Earthshock

A chance materialization in an underground cave system in the 26th century brings the TARDIS crew into contact with a military group investigating the slaughter of a group of archaeologists. The scientists were masscred by a pair of androids protecting a massive bomb, and behind the androids are the Cybermen, once more intent of destroying the Earth. With the bomb deactivated, the Cybermen resort to their fallback plan of ramming the planet with a huge freighter powered by antimatter, but when the freighter enters a time warp it ends up arriving at Earth during the time of the dinosaurs and triggering their extinction upon impact - with Adric still on board.

The Cybermen make their return to the series after an absence of about seven or eight years, and to heighten the impact of that return they have been re-styled and updated once more to be taller and more machine-like. The Cyberman head changes to include a glass chin, and inside can be seen the mouth of the actor much akin to their original appearance in 1967 when they still had teeth and their eyes could be seen rotting away within their masks. They still look like men in suits, though; as the Cyber army awakens and marches through the hold of the freighter (and there are a lot of them this time) they pass by the camera and we get a full of view of... well.. Cyber-bum. And it's not a bad bum, but are we supposed to believe that the Cybermen replaced everything in their bodies from brains to nervous systems to internal organs, but left their bums alone? A bad edit, in the end. The other point of contention with the Cybermen is their voices; now deep and booming and not as flat and computer-like as before, they still sound as if there is some trace of emotion inside them. Daleks are allowed to hate and go into a rage but Cybermen are supposed to be driven by logic, and logic would not see the Cyberleader crushing a communicator in apparant rage when his plan falls apart.

Another first for the series this time: the TARDIS is invaded by the Cybermen and occupied for a time in part four.

Earthshock features some interesting effects as well, including a flashback sequence with the first, second and fourth Doctors as the Cybermen review their history with the Doctor's interferance with their plans. This was my own first glimpse of vintage Doctor Who clips from The Tenth Planet and The Wheel in Space back when I first saw this adventure broadcast on Channel 17 on a Saturday afternoon back in... well whenever it was.

Cybermen aside, Earthshock has a defining moment like few other adventures; the death of a companion, in this case, Adric. Trapped on board the freighter as it hurtles down onto Earth, he becomes the third companion to die in the series, joining Sara Kingdom and Katarina. Do we miss Adric? Not especially, but the impact of his death is felt by everyone on the TARDIS crew, and it is driven home by the final credits of part four beind scrolled over black in silence as opposed to the usual theme music and starfield sequence.

Earthshock got the revisionist treatment recently and was put out on DVD with a new GCI effects option, replacing the laser weapons from firefights against the Cybermen with better effects and creating a new sequence showing the freighter hitting Earth. I did not watch the original version when I viewed Earthshock, choosing to see the show from a different light this time. Fans keep squawking about the retouching of the effects but the in the end the show still goes on, Adric still dies, the Cybermen are still back, what's the problem?

I think Jay said it best, even though we did not watch this one together : "Adric. Boom. You're dead. We get it,"

At least now the TARDIS will be a bit less cramped.

NEXT EPISODE : TIME FLIGHT

Black Orchid

The TARDIS returns to Earth once more, this time in 1929 at the height of summer. Tegan has decided to stay with the crew for a while, and a case of mistaken identity lands the Doctor platying in a local cricket match for charity. The local aristocracy are taken with the Doctor's performance, but are more impressed by Nyssa, for she looks exactly like Ann, the fiancee of Lord Cranleigh. Only trouble is, Cranleigh's brother, George, was Ann's original fiancee but that wedding was called off when George was horribly disfigured by a tribe of South American natives for his interests in their local flora, namely the black orchid. George lurks within the family home, stalking the corridors and passages, and he's eager to reunite with his fiancee ... or a girl who looks like her.

Black Orchid is the first two part adventure in the series since The Sontaran Experiment, the format having been abandonded since in favour of using the budgeted funds to make six part adventures. Despite the limited time available the story still works very well, and gives every member of the regular cast something to say and do, although Sarah Sutton is pulling double duty as both Nyssa and Ann. I have long been a critic of Sutton's portrayal of Nyssa, claiming that she's actually rather boring and not much fun, sometimes lacking in expression or geuine reaction. After seeing this, though, it's obvious that the fault lies in the character of Nyssa herself, for Sutton's performance as Ann is much more animated, a sharp contrast when the two characters interact.

This is also one of the few adventures where choreography comes into play, with Tegan kicking up her heels to the Charleston on the Cranleigh patio. Adric makes a pig of himself at the buffet and the Doctor wanders the house in a dressing gown, lost in the secret passages between rooms.

What I don't like about this one is how willing the Doctor is to show the local constabulary around the inside of the TARDIS. Okay sure so he's framed for a murder he did not commit, but used to be he and his companions could just escape, not bring the entire police precinct inside the TARDIS. Still, with this Doctor being more personable than the previous incarnations, me TARDIS es su TARDIS seems to be the slogan du jour. At least, where nice people are concerned.

NEXT EPISODE : EARTHSHOCK

The Visitation

Another attempt to return Tegan to her own time and place goes wrong and the TARDIS arrives in 1666 just outside of London. The time machine is not the only visitor to the area; a few nights prior to its arrival a comet passed overhead and left a trail of fire in its wake, and afterwards a prominent local family was murdered and plague began to spread. The Doctor immediately suspects an extraterrestrial presence, and Nyssa's discovery of alien artefacts confirms it. An escape craft holding a group of Terileptils and an android servant has crashed and the survivors are intending to wipe out humanity using a plague bacteria being spread by infected fleas on rats, and their first target is London.

Another of the simplistic tales of aliens in the past trying to establish themselves and putting the future of the human race in danger again, with only the Doctor to stop them. Always a fun storyline, really. The BBC always does well with period drama so there is always a good supply of actors to fill the historical roles and good costumes all around. Interesting though on that costume note how once upon a time the Doctor and company used to take great pains to wear period outfits to not draw attention to themselves, yet here they all are wandering around 300 years in the past wearing modern clothes. Even the Terileptil leader spots this - a monster with an eye for fashion. Still, they do enjoy beautiful things in their culture, and their android is adorned with crystals and jewels despite being a killing machine.

How do the Terileptils stack up against other monsters? Bear in mind now that tried and true favoutites like the Daleks and the Cybermen have been absent from the series for a while, and with his desire to make the show more of a stand-out with all the revamping, producer John Nathan-Turner asked his writers for new monsters, new aliens, new villains. The Terileptils here are a breakway group from their own people; escaped criminals who broke out of their life sentence of working the tinclavic mines on the planet Raaga. A new dimension indeed; usually the frightening repitle monsters are all bad all the time, but here these are not indicative of the rest of their species, who the Doctor does not condemn as warlike or savage, just as engineers. They build androids. And Nyssa blows this one up in a showdown inside the TARDIS. Good for her.

So we're four adventures in and I've not made any kind of critical assessment of the new Doctor. Why? Because there's not much to say; he's just a guy. Oh sure he's really different from the previous Doctor and he tends to come close to hyperventilating when he starts going on at length but a defining characteristic? Hm. I have this horrible feeling that he is just going to go down in Doctor Who history as "the nice one"; the previous Doctors had a bit of an edge to them, being kind and merciful all the time but this one... he's polite. He doesn't yell. He just takes Tegan's barrage of insults on the chin when he fails to get her back home. The first Doctor would have thrown her out. Geez, Doc, grow some.

A matter of interest here, though, is the demise of the sonic screwdriver. First seen in Firy from the Deep the handy devide got the Doctor out of many a jam, and in The Visitation it meets the end, shot by the lead Terileptil. Producer John Nathan-Turner commented at WHO-FEST 1984 (I was there for that one) that he felt the sonic screwdriver was becoming too much of a cop out, much like K9 was seen to be, and it would be interesting to see how the Doctor coped without it. Third Doctor Jon Pertwee was sitting beside Nathan-Turner at the same panel when this was being discussed, and he was actually annoyed to hear that this had happened, and as he left the panel room to head for an autograph session he defiantly raised his own version of the device to the crowd.

Let's see how the Doctor copes without it.

NEXT EPISODE : BLACK ORCHID

Kinda

Nyssa is exhausted. The breakneck pace of life with the Doctor has worn her out, starting with the mental anguish of her father's murder, then the destruction of her entire world, she has collapsed. The Doctor puts the TARDIS down on the jungle planet Deva Loka where Nyssa can get some rest and the rest of the crew can explore. The Doctor and Adric encounter a group of human scientists scouting the planet for possible colonization, despite the presence of the native life, the Kinda, and are soon at the mercy of one of the expedition members' parinoia and lunacy. Tegan, however, succumbs to the Kinda dream chimes and allows a dark presence known as the Mara to escape its prison in a shadow dimension though her dream and slip into the minds of the Kinda.

There's nothing like a good old tale of a serpent lurking in paradise, which is exactly what this is. Deva Loka does not know violence or greed, and the arrival of human colonists upsets the balance of life to such an extent that the Kinda prophecy of a male who can speak (Kinda males do not have that capability but they are all telepaths) and lead the Kinda into battle comes true. After tormenting Tegan in her dream state, the Mara turns its attention to the outside world, motivating the Kinda to attempt to destroy the humans in their dome. Officer Hindle, however, is so parinoid about exactly that eventuality that he has wired the whole place for destruction if he sees even the slightest movement towards him. And when the Mara reveals itself in episode four, it is exactly that; a massive serpent ... a bit wobbly on the effects side of things but a snake nonetheless.

Jay and I watched this one together, enjoying the plastic wind chimes, making fun of Adric, wanting snake tattoos on our forearms just like the characters posessed by the Mara, glad that Nyssa was out of the picture for the whole show. Like I said previously, there are too many people on the regular cast and the absence of one for an entire episode makes it better for the others to get some dialgue. It's just like back when Jamie joined the crew in 1967, not enough to go around. And that old woman, Panna.... she's scarier than the Mara.

So. Mara repelled. Nyssa well rested. Adric embarassed. Typical day in the TARDIS.

NEXT EPISODE : THE VISITATION

Four to Doomsday

Tegan wants to go home. She's been saying so since she walked into the TARDIS. Now that he's regenerated and well, the Doctor tries to take her back but the TARDIS is drawn instead to a space ship that is approaching Earth. The ship is operated by the benevolant Monarch, leader of the frog-like Urbankan race, and his two ministers, Enlightenment and Persuasion. Monarch's mission is one of peace, to find a new home for his people and live side by side with the human race, and to this end he has researched the cultures of the Earth on many of his visits to ensure all goes well. Naturally this is not his plan at all, and with a host of android servants and a supply of deadly poison Monarch intends to wipe out humanity and settle his people on Earth.

Well, it's not like we haven't heard this one before. The recycled plot of invasion under the guise of friendship has been going on for a long time, long enough to ensure that should any friendly aliens ever come to Earth we'll shoot them down in a second. Jay joined me for this viewing, and we set about enjoying the show as only we can; which is to say we talked through it.

"They don't look like frogs," Jay said when we finally met the Urbankans perched on their thrones. And he's right. They're just fat and green. And who knew that Tegan was such an artist when she draws pictures of fashionable clothes for Enlightenment to look at.

Here's a bit of continuity that puzzles me; exactly how many types of oxygen mask does the TARDIS have on board? Back in The Web Planet the Doctor and Ian ventured out onto Vortis using jackets that had oxygen compensators attached to the front. In The Moosbase the Doctor and company have full space suits and helmets and goggles. Now we have everyone kitted out in cumbersome helmets, as areas of Monarch's ship do not have life support. Pick one, I say. Just one.

Monarch's collection of humans on his ship failed to impress us, really. Well, okay we both noticed that two of the Roman gladiator types were hot but the rest.... not so believeable. The Greek guy who looked like Zeus was funny, especially when he casually swatted Nyssa aside. Oh and Adric, what a man how he stood up to him... and was ignored. Bigon has a lazy eye, we noticed that too, right when that interesting almost-sloppy wipe was done when he removed his own face to show that he was an andoid copy of himself with all of his personality downloaded and stored on a microchip. Which is, of course, what Monarch is after in his invasion. Because there is no silicon anywhere else in the universe. And notice how the Australian Aboriginie speaks his native tongue but only Tegan understands him... so much for the TARDIS' powers of translation.

Bottom line is I wasn't too keen on this one. We've seen all of this before in one place or another, and now we have the added burden of having a thin plot's dialogue stretched even thinner across four lead characters. Someone's gotta go.

NEXT EPISODE : KINDA

Castrovalva

The Doctor has saved the universe again, and this time it has cost him another of his lives. The newly regenerated Doctor is younger, fair haired, and weakened like never before after the change he has endured, and he needs the recuperative powers of the TARDIS zero room to help him. With Adric abducted by the Master, it is up to Tegan and Nyssa to help the Doctor recover, taking him to Castrovalva to enjoy its peace and tranquil surroundings. Castrovalva is not all it seems to be, though, and behind its simply lifestyle is another trap set by the Master, something that will tear the Doctor's conscious mind apart before he can even fully recover.

This is really the first time that regeneration gets a proper examination and explaination, but by the same token it's the first time it actually starts to fail. Used to be the Doctor could just sleep off the effects of regenerating as if he'd been out drinking the night before, but now the Doctor lapses back through his previous personas while marching through the TARDIS corridors, gets his companions' names wrong, and has lapses all through the adventure. The companions take it in stride, probably since they have not been with him long enough to get attached to his previous self. The difference is, as always, noteable: younger, more of an innocent, not half as crazed looking... possibly not as much fun, but it's early days at this point.

The first episode of Castrovalva is distinctly similar to The Edge of Destruction with the TARDIS hurtling back in time towards the beiginning of the universe and the Big Bang (or Event One ... hey there's a good name for a one day convention) with the crew unaware of what kind of danger they are in. Unlike before, though, the TARDIS does not make any attempts to warn anyone through psychic attacks, it just leaves cryptic messages on the console screens. But there are a lot of corridors. Oh yes.

And then there's Adric. Trapped by the Master and wound up in a web and used and abused .. he never had it so good. They should have let the Master keep him for a while. It would have saved us from so much grief in the future. Really.

NEXT EPISODE : FOUR TO DOOMSDAY

K9 and Company

Distinguished scientist Lavinia Smith makes the social faux pas of commenting on local withcraft practises in the letters column of her community newspaper, sparking outrage amongst her neighbours. Lavinia does not care; she is eagerly awaiting the return of her neice, Sarah Jane Smith, for the Christmas holiday. When Sarah does arrive, she finds her aunt missing, a young ward named Brendan, and a mysterious box left by the Doctor. Inside the box is the newest model of K9, mark 3, sent to Sarah as a gift, and just in time as Sarah and Brendan come under attack from a local coven of witches,

Uh yeah.

This was painful to watch, right from the very start when John Leeson squeaks out the lyric to the opening theme in his little K9 voice. The pain continues through limp performances from almost the entire cast, the obvious exception being Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, reprising the role almost four years after leaving in The Hand of Fear. The dorky student Brendan is just a more earthy version of Adric, just wearing regular clothes. And why is it called K9 and Company? K9 has little to do with the story and its events, showing up late in the adventure and then being left behind a lot, right up until he raids the witches lair and shoots everyone down (those who Sarah does not karate kick into oblivion).

Well can you blame the BBC for trying? K9 had just left Doctor Who to a great public outcry, so what better way to grab some ratings around Christmas than to give him his own show and pair him up with the most popular companion in the series' history? With Doctor Who between episodes as Tom Baker had just left the role for Pater Davison to assume, fans wanted more, now more than ever. All the pieces for spin-off bliss were right there, but they somehow did not come together properly. The good news is, though, that the concept of this "team" was not totally abandoned and Sarah and K9 would return together again, just not for a while.

NEXT EPISODE : CASTROVALVA

Logopolis

Haunted by the reappearance of the Master, the Doctor decides to repair the faulty chameleon circuit on the TARDIS at last. When operating properly the circuit will allow the ship to change form and blend in with its surroundings, but to effect such a repair the Doctor must go to the planet of Logopolis, where pure math and logic are the guiding philosophies. Before going to Logopolis, though, the Doctor must measure a real police box, and in doing so his path crosses with air stewardess Tegan Jovanka and then with a mysterious white figure known as the Watcher, whose presence rattles the Doctor like nothing ever has before. Once on Logopolis, the Doctor realizes that the Master has followed him, and the Watcher has brought Nyssa of Traken with him. The Master's attempt to control the universe by exploting Logopolis backfires and the causal nexus itself begins to unravel; the maths of Logopolis were the only thing holding the eroding forces of entropy at bay and everything starts to crumble. Logopolis has served as the cornerstone of the universe for centuries, keeping the universe from collapsing by opening gateways to other universes like Adric's home of E-Space. The Doctor returns to Earth to stop the entroy field from expanding, but in a battle with the Master falls to what should be his death from a radio antenna, only to regenerate before the eyes of Adric, Tegan and Nyssa.

I do not think there has ever been a Doctor Who episode as complicated and downright depressing as this one. From the haunting incidental music to the gloomy archways of the TARDIS cloister room the feeling of impending doom is everywhere, heightened by Tom Baker's most grim performance ever. The Doctor cracks no jokes, snaps impatiently at his companions and resorts to an alliance with the Master. The first time I saw this back in the sixth grade I remember feeling gloomy through the whole thing, hating the Master, and then being so horribly shocked and almost moved to tears by the Doctor's sudden regeneration. I believe this was my Tenth Planet moment, much like when the fans in 1967 saw the very first regeneration; it came without warning and was in a way as if the Doctor had died right before me. In hindsight I should have been okay with it seeing as it had happened before and there was no cosmic law that Tom Baker was going to stay on the show forever, but after seeing the same face on the show for so many years, the change was a startling one.

This was also the first episode with the Master after his merge with Tremas in Keeper of Traken. With Anthony Ainley in the role the character was once more a stylish almost gentleman type with a nasty cold centre, even being so callous as to parade the stolen body of Tremas around in front of Nyssa. Sarah Sutton could have done a better job of showing anguish at seeing her dead father's body up and about and posessed, but I'm not sure Nyssa knew much about range of emotion.

Janet Fielding makes her debut appearance as Tegan Jovanka, going a little over the top some times on the Australian accent (were Aussies the "in" thing back then - I can't remember) but showing all the potential of a new companion. A bit loud, though. Like Sarah Jane Smith, Tegan is a contemporary character, meant to represent the viewers at home in this ship now filled with aliens; even though they're all humaoid, the Doctor is still a Time Lord, Nyssa is from Traken and Adric is annoying. I mean Alzarian. How does the new "family" function as a unit? It's a bit too soon to tell but Tegan bonds with Nyssa right away as the only girls in the show, but immediately seems to resent Adric as a younger boy seeming to hold his intelligence over her.

Of course, central to all of this is the Doctor's regeneration. What kind of man - indeed, WHO - will he be ...?

NEXT EPISODE : K9 AND COMPANY

The Keeper of Traken

Adric's first impressions of N-Space are going to be good ones, or so the Doctor thinks. Upon returning to the universe we all call home the TARDIS is visited by the gaeing Keeper of Traken; a man who controls al the power of the Traken Union from a comfy armchair. Traken is known universally for its goodwill and harmony, but the Keeper fears that something evil is threatening the status quo. The Doctor and Adric come to Traken to help but are taken to be agents of evil themselves, but the real menace is in the form of Melkeur. Melkeur vistied the planet years previous and became immediately rooted to the spot as a large stone statue, but now it can walk and kill. It also exudes control over Kassia, new wife of the wisest consul of Traken, Tremas, and with her help it intends to seize the power of Traken for itself.

Traken seems like the most boring planet in the universe, really. Adric should feel right at home. Traken is also the home of a young girl named Nyssa, who the Doctor encountered previously in the novel Asylum where she claimed to have already met him and travelled in the TARDIS. Obviously that entire plot for that novel was ret-conned (retroactive continuity, for the novel was written years and years after Keeper was first seen) but it is interesting to see how the Doctor reacts to Nyssa when he first meets her, almost as if he is avoiding saying too much to her. Interesting, that.

Nyssa comes from an interesting family. Her father is a Consul of Traken, and his new wife, Kassia, also holds that rank (there are five consuls in total). But Kassia has a thing for Melkeur as she was asked to look after it since she was a child and bring it flowers and show it kindness while it calcified. And Melkeur has a past with the Doctor, although it doesn't become clear until later on that the statue is actually a TARDIS, and the Master is inside, still dying and emaciated after his attempts to destroy Gallifrey in The Deadly Assassin. Yes, the Master is back, and the series now moves into what is referred to as "The Return of the Master Trilogy", with the Master grabbing Tremas' body and merging with it and running off into the universe, leaving Nyssa alone and orphaned on Traken. The bastard.

Keeper is a visually impressive adventure with some pretty grand sets depicting the capitol of Traken. The sheer size of the main audience chamber is novel, almost enough to forgive the not so lush grounds of the Grove where Melkeur has stood immobile all these years. I have never seen such a weed ridden garden, unless you count some of the ugly neglect of suburban backyards in Newmarket. The BBC has no green thumb.

Do I welcome the return of the Master? Not entirely. I was never a big fan of the Master, but this time it feels like something new; new producer John Nathan-Turner's mandate to update and change everything starting with the old police box itself and moving along to the Doctor's costume, the theme song, the overall look of the show, so maybe there will be a new element to the Master now he's back.

We shall see.

NEXT EPISODE : LOGOPOLIS