Episode #134 : Planet of Fire

"I'm Perpugilliam Brown, and I can shout just as loud as you can!"

Episode 134:    Planet of Fire.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Peri and Turlough.
Air Date:          23rd February to 2nd March 1984.

On holiday in Lanzarote, a young American girl named Peri narrowly escapes drowning when she is rescued from the sea by Turlough and taken into the TARDIS to recover. The Doctor is on the island because the TARDIS has detected a mysterious signal being transmitted from an unknown artifact retrieved from the sea bed by Peri's stepfather, Howard Foster. The Master reasserts his control over Kamelion and gets it to bring the TARDIS, along with the Doctor, Turlough and Peri, to the planet Sarn, where he is hoping to use that world's supply of revitalising numismaton gas to restore his body - accidentally shrunken in an experiment with his tissue compression eliminator weapon - to its correct size.

By this point I am now fairly sick to death of the Master. He was over used during the Jon Pertwee era and since his return he has appeared far too often. I don't suppose you really notice when watching the show of the television but watching the stories in a quick succession he does seem to appear a little too often. Ainley is still just as good as the Master but once again I wish they would give him some better schemes that can't be so easily thwarted by the Doctor. At least this story has a fun twist where the Master is concerned.

Planet of Fire sees the death of Kamelion and the departure of Turlough. Kamelion was a poor choice for a companion and he wasn't able to appear more than twice so killing him off wasn't a bad idea. Turlough on the other hand I am going to miss. His character has matured and grown since he first joined the TARDIS crew as an agent of the Black Guardian. His story ends on a high note with him being able to return to his people on Trion a hero.

Instead we are joined by Peri "Perpugilliam" Brown an English actress playing an American student with a bad American accent.I never knew what to make of the character when I was ten and I still don't. In this introductory story she is just a whiney American teenager who just seems to have an attitude problem and the ability to get herself into all sorts of trouble.

There is a lot of character development in this story but not enough to the story. It is comes across as a tale about religious persecution and how alien visitors can be misinterpreted as gods. By itself this could have been an excellent "reading between the lines" sort of story but it is overshadowed by the Master chewing the scenary and the character interactions between our three time travellers. Planet of Fire is another story that isn't bad but could have been a lot better.

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.