#7 (22.12 - 22.13): Revelation of the Daleks.

Davros (Terry Molloy), taunts the Doctor.

2 episodes. Approx. 90 minutes. Written by: Eric Saward. Directed by: Graeme Harper. Produced by: John Nathan Turner.


THE PLOT

The planet Necros is home to Tranquil Repose, a facility in which people with enough money and status have themselves stored in suspended animation until a cure is found for their assorted diseases. The Doctor and Peri have come because Arthur Stengos (Alec Linstead), a professor and friend of the Doctor's, has died and his services are to be held at Tranquil Repose.

But something isn't right here. The two have barely arrived before being attacked by a hideous mutant, a pathetic figure who croaks about the experiments of "The Great Healer" before he dies. A great wall separates the outside from the facility within: A wall with no door. Inside, Jobel (Clive Swift), the chief embalmer, prepares for the funeral of the President's wife, even as the staff worries that Tranquil Repose's best days are behind it.

Meanwhile, the wealthy Kara (Eleanor Bron) has hired the infamous assassin Orcini (William Gaunt). Orcini is a former Knight of the Order of Oberon, and he has dreamed of ending his career with an honorable kill to make him feel like a knight once again. Kara has such a kill for him. On Necros, at the heart of Tranquil Repose, the Great Healer resides. But the Great Healer has another name, one he refuses to use on an open channel. That name... is Davros!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Much has been made about the Doctor's limited screentime in this story. Perhaps too much, given that he does have a sizable role in Part Two. But instead of focusing on the size of the part, I'd like to observe just how much Colin Baker does with it. His performance is noticeably softer and more subdued than in most of the rest of the season. In a fairly typical "bickering" bit at the start, he avoids delivering his lines as barbs, even responding to Peri's question about whether the local animals bite by putting a note of sympathy in his voice as he says, "Only each other." Even when confronting Davros, Colin remains subdued, showing as much with a glance at a dead body as with his voice. It's very good work, one that stands in stark contrast to his reputation in some circles as "the shouty Doctor."

Peri: Nicola Bryant is also more restrained here than in previous stories, which leads me to think director Graeme Harper was pushing the actors to embrace the funereal atmosphere. Her interactions with the Doctor continue to show that, for all the spikiness, these two are quite fond of each other. When she thinks the Doctor is dead, Jobel asks if the Doctor was a friend. Unhesitantly, she says he was "the best." When they are reunited at the story's end, the Doctor immediately expresses sympathy to Peri for the death of a friend she made in the course of the story.

Davros: "He sits like a spider at the heart of this planet, using the money he extorts from us to rebuild his disgusting creatures." Davros is the dark heart of this story. He lurks, watching the interactions of those who work at Tranquil Repose. Like any group, there are weaknesses, imbalances, and Davros pushes at the weakness of Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin) at just the right moment to make her do her worst. He doesn't even have any real purpose: It simply provides a diversion while salving his wounded ego. When he's done, he disposes of Tasambeker like a child might do to a used-up and broken toy. Terry Molloy's performance is the best of his three televised showings (bettered only by the Big Finish audio story, Davros); he dominates the proceedings with a gloriously malevolent glee.


THOUGHTS

Doctor Who's final serial before the infamous 18-month hiatus that would cripple the show, that makes this the final classic Who story that was made when the series was  still at full strength. Thankfully, this is no "so-bad-it's-funny" runaround, but rather a meticulously-crafted, wonderfully shot piece that demonstrates that this series was far from the tired husk its fiercest critics made it out to be.

Revelation has an ambitious script, the most ambitious of Eric Saward's writing efforts by a considerable margin. Saward does an enormously good job of making Tranquil Repose into a place that feels convincing and real. The personalities of the egotistical Jobel (Clive Swift), the fawning Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin) and the stable and steady Takis (Trevor Cooper) feel right, not just as characters in their own right, but as characters who fit into this setting and who fit in their relationships with each other.

The structure is made up of strands: Character pairs and interactions that form a tapestry as we see them building on each other, even when they don't directly intersect. Like everything about this serial, this structure is ambitious: Jobel and Tasambeker's strand has no connection with Orcini's story, and both characters only lightly brush up against the Doctor and Peri. But all of the strands feel like parts of the same whole, because they all "fit" within the setting.

I'm generally no fan of Eric Saward's, but this is his best work and shows that he did have some real ability. No punches are pulled - This is Season 22 at its purest, with black comedy and grim horror co-existing to ghoulish effect. It also gets an incredible boost from director Graeme Harper, who constantly finds ways to keep things visually interesting within his meticulously framed shots. Whether by color schemes emphasizing the coldness of Kara (Eleanor Bron)'s ship, or by color tints on the lighting, or by smoke in the frame, there's almost always something to push the visual element and keep the action dynamic. This is one of the best-looking stories of the classic series, with very little here that invites the viewer to laugh at the cheapness.

Harper's direction emphasizes the greatest strength of Saward's script: The atmosphere. The cold and somber mood of a funeral home in decline. That atmosphere can be felt in every scene, every performance. More than any other element, the craftsmanship behind the camera pushes this from simply being a good story into being a great one.


Rating: 10/10.

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Next Story: The Trial of a Timelord - The Mysterious Planet (not yet reviewed)

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#2 (22.1 - 22.2): Attack of the Cybermen

2 episodes. Written by: Paula Moore, Eric Saward (uncredited), Ian Levine (uncredited). Directed by: Matthew Robinson.


THE PLOT

*Takes deep breath* OK, here goes...

The Doctor is making repairs to the TARDIS, in order to repair the chameleon circuit. Though his last attempt involved wizards mumbling mathematics, this time he just tugs on a few wires while background noises go "bleep." After a rough patch of travel, and a moment in which the Doctor and Peri observe Halley's Comet, he picks up a distress signal coming from Earth, 1985. Since such a signal is beyond human capability, he decides that it must be an alien, and investigates.

Meanwhile, a gang of crooks plot a diamond heist. Their leader is a man known as Lytton (Maurice Colbourne), who is actually an alien mercenary hiding on Earth following his last encounter with the Doctor. Lytton leads his gang into the sewers, the plan ostensibly being to break into the diamond exchange from below. But Lytton isn't actually there for diamonds. He is there to rendezvous with the Cybermen lurking in the sewers, and is bringing his gang along as "gifts."

Meanwhile, on Telos, a couple of prisoners of the Cybermen escape. This has no real connection with anything, but it does kill a bit of time that might otherwise have been used to clarify the actual plot.

Back on Earth, the Cybermen discover that the Doctor is in the sewers, and decide to steal his TARDIS and take him, the TARDIS, and Peri back to Telos. Once there, the Doctor discovers that this is all connected to the Cybermens' plot to undo the events of The Tenth Planet by reversing history so that Mondas will never be destroyed.

The Cybermen lock the Doctor in a room with a Cryon named Flast.  Flast knows all the necessary exposition for the Doctor to thwart their plans.  Also in the room are a whole bunch of explosives. So this is the absolute most logical place to lock up a dangerous and resourceful prisoner.

Oh yes, the Cryons. What's a Cryon, you ask? Well... (head explodes)


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: The ending of The Twin Dilemma assured us that the Doctor had fully stabilized, and that his remaining spikiness was simply part of the new persona to which we would have to adjust. Unfortunately, this cue is not followed, despite this script having been essentially written by the same man who wrote those lines in the first place! Instead of a spiky yet stable Doctor, the first episode presents a Doctor who spends a fair chunk of the episode wandering around in a semi-delusional haze, referring to Peri as "Susan" (and, offscreen, as Tegan and Jamie) while nattering on about "The Terrible Zodin." When he does get proactive, it mainly involves beating up policemen (who aren't really policemen) or shooting Cybermen. The second half sees him spending most of the episode confined to a room, and his TARDIS has to be rescued by the Cryons in order for him to get away. This is the hero of the piece?

At least Colin Baker is still game, even if his Doctor is rendered completely ineffectual. The first episode has a very good scene, in which he attacks the Cyberman in the sewers. He brashly assures everyone that he knows what he's doing. Then, when no one's watching, we see the doubt and apprehension on his own face before he springs into action, indicating that much of his bravado is sheer bluff. He gets some strongly compassionate moments in Part Two, expressing his sorrow to the Cryons or his regrets over Lytton, in a serial that ends on a note of self-recrimination. If anything, it seems like overcompensation to cries that he was too cold in The Twin Dilemma, as from too alien a Doctor he seems to have swung back to being too human and fallible. Still, Colin plays what he's given well.

Peri: Peri is no longer plucky and willing to give as good as she gets. Instead, she stands around whining while the Doctor alternately bullies her and patronizes her. Somewhat bizarrely, when the Doctor bluffs (?) at her to shoot Russell (Terry Molloy), Peri actually looks like she might do so, simply because the Doctor has told her to. When separated from the Doctor in Part Two, she isn't any more useful opposite the Cryons. Effectively, as Flast delivers one batch of exposition to the Doctor, the other Cryons deliver another batch of exposition to Peri. Nicola Bryant is still trying hard, and does what she can, but there's really no character here for her to play.

Lytton: Anyone tuning in for the first time here could be entirely forgiven for thinking Lytton was the main character, as he carries the story and drives the action. Colbourne gives by far the best performance on-hand, and its apparent that writer Eric Saward was far more interested in writing for the shady, acid-tongued Lytton than he was in writing for the regulars. The good news is, when Lytton's on camera, it just about works. The character is well-scripted, the actor is good, and the individual Lytton scenes tend to hold up. The bad news is, the effect doesn't last once Lytton is off-camera. I'd also question how badly the Doctor really did misjudge Lytton. So the ruthless mercenary is working for victims this time instead of aggressors. That hardly makes him suddenly into a good guy, does it?

Cybermen: The good news: Gold is no longer the Cybermen's only weakness. The bad news: That's because EVERYTHING is their weakness. Russell kills a Cyberman by shooting it with a pistol. A police pistol, not a sci-fi laser thingie.  The Doctor stabs one with a sonic lance. Stratton and Bates kill Cybermen by knocking their heads off with heavy objects. I get the feeling that if you sneezed really hard at a Cyberman in this story, it would go "Uurgh!" and collapse, and then we'd cut back to control where a Cyberman would tell the Cyberleader, "A Cyberscout has been de-stroyed."


THOUGHTS

Attack of the Cybermen is a generally good production. It's a much better-looking story than The Twin Dilemma was. Director Matthew Robinson has a strong visual sense, and provides the set pieces with the urgency and atmosphere they need. Individual scenes and moments of this story do work, with individual set pieces even becoming fairly gripping. Much of the credit must go to Robinson, whose camera sense milks whatever tension is possible from every situation. Yet another good '80's Who director, putting paid once again to Saward's assertion that Peter Grimwade was one of only two.

Unfortunately, I'd prefer a good script that suffers pedestrian direction to a bad script that benefits from sterling direction. Attack of the Cybermen has probably the worst script of any Doctor Who story I've yet reviewed. It's a collection of scenes, set pieces, character types, and continuity references, all looking for a plot to attach themselves to.

The first episode almost sustains interest through atmosphere. The sewers are a good setting, lending themselves to tension. The knowledge that 1980's London is just outside the sewers, that the Cybermen could go out and massacre people on the streets at any moment, gives an added edge to the first part.  This helps sustain it through some endless (and frankly, appallingly-written) padding scenes with the Doctor and Peri wandering up and down alleyways.

If the story had confined itself to the simpler setting, it may have worked. A story about diamond thieves and an undercover policeman stumbling across Cybermen in the sewers has potential. Then the action switches to Telos. An alien planet filmed in a quarry just doesn't carry the same immediacy, so that edge is immediately lost. The whole Stratton/Bates subplot goes nowhere. Worse, it takes away valuable time that Saward might have used to actually demonstrate the threat the Cybermen pose.  Instead, he simply has characters standi around talking about the threat.

Most of the content in Part Two seems only barely connected to Part One. Lytton is working for the Cryons to prevent the Cybermen from leaving Telos and blowing it up on their way out. But the Cryons aren't even mentioned in Part One, so the whole near-genocide perpetrated upon them by the Cybermen feels like part of a separate story. There are good moments in both halves, and the set design for the Telos interiors is quite strong and atmospheric in itself. Either half could have been expanded into a pretty good full story, if the unnecessary convulations had been dropped. But by cramming so many convolutions into 88 minutes, the result is less a story than a barely-coherent jumble.

That's not even mentioning the sheer idiocy of knowing that the first story of Season 22 was an important one. A new Doctor, about whom the public was deliberately left uncertain. A new timeslot, a new format. This was, in effect, a relaunch. And what story was chosen? An ultraviolent mish-mash of continuity elements from three 1960's Cybermen stories, none of which had been seen in more than a decade, and none of which even completely existed in the archives at that point in time!

I do disagree with the decision to rest the show after Season 22.  I do believe the hiatus was misjudged on virtually every level. But honestly, raising the curtain on Season 22 with Attack of the Cybermen was all but a dare to the powers that be to push the "Cancel" button.


Rating: 4/10.

Previous Story: The Twin Dilemma
Next Story: Vengeance on Varos


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#1 (21.23 - 21.26): The Twin Dilemma

4 episodes. Written by: Anthony Steven, Eric Saward (uncredited). Directed by: Peter Moffatt.  Produced by: John Nathan Turner.


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.

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