Arc of Infinity Snakedance Mawdryn Undead Terminus Enlightenment The King's Demons The Five Doctors

BBC Season Twenty

• Stop this madness! by Joe Ford

Stop this madness! by Joe Ford 23/10/02

Oh dear. I'm in a really bad mood, I've been stuck at home all day with a head cold so I've availed myself of my trusty video collection and brushed up on some of my Peter Davison stories. Oh dear. Why do I bother? I sound so horribly crictical don't I but I just can't find any excuse for this season and its severe lack of quality in almost every department. Oh there are a few gems here and there but my general feeling towards the 'anniversary' season is it should be erased from time and the planned 'Missing season' after Colin's first year should pop into existence instead! Let me explain why...

Arc of Infinity: Okay it is the start of a new season and we want to lure in the punters. We got ten million viewers for the first epsiode of the last broadcast story so lets keep up that average. It's the anniversary season so let's unload a whole bunch of continuity on the viewers, just so they know what they're in for... Gallifrey! Borusa! Omega! What a line up! We need to force Tegan back into the show somehow because Sarah Sutton is just too boring to be the sole companion of the show and we can't have Peter getting his own way, can we? We don't want a repeat of the Tom Baker in control syndrome! I know let's include a foreign shoot... you can just shove some halfway decent explanation so they don't realise it's just for the hell of it. But don't forget to show off as much as possible, I don't care if it's at the expense of the plot as long as it looks nice! Let's have some subplot about two lads sleeping in a crypt, that way we can include our obligatory monster. Roger Limb is busy twing twanging his instruments so we can have really repetitive score... don't want anything too bold or dramatic, this isn't The A-Team you know! Oh and I've decided Gallifrey should be a kind of pulpy seventies theme, you know globe lit cafes and shiny corridors! Oh and don't forget to soak the rice krispies in green slime otherwise Peter Davison would look very odd running through Amsterdam, won't he? Corr I think we're onto a winner! Or not: 1/10 (and that point belongs to the delightful Sarah Sutton who walks around this nightmare shooting people, ACTING (thank god somebody is!) or generally looking totally gorgeous.) Result: We've fallen down to 6.9 million viewers... what did we do wrong?

Snakedance: Thank god for Snakedance. Lovely, lovely Snakedance. You know that biege blur of a man who bumbled his way through Arc of Infinity... his name's Peter Davison and he really can act! No seriously! Watch as he tries to convince everybody of the return of the Mara! Make a note of his fabulous cemistry with both Sarah Sutton and Jonathon Morris! See how he stands up to the evil Snake Tegan in the last episode! It REALLY is the same man! But don't worry, it doesn't last long. On almost every count Kinda count failed as a piece of entertaining drama but Chris Bailey makes superb amends with his script for Snakedance. It is packed to bursting full of wonderful lines ("The fifth face of delusion is the wearer's own, that was probably the idea don't you think?", "Once a man had a dream he was a...", "Well if only it were that simple...") and terrific ideas. One of the best things about Kinda was Janet Fielding's powerhouse performance, being able to break out of the bitchy Tegan mode and really show her teeth. She is simply astonishing here, a truly malevolent presence, her "Look now..." at the cliffhanger to episode one never fails to put the wind up me! On almost every level Snakedance succeeds, direction, writing, acting, lighting...even the snake effects are good enough to convince this time around: 9/10

Mawdryn Undead: Good stuff, a very thoughtful spin on your average monster story. Why oh why didn't Who explore time travel more often? When it can be as entertaining or as gripping as this I cannot see an argument for it's baffling underuse. It's halfway through the second episode that you realise how clever Peter Grimwade has been, telling up until that point a very simple story. When you realise that Tegan is talking to a 'different' Brigadier things really start to pick up. The tale of Mawdryn and his followers is well done and how it ties into Gallifrey is very clever. And all the stuff with Tegan and Nyssa aging and getting younger is suitably gross. However two factors drag this down considerably and their names are Peter Davison and Janet Fielding who are at their most irritating throughout. "I will mean the end of me as a Time Lord" he says like he's reading from a bus timetable. And how shifty does Turlough look... the Doctor doesn't even suspect him? Maybe a better actor could have added some awakward glances or a little caution but Davison wants to be chums with Strickston immediately! And as for Tegan... don't get me started... moan, moan, moan... bitch, bitch, bitch... yeah okay she's right about Turlough and Mawdryn but you just WANT her to wrong so you can shove it in her shrill aussie face!!! How much does she go on? Why doesn't Nyssa just tell her to shut up? And to sneak in her feminist bollocks AGAIN "Chauvanist!" she exclaims at the Brigadier... why couldn't she end up 'pureed' in time? Oops sorry, got a bit carried away, needless to say this is not Tegan's best story. It might be a little slow but it's a good deal more interesting than your average Davison runaround: 7/10

Terminus: I recently reviewed this in my worst ten Doctor Who stories and basically my opinion still stands. A genuinely creepy first episode (despite apalling haircuts which I suppose are quite creepy too!) that leads into an atrociously slow SF clunker. I can honestly say I've never been able to watch this in one go, halfway through episode two I always switch off and watch the rest in small, less insulting, chunks. Nyssa is an often ignored character and this was her chance to have a fine send of. Unfortunately she is locked up and falls ill (oh and drops her underwear) and that's all we see of her until her revelation in episode four. Tegan and Turlough are so bloody dull they are consigned to moving around in some ducting for the entire story, I cringe every time we return to their time wasting plot (and why is that shot on film whilst the rest is shot on video?). Is Davison in there? I cannot remember one scene with him present and I watched this today! I recall Lisa Goddard and her hysterical space helmet, her wooden friend who quickly disapears, Bor and his terrible burn make up, some mumbo jumbo about the universe, a huge dog with red eyes (competing with the Ergon for worst monster of the year!) and load of moaning lepers but Davison... beats me? Maybe those naunces he so subtly adds to his performance makes him vanish completely? Oh that's right he is in Nyssa's leaving scene, the one scene in the entire story with actual emotional resonance. Isn't this just running around for four episodes and than Nyssa leaves. That's how I would sum up the plot. Oh and Roger Limb is back... and the music is even more talentless than Arc of Infinty. Go figure: 2/10 (as I said, the first episode has some merit).

Enlightenment: This just goes to show how much your opinion can change with re-watching a story. I can recall raving about this in my Top Ten Davison stories but watching today I was frankly more than a little bored. Don't get me wrong the Eternals are still a fabulous idea and gorgeously brought to life by Keith Barron and Christopher Brown and the effects still impress. No it was all the endless corridor wandering that got me... Davison charges down them like no tomorrow from the first episode to the last. Poor chap, all he wants is some action. Unfortunately Turlough steals the rug from his feet and has all the fun over on the Buccaneer, and some wonderful scenes crop up with his conspiracy with Wrack. The whole 'who will win the race' plot is okay but could do with a little more oomph... the crews of both ships seem to take all developments in their stride and with the Doctor's non existant reactions to everything "Oh it's a ship, a spaceship... that's alright then, Tegan why don't you go and have a lie down?" you just want somebody to inject some LIFE into these characters!

The rare exception is, astonishingly, Tegan. Why couldn't she act more like this all the time? Subdued? Bland? No... her scenes with Marriner are first rate. His desperation to understand her mind and her attempts to resist are quite beautiful especially when they are up on the star lit deck. And by God Janet Fielding looks fabulous in that Edwardian dress! As the end of an arc it's okay (oh I haven't mention The Black Gaurdian yet who proves to be the best thing about Terminus and similarly menacing threat here) and Turlough gets to make his choice in a melodramatic manner but it is typical of this writing team (or should I say script editor) to forget this plot after this story. Turlough is now one of the good guys after trying to kill the Doctor for three stories! Very realistic.

So not a complete disaster, there are too many pleasant scenes that pop up unexpectedly but it's hardly the masterpiece it shouldhave been. Leee John detracts a few points for making me die of embarassment too many times: 6/10

The King's Demons: How can I be fair to this little two parter? It is surely the most pointless Doctor Who story ever, serving no purpose (okay Kamelion joins but... ahem... doesn't appear again until he leaves), having nothing to say (even horrid Pertwee stories had a moral to the story) and providing no entertainment whatsoever. I don't want to go on because I have been negative enough as it is but in all honesty who can justify The King's Demons existence? The location work is okay I suppose but wasted on such an obscure plot. The music is terrible (that cod medievil score... ouch!). Even the actors can't seem to be bothered.

Anthony Ainley returns to the series in predictably dire style. I genuinely thought nothing could be worse than the Kalid in Time-Flight but once again I'm proved wrong. Sir Giles Estram (ho ho what a clever name) is only beaten by De Flores from Silver Nemesis as the worst bad guy ever to appear in the series. "You insult ze King!" he exclaims through his horribly fake orange beard and proceeds to have a sword fight that makes the similar one in The Sea Devils look like a choreographed piece of art! I suppose it gives Davison a chance to DO something for the first time all season. Then we get the spectacular 'surprise' that this is the Master... and I turn off with only his cheesy "Oh Doctor you have been naive" line to see me off.

I can't bear to watch the second episode, more singing, Kamelion struggling to move his head, Turlough's OTT delivery of every line, the absurdity of the historical characters believing anything they are told "The Master is the devil..." I give this story a very kind 0.5/10 for it's ability to cure insomnia for all time.

I told you I was in a bad mood. Season Twenty is inexcusably bad, the only season in Doctor Who's long history that fails more than it succeeds. If only Saward could have juiced up the writing. If only Davison could have CARED about what he was taking part in (which he freely admits during this season, he didn't). If only Tegan could have been blown up on Mawdryns ship. If only...

I know I'm too harsh on the Davison era and don't mean to upset those who enjoy his tenure but these lifeless stories do nothing for the defence of his time with the show. Some Hartnell stories weren't as slow as Terminus or Arc of Infinity... and never has a historical reached such plummets as The King's Demons (hell Black Orchid in season nineteen was a mini masterpiece... no wonder I was expecting more!).

Maybe there is a secret method to watching these stories that I just don't get but all I ask when watching ANYTHING is that I'm entertained. Season Twenty is easily the least entertaining the show has produced. And considering seasons 2 and 24 that is saying something! Season nineteen wasn't perfect but it maintained a happy consistency of highly watchable stroies and season 21 came up trumps with two Davison classics whilst the others surrounding weren't so bad so what the hell happened in this middle season. Somebody explain to me please.