Category: Episode by Episode
Doctor Who episode 631: The Mark of the Rani – Part One (2/2/1985)
‘The beginning of a new era.’ The third and fourth Bakers arrive with the first of 11 episodes they’ll write over the next two series. Presented with the kind of shopping list that Grimwade would have baulked at (introduce a female Time Lord villain, include the Master and set it in Earth’s history) they come up trumps with what’s easily the most solidly-conceived and scripted sixth Doctor episode to date. True, it lacks Vengeance on Varos’ red-top front page approach (although there are more exploited miners), but what we get instead has some of the gentleness of a Davison story wedded to the glossier style of Season 22.
Doctor Who episode 630: Vengeance on Varos – Part Two (26/1/1985)
‘I want to hear them scream until I’m deaf with pleasure.’ This helps make more sense of the previous episode, has some good jokes, and treats the Doctor like the hero of his own series. As such, it’s the best sixth Doctor episode so far. Baker gets a good mix of material, confronting Quillam in a faux-polite sneering contest, and quickly discerning the reality of Sil’s motives and the situation on Varos through observation and a few well-chosen questions. ‘He smells the truth of things,’ the Chief says, with a shudder. I much prefer the Doctor being the one to give the monsters rather than his companion nightmares. Peri even gives him a hug.
Doctor Who episode 629: Vengeance on Varos – Part One (19/1/1985)
‘When did they last show something worth watching?’ It’s clearly a step-up from The Twin Dilemma and Attack of the Cybermen, neither of which appeared to be about anything in particular, whereas this practically bashes the audience over the head with a point. What that point is is harder to define. Everything I’ve read says this is “about” video nasties, and that’s in the mix (the Governeur is selling tapes of the executions).
Doctor Who episode 628: Attack of the Cybermen – Part Two (12/1/1985)
‘It didn’t go very well, did it.’ The big problem with Attack of the Cybermen is it’s essentially Jackanory, telling the attempt to change history and save Mondas rather than showing it. We never see the Cybermen’s home planet – it all happens as noises off. Even their time ship remains offscreen. Instead, we have endless scenes of the Doctor chatting to Lytton and then Flast about events of The Tenth Planet, about the Cyber-plan to divert Halley’s Comet, and the history of the Cybermen and the Cryons. We don’t see any of it.
Doctor Who episode 627: Attack of the Cybermen – Part One (5/1/1985)
‘This is a hoary old one. Talk about neglect.’ Back on Saturdays in 45-minute episodes, this could have been the opportunity for an exciting new phase of the show. Location filming on the streets of London, stylishly directed by Matthew Robinson, makes this look more like an episode of The Sweeney than anything the series has tried before. A gritty diamond heist that inadvertently uncovers a Cyberman invasion is a good hook. The opening of this is pure Season Seven: workmen being attacked by something monstrous; the Doctor and companion dashing about run-down looking urban locations. It’s an instant step up from The Twin Dilemma.
Doctor Who episode 626: The Twin Dilemma – Part Four (30/3/1984)
‘Our genius has been abused.’ So, the climax of this boils down to the Doctor learning Mestor’s true plan and deciding to assassinate him with poison. He’s only prevented from doing so by Mestor’s mind powers, at which point Mestor informs the Doctor he intends to transfer his brain into the Doctor’s body, but before doing so he will demonstrate what he’s about to do by transferring his brain into Azmael’s body. The Doctor then dissolves Mestor’s old body with acid (another Season 21 death by gloop), and Azmael commits suicide.
Doctor Who episode 625: The Twin Dilemma – Part Three (29/3/1984)
‘It’s called compassion Doctor, it’s the difference that remains between us.’ Steven Moffat did the whole ‘She cares so I don’t have to’ storyline with Peter Capaldi and I like this about the same. In principle, the idea of the Doctor going bad is workable – The Invasion of Time showed that. But the regeneration has already disrupted normality enough, and, thanks to the decision to end the season with this, there are only four episodes to establish the new reality. So, keeping the audience so uncertain about the new Doctor for so long is a risky gamble.
Doctor Who episode 624: The Twin Dilemma – Part Two (23/3/1984)
‘If it’s a question of his life or mine…’ Better than the previous episode because the bad bits are just bad rather than horrible. The Doctor is still behaving like an idiot – for example, hiding behind Peri when he’s threatened by a Jacondan – but this is largely played for (and works as) comedy. There’s nothing grisly like the assault in Part One. He’s starting to settle as a character who does everything at the extreme – extreme enthusiasm and excitement at the prospect of exploring somewhere new; delight at re-meeting Azmael and reminiscing about their drunken exploits. Baker does well with all of this, but he’s basically been asked to play a very annoying person. The contrast with the insouciant fifth Doctor is deliberate and extends to every part of the new Doctor’s look and personality. The common thread between them is a certain brusqueness towards their companions.
Doctor Who episode 623: The Twin Dilemma – Part One (22/3/1984)
‘I never saw anyone who loved himself so much.’ The new Doctor’s era begins with a burst of colour, each sparkle and each spangle in the title sequence in glorious neon, the slightly kinked logo a sort of luminous purple. It sets the scene perfectly for a story that’s bright and bold unlike the hallmark pinkish greys and beiges of the Davison stories. The Sylvest family look like they live in a set from a kids’ TV show. This makes a striking contrast to the grimdark of Androzani, and with the introduction of two Adrics, capable of manipulating reality with their maths, surely it’s going to be twice as good.
Doctor Who episode 622: The Caves of Androzani – Part Four (16/3/1984)
‘Not enough time.’ There’s a line of thought that suggests The Caves of Androzani succeeds because it was written with Tom Baker’s Doctor (or even a generic Doctor) in mind, and that Davison is essentially playing a different character than in the last 65 episodes. I don’t really buy that: everything the fifth Doctor does here feels like a natural endpoint for his character. We’ve seen the single-minded determination in the face of disbelief and suspicion, in Snakedance; we’ve seen him rail against the petty obsessions of villains, and breezy insouciance in the face of mortal danger. Here, with the stakes raised, all those elements are upped – but they aren’t unlike anything in Davison’s previous performance. He even gets to do something useful with the celery, and his costume finally proves its real value as perfect camouflage on the 86% of planets that look like Dorset sandpits.
Next Time... 