Dragonfire

After the worst first three stories a season has ever had to endure, at least ‘Dragonfire’ was an improvement. It’s saying something about 1987 Doctor Who that this is clearly the best story of the four, especially as it still includes some pretty dodgy bits including the Doctor dangling over a cliff holding on to his umbrella for no reason at all apart from trying to make a joke on the term ‘cliff-hanger’.

Edward Peel as Kane

We have a great villain at least – Edward Peel’s Kane is chilling in more ways than one. The dragon, apart from the legs, looks pretty good too and some of the ice sets look very good. Sadly some look very plastic but we can’t expect perfection can we, especially not in this season, which is clearly the worst in the shows history – that I’ve viewed that is, I hope it doesn’t get worse than this! The death scene of Kane exposing himself to sunlight and melting is one of the most impressive effects seen in Doctor Who in the first 24 years, I have to tip my head to the production team for that. Very much like Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark).

The story is at least darker than the previous tale, and it is helped by the score provided by Dominic

Bonnie Langford, Tony Selby, Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy.

Glynn, who provided the music for much of the previous season and seemed to have a much better idea of what was required than Keff McCulloch. It’s very grand, a great use of organ sounds.

We have the return of one of the best characters from Season 23 in Glitz, played by Tony Selby. He slips right back into character very easily as the loveably rogue, and you can’t help but think he would have worked well as a companion, especially with Colin Baker’s Doctor. That would have worked very well. He works well with McCoy as well, but as a pair I think the Sixth Doctor and Glitz would have taken the show somewhere new and exciting.

Ace's room on Iceworld

We have a new writer on ‘Dragonfire’, Ian Briggs. He turns in three solid episodes which are paced very nicely. The move to three-part stories is a good one, and strange that it wasn’t trialled before. I suspect the way that the budget was drawn up is why – John Nathan Turner had a budget decreed by the BBC for three stories over 14 episodes. Two four-parters and a six parter. He split the budget into two-three parters by using the OB budget for one and the studio budget for the other, hence ‘Delta and the Bannerman’ was almost completely OB save one short TARDIS scene, and ‘Dragonfire’ was completely studio-bound. This pattern would continue for the following two years.

The dragon reveals the treasure.

A story like ‘Dragonfire’ could only have been done in studio. Although some parts of the frostly set are rather dodgy, generally the feel is conveyed even if you see polystyrene here there and everywhere.  This is the final story for Mel (Bonnie Langford) and the first story for Ace (Sophie Aldred).

Kane's face peels away :)

Unfortunately the writers and script editor never had a mind to do something with Mel. We hadn’t seen much of her before this series and they could have revealed more about the character, introduced a few twists, cut back on the screaming but it seems nobody wanted to sadly. In the end we get her screaming her lungs out at every opportunity and being rather generic for the rest of the time. Cartmel appears to have wanted as much of a clean slate as possible to work from, and so the introduction of Ace is the first big step in the changing of the series.

Sophie Aldred adds a great bouncy (but different) energy to the show, being somewhat aggressive and having a penchant for blowing things up. However, it’s very hard to buy that Ace is only 16 years old, even if Sophie Aldred does look youthful for her age. Which she does.

Ian Briggs does leave a few holes in the script. The mother of the little girl Stella, (Stella is a child that runs around and hides for much of the story, very incidental but a nice touch) seems to not care about the ship with all the others shoppers on it being destroyed or consider the possibility Stella might be on board. That was a bit odd I thought. Kane’s been waiting in Iceworld for 3000 years and couldn’t solve the puzzle of the Drogonfire? Pu – lease! But you know, this is Doctor Who, right?

Far from perfect, but far from a turkey too.

6.5/10

The Ultimate Foe

To finish off the 12 episodes of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ that had gone before it had ‘The Ultimate For’ set with a challenging task at the very least. Add to the mix the series of questions left unanswered from ‘The Mysterious Planet’, Robert Holmes was going to have a hard time tying it all up. Sadly, Robert Holmes passed away with only episode one (13) completed. Eric Saward had worked closely with him throughout the process, and despite his grief managed to finished the final episode to Robert Holmes’ plan.

Unfortunately, John Nathan-Turner wasn’t happy with the ending, which Eric Saward clearly felt was important to the memory of the departed Robert Holmes’. In the end, no resolution could be met. Eric had already left the series after script-editing ‘Mindwarp’, John Nathan-Turner was left to script edit the remaining episodes. He decided to keep episode 1 (13) of ultimate Foe and commissioned Pip and Jane Baker to write the final part of this epic tale.

They had something like 3-4 days to do the thing, and given the time restraints kudos to them for doing so, however the final part fails to deliver on the

Lynda Bellingham as the Inquistor.

promise of the first part of ‘The Ultimate Foe’. The idea that the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) is in fact the Doctor, the dark side of the Doctor, is brilliant. The Master (Anthony Ainley) is well used by Holmes. Tony Selby returns as Glitz, wonderful as ever, and Bonnie Langford also gets pulled through space and time to the trial.

Just one of the Doctor's oldest enemies - Anthony Ainley returns.

Revelations abound in the first 10 minutes of the story. The secrets Drathro was guarding (Mysterious Planet) were stolen from the matrix and so the Time Lords sent a fire bolt to Earth (where the sleepers who stole the secrets were operating from) which moved the planet to a different part of the Universe. The Valeyard wants the Doctor’s remaining lives, and the chief purpose of the trial appears to be to prevent anyone ever finding out what happened to Earth.

We head into the matrix, somewhat bizarrely via a door on the space station which flies in the face of the matrix as it’s been shown previously, and the Doctor hunts down the Valeyard. It’s wonderfully moody and well shot by director Chris Clough. Location filming had permanently shifted to OB (rather than film) this season and it’s a little

disappointing at times, but this was a night shoot in some pottery works and it looks and feels brilliant.

Episode 13 leaves us on the edge. The revelations appear to be complete, and the final episode will see the Doctor and the Valeyard do battle, to the death one presumes. Enter Pip and Jane Baker. Instead of following on from the set up, they chose to make it more complicated. They chose to place greater importance to the events of their story, ‘Terror of the Vervoids’, and the charge of genocide (which hadn’t even happened yet) than the

Tony Selby and Bonnie Langford.

events of Ravalox. Determined to add more twists and turns to the thing, suddenly the Valeyard wants to kill all the Time Lords in the trial room. Why? Ahhhh they provide the twists, not the explanations.

They throw in a lot of technical jargon which despite their beliefs as stated on the DVD, does not make sense. A megabyte modem? What? The Valeyard’s secret plan is to connect to the internet on the slowest connection available. ‘Would I be right in thinking the Doctor will soon be needing a Machonite Overcoat?’. Another classic, nonsensical line from the Bakers.

Geoffrey Hughes as Mr Popplewick

They do write well for Colin Baker and also Bonnie Langford, whose Mel they created, but stone the crows seriously, the language in this is beyond a joke and could only alienate an audience. All the stuff about what the Time Lords did to Earth is COMPLETELY forgotten. And then JNT added what Ian Levine calls, and quite rightly, a ‘pantomime’ ending, where the Valeyard has really escaped, Peri is not dead but alive MARRIED TO KING YCARNOS (oh why JNT, WHY? Destroy the biggest most memorable moment in Who-history by saying it never happened) and the Doctor and Mel leave in the TARDIS to the words ‘Carrot Juice!’.

Add to that that this is Colin Baker’s final story as the Doctor, shamelessly stabbed in the back by the BBC just when his Doctor was really taking shape, and it ends up going from what I thought was a brilliant episode 13 to a complete and utter shambles. It’s a somewhat tragic turn of events that Colin didn’t get the chance to build on his performances. He was bold and different and yes unlikeable at times, but I enjoyed every performance he gave.

Colin Baker rides to his doom.

Robert Holmes’ was to end the series on a cliffhanger. JNT thought that would leave the future of the show in the air and he wasn’t prepared to do that. It could be argued that a cliffhanger would have all the fans champing at the bit to see the next series. If you are interested, you can find a copy if the Saward script for episode 14. It’s much simpler, far less convoluted and I think it would have been a far more effective end to the season. But such is life, it was not to be.

The season probably wasn’t a success, but I enjoyed much of it. As a single episode, I thought episode 13 was one of the best episodes in Who history, counter-balanced by the very disappointing episode 14. It was a risky idea to mirror the trial of the show that had gone before season 23 in the series itself. Partially

Michael Jayston. 

successful, partially not I believe. I’m not the first person to be annoyed by the courtroom scenes getting in the way of the stories being shown. What if ‘The Mysterious Planet’ wasn’t shown as part of the trial. What if that episode did come first, but the trial only started at part 5? The Doctor is angry about the affairs of Ravalox and demands an answer, the trial begins though. This way we would lose 5-10 minutes of Mindwarp which would tighten the story up immensely. The third story would still be a problem however, keeping with the idea mirroring a Christmas Carol. ‘Terror of the Vervoids’ would benefit most from being a stand-alone story outside the trial setting.

Anyways, it is what it is. As for rating ‘The Ultimate Foe’,

6.5/10 

The Mysterious Planet

The trials beigins.

The Doctor and Peri arm in arm

After a hiatus of some eighteen months and a wonderful song urging the BBC to bring back Doctor Who, the 23^rd season saw the show’s return in 1986. This season would be one big story, cut to 14 25-minute episodes sadly. The Doctor is on trial for his life for meddling in the affairs of other planets, and we are shown 2 four-episode stories for the prosecution, led by the Valeyard (wonderfully played by Michael Jayston) who strangely is very keen for the Doctor to be found guilty. Then another four episode story follows as the Doctor’s ‘defence’, and finally 2 episodes to wrap everything up. Although I am reviewing the four separate stories within a story it is important to understand the context, and whilst the Doctor, Valeyard, Inquistor (Lynda Bellingham) watch the stories on the Matrix screen along with a bunch of Time Lords, we often cut back to them for comment.

I think the format and set up is where things went wrong. The idea of the trial is not in itself bad. I wonder if the stories needed to be shown on the matrix screen, if they couldn’t have been recounted (ok wouldn’t work for the third story) and we flash back to the action. There are other ways it could have been done, the first story could lead to the Doctor being taken out of time and then they could refer back to another story. However, we do get perhaps the most impressive and cinematic opening shot and model shot of the first 23 years of Doctor

Glitz and Dibber.

Who to open episode one and the camera sweeps over the space station and the TARDIS is drawn in.

‘The Mysterious Planet’ is Robert Holmes’ last full story for Doctor Who. It is a story which leaves a lot more questions than answers. It sees violence toned down considerably from the previous two years, which Eric Saward felt was the one big change that was expected from the powers that be of the BBC. The only issues I had with the violence was when the Doctor used it in situations where there was an alternative. There’s a couple of instances in ‘Attack of the Cybermen’ – not when he kills the Cyber-controller though, that seemed justified to me.

Drathro

‘The Mysterious Planet’ as a story, without the constant court-room interruptions which really interfered with the story, mostly for no good reason, is ok. It’s solid, but leaves you with more questions than answers. At times it seems that the purpose of the trial is to silence the Doctor for what happened on Ravolox – the Earth-like planet the story is set on. Oh wait, it IS Earth! But it’s not in the right place. What has happened to Earth?

Joan Simms.

The Doctor and Peri seem to be much more chummy now, which is nice. Peri experienced a bad feeling about Ravolox though. The assertion by the Valeyard that the Doctor is responsible for the deaths in this story appears to be very false though, as the chain of events that results in the deaths and destruction of Drathro is down to the black light

converter being destroyed, which was thanks to Dibber.

Again we have wonderful Holmesian characters in this story. Glitz (Tony Selby) and Dibber are somewhat roguish criminals after the secrets that are stored on Ravolox. We have Queen Katryca, played by the lovely Joan Simms. She certainly does not hold back! Then there is Balazar, the reader of the books. He has some of the best lines in the story and contributes to the humour. Finally we

have Tandrell and Humker, a blond double act who are very funny with good, fast lines, but I feel the direction didn’t capture them as well as it could have.

The direction is a bit lacklustre for this story, which I think is the main issue. It also lacks action. Nicholas Mallet directed this story, his first Doctor Who story, and perhaps he wasn’t perfectly suited to the show. The music is provided by Dominic Glynn who does a great job (although at times the mixing isn’t great and dialogue gets drowned out by it). Glynn also did the new version of the Doctor Who theme, which I immediately loved. It’s very spooky and moody.

‘The Mysterious Planet’ has its faults. The courtroom stuff certainly impinges on the flow of the tale. It sets up questions such as ‘what secrets was Dratho guarding’ and ‘what was Earth doing so far away from where it was supposed to be’? It was a fun if light start to the season.

6.5/10