Revelation of the Daleks

Two episodes (45 minutes each)
Aired between 23rd March 1985 and 30th March 1985

Written by Eric Saward
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Graeme Harper


Synopsis

The Doctor decides to visit his old friend Dr Arthur Stengos who is interred at a facility called Tranquil Repose in suspended animation at a planet of remembrance and mourning called Necros.

They both wear outfits of vibrant blue as it's the official colour of mourning, and reflects the copious blue flowers that can be seen about the place (and are frequently used in funerals there).

It's not long before the Doctor gets into trouble, being attacked by a mutant man, whom Perri is forced to mortally wound to save her friend. 

With his dying breaths, the mutant explains that experiments on him forced changes in his behaviour as well as appearance. He is a subject of the Great Healer's experiments, but he dies before he can say any more.

Meanwhile, in Tranquil Repose itself, two figures (Natasha and Grigory) creep about the compound, trying to find something. It turns out that Natasha is Arthur Stengos' daughter and she is also looking for him.  They discover that bodies have been disappearing from suspended animation chambers and ultimately, they find that Daleks are on the compound. 

More terrifyingly, they see that Arthur Stengos himself has been taken and is in a glass dalek case, being turned into one of the creatures.

Stengos explains that the bodies have been taken and turned into the Daleks like him, conditioned to follow the Great Healer. He begs his daughter to kill him which she does.

Elsewhere in Tranquil Repose, the staff themselves are in the service of the Great Healer, but are unaware of what is happening with the body snatching.  The head of operations Mr Jobel, a smarmy, vain older man who is perpetually fawned over by his junior staff member - Tasambeker, is ordered by the Great Healer to track down Natasha and Grigory. He delegates the responsibility to his orderlies - Takis and Lilt. 

At this point, we find out that the Great Healer is none other than Davros - he's escaped imprisonment and the Movellan virus (which has left him as just a head) and has hidden himself here, on Necros, creating his own army of Imperial Daleks. 

He conspires with a food distribution company run by Kara, a powerful woman. He has somehow helped cure a vast food shortage and is using her company to get the food where it needs to be. He is willing to be lenient with her, but his demands and impatience for more money is growing. 

Kara secretly desires to kill him off and take control of the food, thus she hires a first class mercenary called Orcini to deal with Davros. She gives him (and his smelly man at arms) a signal to switch on as soon as they have killed Davros. This is secretly a bomb that she intends to detonate and kill them all, thus leaving her without a trace of the deed, covering her tracks and ridding herself of Davros in the process.

Back outside, the Doctor and Perri find it hard to get in to the compound and end up jumping the wall.  As they look around, they find a tombstone with the doctor's current image etched into it.

This means that the Doctor is supposedly buried here as he is now. As the Doctor worries over this alarming information, the tombstone collapses on top of him.  Luckily, he's not hurt, and Jobel finds them.  He agrees to show them around as they pretend to want a package for the Doctor's internment.

Once inside, Perri is surprised to find that a DJ from the 20th century plays music on a radio station to all the people in suspended animation. She is taken to him whilst the Doctor is shown around.

Orcini and Bostok (his man-at-arms) arrive on Necros. Their presence is soon alerted to Davros and he suspects Kara is behind it. He dispatches Daleks to bring her to him. He also talks to Tasambeker, promising her eternal life (as a Dalek) if she follows him willingly and proves herself by killing Jobel.  She feels compelled to follow his orders.

As Perri leaves, the Doctor is taken by Jobel and led straight into a trap where he is captured by Imperial Daleks.

Perri meets the DJ and is disappointed to learn he's not from the 80's, but she likes him anyway. He shows her that he has control of all the cameras around the centre, and she can see that the Doctor is captured. The Daleks come for them too, but the DJ has a sonic gun that he sets up and fends them off.

The Doctor is imprisoned with Grigory and Natasha and it's not long before they are rescued by Oricini.  He tries to contact Perri and tells her to get back to the TARDIS whilst he tries to stop the Great Healer.

Meanwhile, Tasambeker kills Jobel begrudgingly, after he refuses to listen to her telling him he's marked for death. 

The centre is falling apart and Tarkis and Lilt begin to understand that Tranquil Repose is being used. In response, they call the "real" Daleks and inform them that Davros is here.

Orcini and Bostok reach Davros' lair and they destroy the Great Healer as planned, but they are cut down in a counter attack, Orcini having his false leg blown off, and to their horror, discover that Davros is actually fully alive and unscathed from the Movellan virus.

The head was just a ruse for people.  He brings in Kara and through their arguments, it is revealed that Kara did hire Orcini and that the signal box is really a bomb.

Orcini kills Kara for her treachery.

As the Doctor, Grigory and Natasha set a self destruct on the conversion labs, Perri and the DJ fend off the Daleks with his sonic gun. The DJ however is ultimately killed and Perri is taken prisoner.  The Doctor hears this over the radio, and goes to save her but is captured by Daleks and taken to Davros. Natasha and Grigory are both killed in the attempt.

Once infront of Davros, the Doctor confirms that the bodies were not all used for Daleks, but as cure for the famine (as in Soylent Green). 

He used it to set himself up with the funds to create a new Dalek army, which he has done. Bostok thought dead is actually alive and manages to blow Davros' hand off before being killed permanently. Oricini gains control of the bomb and prepares to detonate it.

The "Renegade" Daleks arrive in Davros' lair however and take him prisoner, bringing him back to Skaro for trial.  The Doctor, Perri, Orcini, Takis and Lilt are left under guard.

Orcini tells them he's got the bomb and refuses to set a timer, preferring to die with honour.  The group manage to get past their guards and race out of the catacombs as Orcini blows up the Dalek base. 

Once back in the main entrance of Tranquil Repose, Takis and Lilt ponder what they will do now. The Doctor instructs them to use the blue flowers to cure the food famine as they can be used like soy-beans. 

Perri, exhausted, explains that she wants a holiday.  The Doctor says that he'll "take her to...."

Trivia

• A lot of the character names are Greek. This is because Saward wrote it whilst on holiday in Greece.  The story also contains elements and characters heavily influenced by the Evelyn Waugh novel "The Loved One". 

• This story was also an attempt to show Colin Baker how to underplay a maniacal villain or major character in the form of Kara, Orcini and to a much lesser extent - Davros. This was because of his over the top acting both as the Doctor, but also as the villain in Blakes 7

• This story was the last time that film was used on the show for outdoor locations. Video tape would now be the preferred medium. This was because of the problems experienced with The Two Doctors 

• This was also the final time that the opening credits from Peter Howel would be used on the show since their start in 1980.

• This is actually the first time that the Daleks are seen to hover - even though it's Davros who hovers, it proves they have the technology

• The big one to note here - what does the Doctor say at the end?  Well, it was supposed to be "...Blackpool" as a lead in to next season's story - The Nightmare Fair. This story would have seen a return of the Celestial Toymaker and would have sparked a whole slew of stories with old enemies including the Ice Warriors teaming up with Sil (do a bit of googling around "The Mission to Magnus").  As it happens, the show was put on haitus, so the series was in effect frozen. 

• In the dark time of the show on hold, the stars Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and a host of other "celebrities" were convinced by super fan and continuity adviser - Ian Levine to create a song in the style of Live-Aid called "Doctor in Distress".  Here's a link to it, and brace yourself. It's not good!  https://youtu.be/NnTSbFeWwro 

The Review

The Revelation of the Daleks is the triumphant return of the most iconic villains in Dr Who and the return of their master.  This could have been a run of the mill space age romp, which Eric Saward has proven in the last story they were in, that he could do it well, but he chose something else.  This is a hodge podge of ideas, some work well, others don't.  The usual insistence from John Nathan-Turner on random things e.g. the DJ and the tombstone were incorporated, and it's to the story's detriment that they are clearly dropped without ever doing anything with them.  The sub-plot with Kara is equally..odd, but it does a couple of things well.

Davros in this story is more than just a ranting Looney.  I mean, he eventually turns into one, but at the start, he's diplomatic, and therefore sinister.  He's creepy the way he talks to both Kara and Tasambeker, and when you consider the plan for the bodies - it takes Soylent Green and puts a malicious spin on it because in the movie, they're doing it as there's no other choice and they're using people who've volunteered to die. This is totally different in that respect and it goes to prove just how messed up Davros is.

The Dalek civil war aspect is also a great undercurrent in this story, something seen in the 60's comics, but not visited so much until the Resurrection of the Daleks. Here, we see the battle lines drawn and they will be culminating in an all out war the next time we see them.

The sets looked great and the soundtrack is excellent.  As this is a Saward story, one of the main things that stands out is the death toll.  There are horrible things that happen to people here. The transformation of Stengos is truly horrific and it stuck with me as a kid - it's probably one of the most horrifying things I can remember in Dr Who - especially when his brain is pulsating too - yuk!!

I see this sort of akin to the Sea Devils in that there's a lot of dead ends and things that don't make sense including the tombstone and Davros' need to lure the Doctor to Necros, but this is a story that has to be enjoyed for the experience and the sinister atmosphere. If this was a historical, it would be set in Dr Mengele's lab. It's one of the last, great stories that was put out in this era of the show, and will forever remain one of my guilty pleasures.

Rating

8 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

8 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• Soylent Green

• The Adventures of Don Quixote 

• Resurrection of the Daleks

Timelash

Two episodes (45 mins each)
Aired between 9th March 1985 and 16th March 1985

Written by Glen McCoy
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Pennant Roberts


Synopsis

On a distant planet known as Karfel, a despotic ruler called the Borad monitors his subjects via cameras and rules with an iron fist.  A council of elders under him, led by a Maylin, rule in his name and keep the people in line.  They insist that no mirrors are allowed in the society, that all power is periodically transferred to the Borad's power banks, and that they are waging a pointless war with a neighbouring race of snake-like aliens known as the Bandril. If subjects incur the wrath of the Borad, they are either taken to him directly and killed, or escorted by huge, blue skinned androids to a time fissure in the capitol known as the Timelash.

There, they are thrown into it, never to return.

After asking too many questions and having contacts to rebels, the current Maylin, Renis is taken before the Borad and is hit by a beam of energy that ages him until he's just a skeleton. 

His daughter, Vena, and the rebel she keeps company with are both thrown in the timelash. Unknown until it's too late, Vena takes with her an amulet that helps transfer power to the Borad's systems. The new Maylin, a despicable scheming man known as Tekker, is tasked with getting it back.

On their travels, the Doctor and Perri find themselves coming into contact with the time corridor of the timelash.   They see a ghostly image of Vena pass through the console room.  The Doctor soon works out that the corridor goes to Karfel and says that he's been there before.  He takes the TARDIS there and is met by Tekker who gives them a smarmy welcome.

The Doctor is suspicious of the amount of advancement the society has made since he was last there, and of the lack of mirrors, but plays along for the moment.  He allows Perri to be shown some sights and he goes off with Tekker. It's not long before the new Maylin plays his hand and forces the Doctor to go into the Timelash with the TARDIS to retrieve the amulet.  He's taken Perri hostage to make sure this happens. What Tekker doesn't know, is that Perri has managed to evade capture and has gone into the tunnels under the city where she meets the rebels who help her escape from large lizards known as Morlox. 

The Doctor, forced to comply, goes in the TARDIS and calculates where Vena would have landed as she emerged from the timelash, finding it in Scotland, 1885.  It turns out, she's come into contact with a young man called Herbert who is besotted with her and sees her as an angel. 

The Doctor finds him most annoying, but although he tries to leave him behind, Herbert manages to stow away on the TARDIS and goes back with Vena and the Doctor to Karfel.

Once back, Tekker takes the amulet and orders the android to push them back into the Timelash.

They are forced to fight and with the help of revolting civilians, they just manage to survive and destroy the android.  They block the council chamber and access to the Timelash, buying the Doctor enough time to reach into the corridor and take two Krontron crystals (of the same substance that the amulet is made of). 

With these, the Doctor makes a time-ruse, allowing them to escape into the city and going after Perri.  Herbert naturally goes with him.

Perri gets re-captured and tied up in the tunnels, ready to be feasted on by a Morlox.  A cannister of strange gas is installed on her chest. 

Tekker goes to see the Borad and blames the problems on the last remaining Councillor, who is killed by the ageing beam, thus leaving Tekker as the only one in charge after the Borad. The Doctor finds a way to their hidden lair and sees that the Borad is a hideous malformed human / morlox hybrid. 

It's revealed that he used to be a scientist called Megelen, a man who was doing questionable experiments the last time the Doctor was here. The Doctor had stopped him, but he had no idea that the man had gone ahead anyway and disfigured himself for life. The Borad / Megelen now blames the Doctor for everything and says he intends to use the same gas that disfigured him on Perri. 

He's also provoked the conflict with the Bandrils as he knows they will use Bendalypse Warheads, which will wipe out the humans, but leave him and the Morlox alive, thus allowing him to rebuild Karfel in his own image.  Tekker is shocked at this revelation, but is simply killed by the Borad with the ageing ray.

As Herbert is freeing Perri and rescuing her from the Morlox, the Doctor reflects the ageing beam back at the Borad with the Krontron crystals and kills him.

They all rush back to the Council chamber and contact the Bandrils, trying to stop them from firing their missiles. 

They refuse as they cannot trust the Karfellans, and the Doctor is forced to get in the TARDIS and fly to intercept them.  Perri wants to go too, but the Doctor stubbornly refuses as he secretly knows he's going to die in the process.  Herbert once again stows away, much to the annoyance of the Doctor. 

Due to his brilliance, the Doctor finds a way of detonating the warheads on route and they survive.  Both he and Herbert return to Karfel and are given a heroes welcome. Celebrations are short lived however as the Borad seemingly returns from the dead and takes Perri captive. 

It turns out the Borad had a clone and could transfer consciousness to it. He is defeated a second time when a false wall is smashed (with a picture of the third Doctor on it) and reveals a mirror which repulses the Borad enough to be distracted. 

He is thrown into the timelash and the threat is over, but the Doctor says that he'll turn up from time to time in Loch Ness.

The Doctor and Perri agree to return Herbert home, and he gives them his business card which reveals his full name - Herbert George Wells

Trivia

• This story references concepts from numerous HG Wells stories including The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr Moreau

• The story was originally intended to be an adventure with the Daleks as the main enemy, but Eric Saward asked for this to be cut as the writer was still a novice at this point and he felt he couldn't do them justice.

• The original version of the script had the first Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan going to Karfel, but this was changed to the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. A sliver of it still exists, as Tekker enquires why the Doctor only has one companion with him this time.

• Paul Darrow was well known as his role on Blakes 7 -Kerr Avon.  Colin Baker had previously played a character in that and had been sufficiently "over the top". Paul Darrow decided to return the favour and intentionally exaggerated his part, choosing to play it as Richard the Third

• At the end of the last story, it was announced that Doctor Who would be on a hiatus for a year.  The official account (according to John Nathan-Turner) was that they needed the money to launch a series of shows, especially on Daytime TV and the only way to do that was to cancel a load that weren't working.  Doctor Who wasn't cancelled, but rested to free up some of that money

• The press had a field day with it all and mounted a save Doctor Who campaign that lasted several months.  Rumours were that controller of the BBC at the time - Michael Grade - did not like the show and was intending for it not to return, but the volume of response caused them to re-think this and re-instate it a year later.  More on this next season

The Review

Many a time on this journey, I have said that the premise of a story has been particularly great, but the execution has severely diminished it.  Well, when it comes to Timelash, I want to say the same, except the concept of the story (finding out how HG Wells got all his ideas) would take, what, ten minutes at the most in terms of revealing a pay off, fifteen at the maximum. The problem is that this story has ninety minutes to kill, so that's over an hour of filler to find to justify the payoff for this concept, and find a meaningful way to bring the Doctor and Perri into this. 

Timelash is shown in such a way as to leave the viewer feeling as that was exactly the case - that everything else was filler.  Even the tidbits of "oh, that's where HG Wells got the idea for the Inivisible Man from" are pretty mundane and boring - the closest we get to "excitement" is the rescue of Perri from the Morlox.  It's just a story made to annoy you - from the high-low alternating pitch of the androids voice, past the extremely hammed up Tekker, right the way to the Doctor's five minute back and forth with the annoying Herbert. Although, having said that, Herbert as a character had quite a descent comedy element to him. Is that what we really wanted though at the expense of a tense drama?

I ask myself, is this as bad as the Celestial Toymaker?  Difficult to say. I would say it's on a par for the most bit, with a slight increase for the fact that at least it's got a vague annoying narrative. I'd argue that t's worse than the Twin Dilemma however, as at least in that one, the Doctor was new and unpredictable (and that isn't saying much).

Timelash has very very little to redeem itself as the cardboard villains and characters go through the motions and play out this utterly annoying story.  I doubt I'll go back to it again.

Rating

3 1/2 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

2 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Space Museum 

• The Underwater Menace 

• The Abominable Snowmen

• The Krotons

• The Armageddon Factor (Key to time part 6)

The Two Doctors

Three episodes (45 mins each)
Aired between 16th February 1985 and 2nd March 1985

Written by Robert Holmes
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Peter Moffatt

Synopsis

The Second Doctor and Jamie are travelling to Space Station Camera on the request of the Time Lords.

The station is a research facility and they have been "ordered" to have a word with Dastari, the head researcher.  They materialise in the kitchen and meet one of the Androgum workers on the station - a chef called Shockeye of the Quarnsin Grig.  The Androgum's are primitive, practically cannibals and Shockeye has a keen longing to taste human flesh.  The Doctor and Jamie hurry away from the kitchens to meet with Dastari.

Talking to Dastari, the Doctor asks him to shut down the research that two of his colleagues - Kartz and Reimer are undertaking into time travel.  The Time Lords see the dangers and believe that they are close to catastrophe, but Dastari takes the warning to mean that the Time Lords are threatened by other races getting close to mastering time travel.

The Doctor argues with him, and also decries Dastari's own research into turning another Androgum - Chessene of the Franzine Grig into a genius level being.  He warns Dastari that even though her intellect has been raised, her instincts will always remain that of an Androgum.

As if in proof of the Doctor's warnings, Chessene goes to the station security and incapacitates them, allowing three approaching Sontaran battle cruisers to enter the station.

As the Doctor and Dastari's argument continue, they realise they've been drugged by the tea that Chessene served them.

Elsewhere, the Sixth Doctor is fishing, much to the dismay and boredom of Perri.

He suddenly grows faint and has a vision of himself (in his 2nd Regeneration) being put to death. He wrestles with the impossibility of it, and decides to visit his old friend, Dastari to get a second opinion, so he sets a course for Space Station Camera.

Chessene, Dastari and Shockeye in the meantime set a course for Earth. Chessene convinced Dastari to help master the Kartz-Reimer module and perfect time travel, and they are using a base of operations on Earth to do this secretly. The Sontarans have become involved as they want the secrets too.  The group travel to earth and are spotted by an Englishman in the Spanish countryside of Seville, whilst he's out catching moths with a net and cyanide jar.

Oscar and his partner, Anita, mistake the Sontaran ship for some kind of top secret aircraft that's crashed and they go off to find help.  They observe Chessene etc. going to a Spanish Hacienda, carrying the unconscious 2nd Doctor with them.

When they get to the station, the Doctor and Perri find that it is dark and shut down. The AI computer tries to kill them and they are forced into the guts of the station to re-wire it and find out what's going on.  The Doctor gets gassed by a self defence mechanism and Perri is attacked by a humanoid figure in the darkness.  She knocks him unconscious and the Doctor's time lord phisiology saves himself from a nasty time. They discover that the humanoid is Jamie.  They use some acupuncture needles on him to get him to explain that the Doctor was being killed by the Sontarans.

The Sixth Doctor is rightfully perplexed, but soon gets to the bottom of it, finding that Jamie saw an illusion, designed to make whoever saw it believe that the Doctor was dead.  The Doctor puts himself in a hypnotic trance and via a mind link with the 2nd Doctor, recognises the sound of bells in a Seville cathedral.  Jamie, Perri and the Doctor set off for Spain.

The Doctor knows that time travel under the Kartz-Reimer project isn't working because the project is too unstable.  The reason why Time Lords are fine in their TARDIS' is because they have a molecular bond with the machines called the Rassilon Impremeture.  He deduces that they must have taken Dastari prisoner too in order to operate on the 2nd Doctor and isolate the symbiotic nuclei in order to make the time experiments a success.

The Doctor and co arrive and meet Oscar and Anita, who tell them what they've seen.  The Doctor thanks them and asks them to lead them to the Hacienda.

They do so, and the Doctor comes up with a plan for Perri to distract the occupiers, whilst the Doctor and Jamie sneak in to rescue the 2nd Doctor.

In the basement, Dastari is planning to begin the operation when they hear the doorbell. 

Chessene goes to see and notices that Perri's thoughts are on the Doctor.  She invites Perri in and gets Shockeye to bring the 2nd Doctor through the foyer in a wheelchair (unconscious) to see if she reacts. 

She doesn't (because she's never seen the 2nd Doctor), but she does get suspicious, so she makes her excuses and leaves.  Shockeye is drooling with anticipation at eating her and Chessene agrees to let him hunt her down.  He does so and knocks her out, bringing her back to the kitchens to cook.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jamie get to the basement. They're too late to find the 2nd Doctor, but they do see the Kartz-Reimer module.  The Doctor explains to Jamie that once his time lord nuclei has been put into something called a Briode Nebuliser, the machine will work for anyone.  Unfortunately, the Sontarans overhear this and capture them both.  Under the threat of Jamie's death, the 6th Doctor is forced to go into the module and take a short trip, thus priming the nebuliser. 

Jamie wounds Field Marshall Stike with his dirk, and the two escape, but are not able to free the 2nd Doctor. 

Fearing another Time Lord's interference, Chessene insists on Dastari turning the 2nd Doctor into an Androgum with the intention of using him to double cross the Sontarans and taking the Kartz-Reimer module for themselves. They knock Shockeye out, just as he's about to start carving up Perri.

Little does she know that the Sontarans have primed the module and intend to leave in it as soon as they get word from high command.

As everyone's distracted, the 6th Doctor and Jamie manage to get Perri away. The Doctor explains that the Sontarans won't get far because he's taken the briode nebuliser. 

Dastari lures Stike and his officer into the cellar and locks them in with some coronic acid, a substance lethal to Sontarans, then gets on with the operation on the Doctor. 

Stike survives this but is wounded. He tries to get into the module but ends up bleeding profusely as it fails.  He staggers to his craft but forgets that he ordered it set to self destruct and it blows him up.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Shockeye revive and go on a jaunt into town to find some food. 

The various parties realise they've gone and all go to try and find them, playing cat and mouse all over Seville.

After and incredibly large meal at Oscar's restaurant, Shockeye and the Doctor are stuffed. Oscar asks Shockeye to pay the bill, but shockeye, insulted that he won't take foreign (alien) currency, stabs Oscar to death.  He leaves the 2nd Doctor and goes, just in time for the 6th Doctor, Perri and Jamie to find him.

Fortunately, the Doctor returns to normal, but they're captured again by Chessene and Dastari and taken back to the Hacienda.

Back there, they give Shockeye permission to eat Jamie, and force Perri to use the module again once the nebuliser has been replaced.

Satisfied, they lock them all up in chains and prepare to leave.  The Doctor's confer and it's revealed that the nebuliser has only a thin membrane, enough for just a trip by Perri.  If they use it again, it won't work. 

Together, they manage to get the key to their shackles and free themselves.  The 6th Doctor confronts Shockeye just in time, but is injured in the process and forced to run with Shockeye in pursuit.

As they go out of the Hacienda, Chessene sees the blood on the floor and is compelled to taste it, revealing to Dastari that no matter how much she's augmented, she will always be an Androgum. 

He changes his mind and frees the 2nd Doctor, but is killed by Chessene in the process. She tries to kill the Doctor and Perri, but Jamie comes to their rescue disarming her with a thrown knife.

Elsewhere, the Doctor uses Oscar's Cyanide jar to kill Shockeye.

Chessene flees into the module, but as predicted, it doesn't work and it kills her.

The 2nd Doctor uses a remote control to summon his TARDIS and he and Jamie go off on their next adventure, leaving the 6th Doctor and Perri to return to their TARDIS and swear off meat forever.

Trivia

• As with the City of Death and Planet of Fire, this was another big idea from John Nathan-Turner to have an annual trip out.  Originally it was meant to be set in New Orleans, a place that had gathered much recognition as a fan base and source of great american Dr Who conventions, but they couldn't make it work in the budget so had to choose somewhere more local - i.e. Spain

• This is the first appearance of the Doctor's multi-coloured umbrella if you don't count the press publicity shots. 

• The TARDIS console of the 2nd doctors was actually the one from the fourth / fifth doctors era, they didn't have the budget to re-create the 1960's one

• The reason why Patrick Troughton was involved is because he and Frazer Hines had such a great time on the Five Doctors. In fact, this very story was largely based on the concept that Robert Holmes worked up for that story (although for his five Doctors story, it was the Cybermen who wanted the Doctor's DNA). 

• Robert Holmes didn't really like the Sontaran's, but JNT insisted that they were put into the script

• The girder work on the space station set was actually part of the set for Top of the Pops

The Review

I have fond memories of this story, with the impeccable Patrick Troughton reprising his role and being as snarky as ever, and the presence of the threatening if a little comedic Shockeye, this was one story I was sort of looking forwards to re-watching.

The reality is that this is far more clunky than I remember.  The tropes of it are still pretty good, and some of the acting is pretty decent, but it's spoiled by an unnecessarily complicated plot, over-riffing on the let's eat humans schtick, fairly bad costumes, and some pretty over the top acting from others.

Still, this is one of the most brutal stories ever produced in Doctor Who, and the sight of Field Marshall Stike emerging from the module, covered in blood and having his face implode is something that sticks with you.  And that's the thing.  Nothing in here is good enough to be celebrated as a whole, it's more the little things that happen that are cause for remembrance. For example, as much as it was a pointless waste of time, Patrick Troughton's performance as an Androgum is pretty entertaining, as is Shockeye in small doses.

This is one of the poorest stories to come from Robert Holmes (yes, I said it), but even on his bad days, it is one that give people cause to think, with vegetarianism undertones and a no holds barred two and fro between captivity and freedom, this story has little gems in it, but not perhaps something to be celebrated beyond that.

Rating

7 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

6 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Three Doctors

• The Time Warrior

• The Five Doctors