Episode #161 : The End of the World

The Doctor: You think it'll last forever: people and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day it's all gone. Even the sky. My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned, like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before its time.

Rose: What happened?

The Doctor: There was a war, and we lost.

Episode 161:   The End of the World.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         2nd April 2005.

The Ninth Doctor takes his new companion, Rose Tyler, to the year 5,000,000,000 to see the sun expand and destroy the Earth. The observation deck space station, Platform One, is holding an event with the richest beings of the time observing the Earth's destruction, but mysterious metal spiders gifted by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme to the other guests are secretly infiltrating and sabotaging the station.

After a reasonable but perhaps shaky start, Doctor Who continues with story set against the backdrop of the Earth's last hour before destruction. But the Doctor isn't here to save it, the Earth has had her time. Instead, he thinks bringing Rose to the far future will be an adventure but doesn't consider the impact it will have on his new companion. That is one of the things I especially like about this episode. Previous companions seem to get past the culture shock quite quickly and adapt with ease. Rose however gets rather upset that she is seeing the Earth die even though it is billions of years in her future. We also see her reaction to suddenly realising that she has just picked up and off into time and space with a complete stranger. Again, something we didn't see under the classic show. For the criticism that was levelled at RTD during his time as producer of the show, it is elements like this that really help define the new Who.

This story also features the first instance of the phrase Bad Wolf which would appear in every episode of this first series from here on. Here it is spoke by one of the alien visitors who mentions "the Bad Wolf scenario".

As you see in the above quotation, this story starts to introduce the back story which we have missed while the show was off air. It appears that Gallifrey has been destroyed in some sort of conflict with an unnamed enemy and that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords. At the time of air, I didn't like this as I am rather fond of stories that feature the Time Lords but as we go along we eventually learn of Gallifrey's fate.

There are quite a few elements in this story which will return as the show goes along, including the Face of Boe and Lady Cassandra, in addition to the Bad Wolf plot line. The End of the World is a very good example of Doctor Who but I can't help but feel that it might have been better if stretched out to two parts. There is a lot crammed in here and doesn't get nearly enough air time. However it does end with some thought provoking comments and all good science fiction should entertain and make you think.

Episode #160 : Rose

Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.

Episode 160:   Rose.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         26th March 2005.

It's just another day in the life of London teenager Rose Tyler. That is, until she meets the Ninth Doctor. The plastic on Earth has come to life, and the Doctor has to stop it before the Nestene Consciousness can take over. Rose's life will never be the same again.

The show has been brought back by Russel T Davis and BBC Wales. I was very surprised that the show had done away with the multi-episode stories and was now running like every other show with a roughly 45 minutes story. At the time I was disappointed but now I realise that the show is better for it.

Immediately we are introduced to the new Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston. He is very different to any of his previous incarnations but is perhaps a very good means of introducing the character and the show to a modern family audience. At times his persona gets a bit much, especially with the references to humans as "stupid apes".

Rose Tyler, played by former pop star Billie Piper, is an interesting companion. Unlike the classic companions, Rose is simply an everyday young woman who finds herself drawn into the alien invasion by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As well as Rose we are introduced to her boyfriend Mickey and her mother Jackie. Both are characters who will have potential as the show goes along.

Doctor Who returns with a classic villain, the Nestene Consciousness and it's Auton servants. They are invading the Earth as their worlds were destroyed in a war. This is the first reference to the Time War in the new show though we won't learn that in this story. It could have been easier to start with something more recognisable like the Daleks but I think the BBC did the right thing and come back with a known but less iconic monster.

The show is much better for having been brought back at a time when decent production values allow for excellent special effects, make up and, at last, well done script writing. There are humorous elements included that don't quite work and I wish they had not been included. Some of these, such as a plastic rubbish bin eating Mickey Smith and then burping were frankly childish. But for a first introductory episode, Rose is well done and long in coming.

Episode #159 : The Enemy Within (Doctor Who).

"Grace, I came back to life before your eyes. I held back death. Look, I can't make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today."

Episode 159:   The Enemy Within.
Companions:   8th Doctor and Grave Holloway.
Air Date:         27th May 1996.

The Master is apparently exterminated by the Daleks on Skaro, and the Doctor agrees to take his remains back to Gallifrey in the TARDIS. The Master is not really dead, however, but has transformed into a shapeless morphant creature. He causes the TARDIS to make an emergency landing on Earth, in the city of San Francisco, in the year 1999. The Doctor emerges from the ship to find himself in the midst of a street battle between rival gangs. He sustains gunshot wounds and, accompanied by young gang member Chang Lee, is taken to hospital for emergency treatment. Surgeon Dr Grace Holloway attempts to save his life but, failing to understand his alien physiology, actually causes his 'death'. The Doctor later regenerates into his eighth physical form. The Master has meanwhile taken over the body of an ambulance driver named Bruce. This is just a temporary measure until he can achieve his ultimate goal: to inhabit the Doctor's body.

After a hiatus of several years the Fox television network wanted to produce a new series of Doctor Who. In conjunction with the BBC this single pilot episode was commissioned. It was never picked up afterwards and for many years was the only appearance of the 8th Doctor, though following it came dozens and dozens of novels and audio dramas. This made Paul McGann technically the longest serving Doctor with more adventures to his name and any other incarnation.

Paul McGann was the perfect choice for the role.  He brings a personality and sense of character that really fits with the role. They could have easily given the Doctor to an American actor and it would not have been the same. There are many things wrong with this American adaptation but his choice is not one of them. As a well done addition, we do start off with Sylvestor McCoy as the 7th Doctor and get a regeneration sequence. The network could have just gone straight in with McGann but handing over the baton as it were, does a nice job of showing that we are talking about the same show/universe.

On the other hand, Eric Roberts, was not the best choice. I like him as an actor, but he is more of a B movie actor and just not right for this part. He chews the furniture with his acting style as the Master and seems far too malicious even for that villain.

The title "The Enemy Within" is not an official title. If I remember right, the director gave it that name at a convention should fans require a name. I prefer that title over a simple "Doctor Who". I do seem to be in the minority yet again with this story. It is horribly Americanised and I don't know many British fans who warmed to it very well. It just does not feel traditional Doctor Who but British and American television styles are very different so I can live with it happily. Other issues are the references to the Doctor being half human which thankfully were ignored by the fans and by the BBC. Some things you just don't screw around with. Even with these issues I think that The Enemy Within is what I expect of the show in general.

One nice thing that this version of the show does, and it continues in the rebooted new series, is that you get a more in depth feel for the Doctor. He's no longer just a time traveller wandering the universe, having adventures and setting things right. The way he is written brings the character to life and makes him more three dimensional.

Episode #158 : Survival

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream, people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do."

Episode 158:    Survival.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:          22nd November to 6th December 1989.

The Doctor takes Ace to present day Perivale so that she can revisit old friends. Most of them however have been transported by cat-like Kitlings to the planet of the Cheetah People, a race with the power to teleport through space. Ace is transported and joins up with two of her friends, Midge and Shreela, and a boy named Derek. The Doctor follows and encounters the Master, who has drawn him into a trap to try to gain his help. This planet gradually transforms its inhabitants into Cheetah People - an influence to which the Master himself has fallen victim - while they in turn, through the savagery of their actions, cause the planet to move ever closer to total destruction.

The final ever episode of the classic series comes crashing down after the excellent couple of previous stories. Survival is just poor both in story and in production values. The kitling (above) and the cheetah people costumes are just plain bad. No one thought about spending much on this story and it spoils it so very much.

The Master makes his final classic era appearance here and it feels so much like that his inclusion was simply tacked on for the sake of it. At least in Survival he isn't up to some nefarious but ill-thought out scheme. He is out to escape the planet of the cheetah people and free himself from the transformation into a cat.

Survival is another adventure where Ace gets the centre stage with much of the events being plotted around her. The Doctor however seems to have lost something in this one. Gone is the intelligent and manipulative Time Lord from recent stories and in his place is a more incompetent investigator. Disappointing to be say the least.

It is a shame that the classic show died with this as the final episode. It deserved better. The problem is however that since the end of the Tom Baker era there had been a severe drop in the production values of the show. The look of the show has often been cited as one of the reasons that the show was cancelled by the BBC. Survival is a perfect example of that.

Episode #157 : The Curse of Fenric

"We hoped to return to the North Way, but the dark curse follows our dragon ship... The Wolves of Fenric shall return for their treasure, and then shall the dark evil rule eternally."

Episode 157:   The Curse of Fenric.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:         25 October to 15th November 1989.

The TARDIS materialises at a secret naval base off the coast of Northumberland toward the end of the Second World War. Dr Judson, a scientist there, has created the Ultima Machine, an early computer designed to break German codes. The base's Commander Millington plans to let a Russian commando unit led by Captain Sorin steal the Machine's core, which he has booby-trapped with deadly toxin. Judson uses the Machine to translate some ancient runes from the crypt of the nearby St Judes church and this leads to the release of Fenric, an evil entity from the dawn of time whom the Doctor trapped seventeen centuries earlier in a Chinese flask by defeating it at chess.

The Curse of Fenric is an exceptional story that covers multiple story lines and wraps up a number of plot lines that we perhaps didn't even notice were there. Mainly the story deals with the return of Fenric, a Great Old One, sealed away by the Doctor in a much earlier untelevised adventure. We learn that the Doctor beat Fenric at chess in order to do so. The chess game we saw previously in Silver Nemesis, was part of Fenric's scheme, and we learn that the time storm that snatched Ace away from home to deposit her on IceWorld was also his doing. Fenric had been planning things for a very long time.

The script for this is perfect. There isn't anything wrong with it and combined with excellent production values gives us a chilling atmospheric tale of ancient horror set to a backdrop of the second world war. If only the late 80's could have had this level of writing and production value all the way through then no one could have complained.

The celebrity guest star in this tale was Nicholas Parsons, a household name in the 1970's and 80's for the game show Sale of the Century. In this story he plays a priest who has lost his faith because of the horrors of war.

This story is very much a return to classic Doctor vs the monsters but with some of the best writing of the classic show. You cannot go wrong with The Curse of Fenric.

Episode #156 : Ghostlight

Ace: It's true isn't it. This is the house I told you about.

Doctor: You were thirteen. You climbed over the wall for a dare.

Ace: That's your surprise isn't it? Bringing me back here.

Doctor: Remind me what it was that you sensed when you entered this deserted house. An aura of intense evil?

Episode 156:   Ghostlight.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:         4th to 18th October 1989.

The Doctor brings Ace to Gabriel Chase, an old house that she once burnt down in her home town of Perivale. The year is 1883 and the house is presided over by Josiah Samuel Smith, who turns out to be the evolved form of an alien brought to Earth in a stone spaceship that is now in the basement. Others present include the explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper, who has been driven mad by what he has seen there, and Nimrod, Smith's Neanderthal manservant. Smith intends to use Fenn-Cooper's unwitting help in a plot to kill Queen Victoria and restore the British Empire to its former glory. His plans are hampered by Control, a female alien whose life-cycle is in balance with his own. Ace inadvertently causes the release of the spaceship's true owner - a powerful alien being known as Light.

Ghostlight is a fantastic story and a real example of how good late 80's Doctor Who could be. It starts off as a suitable atmospheric horror tale in a "haunted house" and then it slowly resolves into well thought out science fiction. Ghostlight has so many levels to it that a viewer really needs to watch it several times over to catch them all. This was explained by Julian Knott in an issue of DWB as follows:

'A script as well-balanced as it was well-packed into three episodes (with no discernible padding) deserves much praise. After a couple of viewings it becomes apparent that there is hardly a word wasted, and that many key words and phrases have been picked to convey a very specific meaning (such as the Doctor's remark that Ace's change of clothes into [those of] a "Victorian gentleman" is a "metamorphosis"). Every action has a reason, every occurrence an explanation. Even the standard defuse-the-bomb/stop-the-countdown "firestorm program" sequence at the end made enough sense in context, and succeeded in rounding the story off nicely. Even if some things are not made clear at the time they occur, then they are explained, or can be explained, at a later stage.'

The Doctor is simply fantastic in this story. He balances numerous "games" and seems to be fully aware of everything that is going on in the old house. While this is an element of every incarnation I don't think it is ever so well written in classic Who as it is in both this story and the following on Curse of Fenric.

The story gives Ace a fantastic and long awaited story where she is the centre of the plot. Not nearly enough companions get that in my opinion. In Ghostlight we learn about an event that scared her as a young teenager and the Doctor brings her back to the past of that event to force her to confront her fears.

Ghostlight is a simply marvellous story that gets better with age. I recommend it fully.

Episode #155 : Battlefield

"Well if my hunch is right, the Earth could be at the centre of a war that doesn't even belong to this dimension!"

Episode 155:   Battlefield.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:          6th to 27th September 1989.

The TARDIS materialises in the English countryside near the village of Carbury, where a nuclear missile convoy under the command of UNIT's Brigadier Winifred Bambera has run into difficulties. Lying on the bed of the nearby Lake Vortigern is a spaceship from another dimension containing the body of King Arthur, supposedly held in suspended animation, and his sword Excalibur. Ancelyn, a knight from the other dimension, arrives on Earth to aid the King but is followed by his rival Mordred and the latter's mother, a powerful sorceress named Morgaine. They all recognise the Doctor as Merlin - a fact that the Time Lord attributes to events in his own future.

Doctor Who meets Arthurian legend and surprisingly does it very well. Our lore of King Arthur comes down to us from another dimension where the figures of legend are very much real, and where a possible future version of the Doctor (in an untelevised adventure) is the wizard Merlin. Or maybe that universe has it's own Doctor? The writers have combined the Arthurian tales with a strange pseudo-science that gels very well even when you realise that you are watching knights in armour fighting with swords and laser guns.

The Doctor is back to his dark manipulative self at last. Ace also gets a good amount of screen time and a fair amount of dialogue which is refreshing since she hasn't really had the opportunity since Dragonfire. It is a shame that the writing and storytelling for McCoy get so much better on his last year as the BBC plot to cancel the show.

This story also sees the long awaited return of UNIT and the Brigadier. Even good old Bessie gets brought out of mothballs for this adventure. We also get a short meeting with Doris, the Brigadier's wife who was frequently mentioned but never seen. Though I do think the references were probably lost on younger fans at the time who hadn't watched the earlier classic show.

With Battlefield I do appear to be in the minority as apparently many fans dislike this story. It is considered to have too many characters who don't get enough individual screen time. I've also read that many feel the battle sequences uninspired and the sparkler-like effects for the laser guns just a poor choice. I can see past all that and find Battlefield an entertaining adventure for the Doctor.

Episode #154 : The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

"I told you, girl, to get lost. Or I'll do something 'orrible to your ears"

Episode 154:   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:         14th December 1988 to 4th January 1989.

The Doctor and Ace head for the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax, where they meet a disparate group of fellow visitors including a pompous explorer named Captain Cook and his companion Mags and a biker known as Nord. The Circus itself is dominated by the sinister Chief Clown and his deadly troupe of robot clowns, who organise a talent contest in which all visitors take part. The audience consists of just a single strange family - mother, father and daughter - seated at the ringside. Although hindered by the treacherous Cook, the Doctor eventually discovers that the Circus hides a terrible secret: the family are in reality the Gods of Ragnarok, powerful creatures with an insatiable craving for entertainment who invariably destroy those who fail to please them. With Ace's help, the Doctor ends the Gods' influence here and returns the Circus to the control of its original hippie owners.

The idea of a dark and evil force lurking behind the farcical front of a circus is nothing new but it is a plot element that I am surprised took this long to appear in the show. This adventure for the 7th Doctor and Ace takes that and gives it a rather bizarre surreal twist but not in a way that I find particularly good way. Surreal can be a very good way of dealing with a story concept but this adventure takes it a step too far with robot clowns, ancient "gods" from before the dawn of time and characters that just don't fit the Whoniverse at all. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy hearkens back to the early days when we had stories like The Mind Robber and the The Celestial Toymaker. Those stories didn't really fit in either but dropping such a story in now feels even more out of place.

The 7th Doctor drops back into the mold in which he first appeared on our screens with a clownish behaviour. He seems to be enjoying this dark eerie circus far too much and spends a big chunk of the final part just doing stage magic to amuse the Gods of Ragnarok. Where is the manipulative Doctor who had started to appear over the last few stories?

One interesting note for this story was a surprise for myself. Whilst doing some research on the story I learnt that the actor playing the Ringmaster (Ricco Ross) played the marine Frost in the Aliens movie. Sometimes it really is surprising to see who ends up with a role in BBC television dramas.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is one of the biggest flops for the show. I recommend avoiding this one entirely.

Episode #153 : Silver Nemesis

"I don't suppose you've completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any Nitro-9, have you?"

Episode 153:   Silver Nemesis.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:         23 November to 7th December 1988.

The Doctor and Ace visit England in 1988, where three rival factions - the Cybermen, a group of Nazis and a 17th Century sorceress named Lady Peinforte - are attempting to gain control of a statue made of a living metal, validium, that was created by Rassilon as the ultimate defence for Gallifrey. The statue has three components - a bow, an arrow and the figure itself - that must be brought together in order for it to be activated. They have been separated since 1638 when, in order to foil the first attempt by Peinforte to seize it, the Doctor launched the figure into orbit in a powered asteroid.  This asteroid has been approaching the Earth at twenty-five yearly intervals ever since, leaving a succession of disasters in its wake, and has now crash-landed near Windsor Castle.

The show's 25th anniversary (silver, hence the episode title) is an excellent piece of classic Doctor Who. With just a little bit of effort to cover up the one or two plot holes, I would have given Silver Nemesis a full five point rating. As is though, I think it is one of the better McCoy era stories.

Silver Nemesis continues elements of the Cartmell Masterplan by having Lady Peinforte drop references to who the Doctor might possibly be. Unfortunately, the Cybermen nor Ace care and she is cut off before she can actually say anything. The way it is done is suitably mysterious and leaves you wishing there was more to the Cartmell Masterplan than what appears on screen.

The story continues from events in an untelevised adventure where the Doctor encountered Peinforte and the Roundheads. Whatever the events were (and which incarnation?) it put the Nemesis statue into a returning orbit whose presence caused the first and second world wars and the assassination of Kennedy.

There appears to be many fans who dislike this story due to the plot holes, humour and multiple villains (Peinforte, the Nazi's and the cybermen) but I feel they do Silver Nemesis an injustice.

Episode #152 : The Happiness Patrol

"You see, I make sweets. Not just any old sweets, but sweets that are so good, so delicious that sometimes, if I'm on form, the human physiology is not equipped to bear the pleasure."

Episode 152:    The Happiness Patrol.
Companions:    7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:          2nd to 16th November 1988.

The TARDIS arrives on the planet Terra Alpha where the Doctor and Ace discover a society in which sadness is against the law - a law enforced with considerable zeal by the brightly uniformed Happiness Patrol. The planet is ruled over by Helen A with the aid of her companion Joseph C and her carnivorous pet Stigorax named Fifi. The penalty for those found guilty of unhappiness is death in a stream of molten candy prepared by Helen A's executioner, the robotic Kandyman, and his associate Gilbert M. The time travellers help to foment rebellion amongst the downtrodden population and the subterranean Pipe People - the planet's original inhabitants - and Helen A is overthrown.

This is the worst story in Doctor Who from the 1980's. It really is just so bad. The whole look of the sets, the acting, the plot and then there is the  utterly ridiculous Kandyman. The whole combination is just a bad surreal dream sequence that should never have been.

The whole story is meant to be a take on the age of Margaret Thatcher though personally I don't see it. However it can be seen perhaps, as how governments try to control their population but you have to look hard to see it.

The most infamous issue with this story is the character of the Kandyman - a half robot half confectionery creature with psychotic issues. This for me really was a low point in the show back then. This sort of figure might have worked in the old black and white days but by the late 1980's the show had progressed past such things.

I am afraid I don't have a single good thing to say about this story and I recommend avoiding it.

Episode #151 : Remembrance of the Daleks

"Do you remember the Zygon gambit with the Loch Ness Monster? Or the Yeti in the Underground? Your species has an amazing capacity for self-deception."

Episode 151:     Remembrance of the Daleks.
Companions:    7th Doctor and Ace.
Air Date:          5th to 26th October 1988.

The TARDIS arrives in London in November 1963, where the Doctor and Ace discover that two rival factions of Daleks - one loyal to the Dalek Emperor and one to the Dalek Supreme - are seeking the Hand of Omega, a powerful Time Lord device that the first Doctor hid there during an earlier sojourn on Earth. The Daleks are focusing their search around Coal Hill School - the school that the Doctor's grand-daughter Susan attended - while a military unit led by Group Captain Gilmore is attempting to resist their incursions.

Remembrance of the Daleks is by far my most favourite story of the entire classic series. Everything about this story is just spot on from the script, the production values and the acting. It continues the Dalek civil war plot line that first started back in Destiny of the Daleks. We see the two different Dalek factions actually fighting in the streets of 1963 Earth and the first appearance of the special weapons Dalek. There are also a couple references to the British Rocket Group from the Quartermass series and films.

The 7th Doctor has become a rather manipulative character now and it suits him far better than the clownish figure he started his time as. This starts the first references to what would become known as the Cartmel Masterplan, a direction for the show that would have gone into the background of the Doctor. Unfortunately due to the shows cancellation it was never completed.

This story is the first to show that Daleks can actually levitate and thus "climb" stairs. For years many jokes were made about how you could just go upstairs to escape them. Not any more and their levitation/flight capabilities continue in the new series of the show.

In this story the Doctor uses the powerful Hand of Omega to trick the Daleks and Davros, and has the artifact destroy the Daleks home world of Skaro. This event has been considered to be another shot in the early events of the Time War by Russel T Davis.

Remembrance of the Daleks is so good that I cannot rate it high enough.

Episode #150 : Dragonfire

"Do you feel like arguing with a can of deodorant that registers nine on the Richter scale?"

Episode 150:    Dragonfire.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:          23rd November to 7th December 1987.

The TARDIS materialises in Iceworld, a space trading colony on the dark side of the planet Svartos. The Doctor and Mel encounter Glitz and learn that he has come here to search for a supposed treasure guarded by a dragon. Also on Svartos is Kane, a - literally - cold-blooded criminal who has been imprisoned here by his own people from the planet Proamon. The Doctor and Mel, aided by Ace, a disaffected waitress, discover that the 'dragon' is a biomechanoid and the 'treasure' a power crystal held within its head. Kane is desperate to obtain the crystal and the Doctor uses it to bargain with him for Ace's freedom. It turns out that Iceworld is a huge spacecraft and the crystal the key that Kane needs in order to activate it.

With Dragonfire the show has finally begun to shirk off the silly stories that started the Sylvestor McCoy era. It still has the silly costumes and low production values of the late 1980's but at least we start to see some decent story and the beginning of the true 7th Doctor.

We finally lose Mel as a companion and she gets replaced at the end of the story with Dorothy "Ace" McShane, a far better choice. I'm not sorry to see Mel go in all honesty. Ace is a plucky young girl with skills in explosive making. We learn that she was swept up in a time storm from 20th century Earth and dropped on Iceworld. This will make a reappearance later as we learn how and why.

The adventure is memorable for the rather grisly final end of the villainous Kane, whose face melts away in clear camera shot. Even now it is rather unpleasant and I wonder how well that went down with children at the time. Not well I imagine.

Dragonfire is a reasonable story that shares elements from lots of different science fiction genres, including some elements that seem lifted straight out of the movie Aliens. It isn't perfect but you can see that things are getting better in the writing and the characterisations.

Episode #149 : Delta and the Bannermen

"You are not the Happy Hearts Holiday Club from Bolton, but instead are spacemen in fear of an attack from some other spacemen?"

Episode 149:    Delta and the Bannermen.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:          2nd to 16th November 1987.

A Chimeron queen called Delta, the last surviving member of her race, is being pursued by the evil Gavrok and his Bannermen, intent on a mission of genocide. Delta finds herself on board a space bus of tourists en route to Earth when it is knocked off course by an American satellite and ends up at a Welsh holiday camp in 1959. The Doctor and Mel, having won a holiday with the tourists, help Delta to evade the rampaging Bannermen long enough to allow her child to hatch from its egg and grow to maturity. She, her daughter and a young man named Billy - who sacrifices his humanity to be with her - then escape to start a new life and ensure the continuation of the Chimeron race.

Delta and the Bannermen is a story that I really want to dislike but for all the wrong reasons. Those reasons once again are down to the costumes and appearance of the show. The adventure is set in the late 1950's so why do the costumes look so forced almost as if they are what we expect the clothing of the 50's to look like. That is me being picky and I know it but that doesn't change anything. The costumes for the Bannermen are just cheap and tacky. I can't take them seriously dressed like that.

The premise of the story is that the Chimeron race have been destroyed bar one queen, by a paramilitary group calling themselves Bannermen. No reason is given nor asked for, to explain why they want to see the Chimeron destroyed. A simple explanation somewhere would help make the story make sense. As it is I am left feeling somewhat irked because it isn't explained.

We have yet another celebrity appearance in this story, comedian Ken Dodd. Watch his stage shows and stand up routines and he is funny. However is appearance here is reminiscent of how Richard Briars in Paradise Towers, and you wonder why someone thought he would be a good addition.

I really don't want to like this story for things that just irk me but I can;t do that this time. Other elements such as the Doctor's growing persona and that it comes in three short episodes make it watchable. As such I am rating it average because I think other viewers won't be as stuck on the above issues as I am.

Episode #148 : Paradise Towers

"Attention all robotic cleaners. Attention all robotic cleaners. At last Kroagnon can leave the basement prison they trapped his bodiless brain in. And return in this borrowed body to the corridors and lifts of his own creation. They buried me away because I wanted to stop them using the Tower. And now you and I will destroy them."

Episode 157:    Paradise Towers.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:          5th to 26th October 1987.

Mel wants to go swimming so the Doctor takes her to a tower block called Paradise Towers where there is reputed to be a fantastic pool. When they arrive they discover that the place is far from being the superb leisure resort they had expected - it is run-down and dilapidated. The hallways are roamed by gangs of young girls known as Kangs; the apartments are inhabited by cannibalistic old ladies, the Rezzies; and the building is managed by a group of dictatorial caretakers, presided over by the Chief Caretaker. The latter is in thrall to the disembodied Great Architect Kroagnon, the building's creator, who is using giant cleaning machines systematically to kill all the occupants as he considers that they are spoiling his creation by living there.

It is a shame to see a show I love and enjoy dropping to the levels of this story. The story itself and the plot behind it are fairly good considering but Paradise Towers is spoilt by the appearance of everything. The costumes are just terrible for instance looking as though the costume department spend all of five pounds on each one. The look of the sets, especially the Rezzies' apartment, look like they came from an 1980's sit com rather than a good piece of family entertainment. The cheapness of the episode really spoils itself for my taste.

The Doctor has thankfully toned down his clownish behaviour since the prior story and you can see McCoy settling into the role nicely. The jokes and altered quotations are fading to the point that you don't really notice them when they are said. Mel on the other hand is till very annoying. I can't wait for her to leave the series for a better companion.

Paradise Towers features a celebrity known to British audiences, Richard Briars. He was famous mostly for The Good Life (a sit com about class values mainly) and for some Shakespearean work. In this adventure he must have needed the cash because even though it is Doctor Who no self-respecting actor would have wanted the role of the Great Caretaker after reading the script. Then there is the Hitler moustache... what were the BBC thinking?

Paradise Towers plays on a lot of attitudes that were relevant in the 1980s and puts them into a somewhat surreal environment. If this had been made now with the backing that the show currently has, I can see this being one that might have fitted in well for the Matt Smith era because of the somewhat odd and surreal nature of his run on the show.

This adventure is not recommended by me. There are much better ones for Sylvestor McCoy coming up that watching this one again just makes me cringe. Doctor Who deserved better.

Episode #147 : Time and the Rani

"Time and tide melts the snowman."

Episode 147:    Time and the Rani.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:          7th to 28th September 1987.

The Rani has taken control of the planet Lakertya and forced the peaceful Lakertyans to build a rocket silo-cum-laboratory base into a cliff face. She is aided by the Tetraps, a race of bat-like creatures, and plans to fire a rocket loaded with loyhargil, a substance with the same properties as strange matter, at an asteroid completely composed of the latter. As a preliminary to this she has created a huge artificial brain and kidnapped a number of geniuses - including Pasteur and Einstein from Earth - to imbue it with the ability first to identify and then to calculate the correct way to create loyhargil for her in the laboratory. The newly-regenerated Doctor and Mel manage to stop her and the planet is saved. The Rani is captured by the Tetraps, who decide to take her as a prisoner back to their home world.

Surprise! This story starts with a pre-credit regeneration sequence. When Colin Baker refused to come back for the regeneration sequence because he was denied a third year as the Doctor, the writers wrote a rushed intro for the new actor, Sylvestor McCoy. With wig on head, he pretends to be Colin Baker while the regeneration effects are played over the top. Unfortunately, other than a bump on the head there really isn't cause for a regeneration in this story.

I do enjoy where McCoy takes the character of the Doctor in the stories to come but in this one he is just awful. Every Doctor goes through some sort of post-regeneration trauma these days but in this instance the character is played as a clownish buffoon and you just wonder what the hell is going on. This is a fairly large part as to why this episode sucks so badly.

The Rani seems a rather unnecessary character in this one. At least when we last saw her, she seemed a competent villain and certainly an equal to the Doctor - unlike the Master. But now she seems to have been reduced to the same style of villain as the Master. Melodramatic, ill-conceived plots and underestimating the Doctor doesn't seem like the same evil villainess.

The story itself doesn't go anywhere, drags along at a slow pace, and has some of the most bland side characters than any other classic adventure. I really did not enjoy watching this one.

Episode #146 : The Ultimate Foe

"In all my travelling throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core. Power mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans... Cybermen, they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt."

Episode 146:   The Ultimate Foe.
Companions:   6th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:         29th November to 6th December 1986.

With the evidence complete, the Doctor learns that the Master has gained illicit access to the Matrix in his TARDIS. Glitz is now revealed to be the Master's associate and the 'secrets' to be information stolen from the Matrix. The Valeyard admits his identity as a distillation of the dark side of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between his twelfth and thirteenth incarnations, out to take control over his remaining lives. With the help of Mel, who along with Glitz has been brought to the space station by the Master, the Doctor defeats his future self - although, as they leave in the TARDIS with all charges in the trial having been dropped, it appears that the Valeyard has taken over the body of the Keeper of the Matrix and may not have been as completely vanquished as they had thought.

The Trial of a Time Lord season comes to an end with a rather disappointing two part story in which it is revealed who the Valeyard really is (see above). It then ends up being a repeat of The Deadly Assassin with the Doctor with Glitz in tow, entering the Matrix where he is at the mercy of what the Valeyard can throw at him. It then ends with the Doctor forgiven, though how you can try someone for the same crime twice (see The War Games) is beyond me. But as everyone goes home it is revealed that the Valeyard is still very much alive.

The addition of the Master into this story is pointless. He doesn't do anything and seems to be just there to gloat, and show off how clever he is. It smacks of lazy writing to me. Had the Master been to the one behind it all, having created the Valeyard in an attempt to kill the Doctor from behind the scenes, I think this story might have been better.

I really hoped that in the right spot in the new show that they might show the Valeyard or at least hint at his creation but they never do and the character has never reappeared in canonical Who.

One last thing, we do at least discover that Peri is very much alive, and living as a warrior queen with King Yrcanos. Why the Doctor doesn't go back for her we never learn.

Episode #145 : Terror of the Vervoids

"This is a situation that requires tact and finesse. Fortunately, I am blessed with both."

Episode 145:   Terror of the Vervoids.
Companions:   6th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:        1st to 22nd November 1986.

In a desperate bid to clear his name, the Doctor presents his defence to the charges laid against him. In the year 2986, the starliner Hyperion III makes its way to Earth... but all is not well. The Doctor and Mel arrive in response to a distress call, although not in time to prevent a murder. And this will not be the only death: someone aboard will kill again and again to protect their secret. And while the murderer closes in above decks, in the Hydroponic Centre a terrifying new breed of creature is about to awaken.

By far the best of the adventures in the Trial of a Time Lord story arc. We are introduced to a new companion, Melanie Bush (Mel), who we never see the Doctor actually meet because this is all out of temporal order. Unfortunately Mel is a fairly terrible companion. Played by Bonnie Langford, famous for her stage and dance work, is so well out of her depth here and it shows. She just isn't companion material and it shows. She does her best to be fair, but it isn't good enough.

The story has plot holes that the canny observer may spot. If the Vervoids are genetically created life forms made to replace robots, why would you give them a poisonous sting? Or give them human intelligence for that matter? I can't fault their appearance though which I don't find laughable at all, even if they are the week's "man in a monster suit." I think they look pretty good for what they are.

In this story the courtroom scenes are a little unnecessary as the adventure on the Hyperion III is far more interesting. Bouncing back to the court starts to get irritating by this point. I'd rather focus on the story in front of me to be honest.