Introducing the Real Doctor's Wife: Cold Fusion, by Lance Parkin

"Turning her over onto her front, kissing the back of her neck, his hand running down her body. His thoughts dipping into hers, tasting her emotions. She was propping herself up on her elbows. Her body was familiar, he'd known it for centuries, seen it for centuries, seen it age ever so slowly. The birthmark on her ankle, the pattern of freckles on her shoulderblades. Only he had ever had those thoughts."

The above is one of the rather racy memories that Dr. Who experiences when he mindmelds with "Patience" a mysterious woman from ancient Gallifrey who turns out to (probably) be his wife. That the Virgin novels would include sex scenes involving, or at least appearing to involve, Dr. Who is an example of just how radical they were. Of course, the introduction of the lost Doctor's wife is not the only ambitious thing about this Missing Adventure. It is multi-Doctor story involving two Doctors, two sets of companions, includes an encounter by the Doctor with Adric after his death, as well as a complex plot involving another universe and dealing with themes of political conflict and a clash between magic and science. More than any other Missing Adventure, Cold Fusion pursues the New Adventures path of radically reshaping what Doctor Who can do. Lance Parkin is one of the few Doctor Who writers who could write a novel like this and he truly makes it work.

Lance Parkin pursues a somewhat ambivalent course with Patience. In some parts of the book, it is implied that she is the Doctor's wife. Yet he also implies, equally strongly, that she is the wife of the Other, an ancient Gallifreyan who was an associate of Rassilon and Omega. Since Remembrance of the Daleks, the Seventh Doctor material has hinted at a connection between the Other and Dr. Who. This myth arc was concluded with Lungbarrow by Marc Platt. This revealed that Dr. Who was an reincarnation of the Other. It also made the monstrous and abominable suggestion that Susan was not the Doctor's granddaughter, but the granddaughter of the Other. This is a terrible idea. Not only does it pander to the preference of some fans for an asexual Doctor, but it seems to diminish the genuine bond between the Hartnell Doctor and Susan. Lance Parkin seems to play a double game in Cold Fusion; on the one hand implying that the Doctor is a reincarnation of the Other and on the other hand implying that the Doctor was really married to Patience in some time in the past. He also stronly implies that the Doctor (or Other) married to Patience was one of the Morbius faces, specifically the Douglas Camfield face. I have said before that I do not care for the idea of pre-Hartnell Doctors. However, as the Doctor's experiences are only revealed through recovered memories when he mindmelds with Patience, the reader is left free to figure it out themselves. The Infinity Doctors seems to contradict this. The Infinity Doctor tells Patience that he is in his old body, while she has regenerated. This would imply that the Infinity Doctor has not regenerated, that he is a younger Hartnell Doctor and that there are no pre-Hartnell incarnations.

Freed from the constraints of the Virgin editorship, Parkin would go on to write Gallifrey Chronicles and The Infinity Doctors. While neither book is exactly intended as a retcon of Lungbarrow, Parkin drives a few nails into the coffin of the Virgin novel, by giving the Doctor biological parents and implying even more strongly in The Infinity Doctors than in Cold Fusion that the Doctor is the husband of Patience and the biological grandfather of Susan. Many fans have wrongly assumed that The Infinity Doctors is an apocryphal Unbound Adventure that does not take place in real continuity. This is a mistake; Lance Parkin incorporates it into his AHistory chronology, while acknowledging the conflict with Lungbarrow. Other fans have treated Infinity Doctors as an 8th Doctor story, taking place on a reconstructed Gallifrey. Parkin has stated this was not his intention and it is contradicted by the fact the Infinity Doctor is surprised by Patience's regeneration. It is clearly set in the Doctor's past, but Patience's future.

In trying to make sense of how Patience fits into Doctor Who continuity, I not only consulted Parkin's own AHistory, but I also bravely attempted to study the perplexing and bewildering chronology of the Doctor on Curufea.Com. Curufea offers a fascinating attempt to tie up disparate sources about the life of Dr. Who and the history of Gallifrey. It is difficult to read because of the multi-coloured text and like most fan chronologies, it completely ignores the TV Comics and World Distributors annuals (as does AHistory sadly). According to Curufea, Patience was in a love triangle with Omega and the Other in the Dark Times of Gallifrey. She went on to marry one of the Morbius Doctors. When the Time Lords began to kill their children for being womb-born, she travelled back to the Dark Times to ensure Susan's safety, possibly in the company of her son. She then attempted to leave ancient Gallifrey in a proto-type TARDIS, only to be discovered in Cold Fusion.


The attempt to re-sexualize the Doctor that we see in Cold Fusion (and in Infinity Doctors) has been done very differently from the New Series. While the Tennant Doctor kisses one woman after another, the Fifth Doctor in Cold Fusion recovers tender and bittersweet memories of a love we have never been allowed to see. Contrast Patience with the horrible attempts to create a "Doctor's wife" in the New Series. We get the pathetic notion of a man wishing his car was a sexy woman in The Doctor's Wife and elsewhere, we get River Song, a character who tastelessly flirts and who exists primarily to serve Moffat's banal and mechanical plot-writing. Patience, on the other hand, is a beautiful and mysterious figure, elegant and almost goddess-like. Somebody we can imagine being married to the Doctor. Like him, we never know her real name (of course, he is called Who, but this may be a pseudonym). In a DVD commentary, Andrew Cartmel suggested that it was a mistake that the Doctor was given a granddaughter at the birth of the show. In his opinion, the Doctor should not have a family. Cartmel did a great job as script writer in the 80s and he did write the hauntingly brilliant Cat's Cradle: Warhead, but a lot of his ideas about Doctor Who are very wrong. That is certainly one of them. That Dr. Who has a granddaughter actually makes him more mysterious. It means that he had children of which we know nothing. What happened to them? It also implies he had a partner of whom we know nothing. What happened to her? Cold Fusion offers us a glimpse of the answers to these questions, but still leaves the Doctor and his past as mysterious as before.

Forgive me if I am talking a lot about Patience and forgetting the novel. The introduction of this character is such a bit development that it does almost overshadow the brilliance of the novel itself. Cold Fusion is extremely well written. Lance Parkin does a great job of portraying two Doctors, the Fifth and the Seventh, along with their companions, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric, and Chris and Roz. Parkin's prose has a strong flavour of Terrance Dicks. One thing that he particularly excels at is writing action scenes, never allowing the reader to be bored by his prose. It is very much in the style of a Seventh Doctor adventure, but it manages to fit the very different Fifth Doctor era characters into it.

Divided Loyalties, by Gary Russell

It's often little details that annoy me most about stories. I found myself feeling a certain annoyance at Gary Russell's drop of a hat revelation in this novel that Tegan's family are Jewish. Not that it wouldn't be great to find out a companion is Jewish, but this does not fit anything we know about Tegan.

So we have an Australian young woman who is from Brisbane, but does not have a Brisbane accent (apparently). A woman who has a Slavonic surname and an unusual Celtic first name, with Serbian grandparents. A woman who speaks the Aborigine's language. A woman who is apparently Jewish.

It's not impossible that Tegan might be Jewish. There are Jews who have the surname Frazer, the name of the other side of her family. There was a very old Jewish community in Serbia. There are still some Jews there today, but not very many. The Jewish population in Serbia was decimated by the Holocaust. Most of those who survived emigrated to Israel. Tegan's grandfather, however, still lives in what was then Yugoslavia. That does not help Russell's case for a Jewish Tegan.

Paul Cornell's novel Goth Opera had a scene in which our favorite Austalian air hostess chases off a vampire with a Gideon Bible in hand. We get the impression she would have been just as comfortable brandishing a crucifix. The scene very much suggests a Serbian Orthodox background. That I am discussing this shows I am just as much a continuity obsessive as Gary Russell, but that is neither here nor there. The disturbing impression I get is that Russell's logic was on the lines of "Lots of Jews have Eastern European names. Tegan's family is from Eastern Europe, so they might be Jewish," thus ignoring the impact of the Holocaust and the fact that there are not that many Jews left in many parts of Eastern Europe. It does not suggest much broader cultural awareness. Maybe events in former Yugoslavia made the thought of a Serbian Orthodox background rather unappealing for Russell. Being Serbian was not terribly glamorous in the nineties, with all that went on in Sarajevo and Kosovo.


So having dealt with the fascinating question of Tegan's religious background, we move to the more mundane question of this novel. Is it actually any good? This novel would probably make it on to a top ten list of hated Doctor Who novels. It has been savaged by fans and reviled as an example of the worst excesses of continuity fetishism. Some of this criticism is a bit harsh, but I did find the book difficult to enjoy. It was a very plodding story, with too many dreamscapes and the non-regular characters were largely uninteresting.

There were some things in the story that I enjoyed. Gary Russell has a great affection for the Fifth Doctor era and this very much came out in the portrayal of the regular characters, with all their bickering and conflicts. He does a great job of fleshing out the individual characters of Tegan, Nyssa and Adric (aside from the bit about Tegan supposedly being Jewish). Unlike a lot of readers, I rather enjoyed the high school style depiction of the Doctor and chums at school. I have always liked the idea of Dr. Who and other renegade Time Lords being at school together. I also enjoyed the exploration of Doctor Who cosmology and the insights into the Great Old Ones.

There is the question of whether it is really appropriate to write a spin-off novel featuring the Celestial Toymaker given that he is such a racist caricature. Phil Sandifer dismissed The Celestial Toymaker as racist garbage and seemed to suggest that the recycling of the character in spin-off media was a really bad idea. Gary Russell seems to try to remedy this by pointing out that the Toymaker is Caucasian, despite his oriental dress. I'm not altogether sure in my own mind. The Celestial Toymaker is a very significant figure in the Doctor Who mythos in that he is the first super-powerful adversaries of the Doctor, after the Animus. He is a mysterious and disturbing figure. While it might be politicall dubious to dress him up like a Chines Mandarin, it does create a striking and memorable visual image.


Divided Loyalties on the whole a disappointing novel. Terrance Dicks offered lots of continuity references to stir the hearts of fans. Yet he wrote novels that were tightly plotted and often quite gripping. Divided Loyalties is just not a very interesting story.

The Crystal Bucephalus by Craig Hinton (Virgin Missing Adventure)

The late Craig Hinton's novels are best remembered for their multitude of continuity references. Personally, I find these rather fun. They were rather well done in Millennial Rites, which I very much liked. They got a little silly in Quantum Archangel, but that novel was alright in places. The Crystal Bucephalus is perhaps most well known for offering an explanation for the absence of Kamelion for most of the stories of Season 21, as well as the change of look to the Console Room in The Five Doctors.

I read most of Crystal Bucephalus in one go. It has the makings of a very good Doctor Who novel. It handles the regulars very well and gives them a much needed temporal change of outfits. It has a fascinatingly soap opera feel, with an odd emphasis on the relationships between the non-returning characters. The premise of the Doctor investing in a time-travelling restaurant is an imaginative one. We also get some hints about the future destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords, which are poignant now that we have seen the new series. The influence of Douglas Adams in its themes is very apparent.

What lets down The Crystal Bucephalus is the unbelievably high volume of techno-babble. This could rival a Star Trek novel in its use of jargon. I'm afraid to say I found much of the plot practically incomprehensible. Coupled with this techno-jargon are a number of 'time-wimey' elements that typically add to the confusion.

Still, it has some fun moments and offers a somewhat different take on the team of the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough than what we saw on screen. For instance, where on television, Tegan did a lot of very unfeasible running in high heels. Here, she does a Romana I and kicks them off to run about in her stocking feet!

The Ultimate Treasure, by Christopher Bulis (BBC novel)

Quest stories are great for lazy writers. Just give the characters an objective, an opponent, some obstacles to face and throw in a twist or two to make it interesting. It is a banal strategy, but quite often it actually makes for an enjoyable story. Doctor Who has given us a few quest stories, most notably The Keys of Marinus and The Five Doctors. Christopher Bulis manages to pull this off rather well. Admittedly, it feels like it is aimed at younger readers and it is rather slow to get going, but halfway through it is a fairly exciting, if unadventurous read.

This is a Fifth Doctor and Peri novel. That is what got me reading it, as I am quite a 5/Peri fan, even though I admit the improbability and silliness of a gap between Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani. Both Doctor and companion are characterised very well. Bulis manages to maintain the sense that Peri is new to the business of travelling in time and space. That said, he rather fails to capture the bleak and tragic feeling of Season 21. This feels in general like a positive and upbeat book that contrasts quite a bit with the televised story that follows it. In particular, Bulis gives us a silly retcon regarding Kamelion that rather undermines the tragic narrative of Season 21.

The Ultimate Treasure has a great cast of characters. The police officer,Myra Jaharnus is notably strong, but Alpha the villain is also interesting. Dexel Dynes the reporter is a bit of a caricature, but he is still very fun. The scene in which he interviews one of the criminal goons is very amusing.

That the treasure turns out to be something other than what is expected is no surprise. This novel borrows rather obviously from The Five Doctors in it's resolution.

This is not a deep or clever novel, but it does offer an easy, fun and undemanding read.

The Kingmaker, by Nev Fountain (Big Finish audio)

To my mind, the 5/Peri/Erimem series is among the strongest of Big Finish developments. The stories that this team have been given have a real sense of fun and excitement that makes a strong contrast with not only the televised stories of the Fifth Doctor era, but also other Fifth Doctor audios released by Big Finish. The Kingmaker is the most comedic of Peter Davison stories. This is not just funny; in places this audio is roll around the floor funny. Davison does not attempt to be overtly comic as Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy do in The One Doctor and Bang-Bang-a-Boom-Boom, but plays it straight. His dry performance adds a lot to the fun of this hilarious script.

There is a slightly new series feel to this story. It's Bill and Ted theme park view of history reflects how the new series approaches historical stories. To be honest, I was very irritated by the anachronistic modern dialogue used by the characters, though the setting has been more carefully researched and thought out than it would be in a new series story. In a hilarious nod to BBC Wales, Richard III, played by Stephen Beckett sounds remarkably like Christopher Ecclestone, so much so that I actually had to check the CD case to make sure it was not the man himself. Beckett uses all the vocal mannerisms of the 9th Doctor and even says 'fantastic!'

Despite the nods to the new series, The Kingmaker is very nostalgic. A laser-wielding robot from the far future demands that the Doctor completes a series of children's books before they miss the publisher's deadline. These are in fact a real series of books that attempted to cash-in on the series back in the Seventies. We are treated to a brilliant impersonation of Tom Baker courtesy of Jon Culshaw from Dead Ringers.

The plot is extremely complex, being set in different time periods and involving multiple twists. While it is very gripping and full of surprises, I can't help agreeing with people that it does try to be just a little too clever. While nobody would have expected the conclusion, it does feel just a little too bizarre to be true. That said, the writing and the script are of a really high standard. It would be wonderful to see this kind of quality on the televised show.

As mentioned above, Stephen Beckett's Richard III has a strong vocal resemblance to the 9th Doctor. I'm not sure this was entirely for comic purposes, or just because he was a northerner. There is something of a similarity in that both characters have a strong sense of world weariness, but also a hardness and sense of purpose. This Richard III is very far from Shakespeare's version and has real depth. Not a villain, but a man who is prepared to be ruthless. I found it amusing that he is used to getting time travelling visitors. Apparently each of them offered an opinion on whether he should kill the princes in the tower, even before the situation had arisen. Thus, he is a man who knows his own fate in advance. It is interesting to ponder whether other historical characters in the Whoniverse might have had a similar experience.

Together, Caroline Morris and Nicola Bryant deliver one of their best double acts as Peri and Erimem in this story. These girls are great; completely different in their cultural background yet as close and as argumentative as sisters. Peri acts really stupid throughout this story and Erimem amusingly gets annoyed by her idiocy. That's the real charm of Peri for British fans; she comes across exactly as how we would like to imagine American girls- spoiled and a bit thick, but essentially benign and very cute. Not that real life American girls conform to this stereotype at all. There is a touch of Leela to Erimem in this story. In a very impressive moment, she suggests to Peri that the two should kill each other to prevent history being altered. When Peri is absolutely terrified by the suggestion, Erimem claims to be joking, but had in fact been serious.

The Kingmaker is not quite a perfect audio play, but it is one of the strongest audios they have done; hilarious, innovative and distinctive with a real affection for the history of the show.

The Council of Nicaea, by Caroline Symcox (Big Finish audio)

A Doctor Who story about Christian theology!

Caroline Symcox, wife of Paul Cornell did a great job collaborating with her husband on Seasons of Fear. In this audio, she outdoes their joint effort by great lengths. The Council of Nicaea is a beautifully crafted historical drama and one of the finest Big Finish releases.

Mrs. Cornell holds a doctorate in theology and is in Anglican ministry. Proving that it is always a good idea to write about what you know about; she gives us a story about one of the most important moments in the history of Christianity, the Council of Nicaea. For those unfamiliar with church history, it was at the Council of Nicaea that the divinity of our Lord became the official teaching of Christianity and those who rejected it were condemned. Christ was declared to be of 'the same substance as the Father.'

Religion tends to get looked at in a negative light in Doctor Who. High priests and other religious leaders frequently tend to be used as baddies and supporting characters who question religious dogma are often portrayed heroically. The Council of Nicaea departs from this tendency quite radically. Firstly, while the religious conflict is shown to be fearful and menacing, the issues are not dismissed by the Doctor as unimportant. The Doctor says that he 'keeps an open mind' on the question of the divinity of Christ. It is almost as though the Doctor allows the possibility of Christianity and the divinity of Christ to be true. The whole subject of Christian belief is treated as something worthy of respect. Secondly, for once we find out the religious background of a companion. Peri turns out to have been raised a Baptist and refers to her pastor back home (though I despair at the thought that somebody raised as a Baptist would be unaware of the Nicene Creed and the importance of the divinity of Christ!). Religion is seen as something that plays a meaningful part in peoples' lives. We have moved a long way from The Face of Evil and St. Anthony's Fire. That said, I am uncomfortable with the portrayal of Athanasius as the bad guy and all the sympathy being given to the heretic Arius. As an orthodox Protestant, I regard Athanasius as one of the great heroes of the Christian faith who defended and established the doctrine of the Trinity. I suspect that Caroline Symcox is a little more liberal in her theology than I am.

The Council of Nicaea is very thankfully a pure historical. No alien monsters or interfering time travellers this time. The new series has shown the limitations of the pseudo-historical genre. I think a lot of fans would agree with me that the demise of pure historicals in the Sixties was a great loss for the show. While I hold a doctorate in theology, like the writer, I am sure a lot of listeners came to this story with very little knowledge of the Council of Nicaea or Constantine. Pure historicals have a wonderful potential to educate.

This audio takes us back to that thorny old question of 'Can you change history?' that was first explored in The Aztecs, all those years ago. Once again, the answer is 'oh no you can't.' It's good to be reminded of this. While I adore the timeline-hopping Klein trilogy, I think Big Finish have gone rather to far with stories about alternate timelines. Colditz makes it look as though you can alter history just by getting out of the TARDIS, a notion that would shake apart many past Doctor Who serials. I am much more comfortable with the Sixties Doctor Who premise that history is immutable. In this story, Erimem makes the old mistake of Barbara in thinking that she can rewrite history to a fashion that suits her taste. Like her she fails spectacularly.

The Council of Nicaea does a great job of portraying a society in which every citizen is caught up in theological disputes and riots occur over such matters. Symcox avoids it all getting dry by showing it's relation to the Machiavellian politics of the Roman court. This is helped by some strong guest performances. David Bamber is wonderful as the Emperor Constantine. I love the way his character is explored, with Erimem condemning him as a tyrant and the Doctor defending the integrity of his character. Constantine is very much shown to be a 'grey' character, a man who must be harsh, but not necessarily for the wrong reasons. Claire Carroll is also great as the camp and bitchy Fausta. The scene where she gets Peri drunk is delightful. We could perhaps have done with a little more exploration of her character.

I am convinced that the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem are the best TARDIS crew in Big Finish and arguably the best TARDIS crew since Season 1. Peri and Erimem have such a beautifully strong bond that it's fracturing in this story works incredibly well dramatically. Nicola Bryant powerfully portrays a young woman torn between what she knows is right and the emotional appeal of her best friend. Caroline Morris is so powerful in the role of a passionate and idealistic girl. This is perhaps her strongest performance in the role of Erimem. I have some doubts whether this character would identify Constantine as a tyrant (would that concept be all that meaningful to a Pharaoh of Egypt?) and I might expect her to be more sympathetic to the need to exercise restraint over religious divisions, but it still comes across well dramatically. Peter Davison does not disappoint at all as the Doctor. He seems so much stronger when placed in an historical story than he does when on alien planets or Blakes-7 space stories.

The Council of Nicaea is in my judgement one of the finest Big Finish stories and I especially recommend it to Doctor Who fans who are Christians.

Nekromanteia, by Austen Atkinson (Big Finish Audio)

This audio takes us back into Eric Saward land. Blake's Seven plots, lots of violence and a very bleak future society. As with the Blake's Seven stuff, it's never made clear how far into the future this is.

It's nice to see Big Finish offering such a variety of stories, but unfortunately this audio has some of the faults of its source material. As with too much of the Saward era-material, the Doctor does not do an awful lot. The violence also becomes rather excessive. On the whole this is a rather dull story and not enormously original. I enjoy hearing Peri and Erimem, but they are a bit wasted here.

I can't decide whether the cackling and wailing of the witches is atmospheric or a bit silly in a comic book way.

The Church and the Crown, by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright (Big Finish audio)

"I'm more of a leotard and shorts kind of girl."

It is really nice to see Big Finish producing so many pure historical stories. For some reason, the Fifth Doctor has been given an awful lot of them. I suppose it is easier to see the Fifth Doctor take on the role of passive bystander than the Sixth or Seventh Doctor.

The Church and the Crown very much feels like The Androids of Tara. You have scheming nobility, a royal with an uncanny resemblance to a companion and a general sense of fun. This is a good thing as I am a big fan of Androids of Tara.

There is nothing much in this story that is original. We have seen the 'uncanny likeness' idea used countless times in Doctor Who and it feels no more convincing here than it does in any other story. Nevertheless, it is still highly enjoyable.

Peter Davison is pretty good in this, though the Fifth Doctor's historical namedropping comes across more like th Third Doctor. Nicola Bryant does a fantastic job of playing two roles. While the doppelganger think might not be original, it is interesting to hear it being pulled off effectively on audio. Peri's cute friend Erimem, played by Caroline Morris is also great. While 17th century Paris is alien to her, she feels instantly at home in the court with all its nobility, religion and intrigue.

I like the way historicals offer a little education and The Church and the Crown is no exception. I like the way the Doctor challenged Peri's Dumas-influenced perceptions about Richelieu being the bad guy.

The Church and the Crown captures a sense of light-hearted fun that is missing from a lot of Doctor Who audios and novels. It's definitely worth a listen.

Season 21

The Five Doctors was not part of either Season 20 or Season 21, but it provided a very definite introduction to the ethos of the season it preceded. The return of an whole bunch of old monsters in The Five Doctors set the scene for the return of the Eocenes in Warriors of the Deep.

In The Five Doctors, the Fifth Doctor is placed in a nightmare realm full of monsters and enemies where his very existence is threatened. When he escapes this realm, he finds that his own society is corrupt to the core and his old mentor has fallen into dark ways. One of my favorite moments in Doctor Who is when the Fifth Doctor looks with horror at the black-clad Borusa and says "What happened to you, Borusa?" His look reveals not only horror and disgust, but genuine compassion. The Five Doctors is essentially Season 21 in microcosm.

Season 21 is all about the innocence and moral purity of the Fifth Doctor struggling with a pitiless and brutal cosmos. In Warriors of the Deep, he is faced by Eocenes that want to wipe out humanity and humans are close to wiping out each other. His inability to handle this situation leads to the death of everybody in the serial. From this he moves on to Resurrection of the Daleks, where he resolves to kill Davros, but can't do it.

More than any of season, Season 21 is bound by an overarching theme. It's not a story arc, but more of an aesthetic. There is a real sense of tragedy as we see the Fifth Doctor faced with the grim realities of the universe. This climaxes with Caves of Androzani, where he is just sick of it all and cares for nothing but saving the life of Peri. This leads to his death. This tragedy is doubled by the complete alteration of his persona in his regeneration. The innocence and kindness of the Fifth Doctor are destroyed by the madness and horror of the season and we see him taken on a new form that is thoroughly unstable, violent and rather repulsive. It might have been a colossal mistake to end the season with The Twin Dilemma, but it fits the theme of the season perfectly.

Peter Davison is at his peak in this season. We saw glimpses of a more charismatic Davison in Season 20, but it's in Season 21 that we really see him come to life. Mark Strickson and Janet Fielding are also very strong here too.

Season 21 sees the introduction of a great new companion, Peri. Peri has been unfairly derided for being 'eyecandy' and lampooned for her terrible accent, but she really is a great companion. She gets on so well with the Fifth Doctor, though admittedly not so well with the Sixth.

Not all of the stories of Season 21 are brilliant, but with the exception of The Twin Dilemma, they manage to maintain a certain standard.


The Five Doctors- 5/10

It rather fails to hold all its elements together, but it is very enjoyable. Having an impersonation of Hartnell was just wrong though.



Warriors of the Deep- 7/10

Cruelly maligned by fans. It has some problems with the direction, but it is a fantastic story with some great sets and cracking performances from the regulars.

The Awakening- 6/10

Some great elements, but two episodes are not enough to make the story work.

Frontios- 8/10

Creates a real sense of bleakness and tragedy, but the temporary destruction of the TARDIS feels like an afterthought.

Resurrection of the Daleks- 6/10

Did Saward really have to kill off so many characters? Ultra-violent and grim, it looks impressive, despite having an utterly confused plot.

Planet of Fire- 7/10

Very glossy production, but the plot is a bit lacking in substance.

Caves of Androzani- 10/10

Brilliant scripting meets brilliant direction for the tragic end of the Fifth Doctor.

The Twin Dilemma- 3/10

How could they end the season on such an awful story? Peri's reaction to the new Doctor is worth watching though.

Eye of the Scorpion, by Ian McLaughlin (Big Finish Audio)

Ancient Egypt is an historical setting that has not been used terribly often in Doctor Who, so it is rather nice to have the place in this audio. Ian McLaughlin has given us a pretty interesting plot regarding the historically unrecorded Pharaoh Erimem, so it would have been nice for this to have been done as a pure historical. Unfortunately, he took the easy way out and gave us an additional plot about alien parasites that does not feel terribly original.

The Egyptian setting genuinely feels like a real place. One small detail did really irritate me and I felt it compromised the authenticity of the drama. That was the clacking sound of the footsteps. I know loud footsteps work best on audio, but it does not fit the historical background. For the most part Egyptians went barefoot, even Pharaohs and noblemen. When Egyptians did wear shoes, they wore reed sandals, a bit like flip flops. These would not have made the loud clacking noises in the sound effects. In an historical, details like this matter.

I'm a big fan of the Fifth Doctor/ Peri line-up. They work wonderfully well together. In this audio, Big Finish introduce a new regular character to interact with this team. This is the female Egyptian Pharaoh, Erimem, played by Caroline Morris. Erimem is an extremely interesting character and very well conceived, even if she does use anachronistic words like 'parasite' and hold sceptical beliefs that are not altogether convincing. Erimem quickly develops a wonderful relationship with Peri that continues to flourish in the following audios. Peri and Erimem seem to be a godsend for femslash writers who have offered some speculation about their relationship. After having to put up with the rather unsexy Evelyn Smythe, listeners may be glad to have two cute girls in the TARDIS.

Peter Davison gives the best audio performance that I have heard from him so far. Rather disappointingly, he is largely written out of one episode. Perhaps Ian McLaughlin was trying to capture the feel of an Hartnell historical. Nicola Bryant is also on top form and sounds rather like she is enjoying every minute of it.

Despite the irritation of the inauthentic footsteps and the deja vu of the sci-fi component, I found this audio massively enjoyable.

The Caves of Androzani

Stotz: You better turn this ship around Doctor!
The Doctor: Why?
Stotz: Because I'll kill you if you don't!
The Doctor: Not a very convincing argument actually, Stotz, because I'm going to die soon anyway, unless of course —
Stotz: I'll give you to the count of three!
The Doctor: Unless of course I can find the antidote… I owe it to my young friend to try because I got her into this —
Stotz: One,
The Doctor: So you see —
Stotz: Two,
The Doctor: I'm not going to let you stop me now!
Stotz: Three!

Is Caves of Androzani the greatest ever Doctor Who story? Perhaps in evaluating that claim one should consider the rivals. Genesis of the Daleks is sometimes suggested as the best Doctor Who story. Genesis is certainly a popular story with some well remembered moments and great performances. Nevertheless, that serial had significant flaws in it's plot and is regarded by a minority of fans (including myself) as rather overrated. Another contender is City of Death. I suspect those who advocate City of Death as the greatest Doctor Who story feel that Caves of Androzani is a bit bleak and lacks the light-hearted feel that has so often been a part of the show. City of Death is certainly a serial that is hard to fault, but I don't think it quite smacks one in the face with its brilliance in the way that Caves of Androzani does.

In Caves of Androzani, we see the meeting of two assets; the inspired script writing of Robert Holmes and the strong artistic flair of director Graeme Harper. It is really unfortunate that Harper only went on to direct one more story in the classic series, Revelation of the Daleks. Not only does Harper bring to life a very realistic glimpse of a future society, but he brings a strong aesthetic sense to the production with the evocative score, the classy sets, the Kabuki-look of Sharaz Jek and his very aesthetic, almost statuesque death in the arms of his faithful android Salateen.

Robert Holmes was by no means a writer who could do no wrong. Even some of his more highly regarded scripts such as Spearhead from Space and Talons of Weng-Chiang show signs of padding. In Caves of Androzani, however, Holmes crafted one of the tightest plots in the history of Doctor Who. Caves of Androzani has something of the same feel as a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet, where a series of closely connected events seem to conspire against the characters.

One complaint about Caves of Androzani is that the Doctor is not very proactive. He does everything he can to save Peri, yet he shows no concern for dealing with the bad guys and improving the situation on Androzani Major. This contrasts quite radically with the Seventh Doctor, who always had an agenda, secret or revealed. Nevertheless, surprisingly this does not diminish the awesomeness of this Doctor. In fact it seems to increase the potency of his figure. In Caves of Androzani, the Doctor manages to be an 'Oncoming Storm' without even intending it. By simply arriving on a planet he sets off a chain reaction which causes a series of planet-shaking events.

Season 21 had been all about how the noble figure of the Doctor was confronted by the stark brutality of the cosmos. Here the Doctor meets an assortment of vicious and self-serving characters. The most sympathetic character in the story, Chellak is prepared to send his own men on a suicide mission just to protect his career. Faced with such human monsters, the Doctor is able to display the height of his nobility, as well as his sense of weltschmerz or world weariness. Perhaps the most powerful scene is when Stotz threatens to kill him and the Doctor simply ignores his threats. It is as though the Doctor has spent the last year having people point guns at him and he just does not care at all. Nothing matters any more except saving Peri.

Fans generally agree that it was a colossal error of judgment for John Nathan-Turner to follow this serial with the appalling Twin Dilemma. After the glory of this story, it was such a massive come-down to watch a half-thought out B-movie with a new Doctor who was at first viewing somewhat repulsive. The tragedy of this was that Colin Baker had been set up to fail as a Doctor. Yet in another sense, The Twin Dilemma was the perfect sequel to Caves of Androzani. There is a real sense of tragic pathos in the way the brutality and malice that had characterised Season 21 overcame the gentle Fifth Doctor, forcing him to take on a new persona. It is as though the kindness, gentleness and peaceful nature of the Fifth Doctor was overthrown.

Caves of Androzani is filled with interesting characters. For me the one that stands out is Stotz. He is such a nasty piece of work! The nasty trick he plays on his unruly subordinate is wonderfully done. I love the way his relationship with Morgus is played out. We might expect Stotz to be filled with contempt and bitterness toward the pompous and devious Morgus, yet it seems to be that he genuinely likes and admires Morgus. Despite his dismissal of Morgus' claim to superiority, he sees something of himself in the industrialist, hence his comment "Your just like me, a man with a gun." I love the camaraderie that we see between the two villains at the climax.

One of the mistakes that was made in writing for the Fifth Doctor was the failure to give him enough comic lines. Having witnessed the excesses of the Graham Williams years, JNT had a suspicion of humour in Doctor Who. This was unfortunate, because Davison was great at delivering comic moments. They added to his eccentric charm, yet he did not allow them to define his Doctor as Tom Baker had. Robert Holmes had not written for the Fifth Doctor previously and so gave him a lot of lines that were more characteristic of the Fourth Doctor. These worked incredibly well with Davison and gave his character some added charisma.

Nicola Bryant has not been remembered kindly for her role as Peri. I think she is pretty good in this story. Peri's character worked much better with the Fifth Doctor than with the Sixth. His easygoing charm rubbed the edge off her moodiness. Some fans have pointed out the sense of pathos in the fact that the Fifth Doctor sacrifices his life to save somebody that he only met in the previous story. Some lament the many novels and audios that feature the Fifth Doctor/Peri team in a supposed gap between Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani. While I sympathize with this view, I do enjoy the 5/Peri material, especially with Erimem. Peri and the Fifth Doctor are such a wonderful team that it would be a waste not to have produced that spin-off material.

It's impossible to think of a more gripping Doctor Who story than Caves of Androzani.

Season 20

One of the things that is most often pointed out about this season is the sign of the show increasingly relying on its past continuity. The first serial of this season brings back the long forgotten Omega. The next story was a sequel to a serial in the previous season. The big story arc of the season involves the Black Guardian from Season 16 and we get an inevitable Master story at the end. When the stories are decent, its a good thing, but when they are less impressive, the reliance on the past becomes something of an irritation.

One positive aspect of this season is the complete lack of such unoriginal stock elements as bases-under-siege, returning monsters and mad scientists. I really admire the freedom with which writers in this season felt free to dispense with those, even while making heavy reliance on past continuity.

Peter Davison is rather inconsistent in this season. He is absolutely brilliant in Snakedance, but in some of the other stories shows the same blandness that characterised him in the previous season. It's nice to see Tegan back in the first story, though it is odd that we saw her leave at the end of Season 19. It is a relief, as Nyssa on her own would have been mind-numbingly boring. A change in costumes for the two companions is very welcome. Nyssa finally gets out of that awful, unflattering velvet suit; though her new outfit is not that good either. Tegan also wears something other than that purple uniform during this season.

This season is definitely not a high point in the history of the show, but it's definitely one that is worth looking into.


Arc of Infinity- 2/10

If you thought ending a season with Time-Flight was a bad idea, JNT opened the new season with Arc of Infinity. It could have been a good story, if only the cast had acted like the events really mattered.

Snakedance- 10/10

A sequel that both surpasses and complements Kinda.

Mawdryn Undead- 8/10

A refreshingly gentle story. The final episode rather lets it down.

Terminus- 2/10

A shockingly dull story.

Enlightenment- 9/10

Full of character and drama, as well as lavish visuals. Very nicely done.

The King's Demons- 3/10

A half-hearted and half-thought out attempt at a historical.

Season 19

Season 19 saw the introduction of new lead Peter Davison. He presented a new image of the Doctor, a Doctor who was more human, more vulnerable and more of a team player and less of the rugged individualist that the Fourth Doctor had been. I really like the Fifth Doctor. He was so pleasant and charming. It must be said that in his first season, Davison came across as rather bland and lacking in charisma. This is not entirely Davison's fault, or even the fault of the writers. John Nathan-Turner did not allow Davison or the writers much freedom to develop the character.
Davison's portrayal would improve in the next season and would reach enormous heights in Season 21.

Season 19 saw a considerably enlarged crew, with Tegan, Adric and Nyssa all on board the TARDIS. They had something of a tendency to fall out, which gave this season a slightly soap opera feel. There were two problems with this. Firstly, these characters had not been thought out well enough to come across as believable characters in a soap-style drama. Secondly, it was a children's' show so any mention of sex was out of the question. A soap opera which avoids relationships of any sexual nature is never going to work.

Adric has come to be the big hate figure of this season. He worked well with the Fourth Doctor, but thrown in with a younger Doctor and two young women and he becomes an irritation. Adric has come to be best known for his tragic death at the end of the season. Adric's tendency to go to the side of the enemy has often been pointed out. This may in part be because Adric felt more comfortable in the company of older men. as could be seen when he was with the Fourth Doctor. It has been suggested that he might have been gay, but it is not unusual for young men to enjoy the companionship of older men.

Nyssa does not come across as terribly interesting. Her nasal voice is not easy on the ear either. With an overcrowded TARDIS, the writers tended to keep Nyssa out of the action, as can be seen in Kinda and Earthshock. Tegan is definitely the strongest character in Season 19. While other fans find her too miserable, I really like Tegan. She comes across more as a real person than Sarah Jane Smith who seemed genetically engineered to be a companion. Unfortunately, with Adric and Nyssa around, we never really got much chance for Tegan to develop a strong enough relationship with the Doctor to be really interesting.

The strongest element of Season 19 is undoubtedly the sheer variety of stories. The writers offered a number of different genres- wild experimentation in Kinda, all-action sci-fi in Earthshock and period drama in Black Orchid. Not all of these stories worked out so well, but it this is a marked improvement on some previous seasons that relied on one kind of story.


Castrovalva- 7/10

It's good to have a more vulnerable Doctor, but for my money, Davison spends too long being weak and helpless to make an impressive start. This story has wonderful production values, but has a weak plot and spends just a bit too long in the TARDIS.

Four to Doomsday- 7/10

The ending is a little weak, but this is a visually impressive and genuinely enjoyable story.

Kinda- 10/10

A classic effort at taking a more experimental approach to the show. Kinda is a thoughtful and rich story with some brilliant performances.

The Visitation- 2/10

I hate this story. It's basically a poor man's Time Warrior with lots of pointless running around and getting captured.

Black Orchid- 5/10

It's nice to see the production team coming up with a classy and polished period drama, without any science fiction embellishments. Unfortunately, it suffers from a lack of depth to the story.

Earthshock- 9/10

The Cybermen get updated for the 80s. It's not the cleverest of stories, but it's full of action and has aged well. And those female soldiers are so cute!

Time Flight- 1/10

What was JNT thinking ending the season on this sorry excuse for a story?

Snakedance

"I offer you fear in a handful of dust."


Snakedance is a sequel to Kinda in the best way possible. The two stories complement each other perfectly. Where Snakedance follows the format of traditional Doctor Who, Kinda is wildly experimental. Where in Kinda, Davison was a bit of a wet fish, in Snakedance he is breathtaking. Where Kinda left the regulars on the periphery, Snakedance puts them at the centre. Where Snakedance is heavy on expository material, Kinda leaves the reader to figure it all out. Where Kinda is somewhat heavy, Snakedance has many light-hearted moments. The complementary nature of the two stories demonstrates the wisdom of packaging the two DVDs together. Opinions divide on which story is the better. I have tended to say Kinda is the stronger, but I think my opinion has changed and I now feel that Snakedance is just a little better in the balance.

The production of Snakedance is really handsome. The sets are not massively realistic and look theatrical, but they are very well designed. The costumes are quite glorious. Best of all, the aesthetics contribute to a sense of history and the feeling that Manussa is a real place. It is the small aesthetic details that make such a difference- the puppet show with the Mara, the big Mara prop, the Attendant Demons, the delightful ritualistic language used in the festival. As was pointed out in the DVD commentary, it would have been nice to have had the serpent skull be seen in some of the ancient artefacts, but this is a small omission. Incidentally, it is haqrd not to be reminded of Faction Paradox when one sees that serpent skull appearing! The Six Faces of Delusion is a very nice aesthetic touch, though it is quite unbelievable that nobody had figured out the deal with the sixth face. The reader is left to think about how The Six Faces of Delusion fits into the themes of the serial.




Nobody gives a bad performance in Snakedance. Sarah Sutton is not quite as dull as usual, even if she does give a terrible scream at the end of one episode. Thankfully, she is out of those awful, unflattering velvet trousers from this story onwards. Janet Fielding gave a wonderful performance as the Mara-posessed Tegan in Kinda, but it was cut a bit short and the Mara moved on the less impressive Aris. In Snakedance, Tegan is under the Mara's influence from the beginning until the end. I think Tegan's Mara voice in Kinda was not so deep and more naturalistic. I preferred that, but Mara-Tegan in Snakedance is still excellent. Janet Fielding also got to demonstrate her versatility by playing a child-like Tegan during the excellent hypnosis scene. For much of Season 20, Peter Davison continued to give performance that was similarly lukewarm to that of Season 19. Nevertheless, in Snakedance, he really is quite amazing. He is so full of energy. Just watch him interrupt the dinner party! His reaction is also quite delightful when Ambril sarcastically pretends to believe him.




The guest cast are all excellent. Of particular note is Collette O'Neil as Tanha. Tanha's son Lon, is played by a young Martin Clunes. His television debut is quite impressive. Ambril is also quite impressive, especially his breatless excursions on the history of his Manussan collection. Even some of the smaller parts such as the fairground man are brilliant and I particularly like the megaphone man.




If you are in it for the scary monsters or you want hard science fiction, you probably won't like Snakedance. However, if you want great drama, an intelligent script and an aesthetically perfect production, you will be captivated by Snakedance.

Kinda

I am the Mara!

I do feel a certain irritation when the last season of Doctor Who is described as having a 'fairytale' influence. I don't dispute that there are a number of visual references to fairy tales, nevertheless I don't think any use was made in the BBC Wales' fifth season of the structure or themes of fairy tales. I can't help thinking that Steven Moffat's notion of fairy tales is a mixture of Walt Disney and modern children's literature. I think it is also fair to say that the BBC Wales series has not been bold in departing from the science fiction format. It seems to me that no matter how wobbly the concepts in the new series, both RT Davies and Steven Moffat see Doctor Who as essentially science fiction. No matter how bonkers a get-out-of-jail card like the 'Paradox Machine' might be, the suggestion is that if this was real physicists would be able to explain it given sufficent information.

The BBC Wales series has never done a story like Kinda. Kinda demonstrates the shallowness of Moffat's borrowing of 'fairy tales' by genuinely incorporating elements from folk tales, mythology and religion. Kinda really does transcend the limitations of science fiction and enters the realms of the spiritual. There are other Doctor Who stories that have delved into this territory before, but I can't ever imagine a story like this in the new series.




It is almost an understatement to say that Kinda is an intelligent story. It has such a depth of ideas and themes that it is impossible to fully appreciate in one viewing. Unlike, Ghost Light, however, it can be fully enjoyed the first time. Ghost Light is a right pain to watch the first time, because one is frantically trying to make sense of a complex plot through a mass of dialogue. Kinda on the other hand, is a beautiful and exquisite work of art. Each scene can be enjoyed even if one is still a little in the dark as to exactly what it is all about. One could have enormous fun discussing the significance of the jack-in-the-box. Even if one is not entirely comfortable with the Buddhist worldview that is conveyed in this story, one can appreciate the elegance with which it is conveyed.

The Mara is not like any other Doctor Who monster or villain. It has no obvious motivation; and even more interestingly, it does not interact with the Doctor. It seems to be as much a concept or idea as an actual being. The way it brings out hidden lusts and cravings is fascinating; it brings out Tegan's sexual prowess and Aris' desire for power. It represents the hidden and darker parts of minds. Like Fenric in Curse of Fenric, the Mara succeeds because it is a background presence in the story. The Fendahl did not quite work as an abstract entity because it was too much like a monster and Sutekh failed as a godlike being because he was essentially a villain in a mask. Of course, the rubber snake that the Mara manifests itself as in the end is hilarious, but the Kinda is such a strong serial that we can easily forget about it.




The dream sequence in which Tegan is tormented is quite scary. What is quite clever is the way this dreamworld parallels the real one, with the characters she meets echoing the Doctor, Nyssa, Adric and the metal structure mirroring the TARDIS.

Simon Rouse gives an absolutely brilliant portrayal of a man driven out of his mind. Richard Todd also gives a great and subtle performance, sharing in the madness. There seems to be a suggestion in Kinda that the military rituals with which the colonists surround themselves are a kind of childish play-acting. Unsurprisingly, Todd (Nerys Hughes), the female scientist is untouched by this, being outside the circle of boyish ritualism.




It is a little unfortunate that Nyssa is left out of this story almost entirely, her place being taken by Todd. Still, Nerys Highes does much better in her role than Sarah Sutton usually did. Full marks also have to go to Mary Morris as the wise woman and Sarah Price, an exceptionally strong performance from a child actress. Peter Davison is still in his slightly-bland phase, but he throws in some very subtle moments. His acceptance of the designation of idiot is delightful. One of the strengths of his understatement is in allowing other characters to shine. Janet Fielding does a marvellous job of portraying possession by the Mara. There is a really edgy, sexual energy to her performance in that state. I could listen to her saying 'I am the Mara!' all day. It is unfortunate that the Mara leaves her so quickly. Nevertheless, thankfully she gives us some more Mara action in Snakedance. Adric is incredibly annoying in this story. I am not one of the Adric-haters, he just did not work in a TARDIS crew with Tegan and the Fifth Doctor.




Kinda is quite daring in allowing a permanent change to a character. In this it is strikingly similar to the later story Survival. It stands in striking contrast to Star Trek stories where the most incredible, mind-shattering events would occur to the main characters, then everything would be back to normal the next week.

Todd looks a little overdressed for working on a tropical planet. She is not one of the military personnel, so you might think she could wear a more summery dress and dispense with the black stockings, especially surrounded by all those more lightly outfitted Kinda.

Kinda is the best story of Season 19 and one of the great Doctor Who classics.

Goth Opera, by Paul Cornell (Virgin Missing Adventure)

Tegan flicked open a page and began to read at random and with force, drowning out the vampire's words. She kept on walking until she was nose to nose with the creature. 'You can't lay a finger on me, can you?' she told him. 'I've got a good book in my hands, and a dirty great snake in my brain, so get back!' She emphasised the point with a finger stuck very nearly up Jeremy's nose. 'Or I'll bite your head off.'

These days I don't like vampire stuff very much at all. I was introduced to the Anne Rice books when I was when I was 17 and read quite a few of them, though all the sex did bother my conscience. I also developed a collection of vampire movies that I destroyed about seven years ago when I decided they were not very edifying. Nevertheless, within the Doctor Who mythos I am quite fascinated by the idea of an ancient conflict between the vampires and the Time Lords. Goth Opera homes in on why this conflict seems so appropriate- the fact that there is a similarity between the immortal, invulnerable vampires and the immortal, invulnerable Time Lords. It is Goth Opera that first suggests the notion that the Time Lords gained their ability to regenerate from the vampires, a notion repeated in Lawrence Miles' Book of the War.

Paul Cornell is a great writer and it's hard to imagine him giving us a bad novel. Goth Opera maintains the standards to which he had kept in his New Adventures. Cornell liked to go to town on continuity references and he pushes it a little too far in describing Romana's escape from Ruath, an escapade that sees her ending up in a Drashig-filled miniscope, meeting Sabalom Glitz, before being rescued by Castellan Spandrell. It's a silly incident, but one can't help finding it funny.

Continuity-wise, this book is closely connected to Terrance Dicks' New Adventure, Blood Harvest. It would be helpful for readers to have read this before embarking on Goth Opera, but it can still be enjoyed without the knowledge of the events of Blood Harvest.

Nyssa gets to show some much needed personality in this book. Having her becoming a vampire made her so much more interesting that I wished she would stay that way. The Fifth Doctor is also very well portrayed, showing that breathless energy that made him so likable. However, for me it was Tegan who was the star of the show. She is so fiery! I love her description of the Fifth Doctor- "a really dull Romper Room reject who'd rather play bloody cricket than do anything entertaining." Cornell dwells on the fact that the Mara's possession is a permanent change to Tegan's nature. It does seem it is rather an improvement. The best moment in the book for me was when Tegan was completely unafraid of the vampire and chases him out of her room, having been taught to deal with his sort by her Serbian grandfather.

Yarven and Ruath are rather pantomime, but they are fun. The part where Ruath sacrifices herself to restore Yarven and then regenerates was cool. It was especially interesting to find out she was the Doctor's ex-girlfriend. I loved her description of Borusa's class at the academy:

Her eyes never left the Doctor's. 'Mortimus, the Rani, that idiot Magnus. And you, Doctor. All graduates of Borusa's Academy for Scoundrels.'

I thought the vampire baby was a little too comical to fit with the darker themes of the book. The story could have done without it. Nevertheless, the rest of the characters are very well conceived. Goth Opera is definitely one of the great books of the Virgin range of novels and a superb introduction to the Missing Adventures.

Spare Parts, by Marc Platt (Big Finish)

The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa turn up on Mondas to witness the birth of the Cybermen.

Spare Parts has the reputation for being one of the best Big Finish audio dramas. I rather think it is a bit overrated and is not a little disappointing.

It has been said that 'Genesis of the Cybermen' is the great unmade Doctor Who story. Of course, it had been attempted before Spare Parts. David Banks mammoth reference work The Cybermen featured a short story about the birth of the Cybermen. If my memory serves me correctly, it featured an original companion called Felicity. DWM also offered an origin story for the Cybermen in The World Shapers, by Grant Morrison. This featured some great artwork by John Ridgeway, but it was a terrible story. The World Shapers revealed that Mondas was in fact Marinus. There are good reasons for thinking this might well be right, but none of them featured in that story. I got the impression from The World Shapers that neither the artist nor the writer had ever watched Keys of Marinus. The only thing in the strip from the serial was the Voord.

I really can't see the point of origin stories. It's enough for me to know that Batman is Bruce Wayne whose wealthy parents were shot dead before his eyes. I'd rather read comics about Batman fighting criminals than about a young Bruce Wayne learning martial arts. Origin stories are inherently predictable and tend to disappoint. Despite it's incredible popularity, Genesis of the Daleks really is a bit naff. You know the Doctor is not really going to wipe out the Daleks and so we end up with a rather pointless and rambling plot. Introducing a rather generic mad scientist in the form of Davros rather cheapened the Daleks, taking away their impact as an existential threat. So to my mind, I don't really see why we needed a 'Genesis of the Cybermen.'

It's very nice to hear the Tenth Planet-style Cyber-voices again. We also get to hear Tomb of the Cybermen-style voices from the Cyber-planner machine. Spare Parts also captures the horror of cyber-conversion with the sound of drills, lasers and saws going into action. The tragedy of this is shockingly captured when a family encounter their loved one fully cybernised. Nyssa is also able to show more personality and depth than she ever showed in the television series. Unfortunately, these positive points are overshadowed by significant faults in the writing and direction.

The plot of Spare Parts is a mess. Far too much running around and yet another classic case of the Doctor and companion deciding to split up. The Doctor is so indecisive. He can't seem to make up his mind whether to leave or stay and help. He knows that the Cybermen will arise, so just what is he planning on doing? The apparent happy ending that we get inevitably feels false because we knwo that the dominance of the Cybermen can only be delayed.

Given that the strength of Marc Platt's descriptions of ancient Gallifrey in Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, it is disappointing that Mondas is a world that makes no real sense. Platt obviously wants us to identify with the people of Mondas, but making the world so similar to England in the mid-twentieth century just ends up coming across as rather false. The family we meet are a caricature. Being honest working people who doff their caps and mind their own business, they have Yorkshire accents. It's hard to take them seriously. Especially given that they think the Cybermen are people in suits, even though there are partially cybernised policemen and cybernised horses patrolling the streets. They are a bit dim. Sisterman Constant also comes across as rather thick too, given her inability to see that she will probably end up getting cybernised herself. Even more of a problem is the anachronism of a world in which people boil water in kettles and travel on trams and yet possesses the technology to cybernise people and to propel the whole planet through space. As the Cybermen have no need to eat, then presumably the organic parts of their bodies are sustained through some process whereby energy is converted into protein. But if the Mondasians posses such a technology, why are they reliant on hydroponics for food? Mondas in Spare Parts is just an unbelievable place.

The Roof of the World, by Adrian Rigelsford (Big Finish Audio)

*Spoiler alert*

The Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem encounter an ancient evil in Tibet (which is not the Great Intelligence, fanboys and fangirls).

Big Finish have produced a number of audio plays set between Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani. This is a rather controversial continuity gap. It has been argued by some fans that a lot of the impact of the Fifth Doctor's self sacrifice is down to the fact that he gave his life for somebody that he barely knew. This impact is muted if she had several unseen adventures before Caves of Androzani. I have a lot of sympathy with this argument, however it must be said that there is a good reason for creating these stories (aside from the unwillingness of Janet Fielding to work with Big Finish until recently). Peri and the Fifth Doctor make such a great team. She is a bit abrasive, he is gentle and calm. The Fifth Doctor takes some of the edge of Peri, while the Sixth Doctor just fired her up. It is natural that fans should want more stories with Peri and the Fifth Doctor.

Big Finish introduced a new companion to this TARDIS crew, Erimem (Caroline Morris), who is a princess from Ancient Egypt. I have not listened to any of her other stories so I am going to have to judge her on the basis of this appearance alone. It's great to have Peri interacting with another companion and she seems to take on a protective big sister role towards Erimem. It also seems a great idea to have a character from such a distant time in the past, especially as the potential of Katarina was so wasted. On the other hand, Erimem does not come across as particularly exotic and speaks like a typical middle-class English girl from the Home Counties. I suppose the Doctor's telepathic gift (it had nothing to do with the TARDIS until the New Adventures) might make her sound English, but one might expect an ancient Egyptian princess to speak in a quite different manner.

The story begins with the Fifth Doctor getting involved in a game of cricket with a bunch of English explorers in Tibet. There is always something heartwarming about the Fifth Doctor playing cricket; it's when he is in his element. The interaction between two groups of explorers is also quite effective.

A good deal of the story takes place in a kind of dream sequence, in which Erimem is lead to believe that she has died. The exploration of Erimem's background is useful and makes me want to listen to the The Eye of the Scorpion, her introductory story. These kind of dream sequences are a risky strategy (the NA writers seemed to go to town on them and got them right only some of the time) as you can be sure that the Fifth Doctor and Peri would not really be dead and blaming it all on Erimem. Knowing this is obviously not real makes one a little impatient with the sequence. On the other hand, with Erimem being a new and unfamiliar character, one had to face the possibility that the writer might have killed her off. I found myself checking the CD box to work out if she made further appearances just to make sure!

The big bad guys turn out to be an ancient evil, the Old Ones. It's been done before, but personally I can't get enough Lovecraftian influences in my Doctor Who. Clearly, these are not the Great Intelligence who also coincidentally inhabited Tibet. We never get a true description, but they seem to be twisted, hideous things with claws. They have apparently interbred with other lifeforms and so are clearly physical beings, unlike Fenric or the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor mentions the Dark Times and so the Yssgaroth seem to be in view. The Old Ones here are evidently more corporeal and less powerful than the Yssgaroth seen in the The Pit. According to Lawrence Miles' Book of the War, the Yssgaroth tainted other species creating the hybrid Mal'akh, the source of the vampire legends and presumably the vampires of State of Decay. The Old Ones of this story seem to be some variation on the Mal'akh.

As ever, nobody can play creepy, sinister aristocrats with the same style as Edward De Souza. General Bruce (Sylvester Morand) is a bit cliched, but has a wonderful relationship with his companion, the frustrated journalist John Matthews (Alan Cox). The writer, surprisingly plays a minor role in the drama. The best performance comes from Nicola Bryant. Her acting has improved enormously since her television role. She plays Peri as a much more mature and intelligent character and when she appears to be angry and accusative in the dream sequence, she is very impressive. Peter Davison is good, but does not bring much that is new to the role and as with his other Big Finish appearances sounds regrettably older.

This is hardly the most original Doctor Who audio, but if you are keen to hear more of Peri with the Fifth Doctor or you need more Lovecraft in your Who, then this is worth a listen.

The Five Doctors

What? No, not the comfy chair!

This is the first Doctor Who story I ever watched (barring about five minutes of The Curse of Fenric that terrified me). The BBC video was released not long after I had taken an interest in the show and my mother bought it for me. Not having become a fan while the show was still on television I can say that there is no one Doctor that I saw first (hence I feel that the New Adventures Seventh Doctor is "My Doctor"). It is interesting how many other fans watched this story before any others. For those who saw the original broadcast, this is a testimony to the publicity this story generated at the time.

Creating a story to include five Doctors plus six companions, the Master and a bunch of old monsters was a rather ludicrous idea. Unsurprisingly the plot suffers enormously and we are left with characters with little to do, a party-trick scenes and very little of the interaction between the Doctors that made The Three Doctors so enjoyable. It is a testimony to Terrance Dicks' writing skills that he makes it work as well as he does. Terrance Dicks is the disaster management guy of Doctor Who. Need a story writing with little budget and little time? He will always save the day.

There is a real celebratory feeling about The Five Doctors. It is fun and it is goofy. In fact it smacks you in the face with it's goofiness. I am certainly not one of those fans who enjoys watching bad Doctor Who. If a story is absolute garbage, I am not going to waste time watching it again. Yet with the The Five Doctors, I cannot but help enjoying the sillier scenes in this, such as the First Doctor and Tegan hiding from Cybermen who are right in front of them, or Sarah needing to be rescued after rolling down a gentle slope. The Five Doctors challenges you to dislike it and wins every time. One almost feels that the production team are aware of how naff it all is and are sharing the joke with the viewer.


Take the scene in the council chamber where the Master is brought in. It's a dull and heavy expository scene with lots of dialogue. The actors are trying to do Shakespeare, but are ending up with dull Doctor Who and even manage to muddle up that line about the clause in the constitution. Borusa looks a bit embarrassed, Flavia looks incredibly bored, the Castellan finds it rather funny and the Master is hilariously camp. It's hardly well done, but somehow there is a magic to it.

The unavailability of Tom Baker is perhaps not so unfortunate as it seems. It's hard to imagine Tom Baker being happy being slotted into a few scenes and not being given the chance to dominate the whole thing. Terrance Dicks in the commentary, points out a number of ways in which Tom's absence made the writing process simpler. The scene taken from Shada is really nice, in fact, I think it's the only decent scene of Shada that survives. The original broadcast edition of The Five Doctors raises continuity issues in relation to Shada that make it's canonical status problematic. I don't mind if Shada is left out of the canon at all. Fans imagine it would have been the redemption of Season 17, but what is left of it looks like garbage to me.

The absence of William Hartnell is a problem. I find it hard to forgive John Nathan-Turner for choosing to use an impersonation of Hartnell. Can you imagine it being done with an impersonation of Troughton or Pertwee? You can't. Fans would never forgive such an insult. Yet because of the low regard with which Hartnell and his era was held, it was felt that somebody could just pretend to be Hartnell. I get really annoyed when people say that Richard Hurndall is just like Hartnell. Hurndall tries hard and gives a good performance, but he does not capture the original Doctor. This is not just his fault. Terrance Dicks never wrote scripts for the First Doctor and you can tell because he fails to capture his character completely. The First Doctor was not just a bit grumpy and short-tempered. He was full of life, humour and curiosity. There is none of that richness in either the script or in Hurndall's performance. I simply cannot imagine the First Doctor wanting to wait in the TARDIS instead of going straight to the tower to solve the mystery. The Five Doctors also makes the mistake of thinking of the First Doctor as being older and wiser than the others. This is not the case. The First Doctor was actually the least mature and sensible of any of the Doctors, except the Sixth. He was like a teenager in an old man's body. Terrance Dicks simply did not get the First Doctor.
I do enjoy the First Doctor's chemistry with Tegan. The two of them really get on! Never mind Season 6B, I want to see Season 3B/20B where Tegan becomes a companion of the First Doctor! If you think the Sixth and Peri like to argue, you ain't seen nothing yet.


Susan is also handled dreadfully. I know Carole Ann Ford was not a great actress, but there was an ethereal beauty to her performances in season 1. She was never well used by writers then and on her return, Dicks cannot think of anything to do with her other than have her twist her ankle. This looks especially ridiculous because she is wearing flat boots, while Tegan is skipping across the moorland in high heels. As I suggested before, Tegan's ability to do almost anything in high heels was probably the result of cybernetic enhancement. I am not sure about Tegan's first aid skills though. I am a substance misuse worker not a nurse, but I am sure you don't put a bandage on to a stockinged foot. Do you? I am also rather bothered by the fact that none of the Doctors apart from the First acknowledges Susan as their granddaughter. In fact, apart from saying goodbye, they don't interact with her. The special edition includes some extra footage where the Fifth Doctor and Susan smile at each other before being separated by the First Doctor. This was cut, presumably because of the incestuous implications of somebody's grandfather becoming young and sexy. There does seem to be a tendency in post-Hartnell Doctor Who for the Doctor's relationship with Susan to be forgotten and for her to be treated as just another companion. According to Carole Ann Ford, in the original script Susan addresses the Doctor as 'Doctor' which seems pretty shocking in it's disregard for the Hartell material.

Patrick Troughton is sadly given little to do. He does have some wonderful moments. I suspect that this story, more than his original performances, have built up the notion of the Second Doctor as being mysterious and slightly sinister. His angry challenge to the ghosts is rather chilling. He is put with the Brigadier, who is rather less impressive in this story. He whinges and moans and only shows his old strength of character towards the end when he gets to slug the Master from behind.

The Third Doctor is even more arrogant, obnoxious and patronising than he used to be. Terrance Dicks got his 'writer's revenge' on Pertwee for his arrogance during the Letts years by making him obstinately refuse to believe the Master's story. Being an anti-Pertwee fan, I think that's cool. He is paired up with Sarah Jane Smith who, like the Brigadier, does an awful lot of moaning and moping. It must be the bad weather in the Death Zone.



While Troughton's performance is great, it is Peter Davison who is the real star of the show. His performance is full of energy and urgency. The moment I loved best was when he discovers that Borusa is the villain. He asks "What happened to you, Borusa?" While he is horrified at Borusa's corruption, he is full of compassion towards the man he once admired so much. He recognises the tragedy of the way Borusa has fallen into bad ways. That one moment of horror captures the tender heart of the Doctor's conscience. Mark Strickson gives a great performance as Turlough, but he is the character who suffers most from the lack of space in the narrative. In the end, he is just left in the TARDIS worrying.

Anthony Ainley is delightfully camp as the Master. I think this really is one of his best performances. The fruity way in which he greets Chancellor Flavia cracks me up and it's wonderful the way he smiles as Borusa describes the extent of his villainy. You have to feel rather sorry for the Master. He tried to do the right thing and help the Doctors, but ended up being scorned.

The Dalek scene was a singularly pointless and quite unimpressive. The Daleks only work when backed up with a decent story. Just having one Dalek appearing and then destroying itself does them a real disservice. The Cybermen end up looking a bit stupid, but they are dreadfully fun. The Raston robot is a remarkable achievement. It is amazing how the low budget trick of putting a dancer in a spandex suit creates one of the most memorable monster scenes ever. Just watch those Cybermen getting slaughtered!




There is something rather appropriate about Borusa turning out to be the villain behind it all. The Doctor's old schoolteacher turns out to be the Demon Headmaster. It's remarkable how so many of his former pupils turned out to be such renegades and drop-outs- the Doctor, the Master, the Rani, Drax. It would hardly be a surprise if that younger renegade, the Monk, turned out to have been Borusa's last student before he went into politics. I also would not be surprised if it turned out that it was Morbius who first suggested his change of career. In the New Adventure Blood Harvest, Terrance Dicks included a rather tongue in cheek chapter set in the Dark Tower, in which a repentant Borusa is freed from his perpetual imprisonment by Rassilon and goes to some sort of Time Lord heaven.

The Five Doctors was broadcast in between seasons 20 and 21, but it fits the themes of season 21 much better than the previous season. Season 21 is all about the compassionate and morally pure Fifth Doctor discovering just how dark and brutal the universe is, a darkness that overcame him and brought his death and regeneration into an unstable and more morally ambivalent persona. In The Five Doctors, he is placed in a microcosmos filled with terrors and dangers from his past and in the end he comes to find that his past (Borusa) has turned to evil. We knew the Time Lords were a shady bunch, but here it turns out that the Time Lord closest to the Doctor and seemingly the most incorruptible has succumbed to the grim darkness of the cosmos.



Being a New Adventures fan, I love all that stuff about the Dark Times. The history of the Time Lords is presented as dark and mysterious. Questions are raised about the accuracy of the official version. While Rassilon appears to be good when he acts as Deus Ex Machina in the end (in a literal sense), the Second Doctor alluded to rumours and legends about his cruelty. He certainly comes across as a dark and ambiguous figure. He operates the so-called Game of Rassilon. This is clearly distinct from the games in which creatures were forced to fight each other for the entertainment of the Time Lords, as this was banned by Rassilon. The Game of Rassilon is a sort of trap to ensnare dangerous individuals who seek immortality. This is exactly the sort of scheme that the chess-playing Seventh Doctor would set up. If Rassilon is an ancestor of the Doctor, clearly the family likeness came out most in his Seventh incarnation.



The sinister theme of the Gallifreyan past is captured by the design of the Dark Tower, both in it's interior and the model shots. The atmosphere of medieval grimness is enhanced by the hornblast theme in the musical score. The location filming is rather less effective. The fog looks atmospheric, but the Welsh moorland is simply too gentle and picturesque to look like any 'Death Zone.' It's got trees (aren't they scorched by the regular thunderbolts?) and a beautiful lake. It's even got very well paved roads for automobiles. This really does not look the hellish place that is demanded by the script. The Capitol sets are the best that we have seen in the classic series. We only get to see a hallway and two rooms, but they are very well designed. The hallway boasts a lovely ornamental garden feature and the council chamber has a real elegance, with it's harp and painting. There is the sense of a much greater and nobler past.



The 1995 anniversary edition made a number of changes, adding extra scenes, adding CGI effects and altering the score in places. A good deal of these are rather pointless and add little to the story. One very regrettable change is the removal of the Cyberman's expression 'ah!' when spotting the Doctor. It sounded silly, but it was rather funny. The Doctor is given a different tune to play on the harp. I preferred the old one. I was also annoyed by the alteration to Rassilon's voice. Those changes really weren't necessary.

The DVD includes a publicity appearance by Davison, Fielding and Strickson on Saturday Superstore. I found this hilarious because Janet Fielding uses such a wonderfully posh voice! She sounded so refined and precise in her pronunciation! Nothing at all like either Tegan or the much more Australian accent she uses today.

Oh, and before I forget, that line about the mindprobe cracks me up every time!


"Toulouse is to win; and he who wins shall lose."