My Time With the Sixth Doctor

The Twin Dilemma 

Finishing the Twenty First Season with a story from the new Doctor was always a gamble, It was intended to be there the introduce people to him so they didn't have to wait 6-9 months wondering what he'd be like and the publicity hype could work better in the off-season. 

The problem is that the Doctor we were introduced to was a selfish, arrogant, uncaring man that had been messed up from a bad regeneration. Leave that thought with you for 6-9 months and would you go back to watch it? This was a bad start for the fledgling new Doctor

Twenty Second Season

Out of all the Sixth Doctor's run, I find the stories in this season to be the best he had to offer.

Attack of the Cybermen is tedious to me now, but as a young boy, there's a lot of significant imagery that has stayed with me and kept me interested in Doctor Who over the years - from decapitating Cybermen to bleeding hands and stealth Cybermen in the sewers - this story has a lot to offer aesthetically, but doesn't work as a trip down memory lane which is how it was intended.

Vengeance on Varos is great with a popular new villain introduced - something that hasn't happened in a long time. It was gritty and dark and worked well. The Two Doctors was less dark, but there is some attraction there, even if it's only to see the joy of Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines again.

Finally, Revelation of the Daleks is a story that should be truly dire, but the performance from the cast, especially Terry Molloy make this a very enjoyable story to watch.

Given the inconsistencies in quality, and these stories being mixed up with truly awful ones, there was little question that the BBC began to look at Doctor Who with cynical eyes.

Twenty Third Season

The last chance saloon to prove Doctor Who deserves to stay on the air, and this is what we're given.

It's a shameful show, with even the better stories being given extra leniency just because of the fact that the bad ones are really, really bad.  It was a fraught time for the show and the level of effort was sub-par to the point where it was as lazy and run of the mill as anything that Tom Baker put out in the last two seasons of his run.  

By the end, John Nathan-Turner had been given a stay of execution and one final chance to show how things could change. He needed a new crew and a fresh approach.

The Doctor

What to say about the Sixth Doctor? If you listen to Colin Baker, then it was doomed for a long time. He wanted an outfit similar to what Christopher Eccleston ended up having, but John Nathan-Turner saw an aspect of himeslf in the role and went "wacky" instead. 

Colin Baker's perchant for melodrama turned the sinister, tense "regeneration gone wrong" approach into something that turned me distinctly away from liking his character. Again, probably a decision from the production team, but rather than having the story then getting back to normal, his moody behaviour carried on for most of his next season which became old really fast.

The best times to see his Doctor at work are actually the stories with Mel as there's no argument and you get the real feeling that he cares for someone other than himself.  Thank god for Big Finish I say!

Favourite Moment

My favourite moment in the Sixth Doctor run has to be the scene in Revelation of the Daleks where Professor Stengos' daughter is brought face to face with her father and she watches him lose his humanity, turning into a Dalek.  It was scary for me as a child and to this day I feel the music, lighting and dialogue all work brilliantly to make a tense, horrifying scene

Worst Moment

There are in truth entire seasons worth of bad moments. To pick the ultimate, you have to find one that's so awful, it would take all your willpower not to throw something at the screen.  That my friends, is Perri's ending. No explanation needed or given. Just a dire, dire decision by the production team.

Favourite Story

Vengeance on Varos

There are some personal favourites in the Sixth Doctor's run, Reveleation of the Daleks being one of them. On the whole however, Vengeance on Varos has all it needs - the lighting, the tone, the political intrigue and a cool new enemy who is played spectacularly well. The story is interesting and has stood the test of time to be one of the better stories in the Doctor Who pantheon

Worst Story

The Ultimate Foe

Fraught with difficulties, there's some pity to be given in regards to this story, and it's by no means alone in the sin bin of terrible stories in the Sixth Doctor's run.  The Ultimate Foe however is just tedious to watch from start to finish, with over-complicated explanations, surreal (and ultimately pointless shenanigans) and an ending that pours out onto the screen like an unbaked cake. Truly not one to watch more than once.

Favourite Companion

Mel

Not a popular opinion, I'm sure. Mel is my favourite because she's pro-active. She's a go-getter and always looks on the bright side. Bonnie Langford may be as over the top as they come, and between her and Colin Baker, there's times where I'm surprised they don't slap their thighs or break the fourth wall to address the "kids", but on the whole she is surprisingly good and a breath of fresh air to the constant arguing of previous companions.

Worst Companion

Perri

She's here only because there's a slot to fill.  Given a rough deal on the quality of stories, Perri is no bad companion, it's her relationship with the Sixth Doctor that lets her down.

She had potential to be much bigger than what she was, with a background in botany that was never used and an intriguing family dynamic that was never re-visited. Perri was a companion that was criminally underused and denied even the possibility of an explosive send off.

Trial of a Timelord - 13-14: The Ultimate Foe

Two episodes
Aired between 29th November 1986 and 6th December 1986

Written by Robert Holmes (part 13) / Pip and Jane Baker (part 14)
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Chris Clough

Synopsis

After all this trial malarky, the Doctor is still insistent that the Matrix footage has been tampered with, even in the face of the Keeper of the Matrix denying it.  The Keeper says it can only be accessed by senior Time Lords with appropriate keys, leading the Doctor to say that either someone high up has stitched him up, or someone has duplicated a key.

Surprisingly, Mel and Sabalom Glitz turn up, transported here by someone to help the Doctor prove he acted innocently. That someone is of course, the Master. He says he's been watching the trial with great interest and has decided now is the time to help the Doctor.

Sabalom Glitz reveals that he and Dibber were sent to Ravalox (See The Mysterious Planet) to retrieve secrets stolen from the Matrix. In retaliation for this theft, the Time Lords moved Earth to prevent them from being retrieved.

The Master it turns out worked with the Valeyard, a darker version of the Doctor, to frame the Doctor and set him up, in recompense he would have been given all the Doctor's remaining incarnations to prolong his regenerative cycle. The High Council also agreed to go along with this and let the Doctor take the fall for the theft of the secrets from the Matrix.

The Doctor is furious and accuses the Time Lords of being corrupt and evil. The only one who seems not to be in on it is the Inquisitor herself.

The Valeyard now exposed, flees the courtroom and hides in the Matrix. The Doctor and Glitz agree to go into the Matrix to retrieve the Valeyard and bring him to account.

As they are gone, the Master harps on about how the Valeyard would have been a good ally, but even more powerful and cunning than the Doctor, so ultimately he's too big of a threat. This way, they might well kill each other and he wins both ways.  The Master is however upset at the High Council for what they have done to Earth and has tapped into the Matrix feed, showing the trial to everyone on Gallifrey so they can see just how corrupt the Council is.

Inside the Matrix, the Doctor and Glitz find themselves in Victorian London, a world created by the Valeyard.  He has a giant lair called "The Fantasy Factory" that is manned by an officious bureaucrat called Mr Popplewick who sends them around in circles and to multiple versions of himself, until the Doctor agrees to sign a paper that forfeits his remaining regeneration's to the Valeyard, should the Valeyard defeat him here.

With little option, the Doctor agrees, steps through a door, and finds himself on a beach. Hands come from the sand and drag him down, whilst the Valeyard laughs. Glitz arrives and tries to save him but it's too late. 

To his surprise however, the Doctor miraculously rises from the sand unharmed. He explains that's because it's all fantasy so long as his belief is stronger than the Valeyard's.

The Valeyard turns up and tries to kill them with nerve gas.

They take refuge in a nearby hut which turns out to be the Master's TARDIS. The Master re-iterates that the Valeyard is too evil and unpredictable so he wants to stop him. He then manipulates the Doctor into waiting in the console room, and springs a trap, debilitating the Doctor. The Master will beat the Valeyard in his own way.

He sends the Doctor back to the Fantasy Factory hypnotised as bait. The Valeyard comes out and the Master tries to kill him with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, but it bounces off the Valeyard, who in turn throws explosive quills and forces the Master to flee.

Meanwhile, Mel manages to get inside the Matrix, finds the Doctor and brings him back to the courtroom. There, she gives evidence that the Doctor is innocent of his accused crimes, but the Inquisitor deems the Doctor is indeed guilty of genocide.  The Doctor takes the news with surprising calm and agrees. It turns out that this wasn't the courtroom at all, but another illusion from the Matrix. The real Mel in frustration steals a key from the Keeper and really does enter the Matrix. She finds the Doctor being led to his execution and he tells her he knows it was fake, and was trying to draw out the Valeyard for a final showdown.

Together with Glitz, they go back to the Fantasy Factory. There, Glitz finds the stolen secrets from the Matrix and offers to give up the Doctor in return for them, being paid a shed load of money from the Master to do so.  Popplewick agrees, and Glitz goes.  Popplewick is then revealed to be the Valeyard in disguise. The Valeyard in true Bond style, explains that there's a laser pointed into the courtroom and is willing to kill everyone.

The Master meanwhile tells the court and High Council that Gallifrey's population are in revolt and they have been deposed. He now intends to release their secrets and take control himself. He uploads the secrets onto the screen, but it turns out they're fake and instead it's a trap that captures both him and Glitz in the Matrix.

The Doctor sabotages the laser, sending wild beams of energy flying everywhere. Mel rushes off to evacuate the courtroom whilst he creates a huge feedback loop. The Valeyard is wounded and left to die in the Matrix as the Doctor rushes out before the entire Fantasy Factory goes up in a ball of fire.

Back in the courtroom, the Doctor is cleared of all charges and he is told that Perri actually survived and is living as a warrior queen with Yrkanos.

He is offered the presidency once more, but refuses and suggests that the Inquisitor takes it instead.  He also suggests that leniency is given to Glitz as he can be reformed.

He goes to the TARDIS and is despondent when Mel says she's going to make him exercise again. He intends to drop her off back in her own time.

Back in the courtroom, we discover that the Keeper of the Matrix is somehow the Valeyard.

Trivia

• And so, we bid farewell to Colin Baker. This is his last televised adventure as the Doctor. He did go on however to be majorly popular in the big finish audios (and is still going). He was supposedly invited to do one more story to regenerate, but given the fact that the BBC effectively used him as a scapegoat for the series being dull, and firing him, he unsurprisingly turned it down

•  So, over the course of the Trial, we've seen that all is definitely not well with the production team.  Eric Saward was increasingly disillusioned with JNT caring more about the Cons and publicity than he did about the show. The final straw came in the guise of writing this story.  

• Originally, Robert Holmes was to pen the tale, but he got incredibly ill and died, only having written the first part and notes for the second half.  Eric felt honour bound to carry the story through in the vision Robert Holmes had given for it.  The problem was that the show was to end on a cliff hanger with the Doctor and the Valeyard falling in a vortex, similar to a Sherlock Homes and Moriarty ending.  John Nathan-Turner did not like this at all, as it gave the BBC too much opportunity to simply axe the show and say he died.  

• With this, JNT ordered the ending re-written. Given this dilemma, Eric Saward refused to change it and quit, taking the story with him and forbidding JNT from using it. John Nathan-Turner was in a tight spot, so turned to Pip and Jane Baker, handing them some continuity notes and asking them to effectively write a story blind with little reference to how things had played out or would go.

• This is a point where we should lament the end of the Robert Holmes stories. The best in the game, he ushered in many of the Golden Age Dr Who stories. Unfortunately, these final ones were not as good as his earlier works, but it is indeed worth mention that this is the end of an era.

The Review

Doing a story about the Matrix is always going to be hard as the laws of physics don't apply, so much of what makes logical progression is thrown out the window.  So, we have a bonkers surrealist nightmare for most of the episodes, coupled with an overly complicated tying up of the trial, and on top of it all, shoehorning in the Master to end it all with a bond villain super weapon.

None of this works. In part this is due to all the behind the scenes fisasco, but I feel it's just as much because there's so much to get in on this story that you can't focus on any one aspect and the result is a very diluted, very half arsed effort to bring everything to a close.

I understand the ending JNT wanted, but it just exaggerates the anti-climax.

Nothing more to say than it being a very sad story for Robert Holmes to go out on, and it's one quite frankly that you would only watch because you've suffered through the rest of the trial.  If this was what was offered up as the best of Doctor Who when they had one last bite of the cherry, I for one am amazed that it didn't get cancelled anyway.

Rating

4 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

4 out of 10

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