Resurrection of the Daleks

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

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

Plot Summary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Warriors of the Deep

There should have been another way.

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

Plot Summary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

Planet of Fire

The worst place in the universe, English public school on Earth.

I know very little about Planet of Fire going in to it other than it involves the Master, Kamelion returns, Turlough leaves and Peri joins. That's quite a lot for one story to do so I'm not surprised that those parts are well known. What's surprising is that so much of the story is not discussed. Even the location shooting on Lanzarote is better known than most of the plot elements so despite knowing several highlights, I'm going into this one with something of a blank slate.

Plot Summary

On the planet Sarn, two men are climbing a volcano, testing to see if their god Logar is real. Reaching the top, they find nothing, validating their skepticism. They head back down and confront their leader, Timinov, who is a strong adherent to the faith and is guiding Malkon, the Chosen One.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor overhears Kamelion screaming and finds that the TARDIS is picking up a signal that is overwriting his functions. Turlough sets up a wave to block the signal but also sees another signal from the Trions, his own race. He sabotages the circuit picking up the signal, but the TARDIS is redirected to the source, the island of Lanzarote on Earth. The Doctor and Turlough walk around searching for the source of the signal.

On the beach, they meet Howard and Curt, who have been pulling artifacts out of the ocean. Howard is the stepfather to Peri, a young American woman attending school in England. He has also just tricked her into missing a flight to Morocco where she had planned to spend the summer with some English boys she had met and is now stuck on the artifact recovery boat. The Doctor notes the signal coming through and Turlough heads back to the TARDIS so that they can triangulate the signal.

Angry at Howard and determined to make her flight, Peri leaps off the boat and tries to swim to shore. However, she cramps up and begins to drown. Hearing her cries for help, Turlough swims out and pulls her to shore. He takes her into the TARDIS and lays her down on a bed to recover. He also notices that one of the things in her bag is the source of the signal, marked with a double triangle signal, identical to a brand on his own arm (and on Malkon's arm, the symbol of Logar).

Turlough takes the device and tries to destroy it but it signals again and the Doctor follows it back to the TARDIS. The signal takes hold of Kamelion and Kamelion enters new coordinates into the TARDIS, though Turlough stops him before he can fully engage. The Doctor takes the data core from the device but it engages the TARDIS and they take off.

Kamelion reconfigures himself to the appearance of Howard, startling Peri. She follows "Howard" into the TARDIS control room asking what is going on. No one says anything as they land on Sarn. The Doctor and Turlough leave to explore, leaving Peri with Kamelion.

In the temple, the unbelievers confront Timinov who requests a sign from Logar. In response, the flames of the temple burst through the gates. They receive word a few moments later that an Outsider has arrived, seemingly in response to a prophecy. Timinov orders the unbelievers arrested and appeals to Malkon to have the unbelievers thrown to the fire as a sacrifice to Logar, as only the Chosen One has the authority to order such a sacrifice. Malkon demurs, wishing to see to the Outsider before ordering death to anyone.

On the TARDIS, Kamelion, in his Howard form begins to laugh and transforms himself again into the Master. The Master keeps Peri in the TARDIS until her mind begins to override the Master's. Kamelion transforms into a silver-skinned Howard, who gives Peri a computer component of the TARDIS and orders her to run. As she tries to flee, the Master regains control and grabs her. But an earthquake knocks over the Master's TARDIS, which has materialized across the courtyard from the Doctor's, and the Master loses control again, allowing Peri to run.

Peri runs after the Doctor and Turlough, spying them on a ridge ahead of her. She calls out but they are too far ahead. She runs further with the Kamelion Master behind her. She reaches the lookout point from where the TARDIS was spotted by the Sarnians, trapped by a dead end. She threatens to throw the TARDIS component over the edge if the Master approaches. Her strength of will begins to override the Master's control again and Kamelion turns back into the silver Howard allowing her to flee into the waste.

The Doctor and Turlough keep walking until they are spotted by a lookout for the unbelievers. He takes them to a cave in the mountain where Turlough recognizes the equipment as a means of tapping the energy of the mountain by his people, the Trions. The Doctor and Turlough meet Malkon, to whom the Doctor explains the equipment. Turlough listens to Malkon's story of being discovered near the mountain with a double triangle brand, a brand Turlough shares, and Turlough implores Malkon to take him there. The Doctor meanwhile, asks to be taken to the main settlement.

Timinov and the scout stop to rest near the lookout post where they find Kamelion in silver Howard form. As silver skin is a sign of Logar, they assume him to be the Outsider. The Master reestablishes control and resumes that form, requesting they take him to their settlement. Once there, he sees the Doctor and orders him and the unbelievers to be consigned to the flames.

Turlough and Malkon reach the remains of a crashed Trion ship from which Malkon was found. Turlough also finds Peri nearby and takes her along. Peri gives Turlough the piece of the Doctor's TARDIS and tells him that the Master is here. The three then run back to the settlement as the Master is ordering the burning.

Malkon enters, ordering that the burning be stopped. The Master counters the order and one of the guards shoots Malkon, though not killing him. Turlough and Peri run to the unbeliever's cave and reworks the machine to shut off the gas flow, killing the flames in the burn cave. Timinov takes this as a sign that Logar rejects the sacrifice due to the wounding of the Chosen One.

The Doctor tries to take control of Kamelion by asserting his will over the Master's. The Master fights and orders the Doctor and the unbelievers be locked in the extinguished cave. The geology of the cave diminishes the power of the Doctor's thoughts and the Master reasserts control. Seeing this on a screen, Peri runs back and tries to take control, but the Master has taken a firmer hand and her mind is no match for his. The Master then orders the villagers to come to the ruins where he will give them the gifts of Logar, taking Peri with him.

Turlough sneaks back and releases the Doctor and the unbelievers from the cave. They head back to the unbeliever's hideout carrying Malkon with them. Turlough reveals that he believes Malkon may be his brother. Knowing that he has to rescue Peri, the Doctor heads to the ruins with an unbeliever named Amyand as his guide. Turlough gives the Doctor the component that Peri gave him and follows.

At the ruins, the Sarnians uncover and right the Master's TARDIS, disguised as a pillar of stone. The Master pulls Peri into the TARDIS and disappears. The Doctor observes this, but knows that the Master is still on Sarn as their two TARDISes are linked. Turlough reveals his brand and declares himself as the new Chosen One. This permits the Doctor to reenter the TARDIS and reinstall the component. However, he realizes that the Master has also removed a component and they are still stuck.

The Master and Peri rematerialize in the control chamber of the volcano. He threatens Peri with his tissue compression eliminator and reworks the controls. His experimenting causes earthquakes and Turlough orders everyone into the TARDIS for protection. They emerge when the tremors stop and find the volcano spewing blue gas, a sign of great favor from Logar according to Timinov as it has healing powers.

The gas is actually numismaton gas, a rare and powerful restorative agent mined by the Trions on Sarn. With the gas flow established as ready, the Kamelion Master prepares to pull a box from his TARDIS into the flow. Peri manages to get away from him and lock herself in the Master's TARDIS with Kamelion out of it. She opens the box to find the real Master, shrunk to a tiny size, a victim of a failed experiment with his Tissue Compression Eliminator.

The Doctor and the rest of the group return to the settlement where the Doctor orders Malkon brought up and placed in the cave. The flames are reestablished and turn blue as the released gas mixes with the flames. They all step in and feel a great restoration with Malkon being healed of his wounds. However, the Doctor realizes that the mountain will explode from the Master's interference and makes plans to evacuate. Turlough decides to return to the crashed ship and signal his people.

Turlough reveals that the brand is the mark of Trion prisoners. His family was on the losing side of a civil war. His father and brother and other members were sent to the prison planet of Sarn while he was exiled to Earth where Trion had a scout to keep taps on him and others like him. He will summon a Trion ship to rescue the people, who are descendants of the original inhabitants blended with prior Trion exiles. As he leaves, the Doctor and Amyand also leave to find the entrance to the control cave.

In the Master's TARDIS, the Master eludes Peri by diving into the console. He triggers the doors, allowing Peri to escape before the Master can reestablish control over Kamelion. She runs out of the cave and on the slope where she spots the Doctor. She hails him and leads him to the cave entrance.

The Master crawls back into his control box just as the Doctor, Peri and Amyand enter. The Doctor steals the control mechanism from the Master's TARDIS to replace the one stolen from his. He then peers in on the Master. The Master has reestablished control over Kamelion who then forces the three out of his TARDIS. Kamelion then moves the TARDIS into the flame area.

The Doctor gives Amyand the control unit and orders him to give it to Turlough and to bring the TARDIS to the room. He dresses Amyand in a thermal suit to protect him from the volcano fires that are now erupting around them. The Doctor then rigs a mechanism to break the Master's control of Kamelion as well as reconfiguring the flame output of the mountain.

Kamelion emerges from the TARDIS and places the Master's box in the flame. He emerges to stop the Doctor with the Tissue Compression Eliminator but the Doctor triggers the device, causing Kamelion to spasm. As the Master loses control, Kamelion urges the Doctor to kill him as he is in pain and cannot fully break free of the Master. The Doctor uses the Tissue Compression Eliminator to shrink and destroy Kamelion.

Turlough signals Trion and arranges a rescue ship. He then heads back to the settlement to urge everyone to head out there. While there, Amyand arrives, mistaken at first by Timanov for Logar. Amyand reveals himself and gives the circuit to Turlough who races off, followed by most of the people. Amyand appeals to Timanov to come with them but he declines saying that he and the other elders will die with the settlement, subservient to Logar to the end.

As the rescue ship arrives, Turlough reinstalls the circuit and send the TARDIS to the control room on delay while he goes with the others. The TARDIS arrives just as the flames begin to be infuses with the healing gas. Peri goes in the TARDIS as the Master regrows back to his normal size. But the Doctor shuts off the gas flow and the Master is surrounded by flames. They grow and he disappears into the flames. The Doctor follows into the TARDIS and takes it back to the rescue ship where Turlough is waiting.

Turlough is informed that the regime on Trion has changed and political prisoners are no longer subject to exile, meaning that he is allowed to return home. With his brother to see to and with a longing for home, he reluctantly bids goodbye to the Doctor and Peri and leaves in the Trion ship. The Doctor and Peri take off as well with Peri asking if she could travel with the Doctor for a while as she had been hoping to travel before everything got started. The Doctor agrees and officially welcomes her aboard.

Analysis

I rather like this story. I know that Peter Grimwade was predominantly a director rather than a writer but I'd say he did a decent job on this one, though Eric Saward did a fair amount of fill in work. I would also say that there is a lingering presence of Christopher Bidmede in this story as well, though with slightly less derision towards religion than Bidemede usually included.

Before even getting into the story or the acting, much praise must be heaped on to Fiona Cumming and the location shooting. The studio work was pretty good too with some nice angles and viewpoints but the exterior filming on Lanzarote is some of the best I've ever seen on the show. She made an absolutely excellent use of all the available terrain and features to really give you the sense of an alien frontier and doing a lot with probably a very small budget.

The Doctor does well here. There is something about the final season of the Fifth Doctor that gives him a darker edge and it works well. He tries to maintain the lightness of tone, but there is no longer any aloofness about him. He is very direct and what few jokes he does make are very underplayed, mostly in an aside to no one sort of way. This more serious take lends an extra air of seriousness that is sometimes lacking in other stories. Given that there are no rubber monsters to deal with, it gives the overall story some significant gravity.

The companions are a mixed bag here. Turlough was pretty good although I think Mark Strickson still delves a bit too much into the overacting bag. He is more restrained and that helps his performance but you get a bit of the darker Turlough here given his fear to reveal his past to the Doctor. It both helps and hurts because there isn't really any reason that he should be keeping anything from the Doctor at this point. It's not even as if he is a real criminal. His side merely lost a war and he was exiled for it. There is no personal shame in that, nor would the Doctor be angry at Turlough for it. I can understand Turlough's lack of desire to contact Trion for fear of being returned to exile, but that also betrays a lack of trust in the Doctor to keep him free. Still, I think his overall performance was definitely weighted on the positive side.

The introduction of Peri demonstrates to me that there were very little change in her performance in her time on the show. I will give Nicola Bryant one significant benefit of the doubt in that I believe her performances suffered due to shallow writing and her focus on maintaining the "American" accent. It's also unfortunate that most male fans focus on Peri's "attributes" being showcased in Episode One and take that as the whole reason to like her. Looks are fine and I'm not going to complain about things like that, but I would rather have had a companion with a bit more substance and a lot less of the whiney-wibble in her voice. But for that, I blame JNT who clearly told her to focus on the accent. Still, Peri is probably less objectionable in this story than in others, though she does do nothing other than be the damsel in distress the whole time. I would have preferred it if she had actually done something of substance in the story.

Another bout of disappointment in her character is the obvious potential for backstory laid here that was never explored. Her nightmare when recovering from nearly drowning clearly indicates that she was abused (probably sexually) by Howard. Couple this with an obvious desire to accompany men to strange, exotic places for thrills shows a rather damaged young woman. This helps explain why she sticks with the emotionally abusive Sixth Doctor but also makes him to be such a bigger jerk than even originally intended. I would have liked to see some growth and independence in her overall development, such that she was a stronger person towards the end. Admittedly, she was better in The Mysterious Planet, but I still feel that there were some missed opportunities in her overall arc.

There's not much to say about Kamelion. I think this story did a good job of showing the missed opportunities with him and the pitfalls. Kamelion was dropped because they couldn't get the robot puppet to work right and that still shows in the few scenes where you see it. But it also shows how Kamelion could have been portrayed by a random guest actor as the story warranted it. Of course, Kamelion spends so much time as the Master that you genuinely forget that it is Kamelion at points if there weren't several protracted battles for his control. In the end, I'm not sorry they killed him off. It was too confusing and the control issues never really resolved themselves. There is one extra bit of interest as I believe this is the only instance where the Doctor actually killed a companion himself. All the other companions who died, died due to the machinations of the enemy or by their own actions.

Of the guest cast, Timinov was my favorite. It would be very easy in this story to show the believers of Logar as delusional fools and blood-thirsty savages, much as was done in Meglos. However, Timinov gives a great sense of nobility in his faith, going so far as to accept his own death in the destruction of the mountain as a gesture of his faith. A measure of condescension towards this can be seen with the unbelievers, especially Amyand, but I respected Timinov for his choices and beliefs. He remained ignorant of certain truths and that probably resulted in his overall downfall, but his faith was genuine and I could appreciate that.

I continue to maintain that Anthony Ainley is a better Master and certainly better actor than he is given credit for. Yes, he goes mustache twirl-y over-the-top a number of times, but there still a level of menace in his performance and he can pull it back to a more serious tone when necessary. I found him quite enjoyable in this story, although he did have a bad moment when he was posing as Logar's prophet. He went way overboard with the hand and body movements in pronouncing judgment on the non-believers. He looked like he was trying to do something like what Southern revivalist preachers might do, but it was so unnatural and jerky that it just looked incredibly out of place. Other that that, I didn't have a problem with it and actually rather enjoyed the fact that the Master was operating on a rather simple and direct plan. He had had an accident and was trying to fix himself. No grand design, no significant theater. Just a was to fix a problem situation.

On an overall level, I really enjoyed this one. There were a couple of hiccups here and there but the flow of the story worked well and it's well worth watching for the cinematography alone. That it has excellent performances for the most part is just another bonus. Of the all the Fifth Doctor stories I've seen so far, I think I would only place it behind Earthshock and Kinda so I would readily watch this one a second time around.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Frontios

Tegan: Doctor then do something!
Doctor: Oh I am. Lots of things. Nothing that fits the gravity of the situation.


Plot Summary

The TARDIS flies near the planet of Frontios, a planet settled by a colony of humans fleeing the destruction of Earth. The settlement has been having hard times as they run low on supplies and more and more people and equipment are sucked down into the Earth. The Doctor attempts to stay away from the planet, not wanting to get involved in human development, but the TARDIS is caught in a meteor storm and pulled in to the planet.

Upon landing, they help various colonists into the caves away from the meteors and the Doctor opts to give medical assistance. There is poor light in the caves and no electricity. Seeing a generator, he hopes to get it running but has no power. The medical officer, Range, assists him and his daughter Norna recalls that there is a basic battery generator in the remains of the colony ship. Tegan and Turlough go with her to help carry it.

The colony ship is outlawed territory, the local authority trying to preserve supplies, and the three are forced to sneak into the ship. Meanwhile the military authority, Brazen, alerts the colony leader, Plantagenet, of the new arrivals and they are immediately suspicious that the Doctor is part of an invasion force. Plantagenet has only recently taken command from his father, Captain Revere.

The three young people manage to recover the battery, though they are forced to knock out one of the guards to do it. They return with the battery to the infirmary, much to the Doctor's appreciation. Range informs the Doctor, as Plantagenet bears down on them, that they had no trouble on the planet for ten years, attempting to grow crops and survive. But for the last thirty years, they've been attacked by some unseen force pulling in meteors at them.

Plantagenet accuses the Doctor of being the fore of an invasion force and the Doctor offers to show him the TARDIS as proof that they are just travelers who didn't mean to stop there. They are halted by another round of meteor strikes which forces everyone back into the caves. As it stops, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough race back, hoping to leave in the TARDIS. However, they find the TARDIS gone, apparently destroyed.

Plantagenet arrests the Doctor and prepares to have him shot but Turlough steps in, grabbing the Doctor's hat rack and pretending it is the weapon which summons the meteors. The Doctor attempts to assuage the people that he will only help. Tegan is sent with Range back to help the wounded while the Doctor, Turlough, Norna, Plantagenet and Brazen head to the sealed science lab to run tests on the rocks, though the work had been stopped by Plantagenet's father.

As they enter the lab, Plantagenet attacks the Doctor with a club from a soldier. The Doctor defends himself and Plantagenet is knocked to the ground. His heart begins to go erratic and the Doctor and Brazen carry him back to the infirmary. In the infirmary, the Doctor creates a makeshift defibrillator and settles his heart. Brazen becomes more convinced that the Doctor is actually here to help.

In the lab, Norna runs tests but Turlough is more curious about the source of the rocks, given that Norna told him that the quarry had been outlawed years ago. Examining the block and tackle they used earlier to get the battery, he discovers a secret passage out of the lab through the floor. He and Norna head down to investigate and find themselves in smoothed tunnels. Turlough becomes increasingly nervous and recalls things from his past, including the name "Tractators."

The Doctor and Range return to the lab while Tegan watches over Plantagenet. While talking, Tegan let's slip that she has learned of uncategorized deaths in the records, causing Brazen to begin to question her. While distracted, Plantagenet slips off his cot and disappears into the ground. Both Tegan and Brazen are shocked by this but their investigation is cut short when a group of people, fearing Plantagenet has died come in to see. Brazen chases them out, leaving Tegan a chance to slip free of the guard. When Brazen reenters the infirmary, she braces the door with piece of metal.

The Doctor and Range enter the lab and discover it empty and the tunnel. The Doctor heads down, telling Range to stay behind, but Range disobeys and follows him, running into him later. Tegan also enters the lab and subsequently the tunnels.

While exploring, the Doctor and Range run into Turlough who is fleeing in a state of panic. They catch him and can get nothing out of him except for Tractators. The Doctor orders Range to look after Turlough while he finds Norna. He comes across Norna being held in a field, surrounded by large, roly-poly type creatures. He sees Tegan from across the cave and motions for her to stay down. He is seen though and the Tractators encase him in the field with Norna.

Tegan throws her lamp and the chemicals explode in a flash of light. The Tractators scatter and the three head back up the tunnels. After reuniting with Range and the still shocked Turlough, the Doctor heads back into the tunnels. Tegan and Range go after him. The Doctor is caught in a Tractator gravity beam along with Tegan. He orders Range to head back to the lab with his daughter and Turlough.

Brazen and his men manage to get out of the infirmary and set about restoring order. Brazen finds one of his officers named Cockerill looting food. He is arrested and exiled outside the camp with others considered Retrogrades. The Retrogrades attack Cockerill, stealing his food and leaving him half dead.

Brazen heads to the lab where he finds Range, Norna and Turlough returning from the tunnels. He arrests Range for withholding information about mysterious deaths from the authorities. Range protests, stating that he was given orders to not speak of them and only catalogued the disappearances. During the discussion, Brazen becomes aware of Turlough speaking from repressed race memory about the Tractators and he begins to question him.

The Doctor and Tegan are pulled further into the tunnels but they again destroy a lamp when approaching the Tractators to blind the creatures and flee. They wander about the tunnels trying to find a way out and wondering about the nature of the Tractators. They come across one who is using a gravity beam towards the surface. It is pulling the half-dead Cockerill down. The Doctor distracts it and it breaks the beam, allowing Cockerill to escape. His escape is met with wonder by the Retrogrades as they had never seen someone escape the ground before and he is taken in.

After questioning Turlough, Brazen takes Range, Norna and Turlough to a part of the quarry where he shows Range the location where he saw Captain Revere pulled under the earth. Knowing that there are others, he assembles a squad and heads into the tunnels with Range to combat the creatures. Norna and Turlough stay behind but Turlough, near recovered, feels ashamed of his own cowardice and heads in after them.

The Doctor and Tegan follow the sound of a mechanical drill and discover the central lair of the Tractators, overseen by their leader, the Gravis. They also see Plantagenet being held in a cage. The Tractators use active minds to run their machines and they call in one drilling machine, fitted with the near drained mind of Captain Revere.

The Gravis comes forward and releases Revere. He recognizes the Doctor as a Time Lord and assumes that the Time Lords have come to take stock. The Doctor plays along, pretending that Tegan is actually a defective service robot, much to her annoyance. She is suspended in a gravity field while Plantagenet is taken from his cage and hooked up to the drilling machine. The Doctor whispers in his ear to play along until he has an opportunity.

Range, Brazen and his men stop in the tunnels as Range has lost his way. Turlough comes upon them and offers to help. Range panics at Norna being left alone and heads back up the tunnels, only just managing to avoid capture by a Tractator while doing so. Turlough is also grabbed by a Tractator but Brazen and his men subdue the creature and free him. They burst into the central lair and pull Plantagenet out. The Gravis tries to stop them but an electrical discharge is made and the Gravis is knocked out. The other Tractators flee leaving the humans alone. Turlough is strangely drawn to the machine but the Doctor and Brazen pull him away. However, Brazen is caught in the machine's grip and cannot pull himself out. He instead orders the others to run while he uses his mind to fight and destroy the machine.

In the lab, Norna is attacked by a looter and tied up while he looks for scavenge. He is in turn jumped by Cockerill who knocks him out. Cockerill and the rest of Retrogrades take over, plundering what they can. Norna manages to free herself and tells the group that Plantagenet isn't dead and shows them tunnel where the group went down. Range appears at the tunnel entrance, telling them that the Tractators are everywhere and moving towards them. Cockerill decides to take some men and attack.

As the Doctor and the humans flee, Turlough's memory comes back and he tells the Doctor that the Tractators are harmless without the Gravis to lead them. It is he that is driving the plan to turn Frontios into a mobile base that will allow them to scavenge other planets. They hear screaming as Cockerill and his men run into other Tractators and press on. Tegan however discovers a separated bit of the TARDIS. She is spotted by a revived Gravis who advances on her. She ducks through the TARDIS doors to find the others in the console room.

The Doctor orders them to hide and opens the door, displaying the TARDIS console room. The Gravis, consumed with greed when he realizes what it is, exercises all his gravitational power to pull the disparate pieces of the TARDIS back together. The act exhausts him and he collapses on the console and with the TARDIS back together, he is cut off dimensionally from the other Tractators.

Plantagenet and Turlough head back to the surface where the restore order. The Doctor and Tegan take the Gravis to an isolated, uninhabited planet where his power is limited. The Doctor returns and picks up Turlough, intending to return to Gallifrey, although he begs Plantagenet to never say a word of his involvement in the affair. As they leave, the TARDIS is caught in a time corridor which pulls them away from Gallifrey and toward the center of the galaxy.

Analysis

I never watched Tachyon TV but I heard a mock song they put out once about how boring Christopher Bidmede's writing was. I'm not sure Frontios is deserving of that level of mockery, but it is a rather dull story with a lot of little things that don't make much sense.

The Doctor is very good in this story with a strong sense of urgency most of the time. It is a bit odd that he seems so worried about getting in trouble with the Time Lords about interfering but that point is discarded fairly early. He has a nice interaction with Range and I also liked his witticisms that he would crack now and again. I don't recall the Fifth Doctor doing that that often and it was a bit of a throw back to the Fourth Doctor's style in dealing with high pressure situations. About the only thing I didn't care for was his almost cavalier attitude toward the destruction of the TARDIS. He seemed a bit too blasé about the prospect of being marooned on Frontios, to say nothing of losing that level of a companion, though the Fifth Doctor was probably the most distant from the TARDIS as a living thing.

Tegan and Turlough weren't bad but they had their faulty moments as well. Tegan did a lot of running around and helping here and there but after she rescues the Doctor and Norna, she doesn't seem to do much of anything except be there. I did like her indignation when the Doctor passes her off as a discount servo droid.

Turlough was fine, especially when he was clearly working to overcome his cowardice after returning to the lab with Norna. However I did not like the race memory bit. The acting was alright, if a bit over-the-top, but the explanation of it that Turlough's people kept deep memories of the Tractators and what they are that could be called upon in moments of trauma seemed like the flimsiest of writer's cheats. Granted it made Turlough more important and kept the Gravis from going off on a Bond-villain explanation speech, but it was still a very convenient dropping by the exposition fairy and I didn't care for it.

Most of the rest of the case did fine in a serviceable way, but no one really stood out. Range was probably the closest one as he had a nice rapport with the Doctor and got a lot of time to settle into various character moments. Most of the rest though were fairly one note, with Brazen and Plantagenet being the worst. Brazen was at least consistent in his firm military mind and bulldog attitude.

Plantagenet on the other had seemed rather fickle and changed his mind so easily. Worse, he gave off a feeling of weakness which undercut the idea that it was by his will and the promise of his leadership that the colony held together. I could buy that idea about his father, but a weak presence seemed at odds with what we are being told is happening in the script and it felt jarring to me. He also seemed to have rather rapid and unwarranted attitude swings as the plot shifted from him being either a help or a hindrance to the Doctor.

The Tractators were a fairly interesting idea, although I'm not sure they were well executed. There are limits to the costumes and they seemed overly stiff and a bit too much like a man inside a lumbering suit. The gravity power bit was also very weird. Having technological minds and developing engines I can understand. That seemed well thought out and believable. But that they had an almost magical power of creating gravity fields seemed very strange. It also felt a bit weak that they were actually a benevolent race who were being led astray by one bad leader. I'm not big on stories where everything falls into place with a quick decapitation. Yes sometimes it works but more often than not, it feels like a quick way out of a situation.

I'm also a bit non-plussed about the casual power the Tractators have to destroy and rebuilt the TARDIS. Why was the TARDIS separated into pieces simply by pulling it underground? Why did the Gravis have the power to pull it together, especially if pulling it back together made it trans-dimensional again? That seems to give the Tractators a level of power that would have made them strong enough to battle the Time Lords. If that were the case, I would thing they would have actively sent the Doctor to take out the Gravis much like they did on other missions. It was an unneeded plot device as the TARDIS could simply have been pulled into the tunnels whole and the Gravis tricked into entering and then subdued, allowing the natural trans-dimensionality of the TARDIS, cut off his power from his own kind. The pull-apart was completely unnecessary.

The story was fairly well directed and well lit. I thought the production team did a nice job in trying to stretch what they had and make it look like a believable place. I'm actually surprised they didn't try to film any part of this story in a quarry as it would have fit in well with the mood, but the studios were well dressed here anyway.

Aside from the powers of the Tractators, I think the biggest problem with this story was that it was large in ideas and short on scope. There was a tremendous amount of backstory for all the character and a lot of threads that could have been elaborated on. But most of those were not explored, leaving a lot of questions. Yet despite that, the flow of the story felt padded with a lot of running around, escapes, recaptures and just little things that didn't matter much. This gave it the disadvantage of being both boring to watch and frustrating in a lack of answers, which is strange for a writer who likes to go on about how a thing is scientifically possible.

Overall, I can't say that I enjoyed this story that much. It had some good moments but the overall story just seemed to drag and left too many things up in the air and against the common logic of the show. I wouldn't protest overly if someone pulled if off the shelf to watch, but I certainly wouldn't seek it out or put it in the top tier of Fifth Doctor stories to recommend.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5

Enlightenment

You are a Time Lord. A lord of time. Can one be a lord of such a small domain?

Enlightenment completes the Black Guardian trilogy and is generally held as the best of three by most fans. I was exposed to little snippets of this one before I sat down to watch it wholesale, mostly from the end, but they didn't leave much of impression other than it was a nice looking set and some interesting camera work. Unfortunately, after I started to watch it, I discovered that my available copy was missing Episode Four and I was forced to leave this one unfinished. I finally have been able to get a full copy and get through it for a proper assessment.

Plot Summary

Running on low power, the Doctor is trying to fix the TARDIS when he receives a message from the White Guardian. He is instructed to proceed to a set of coordinates given. The Doctor follows them and lands. He and Turlough step out into the cargo hold of an Edwardian sailing vessel. Tegan remains in the TARDIS should the White Guardian try to contact them again.

The Doctor and Turlough enter the crew quarters where the crew has been waiting for a couple of days. None of them can remember coming aboard, but they know the vessel is to be part of a race. They mistake the Doctor for the ship's cook and give him a hearty welcome while they wait.

Tegan receives a garbled message from the White Guardian about a race and it being winner-take-all. She also sees a projection of the First Mate of the vessel, Mr. Mariner on the TARDIS screen. She leaves the TARDIS to find the Doctor and to see who the observer was but is discovered by Mariner and taken up to the Captain's quarters. After doing so, Mariner goes to the crew quarters and escorts the Doctor to the Captain's quarters as well. Turlough is left behind with the men.

Tegan passes on the message from the White Guardian although neither of them seem to understand it. Captain Striker enters and bids them welcome, already seemingly aware of who they both are. They sit down to dinner but the meal is interrupted by buffeting suggesting that the race is about to start. Mariner escorts Tegan to the wheelhouse while the Doctor lags behind.

The crew is summoned topside with a bonus grog ration before the start of the race. Turlough lingers behind and the Doctor discovers him. Together they head to the wheelhouse to find Tegan. Tegan is already uneasy as they passed a set of modern wetsuits outside the wheelhouse and that the race is preparing to start with it being pitch black outside. As the Doctor and Turlough enter, Mariner activates a viewscreen via a computer terminal and they learn that although it appears they are on an Edwardian sailing vessel, they are actually on a spaceship.

As the race begins, Tegan gets sea sick and Mariner takes her below to a cabin built from images in her mind. He gives her a glass of rum and she falls asleep. Turlough comes down to check on her a little later. He wakes her and she is both feeling better and more at ease with the surroundings. Turlough suspects that the drink helps with compliance as one member of the crew is a teetotaler and is the only one who seems to react to their surroundings like a normal person.

As the ships approach Venus, the first marker, Striker dives the ship in towards the atmosphere and gets a gravity boost to surge ahead of the others. Two other ships follow: a Greek trireme and a pirate frigate. The trireme explodes during the maneuver. Striker and Mariner dismiss it as a failed maneuver but both the Doctor and Turlough suspect sabotage as the ship exploded in an unexpected way. Upset at Striker and Mariner's indifference to the death of the people aboard, Tegan leaves the wheelhouse and heads back to her cabin.

Turlough also leaves but heads down towards the crew quarters where he runs into the tee-totaling sailor. He has stolen the key to the rum cabinet to clear the crew's head and gives it to Turlough to hide. He heads aloft while Turlough contacts the Black Guardian on what to do. The Black Guardian demands to know why he hasn't killed the Doctor. Turlough demurs saying that he can't kill him. The Black Guardian becomes angry and declares their deal void and that Turlough will never leave the ship alive. He strikes Turlough down in a bout of pain.

In the wheelhouse, the Doctor learns that the officers are creatures known as Eternals who use mortal beings (ephemerals) to entertain themselves. The prize for winning the race is "enlightenment" and the ability to realize your greatest desire. The Doctor leaves the wheelhouse but not before discovering weaknesses in the Eternal's ability to read minds. He collects Tegan and discovers Turlough passed out, although Turlough blows it off as a slip down the stairs. They attempt to head back to the TARDIS but the excitement in their minds alerted Striker and Mariner of the TARDIS's existence and they cause it to disappear.

Attempting to alleviate Tegan's depression at being trapped, Mariner, who is entranced with Tegan, takes her on deck to appreciate the beauty of space. The Doctor and Turlough also head aloft to look around. The Black Guardian's words echo in Turlough's mind and unable to deal with the situation any longer, Turlough throws himself overboard. The crew of Striker's ship attempt to throw him a life preserver but he drifts out of reach. He is instead swept up and rescued by the pirate frigate, commanded by Captain Wrack.

Wrack toys with the idea of torturing Turlough as ephemeral pain is a source of amusement to her, but Turlough intrigues her with his deviousness that she frees him. She sends an invitation to Striker's ship to come aboard for a party. Striker initially declines but the Doctor requests to go so he permits him and Tegan to go with Mariner serving as his representative.

Before they leave, the ships are caught in a meteor storm. One ship takes advantage of the situation and surges past Wrack's frigate. She heads below, dragging Turlough along, and enters a secured chamber. Shortly after, the passing ship explodes. Striker and Mariner assume that it was destroyed by the meteors but the Doctor again suspects sabotage.

After the storm passes, the Doctor, Tegan and Mariner board the frigate to a lavish reception. Turlough sneaks away to try and discover the secret of Wrack's power in the sealed room. He finds it mostly empty except for a focus window protected by a vacuum shield. A member of the crew discovers the room left unsecured. He seals the door and deactivates the vacuum shield. Turlough begins to suffocate. He appeals to the Black Guardian but the Black Guardian dismisses him and leaves him to his fate.

The Doctor, looking for Turlough, asks Mariner to search his mind. Mariner notes that it's at the lowest point of the ship and somewhat shielded. The Doctor heads below and hears Turlough screaming for help. He reactivates the shield and opens the door. In there he finds an energy weapon that Turlough missed in his panic. The two realize that Wrack has been either giving or planting focusing crystals to the other ships, disguised as rubies. When she powers the energy weapon, the gem becomes the focus and the energy concentration destroys the vessel. The Doctor and Turlough head back but are caught by Wrack's second-in-command, Mansell.

Wrack takes Tegan to the wheelhouse where she freezes Tegan in a moment in time. She then places a focusing crystal, disguised as a ruby, in the tiara that Tegan is wearing. She unfreezes her and dismisses her to the care of Mariner, who had been concerned for her. He professes desire but when Tegan questions if he is in love, he is confused and only desires existence.

The Doctor and Turlough are brought before Wrack where Turlough accuses the Doctor of being a spy and he was trying to capture him. The Doctor, Tegan and Mariner are dismissed but Turlough is allowed to stay on board. Turlough pretends to be on her side, desiring to win the race for himself.

Wrack demonstrates the pirate plank on two eternals who were arrested when they came aboard for the reception and they disappear as they fall overboard. Wrack prepares to demonstrate it on Turlough as she is aware of his greed for the prize. Turlough tells Wrack that he too serves the Black Guardian, having heard his voice when Wrack entered the sealed room. Impressed, she spares him and brings him below after ordering Mansell to pull even with Striker's ship.

As Wrack's ship pulls even, the Doctor realizes that Wrack is planning to destroy them. When describing the focusing crystal, Tegan recalls seeing it on her tiara when she took it off. They race to Tegan's room as Wrack is absorbed in a column of darkness, allowing her to focus power on that crystal. The Doctor finds it and smashes it, forcing Wrack to split her focus on the fragments. The Doctor then scoops up the fragments and tosses them overboard, just as they explode.

Wrack's anger at Striker's survival is diminished by news that the winds have stopped and Striker is becalmed. With the extra sail of her ship, Wrack pulls ahead and prepares to dock at the city of the enlighteners. Striker is powerless to stop her but the Doctor appeals to him to give him back the TARDIS as he can stop her. Striker agrees and reveals that it was hidden in the Doctor's mind. The Doctor visualizes it and it reappears on the bridge. He tries to take Tegan but Mariner refuses to let her go.

The Doctor materializes outside the chamber and enters. He appeals to Wrack to stop, not knowing what she is tapping in to. She laughs him off and orders Mansell to throw him out the aperture. On Striker's ship, he, Mariner and Tegan observe two bodies emerging from Wrack's ship and disappearing into space. Wrack's ship does not stop and docks at the city, winning the race. Striker, Mariner and Tegan board the longboat to pay homage to the winner.

Wrack's human crew disappear to their own time and place as the Black and White Guardians appear in the wheelhouse. The Black Guardian calls for the captain and the Doctor and Turlough appear, having thrown Wrack and Mansell overboard and taken command of the ship. The Black Guardian angrily rebuffs the Doctor, informing him that he has only won a battle and that he will come again. The White Guardian offers enlightenment but the Doctor politely declines.

Striker, Mariner and Tegan arrive and Tegan is surprised to see them. The White Guardian dismisses the Eternals, though Mariner begs Tegan for help. She admits that she cannot help him and the two disappear. The White Guardian then offers the prize to Turlough and reveals a giant, glowing diamond. The Black Guardian reminds Turlough that they still have a contract which gives anything Turlough has to him. The Black Guardian offers to let him have the diamond in exchange for the Doctor, forcing Turlough to choose between great wealth and the Doctor.

Turlough stares at the diamond before throwing it to the Black Guardian. The Black Guardian shrieks and disappears in a blaze of fire. The White Guardian informs Turlough that their contract is now annulled and they are free to go as he disappears. The Doctor informs them that enlightenment was never about the diamond but the choice. They then leave with Turlough requesting that they aim for his home planet.

Analysis

Having finally have seen the full story, I can say that while it is good, I don't believe it lives up to the hype that many fans have given it. It is well acted, the sets are interesting and the story is somewhat compelling, yet it is also slow and the eternal's lack of emotion can bring a total dearth of feeling through the whole thing that is slightly off-putting. I also felt like there were a couple of strings that were left hanging so that the story was left with a few missing pieces.

I enjoyed the Doctor in this story, although he was quite reserved. My principle hang-up was in the very beginning where the Doctor has seemed to become fully aware of Turlough and his mix-up with the Black Guardian but has gone from being wary and trying to pull him over to being more hostile to him. In either case, it's a passive-aggressive streak that I don't particularly care for in the Doctor. He knows and should confront Turlough.

I was also a little disappointed that there wasn't as much direct conflict with the Eternals as there was potential to be. Granted, Striker and Mariner weren't hostile to them, but I thought more action would be necessary when they took the TARDIS. There was a hostile in the form of Wrack, but the critical moment was deprived, whether for time or the thrill of the deception, and we never actually see the Doctor gain the upper hand over her.

The companions were alright, although Turlough has more to do and was thus more interesting. Tegan was a bit too passive for my taste. Mariner held on to her and that kept her from being anything more than a liability in the form of getting the focusing crystal on to Striker's ship. She wasn't whiney, which was nice, but she also wasn't particularly engaging either.

Turlough was pretty interesting as he was fighting with sides. I did not like how he kept appealing to the Black Guardian in his moment of trial, despite the fact that the Black Guardian had tried to kill him once and driven him to try and take his own life shortly after. It's a bit inconsistent. Even in his cowardice, I would have liked more general pounding on the door and calling for help, going so far as to appeal to the Doctor and Mariner (and maybe even Wrack and Tegan) before trying the crystal. I also would have liked to have seen him properly turn on Wrack in the final fight. I understand the drama of questioning who was killed, but it would have been nice to actually see Turlough make an active move for once.

All of the Eternals have their ups and downs. Striker is probably the one I like best, even though he is the most emotionless. It really isn't that different from a "stiff upper lip" sort and it makes him strangely interesting.

Mariner has the creepy, almost rape-y thing down. I would have liked a bit more build up as to why Tegan strikes him more than say the far more emotionally turmoiled Turlough. I can't even begin to imagine what he would do with someone like Victoria. Probably his best scene is at the beginning of Episode Four where he spouts dialogue that could have come directly from a bad romance movie but in an impassive yet obsessive way. It goes so far as to make Tegan question him about love, a concept he is unfamiliar with. Again it comes back to his desire for the intensity of emotional existence and Tegan's passion and roil of emotion is what draws him. It's an interesting character study.

Wrack is profoundly over the top, occasionally too much so. She makes for a nice contrast with the emotionless Striker and Mariner and an over-the-top pirate queen would make sense. If Striker and Mariner are trying to understand emotions, she is bathing it them full stop. I didn't like the end to Episode Three though when she stares down the camera and laughs. That was too Snidley Whiplash for my taste and a step too far, even for that character. I also have to mention my disappointment in her getting an off-screen dispatch. I would have liked to see her spit some venom at the Doctor before pushing her overboard.

The sets are very nice as well as the direction. You can tell that the ships are models, but that is pretty much a given with what they are trying to do on the budget they have. I also enjoyed the lighting as well as the switchover to film when they go topside. The lighting is so low that the grain of the film really stands out, especially at the end of Episode Two, and it gives it a rather eerie quality, enough to distract you from the thin veil of lights attempting to look like stars in the background. Similar things can be said about the costumes so there is very little to complain about from a production standpoint with this story.

I keep coming back to my central question as to why I didn't care for this story as much as I expected to. I think pacing was some of it. Ultimately, I knew where the story was going with Turlough having to prove himself loyal to the Doctor. But rather than focus on the race or step to unentangle themselves from the Eternals, we focus on scenes with the crew, which are dropped halfway through Episode Two. We get Mariner pining after Tegan who seems bored by the whole thing and yet it still is never quite clear what Mariner is truly pining after. Then after the slow development of the first three episodes, we get the hasty conclusion in Episode Four that doesn't even give Wrack a good send off.

I also couldn't help but be a bit disappointed in the subplot with the jewels of destruction. Wrack's ship is clearly faster and she could win the race without destroying Striker's ship. The first two ships did actually pass her at various points so I understood her blowing them up, or at least luring them in to blowing them up. But Striker is someone she wants to blow up just for the fun of it as she has enough sail to overtake him and pass him. It reminded me of the old cartoon Wacky Races where the bad guy, Dick Dastardly, actually had the fastest car and if he just raced instead of hatching plans to destroy the other racers, he would have actually won. When you can be openly compared to a cheap Hanna-Barbara cartoon, that's not exactly the finest comparison.

I will say one thing about the story. Even if I was a bit bored here and there, it's overall telling was somewhat compelling. Having been foiled the first time I tried to watch it, the second time, I knew what was going to happen in the first three episodes yet still found them entertaining. I also found myself drawn in a little more by the story. I don't think this story is at the level of Kinda where repeated viewings will cause you to find more and more to enjoy, but I think the slow pace and sometimes odd detours hide other aspects which can draw you in on a second viewing.

All in all, I'd say this is good but not great. I think I would still agree that it is the best of the Black Guardian trilogy but more for it's overall balance. Mawdryn Undead was elevated by the Brigadier and only suffered in my eyes because of some laziness in the storytelling. Enlightenment is better balanced with good acting and a decent story all around, but the pacing and other small flaws bring it down from where it could have been. Perhaps the fault is entirely mine with hearing about how good this story is and building it up in my mind to something it wasn't. But it's still worth watching and it will draw you in, even if you find yourself distracted by other things from time to time.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

The King's Demons

Sir Ranulf: He is said to be the best swordsman in France.
Doctor: But, fortunately we are in England.

The King's Demons is the second of the genuine two-part stories (although the last on for me as any other stories that are listed as two-episodes are extended in length). It also introduces the companion robot Kamelion who ends up never being used again until his dismissal story: Planet of Fire. This apparently was due to problems with the robot puppet and the subsequent death of it's programmer, leaving it as a blip in Doctor Who continuity.

Plot Summary

In March 1215, King John is staying at the estate of Sir Ranulf but is unhappy with his supplications. He insults the house and Sir Ranulf's son, Hugh, takes the challenge. In the morning, Hugh jousts with the King's champion, Sir Gilles. Their match is interrupted by the arrival of the TARDIS. When the Doctor and his companions emerge, the crowd reacts in terror but King John welcomes them as his demons. Uneasy, they sit with the king and watch Sir Gilles unhorse Hugh, though the Doctor intervenes to ensure that Hugh is not killed.

Later, the Doctor and Tegan converse about the unease of the situation. Turlough, exploring another part of the castle, is taken by Hugh to the dungeons, convinced that he has an evil purpose. At the same time, Sir Gilles arrives in the chamber of Sir Ranulf and his wife, Isabella, and takes her hostage. Sir Ranulf confronts the Doctor, demanding to know what evil is going on. The Doctor suspects that the king may be an imposter and asks Sir Ranulf's leave to investigate the matter.

In the dungeons, Hugh is about to put Turlough into the iron maiden when Sir Gilles arrives. Hugh protests at the treatment of his mother and Sir Gilles has him arrested as well. All three are locked in a cell together. Hugh implores Turlough to call upon the powers of hell to help them but Turlough scoffs, suggesting that Hugh's efforts in that vein would be more effective.

Outside the castle, Sir Ranulf's cousin, Sir Geoffrey, arrives having just returned from London where he was with King John taking the crusader's oath. He is met by Sir Gilles who informs him of the King's presence. When Sir Geoffrey protests that that is impossible, Sir Gilles has him arrested.

At the evening feast, Sir Gilles brings out Sir Geoffrey and plans to place him in the iron maiden for his crimes. Sir Geoffrey protests, insisting that he saw the king in London only hours before. The Doctor protests the maiden, suggesting that Sir Geoffrey should be boiled in oil instead. John agrees but the Doctor rises, stating that he was not serious and insults Sir Gilles. Sir Gilles challenges him to a duel and the Doctor accepts. They fight in the hall but when the Doctor disarms him, Sir Gilles removes his disguise, revealing himself to be the Master.

The Doctor takes the Master's tissue compression eliminator, disarming him. When the Doctor refuses to kill the Master, John orders the Master into the iron maiden. But the maiden is the Master's TARDIS and it disappears. The Doctor is installed as the king's new champion and he offers to take Sir Geoffrey to the dungeons. The king agrees and then retires to rest.

The Master rematerializes his TARDIS in the dungeons and frees Lady Isabelle and Hugh, informing them that the Doctor is evil and must be stopped. He leaves Turlough and then takes the other two to the main hall. In the main hall, the Master convinces Sir Ranulf that the Doctor is evil and will try to kill Sir Geoffrey and harm the king. Hugh is dispatched to arrest the Doctor.

The Doctor arrives in the dungeon shortly afterwards and frees Turlough and Sir Geoffrey, confirming to him that the King John at the castle is an imposter. The Doctor installs the tissue compression eliminator on the Master's TARDIS. The group then heads outside with the Doctor planning to use the TARDIS to take Sir Geoffrey to London to inform the king but find the TARDIS taken in to the castle. Turlough readies Sir Geoffrey's horse for him to ride to London while the Doctor and Tegan reenter the castle to confront the imposter king.

The Doctor and Tegan are arrested and brought to the hall but the Master is absent. He is with a guard, who shoots Sir Geoffrey with a crossbow as he rides away. He also has Turlough arrested. In the hall, Tegan manages to get in the TARDIS and disappears. The Doctor uses the confusion to run off and enter the king's room where he find a robot named Kamelion playing the lute and singing in King John's voice.

The Master arrives in the castle with Turlough and Sir Geoffrey's dying body. The Master leaves to find the Doctor while Turlough is held in the hall. Sir Geoffrey utters words as he dies about the Doctor and the king but Sir Ranulf mistakes them for the Doctor threatening the king and heads towards the king's chambers.

The Master enters the king's chambers and introduces the Doctor to Kamelion who helped him escape his last mishap and is controlled through his will. The Doctor changes Kamelion's form as well and the two Time Lords begin to psychically duel over Kamelion. As they do so, Sir Ranulf and his guards enter with Turlough to see what appears to be King John in a glowing aura. The Doctor begins to overpower the Master and he loses control as Tegan arrives in the TARDIS.

Kamelion assumes the form of Tegan and Sir Ranulf is too stunned to stop him as the Doctor grabs Kamelion and Turlough and hurries them into the TARDIS. The TARDIS disappears and the Master heads to the dungeons to pursue them, leaving a confused Sir Ranulf. However, the addition of the tissue compression eliminator throws off the Master's guidance system and he cannot pursue the Doctor.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor to let Kamelion stay with them and he accepts, although Tegan is suspicious. The Doctor then says that he will take Tegan home over her petulance. She objects, stating that she wants to stay and head with the Doctor to the Eye of Orion as he mentioned. The Doctor agrees, admitting that he never entered the coordinates for Tegan's time anyway.

Analysis

Unlike the other two-parters, I think The King's Demons would best be classified as "a thing that happened." There is almost no real plot and even less action. It's not unenjoyable, but it's a bit boring as there aren't even any real personalities to sink your teeth in to.

The Doctor and his companions are fine, but they show up a bit late and are fairly passive though the first episode outside of a mild quip or a complaint of being cold by Tegan. The intrigues of the Master mostly go unchecked until the end of Episode One and then once the unmasking has been done, things move quickly but with almost no real plan. Outside of a battle of wills with the Master, there is very little that the Doctor actually does of consequence.

The Master is actually slightly more interesting than the Doctor in this story, but even there, it's not really the Master but watching the quality of Anthony Ainley's acting as Sir Giles. I've always felt that because the Ainley Master is so mustache twirl-y and over-the-top, he is regarded as somewhat of a lesser actor. However, when you watch his performance here as Sir Giles or in Castrovalva as the Portreeve, you get a much better sense of his abilities. I rather wonder if half the reason the Master is shown in disguises so often is just to give Ainley some change of pace work. As Sir Giles, he has a restraint that is often lacking as the Master and it's fun to see where the Master pokes out a bit, such as when he arrests Sir Geoffrey approaching the castle.

The other draw of the Master is that in stories such as this one, he seems to be the only one having any fun. Of course you expect the denizens of the castle to be a bit dour, it was the times. But the fact that in this and other adventures, there is no real sense of fun in the adventure by either the Doctor or his companions. I think that is what truly creates the rift between the Fourth and Fifth Doctor eras and why only a smattering of Fifth Doctor adventures really stand out as excellent.

I didn't have any problem with Kamelion in either concept or execution. It looks like a silvery mannequin controlled by wires or tubes but I would expect that from the early 80's. The idea of a robot that can cloak itself in any form is an interesting concept and it says a bit about the motivations of the Master that his first act after escaping is to go for such a minor annoyance as trying to stop Magna Carta. I do think that the producers missed the boat with Kamelion when they abandoned him due to the problems they had. Kamelion could easily have been played by various guest actors as needed, without any use of the robot puppet at all. I don't know that it would have improved any of the subsequent stories, but it would have made him a viable character.

Going back to the Master and his plan, I was reminded of some of the off-hand comments Missy makes to Clara in their initial meeting in The Magician's Apprentice as well as comments made by Doctor Who fans in that this is more of the Master flirting with the Doctor. The plan to stop Magna Carta is something well beneath the Master (the Doctor even mentions that) and would have been much more suited to the Meddling Monk, who would have thought of it as a laugh. I don't buy this as a real plan for conquest by the Master but more of a calling card to let the Doctor know that he has escaped their previous encounter and will be toying with him more in the future. Even at the end, the Master seems completely unphased by the loss of Kamelion and the foiling of his plan. He genuinely doesn't care because the calling card to the Doctor was the real plan and he succeeded there.

The look of the story is pretty well done. You can always count on the BBC to get period costuming and sets to look good. Of course, the iron maiden was a complete anachronism as it never really existed and didn't even appear in stories about the era until the 19th century. However, that can easily be handwaved away by King John bring it to the castle (he would have had to since it was the Master's TARDIS) and Sir Ranulf just assuming it was a device John came up with or one of his knights discovered on a crusade. With the uncovering of the false John the use of what would have looked to him as magic, he would have not bothered to mention the torture device as he could have dismissed it as a trick of hell. It's anachronistic nature should have only served as an additional notice to the Doctor that something was up and if you restructure the story as the Master toying with the Doctor, it makes a lot more sense.

Despite all the fun of hand waving and reading alternate contexts into the story, you still have to judge it for what it was and the truth is that I found it dull. Little action, little character development and just a bit of Time Lord flirting. You can tell that the story was devised almost exclusively to introduce Kamelion but that takes a minute, leaving you bored for the other 47 minutes. It's even worse if you know about Kamelion already since there is no real surprise at who the imposter is. With that knowledge and with the story checked off in the watch box, I can't say that there's any reason to go back and revisit this one. Again, it's not bad, it's just not particularly engaging unless you enjoy the flirting between the Doctor and the Master.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5