THE PLOT
The Doctor has regenerated into his sixth persona - but the process has gone even less smoothly than the last time. This new Doctor is subject to wild mood swings. Sometimes he maintains the brisk confidence befitting himself. Then he will abruptly swing to other states, including extreme vanity, cowardice, and murderous rage.
It is not a good time for him to be so unstable. A being known as Mestor (Edwin Richfield) has arranged the kidnapping of two twin geniuses, and plots to use their mathematical abilities in a way that will threaten the entire galaxy. Only the strongest of minds could hope to face down Mestor. Normally, it would be a task the Doctor could achieve in any of his incarnations. But in his current state, is he up to the challenge?
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Colin Baker's debut as the Doctor became infamous, as he met with a shockingly poor reception from contemporary viewers. Some of this was certainly intended. The brief called for the sixth Doctor to be initially unstable, and for audiences to be left in doubt as to whether he could be trusted. I would question whether the best way to achieve this was to have him attempt to strangle his own companion, cower in terror behind Peri's skirts, and go down onto his knees beating his chest like a silent movie penitent.
What I won't question is Colin Baker's performance. He overdoes the theatricality in the first episode, but from Part Two onward is really rather splendid. He alters his physicality and voice for each mood swing, giving you a reasonable read as to when his Doctor is "on" (such as in the last half of Episode Two and most of Episode Four), and when he's "off." He plays marvelously opposite Maurice Denham's Azmael, and throws himself into the role with such absolute relish that his enthusiasm becomes infectious.
Peri: I actually think Nicola Bryant's Peri was one of the best '80's companions. Bryant is a good actress, and she does a good job of putting across the character., Peri is likable enough to maintain viewer sympathy, but also has the selfishness that a young woman in her character's age group and from her background probably would have. She doesn't always deal well with this new Doctor. Her initial rejection of him, telling him that his new face is "horrible," probably does little to help calm the Doctor's unstable regeneration. I'd half-theorize that, after settling down in his persona, he decided to stick with the coat just because he knew how much it annoyed her.
The early scenes of the serial show her in mild shock at what she's seen. He has just changed in front of her, completely changed, and she's trying very hard to get her head around that while dealing with his new persona. Not since Ben and Polly have we seen a companion having so much difficulty dealing with the Doctor changing. Her first reaction is to wonder what it means for her. After his attack, she spends the rest of Part One interacting much more tentatively with him, clearly frightened that he might lose his self-control again. She only finally snaps back at him when his self-aggrandizement over the rescue of Hugo gets to be just a bit too much for her.
Azmael: Maurice Denham gives a wonderful performance as Azmael, the Doctor's old Time Lord mentor who has been forced to work for Mestor. Mestor's plan is wildly hilarious, even by Who standards. A key part of his plan involves bringing two small planets into orbit around Jaconda, which will magically grant them the same atmosphere and make them ideal for farming. Which is why the moon has the same atmosphere as Earth, and why so many crops are grown there. Er... Still, Azmael is a fine character, and I enjoyed watching his inner conflict between following Mestor's demands and despising his own actions. His scenes with Colin are nicely-played by both actors, and the final moment between them is one of the best scenes of Colin Baker's television tenure.
THOUGHTS
The Twin Dilemma is often regarded as "the beginning of the end" of Doctor Who's classic run. It infamously earned the "Worst Story" slot on the 200 list, and is routinely knocked as the worst of the worst. I don't think it deserves such a condemnation. Every Doctor's era, with the possible exception of Christopher Eccleston's single season, easily contains at least one or two stories worse than this one. The Twin Dilemma is silly, but it moves along at a decent pace, and it holds together structurally. I'm no fan of script editor Eric Saward, but he was good at keeping stories adhering to a solid dramatic structure. This keeps a certain shape and momentum to proceedings, resulting in a story that is never less than watchable.
That said, I was appalled with Episode One on this viewing. That first episode is actually much worse than I had recalled, with Colin overacting some of the Doctor's mood swings horribly. The acting by the women in the police station is outright inept, and the actresses are hardly helped by such melodramatic asides as, "This order comes direct from the ministry. And may my bones rot for obeying it!"
Things settle down after that. Colin's performance remains theatrical, but starting with Part Two it's an acceptable level of theatricality, even an enjoyable one. He is particularly good near the end of Part Two, when his Doctor comes fully to his senses after being left in the dome by Azmael, and contrives an escape for both himself and Peri. I caught myself laughing out loud at a couple of spots, first when the Doctor says of leaving Hugo to die, "Well if it's him or me, I certainly can," and then later, after beaming Peri out, his genuine surprise that his plan worked. He also is quite good in his later scenes opposite Mestor. I'm a particular fan of: "In my time, I've been threatened by experts. I don't rate you at all."
Even as the story and performances improve, aspects of the production keep dragging it down. This is a particularly weak production, with some of the worst pre-hiatus production values of John Nathan Turner's stewardship. Both the police station and the dome are horrible sets, garishly designed, with someone apparently having decided that lots of sparkles will make up for a lack of set dressing. Mestor's lair and throne room are much better-designed, but are still seriously overlit. Perhaps a more visual director than Peter Moffatt might have convinced the lighting director to dim the lights a bit, which would have helped enormously. As it stands, even though much of this is enjoyable tosh, there's no atmsophere.
Peter Moffatt's directorial style is particularly ill-suited to this story. The scenes with Mestor are the biggest offenders. The costume for Mestor isn't really that bad, by the series' standards. But Mestor needs to be kept in low lighting, in the shadows, so that his bulky presence and voice can convey threat. Seeing him in the overlit throne room, clear as day, in full shots, really undoes him as a threat. The lighting may not be Moffatt's fault - but the wide shots certainly are.
Despite the weak directing, I don't actually think The Twin Dilemma is that bad a story. Viewed as just another Doctor Who story, this isn't even the worst of the season, let alone of all time. But The Twin Dilemma is not just another Doctor Who story. It's an introduction to a new Doctor, and in that respect it stumbles. The decision to present the Sixth Doctor as actively unstable, often unlikable, and completely unreliable is interesting on paper, and could have been compelling. But the instability lasts too long, comes up too often, and interferes with selling this spikier new Doctor. On its own, this would probably have been a minor hiccup that the show would have recovered from rather quickly. But in a more competitive television landscape, with new programming management that was particularly unsympathetic to the show, things went very differently...
Rating: 5/10.
Previous Story: The Caves of Androzani (not yet reviewed)
Next Story: Attack of the Cybermen
Search Amazon.com for Doctor Who
Review Index
No comments:
Post a Comment