Episode #129 : The Five Doctors

"A man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so."

Episode 129: The Five Doctors.
Companions: 1st Doctor, 2nd Doctor, 3rd Doctor, 4th Doctor, 5th Doctor, Susan, The Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana, Tegan, and Turlough.
Air Date: 25th November 1983.

The Doctor's past incarnations are taken out of time by a forbidden time scoop device. The fourth Doctor becomes trapped in the vortex but the others find themselves, together with a number of their old companions, with the fifth Doctor and his companions in the Death Zone on their home planet Gallifrey. Here they face a Dalek, a Yeti, a quicksilver Raston Warrior Robot and numerous Cybermen. Also present is the Master, who has been summoned by the High Council of Time Lords to help the Doctor. It turns out that President Borusa is the mysterious operator of the time scoop. He aims to use the Doctors to breach the defences of the Dark Tower - Rassilon's tomb - so that he can enter there and claim immortality.

The Five Doctors was commissioned for the show's 20th anniversary and the BBC pulled out all the stops with this one. We get four out of the five Doctors taking part (the 4th Doctor and Romana get stuck in the time vortex for the duration of the story), cameo's by a Dalek and a Yeti, and the Cybermen with the Master as a major element of the story. Lots of Who elements and references, even spectral former companions, coupled with a fast punchy script makes this story just awesome for any fan of the show. There are so many references I could write a whole page just about them.

The interaction between the different incarnations of the Doctor are just awesome. You get a strong vibe that the different versions really don't like one another, and their banter comes off as a familial grieving which anyone with siblings can relate to.

By the time of the 20th anniversary William Hartnell had passed away so the role was given to Richard Hurndell who did such a good job as the 1st Doctor that I think he did better than Hartnell. Some may consider that heresy but that's how he comes across to me.

The 4th Doctor and Romana only appear in shots from the the unfinished Shada. Tom Baker felt that it was too soon since his departure from the show to make a return even for the anniversary episode. A great shame but four Doctors were enough really. had he taken part I wonder whether the script would have allowed enough screen time and dialogue for all of them.

I really cannot shout the praises of this story enough. If you haven't seen it hunt it down on DVD and watch it. I'm sure you will agree how good this one is.

Tegan: "You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?"
Fifth Doctor: "Why not? After all, that's how it all started."

Episode #123 : Arc of Infinity

"You know how it is; you put things off for a day and next thing you know, it's a hundred years later."

Episode 123:   Arc of Infinity.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa.
Air Date:         3rd to 12th January 1983.

An antimatter creature has crossed into normal space via a phenomenon known as the Arc of Infinity but needs to bond physically with a Time Lord in order to remain stable. A traitor on Gallifrey has chosen the Doctor as the victim. The High Council, headed by President Borusa, decides that the Doctor's life must be terminated in order to avoid this danger. Tegan meanwhile arrives in Amsterdam to visit her cousin, Colin Frazer, only to learn that he has disappeared. She enters a crypt in search of him and is captured by a hideous creature, the Ergon.

Another classic villain returns... Omega! Once again he is trying to leave behind the anti-matter universe and return to our own. To do this he must bond with a physical entity and the Doctor has been chosen. There is no excuse given as to how Omega survived the events of The Three Doctors but he has, and this time with a much better costume design that makes him seem more menacing.

Tegan returns to the show after being fired as an air stewardess. We don't know why she was sacked and we never find out. My guess would be that she was vanished with the Doctor for a bit longer than she expected and couldn't explain why. Nyssa seems happy to have her back, the Doctor less so.

We get another look at Time Lord society and this time they live up to the corrupt reputation that later Doctor's would subscribe to them. They seem to have forgotten everything that happened the last time Omega showed up, or what good the Doctor has done, because they seem content to simply kill him rather than let him stop the menace that is growing. It seems very shortsighted of them really. One of the Time Lords, Commander Maxil, is played by Colin Baker who would eventually replace Peter Davison in the role of the Doctor.

One small niggle that starts to grow on me around about this time is where in time is present day Gallifrey? I have always assumed that the present for there is somewhere far far away in the distant future since you can't go past Gallifreyan present in a time capsule. But they seem far too concerned with events in the past if you get my meaning since both this story and The Three Doctors is set on 20th century Earth. It is never really explained and that bugs me somewhat.

Arc of Infinity is a good sequel to The Three Doctors with a far pace and some OK story lines. It does feel though that if the story had perhaps had another draft or two it may have been even better.

Episode #97 : The Invasion of Time

Borusa : "You have access to the greatest source of knowledge in the universe."

The Doctor : "Well, I do talk to myself sometimes."

Episode 97:   The Invasion of Time.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Leela.
Air Date:       Six episodes. 4th February to 11th March 1978.

After a meeting in space with a group of unseen aliens the Doctor returns to Gallifrey and claims the presidency of the Time Lords. Leela meanwhile tries to work out why he is behaving out of character. At his induction, the Doctor is 'crowned' with a device giving him access to the Matrix. He then arranges for the transduction barriers around Gallifrey to be put out of action by K9. When this is done, his alien 'friends' materialise. They are telepathic invaders called Vardans. The Doctor finally springs his trap and the Vardans are banished. Then, however, Gallifrey is invaded by Sontarans who, unknown to the Doctor, were using the Vardans to enable them to conquer the Time Lords. The Doctor uses knowledge extracted from the Matrix by K9 to construct a forbidden de-mat gun, activated by the Great Key of Rassilon. He then uses this to kill the Sontarans, although his memory of recent events is wiped in the process.

The Invasion of Time is in my opinion one of the worse if not THE worst story in the classic series. The production values are just truly shocking in this one. The Vardans appear initially as floating sheets of tin foil and then solidify into space age British colonial soldiers complete with pith helmets. Then the Sontarans arrive and the make up for them is absolutely terrible. Finally, during a chase sequence through the corridors and rooms of the TARDIS brick corridors and warehouse looking sets are used, completely destroying the mystique. Just shockingly bad.

The only positives that come out of this adventure are more information on the Time Lords and their political ways, more time with Borusa - setting him up for his next appearance and some hints about Rassilon, the founder of Time Lord society on Gallifrey. But that is it.

Sadly we see the departure of Leela and the K9 mark 1 at the end of this. Leela elects to remain on Gallifrey to marry someone who hardly knows and K9 decides to remain with her. It does make me wonder why Leela is allowed but the Doctor had to abandon Sarah Jane Smith at his last visit. I do miss Leela though. As the primitive/noble savage type companion I felt that she added a bit to the show that more capable companions lack.

The Invasion of Time is so dreadful that I recommend avoiding it altogether.

Episode #88 : The Deadly Assassin

"Through the millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of ordered calm, protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly, and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history..."

Episode 88:   The Deadly Assassin.
Companions: 4th Doctor.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 30th October to 20th November 1976.

The Doctor arrives on Gallifrey, where he is accused of the assassination of the Time Lord President. Investigating with the aid of Co-ordinator Engin and Castellan Spandrell, he discovers that this is part of a plot hatched by his old adversary the Master.

The Deadly Assassin is the story that sets out exactly how the Time Lords would be presented from here on out. This story sets up their appearance, politics, culture and gives us the first reference to a twelve regeneration limit. At the time of original broadcast it appears to have upset a number of fans because of the depiction of Time Lord society. Specifically that prior to this the Time Lords are set up on a high pedestal as a race of super powerful beings with master over time itself, can make entire planets vanish and whatever else they choose to do. Following this story they seem to be no different to mankind in pretty much every way. Personally I like this portrayal as it makes them easier to identify with. Plus, I like the costumes.

With this story we have the return of the Doctor's arch nemesis the Master. This time round though he has reached the end of his regenerations and his living purely by force of will alone in his own corpse. Following the events of this story he achieves some sense of renewal, though not a fresh regeneration, and escapes as always to fight the Doctor another day.

There is, for me at least, a small problem with the flow of this tale and that is that a good chunk of it takes place inside the Matrix - the Time Lord's computer system. This gives us a very surreal engagement between the Doctor's mental self and that of the Master's minion (a traitorous Time Lords). Filmed entirely on location somewhere we have the Doctor facing a biplane, a train, a big game hunter and other aspects of the first World War. It just doesn't quite work very well. It looks out of place with everything else.

Though not a great story it is enjoyable and gets bonus thumbs up for giving us our first proper look at Time Lord society.