Episode #135 : The Caves of Androzani

"Is this death?"

Episode 135:   The Caves of Androzani.
Companions:   5th Doctor and Peri.
Air Date:         8th to 16th March 1984.

The TARDIS arrives on Androzani Minor, the source of a life-prolonging drug refined from a substance called spectrox. Production of the drug is controlled by Sharaz Jek, a facially deformed madman in self imposed exile, who blames Morgus, a powerful industrialist on Androzani Major, for all his misfortunes. Jek is fighting government troops sent to liberate the drug. His weaponry is being supplied by gun-runners secretly employed by Morgus, who receives payment from Jek in refined spectrox. This gives Morgus a monopoly of the drug on Major.

Peter Davison's time as the Doctor comes to an end with a rather disappointing tale. Many fans see this as a rather good exit for the Doctor but I find it a rather boring adventure. It simply feels as though the writer (experienced writer Robot Holmes) had seen Phantom of the Opera and far too many Shakespearean plays before he sat down to do this one. I'm not going to give it a low rating as it does sort of fit in where I feel the show is typical but for a regeneration story it should have been a hell of a lot better.

Peri gets a lot of the lime light in this one and that's not a bad thing as Nicola Bryant does seem to get a feel for her character in this one. Peri becomes the love interest for the disfigured Phantom type villain who must have her beauty at all costs when he should be worrying himself with those who want to see him dead.

We finally get an explanation for the stick of celery that the 5th Doctor carries around with him. Allow me to explain:

Peri : "Doctor, why do you wear a stick of celery in your lapel?"

The Doctor : "Does it offend you?"
Peri : "No, just curious."
The Doctor : "Safety precaution. I'm allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum."
Peri : "Well how does the celery help?"
The Doctor : "If the gas is present, the celery turns purple."
Peri : "And then what do you do?"
The Doctor : "I eat the celery. If nothing else I'm sure it's good for my teeth."

As Peter Davison has said on many occasions while performing his regeneration sequence and giving possibly the finest acting performance of his career, the camera was aimed straight down Peri's cleavage. You may not have noticed that before but go back and watch it. You'll see what I mean.

This was the first regeneration sequence to have the final word of the story come from the new incarnation of the Doctor.

I grew up with the 5th Doctor so his adventures will always have something to them that I remember fondly. Many claim him to be the wishy-washy Doctor or the "wet vet" (Peter Davison starred in a vets drama before Who) but I think he wasn't so bad. Bit grumpy but then if you were stuck with Tegan and Turlough wouldn't you be?