stein is finding the Dalek control reasserting itself. Davros locks the Doctor out and the Doctor is forced to flee for the time corridor.

With Davros barricaded in, Lytton and his men are sent down the time corridor to deal with the renegade Daleks instead. These have already destroyed Colonel Archer and his men. Lytton and his men manage to kill the humans with them but are massacred by the actual Daleks, though Lytton only feigns death.

While all this is going on, the TARDIS is transported back through the time corridor to the warehouse based on a preset timer. Deciding to help as best they can, Tegan and Turlough sneak through and steal a canister of the Movellan virus that had been placed in the warehouse for safekeeping. They carry it back to the TARDIS and wait for the Doctor.

With the failure of Lytton's men, the Supreme Dalek sends Daleks to deal with Davros. They break through the doors but Davros smashes a vial of the virus, infecting and killing them. He begins to make his way to an escape pod but shows signs of the virus infecting him as well. Another group of Daleks kill the technicians who had been carrying the other sample of the virus.

The second group of Daleks is sent to the warehouse to destroy the renegade Daleks and they begin to fight. The Doctor follows them down the time corridor and destroys one with a makeshift bomb. He then takes the virus canister and sprays the virus into the air. Those Daleks that survived the initial battle are killed by the virus. In the carnage, Lytton kills one of his own men and sneaks out. He disguises himself as a police commander and then meets up with his two remaining men, the police officers from earlier, and slips away.

On the Dalek ship, Stein, still fighting with the Dalek control, finishes priming the self destruct mechanism begun by Mercer's group originally. The Supreme Dalek becomes aware of this and sends a third team of Daleks to deal with Stein. They kill Stein but he falls on the control panel, activating the mechanism. The explosion destroys the prison ship and the Dalek ship still docked with it.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough exit the TARDIS to survey the damage and Tegan breaks emotionally. Unable to enjoy the experience and surrounded by death, she informs the Doctor that she is staying behind. She shakes their hands and then runs off. She comes back for a brief glance as the Doctor and Turlough depart in the TARDIS.

Analysis

This is the first story that Eric Saward wrote on his own since Earthshock and it is rather obvious that he is trying to recapture what he had there in this story. This time however, it is with the Daleks and he increases the body count dramatically. He doesn't get the splash this time of killing a companion, but he does send one off (I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't have at least one draft where Tegan did get killed) and it's almost as despairing as if she were killed given the tone of the goodbye. I'm of a rather mixed mind on this one as it moves along nicely, there's a lot of action and a dark tone. But at the same time, it doesn't feel like there is much depth to the story and it is nothing more than a slog to see when each person is going to die.

If I had to peg a single problem with the development of this story it is that there is very little time for explanation. Earthshock waited until the end of Episode One to reveal the Cybermen and in that time there was development of the other characters. What's more, the teams were relatively small with just the one military team and then a small freighter crew. Here you have the space prison ship crew and a rather sizable crew on the ground. None of them are given much time to develop except for Stein. Styles and Mercer are given a bit of development but it doesn't stick that well. I didn't even remember Styles' character's name and know her only as Rula Lenska due to the number of references made to her by the fans.

Another problem of this story compared to Earthshock is that some of the guest cast survived there. Even with Adric's death, there was the redemption that took place through the survival of the crew. After all, it was Adric's own stupidity that got him killed rather than any direct actions of the Cybermen (despite one blowing up the control panel). Here, there are no survivors except Lytton and two of his men. If any one other person of the forces allied with the Doctor had survived, whether on the ground or the prison ship, it would have felt like there was something else that was gained, but instead we get only the Doctor and his companions surrounded by the dead. That's a bit too much hopelessness for me.

The performances were good. I enjoyed the Doctor for the most part and even liked that he got his hands dirty with the killing of a Dalek. However, he was the wrong choice for trying to kill Davros. Nearly every other Doctor you could believe in taking that step, but the steps the Fifth Doctor takes to avoid killing, despite the exceptionally high body count that surrounds him, just makes his threat to kill Davros feel false. Davros was quite correct when he pointed out that the Doctor's failure to pull the trigger did represent a level of weakness. Because it didn't suit the Fifth Doctor, it just felt like something that had been tacked on for drama rather than a genuine outgrowth of no other choice.

In the same vein, I do wish the Fifth Doctor didn't have such an inept feel about him in this story. The Doctor has been trapped and needed to be rescued by his companions or others before. But I don't recall specific instances where it felt like the Doctor was in such a weak position. If he was in some sort of death trap or it might be a form of noble sacrifice, that's one thing. But here, he is going to be stripped of his mind to create a weapon to be used against his own people. That seems like something he should be fighting harder against. I realize he was working on Stein's mental conditioning the whole time, but it still felt like the Doctor was completely helpless and I would have liked a stronger vein of resistance from him.

Tegan and Turlough were pretty good. Turlough actually seemed braver here than in other stories and I can't fault him for always looking out to save his neck. I would have appreciated a scene showing him transported to the Dalek ship as that was a little confusing but otherwise he worked fairly well. Tegan was also alright although she was rather whimper-y in this story. There had been stories in the past where she felt stronger but this was more of a fearful and off-put Tegan. Some of that was probably part of the performance given that she was supposed to be recovering from a concussion, but having had good performances from her, I would have liked something a little stronger: a grim determination that breaks at the end perhaps.

I think I also would have liked a stronger breakdown at the end. In the end, you had Tegan trying to hold it together but it seemed a bit stilted. I think I would have liked a bit more raw emotion and even more crying breakdown by her. She is crying as she runs off but could you imagine her beating her fists on the Doctor's chest and screaming about how their all dead and that she can't do this anymore? He tries to comfort her but she shoves him away and runs off. I think I would have cut the "Brave heart, Tegan" line as well. That cuts away at the emotional rawness of the running off scene, like she had a change of heart or wistfulness rather than the emotional trauma that she is supposed to be dealing with. It's a good leaving scene, but not as good as it had the potential of being.

The Daleks worked pretty well and I thought they worked well as villains. I think my biggest appreciation was that they were well aware of most of the goings on and either dismissed them or tried to turn it into a trap. Granted, they should have been a bit more aware of Davros' schemes but that's a small niggle. What makes less sense though is why the Daleks were so bent on staying on the prison ship. Lytton continuously pointed out that he had planned for a get in/get out operation. But the Supreme Dalek seemed all too eager to go along with Davros' plan to stay. It's a small flaw, but one that you can't help but feel is a little too convenient for the plot.

This was a very good Davros in my opinion. Still not up to Michael Wisher in Genesis of the Daleks but a close number two. He appears a bit more thoughtful and resourceful. He does go on a rant at one point and near another when talking about remaking the Daleks, but those more underlie his madness. He has a number of quiet moments and it is in those moments that he has that strong level of menace and where he is so threatening. The only real undercut to him is that he was so short-sighted as to not foresee that his Kaled DNA would make him susceptible to the Movellan virus designed to kill Daleks. Davros should be smarter than that and that was just a bit of lazy writing to offer the possibility that Davros was killed in the event that the character was to be retired.

Under normal circumstances, Lytton would be ignored or just lumped in with the generic bad guys evaluation but given that he returns in Attack of the Cybermen, he needs to be looked at a bit. I was rather surprised because many fans seem to think of Lytton undergoing a vast character change in the two stories, aided by the Sixth Doctor's harsh reaction to him. But the Doctor never actually meets Lytton so that's a bit odd to start with. Second, I saw almost no difference in Lytton's characterization between the two stories. Lytton is a mercenary who has been hired by the Daleks and who has a strong inclination towards self-preservation. He was cold toward the crew of the prison ship but that was his job. His hire job in Attack of the Cybermen allows him to show a bit more compassion and selflessness, but it's not different when you get down to brass tacks. I liked Lytton both in Attack of the Cybermen and here. He was the person who had the brain to think in the long term and about how to outwit the enemy rather than just try to overpower. It's rather a shame that he was killed off in his second story as he would have been an interesting character to bring back on occasion. Sort of a darker Captain Jack if you were.

Speaking of darker, it should be pointed out that not only did this have a darker tone in the volume of bodies stacked around but the manner of those deaths was pretty gruesome in some cases, especially with the gas attack. As I recall, both the nature of the violence and the fact that two police officers are shown murdering people (including an unsuspecting fisherman) caused quite a stir in Parliament, which actually fed the idea of going more violent in Season 22 to garner the shock watcher. I for one didn't mind the violence and I'd rather see violence in war portrayed more brutally since it takes the romantic veneer off this type of violence. It was more the overall feeling of hopelessness and death of all involved that bothered me. It gave it a "what was this all for" feel and that was where I had a problem rather than the grim nature of it.

Of the three R. Dalek stories that make up the 80's, I would rank this as #2, behind Remembrance of the Daleks. All three are pretty good but that one had a depth that I enjoyed. This one worked fairly well although it was not without it's faults. It's entertaining but not a lot of fun which is something that Earthshock did manage to capture, despite it's grim nature. A little levity, a survivor on the good guy side and an even more emotional Tegan leaving and I think this would have been one of the best of the Fifth Doctor stories. But I do have to downgrade it as such.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Warriors of the Deep

There should have been another way.

Warriors of the Deep is one of the stories that actually does create something of a deep divide in fandom. The majority of fandom derides it for shoddy special effects and bad lighting. In fact, the flood lighting in this story is supposedly one of the worst in all of the classic series and there were a number of stories, especially in the Fifth Doctor era, that were overlit. However, defenders of the story will cite good writing and performances which should override the effects. I expect to come down somewhere in the middle as I generally favor good writing and acting but when looking at a story as a whole, you can't just ignore the effects of what is put on the screen. We'll see if it's as bad as it's reputation would imply.

Plot Summary

In the year 2084, a cold war has developed between two major powers. One power has manned an underwater sea base and is in the process of going through a series of drills for combat readiness. They are unaware that at the same time a group of Silurians has woken up and is in the process of reviving a hive of Sea Devils in preparation to attack the base. They deploy their own defense in the form of an underwater creature called a Myrka, which destroys one of the sea base's probes.

On the sea base, the base communications officer, Maddox, is having trouble as he is only a student trainee who was forced to take over when his mentor was killed in an electrical accident. The base goes through a missile drill where Maddox is forced to sync with the computer and would be responsible for launching nuclear missiles. After it's revealed to be a drill, Maddox collapses and is taken to sick bay. In sick bay, Maddox is programmed using a data disk with subliminal suggestions by the base doctor, Solow, and the base second-in-command, Nilson, who are actually agents for the opposing side.

At the request of Tegan, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to Earth in her future. They materialize in orbit around Earth where a fault develops. They are spotted by a defense satellite and shot down. The Doctor is able to dematerialize the TARDIS before they crash and rematerializes within the sea base. They wander around to investigate where Turlough accidentally sets off the security alarms. They try to get back to the TARDIS but find their path blocked by patrols. The Doctor cuts into the nuclear reactor room and creates a fault in the system, hoping that it will drive the technicians towards it. However, they are interrupted by a patrol.

Tegan and Turlough run while the Doctor fights with the guards to give them time. He disarms one but the second knocks him over the side and into the water. Turlough and Tegan run into the corridor where Turlough booby traps the door to by them time. They run into another group of guards and get separated when Turlough is captured. The Doctor meanwhile swims out an access hatch and slips on the uniform of a guard who was knocked out by Turlough's trap.

The Doctor locates Tegan and they head to the bridge to find Turlough, who is being interrogated by Commander Vorshak. The Doctor turns over his weapon to demonstrate trust and shortly after, Security Chief Preston reports on finding the TARDIS and verifying Turlough's story. Preston finds Tegan hiding outside the bridge and brings her in as well.

While they debate on what to do with the Doctor, the base receives a warning signal. The Silurian leader, Icthar, and the Sea Devil captain, Sauvix, have launched their cruiser and are approaching the base. Vorshak orders an attack on the ship against the Doctor's orders but the Silurians use the energy of the weapon to destroy the base's outer defenses. They then send the Myrka to attack one entrance while Sauvix leads his soldiers through another entrance.

Vorshak, most of the guards and the Doctor's team head down to try and stop the Myrka's entrance. Upon learning of the Sea Devil's attack, Vorshak takes a group of guards to oppose them, leaving Lt. Bulic in charge. The Myrka breaks through, electrocuting several guards and resistant to the human weapons. Bulic retreats but Tegan is trapped under a part of the metal door. The Doctor manages to free her when the Myrka steps on another part of the debris but Bulic has already locked the door, trapping them in.

While the battle rages, Nilson and Dr. Solow take advantage of the chaos by activating Maddox's programing and having him start to sabotage both the missile launch system and the communications system. They also have him kill operator Karina when she tries to stop them. Into this comes Turlough who, having learned of the Doctor being trapped, ran to the bridge with a gun. He forces Nilson to open the door allowing the Doctor to escape. This also allows the Myrka to enter the base and Turlough runs off to help the Doctor, but he apprehended by Vorshak and sent back to fight off the Sea Devils.

The Doctor and Tegan reconnect with Vorshak and he sends them off with Preston as the Doctor has a plan to stop the Myrka. She gives them a large light projector which the Doctor reconfigures into the UV range. Knowing the Myrka is to head this way to attack the bridge, he sets in wait.

Dr. Solow, learning that Maddox has nearly finished the sabotage, takes the code disk and promises to meet Nilson in the escape pod, which she will get ready for them. She passes Preston, the Doctor and Tegan but runs into a group of guards retreating from the Myrka. She tries to fight the Myrka as it attacks her but is killed, dropping the disk. It is found by the soldiers who check her body after the Myrka passes.

Entering the same corridor as the Doctor, the Doctor fires the UV weapon, killing the Myrka. Icthar is alerted to the Myrka's death and tells Sauvix to divide his forces with one group continuing on their current attack and the other to circle around and take the bridge. He does so with most of his troops overrunning the station guards. Turlough and Bulic are forced to surrender and are locked in the crew quarters.

The guards take the code disk to Vorshak who is on his way to the bridge to signal the mainland for help. He confronts Nilson about it but though Nilson denies it, his control of Maddox and the sabotage are soon exposed. Maddox breaks his conditioning enough to try and attack Nilson, but Nilson kills him. Nilson takes Tegan hostage and retreats towards the escape pod. The Doctor follows him and activates the UV gun as Nilson passes it.

Nilson is blinded by the gun and stumbles down the corridor where he is killed by an advancing squad of Sea Devils. The same squad corners the Doctor and Tegan and take them to the bridge. The Doctor identifies himself to Icthar and Icthar permits him to stay, acknowledging his attempts at peace the last time. Tegan and Preston however are taken to be kept prisoner with Turlough and Bulic.

Icthar intends to launch the missiles of the sea base into the atmosphere where both sides will think the other has initiated a war and destroy each other, allowing the Silurians to take the planet back. They set about repairing the sabotage to the computer and keep Vorshak on the bridge to provide handprint authorization. The Doctor encourages him to not resist while the Doctor tries to dissuade Icthar from these plans.

In the quarters, Turlough manages to pull of the grate to the ventilation shaft and the four of them crawl out and into the hallway. Tegan and Bulic sneak to the bridge and signal the Doctor though a door. While the others are distracted, the Doctor slips out and they head towards the chemical storage room. They meet Preston and Turlough just outside, the latter two having secured weapons while trying to make their way back to the TARDIS. All five then enter the chemical storage area where the Doctor looks for something that will knock the Silurians out.

The Sea Devil guards discover that the prisoners have escaped. Icthar also notices that the Doctor has left the room. He orders Sauvix to kill the prisoners, including the Doctor on sight. One guard discovers the group in the chemical storage room and when he shoots at the Doctor he accidentally hits a bottle of compressed hexachromite. The gas sprays him in the face and he dies of chemical poisoning. The others suggest using the gas but the Doctor resists, not wanting to kill. Sauvix interrupts and prepares to kill the Doctor. Preston shoots at him and he turns around and kills her. As he does so, Bulic sprays him in the face with the gas and he falls dead.

While this is going on, the Silurians activate the missiles and they prepare for launch. With no time left, the Doctor has Bulic spray the hexachromite gas into the ventilators while he, Tegan and Turlough try to stop the missiles from launching. The gas seeps through the station and kills the guards on patrol. The trio bursts in to the bridge and order Icthar to stop or he and all his people will die. Icthar doesn't care and continues with the countdown even as he and his people are being felled by the gas.

The Doctor orders Tegan and Turlough to try and help them with a cylinder of oxygen and orders Bulic to stop pumping the gas into the system. Vorshak meanwhile tells the Doctor that the only way to stop the missiles is if someone can discharge it through the computer interface and Maddox was the only one equipped to do that. The Doctor hooks himself to the computer and has Vorshak walk him through on how to stop the missiles.

The Doctor overcomes the initial resistance and sets the charge to disarm the missiles. Tegan and Turlough manages to revive Icthar but he grabs a gun and shoots Vorshak in the side. Vorshak buckles but sticks with helping the Doctor disarm the missiles. Turlough knocks the gun out of Icthar's hand and then shoots him, killing him. The Doctor successfully disarms the missiles but Vorshak slumps over dies from his wounds. The trio survey the damage with nearly everyone around them dead.

Analysis

This is a very hard story to judge as both the supporters and detractors have very valid arguments. The writing and acting are pretty good and they can draw you in really easily. On the other hand, the lighting is bad, the action directing is terrible and the special effects are atrocious. So it's a matter of what you pay attention to and what matters to you from an overall perspective.

Let's start with the positives. First the story. This is a fairly tense story with a lot of drama and action in it. You have a cold war situation (very apt for the mid-80's), heightened by a couple of double agents who are successfully implementing a plan to allow their side to destroy or take over the sea base. This effort is interrupted by the invasion of the Silurians and Sea Devils, who steadily overwhelm the defenses and nearly launch an attack that will plunge the world into nuclear war. All that is a good storyline and at it's core, not that different from other good "base under siege" stories such as Cold War.

The writing and dialogue flow fairly well and there is a level of tension that all the actors do a pretty decent job of delivering. I think the only objection I have there is the Episode One cliffhanger as I can't even imagine Turlough simply proclaiming the Doctor drowned and they have to run. A better cliffhanger would have been Turlough grabbing Tegan as the guards take a shot at them and then focusing on the Doctor slipping below the surface of the water. In fact, all three cliffhangers were a bit weak with only the Episode Three one feeling halfway decent. But I'm trying to focus on positives here.

The acting, for the most part, is pretty good. I think the Fifth Doctor is at his best when he is under stress. Of course, it highlights his failings more than any other Doctor, but it makes for good tension and it seems to drive the Fifth Doctor in directions that force his best efforts. You can see the same level of moralism that you might get from the Third Doctor but those morals are pressed harder and he is forced between two bad options, including the fact that even if you try to do the right thing, you can force the parties to make the right choices.

Though she didn't actually contribute much, I liked Tegan in this story. She wasn't moping about getting back to the TARDIS (that was Turlough's job) but was instead sticking with the Doctor and determined to try and help, even if she never actually was. Turlough was decent but still had a tendency to go a bit over-the-top, especially when he would flip back to his coward side. He rush in and help the Doctor bits were very good but his lay back and just focus on escaping were where he would get overexcited and a bit shout-y. He was better more often than not, but still not good all the way around.

Most of the guest cast did reasonably well in their roles. They kept the stiff military manner which hid their shortcomings for the most part. I think the technician Karina was probably the weakest but they were also clearly hinting that she had feelings for Maddox and that might have pushed her beyond or she just wasn't given good enough direction. Everyone else was good more often than not although all of them had little slips where they were either too stiff, too emotionless or the way they played the scene didn't quite match the overall mood. But it still came together fairly well and a few rough acting patches here and there are entirely forgivable.

The Silurians and Sea Devils weren't bad, but neither were they great either. I wasn't a huge fan of either race back in their Third Doctor stories so their inclusion wasn't exactly a big deal to me. I did notice that the third eye of the Silurians now functioned like the dome lights of the Daleks and flashed whenever someone was speaking and while I found it distracting at first, I came to appreciate it since there wasn't much differentiation between the three Silurian voices. I rather wish they could have done something similar with the Sea Devils as their whispering was a little hard to hear at times.

I think my biggest frustration with both the Silurians and the Sea Devils is that in this story, the Doctor treats them as though they were completely altruistic in their original stories and that's just not true. In Doctor Who and the Silurians, he does make peace with the old leader, but the young upstart takes over and launches an attack, violating the terms the Doctor had laid down. Similarly, in The Sea Devils, the Doctor makes a plea for peace but the Sea Devils turn him down flat. Yes they had been manipulated by the Master, but they still made the conscious effort to continue with the war. So both races showed an open belligerence towards humanity, enough so that I don't think anyone should feel bad about the genocide that was used to stop them. In fact, the one act of compassion shown ends up getting someone else killed. Tegan and Turlough revived Icthar long enough for him to kill Vorshak. Had they just let him die, Vorshak would have survived. There is a point where you have to recognize that someone is going to remain your enemy and any act of mercy is only perceived as a sign of weakness and an opportunity to do more harm to you.

So let's go ahead and tackle the negatives. To give the story a little bit of leeway, pretty much all it's problems are tied to the fact that Mrs. Thatcher called for snap elections and the BBC was caught flatfooted. They told John Nathan-Turner that he could either cancel the story and they would be ok with him only delivering 22 episodes that season, or he could try and have the story made with two weeks less studio time. Turner opted for the later and it shows rather badly.

The first significant problem is the lighting. Apparently it was quicker to light from above and that meant that the whole set was bathed in flood lighting. Actually, from my point of view, this wasn't a problem for about the first episode and a half of the story. It highlighted the make-up a bit much (especially on Turlough) but the set was nice enough that flood lighting it actually wasn't a problem and there's no reason that a base wouldn't be well lit during normal operation. But during the crisis of the Silurian attack, the lights should have been brought down. That would have added to the atmosphere and would have had the added advantage of hiding other flaws that came about due to the compressed schedule. Even putting filters over the flood lighting would have helped. Submarines and other naval vessels go to red light during crisis and I think the atmosphere would have been well served if red filters were put on to give it that eerie quality.

The second problem was the action direction. Again, I'm guessing that if there had been a bit more time to plan and reshoot it might have looked better, but most of the action scenes, especially the initial invasion by the Sea Devils just looked terrible in their staging. With the way it was lit and their entrance, you couldn't help compare the Sea Devils' entrance with that of the Stormtrooper attack on the Tantive IV at the beginning of A New Hope. Had the attack gone down like that, it would have looked amazing. But instead we get two solid lines of firing and the implication that despite being less than ten feet from each other, neither side could hit each other. The Sea Devils do manage to hit one or two guards but most make it to the hallway and it's just so disorderly looking that you can't help but see it for the stage play that it is.

The third major problem is just the shoddy design of the props. The big standout is the Myrka but it should be noted that there are a lot of pedestals, consoles, doors and other props that are clearly polystyrene or some other light and malleable material that wobble all over the place. One or two is not uncommon in any story, but there is a wholesale shift of the lighter elements of the set throughout this story and they can't help but grab your attention; especially given the lighting.

But let's look at the Myrka. I don't think the Myrka is quite as bad as it's often made out to be. The top half especially is pretty good from your typical Doctor Who standpoint. However the lower half painfully looks like your typical "two guys in a horse" costume. Even with the two extra weeks, I'm not sure much could have been done to improve it's overall look. What should have been done was to work the shots better and lower the lighting. That would have put more of it in shadow and hidden some of it's more obvious flaws (such as the magma beast in The Caves of Androzani). Of course, a better idea would have been to scrap that Myrka and make it a second squad of Sea Devils but that would have required a wholesale rewriting of Episode Three and if they didn't have time to make the Myrka work, they certainly didn't have time to make huge rewrites.

On a more neutral level, you can definitely tell this story is part of the Eric Saward era. Saward's stories, especially after The Visitation, were heavily marked by a large level of violence and often a rather bleak ending. That the story ends with all the Silurians, Sea Devils and most of the humans lying dead at the Doctor's feet is not uncommon in his era. Bulic had survived but that would have ruined the bleakness of the visual. Contrast this to Pyramids of Mars or Horror at Fang Rock which also have all the guest cast dead at the end. The Doctor is a bit more cavalier in acknowledging all the deaths, to a point of coldness in Horror at Fang Rock in my opinion, but he doesn't let that bog him down. The Fourth Doctor's chastising of Sarah in dwelling on the death of one man, when five have already died and all the lives on Earth are at stake is a prime example of looking at the whole rather than getting bogged down in mourning the dead of the battle. Granted, I liked the ending with the Doctor looking beat all to hell, but his anger and depression should be targeted mostly at the Silurians who rejected his overtures on several occasions.

So back to the original question: how to judge this as an overall work. As much as I enjoyed the story, I don't believe you can separate it from the production. You judge by what's on screen and even if they were shortchanged on time, if what's on screen is bad, you have to view it as bad. That being said, I can overlook a number of things because I either have low expectations or know that the era was limited. I judge a bit harsher when I know there was a chance to fix things such as the action direction or the ability to alter the lighting, even just a little. So on an overall scale, I actually think this story is better than a number of earlier Fifth Doctor stories which had more time just because they didn't engage me like this one did. It may be harsh, but I think this is better than something like Four to Doomsday, which only looked a little better but was a real slog of a story. I wouldn't recommend introducing anyone to the Fifth Doctor to this story, but you could do far worse in terms of overall entertainment.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

Time-Flight

Shall I say "Bon Voyage"?

Time Flight is one of the stories that is invariably in the running for worst Doctor Who story ever. Sometimes I find these reputations are justified but other times they are not so I'm very curious to see if this story is as bad as people think it is. I'm sure it won't be good, but there can be a broad gap between "not good" and "abysmal."

Plot Summary

While approaching Heathrow Airport, a British Airways Concorde disappears from radar and vanishes into thin air.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa decide to lift their spirits following Adric's death by visiting the Victorian Great Exhibition. However they run into a time warp which causes them to materialize above the runway at Heathrow just after the Concorde disappeared. The Doctor reroutes the TARDIS and has it materialize in the main terminal instead.

They head out to find out what happened when they are approached by airport security. The Doctor invokes his UNIT credentials and is given full access. He learns of the Concorde's disappearance and decides to replicate the experience but with the TARDIS on board to monitor events. The TARDIS is loaded to a second Concorde and Captain Stapley flies the plane out to match the course of the prior flight.

As they come in for approach, the concord undergoes the same effects and disappears from radar. Stapley however lands at what he thinks is Heathrow and escorts his crew and the TARDIS team off. Nyssa however sees human remains and screams. The Doctor uses her vision and encourages the rest to see through the illusion. As they do, Heathrow disappears around them and they find themselves on a stretch 140 million years in the past.

Inside a cave, an Oriental looking man is watching the new arrivals through a sphere. He sends the passengers and crew from the first flight out to work under hypnosis. When Stapley's under-officers, Scobie and Bilton, try to convince them of the delusion, several bubble creatures appear and vanish both men. Two more creatures appear and envelop the Doctor. He is covered in ectoplasm for a few moments in which he hears voices appeal to him for help. They then vanish and the Doctor rises once more, aware of a race called the plasmatons.

They continue towards the workers, who are carrying away the TARDIS when they are intercepted by one of them, Professor Hayter. Hayter specializes in hypnosis at his university as was able to shake off the control. He informs them that a cave system is where the workers all are concentrated, though he is very hesitant to go with the team after the rest of the passengers.

As they approach, plasmatons envelop Nyssa and speak through her, warning the Doctor of the danger. She then collapses in a semi-comatose state. Tegan opts to stay with her while the others head into the caves. In the caves, the Doctor moves ahead while Stapley and Hayter discover the passengers and crew digging into a large rock. Stapley, with Hayter's help, manages to rouse Bilton and Scobie and the four go looking for the Doctor.

The Doctor finds a hidden cavern and meets Kalid, the person manipulating the plasmaton energy. He verbally spars with the Doctor and demands that the Doctor grant him access to the TARDIS. The Doctor refuses. When Stapley, Bilton, Scobie and Hayter enter, Kalid suspends them in a dome of energy.

Nyssa wakes and despite Tegan's insistence on heading back to the Concorde, heads towards the caves to help the Doctor. Kalid notes their approach and tries to stop them with visions of Adric pleading for his life, the Melkur, and a Terileptil. They bypass all of them and enter the central core of the caves, the power source of the plasmaton energy. Angered, Kalid refocuses the energy into a two-headed snake to attack the humans but Nyssa, sensing danger, smashes part of the power source. Kalid is seemingly killed and the snake vanishes.

The Doctor begins to examine the control orb, confused by it's make when the Master emerges from beneath Kalid's robes. The orb is actually from the Master's TARDIS who used it trying to create a time corridor to allow his eventual escape using the power source as a replacement within his own TARDIS. He forces the Doctor to give him the key to his TARDIS, ducks inside and vanishes.

The Doctor leaves the three flight crewmen in the control area while he and Hayter head back to the place where the passengers were digging into the central core. The Doctor refocuses their efforts and they manage to cut a hole into which he and Hayter slip through. They rouse Tegan and Nyssa only to find that the hole has disappeared behind them.

The TARDIS reappears and the Master leaves to enter his own TARDIS in the core room. Stapley and Bilton slip into the TARDIS while Scobie stays outside to keep an eye on things. The Master then returns to the TARDIS where Stapley and Bilton retreat into another room to hide. Scobie then leaves and runs into the stewardess Angela. She and the other passengers have emerged from the hypnosis and are struggling to figure what is going on.

In the TARDIS, the Master attaches some equipment and then leaves. Stapley tries to sabotage it but is noticed by the Master. The Master removes the last of the parts he needs and then mockingly gives the TARDIS over to Stapley. Stapley tries to take control and manages to get it outside the caves and hovering above the ground where it holds position. Meanwhile the Master reenters the core room and forces all the remaining passengers into his TARDIS along with the equipment he has stolen.

In the core area, the Doctor realizes that there is a living entity in the core governed by multiple personalities. It takes control of Nyssa again and prepares to use her up to allow it to communicate. Hayter however steps in her place and is consumed. But the power absorbed allows a figure named Anithon to manifest himself. He is a creature called a Xeraphin, a civilization that was destroyed by a war. To escape, they had the entity absorb all the minds of the Xeraphin and come to Earth to restart themselves. However, the remaining bodies were infected with radiation and they needed time to allow regeneration to take place. Just as they were about to though, the Master arrived and tapped into the core, using the energy and harvesting the negative mental energies.

A second entity, called Zarak, manifests itself and attempts to take control, representing the negative energies given power by the Master. The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa assist mentally and manage to fight Zarak back. But power vanishes as the Master begins to drain the core energies and transfer them to his own TARDIS. Both Anithon and Zarak disappear and the Doctor begins to search for a way out.

Outside the caves, Captain Stapley hesitates to handle the TARDIS controls. But Professor Hayter appears and pilots the TARDIS into the core before disappearing once more. The Doctor enters the TARDIS, suspecting that Hayter was another projection by the Xeraphin to help them. He then takes the TARDIS out of the core where Scobie tells them that the Master took the passengers into his TARDIS and disappeared. The Doctor orders Nyssa to take the flight crew and the TARDIS back to the Concorde and prep it for takeoff while he and Tegan try to find the passengers.

Nyssa pilots the TARDIS into the cargo hold and the crew inspects the plane with the only damage being a blown tire and a damaged brake line. Stapely decides to cannibalize the other Concorde for parts but notices that it seems a bit too new and shiny compared to their previous view of it. The Doctor and Tegan arrive and notice the same thing. The other Concorde starts to disappear and they realize that it's the Master's TARDIS. However it reappears and they realize that something has gone wrong.

The Master emerges and he asks the Doctor about the sabotage he's done to the TARDIS. Stapley informs the Doctor that he switched some parts around before the Master could finish his theft, which pleases the Doctor. He makes a deal with the Master that he will give back the stolen parts and the passengers and he will give the Master the spare parts he needs. The Master agrees and Doctor sets out to repair the TARDIS while Stapley and his crew repair the Concorde. Once all repairs are complete, Tegan guides the passengers on board and Stapley readies the plane for takeoff.

The Doctor gives the Master the spare parts he requested and the Master and his TARDIS disappears. However, the Doctor put a fault into the equipment he gave the Master and the Master's TARDIS will appear only after they have arrived back at Heathrow. Stapley takes off and as they approach the point where Concorde disappeared before, the Doctor activates the TARDIS and sends the whole thing forward to only twenty-four hours after they left. The Doctor takes the TARDIS out of the plane and lands it out on one of the buildings just as the Master's TARDIS appears hovering over the airport. The Doctor sends a power surge into the Master's TARDIS and it is sent to Xaraphin where, after 140 million years, the radiation will have cleared up and the people can repopulate the planet. It also will burn out the equipment the Doctor gave the Master, leaving him trapped on the planet.

Tegan escorts the passengers off the plane and then meets Nyssa before heading down the corridor to where she was supposed to report for duty. Stapley and his crew are debriefed by the airport controller who try to explain although the controller doesn't believe them. They head out to see the Doctor, who is being questioned by two airport security personnel. The Doctor promises answers after making a phone call from inside his box. The TARDIS then vanishes leaving the crew smirking but Tegan looking wistful as she had changed her mind about traveling with the Doctor and was hoping to catch him before he left.

Analysis

Time-Flight is certainly not a good story and it might even be the worst Fifth Doctor story, although I'm not completely convinced of that, but I'm a bit hard pressed to see why fans argue that it might be the worst Doctor Who story. I think there are a fair number of stories that I would relegate as worse than this.

To be fair, there are an awful lot of things that are bad about this story. The acting, outside of the TARDIS team, the Master and Stapley is terrible, with Hayter and the stewardess Angela being the worst offenders. The stewardess is pretty forgettable as she only has a few lines and most of them are under hypnosis so she is an easily dismissible blip. Professor Hayter on the other hand is just a bad choice. The actor is wooden both in his delivery and even in how he moves. Given that he sacrifices himself and becomes the Deus Ex Machina for the story, it would seem to be kind of important to have the audience develop him a bit. But when he sacrifices himself, I couldn't be bothered to care and was even relieved as I found him a waste of screen space.

A second significant problem is the plot. The plot is overly complex with the alien collective consciousness that the Master is trying to tap. We are shown two different types of creatures and neither is properly explained. Worse, nearly everything about the life force and the Xeraphin is done through expositional speeches. There are very few points of natural dialogue. Instead it's the Doctor, the Master, or one of the Xeraphin just talking about what is going on. Talking about the plot is nothing new, but the dialogue must be natural and you also can't have entire episodes where people just talk about what the plot is. It gets boring and this story became boring in it's second and third episodes.

A third point of trouble and one most often cited by fans about the problems with this story is why is the Master dressed as Kalid? His disguise as Kalid does absolutely nothing for the overall story. The orb is made of components from his own TARDIS. The Xeraphin are completely aware of who the Master is due to their telepathic communication and the people on the plane have no idea who the Master is and wouldn't care what he looks like. In fact, bringing the first Concorde was an accident so he was dressing as Kalid even before they arrived. It serves absolutely no purpose except to give misdirection to the audience that it's the Master once again.

I can't help but wonder if Kalid was the original villain but Peter Grimwade was told to include the Master in the story and he just merged the two, thinking it would be a cool twist but didn't think of anything beyond that. Whatever the reason, it gives one mildly interesting cliffhanger and nothing else. It would have worked just as well if Kalid had been an android or a psychic projection and the cliffhanger to Episode Two is the Master stepping out of his TARDIS with his Tissue Compression Eliminator. In that case, the Master could have waived it off as a means of interface while he operated things from within his TARDIS. It might not have been the best reason, but it would have made more sense that having the Master dress up.

A fourth reason that is probably a bit more subtle in people's dislike of this story is both it's following Earthshock, which was well received, and the style and set up of Episode One being pretty decent. The story addresses Adric's death and then it get sucked into a missing plane adventure similar to The Faceless Ones. We even bypass all the typical stalling garbage by having the Doctor flash his UNIT credentials and then be given full reign of the place. It's even on film which gives it a slicker look. Then towards the end of Episode One, we are taken to studio and the contrast is palpable as the sets suddenly look so much cheaper. You can just imagine that after the visual treat of the first part, the comedown infects the viewer's expectations and the story does nothing to alleviate this.

A fifth fault is in the little things involving the Concorde that the story doesn't take care of. Concorde, being a sleek and sophisticated aircraft, has no internal stair so how do the passengers get on or off? Where do the crew get the tools to cannibalize the previous Concorde for the parts they need? Given what happened with the Paris Concorde disaster, the idea of a Concorde getting up to speed without a proper runway is pretty laughable. In the film cut, you can even see that it's taking off from a normal runway with some rocks placed in front to hide the cut (although you can see part of the terminal in the background). It's just a bunch of little things that are hard to let go but clearly never occurred to the production team when given the opportunity to include a Concorde promotional.

So is there anything good? Actually base cast is pretty good. The Doctor is his normal Doctor self although he does have some moments of bad melodrama towards the end of Episode Three. Tegan and Nyssa are both pretty good as Tegan is actually given some things to do which distract her from complaining and Nyssa becomes much more engaging as she becomes the interface for the Xeraphin. I suspect that Sarah Sutton was never really given much direction with Nyssa and it became a default that she would be impassive which translates to wooden. When given emotional range such as here and in Black Orchid, her acting is actually decent.

Despite the nonsense with Kalid, I enjoyed the Master in this story. He's over the top but he's so clearly having a good time. Even Ainley's stint as Kalid is decent. It's a mildly racist caricature and the makeup is terrible, but the character still draws you in with the mystery of who he is and what he is after. You even get some nice snark by the Master when he gives up the TARDIS to Stapley. I can't help but enjoy it.

Some folks gravitate to Stapley as enjoyable but I'm a bit more hesitant to go that far. To me it was more like Stapley was good by comparison and when all the other extras range operate mostly in the terrible range, an average performance looks great by comparison. He had bearing and a sense of leadership, which is why Hayter assumed he was in charge, but his overall performance was just decent in my opinion and he functioned well in the role of extra companion. In fact, Stapley should be considered as one of the many guest companions that appeared in the Fifth Doctor era, nearly all of which showed better range and characterization than the normal companions. I would say though that Stapley was one of the few who did not outstrip Tegan and Nyssa in their interaction with the Doctor, which pulls him down a bit more in my estimation than others probably have him.

I can't speak much for the direction of this story. The director was clearly trying to compensate for the lack of set and budget but I didn't see anything that might have hidden flaws in the sets or in framing the story in ways to compensate for the lack of action. It was very point and shoot, to the point that the backdrop for the scenes in front of the Concorde tire is pretty clearly a backdrop. It's not as bad as in the days of the First Doctor, but it's pretty obvious that it's a set at that point and no effort is made to add any freshness or tricks to draw the viewer back in.

Although I'm going to be giving this story a low score, I still think it's not quite as bad as it's reputation. I also think I would actually rate Terminus as a worse story because it feels more plodding and boring while this has some action in the first and fourth episodes and the hammy-ness of the Master to provide some measure of relief. In fact, if the overall flaws weren't so glaring and obvious, I think I might even rate this story above Four to Doomsday and Frontios, because again, I found a measure of entertainment in some of the performances. But there is an awful lot that drags this story down and you just can't overlook that at the end of the day. I will still throw in the caveat that I don't think it is a contender for worst story of the classic era. But again, that doesn't mean that it's good either.

Overall personal score: 1 out of 5

Four to Doomsday

Conformity, the true freedom.

This is the first story filmed for the Fifth Doctor, though third shown. I've heard fairly mixed reviews on it with some people really loving it and others being rather meh on it. I do believe that it set the defining tone for how people remember the Fifth Doctor era, at least in the span with Adric if not also with Nyssa. Certainly the impression people have of Tegan and Adric as well seems to be heavily cultivated from this story.

Plot Summary

Attempting to get Tegan back to Heathrow, the TARDIS accidentally lands on a spaceship outside the solar system. Detecting a slightly toxic atmosphere, the Doctor grabs a breathing helmet and heads outside to explore, leaving the three companions in the TARDIS. Outside, he observes advanced laboratory equipment and a floating ball with a camera that tracks his moves.

The Doctor heads back into the TARDIS and gets the others out. Nyssa and Adric examine the equipment while the Doctor asks the floating eye if he can see the leader. A door opens and he and Tegan head down the corridor. At the end they meet three humanoid aliens: the leader, Monarch, and his two associates, a male called Persuasion and a female called Enlightenment. Monarch states that they are from a far planet and are heading to Earth for a visit. They ask the Doctor about his ship and his companions. Enlightenment specifically asks Tegan about the latest fashions of her time. A little surprised, Tegan takes paper from the Doctor and draws a man and woman in fancy dress.

After the talk, Monarch has the Doctor and Tegan taken away for some refreshment. Nyssa had already been taken away by a man in Athenian dress while Adric had followed a few minutes later. Reunited, the group sits down to fruit with their Athenian server, whose name is Bigon. As they eat, three other persons enter: an Australian Aborigine called Kirkutji, a mute Mayan princess named Villagra and a Chinese Mandarin named Lin Futu. The group is forbidden by Monarch to discuss why they are there so they sit and wait while the others eat. As they finish, two people walk in dressed and looking exactly like Tegan's drawing. They reintroduce themselves as Persuasion and Enlightenment.

Persuasion and Enlightenment tell the Doctor that they are from the planet Urbanka which was destroyed when it's sun went nova. Their ship in now on a journey to Earth with 3 billion survivors for resettlement. Adric is skeptical but the Doctor takes it in stride and they retire to their quarters with Monarch locking them in.

The Doctor blocks the camera with a hat and activates the sonic screwdriver to drown the microphones. He agrees with them that something odd is going on if for no other reason than the periods where the humans are from on the ship don't match with the Urbankan's story. He decides they should explore and unlocks the door with the screwdriver.

Monarch, aware of the Doctor's suspicions, attempts to find out more about the Doctor and Gallifrey but finds no information in his computer. He separates the Doctor and Tegan from Adric and Nyssa by closing a set of doors between them. The Doctor and Tegan enter a hall where the various humans put on cultural displays as entertainment for the others. Persuasion enters and keeps a close eye on them as they watch.

Adric and Nyssa enter other compartments and are forced to put on their breathing helmets as there is no air here. However, humans are seen working in the environment. The enter and leave several rooms, observing people performing tasks with both high technology, robotics and advanced biochemistry. In each room, they note the human workers have a silver disk on their hands.

Monarch calls Bigon in and warns him against telling the Doctor too much. Bigon protests as he has always told the truth but Monarch suggests he remain silent. Bigon goes to the Doctor and Tegan and arranges a meeting with them later. Shortly afterward, two Greeks have a sword fight with one of the Greeks seemingly killed in the duel. This upsets Tegan and she runs out, the Doctor close behind.

The "killed" Greek is brought into a chamber where Adric and Nyssa observe him placed in a bed with a dome and then healed of his wound. They also notices that although stabbed, he walked in and showed no blood coming from the wound. Monarch, aware of Adric and Nyssa's observations, orders them to be brought before him.

Tegan and the Doctor return to their quarters where Bigon is waiting for them. He calms Tegan down by demonstrating that the man was not killed as he and all the other humans on the ship are in fact androids. Bigon also reveals that Monarch actually destroyed Urbanka through overexploitation of it's resources and pollution and is planning to do the same to Earth. He notes that any android that has a silver disk on it's had is a slave while those that do not have free will so long as they do not cross Monarch.

Monarch admits to Nyssa and Adric of his conversion of humans and his people to android state. Nyssa is appalled but Adric is impressed and begins answering Monarch's questions about the Doctor and the TARDIS. Eventually, Monarch asks Adric to bring him the Doctor so that he might see the TARDIS. After he leaves, Monarch has Nyssa hypnotized by Enlightenment and then taken away to be converted.

Bigon and the Doctor leave the Doctor's quarters to destroy the poison supply that will kill the people of Earth and to free the people from Monarch's tyranny. Tegan meanwhile has become hysterical and wants nothing more but to go back to the TARDIS to warn the people of Earth. The Doctor manages to calm her down a bit but she gets amped back up when Adric comes to collect the Doctor. Angry at him, she shoves him aside where he bangs his head against the bed and is knocked out. Tegan storms back to the TARDIS and opens it with the TARDIS key. Inside, she begins to press random buttons, trying to get it to take off.

As they pass through each section, the Doctor disables the monitors in each room, allowing Bigon to speak freely. This does alert Monarch to their progress, though he initially dismisses it as Bigon giving the Doctor a tour. In the android room, Lin Futu, in the middle of processing Nyssa, overhears the Doctor and Bigon talking about overthrowing Monarch and leaves to warn him. They spot Nyssa and free her before the conversion is complete.

Adric awakes and stumbles up after the Doctor, eventually discovering them in the android room. He argues on Monarch's behalf until Persuasion enters with Greek guards. They restrain both Bigon and the Doctor and sentence him to death for attempting to overthrow Monarch. Adric tries to intervene but is restrained as well. The Greeks force the Doctor down, intending to cut off his head. Nyssa, who had borrowed the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and a pencil earlier, uses the combo to create a surge in the silver plates on the hands and short circuits the androids holding Adric and the Doctor. Persuasion then tries to shoot the Doctor but Adric leaps in front of him. Monarch, not wanting Adric killed, orders the lot be brought to him.

Tegan, after mashing a ton of buttons, manages to activate the TARDIS and dematerialize it off the ship. However, the magnetic field of the ship forces it to rematerialize just outside the ship and hover in space. Tegan then pulls out the manual, trying to figure out how to get the TARDIS to either return to the ship or get back to Earth.

The Doctor denies trying to overthrow Monarch, though Monarch is skeptical. He has Bigon's personality chip removed while Nyssa is taken away and sedated as a hostage for the Doctor's good behavior. Monarch himself spares the Doctor's life and allows him freedom to further convince Adric of his benevolence.

The Doctor and Adric head back to their quarters where the Doctor pretends to see Monarch's side, much to Adric's delight. They head to the entertainment area where the noise of the performance drowns out their speech and the Doctor rebukes Adric for his folly. He forces Adric to choose to be with him or Monarch and Adric reluctantly chooses the Doctor.

Feigning tiredness, the Doctor and Adric leave the entertainment but sneak down to the android repair section. The monitor has not yet been repaired from the Doctor's earlier disorienting of it and he further knocks it out with a bit of cobalt. He then convinces Lin Futu of Monarch's plan to subjugate and destroy the Earth. They recover Bigon's personality chip and Lin Futu sends out Chinese dancers to perform the Dragon Dance in the entertainment area.

The Doctor and Adric enter the entertainment area and sit next to Bigon's soulless body, which had been placed in the seats on the floor. Under the guise of the Dragon dancer's leaving, they sneak Bigon's body back to the repair room where Lin Futu reinstalls Bigon's chip. Lin Futu also speaks to the leaders of the other factions and convinces them to join the Doctor while the Doctor wakes Nyssa.

A restored Bigon activates an override circuit in the slave androids and they all come out to perform entertainment at once. Knowing he has to recover the TARDIS, the Doctor has Adric put on a life suit while he dons his breathing helmet. They head down to a launch bay where the Doctor propels himself out on a tether, knowing he only has six minutes before his body succumbs to the cold.

Monarch, now aware of the uprising, sends Persuasion to stop the Doctor. He attacks Adric but Adric knocks the gun out of his hand. Adric repeatedly fires at Persuasion, but the gun has no effect on his android body. He overpowers Adric but the Doctor pulls himself back on the tether and yanks out Persuasion's personality circuit and tosses it into space. Furious, Monarch sends Enlightenment to help. She walks past a still stunned Adric and unties the Doctor's tether before he can come back a second time. Adric rises and rips out her personality circuit as well.

The Doctor, stuck about halfway between the ship and the TARDIS, pulls a cricket ball out of his pocket and hurls it at the ship. It bounces off the hull and he catches it. Retaining it's momentum, the ball and the Doctor hurl towards the TARDIS where the Doctor manages to snag the door and let himself in. He ignores Tegan and pilots the ship back into the entertainment area.

Enraged, Monarch cuts the life support for the rest of the ship. The Doctor gives his helmet to Tegan while Lin Futu repairs another helmet and gives it to the Doctor. With all four of them able to breathe, the Doctor pulls Monarch's poison out, giving it to Adric for safekeeping.

With no other options, Monarch grabs a gun and heads down to the TARDIS to kill the Doctor himself. The Doctor however grabs the poison and smashes it on Monarch. The poison causes his flesh to sink in upon himself and he shrinks to only a fraction of his size. The Doctor reveals that he was still mostly flesh as his ideas about faster than light travel and his own godhood could only be the product of organic thinking. The Doctor traps the shrunken Monarch in the borrowed space helmet, Monarch having turned the life support back on when he left the control room.

Bigon thanks the Doctor and tells him that they intend to fly the ship to a new planet and establish themselves there rather than try to reintegrate with Earth. The Doctor and crew reenter the TARDIS and prepare to try and get to Heathrow again. However, as they take off, Nyssa collapses.

Analysis

I can see how some fans might like this story, especially if they saw it when they were younger. After the dourness of Logopolis and the slow pondering of Castrovalva, this story, especially in Episode Four, would have seemed faster paced and more exciting. Throw in the highly metaphorical Kinda as the chaser and a younger person would have easily glommed on to this story as something fun an exciting. However, watching it in isolation, I can't say that I liked this one very much.

Looking over things as a whole, I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm just not fond of the Fifth Doctor era that much. The Fifth Doctor himself isn't the problem for the most part. The problems tend to lie in production, storyline and especially, the companions.

I don't think it will be a shock to say that my antipathy for Tegan and Adric has never been higher than in this story. In others, the negative aspects of their personalities have either been mitigated by more positive elements, a balance of their character against something else, or a simple lack of screen time. In this story however, Adric and Tegan are very front and center and the worst aspects of their personalities are brought front and center.

Probably more so than any other story I can recall, the Doctor is playing babysitter. It doesn't help that Monarch repeatedly calls them children and Adric's obnoxious comment to Tegan indicates that he clearly still thinks of Nyssa as underdeveloped in her femininity. I find this ironic as Nyssa is easily the most mature acting of all of them. She is still stiff in her performance, but at least she shows gumption, is never taken in by Monarch and works with the Doctor to stop the situation. Her only real drawback is that because she is aware, she is sidelined as the hostage for most of the story.

Adric is a naïve prat through most of this story. He is openly insulting to Tegan and rather dismissive of Nyssa. He buys in to Monarch with almost no prompting, proving himself exceptionally gullible as well as hardheaded as he still wants to believe in Monarch, even after Monarch orders the Doctor's initial execution. The only positive aspect of his buying in wholesale to Monarch's schlock is that the Doctor is able to exploit it and hide his intentions from Monarch. But, to me, that reflects more poorly on Monarch than it does offer any positive aspect to Adric.

Tegan, I felt like slapping for a good portion of the story. She is single-mindedly obsessed with getting back to Heathrow. Fine, we get it. She doesn't appreciate the opportunity in front of her and I can get past that. But the volume of whining she does about it does get annoying. On top of that, nothing she does is useful. In fact, she is the opposite of useful the entire story. She gets hysterical upon learning of Monarch's plan; a trait I hate in any character who displays it. Then she goes and mucks things up royally by actually moving the TARDIS. If she had fled to the TARDIS for a good cry and some isolation, she would have been far more useful. Instead she becomes so obsessed in her own hysteria that she abandons the three people she has traveled with, all of whom have some degree of expertise in piloting the TARDIS, and plops the TARDIS in a location where she can't move it and nearly gets the Doctor and Adric killed trying to recover it. I believe the Doctor would have been well within his rights to leave Tegan on the ship and leave it up to Bigon's benevolence to simply get her back to Earth, let alone get her to Heathrow.

Speaking of Bigon, he's a bit of a problem in this story as well. He is so eager to help the Doctor and overthrow Monarch that I can't understand why Monarch has permitted his existence to continue. Yes, Bigon was punished by being kept in isolation for one hundred years, but that didn't seem to take so why not destroy Bigon. If Monarch is as brutal a dictator as we are meant to think he is, why not fully crush all opposition? The man on the inside who makes the rebellion work, has too much power available to him. This makes Monarch seem naïve and incompetent.

In a similar vein, Lin Futu is a bit too easily convinced for my taste. Granted, he might have already been suspicious of Monarch, but he does rat out the Doctor very quickly when he frees Nyssa. He's been working for Monarch for thousands of years so why should he buy the Doctor's hasty argument that Monarch is mad and will destroy them all upon reaching Earth? It would be one thing if Bigon had mentioned that unrest had been growing but they were too scared to move against Monarch. But Bigon instead says that Lin Futu and Villagra are loyal to Monarch because of his promise to make them rulers of their people. I found it to be rather lazy and frustrating writing.

Now the villains. Enlightenment is fine, albeit a bit bland. She is at least good at her job. Persuasion is also not bad, although I would have expected a bit more competence from him in monitoring the Doctor. But you could argue that after thousands of years of docility, he got a bit lax with regard to a sharp mind like the Doctor.

As for Monarch, I'm so torn as I can't help but like Monarch. I think he is well acted and he sits high and mighty as you would expect a dictator to be. He is pompous and convinced of his own infallibility, which I suppose leaves him vulnerable. But he is too benevolent to match the description of crazy given by Bigon. He grants the Doctor too much freedom and he puts far too much trust in both Bigon and Adric. A ruler who makes those kind of shoddy decisions should have been overthrown long ago. Several times, Monarch could have easily stopped and/or destroyed the Doctor but he turns a blind eye, believing in their belief in him rather than with the keener eye of someone at the top for as long as he has been. Perhaps it is a function of his own belief in his deity, but it looks more like the combination of plot contrivance and dictatorial naivety.

Circling back around, the other primary performance I enjoyed was the Doctor. He is quiet, controlled and clearly using his head to try and get out of the situation they are in. He even goes so far as to call Adric the idiot he is in order to get him back around to thinking properly. He has a clear respect for Nyssa and far more patience with Tegan than she deserves. In fact, the limitations of the Doctor are generally through his companions. Left to his own devices or perhaps only with Nyssa, Bigon and the Doctor could have overthrown Monarch with relatively few complications. Instead, he wastes time acting as a babysitter to at least two people acting like brats. That the companions personalities improved a bit in other stories helps a little, but the fact that the Fifth Doctor is so much better when paired with older pseudo-companions in stories like The Visitation, Kinda, or The Awakening, speaks to how limited the Fifth Doctor is by these shackles.

Episode Four was something of an improvement for the story as it got away from the set up of ideas and actually got some action going. Once there was action, the story buzzed along. The fight and effects may not have been that great, but the Doctor's battle with Persuasion and Enlightenment as well as his cricket ball physics are the clear highlights of the story. Even people who enjoy this story cite that scene first when talking about it. Aside from the action, I think one of the main reasons it works so well is that it puts all the focus on the Doctor. Tegan is absent in the TARDIS, Nyssa is with the androids and coming out of her sedation and Adric can't say anything in his space suit. So the Doctor and his actions drive all the story at that point and that is where things shine. The Doctor should be the focus as much as possible. When stories don't, they tend to fall apart.

As far as the production, I don't know that I can say much. I thought the direction and effects were decent. Certainly the floating cameras were a pretty good effect for the day. I won't say that I thought there was anything groundbreaking or especially drawing on the production side, but it did well for what it was an what was available to them.

I feel a little bad dumping so hard on a story that I think is generally well regarded (or at least given indifference to), but I can't that I was bored or irritated by most of the story through the first three episodes. It had a slight pick up in Episode Two after a lackluster start but sank badly in Episode Three. Episode Four worked reasonably well but still had significant plot holes that just sat wrong with me. I think a younger audience would enjoy this story more. But the volume of bad simply outweighs the good for me in this one.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5