Sixth Doctor Summary

Unsurprisingly, the Sixth Doctor is the first classic Doctor I finish and I can't say that I'm sad to see the back of him. I've nothing against Colin Baker and in fairness, I actually kind of liked his brusque, arrogant style of Doctor. But his era had some real stinkers and I'm not sure I ever got on with Peri. Mel was better in the Sixth Doctor era, but with only six episodes to evaluate, I could say the same about Tom Baker's cabbage companion.

Unfortunately, there were no stories of the Sixth Doctor era that really stood out as great. I ended up with three stories that managed a 4 for me but even in those, I may have been generous. Of those three, I think The Mysterious Planet was probably the best just because the shift from arguing to teasing helped Peri's acting and you had Dibber and Glitz as a fun comedy bit. But the other stories either flailed around at the middling level or tanked and tanked hard. When you have three of eleven stories pulling a 1 or lower, that doesn't say much for the overall quality of the era.

Ultimately, I'd say the Sixth Doctor era is the unfortunate by-product of a lot of little failures. John Nathan-Turner was ready to move on but not allowed. He regained some footing when he finally grasped that the BBC intended him to see the show to it's death in the Seventh Doctor era and that liberated the storytelling. Similarly, you had a script editor in Eric Saward who was overworked, stressed and hated the actor playing the Doctor. He and the other writers tried and failed at taking a darker turn while still attempting to be entertaining. It was probably the height of the arrogance of the show where they legitimately thought they could get away with whatever they wanted and the fans would still come. This began to turn with the Trial season, but the damage was done and lesson not fully learned until the Seventh Doctor era.

There are good performances and good stories in the Sixth Doctor era but they are buried in a larger supply of garbage. I am happy that the Sixth Doctor has gotten a redemption in the form of the Big Finish audio dramas and that has helped his overall reputation. But, his era will probably go down as both my least favorite and lowest rated of the classic Doctor eras.

Highest Rated Story: The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet - 4.0

Lowest Rated Story: The Twin Dilemma - 0.5

Average overall rating: 2.75

The Twin Dilemma
Attack of the Cybermen
Vengeance on Varos
The Mark of the Rani
The Two Doctors
Timelash
Revelation of the Daleks
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 1: The Mysterious Planet
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 2: Mindwarp
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 3: Terror of the Vervoids
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 4: The Ultimate Foe

Revelation of the Daleks

How inconvenient. Do you know how difficult it is to find good secretaries?

I've noticed that Eric Saward has a somewhat negative reputation as a writer among Doctor Who fans as he writes stories that are exceptionally violent and have very high body counts. One could also argue that he doesn't do the relationship between the Doctor and the companion particularly well either. However, Earthshock is highly regarded among the fans as is Resurrection of the Daleks, so perhaps it is only when he sticks his oar into other's work that he garners a bad reputation. I don't hear much about Revelation of the Daleks except about the cutoff joke at the end where the Doctor is going to say "Blackpool" so I went in to this story somewhat blindly.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Peri land on the planet Necros, where the Doctor has learned that an old friend of his, Arthur Stengos, has been interred in the suspended animation facility of Tranquil Repose. As this is unlike the personality of his friend, the Doctor is suspicious. He lands the TARDIS well away from the facility and he and Peri walk through the snow towards the facility. Along the way they are attacked by a man who has been mutated. He goes for the Doctor and Peri is able to knock him out with a blow to the head with a tree branch. The blow clears his mind and he dies telling them that his condition was brought about by one known as "The Great Healer."

In the facility, the chief embalmer, Mr. Jobel, is finishing the preparations on the President's wife who has just died and is expected shortly. As he dismisses his staff to prepare, two body snatchers, Natasha and Grigory, slip past. Natasha is the daughter of Arthur Stengos and is just as suspicious of his internment in the facility as the Doctor is. The two manage to make it to Arthur's registry but they find his cryogenics chamber empty. They are discovered by guards and they make their way to another chamber where they find brains held in jars. They also find Arthur, suspended in a clear Dalek casing, his head mutating into a Dalek. He appeals to his daughter as the Dalek thought processes begin to take over and she blows him and the casing up.

Monitoring events from a secret chamber is Davros as a head suspended in a jar, attached to a machine. He orders Daleks on patrol. He also orders the snatchers caught as well as one of the junior embalmers, Tasambeker, brought to him. Davros also contacts Kara, the owner of a protein processing factory that has been working with Davros. He supplies her with raw protein material and she in turn funnels money back to him for his research. He requests additional funds and she agrees. However, she is determined to be rid of Davros and shortly after finishing the call with Davros welcomes Orcini, a disgraced knight and highly skilled assassin, and his squire Bostock and hires them to kill Davros. Orcini readily accepts, forgoing payment as he sees killing Davros as a badge of honor.

Natasha and Grigory are apprehended by two workers, Takis and Lilt. They are locked into a dungeon and Lilt tortures Grigory, attempting to get the truth of who sent them and what their mission is out of him. Meanwhile, Tasambeker is brought to Davros where he has her observe Jobel, with whom she loves, though he despises her. Davros has notices a strong streak of anger in her and hopes to turn her love into a vein of hate and make her into a Dalek.

The Doctor and Peri arrive at the facility, having been forced to climb a wall to get in. The Doctor is unnerved when he observes a monument garden with his picture on it as he believes that it means that he will die there. The monument of him suddenly falls on him and he appears to be crushed. Peri rushes over but she is stopped by Jobel, who observed the event and has developed a lust for Peri. But the Doctor emerges, the monument not being made of stone after all. They dismiss Jobel and enter the facility.

Inside, the Doctor and Peri are greeted by Tasambeker and the Doctor inquires her about their facilities. Unable to get the full answers from her, he asks to see the Great Healer. He dissuades Peri from going with him and she instead goes to see the DJ who plays music and observes the facility. The DJ is flattered by Peri's appreciation of his aping 20th century Earth DJs and shows her around his studio. The Doctor meanwhile is captured by two Daleks and taken to the same dungeon as Natasha and Grigory. Davros, pleased with the Doctor's capture, dispatches a group of Daleks to the protein plant to arrest Kara. They also kill her secretary and accomplice, Vogel.

While the Daleks are gone, Orcini and Bostock sneak further into the facility. They release the three prisoners to create a diversion while the two of them enter Davros' lab. The Doctor radios Peri and orders her to get back to the TARDIS and radio the President's ship to leave off as the facility is under control of the Daleks. Davros is alerted to this and sends more Daleks to stop her. Unable to get out, Peri uses the DJ's radio to signal the ship. The President's ship breaks off it's approach and they also observe another ship heading towards Necros.

Tasameker, ordered by Davros to kill Jobel, instead tries to warn him of Davros' plan. He mocks her and laughs her off. Enraged at his condescension, she stabs him with a syringe of embalming fluid, killing him. She runs off and runs into the Daleks heading toward the DJ studio and they kill her.

The Doctor sends Natasha and Grigory to destroy the lab they found earlier while he tries to get to Davros. Natasha and Grigory succeed in getting to the lab but find their weapons depleted. They set the controls to overload but before they can get out, a new Dalek teleports in and kills them. It is destroyed with the lab when the controls explode.

Orcini and Bostock reach Davros' lab and succeed in destroying Davros' head at the control panel. However, this was just a mock up and the real Davros, in his chair, emerges. Both Orcini and Bostock are wounded by Dalek guards, though Bostock appears dead. Orcini is propped in a chair and Kara is brought in, confronted with her failed plan. She is forced to admit that she also supplied Orcini with a hidden bomb, intending for all parties to be destroyed by it. Orcini stabs her with his hidden knife for her treachery, killing her.

Peri and the DJ manage to hold off and destroy several Daleks before they break through and the DJ is killed. Peri is brought to Davros' lab where she is reunited with the Doctor, who was also captured by several patrolling Daleks. Davros expounds on his new facilities to create Daleks, even going so far to tell him about how unused parts are turned into raw protein which are then shipped throughout the galaxy as a food source. Davros prepares to activate his other facilities, replacing the one that was destroyed when Bostock rises and shoots off Davros' hand. He is then gunned down by a Dalek.

While distracted, the unidentified freighter lands, revealing a faction of Imperial Daleks, invited by Takis and Lilt. They take them through the corridors where they destroy the Daleks loyal to Davros. They enter the lab and arrest Davros and escort him out, preparing to take him to Skaro for trial. The Doctor, Takis and Lilt create a distraction and Orcini destroys the Dalek guard. Orcini, wounded, is unable to go with them and volunteers to stay behind and detonate the bomb given him by Kara, which will destroy all of Davros' facilities. The group runs out and reaches the ground level as Orcini detonates the bomb. This destroys the facilities but the Imperial Daleks and Davros lift off in their ship.

With the facility destroyed the Doctor offers to show them how they can process the native weed flower plant, which is similar to the soybean on Earth, to continue to meet their protein deliveries. He then promises to take Peri to a fun location, though the scene ends before he can reveal where.

Analysis

On one hand, I can understand why this story is looked down on and why Eric Saward is not highly regarded as a writer. But on the other hand, I can't help but admit that I really enjoyed this one. Looking at it squarely, I believe that this might actually be the Sixth Doctor story I enjoyed the most. The fact that it goes for several long stretches in Episode One without the Doctor might say something about my overall attitude towards the Sixth Doctor.

In his limited capacity, I did enjoy the Sixth Doctor. He was a bit less pompous in this story than in other stories and I thought there was a more introspective air about him. He also was a lot less condescending towards Peri in this story. There were still moments where he was rude and negative towards her, but there were also moments of compassion. He actually comforted her in a limited way after the mutant died that she did it in self defense. He also went so far as to show trust and care for her welfare in suggesting she go visit the DJ and then signalling to her to return to the TARDIS to radio the President's ship. That is a lot more confidence than he has ever shown her before and he did it without any form of backhanded insults.

Peri herself also wasn't too bad. She didn't have the wibbly whimper that she often has, even if she did spend a lot of time suggesting they run back to the TARDIS. But she did show herself useful in a couple of instances and there were even some moments where she showed compassion for the Doctor, even if she then spent just as much time whining about how she would be left on Necros.

The real assets of this story though were the secondary characters. Davros was entertaining in his megalomaniacal way and although you can miss the quieter and more cunning Davros, he still got the drop on just about everyone. Indeed, his only real flaw in this story is that he went James Bond villain and had to explain his plans to the Doctor, giving Bostock more time to recover and the Imperial Daleks time to arrive. I did enjoy the couple second fake out where you actually think Davros has been killed by Orcini. Of course, having seen later episodes, I knew that Davros would survive but I was at a moment of genuine curiosity when I saw the control panel blow up and Davros' head cave in as to how they would bring him back.

Unquestionably, the character I enjoyed the most was Orcini. There was a quiet confidence in both the character and in the actor portraying him. He had an excellent rapport with Bostock and a genuine quiet menace about him. There was no bluster or talk. He was deadly and you could feel that deadliness as he walked around. It was also nice to see the two of them actually take out Daleks and not just be overwhelmed and pray for a Deus Ex Machina at the end. They went in and they meant to see the job done and I appreciated that.

For the most part, I liked Kara as well. She was better in Episode One where she was more subtle in her motivations. You could tell that she was conspiring against Davros and she was a bit oily with Orcini and the transponder/bomb, but there was room in her interpretation that she wasn't as conniving as you might expect. However, she gave way to tropes in Episode Two, especially with the standard villain exposition of the plan to the henchman for the audience benefit. I actually liked the fact that Orcini straight up murders her for her betrayal of him and that Davros is completely unphased by his having a hidden dagger. She is a minor villain but done fairly well and dispatched readily when her part is over.

I thought the sets and camera work was pretty good for the 1980's. It is just an unfortunate by-product of the 80's that the sets generally look worse than the ones in the 70's, but I thought these were fairly well done. I did like the outdoor filmed scenes quite a bit, especially with the snow on the ground. It gave a harsher look to the environment and helped set the mood properly. Of course, most things look better on film so that's always an improvement.

There were a few things I didn't care for. Some of the secondary acting wasn't great. Tasambeker stood out for me particularly. She wasn't bad when doing the demur mouse, but her appeals to Jobel weren't done well and her jilted lover bit where she stabs Jobel was particularly poorly done. Jobel himself was also not the best. He was alright when doing the overbearing administrator or the plotter, but his attempts to be creepy infatuated were overdone and a bit too rape-y for my taste.

I also thought the DJ was way over the top and didn't really understand his commentary of things through the story. He didn't make much sense to have in the story to begin with other than as a place to keep Peri until the last bit. His fight was decent but his death was somewhat dumb as he just stood up to be shot rather than staying hunkered down. It was odd and felt rather pointless in a fairly dense story.

The Daleks were fairly well done but there were small problem with them as well. I liked that they were somewhat vulnerable to the weapons but in doing so, the models were revealed to be a bit cheap. When the Doctor shoots off the eyestalk of the guard Dalek near the end, you can see the top wobble as it spins. It's also a bit disappointing that the Imperial Daleks provide a Dalek Ex Machina ending rather than the Doctor figuring a way out of the dilemma.

This story is definitely not for everyone given that it is uber-violent and delves in some pretty dark humor for a family show. It also has some odd cutaways that border on silly at times. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and would probably pick it over nearly every other Sixth Doctor story to watch. I think only Vengeance on Varos or Mysterious Planet would compete with it. So for me, this is quite a good one.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Timelash

Do you have a fat, female Morlox with slinky legs?

I had originally planned for my next viewing to be Enlightenment so I could finish off the Black Guardian trilogy. But the version available to me was missing Episode Four so I had to put that one on the back burner until I can get a full and proper version. Instead, I'll tackle another story near the bottom of everyone's list. I don't recall why this one is supposed to be so bad. I only recall that it involves H. G. Wells, which seems like it would be a decent premise. But good premises often fail due to poor execution, so on we go.

Plot Summary

The Doctor is planning a trip to the Andromeda galaxy when Peri walks in and asks if they could take a trip to someplace fun. The Doctor attempts to suggest the Eye of Orion but Peri shoots him down as he has brought that location up a few times too often. He decides to continue on with his planned visit to Andromeda.

On the planet Karfel, a trio of rebels are attempting to escape as they have been exposed. Their planet is ruled by a dictator referred to as the Borad. All three are captured with the leader being executed by the Borad himself and the other two exiled by being pushed through a time vortex called the timelash.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor observes a time vortex opening in front and pulling the TARDIS in. He tries to avoid it but cannot escape it. He and Peri secure themselves to the console and hold on as the TARDIS is rocked about.

One member of the Karfel high council, Mykros, is frustrated by the Borad's rule and follows his soon to be father-in-law, Renis, into a power room. Renis is the Maylin, the head of the high council. He reveals to Mykros how he channels power for the Borad's experiments and a perceived weakness of the Borad. However, they are overheard by a hidden microphone and arrested.

Renis is brought before the Borad and executed. A new man, Tekker, is appointed Maylin and sentences Mykros to exile through the Timelash. Renis' daughter Vena pleads for mercy but when it is denied, she steals the amulet that controls the power supply but accidently falls into the timelash. She passes through the TARDIS as an apparition and materializes in the living room of a young man named Herbert. He believes her to be a spirit but she passes out and he lays her on a couch to recuperate.

The TARDIS materializes in the central hall and the Doctor and Peri emerge. They are welcomed by Maylin Tekker who knows of the Doctor as he had visited fifty years ago with Jo Grant as the Third Doctor. They are shown around and Peri is offered a private tour just after being handed a mysterious note. As Peri goes on her tour, the guards attempt to kill her but she is able to open a door where she finds herself in a system of caves.

Tekker is summoned away by the ambassador of the Bandrils, the people of the neighboring planet. Karfel has violated a peace treaty and has stopped grain shipments to the planet. With famine growing, the Bandrils threaten war unless the shipments start again. Tekker refuses, believing that the Borad will protect them.

Unaware of Peri's escape, Tekker threatens to kill Peri unless the Doctor retrieves the amulet stolen by Vena. The Doctor reluctantly agress and plots the TARDIS along the time corridor created by the timelash. He materializes outside Herbert's cottage and finds Vena inside. She agrees to go along with the Doctor's plan of giving back the amulet but insists on going to, although the Doctor tries to get her to stay with Herbert. Herbert wants to go along as well but the Doctor refuses. However, he manages to sneak aboard while the Doctor is still talking with Vena.

In the caves, Peri is attacked by a snake-like creature called a Morlox. It is beaten off by a cadre of rebels who then take Peri. She convinces them she is with the Doctor and the debate what to do next. However, Tekker's men discovered the note given to Peri, which she accidentally dropped, and come and arrest all of them.

The Doctor arrives back on Karfel and gives up the amulet. However, Tekker reneges on the agreement. Peri is taken away and Tekker instructs an android to push the Doctor into the timelash. The Doctor manages to pull out a mirror he took from Herbert's house which causes the android to malfunction. The rebels use the distraction to turn on and overpower the guards. Tekker and his lackey retreat and the rebels seal the door.

The Doctor finds a coil of strong rope and has the rebels lower him into the timelash. Inside, the cavern is a set of crystals that, when harmonized, produce the time vortex. The Doctor takes several crystals but slips and nearly falls in. Herbert and Mykros enter the timelash along the rope to help pull him out. With the crystals, the Doctor builds a device that pushes him forward ten seconds in time, but leaves an image of what happened in real time. He also develops a weapon to redirect energy from the weapons to transport the source away. The rebels recall seeing a burning android appear shortly before they were captured in the caves and realize that it was the Doctor's weapon.

The guards blow their way through. The rebels manage to take most down with the weapons stolen initially, but the android fights them back, killing one rebel. The Doctor uses his weapon, causing the android to short circuit and then disappear an hour into the past. With the guards beaten back, the Doctor orders the rebels to hide themselves while he goes to see the Borad. Herbert goes with him although the Doctor tries to dissuade him.

Meanwhile Peri has been taken by the guards to a holding cell, where she is equipped with a mechanical device. She is then taken into the caves and secured to a pole to await the Morlox.

The Doctor enters the Borad's quarters while Herbert climbs a ladder and finds a ledge overlooking the area. The Doctor is held at gunpoint by Tekker and the Borad reveals his true form. He is a scientist who was repudiated by the Doctor on his last visit. He was caught in an experiment gone wrong and fused his tissue with that of the Morlox he was experimenting on. He now plans to have the Bandrils destroy the population of Karfel, after which he will destroy the Bandrils. Tekker is appalled at this and tries to stand up to the Borad but the Borad kills him.

The Borad reveals to the Doctor that he plans to repopulate the devastated planet with other humanoid/Morlox hybrids. He has placed Peri in the caves with a lure for the Morlox and the same batch of chemicals that created him. When attacked, the Morlox will rupture the chemicals and create a female version for him to breed with. The Doctor activates his time device and eludes the Borad's attempts to kill him. He reemerges with the device pointed at the Borad who fires at him again. It absorbs the energy and redirects it at the Borad, killing him. The Doctor sends Herbert out to collect Peri while he finds the release mechanism. He releases Peri and Herbert pulls her back into the citadel away from the Morlox.

The group returns to the main chamber where they find that the Bandrils have launched a missile that will devastate the planet. The Doctor is able to contact the Bandrils but they refuse to call off the attack without conformation of the Borad's death. Lacking time, the Doctor heads out to the TARDIS to intercept the missile. Peri tries to go with him but the Doctor forces her to wait on planet. He is unaware that Herbert has snuck aboard until after taking off. He moves the TARDIS in the path of the missile and destroys it before it can hit the planet.

The Bandrils, believing the Doctor has sacrificed himself, call off the attack and prepare to land and negotiate with Mykros, who is the new Maylin. The Doctor arrives, unwilling to disclose how the TARDIS survived the missile impact and the group prepares to depart. However, a clone of the Borad appears and grabs Peri. He threatens to kill her unless the Doctor surrenders and destroys the Bandrils. The Doctor refuses and knocks down an old picture of his Third iteration to reveal a mirror. Unable to look upon himself, the Borad shields his eyes and releases Peri. The Doctor then pushes the Borad into the timelash, where he believes he will land in 12th century Scotland.

The Doctor and Peri prepare to depart, Herbert coming along reluctantly. While he is saying his goodbyes, the Doctor reveals that Herbert is actually H. G. Wells and will be drawing off these experiences for his stories.

Analysis

I really tried to keep an open mind about this one but every time I found something that was good, it was immediately followed by something bad and it just dragged me down. This story has a lot of sins but the worst of them is the fact that it is padded and boring. There were some individual performances that were good, but the story as a whole, both in writing and direction were quite subpar.

There were three characters I rather enjoyed: the Borad, Tekker and Herbert. Herbert had youthful naiveté that was understandable and made him more interesting. Tekker was hammy but it worked both in his toadying villain role and in contrast to the Doctor's own hammy arrogance. The Borad was the best for him. His makeup wasn't bad and he had a restrained performance that actually made him more menacing. His primary flaw was to go into Blofeld mode with the Doctor and explain all his plans before actually killing him. He was more decisive in killing Tekker than he was in killing the Doctor, but it was still enjoyable to watch. Even with the ludicrousness of the clone Borad, there was still a nice rapport between him and the Borad that it made the scene more interesting.

The Doctor was decent in this story. He was still arrogant but I felt he wasn't trying to be overly insulting. It was also nice that he was legitimately thinking his way out of problems rather than letting others do it for him. Peri, on the other hand, was dreadful. She started off wrong in the beginning as the Doctor actually attempts to be civil with her and she acts like a wet blanket about any holiday destination. Once on Karfel, she is separated from him for most of the story and serves only to scream and act the damsel in distress. Then, when the Doctor is racing against time to try and stop the Bandril missile, she refuses to listen to the Doctor and argues until he literally throws her out of the TARDIS. Neither comes across as good but if time is an issue, why are you pressing when you know you are just going to stand there and not be useful? It made Peri so aggravating at that moment.

So that covered the few positives. The negatives are more broad. First the story. Pulling on the works of H. G. Wells seems like it would be a phenomenal idea. However, the works of H. G. Wells are only used on the barest cursory level. It's almost like someone read a paragraph summary of four Wells novels and pulled only one of the ideas mentioned in that summary: the Doctor being invisible during his time jump (The Invisible Man), the Morlox and the TARDIS itself (The Time Machine), animal-human splicing (The Island of Dr. Moreau), and a battle between planets (War of the Worlds).
With all the ideas available and the richness of Wells' text to draw on, the story is boring through nearly all of Episode One. It picks up in Episode Two but once the original Borad dies, the story just drags out, trying to figure out how to fill the last fifteen minutes. It then takes the extremely lazy way out by first not bothering to figure out how the Doctor survived the Bandril missile but also to bring back the Borad for the equivalent of a final jump scare in a horror movie.

There are a lot of logical flaws in the plot as well. I understand why the Borad would hate to look on himself and ban mirrors, but why does a mirror have any effect on an android? Why do most people sent through the timelash end up in 12th century Scotland but Vena manages to land 800 years further in the future? Why would the Borad become the Loch Ness Monster when he still has legs that would allow him to walk out of the lake? Are the tales of his existence in the lake strong enough to last until the Zygons build the mechanical monster several hundred years later? Why don't the Bandrils even acknowledge Myros' attempt to talk with them and call off their attack? They might not believe him, but they should at least be willing to talk with him and maintain a holding pattern to see if the Borad has been overthrown, especially if they are familiar with the Doctor and can wait for his appearance. All of these things pile up and punch huge holes in the story.

The direction of this story is also very flat. Understand the idea that they didn't want the set glossy per the request of the Borad. But to compensate, the people should have been made to pop more. Color could have been used to more effect as could have a different type of shooting style or tape when doing different areas like the timelash itself. Instead it maintains this dull finish throughout. There is also nothing particularly good about the style of direction used. It's a very point one way and shoot rather than using any extra angles or framing to make the shots more interesting.

In the same vein, you have the contrast where the Borad looks very good as does the effects of aging people in his ray but the Morlox themselves look awful. I understand you are limited by budget and time effects, but if a mechanical puppet is the best you can do, light the cave differently so that it takes on a touch more menace. The Morlox looked like an animatronic dinosaur that you would see at any kid's museum and that is something that pulls you right out of the story. When you have that compared to how well other things were realized, it just makes the first thing look worse.

About the only saving grace I can give this story is that due to the quality of acting of a couple of the characters, it is not a story that I would necessarily plop into the bottom five as it typically seems to among fans. But it is not a good story and unless you were working on being a completionist and wanting to watch every story, it could easily be passed over without a second thought.

Overall personal score: 1 out of 5

The Twin Dilemma

I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not.

In just about every episode list that Doctor Who fans put together, three stories consistently sit at the bottom: Time-Flight, The Twin Dilemma and Time and the Rani. The Twin Dilemma is additionally exacerbated given that it is the immediate follow up to The Caves of Androzani, a story that is usually put near the top of most lists. So, taking that all into account, is this story as bad as it's reputation suggests?

Plot Summary

The Doctor, having just regenerated, prepares for a new adventure. Peri, unfamiliar with regeneration is skeptical and is wary of the new version of the Doctor. As he decides on a new outfit, the Doctor begins to go through crisis. He has mental lapses where wild emotion takes control. This blows up in a fit of paranoia where, believing that she is an evil fairy, the Doctor attacks and tries to strangle Peri. She manages to throw him off and when he wakes up to what he has done, decides that he must live as a hermit for a while, setting course for the asteroid Titan 3.

Meanwhile two mathematically gifted twins, Romulus and Remus Sylveste, are attending to their lessons, having been left alone for the evening by their parents. They are visited by an old man named Professor Edgeworth who uses a patch to hypnotize them and transports them to an alien spacecraft. Edgeworth has the boys locked in a room and contacts his employer, Mestor a giant slug, who orders them to head to the base on Titan 3.

The boy's father, Professor Sylveste, returns early and finds the boys gone. He also discovers a trace element in the floor and alerts the authorities that the boys have been kidnapped. The authorities launch an immediate search and one patrol ship discovers the freighter the boys are on. They are immediately alerted as the freighter was reported destroyed earlier that year and then jumps into warp drive, despite not being equipped with that capability.

The fighter squadron follows the freighter. When the freighter lands on Titan 3, the boys are taken the base. Mestor contacts Edgeworth and orders the boys to work. He also orders Edgeworth to destroy the pursuing fighters. Edgeworth does so though the squad leader, Lt. Lang, survives the crash. Disturbed by the loss of the squadron, the ministry on Earth orders any further pursuit called off.

The Doctor and Peri find Lang and bring him into the TARDIS. The Doctor chastises Peri for wanting to leave before they found him. Peri angrily rebuffs the Doctor for his own posturing. The noise of the argument brings Lang to his senses and he pulls a gun on the Doctor, believing him to be reason his squadron was destroyed. Peri pleads with Lang, who then collapses again. The Doctor takes away his gun and orders Peri to hide the power cell. At her urging, he reluctantly begins to tend to the man to save his life.

Professor Edgeworth sets the twins to a new set of calculations while he also sets his crew about to inspect the ship and the base. He updates Mestor on their progress as well and is ordered to come back to Jocanda once the ship is repaired. The twins balk at their assignments, but Mestor, who is telepathic, enters their minds and threatens their lives if they do not work.

Having tended to Lt. Lang's life, the Doctor and Peri leave the TARDIS and proceed to the hidden base. They discover a service passage and enter. In the corridors, the Doctor has a regeneration fit and the noise and his subsequent inaction attracts the attention of the Jacondans sent to make repairs. They take the Doctor and Peri back to Edgeworth in the main control room, where Edgeworth has just finished a cycle of cellular reconstruction in a side machine.

The Doctor recognizes Edgeworth as Azmael, the former ruler of Jocanda whom he befriended as the Fourth Doctor. Edgeworth does not recognize the Doctor but believes him and elects to merely leave him prisoner on Titan 3. This angers Noma, Edgeworth's second-in-command and he silently triggers the self destruct system for the base. Edgeworth, the twins and the Jocandans teleport to their ship, having locked the Doctor in and scrambled the teleporter.

The Doctor begins to try and figure the combination for the lock when Peri discovers the self destruct mechanism. The Doctor then changes plans and reconfigures the cellular reconstructor to act as a time teleporter which will carry them back to the TARDIS. He sends Peri first and then attempts to time his own jump to arrive at the same time as her.

On the TARDIS, Lt. Lang wakes and finds his gun. He realizes the power pack is missing and goes to find it. He enters the wardrobe and selects a new shirt to replace his damaged one. In the pocket of this new shirt, he finds the power pack. Fully armed, he attempts to figure out how to leave the TARDIS when Peri materializes near the console. She ignores him and turns on the scanner to see the base explode. The Doctor materializes moments later, telling her that he mistimed his jump due to the watch he was using being broken.

The two finally notice Lt. Lang and they bring him up to speed on the situation. He reluctantly agrees to work with them to rescue the twins. The Doctor then takes the TARDIS to Jaconda and is shocked to find the once green world a wasteland. Seeing petrified slime trails, the Doctor realizes that the planet has been taken over by a race of humanoid slugs that were thought to only be part of Jacondan legend.

Reverting into a fit, the Doctor argues against going to the palace to rescue the twins but Lt. Lang forces the Doctor to go. He lands in the basement and the group begins to sneak about, the Doctor pointing out carvings that relay the legend of the slug invasion. The Doctor figures that one of the slug eggs must have survived the great purge many years ago and the slugs grew in force until they could take over. Confirming this theory, two slugs pass by. The group manages to avoid being seen but Lang accidently steps in the slime trail and is stuck, forcing him to try and cut himself out.

Edgeworth and his group land on Jaconda where he sets the twins to work on his plan to bring two outer planets into orbit around Jaconda to act as greenhouses to continuously supply food to Jaconda. Mestor comes down to check on them and attempt to show that his aims are benevolent. Mestor reluctantly agrees to give the twins a full day to work and will refrain from telepathically monitoring Edgeworth. Edgeworth is left alone with the boys and a Jacondan named Drak who is sympathetic to Edgeworth.

Lang manages to cut himself free, but the Doctor goes on ahead of them, still in his regeneration fit. Lang and Peri are discovered by Jacondan guards. Lang is knocked out but Peri is taken to Mestor. Meanwhile the Doctor discovers Edgeworth's lab and attacks him. Drak manages to pull him off and the fit passes. Edgeworth tells the Doctor his plan for moving the planets when a revived Lang burst in, telling the Doctor of Peri's capture. The Doctor, moves to go rescue her but is restrained by Lang and Edgeworth so as to not expose them.

Mestor elects not to kill Peri but does probe her mind and sends his guards to Edgeworth's lab. The guards arrest the Doctor and take him to Mestor, although they miss Lang. In the throne room, the Doctor offers his services to help move the planets based on his experience. Mestor is suspicious but agrees, sending the Doctor and Peri back to the lab.

In the lab, the twins finish their calculations but the Doctor points out a flaw in the plan. As the planets are of lower mass, moving them closer to the sun will eventually cause their orbits to degrade and plunge into the sun. Edgeworth agrees, kicking himself for not seeing this flaw. The Doctor asks to see the hatchery to try and determine what Mestor's real plan is. The eggs seem odd to him and they only respond when heat is applied. He realizes that Mestor's plan is to have the two outer planets plunge into the sun with the resulting plasma explosion destroying Jaconda and sending the now heat bathed eggs across the universe to hatch and infect other worlds.

The Doctor orders the twins to erase their calculations, keeping the knowledge in their heads alone. He orders Lang to take the twins and Peri back to the TARDIS while he and Edgeworth take on Mestor. The Doctor tells Drak to go with Lang but finds Drak dead, Mestor having burned out his mind using him to monitor them. The two groups head out in separate directions, the Doctor taking two vials of chemicals with him.

Lang's group wanders the tunnels looking for the TARDIS. As they approach, the run into Noma and two other guards, sent by Mestor. The twins jump in front, knowing that Mestor needs them alive. The Jacondan hesitation allows Lang to shoot the two guards. Noma gets a shot off and wounds Lang, but he is able to return fire and shoot the gun from Noma's hand. Peri and the twins pick up the dropped guns and hold Noma prisoner.

The Doctor and Edgeworth head to the throne room and the Doctor throws one of his vials at Mestor. Mestor activates a force field to protect himself. He then threatens to take over the Doctor's mind but the Doctor mocks him and invites him. However, instead of the Doctor, Mestor transfers his mind to Edgeworth. Edgeworth fights him and tells the Doctor to destroy Mestor's original body. The Doctor throws his second vial of chemicals, melting Mestor's body. Mestor and Edgeworth continue to fight mentally but the strain is too much and Edgeworth collapses. Unable to retreat to his own body, Mestor's consciousness is ejected from Edgeworth's body and he dissipates, causing all the controlled Jacondans to be released to their normal selves. Edgeworth dies in the Doctor's arms, having used all his regenerations prior to this body.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and offers to take the twins back to Earth. Lang elects to stay and become the new Master of Jaconda. Peri wishes him well but the Doctor dismisses him. As they leave in the TARDIS, Peri asks if the Doctor is having another fit to be so rude. The Doctor states that his mind has stabilized and that she is going to have to accept his new brusquer, alien personality.

Analysis

While The Twin Dilemma is not the horrible dreck it is occasionally made out to be, it is not by any means good. The story itself isn't too bad, and there is some potential both in the overall plan and the introduction of the Doctor, but it falls apart in so many other ways that those overwhelm the good aspects of the story.

The limited amount of good things in this story are pretty much the story concept, some of the language structure of the script and the performance of Edgeworth. I did enjoy him throughout the story as he begins with a quiet sinisterness; someone who does not want to harm but will if the situation is necessary. He evolves into a more sympathetic character, having compassion but also still understanding that hard choices must be made. I did enjoy his performance, although his death scene was a bit hokey.

That hokey-ness is just one of the myriad of flaws this story has. You would think that a story that has the Doctor attempting to strangle a companion could only improve from that point, but the story actually gets worse in later episodes. I thought the Doctor's fits were over the top acting but that he was somewhat restrained when operating in his "normal" mode in the beginning. His pomposity was actually somewhat amusing as you adjusted to it. But even his non-fit moments started to take on a silly over-the-top-ness as the story progressed. It then all came to a crashing end in the final scene.

There are certain stories that have been described by fans as moments where the show was overly arrogant in that fans would just accept anything put out by the producers. The final scene of the Doctor talking to Peri is probably one of the worst moments. The Doctor doesn't look directly at the camera like he does at the end of The Caves of Androzani but his telling of Peri that she has no choice and must just accept him is a jab in the eye at the people who watched the show. Even worse is that there is total tone confusion in the scene. As the Doctor speaks, the music goes full minor, giving a dark edge to the scene, almost like a villain making a threat to a hostage. But then he smiles slightly and Peri responds like she just got the joke and that throws further confusion in to the scene. Is she going Stockholm Syndrome? Is this some sort of private joke between them? The scene just doesn't make any sense in what it is trying to accomplish other than to tell people to shut up and not whine about the new Doctor. It is just highly off-putting.

The acting outside of the Doctor and Edgeworth is a real mixed bag. Mestor, although limited by his costume, does a fairly good job. He comes across as fairly sinister and has a real Jabba the Hut angle going, although I think he seems more competent than Jabba. Lang was okay, although not overly memorable. Noma, likewise, did a decent job as the lackey, although I wouldn't call anything about his performance overly distinguishing. The twins were not good, although I didn't think they were as bad as fans say. They seemed like prototypical child actors, limited in scope and emotion, thus coming across as fairly bland. I wouldn't call their performance bad, just boring. As children, that earns them a bit of a pass in my book where as you would be harder on a similar performance from an adult.

Unquestionably, the worst acting comes from Peri. She never, ever, loses the whiney wibble in her voice and she seems genuinely stunted in her emotional range while trying to maintain the American accent. The script takes her all over the place, going from confused, to defiant, to back to submissive. The worst moment is the cliffhanger to Episode Two where she thinks the Doctor has been blown up. She scrunches up her face like she is about to cry but it comes across as so fake looking. I think I have seen better acting in high school dramas for that emotion. It is just absolutely terrible. Her only good moments come when she is standing up and fighting with the Doctor, calling him out on his crap. But she then either retreats too quickly into diminutive status or presses too hard and maintains the anger when it is not required that the overall effect of that momentary good bit is lost in the overplaying of the whole.

The set design wasn't bad, albeit very 1980's and I actually thought the Jacondans didn't look too bad. They had a more real look that you might expect for painting the face of an actor silver. Not the best alien ever seen on the show but far from the worst. Mestor on the other hand was terrible. The slugs in general weren't very good as there should have been a better attempt at making them look like they are slithering rather than shuffling. But Mestor himself was so limited by the terribleness of his mask. The worst part was the large plastic eyes that never moved. So much acting happens in the eyes and to have a creature that is supposed to be this sinister and cunning just stare half cross-eyed whenever being addressed. The costume would have been better served to eliminate any traces of eyes in the front and pretend that his eyes were on the stalks protruding from his head like slugs actually do. That would have made him slightly more unnerving to look at and emphasized his alien-ness. It also doesn't help that after visiting with the twins in Episode Three, you can see several Jacondan extras helping Mestor up the stairs by grabbing his arms. It either is a breaking of the illusion by the acting needing help just to get off the set, or it weakens Mestor's credibility as a villain as he cannot even leave a room without help.

Overall, I can't say that I enjoyed this story. I was feeling open-minded about this story at first and thought that it might be able to overcome some of it's limitations in the beginning. In the first episode and a half, I thought that maybe that fans were a little harsh on this story and that something could be salvaged by it, perhaps able to shoot for something in the 2 to 2.5 range. But it just continued to decline and by the end, I was just glad to be done with it. A decent story attempt but bad acting, mediocre direction, and inconsistency in production drug it down to the depths. Again, I will say that it is not a total loss or that it is dreck of the caliber of Dimensions in Time, but I can't think of any good reason why someone would want to watch this story for a second time. Definitely a poor start for the Sixth Doctor and an awful chaser to the prior story.

Overall personal score: 0.5 out of 5

Vengeance on Varos

I like that one, the one in the funny coat.

Nearly every science-fiction series does some variant on the Roman bread and circuses routine. Vengeance on Varos is that for Doctor Who, although it seems a bit odd that it took them that long to do one. Also, this one is long on the circuses but a bit short on the bread, giving it a stronger tie-in to the modern reality television market.

Plot Summary

On the planet Varos, a couple are watching a rebel leader named Jondar being tortured. They are awaiting a message and vote from the planetary governor. The Governor is negotiating a contract with the off-planet mining company representative named Sil over the planet's chief export, the mineral Zeiton-7. At a stand-off, the Governor goes before the people to ask for greater rations to expand mining operations. The people vote immediately and directly through their screens and when he loses the vote, the Governor is tortured with a cellular decay field, nearly killing him.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor is attempting to repair the damage done by the Cybermen in the previous adventure. The TARDIS suddenly stops dead and the Doctor begins to mope that they are stuck in the middle of space. Peri grabs the manual and when she notices the time-rotor still moving slightly, the Doctor is reanimated knowing they can make at least one more landing. Investigating, he figures the TARDIS needs an infusion of Zeiton-7 for renewed power and the two decide to head for Varos.

After the failed vote, Sil attempts to gain ground on the Governor in his weakened state. The Governor, needing time to recover, takes the suggestion of one of the guards to execute Jondar in a random fashion as a means of entertainment and driving up the Governor's ratings. Sil concedes the time as he is also fond of watching the executions but sends word to the company that more militant action may be necessary.

As the means is prepared, the Doctor and Peri land. The TARDIS is attacked by a guard and the Doctor disarms him. He then releases Jondar. The act brings the guards in and the trio flee into the tunnels. The Doctor sets up some distractions but the only lose the guards when pulled into an access tunnel by Jondar's wife Areta, aided by a sympathetic guard. The guard is gunned down as they flee but the rest escape deeper into the tunnels.

The Doctor tries to get back to the TARDIS and learns the only way is through a series of tunnels and rooms designed to terrify and torture people for entertainment. The group is unaware that they are still being broadcast and the public is enjoying their attempts at escape. They navigate through two rooms designed to paralyze them with fear but emerge unscathed. However, upon reaching the original room, they find the TARDIS has been taken by the authorities.

Continuing to look for the TARDIS, the group is separated by guards. Peri, Jondar and Areta are captured with Peri being taken to the control room for questioning. The Doctor is trapped in a hallway where hypnotic suggestion impresses on him that he is dying of thirst in the desert. He collapses, apparently dead. However, when the guards take him to the acid bath disposal room, he comes alert and gets up. The shock sends a guard back, knocking his companion into the bath. The remaining guard attacks the Doctor, but he is forced back and then dragged into the acid bath by the first guard trying to get out.

The Doctor leaves but is quickly recaptured. He and Jondar are sentenced to execution by hanging while the women will be cellularly reconstructed into some other creature. After the women are lead away, the Doctor accuses Sil of underpricing the Zeiton-7 ore, detailing how valuable it is and what the demand for it should be. Enraged, Sil sends his men in and one triggers the trap door. However, the nooses were not secured to anything and the Doctor and Jondar fall harmlessly below. The whole thing had been a ruse by the Governor to get the truth out of both the Doctor and Sil.

The Doctor states he will only help if Peri and Areta are released unharmed. Sil encourages the Chief Officer to not comply, allowing the transmogrification to continue. Peri begins to assume the form of a bird while Areta takes a more reptilian appearance. Realizing what has happened, the Doctor grabs a gun and orders them to stop the process. When they refuse, he destroys the equipment. With the process incomplete, Peri and Areta revert back to their normal states.

An alarm is sounded and the group make a run for it, although Peri and Areta are very weak. Seeking to help them, the Doctor and Jondar steal a guard car, but while doing so, Peri wanders off in a semi-delusional state and is captured. She is brought back to the control room and the Chief Controller orders a populace vote as the Governor has outstepped his mandate.

While the stream is being set up, the Governor appeals to guard captain Maldak to help them. He refuses, waiting for the vote results. Both the Chief Officer and the Governor state their cases and the vote goes against the Governor. As the cellular decay beam is activated, he condemns the Varosian society for what is has become. This moves Maldak and he destroys the cellular decay machine. Maldak, the Governor and Peri then flee into the tunnels.

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Jondar and Areta elude death traps in the corridors as they approach the exit of the dome. They enter an area with deadly vines and when a patrol car approaches, the Doctor has Jondar pull a group of the vines away with a string. The Chief Officer and Quilliam the torturer arrive and attempt to gather them for torture display when Jondar releases the vines, running into their pursuers and killing them.

The Doctor's group meets the Governor's group as they emerge from the vines and return to the control room. There they find Sil communicating with his own people about an invasion force. The invasion fleet is called off as another source of Zeiton-7 has been discovered although the immediate need requires them to pay any price. The Governor then creates a new contract that will bring great wealth to Varos.

The Governor gives the Doctor and Peri the Zeiton-7 they need and then addresses the people. As they will now getting greater wealth, he is calling off all rationing and cancelling the broadcast tortures. The couple who had been watching events all this time reflect that although they have now been grated freedom, they are unsure of what to do next.

Analysis

There are a number of stories in Doctor Who that have not aged well, whether due to a change in civic outlook, production values, or just an appreciation of acting performance. Vengeance on Varos seems to be one of those rare productions that actually increases in appreciation the older it gets. The effects and overall production of the story are still mediocre at best and reek of the cheap stylishness of the 1980's, but the story quality itself is so forward looking (while also being rear facing) that it seems to be appreciated more and more as time goes by.

Obviously the first reference is to the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome and how that kept the people sedated. However, the fact that it extends into the political arena where the Governor himself may be tortured and killed as a means of pacifying the people is very forward thinking. Our own elections of today have become as much a reality television show as anything else on. We shouldn't be surprised that one candidate is effectively a reality show star in and of himself.

Probably one of the most interesting things about this story is that as good at is as a straight narrative, you constantly have quick cuts to the couple of Arak and Etta who offer commentary just as was probably being done to the show at the time and indeed as we do now. Arak takes great relish in being contrary to anything the Governor states and proposes (much like a modern political system) and is almost gleeful when he votes to kill the Governor, stealing Etta's vote in the process. His indignence at having the Governor's death thwarted to the point of double voting a second time is almost like the petulance seen in modern internet reaction where people scream and rage over the pettiest garbage simply because they do not get their way.

I must praise the acting in this as well. The Governor and the Chief Officer are wonderfully deadpan and understated in their performances, giving a nicer contrast to the emotional and reactionary Sil. Sil gets a little mustache twirl-y at times, but it comes across mostly in a comedic fashion, adding a nice bit of levity to the story.

The Doctor was quite good in this story as well. He whiney petulance at the beginning where the TARDIS stalls out was a little annoying but once they landed on Varos, he really picked up, both with wit and enthusiasm. He also began to show a nice report with Peri. His comments to her were more interactive and informative rather than belittling or condescending. He goes so far to actually express great concern for her, something notably lacking in other stories.

Peri, on the other hand, does not really keep up her end. Nothing is wrong with her in the way she is written, but I'm getting the feeling that the desire for Peri to be expressed as an American, really hampered Nicola Bryant's acting ability. She effectively only has two tones: a lower, more conversational tone (like when she is with the Doctor in the TARDIS) and a higher pitched, whinier tone expressed whenever they get into trouble. It reduces her to the damsel in distress role and she is never really seen to do anything of benefit to what the Doctor is doing. Her only contribution here is to get out the TARDIS manual and kick the Doctor in the butt to land on Varos. Once there, it is run, get captured, escape; wash, rinse, repeat. Granted, the Doctor does much the same, but he is interacting and aiding in the formant of rebellion. Peri is a complete tag-a-long, existing solely as something to be rescued.

My only other complaint about this story is the rather cheap look to the story. The story does a decent job of disguising things with dark, moody lighting, but it can't disguise sets like the gallows, which are back-lit like an 80's episode of Lawrence Welk. The vine scene also has a fake look to it that is hard to ignore. Obviously the show was hampered by budget concerns and studio space limitations, but there is something about the way the show was filmed in the 1980's just seems to draw your eye to the limitations where it was more easily ignored in the 1970's.

Overall, this story was quite good. Enjoyable story, enjoyable characters, witty script and very interesting premise. I think I would go so far as to say that this is my favorite Sixth Doctor story to date. I only have three left to see and the reputation of two of them is less than stellar so it'll be interesting to see how that final story stacks up against this one to claim the title of my favorite of the era.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

The Mark of the Rani

The Doctor won't look kindly on you interfering with his favorite planet.

The Mark of the Rani introduced Pip and Jane Baker as writers on Doctor Who. They have been looked down on by collective fan wisdom as the years have gone by and I don't think that's fully justified. I liked Terror of the Vervoids and I'm willing to give them a pass on The Ultimate Foe as they were taking over from Robert Holmes blind. I've not yet seen Tme and the Rani but even if it is as terrible as I am anticipating it to be, it was a slapdash rush job and I'm guessing blame will need to be spread everywhere, not just the writers. As for The Mark of the Rani, I rather enjoyed it.

Plot Summary

Three miners leave their shift in a small town in the early 19th century. They enter a bathhouse to clean up but are gassed upon entering. When they wake, they begin attacking any evidence of machinery, heading out of town as they do so.

The Doctor and Peri land outside the town with the Doctor detecting a time distortion from a time machine, suggesting either Time Lords or Daleks are in the area. He and Peri observe the three men attacking a cart with some machinery on it. The Doctor and Peri help drive the attackers off, noting a curious mark on one of the men. The cart driver gives them a lift in to town where he is delivering equipment to the engineer George Stephenson.

The Doctor and Peri are followed by the Master, who had been posing as a scarecrow out in the fields. The Doctor and Peri enter Stephenson's compound to wait for him, growing more concerned when they learn a meeting of the Industrial Revolution greats is going to take place in two days. The Master kills a dog and guard to allow access to the place. He then sends in the three miners who had been gassed earlier to attack the Doctor and Peri, who have left the office and are looking around for Mr. Stephenson.

The Doctor is rescued from being cast down the coal mine chute by Lord Ravensworth, owner of the mine. He takes the Doctor back to his office to determine who is he is. The Doctor convinces him that he is an interested scientist and here to help in the face of the violent Luddite attacks. The Doctor further inquires about the attacks and the men who have disappeared from the mine. Two of the women of the town arrive and mention that their men have disappeared as well. Peri wants to leave but the Doctor stays, knowing that there is something beyond just the Luddites.

The Master sneaks into the wash house where he observes two more miners being gassed and then taken into a secret room where they are hooked up to some equipment by the old woman running the house. The Master confronts her and she reveals herself as the Rani, a fellow Time Lord. He offers his services but the Rani dismisses him. He then kills one of her helpers and threatens to expose her unless she helps him with the Doctor.

The Rani is extracting a chemical from human brains and the violent, anti-technology reactions are side effects of her work, not the purpose. Again, she attempts to dismiss the Master, but he steals her collection of extracted chemicals and blackmails her into helping him.

The Master sneaks off to agitate a group of Luddites to attack the Doctor. The Rani has one of her brainwashed servants try to take him down but when the element of surprise is lost, she calls him off for fear of breaking the vial.

Using the information gleaned from the townsfolk, the Doctor heads to the bath house where he is captured along with two other miners. The Rani recognizes him and wakes him. Peri is also captured by the returning Master. The Doctor deduces what the Rani is doing and tricks the Master into thinking the Rani has double crossed him. He wheels the Doctor outside bound to a stretcher. Once the Doctor is outside, he kicks the Master's weapon away. Peri accidentally pushes him downhill where he is grabbed by the Luddites the Master had agitated earlier. They try to drop him down the mine shaft but he is rescued and the mob dispersed by George Stephenson.

Stephenson takes the Doctor and Peri back to his workshop. The Doctor urges him to cancel the meeting with other famous men but the messenger, Luke, is apprehended by the Master and hypnotized to thinking that he delivered it and to attack anyone who tries to stop the meeting. The Master shows the letter to the Rani and convinces her to help him, allowing her to exploit the planet openly as she desires. She agrees and the two leave to implement a plan.

The Doctor and Peri return to the bath house and after setting off a booby trap, they find the Rani's TARDIS. Whilst inside, the Rani activates a recall device. Peri leaves but the Doctor stays behind and hides in the TARDIS as the Rani and the Master enter and grab equipment they will use against him.

The Doctor reunites with Peri but split up again with the Doctor looking for George Stephenson and Peri going with Luke to find herbs to create a sleeping agent to help the men affected by the Rani's experiments. The Doctor finds Stephenson who was preparing to walk into a trap set by the Master via Luke.

The Doctor talks him out of going and goes himself, walking around the booby traps set by the Master and the Rani. He gets the drop on them and holds the Master's weapon against them. As he does so, Peri and Luke wander into the minefield set by the Rani. Luke step on a mine and is transformed into a tree. He retains enough sentience to stop Peri from also stepping on a mine. The Doctor forces the Rani to lead Peri out. She does but the approach of some Luddites forces them to split up. Peri takes the Master and the Rani back to the mines while the Doctor tries to stop the Luddites.

The Doctor is overpowered and tied to a pole. He is carried to the minefield where his two carriers are also transformed. The explosion frightens off the others. The Doctor slips his bonds and runs to the mine. There he finds Peri who was tricked and knocked out by the Rani. The Rani had tried to flee but the Master forced her to stay. He fires at the Doctor, destroying a support pillar and triggering a cave in. The Master and the Rani flee to her TARDIS while the Doctor and Peri flee to the exit.

The Rani takes off but the Doctor had sabotaged her TARDIS and she and the Master are sent out to the far reaches of the universe. The Doctor had also taken the brain fluid from the Master and he has Peri give it to Lord Ravensworth to give to the men. The Doctor had also asked George Stephenson to haul the TARDIS out of the mine and he finds it in Stephenson's lab. The Doctor and Peri then leave prior to the arrival of the other great minded men.

Analysis

I enjoyed this story and unquestionably the primary reason was the Rani. In many ways, she acted as a voice of the audience, criticizing the Master on his hare-brained schemes as well as dressing down the Doctor occasionally. Her interplay with the Master was entertaining and her deadpan actually helped undercut the Master's cheesy-ness which made him a slightly more credible villain. It was nice to see a villain with both real intelligence and pragmatism. She had no desire to do anything other than exploit what she needed from the humans. She ruled a planet and that was enough for her. It is only the Master's blackmail and his offer of unlimited access to Earth that convince her to aid him. She even calculates that retreat is the better option at the end and does not give in to the bravado the Master does in facing down the Doctor a second time.

The Doctor is enjoyable too, although it's hard to shake the feeling that he is playing second fiddle in this story. His banter with Peri is a bit less mean-spirited and you can see the beginnings of where they will end up in The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet with their much more playful jabs at each other. There are even fun little bits that come out as he is clearly giddy at meeting like scientific minds (a trait continued in the subsequent The Two Doctors) as well as propensity for bad puns. He also demonstrates a clear concern for the people exploited by the Rani, trying to help them, although not overly successfully.

Unfortunately, it is Peri that is hard to deal with here. Lord Ravensworth and George Stephenson act more the companion here, getting involved and working with the Doctor to solve the problem, though neither has a large amount of screen time. Peri spends all her time whining about they should leave and her tone in this whining is especially annoying. She comes across as especially dumb in her ignorance of Luke's fate, missing several similar mines due to dumb luck, and in how she is easily taken in and subdued by the Rani while guarding them in the mine shaft. Her positive contribution in this story is effectively zero as the one or two times she does something positive is easily cancelled out by her overwhelming hindrance.

Back on the plus side, the episode is filmed almost entirely on location and it looks good. There is a real grit to the town's appearance and it's nostalgically nice seeing that grainy film quality throughout rather than bouncing between it and video tape. It's also nice to see a full use of the surrounding area. In a studio shoot, the mine field in the forest would have probably looked very fake. Here though, there is an authenticity, even if they still stayed too tight in their focus of the area.

One thing that did bug me though was the unaddressed mine field. Mine fields were a big political issue in the 80's so I'm not surprised to see it used here. However, no mention is made of clearing it once the Doctor and Peri have delivered the brain fluid to Lord Ravensworth. In fact, the fact that Stephenson only just managed to retrieve the TARDIS makes it seem as though the Doctor and Peri have just come from the collapsed mine, leaving the Rani's mine field untouched to transform others wandering through. I don't need all loose threads resolved, but given the significant nature of this threat, a passing line about neutralizing the Rani's mines would have been a rather important thing. It's a small thing but that really bugs me.

Overall, I'd give this one a decent grade. It would be better if Peri weren't so annoying and there is a little too much running around without much point in the middle, but it still is probably the best of the Season 22 Sixth Doctor that I've seen. I wouldn't mind pulling it out to watch a second time, but I freely admit that it would be for the Rani rather than the Doctor.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

Dimensions In Time

I've seen them thrown out of the Vic, but never dragged in.

So how bad is Dimensions in Time? Pretty bad. It's actually even worse if, like me, you know nothing about East Enders and wouldn't know any of the characters if they walked up and introduced themselves. Despite everything that had gone on in the past, you do have to give JNT credit for trying to put together something fun for the thirtieth anniversary, but this is pretty bad.

Plot Summary

The special opens with the Third Doctor visiting the set of Noel's House Party and showing everyone the new special (including 3-D effects). They then cut to the Rani who has exiled the First and Second Doctor to a loop in time, leaving their projected heads swirling around her TARDIS.

The Fourth Doctor sends out a distress signal as the Rani prepares to trap the remaining Doctors in the time loop. She targets the TARDIS and the Seventh Doctor and Ace materialize in 1973 London instead of China as intended. Blips in time begin to show as the Seventh Doctor gives way to the Sixth Doctor.

Time continues to slip mixing Doctors with companions at various points in time. The Third Doctor with Mel, the Sixth Doctor with Susan, the Third Doctor with Sarah Jane; all the while, the Doctor and companions interact with characters from East Enders. The Doctors realize that a time loop is oscillating things in twenty year spans, 1973, 1993, and 2013.

Fearing that the Doctor is on to her plan, the Rani releases specimens from her collection to deal with the Doctor. A Cyberman and an Ogron attack the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa. Other monsters materialize to chase them and the Rani herself materializes as the program breaks.

The audience in invited to vote for a helper for the Doctor: either Mandy or Big Ron. The show resumes the next day with Mandy as the winner of the audience poll.

The Fifth Doctor summons his other selves upon seeing the Rani. The Third Doctor appears with Liz Shaw. Liz charges the Rani to attack but is thrown off by a passer-by (Mandy). Captain Yates rolls up in Bessie to take the Third Doctor to the TARDIS as the Rani flees. The Brigadier lands in a helicopter, meeting the Sixth Doctor.

The Rani, having retreated to her TARDIS, prepares to materialize in the loop. Romana (II) appears to help but is pulled into the pub to keep her out of the way. The Third Doctor is back outside the TARDIS with Victoria. The Doctor takes the TARDIS to the Greenwich Meridian. The Rani's TARDIS appears nearby as the Seventh Doctor emerges from the TARIDS. Leela emerges from the Rani's TARDIS, having escaped but saying that she was cloned. The Doctor realizes that she is planning to open the time tunnel along the Meridian giving her control of the development of the universe.

Knowing that the Rani has a copy of Romana's brain print to work with, the Seventh Doctor sets up a feedback loop to pull the Rani's TARDIS in the time loop she has created with K-9 assisting. The Doctor's plan works, releasing the First and Second Doctor and pulling her TARDIS in. The Seventh Doctor and Ace prepare to leave with the time stream returned to normal.

Analysis

If you were to create a list of the things that I dislike in television stories, Dimensions in Time would probably hit all of them. Poor writing: check. Poor acting: check. Poor pacing: check. Poor visual effects: check. I'm sure their heart was in the right place, but this story is appallingly bad.

John Nathan-Turner was not a writer for the show and the fact that he gets co-writing credit on this shows why he didn't write. The story is overly confusing with a desperate attempt to cram as many cameos by past companions and East Enders characters in as possible. That actually is the primary motivation of the story and the Rani's plan, nor the Doctor's solution is ever really explained as to what they are doing.

Then the acting. Tom Baker is the worst as he isn't even half-assing it. Most of the other Doctor's do fairly well, although it's pretty obvious that Jon Pertwee can barely move due to the condition of his back. The companions fair less well with most of them failing to add any depth or energy to the wooden lines. Ace does well as her dialogue actually makes sense and Sarah Jane falls back into her role with ease. The Brig also comes across decent, although that is due more to his gravitas rather than anything special in the acting or writing. The East Enders folks are even worse with cornball lines thrown in an attempted jokey fashion that just sound stupid.

The camera work isn't bad as there is a lot of circling around in a way that would have made Aaron Sorkin proud, but the overall pacing is not particularly good. It is jump cut after jump cut after jump cut. I think they were trying to get a frenetic feeling but instead it gave it an overly rushed feeling. Characters are given one line to hurrily insert or a Doctor gets thirty seconds to cram as much exposition in as possible. Then at random moments, it slows down to give the wooden dialogue even more time to set it. It's just painful to watch.

The visual effects scream no money as well. They also scream early '90s and I'm willing to cut a little slack for that, much like I give Noel Edmonds a bit of a break for the shirts he is wearing. But they are still pretty darn bad. The dummy heads of the First and Second Doctors floating around set a bad tone. What's probably the actual worst is when the various enemies make cameo appearances. These are obviously recycled costumes and puppets from earlier episodes but the lighting and camera angles used make them look even more fake than when they were originally on. Going back to pacing, it's obvious that there is this desperate push to get as many villain cameos in as quick as possible in the 45 seconds allotted to the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa running through the square and it exposes the poor quality, much of which probably looks worse just because of natural deterioration.

I can see what JNT was going for as he obviously wanted something fun and fan service-y for the thirtieth anniversary but this is of the level of a student film. While I'm sure he had almost no budget to make this, they did have professional cameras and experience that should have put them over a student level production. Certainly having another writer take a second or third stab at the script also would have helped some.

But what still makes no sense is why an anniversary special for Doctor Who was paired for a crossover with East Enders. That would be like having an anniversary special of Star Trek where Kirk and his crew interacted with folks on Dallas. The two settings are at cross purposes and I can't see how either fan base would be interested in the overall story.

I will say that for more casual fans at the time, it probably felt good to see the old characters again. Hardcore fans were probably appalled at the lack of quality and it would have seemed like a horrible way to watch the show you loved disappear into the darkness. For someone watching from the future, it just seems silly and poorly done. I would say that anyone who enjoys Doctor Who should watch it at least once, just for the experience and to get an added perspective on not only how good the new series is, but even on how bad things really could have been during the low points of the mid/late-'80's. But once you've seen it once, that's more than enough unless you intend to go full MST3K.

Overall personal score: 0 out of 5

The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe

A megabyte modem!

The Ultimate Foe is the unfortunate child of a lot of bad things happening at once. Robert Holmes was supposed to write the whole thing, but he died after finishing Episode Thirteen, leaving only an outline for the rest. Eric Saward stepped in but John Nathan-Turner disliked his ending so he gave it to Pip and Jane Baker, who were not allowed to see Eric Saward's draft. That left them fumbling in the dark. Combine that with some shoddy acting and rather poor direction and you have a terrible mess on your hands.

Plot Summary

To address the Doctor's charges of tampering with the Matrix, the Keeper of the Matrix is brought in. Although the Doctor gets him to admit that the Matrix is accessible with either the Key of Rassilon or a copy, he denies any tampering has occurred. The Doctor's only other alternative is produce material witnesses to verify his version of events.

The Doctor states his witnesses would be scattered across time and space when two capsules arrive, containing Sabalom Glitz and Mel. They had been sent by the Master who appears on screen, claiming to be within the Matrix. Glitz reveals that the Council of Time Lords had been behind events which led to the Earth being move and renamed as shown in The Mysterious Planet. The Doctor is outraged and castigates the Time Lords for their actions, including setting him up to be the scapegoat. The Master agrees and also reveals that the Valeyard is an amalgamation of the dark aspects of the Doctor's personality formed sometime after his twelfth iteration, who had been promised the Doctor's remaining regenerations if he prosecuted the Doctor.

Unmasked, the Valeyard flees into the Matrix. The Doctor purses, dragging Glitz along with him. The two emerge in what looks like Victorian London. They discover the Valeyard's factory base and enter. There they encounter Mr. Popplewick, who acts as a screener. Through him the Doctor agrees to play the Valeyard's game that if he dies, the Valeyard will absorb the Doctor's remaining regenerations.

Moving to the next room, the Doctor finds himself on a beach where arms pull him down into quicksand. Glitz tries to help the Doctor but he disappears. But the Doctor reemerges having reasserted his mind over the quicksand illusion. The Valeyard appears as an image, taunting the Doctor. The Doctor and Glitz are forced to flee when the Valeyard releases a wave of nerve toxin at them.

They run into the Master's TARDIS where the Master puts the Doctor into a catatonic state. Offering the Doctor as bait, the Master attacks the Valeyard but is thrown back and the Master flees. The Doctor awakens to see Mel offering a way out. The two of them walk back into the courtroom where despite Mel's testimony, the Doctor is found guilty of genocide and sentenced to execution. The Doctor goes willingly along with the guards.

The courtroom is revealed to be a fake as events are observed from the real courtroom. The real Mel leaves the courtroom and enters the Matrix freeing the Doctor from the execution wagon. He is annoyed with her as he had been playing along trying to use the execution as a means to get close to the Valeyard. Glitz also reemerges having been bribed by the Master to help out. The three reenter the Valeyard's factory base and begin to look around.

Glitz finds what he believes to be the Matrix master tapes and also confronts Mr. Popplewick. The Doctor meanwhile finds a list of Time Lords that had been working with the Valeyard and are now on an execution list. Glitz emerges with Mr. Popplewick as hostage. Popplewick agrees to take the Doctor to the Valeyard. As they leave, Glitz tries to leave with the master tapes but is taken by the Master who then takes the tapes and Glitz back to his TARDIS. However, the tapes were a fake and the Master and Glitz are frozen within the Matrix.

In the new location, the Doctor unmasks Mr. Popplewick as the Valeyard in disguise and ties him to a rail. Mel discovers a device that will atomize anyone tapped into the Matrix, meaning that the entire courtroom will die. The Doctor sends Mel out to warn the court while he tries to defuse the device. The Doctor sets a feedback loop which sends the worst of the device's rays back into the Matrix. He flees as the device proceeds to destroy the area the Valeyard had set up with him seemingly caught in the wash.

Emerging from the Matrix, the charges against the Doctor are dismissed and with the Council of Time Lords having resigned, the Inquisitor suggests the Doctor run for Lord President again. He declines and suggests that she run instead. She also informs him that Peri had actually survived the events shown in Mindwarp and was now married to King Yrcanos. The Doctor and Mel then leave with the Doctor bemoaning another round of carrot juice. As the Inquisitor leaves, she orders the Keeper of the Matrix to secure it again. He nods and when he turns around, he is revealed to be the Valeyard in disguise.

Analysis

Where to begin on this one? There is not a lot of good to say about it. The story in convoluted and confusing with two very different visions in each part that are only slightly connected. I'm not going to lay this one completely at the feet of Pip and Jane Baker either as Episode Thirteen was rather convoluted plot-wise. Things might have been better explained in the planned Episode Fourteen, but as it was, the first part did not make a lot of sense on it's own. Fourteen tried to untangle that mess, but it went out on it's own tangent with it's own problems.

Just as bad, if not worse, than the script was the acting. Worst of all was Mel who delivered all her lines in a high pitched whine. Any calm or even delivery that she showed in Terror of the Vervoids was gone and she became like nails on a chalkboard. The Valeyard also descended into mustache twirling, which might not have been that bad, except that he was shown to be far more menacing when played straight and serious. Going over the top suited the Master much more and the Master was enjoyable in this story with his obvious relish at the havoc he was causing.

Even the Doctor's performance got on my nerves at some points. The melodrama he affected when trying to convince the Valeyard that he had been tricked by the fake courtroom was the stuff of children's theater it was so over the top. That anyone believed it, especially the Valeyard, strained the limited credibility remaining.

The direction was very off as well. I can only guess that the director was trying to mimic the unsettling nature of the Matrix as first shown in The Deadly Assassin but it just came across as shoddy. The Valeyard hologram appearing and disappearing at the beginning of Episode Fourteen was especially weird. There was also something off with regard to the lighting. I think they were trying to achieve a creepy factor with the darkness and that did work in Mr. Popplewick's office. But anytime they were in the Victorian street, something just didn't work and it had the effect of making things look cheap instead. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something was definitely not jiving.

There was also the technobabble at then end to resolve the plot. Technobabble can work in some instances, but it's best to keep it to completely out of the realm of the relatable for it to work. Mel's use of "megabyte modem" is exactly the type of thing to avoid as both terms would have been familiar to computer people but were not to writers. Obviously they wouldn't have known how familiar these terms would become to the populace but still, pulling these two random terms together makes no sense. It would be like referring to some new food as a "sunflower parsnip". Both are edible plants but shoving them together makes no sense and is a serious clang in the mind.

While near the subject of technobabble, there is also the time paradox of Mel. She is brought by the Master in what must be after the events of Terror of the Vervoids for her, since she is to testify on the Doctor's behalf. But the Doctor hasn't had his first meeting with her yet. At the end, they leave as though she had arrived with him. So now the Doctor is traveling with a companion who has known him for some time and had adventures with him that he hasn't had yet. They can't go on these adventures now as Mel would remember them, thwarting the outcome so she must leave the TARDIS at some point in order for her to meet the Doctor originally and have their initial adventures before being taken by the Master back to the trial. It's enough to make Steven Moffat's brain hurt.

There were a few enjoyable moments in this story. The horror elements brought about with the arms in Episode Thirteen were quite creepy and there was an amusing aspect to the illogic bureaucracy of Mr. Popplewick. I'm sure there was some political satire mixed in there as well that as an American I didn't fully catch. As mentioned before, I also enjoyed the Master and his mildly over the top performance. But it was a shaky start that didn't resolve itself well at all.

This is most disappointing as the first three sections of The Trial of a Time Lord are pretty good. Mindwarp wasn't quite to my taste but it is not bad. The other two segments are quite good in my opinion. But this was just a weak ending to a decent arc. The only reprieve I can give it is that it is only two episodes so it doesn't drag things out too long. I can't imagine watching this one again unless as part of being a completionist in rewatching the Trial as a whole. But it is certainly not worth bothering about as any kind of stand alone.

Overall personal score: 1 out of 5

The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids

I didn't even hear the dinner gong.

There is a moment in Episode Ten of this story that sums up classic Doctor Who very well. The Doctor sees a group of aliens talking with the ship's captain and while two of them reach up and activate their translator devices, the third does not. This turns out to be deliberate and is an important point in the story. However, as I was watching it, I noticed it but assumed that it was a continuity error by one of the extras. Low expectations as far as production I guess; to the point that they cause you to miss part of the story.

Plot Summary

Presenting his defense at the trial, the Doctor projects a story that will occur in his near future if he is acquitted. A passenger liner is preparing to launch after taking on cargo. One of the passengers receives his accommodations and as he leaves the lounge is recognized by another passenger. He denies being the person the other passenger says he is but the crew and others in the lounge are alerted to the possibility that this passenger may be an inspection agent.

The agent heads to the cargo hold of the ship where he dons the uniform and mask of one of the workers. Shortly afterward, a mysterious figure knocks out the communications officer and sends out a distress signal. The Doctor is shown exercising with his new companion Mel (short for Melanie) in the TARDIS where they receive the distress signal. They materialize on the ship and the Doctor is immediately unsettled by a feeling of evil. They are taken by ship's security to the bridge where the Doctor learns the captain is someone whom he's met before. The Captain is unhappy at the Doctor's arrival as trouble follows the Doctor and confines him to the passenger areas, although confiding to the security chief that the Doctor may get to the bottom of the mystery of who knocked out the communications officer.

The Doctor and Mel split up; the Doctor investigating the manifest while Mel looks around. She in shuttled to the gym where she receives a message to investigate cabin six. She reports back to the Doctor who did not recognize anyone on the list. He attempts to dissuade Mel from investigating but the two find themselves meeting in cabin six which has been ransacked. The Doctor picks up a handful of silver seeds that had been shown earlier being stolen by a Mogarian. They are then alerted to the discovery of the remains of the body in the refuse shaft. A shoe has been left outside matching one in cabin six, leading to the conclusion that this passenger, the same one who was suspected of being an investigation agent, is the victim.

The Doctor and Mel head to the gym with Mel leaving shortly afterward to investigate the hydroponics room. The Doctor dismisses her leading to an outburst in the courtroom. The Doctor states that he protested her going and saw it differently when he originally viewed it in the Matrix. The Valeyard dismisses the Doctor's allegations and the trial continues. Mel meets the communications officer in the hold and he agrees to show her the hydroponics bay. As he opens it, he is electrocuted and the flash of light and electricity activate the pods. Mel runs away and is taken by two security officers. One takes her to the bridge to explain what happened. The second examines the body but is attacked by the creature emerging from the pod.

Mel and the Doctor meet the captain on the bridge and the security officer brings word of the disappearance of the comm officer's body and the security officer. With Mel in custody then, she is let go with instructions to stay in the lounge. In the lounge, Mel suggests consulting with Professor Lasky about the silver seeds they found. Professor Lasky, after initially accusing them of stealing the seeds, informs them that they are new hybrid seed that will grow anywhere and were named Demeter seeds.

The Captain comes down the lounge to inform the passengers that he has altered their course to move up their arrival time by nearly three days. His alterations alarm the Mogarians who seek reassurance but are distrustful of humans after having their planet exploited for mineral resources. The Mogarians return to their table but shortly afterwards, one falls over dead after taking a drink. The Doctor removes his faceplate to reveal the agent whom was assumed dead. The event is replayed in the courtroom with the Doctor noting that he knew it was not a Mogarian due to the man's lack of translation activation when speaking English.

Professor Lasky's assistants discover the hatched pods and inform her. Lasky and the assistants discuss the events with one of the assistants growing increasingly worried about what will happen if discovered. Meanwhile, the passenger who recognized the agent heads to his room to rest but is attacked and killed by one of the pod creatures, which have been moving through the ventilation system.

The Doctor and Mel investigate the hydroponics bay after the Doctor pulls a leaf from the agent's body. Later, curious about Professor Lasky's movements in and out of the isolation room, the Doctor triggers the fire alarm to get the guard away. Donning masks, they enter the isolation room and discover a woman partially transformed into a plant based creature. The woman pleads with them to stop Professor Lasky but Lasky comes in and sedates her. The assistant Doland ushers the Doctor and Mel out. He tells them that the woman used to be a lab assistant who was infected and that they are trying to help her. The Doctor is then escorted back to the bridge. The Captain admits to helping the Doctor and also to having attempted to try and find out what the murdered agent's mission was but has received no help from Earth. He releases the Doctor, each promising to inform the other of anything new.

While the Doctor is gone, Mel finds another leaf and takes it to Professor Lasky to identify, who is now working out in the gym. Lasky refuses to help and is called away when Doland informs her that the other assistant, Bruchner, is damaging their work. After they leave, Mel overhears a voice in the air duct. She uses a headset to record and amplify the voice in the control room but is knocked out and placed in a trash bin.

The Doctor comes down to the gym looking for Mel and discovers the recording still going. He plays it back, overhearing both the voice and Mel's scream as she is attacked. He guesses that she was placed in the trash bin that he passed as he came in and runs down to the refuse center, preventing her from being smashed. Mel informs the Doctor of what happened and the two return to the gym and find the tape has been stolen. Meanwhile the plant creatures, called Vervoids, continue to move throughout the ship, attacking and collecting the bodies of their victims.

The Doctor and Mel split up again: Mel to investigate the stewardess' cabin and the Doctor to talk with Lasky. A brief scene is shown of the Doctor with an axe destroying the communications equipment and the Doctor, back in the courtroom, objects that once again the Matrix has been tampered with as he did not see that when he reviewed the events. His objections are noted, although the Valeyard scoffs at his excuses and the story continues.

Lasky is attacked by Bruchner when she confronts him on his destruction of their work. He attacks a guard and steals his sidearm. He then takes over the bridge, forcing the Captain and First Officer out. In the Stewardess' cabin, Mel is forced to hide when a Vervoid enters and begins to tear the room apart. The Vervoids are determined to reach Earth and have become aware of Bruchner's plan to destroy the ship. The Doctor finds Lasky and the two run up to the bridge where they find the Captain and First Officer outside and the door locked. The ship begins to shake as Bruchner turns it towards the black hole. The danger causes the Vervoids to reassemble in their nesting area.

The bridge is flooded with Methane gas which kills Bruchner but keeps the others out. The Security officer calls in the Mogarians who enter the bridge and pull the ship away from the black hole. However, they then hijack the ship and the security officer escorts the hostages to the lounge. The Doctor manages to get a warning to Mel and she, the stewardess and Doland flee to another part of the ship.

They try the communications room but find it destroyed. Mel then heads into the ventilation ducts to warn the Doctor that a security team will storm the Lounge. The Doctor warns her off and says that they must retake the bridge. While she is talking with the Doctor, someone sneaks into the bridge and throws water on the Mogarians. The water is toxic to them and they collapse. When Mel rejoins the group, they find the Mogarians dead on the bridge. They remove their faceplates and show them to the security chief. With his conspirators dead, the chief drops his gun and flees. In the halls, he is waylaid by the Vervoids and killed.

The Doctor springs a ruse with the Captain and he goes to search Doland's quarters and Mel Lasky's gym locker for the tape of the Vervoid plot. Doland finds the Doctor and he takes the Doctor to the hydroponics bay. While the Doctor is distracted, he gives him the erased tape and steals the Doctor's gun. He admits to killing the Mogarians and releasing the Vervoids with the plan to use them as slaves to replace robots. He tries to shoot the Doctor but the Doctor had disarmed the gun. The Captain is waiting outside and Doland is arrested. However, as they travel to the brig, the security guard and Doland are killed by the Vervoids.

With the number of passengers and crew reduced, the Vervoids become more aggressive and begin to move directly against the remaining humans. The Captain appeals to the Doctor for help and the Doctor agrees. The Doctor cites this in the courtroom that his actions were specifically requested and he did not move of his own agency. The High Inquisitor agrees as does the Valeyard, albeit reluctantly.

Professor Lasky finds her stocks of herbicides have been destroyed and attempts to negotiate with the Vervoids. They kill her anyway. Fleeing, Mel and the Doctor find the bodies of those killed by the Vervoids and the Doctor gets an idea. He asks the Captain for access to the vault which contains a valuable mineral that will accelerate the life cycle of plants. He then has the Captain shut down life support and lighting systems. The Vervoids retreat to their lair when the lights go down and the Captain announces a failure in the generator. In the lair, he and Mel drop the minerals which release large volumes of light and carbon dioxide. The richness causes the Vervoids to accelerate their aging and they wither and decay. With the Vervoids dead, the Doctor and Mel leave the ship.

Back in the courtroom, the Valeyard asks if all the Vervoids had been destroyed. When the Doctor confirms that they all were and had to to protect other lives, the Valeyard requests the additional charge of genocide be added. The Doctor protests but the Inquisitor agrees.

Analysis

Alien mixed with Death on the Nile is a good summary for this story. As a mystery, it does a pretty good job. Professor Lasky is probably the primary suspect the whole time and the fact that it is one of her assistants is a good diversion that keeps you guessing. Unlike other stories where the murderer is revealed earlier, this story kept things back until halfway through Episode Four and that was nice as well.

The Alien aspect wasn't bad either. Much has been written or talked about with what the Vervoid heads looked like in relation to female anatomy, but at the same time I can see the flower-like appearance they were going for. If you can let the sexual aspect of it go, the Vervoid design isn't bad. I did like their hit and run tactics and the fact that they waited until the ship's compliment had already been reduced before moving in force.

I didn't like the expositional gatherings they had in Episodes Eleven and Twelve. It was a little too conference room for something that was supposed to be fanning out and taking over the ship. I also didn't it was a good idea to give a full on view of the Vervoids in Episode Eleven. I think a slower reveal would have been better, or keeping them a bit more in the shadows to preserve the mystery until the out and out assault in Episode Twelve. But that's more a style preference.

I also thought the acting was quite good. Professor Lasky being portrayed by Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) was a nice use of stunt casting. All the others did a very good job as well and I can't recall any performances that were over the top except when needed. I can see the potential for trepidation with Mel though. She worked well here but I could easily see her character going off the rails in the Seventh Doctor era (I've not seen any of those stories yet).

Even the set design wasn't bad. It was impossible to take the studio feel out completely, but I thought it was done fairly well with a nice use of space. The crew attempting to brace the doors against the Vervoids with light wicker chairs in the lounge was a bit ridiculous, but for the most part, I thought it worked well.

With all this praise, I would be tempted to rate it fairly high, but there was something a bit off about it as well. It is hard to put a finger on it but for all the good about it, there was a little something missing. I think it was a better sense of tension. Whether it was something in the dialogue or the overall atmosphere, I can't recall a sense of genuine peril that you might feel in say something from the Philip Hinchcliff era. I think that brought it down a touch as well as brief moments where I felt slightly bored. Every once in a while, there were moments where it felt like the story was killing time before it hit the next plot point. Certainly the court room scenes did that, although there were few court room interruptions in this story.

On the whole though, I would say this was a good story. It's structure unfortunately does not allow it a good watch on it's own experience with the lead in from the death of Peri, but it makes for a good little mystery and a bit of a departure from the oddness that was Mindwarp. I would still rate Mysterious Planet the highest of the three so far, but while the general consensus seems to be rate Mindwarp above Vervoids, I would switch that around and rate Vervoids higher.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5