Episode #133 : Resurrection of the Daleks

"Once the Doctor has been exterminated, I should build a new race of Daleks. They will be even more deadly! And I Davros, shall be their leader! This time we shall triumph! The Daleks shall once more become the supreme beings!!!"

Episode 133:    Resurrection of the Daleks.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan and Turlough.
Air Date:         8th to 15th February 1984.

The TARDIS becomes caught in a time corridor but the Doctor manages to free it and it then materialises in present day London within sight of Tower Bridge. Investigating some nearby warehouses, the travellers stumble into a trap that the Daleks have set for them. The Daleks also attack a space station orbiting Earth in the future. Their aim is to rescue their creator, Davros, who has been held there in suspended animation since his capture by humanity. They want him to help them find an antidote to an anti-Dalek virus created by the Movellans. In addition, the Daleks have constructed android duplicates and installed some of them in key positions of authority on Earth. They now intend to send duplicates of the Doctor and his companions to Gallifrey in order to assassinate the High Council of the Time Lords.

The Daleks return again and this time they plan on rescuing their creator in order to save their race from a Movellan virus. It suggests that the Movellons have been defeated but that the Daleks have no cure for this virus afflicting them. Davros uses this opportunity to turn some of the Daleks into loyal followers thus setting up the start if the Dalek civil war stories to come. For some reason though the Movellons hid their virus cannisters in 20th century London, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

This story also hints at being part of the Time War. The Daleks plan on replicating the Doctor and his companions, sending the replacements to Gallifrey to kill off the High Council. It would seem that in the background to the show the Daleks and the Time Lords are having a bit of a power struggle.

We are introduced to a new lesser villain in the role of Commander Lytton, a human mercenary serving the Daleks. He has brought with him the men under his command, Dalek Troopers, who look silly in Dalek style helmets. He manages to survive this adventure and reappear later on in an episode for the 6th Doctor. It seems odd that the Daleks would use human mercenaries but then it does fit since they need someone immune to the Movellon virus.

The Doctor gets somewhat trigger happy in this story, first by emptying an handgun into a Dalek mutant and then by having the intention of shooting Davros with a laser gun. We fans like to see the Doctor as a no gun sort of guy but the writers apparently forgot about that this time around. Speaking of guns there is an awful lot of gun related violence in this story for Doctor Who. Lytton's "police" guards shot anyone found around the 20th century end of the time corridor and it feels very out of place.

Having had enough of the darker side of adventures with the Doctor, Tegan has decided to leave and go back to her normal life. I'm going to miss her as she has been with the 5th Doctor since the start of his time. She may be the first companion to leave because of the unpleasantness that follows the Doctor.

Resurrection of the Daleks is an excellent sequel to Destiny of the Daleks and will continue in Revelation of the Daleks.

Episode #132 : Frontios

"Frontios buries its own dead."

Episode 132:    Frontios.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan and Turlough.
Air Date:          26th January to 3rd February 1984.

The TARDIS is dragged down to the surface of the planet Frontios and apparently destroyed during a meteorite bombardment. The Doctor is forced to help the planet's human colonists - refugees from a doomed future Earth - and eventually discovers that their problems stem from an infestation of Tractators, burrowing insect-like creatures led by the intelligent Gravis.

Frontios is a story that I remember fondly from my childhood. Unfortunately it is not one that stands up to those childhood memories very well. I think I must have just been enamoured by the giant underground monsters. But it isn't a bad story and in fact is very watchable if you can ignore the appearance of the Tractators.

Turlough gets some limelight and does a nice mental breakdown when confronted with the Tractators. It appears that these creatures have been on his world and were a major problem. About time we got some backstory from this character.

Frontios is a story that again plays into my Time Lords continuity concern from Arc of Infinity. TARDIS units are not supposed to be able to pass beyond Gallifrey current time and yet by the concern of the Doctor this story is set in the future beyond that barrier. We all know that the classic era of the show has limited continuity but by this time I expect the scriptwriters to have some guidelines to go by.

Again we are not looking at a bad story but unusually this one suffers from not having enough going on to fill out a four part story. Some of it simply drags especially in the middle. It is still entertaining but it needed fleshing out a little more. There is also an issue of what happened to Kamelion during this story but I we will never know.

Episode #131 : The Awakening

Sir George: "You speak treason!"

The Doctor: "Fluently!"

Episode 131:    The Awakening.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan and Turlough.
Air Date:         19th to 20th January 1984.

An alien war machine, the Malus, is affecting the inhabitants of the English country village of Little Hodcombe in 1984 so that a re-enactment of a Civil War battle turns into the real thing. The Malus's aim is to gather sufficient psychic energy to activate itself fully. The TARDIS travellers arrive to meet Tegan's grandfather - one of the villagers - but become involved in the machinations of Sir George Hutchinson, who is in thrall to the Malus. The battle in 1643 becomes linked through time to 1984 and Will Chandler, a youth from the earlier time, finds himself in the present day.

The Awakening is a nice story that expertly blends historical, horror and science fiction together very much in the style of the earlier story The Daemons. In fact it does feel as though this one was heavily influenced by that very story. Some of the elements such as a daemonic presence beneath a church, and the destruction of said church could easily have just been lifted from The Daemons.

You may be asking why if I like this one so much that I only rate it as average? If there is anything wrong with the story it comes down purely on it's length. Normally I wouldn't grumble but it feels as though so much was dropped into a two part story that there wasn't enough time for it all and the adventure feels too rushed. Had this one been a typical three or four part adventure, it may have been even better.

The other problem comes from the Mallus itself. The plot doesn't really explain what it is. It uses psychic energy to project manifestations but is described as being a computer or a machine operating as a scout force for an invading force that never came.

The Awakening is a good story and I recommend it.

Episode #130 : Warriors of the Deep

"What is it about Earth people that makes them think a futile gesture is a noble one?"

Episode 130:    Warriors of the Deep.
Companions:    5th Doctor, Tegan and Turlough.
Air Date:          5th to 13th January 1984.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough arrive at an underwater Sea Base on Earth, where a scientific and military team led by Commander Vorshak are monitoring a rival power bloc. The team undergo regular missile launch test sequences to ensure that they are ready at all times to combat an attack. Three Silurians revive a colony of Sea Devil warriors in order to invade the base and use its weapons to attack the opposing power bloc, thus provoking a global war that will allow the reptiles to conquer the Earth.

Warriors of the Deep is an excellent story let down only by poor production values. The Silurian and Sea Devil costumes are well done but the human costumes, the pantomime horse-like Myrka (which isn't too bad really) and the bland white plastic set dressing let it down in that regards. Some of the acting from the extras isn't great either but so long as you can ignore that and just enjoy the adventure you don't notice.

While talking to the Silurians, the Doctor makes mention of the events from his encounter with them in his third incarnation. He also makes mention of other events that while probably just script errors, hint that somewhere there is an unscreened adventure for the 3rd or 4th Doctor with the Silurians.

It is an unusual story because at the climax, the only survivors are the Doctor and his companions. Everyone else, including the invading Silurians and Sea Devils are all killed.

Warriors of the Deep is an entertaining story providing you ignore the production issues, but even then, there is nothing to really dislike in this one.

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 #128 : The King's Demons

"Do our demons come to visit us?"

Episode 128:   The King's Demons.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough.
Air Date:         15th to 16th March 1983.

The TARDIS materialises in 13th Century England during a joust held in the presence of King John. The King welcomes the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough as his 'demons', but his actions toward the family of his host Ranulf fitz William are decidedly hostile. The Doctor discovers that what appears to be the King is in fact a shape-changing android called Kamelion whom the Master found on Xeriphas. The Master has disguised himself as the King's Champion, Sir Gilles Estram, and is using Kamelion in a plot to discredit the King and prevent the signing of the Magna Carta, thereby changing the course of history.

The King's Demons is a nice short story played out well and gives the 5th Doctor the opportunity to refresh his sword fighting skills. A casual viewer may not notice the details but there are some plot holes in the telling. The most obvious and perhaps important one is the question why the Master wants to mess with something like the signing of the Magna Carta? As the Doctor points out this is small fry compared to what he is used to doing. Then at the end the Master simply runs off and escapes not even bothering to try and finish what he started. The second problem is more obvious. The Master is disguised as a French knight in service to the king, but he looks just like the Master with a beard. It's obvious that it is him and yet the Doctor and Tegan don't recognise their old enemy till the end of the first part.

At the culmination of the story Kamelion joins the time travellers but only ever makes one more appearance. Why he was included seems a bit odd but the reason for his disappearance is that the use of the robot prop was impractical and often malfunctioned.

This episode while entertaining is really just a filler episode to round out the current series. However it does lead directly into the next story which is far far superior.

Episode #127 : Enlightenment

"You are a Time Lord, a lord of time. Are there lords in such a small domain?"

Episode 127:          Enlightenment.
Companions:         5th Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough.
Air Date:               1st to 9th March 1983.

The White Guardian warns of impending danger and directs the TARDIS to what appears to be an Edwardian sailing yacht, the SS Shadow, but is actually one of a number of spaceships taking part in a race through the solar system, the prize being Enlightenment. The yacht's Captain Striker and his fellow officers are Eternals who feed off the thoughts and emotions of their kidnapped human crew - Ephemerals - in order to fill their own empty existences.

Enlightenment is a very strange story, almost surreal in fact. I can remember a lot of very similar weirdness coming out of the 1970's British science fiction so it isn't out of place. However, sailing vessels from Earth's history racing around Earth's solar system crewed by drugged/mind controlled sailors and commanded by beings from outside our space time continuum doesn't quite fit in with the Whoniverse we know of, but then in other ways it is the sort of thing I can see fitting in well with the 1st Doctor's adventures. This strangeness doesn't spoil the story but if it seems out of place you might not enjoy as much as you could do.

The Black Guardian is defeated this time though for how long we don't know. The White Guardian makes a reference to the Doctor having a third encounter but so far it has not happened on screen. It would be a nice idea to bring that into the current incarnation of the show. As it stands though watching my way through the classic show again, I'm glad that we won't see him, as just three adventures back to back and I'm bored of the villain already.

At the end of the story the Guardian is defeated and Turlough's activities are revealed though the Doctor seems to forgive him and he joins the crew as a proper companion. One thing we don't get often enough are male companions for the Doctor and even though Turlough does seem a whiny coward a lot of the time, it is nice to see a non-female companion.

"Be vigilant, Doctor. Once you denied him the Key to Time, now you have thwarted him again. He will be waiting for the third encounter, and his power does not diminish.... While I exist, he exists also... until we are no longer needed."

Episode #126 : Terminus

"If we don't do something quickly, the whole universe is going to be destroyed!"

Episode 126:   Terminus.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough.
Air Date:         15th to 23rd February 1983.

The TARDIS attaches itself to a space liner after Turlough, still under the Black Guardian's influence, damages its controls. The Doctor and Nyssa meet two space pirates, Kari and Olvir, who have come on board the liner in search of plunder, while Tegan and Turlough get lost in the infrastructure. The liner docks with what appears to be a hulk floating in space. This is Terminus, which claims to offer a cure for lazar disease. It is crewed by a group of armoured slave workers, the Vanir, while the cure is administered by a huge dog-like creature known as the Garm. Nyssa, who has contracted the disease from sufferers transported aboard the liner, discovers that the cure - involving exposure to radiation - does actually work. The Doctor and Kari meanwhile learn that the ship, once capable of time travel, was responsible for the creation of the universe when an ejection of fuel from one of its engines caused the 'big bang'. Aided by Kari and the Garm, the Doctor is able to disconnect a still active but damaged engine that is on the point of exploding - something that could result in the universe's destruction.

I rather enjoy this story even though in all honesty nothing really happens in it. The Black Guardian is up to his old tricks again although he seems rather impotent in this one. If he is so all powerful why does he need a weak willed scapegoat like Turlough to do his dirty work? The plot is solved rather too quickly though we do have some suspense as the ship nearly recreates the Big Bang!

Nyssa elects to remain behind on Terminus as her skills could help with the cure for the disease and so we lose her as a companion. She was a good companion to start with but as time as gone on, she has lost that spark that made her so good when she first joined the Doctor. It's a weak fair well right at the end of the episode and then she is gone.

The Doctor still doesn't seem to notice that Turlough is up to something even though Tegan seems to have him figured out already. You would have thought that he would listen to a long term companion when she raises concerns. Turlough is very much a coward not in keeping with the Doctor's usual companions.

Terminus gives us the main explanation for the Big Bang in the Whoniverse though it still has plot holes left unanswered, such as what existed before the explosion since we know there was a universe before hand? Was Terminus once part of that universe and then pushed forward into ours? These and other questions are just left hanging for those of us who pay attention to the minutiae.

Episode #125 : Mawdryn Undead

"Maybe the capsule's malfunctioned. I hate those transmat things. Like travelling in a food mixer and just as dangerous. I'd be afraid of coming out puréed."

Episode 125:   Mawdryn Undead.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough.
Air Date:         1st to 9th February 1983.

The Black Guardian recruits a young man named Turlough to assassinate the Doctor. Although outwardly an ordinary pupil at a boys' private boarding school, Turlough is in fact an alien who believes that the Guardian will return him home if he succeeds. The TARDIS meanwhile has its instruments jammed by a mysterious signal and is forced to materialise on board a massive spaceship in a fixed orbit. The Doctor discovers that the signal - a beam to guide the ship's transmat capsule - is being transmitted from Earth. He travels down to the planet in the capsule, leaving Nyssa and Tegan in the TARDIS with the co-ordinates pre-set to follow. Things go wrong, however, as the Doctor arrives in 1983 but the TARDIS materialises in 1977.

Mawdryn Undead is a very well written story utilising a plot element that has been ignored for the past twenty years of the show, that of the time travellers being split up into different years and how their actions affect the events in the later time zone. In this regard Mawdryn Undead is an excellent example of the sort of stories that could come out of the show if the writers put their minds to it.

The second well conceived element of the story are the villains. Mawdryn and his followers aren't villains because they want to kill, conquer or destroy the universe. They simply want to die but can't. Now that the Doctor has arrived they feel that they can both be freed from their eternal agony and get some small revenge on the Time Lords who did this to them in the first place. A villain who isn't out to be evil for the sake of it is a nice change.

The Brigadier returns to the show with this story, now retired and working as a maths teacher in a boys school. Bit of a departure from running UNIT but I guess retirement can do that. Mawdryn Undead does introduce the biggest continuity issue of the entire show, the infamous UNIT dating controversy. You can read about that here.

The character of Turlough is introduced in this story and by the end of it he has become a companion of the Doctor. Turlough is an alien for some reason not yet explained is being forced to stay at a private boys school though he longs to return home. He is coerced into aiding the Black Guardian in his desire to kill the Doctor for revenge following the Key to Time storyline.

Episode #124 : Snakedance

"Dreams are important... never underestimate them."

Episode 124:   Snakedance.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa.
Air Date:         18th to 26th January 1983.

Tegan falls once more under the influence of the Mara and directs the TARDIS to the planet Manussa. There the Federator's son Lon and his mother Tanha are preparing for a ceremony to celebrate the banishment of the Mara five hundred years earlier. The Mara takes control of Lon and uses him and Tegan to obtain from Ambril, the Director of Historical Research, the 'great crystal' - the large blue stone that originally brought it into being by focusing energy from the minds of the planet's one-time inhabitants. The Mara now plans to use the crystal during the ceremony to bring about its return to corporeal existence.

Snakedance is a sequel to the earlier story Kinda. Sort of. It uses elements of that story such as the possession of Tegan and some of the Hinduism but seems to forget where it came from before. Snakedance is definitely better than Kinda by a big margin but it doesn't feel like it really has much of a connection to its predecessor.

The biggest flaw I find is in relation to the Mara itself. Sometimes less really is more. In Snakedance the Mara goes from being some sort of dream spirit entity to being revealed as a psionic creature made up of the darker elements of mind from the old Manussan people. I found that this revelation weakened the concept of the entity and leaves me scratching my head when I look back at how it was shown in Kinda.

Lon is played by a very young Martin Clunes, many years before he would achive fame in Men Behaving Badly.

I cannot fault Snakedance in that it is esentially what I have come to expect from the show at this time. It is average in all regards though I give bonus points for some of the creepier possession scenes involving Tegan.

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 #122 : Time-Flight

The Doctor [about the Concorde ]: "It's amazing."

Nyssa: "What?"

The Doctor: "This thing is smaller on the inside than it is on the outside."

Episode 122:   Time-Flight.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa.
Air Date:         22nd to 30th March 1982.

The Doctor finally manages to deliver Tegan to Heathrow Airport, where he gets drawn into investigating the in-flight disappearance of a Concorde. Following the same flight path in another Concorde, with the TARDIS stowed in the hold, he discovers that it has been transported back millions of years into the past through a time corridor.

The first season of Peter Davison as the Doctor ends on a low note with this story. It's a weak story that never seems to get off the ground and simply crawls along at a slow pace. The idea is interesting, with the Master trapped in the Jurassic using a time corridor to steal Concorde and putting the passengers and crew to work as hypnotised slaves. But it has numerous plot holes and additions that seem somewhat superfluous.

At the climax of the story the BBC were slightly cheeky. The Doctor and Nyssa are forced to take flight to escape some awkward questions but they leave Tegan behind at Heathrow seemingly left behind. Has she been dropped? Not at all, and in fact comes back in the first story of the new season. A nice twist at the time but it loses something now.

The Master is once again a waste of space villain. Ainley plays him spot on as always but the writing for the character is flawed. Again he seems to have set himself up only to have his plans come crumbling around his ears. If he is so clever why do his schemes never work out? You know that the Doctor is going to defeat him but I'd like to see his schemes actually be properly thought out for a change.

There are some continuity issues I have with Time-Flight as well. When the time travellers arrive in the Jurassic it is rather cold with hints of an ice age on the way. Well, that is way wrong and the writer should have done his homework. Also, this is the time when the Silurian dominion of the Earth is at it's height not to mention the dinosaurs themselves, neither of which are even hinted at except for a warning about "maybe we'll see a brontosaurus".

Time-Flight isn't the worst story ever but it is certainly one that won't be missed if you skip it.

Episode #121 : Earthshock

Cyber Lieutenant : "A Time Lord. But they're forbidden to interfere."

Cyber Leader : "This one calls himself the Doctor - and does nothing else but interfere."

Episode 121:   Earthshock.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:          8th to 16th March 1982.

The TARDIS arrives on Earth in the 26th Century in a cave system containing numerous dinosaur fossils. The Doctor's party comes under suspicion from a military force, led by Lieutenant Scott, who are investigating the disappearance of a group of palaeontologists and geologists. They are all then attacked by androids - the true culprits - under the control of the Cybermen.

After an absence of several years the Cybermen return to the show in a rather excellent adventure. This time their plan to halt a conference where different alien empires are joining forces against them, by blowing up the planet Earth. Due to the interference of the Doctor and companions their plans are stopped but not without cost.

This is the first serial to feature the death of a major companion. In this case Adric is the unfortunate soul who fails to get out alive. Instead he is stuck on board a freighter hurtling into Earth's past, becoming the course of the dinosaur's extinction. At the time it was quite a shock ending and even today that final scene still carries some weight. There are many who dislike the character of Adric but I feel it to be very unfounded. While he was a negative or naive personality at times, he was a good foil for the Doctor who is used to companions doing what they are told.

Speaking of companions, in this story Tegan gets her game face on for a change. She becomes a little more action heroine, grabbing a cyber weapon and going a tad gung-ho on the cybermen. While it may seem a little out of character it is nice to see her getting some spotlight again.

Now, while Earthshock is certainly an excellent adventure it is not without problems in the form of plot holes. If the Cybermen can plant a bomb on Earth undetected why do they need to sneak onto the planet via a freighter? How exactly does tampering with a computer send you back in time? Lastly, the crew of the freighter don't know who the Cybermen are and yet the conference the Cybermen want to stop is to unite different empires against them. Cybermen must be known for them to be such a threat. I think the writer got caught up in his story and forgot to check himself.

Episode #120 : Black Orchid

Sir Robert: "Superb innings! Worthy of the Master."

The Doctor: [alarmed] "The Master?"

Sir Robert: "Well, the other Doctor! W.G. Grace!"

Episode 120:   Black Orchid.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:         1st to 2nd March 1982.

The TARDIS arrives on Earth in 1925 where, due to a case of mistaken identity, the Doctor ends up playing in a local cricket match. The travellers then accept an invitation to a masked fancy dress ball, but events take on a more sinister tone as a number of murders are perpetrated at the country home of their host Lord Cranleigh.

Black Orchid is just the sort of story that every time travel show needs to have. With this one we return to a purely historical story with no science fiction elements. In the past I did grumble about them but here we have one that is so well made that I can find nothing wrong with it all. Coming in at the length of a modern episode does help I think.

The black orchid of the title is a flower brought back from the Amazon. It has no role in the story itself but is the ultimate cause for the events that the time travellers have found themselves involved in.

The story is perfect for the actors as everyone gets something to do, though Adric is perhaps left out just a little. Everyone fits in well with a 1920's environment whether it be Tegan showing off her dancing skills or Nyssa having a double in the daughter of the household. Even the Doctor gets to partake in a cricket match. Speaking of the cricket match, Peter Davison is a keen cricketer and he in filming a scene where he was the bowler, actually bowled the batsman out on the first take.

Some fans find the story weak but I cannot for the life of me see why. It has a well written murder mystery, some good character dialogue and comes in at just the right length. Historical stories in Doctor Who don't get much better than this.

Episode #119 : The Visitation

"I have appeared before some of the most hostile audiences in the world. Today I met death in a cellar. But I have never been so afraid until I met the man with the scythe."

Episode 119: Visitation.
Companions: 5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:       15th to 23rd February 1982.

The Doctor attempts to take Tegan back to Heathrow Airport but the TARDIS arrives in the 17th Century instead of the 20th. The time travellers discover that a space capsule has crash-landed nearby and that its alien occupants, three Terileptil prison escapees, intend to wipe out all indigenous life on Earth by releasing rats infected with an enhanced strain of the great plague. The creatures are also using a sophisticated android to strike terror into the local villagers. Aided by itinerant thespian Richard Mace, the Doctor tracks the Terileptils to their base in Pudding Lane, London. The creatures are ultimately destroyed when a fire breaks out and the Terileptil leader's weapon explodes - also setting off the Great Fire of London.

The Visitation is a welcoming and refreshing story that leaps up in both terms of story and production value over the prior 5th Doctor stories. It's quite a masterpiece to watch and is so well done that you don't notice the dodgy reptile man suits. We haven't had a proper historical story for a while and this one gives us alien's, a robot dressed as Death, the Great Fire of London, and some excellent acting all round.

There are some great moments in this story such as the interaction between Tegan and the Doctor about whether he can get her home or not, the thespian come highwayman Richard Mace in pretty much every scene, and the Terileptil leader explaining his plot to destroy humanity with an engineered "black death" plague. The 5th Doctor starts to show a grumpy stubborn side to his nature in this story which both seems to fit and feels out of place at the same time.

We lose another important companion in this story too. The Terileptil leader destroys the sonic screwdriver! It doesn't reappear until the 8th Doctor movie. The sonic was removed because then producer John Natan Turner felt that the writers were relying on it too much to get the Doctor out of scrapes. This way they had to write his escapes not just rely on a gimmick.

Of the Peter Davison storie, The Visitation is definitely one of the best and well worth a watch.

Episode #118 : Kinda

"An apple a day keeps the... Ah, never mind."

Episode 118:  Kinda.
Companions: 5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:       1st to 9th February 1982.

The TARDIS visits the planet Deva Loka, where Nyssa remains behind in the ship to recover from a mild mental disorientation while the Doctor, Tegan and Adric explore. Tegan falls asleep under some wind chimes and becomes possessed by an evil force, a Mara. Also on Deva Loka is a survey team assessing the planet for colonisation, but three of their number have disappeared and the remainder - Sanders, his deputy Hindle and the scientist Todd - are encountering difficulties in their dealings with the outwardly primitive but telepathically gifted native people, the Kinda. Hindle becomes mentally unstable, but his mind is eventually cleared by a Kinda device called the Box of Jhana.

Kinda is based on Buddhist concepts, with Buddhist names and themes throughout the story. The name of the planet "Deva Loka" means "realm of the Gods". The Mara derives from a demon of the same name in Buddhist mythology which, as in Doctor Who, symbolises temptation rather then evil (at least, in the sense of "sinfulness"). In Kinda, Dukkha, Panna, Karuna, Anatta and Anicca's names and functions all derive from Buddhism as well. Dukkha is "suffering", Panna is "wisdom", Karuna means "compassion", Anatta is "not-self" and Annica means "impermanence". In Snakedance, the character of Tanha appears; Tanha is "thirst", which figuratively means "restlessness" or "craving". In addition, the story contains Biblical references (an arboreal paradise, a serpent, and apples).

Kinda is another very poor adventure for our time travellers though for many fans it has improved with time. I, however, feel the opposite. The only good thing that this story has going for it is that for a change it focuses more on the companions than the Doctor.  Adric once again seems very naive despite the adventures he has had with the Doctor. Tegan on the other hand is very much the focus of the story. Because of her the evil force known as the Mara is able to enter the physical universe at first possessing her before moving on to a local Kinda body. Nyssa however only appears at the start and the end as she spends the story asleep in the TARDIS.

What fails the story is the weak dialogue, scenes where the male colonists revert to naughty children, and the dreadful rubber snake that is the true form of the Mara. If perhaps production values had been better this might have been a better adventure. It would have worked well had it been more of a horror story than it attempted to be.

Episode #117 : Four to Doomsday

"Now listen to me, you young idiot; you're not so much gullible as you are idealistic."

Episode 117:  Four to Doomsday.
Companions: 5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:        18th to 26th January 1982.

The TARDIS arrives on board a huge spaceship where the Doctor and his companions encounter the frog-like Urbankans and a population of human androids. The androids are drawn from four different ethnic groups - Greek (led by Bigon), Chinese (led by Lin Futu), Mayan (led by Villagra) and Aboriginal Australian (led by Kurkutji) - and perform regular displays of dance and other rituals termed 'recreationals'. The Urbankans' leader, Monarch, aided by his ministers Persuasion and Enlightenment, is engaged in a complex scheme to plunder from Earth the raw materials needed to enable him to travel back in time and thereby confirm his belief in his own status as the universe's divine creator.

The first proper adventure for the 5th Doctor is another that comes across as a tad weak. The story is watchable but never quite hits the mark. It is silly in places, such as floating in space in just a space helmet and using the momentum of a cricket ball to bridge space. You can't help but roll your eyes at times. The story deals with the concept of a messiah complex. The villainous Monarch believes that he created the universe and wishes to travel back in time to the Big Bang in order to meet himself. The plot itself seems to work but the scripting of it all is where the episode falls flat.

The characterisation of the characters is fine for the Doctor and Nyssa but Teagna and Adric seem very out of character. Adric jumps immediately to the point of view of Monarch even when the Doctor, a figure he should trust, tells him otherwise. All very out of character for him. As for Tegan, she seems to suffer massively from culture shock in this story even though she has seen space/time travel and encountered alien cultures. Although she hasn't been with the Doctor for long it already feels out of character.

Episode #116 : Castrovalva

"That's the trouble with regeneration. You quite never know what you're going to get."

Episode 116:   Castrovalva.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:         4th to 12th January 1982.

The newly regenerated Doctor escapes with his companions back to the TARDIS. Suffering from post-regeneration trauma, he only narrowly manages to save the ship from destruction as it plunges back to Event One, the hydrogen in-rush that preceded the creation of the universe. He then seeks sanctuary in the peaceful domain of Castrovalva, only to discover that it is an illusory, dimensionally paradoxical trap set for him by the Master with the unwilling aid of a kidnapped Adric. The Doctor eventually wins the day by enlisting the help of the Castrovalvan people who, although also part of the Master's creation, are nevertheless able to exercise free will.

The first adventure for the 5th Doctor is a bit of a let down. It continues the story from the events of the previous two adventures. Seeking a nice quiet place with which to finish regenerating, the time travellers are lured to the planet Castrovalva by the Master who yet again seeks to destroy the Doctor. The story is let down by a weak first half where the Master tries to send the TARDIS back to the Big Bang. The second half deals with the oddly amnesiac Doctor trying to both recover his wits and find a means to escape the trap set for him. The second half just doesn't fit very well with the first half and the story just feels weak.

There are some nice moments in this story however. Specifically when the Doctor wanders the TARDIS muttering things as though he was his prior selves. The scene where he finds his cricket outfit is suitable amusing and you start to get a feel for who this incarnation is going to be. Even looking back after watching these stories numerous times, those moments in the TARDIS are memorable.

The Master is once again portrayed as a weak villain who falls afoul of his schemes again. Although the Master must be defeated of course but it would be nice to have the writers present him as an intelligent inventive villain.

Despite a weak start to his run, the adventures of Peter Davison's Doctor do get a lot better however.

Episode #115 : Logopolis

"It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for."

Episode 115:   Logopolis.
Companions:  4th Doctor, Nyssa and Adric.
Air Date:        28th February to 21st March 1981.

The Doctor takes Adric and a young air hostess named Tegan Jovanka, who has come aboard the TARDIS by accident, to the planet Logopolis, home of a race of mathematicians whose help he hopes to enlist in reconfiguring the outer shell of the TARDIS. The mysterious, wraith-like Watcher brings Nyssa from Traken to join them and warns of impending danger - something that is borne out as the Master arrives and kills a number of the Logopolitans.

The final adventure for the 4th Doctor has come. Once again he faces down the Master who threatens to unleash the power of Entropy upon the universe - something he does start even destroying Nyssa's home world of Traken. Thankfully the Master is stopped though much like his earlier self that the 3rd Doctor dealt he proves a little incompetatant at being an evil mastermind.

Nyssa and a new companion, Tegan Jovanka, join the TARDIS crew. Nyssa is an excellent addition giving us a new intelligent and strong female companion. Tegan is another no nonsense companion but in this story she just seems to go with the flow. One thing I enjoy is having a decent number of companions again rather than just one.

We have a twist in the regeneration story with this adventure, in the presence of an entity called the Watcher. It appears as a white "mummified" form that never speaks, at least not on screen. At the end of the story when the Doctor has sustained injury from a high fall, the Watcher merges with the Doctor allowing him to regenerate. It is not explained way and has not been referenced anywhere since to my knowledge.

Tom Baker is one of the popular classic Doctors. Some may say he is the archetypal Doctor in fact. He has certainly taken his place in popular culture as the image of Doctor Who. I find him a great choice with the perfect personality and mannerisms to play the role. I just find that many of the stories under his belt were lacking something in the writing or on occasion the production values and it does colour his run somewhat for me.

Logopolis isn't the strongest regeneration story but it performs well enough and ushers us into the 1980's era of the show.