Meglos

I am a huge fan of Season 18 and consider it to be the strongest season of the show (the only other contender being Season 25, which is let down by Silver Nemesis). Meglos is unfortunately the weakest story of an otherwise brilliant season. However, Meglos is not nearly as atrocious as it is sometimes considered by fans and shows the consistent improvement in quality between Seasons 17 and 18.

Central to John Nathan-Turner's agenda for his first season as producer was in improvement on production values after the sloppiness of the Graham Williams era. This is very much evident in Meglos, with the spacecraft design, the costumes and the the appearance of Zolpha-Thura. Tigella is perhaps less effective as a planet, with the jungle looking a little unimpressive. More importantly, the brilliant musical score helps to give the worlds of this serial an haunting sense of atmosphere. As even critics of Meglos agree, the spiny make-up effect on Tom Baker is extremely impressive and disturbing. Meglos is certainly an interesting character, a disembodied intelligence manifesting in a cactus. It reminds me a bit of Vulthoom from the Klark-Ash-Ton story in the Cthulhu Mythos.

We also get Jacqueline Hill returning to the show in the role of Lexa. Admittedly her part as a closed-minded fundamentalist is a rather cliched one, with little for her to develop, yet she still gives a lovely performance.

The Chronic Hysteresis is rather less impressive, as well as being scientific nonsense. The scene goes on rather to long, even if Lalla Ward does a good job of appearing distressed by the absurd situation.

I always love carnivorous plants, so I quite like the Bell Plants, even if they are not terribly impressive. It would not be long before the BBC put Doctor Who completely to shame with the brilliance of its Triffid monsters in their own series.




Part of the charm of Meglos is that it is an old-fashioned space adventure that goes to strange and exotic worlds. The presence of Jacqueline Hill is rather appropriate, as it very much evokes the spirit and style of the Hartnell era. This willingness to create exotic worlds is something sadly lacking in the new series.

The Leisure Hive

The Leisure Hive has always divided fan opinion, mainly because it featured the introduction of the aesthetics of Doctor Who demanded by new producer John Nathan-Turner. The prevailing view these days seems to be that there is nothing very special about this story. My own view is that The Leisure Hive is a very good story and that its strong production values are a breath of fresh air after the sloppiness of Season 17.

It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for a viewer in 1980, seeing the new title sequence and hearing the revamped music for the first time. This title sequence is followed by a disconcerting long shot of Brighton beach. People say its too long and pointless, but it creates such a wonderful sense of eeriness. There are few things as bleakly enchanting as a British seaside in bad weather. Then we get the temporary destruction of K9. That irritating entity who plagued the Graham Williams era is thus removed from the story. JNT had the right idea getting rid of the robot dog.

One of the most striking things about The Leisure Hive is the strong visual quality of it. It has great camerawork, strong and impressive sets and some well conceived video effects. While the Foamasi do look like walking beanbags, the other costumes are very well designed, especially those of the Argolins. The popping of the pods as they age is a great idea. The yellow of their robes adds to the strong sense of colour in the serial, contrasting with the bold burgundy of the Doctor's new costume. The Leisure Hive is a serial that is meant to look good and succeeds.



There is a striking change in tone too. While The Leisure Hive has its moments of humour, there is none of the silliness that dogged the previous season. It is played straight and every actor is taking it seriously. Tom Baker is no longer joking around and acting more like a stand-up comedian than a lead actor. There is a sobriety to his tone. The Doctor also now comes across as vulnerable. When he turns into an old man, he really does seem ancient. We are made to feel that he really could drop dead. However, my favorite moment in The Leisure Hive is when the Foamasi agent is trying to communicate to the Doctor in it's own language. The Doctor taps its arm affectionately and says "I wish I knew what you wanted, my friend." There is just such a sense of warmth and kindliness in that gesture and line that is a testament to the skill of Tom Baker as an actor.



As ever the Fourth Doctor and Romana II make a great team. Their disdain and lack of awe in what they see of the leisure hive make up for the heavy-handed technobabble and sciency stuff going on. Lalla Ward was never the greatest actress in Doctor Who and her screaming fit at the climax comes across as a bit weak, but she always makes an impression when she is on screen. The sailor suit is another of those great Romana outfits. She looks adorably cute in this.

As I said, everybody is taking this story seriously, unlike much of what we saw in Season 17. The guest cast do some great work. Meena is definitely the best and her subtle relationship with Hardin is a nice touch. There are plenty of authoritarian lunatics in Doctor Who, but the young Pangol is definitely one of the most compelling and believable. As for the lawyer Klout, not only does he have a fantastic, Dickensian-style name, but despite not saying a single word, he conveys such a sense of menace in every scene he appears.



Fans ought to look more kindly on The Leisure Hive, for it was an excellent opening for a new era of Doctor Who.

Season 18

In my judgment this is the strongest season of Doctor Who ever. It has so many classic stories and even the weakest story, Meglos is not nearly as bad as some of the disasters of other seasons. It seems as though everything came right in Season 18.

Season 18 has its critics, particularly among those who enjoy the Williams era. Season 18 has been accused of being too serious and humourless. It has been accused of using too much technobabble (though people who say this need to re-watch The Pirate Planet). It has been pointed out that viewing figures fell during Season 18. This is fact has too be considered carefully in its historical context. The viewing figures during Season 17 may have been artificially inflated by an ITV strike. The Saturday evening slot of Doctor Who suffered serious competition during Season 18, so the declining viewing figures ought not to reflect the quality of the show.

I think it is fair to say that before Season 18, Doctor Who was a mess. Production values had declined atrociously during the Williams years. The program looked cheap. The guest cast no longer acted naturally and sent up the scripts they were given. Tom Baker had stopped being a proper lead actor and had turned into a stand-up comedian in the middle of a drama. The Doctor had become invulnerable; one no longer felt that the plots mattered or could be taken seriously. Another year of daft comedy and sloppy serials would have killed the show for good. The new producer John Nathan-Turner came on board the show with a mission to clean up Doctor Who and get it together again, a mission he took totally seriously. Over the years, John Nathan-Turner made many errors of judgment for which he has received no end of criticism from fans. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that in Season 18 he revitalised the show and made it strong again.

John Nathan-Turner insisted on quality and in this season he got it. We see improved performances, beautiful synthesizer scores, brilliant location shooting, lavish studio sets and some wonderful costume designs. The stories of Season 18 really do look and feel great. The comedy elements were substantially toned down. Tom Baker still gives us some great comic moments, but they are all the better for being more sparingly used. Tom Baker gives us some of his best performances in this season, coming across as a much more sombre, almost melancholic figure. Lalla Ward was unhappy with the changes to the show, but she maintained her strong rapport with Tom and continued to be a pleasure to watch until her departure in Warriors' Gate.

The improved quality of the show has sometimes lead to the accusation that it was 'more style than substance.' This ignores the real depth of this season. These are genuinely intelligent stories. They deal in both hard science and mysticism. We get scientific theory about entropy, but also Hellenistic philosophy. For all the stuff about Tachyonics in Leisure Hive, we get Medieval ideas about sacral monarchy and spiritual cosmology in The Keeper of Traken. Best of all, the stories of this season are wonderfully diverse, reflecting a willingness to move beyond tried and tested formulas.

While its sad to see Romana go, the departure of K9 was a wise decision. Season 18 brings in a host of new characters- Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, the new Master. Not all of these characters had been very well thought-out and the results are a mixed blessing. For all the hatred that Adric has received, he is a character with interesting depths and in this season with Tom Baker, he works well. The Keeper of Traken is most definitely Adric finest moment.


The Leisure Hive- 9/10

A great story that demonstrates the value of a more serious approach to the show. Tom Baker gives a brilliant performance in his new serious mode. After Season 17, it is a remarkable shock to have the Fourth Doctor looking vulnerable and weak.

Meglos- 5/10

The weakest story of the season. It is something of a retro-style space adventure. It is not very impressive, but there are far worse stories in other season. Its nice to see Jacqueline Hill for the last time, even if she is a little wasted in a cliched role.

Full Circle- 8/10

Not the most exciting Doctor Who story ever, but it is a story that really benefits from the improved visual quality of the season. The Marshmen are men in rubber suits, but they look great.

State of Decay- 10/10

A classic that has never been fully appreciated. State of Decay is far superior to Hincliffe attempts to evoke Hammer-style horror. Definitely Uncle Terrance's finest moment, it offers a real contribution to the Doctor Who mythos with its whispers of the Dark Times.

Warriors' Gate- 10/10

One of the most experimental Dr. Who stories ever. Warriors' Gate needs to be puzzled over, but it can be enjoyed on a purely visual level. Avoiding the need for lengthy exposition, Warriors' Gate tells what may be centuries of history with just the shot of a woman being punched.

The Keeper of Traken- 10/10

A rich story that makes effective use of an impressive studio set. The fairy tale feel of this story is quite welcome. Nobody gives a bad performance in this serial.

Logopolis- 7/10

Lawrence Miles' favorite Doctor Who story. Logopolis has a delightfully sombre aesthetic. The end of the Fourth Doctor's tenure is treated as a sort of narrative funeral. While visually impressive, the plot is not so strong and Anthony Ainley gives a performance that leaves a lot to be desired.

Logopolis

"It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for."

I believe Logopolis is Lawrence Miles' favorite Doctor Who story. Given that Miles is one of the most brilliant minds to have contributed to Doctor Who, it must have something going for it. What Miles particularly likes about this story is it's attention to style. Logopolis gives attention to the overall aesthetic impression that is created. Tom Baker was leaving the show and so Logopolis was created as a kind of televisual funeral to the character of the Fourth Doctor. It's sombre mood entirely reflects the sadness of the lead's departure. On the other hand, no matter how polished and well produced this serial looks, it's very difficult to ignore the many faults in it's narrative and the incoherent elements in the plot.

The first episode drags a little. We spend far too long watching Vanessa and Tegan messing about with their car. Why the police should want to question the Doctor is also a little puzzling (why should the officer think the bodies of Vanessa and the policeman are anything other than dolls?). It is also strange that the Doctor should all of a sudden be wanting to fix the Chameleon circuit (first named as such here) and his procedure for getting it working again seems even stranger. This leads to the materialization inside the Master's TARDIS, which is very confusing when watched the first time. The sequence inside the TARDIS that follows this goes on for a long time, but is very nicely done. Likewise, the cloister room is quite beautiful. The idea of flooding the TARDIS and flushing out the Master is embarrassingly stupid.

Things start to move a lot faster once we go to Logopolis. Both the planet and it's monk-like inhabitants are marvellously well designed. The crumbling and collapsing effect is remarkably believable. The Monitor is very well played and there is something amusing about the way the Master overreaches himself and plunders his own existence into jeopardy. When we return to earth the location filming is also quite nicely done.

It's hard to believe the idea that the universe is really under threat of complete destruction (and even more absurd that the Master should try to hold it to ransom). The stupid finale of the Matt Smith season ought to have learnt from this that these kind of cosmic threats don't really work. The idea of the universe being destroyed and then re-created in The Big Bang actually makes Logopolis rather more credible. What I do like is the way this story, as do other Season 18 stories, blends mysticism and hard science. The notion of the universe being held together by numbers being chanted echoes the Jewish mysticism of the Kabbalah, Platonic philosophy and the medieval Christian idea of the music of the spheres. It would be nice to see more intellectual notions like this in the BBC Wales series, which seems far more keen to ground itself in the shallowest of pop culture.

The Watcher is a decent enough idea, though the fact his presence is not really explained and that he never turns up again for any future resurrections makes him seem a somewhat superfluous element. Tom Baker's performance as the Doctor is incredibly grim and sombre. I prefer his serious, but more relaxed performance in the previous story, The Keeper of Traken. Nevertheless, his demeanour does fit the funereal atmosphere of the serial.

Adric works well in this story, as he does in other Tom Baker stories. It is such a shame that he worked so badly in the next season. It's nice to see Tegan's first appearance. I really like her and her normality comes across as refreshing, given that the TARDIS has for the last three seasons been filled with overly clever people. I found it odd that having arrived at Logopolis, she concludes after being there for less than an hour that the place is run like a sweatshop. The Monitor might well have replied to her complaint "Ah, well they're are about to go for a tea and fag break in ten minutes time." I have no idea why they brought in Nyssa as a regular, however. She is such a boring character. She shows so little reaction to her father's body being possessed by the Master and to the destruction of her home planet. At least in this story, she is still wearing her skirt. In the next story they put her in some awful, unflattering trousers. Women generally don't look good in trousers and with a puffy sleeved velvet tunic, even less so.

I am generally not keen on stories featuring the Master. They always seem so contrived. Roger Delgado at least managed to be entertaining, but aside from a few exceptions, Anthony Ainley always came across as too silly. In Logopolis, he gives an horribly cartoonish performance, which is especially disappointing in that it follows his much more subtle portrayal of Tremas in The Keeper of Traken.

Logopolis is not the classic that some fans consider it to be, but you can't ignore it's beauty and elegance as a production.

The Keeper of Traken

"They say the atmosphere there was so full of goodness that evil just shrivelled up and died."


I think Season 18 is without a doubt the most consistently brilliant season of Doctor Who. There are no rotten stories, even if Meglos was a little mediocre. A good story, Full Circle is followed by a classic (in my opinion) State of Decay, which is followed by Warriors' Gate, another classic, which is followed by the classic, but easily forgotten, Keeper of Traken.

I love the way the JNT era blends hard science with mysticism. While you get a certain amount of Star Trekky science stuff in this story, you also get a whole bag of spiritual ideas. Not only is there the idea of a fantasy world where evil is supernaturally eradicated, but there is the medieval idea of sacral monarchy where the king somehow maintains the harmony of the balance of nature, a kind of musical arrangement of the cosmos by an hierarchy of celestial powers, along with the Hellenistic idea of prime numbers being the source of power in the universe and everything that goes with the mythology of gardens. It is quite remarkable the way that Doctor Who in the early 80s expounded a pre-modern cosmology. As a Christian I can totally identify with the worldview elaborated in The Keeper of Traken. The epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament says:

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

The idea in this serial of a guy on a throne upholding cosmic harmony seems remarkably familiar.

The Platonism of The Keeper of Traken also reminds one of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. This is appropriate because the BBC adaptation of the Narnia books was the last gasp of that genre that was dying in my childhood; the children's fantasy drama. The Keeper of Traken is remarkably reminiscent of such fairy tale style offerings. A lot of those dramas were studio bound like this one and had the same escapist feel. A lot of viewers complain about the obviously studio bound nature of The Keeper of Traken, but I think the well designed sets fit the style of the story rather effectively.

Doctor Who often succeeds best when it manages to create a world that we can believe is real. The Keeper of Traken is one of those few stories, like Snakedance and The Ribos Operation, that manages to do this. The title helps; it at once creates a sense of history. Even more importantly, when it comes to world-building, it's the little details that count. For instance, one of the things that makes Snakedance authentic is the presence of a puppet show for children. Likewise, the production of The Keeper of Traken thinks about the small things too. Young and old wear different clothes; young Kassia and Nyssa wear similar outfits. Most significantly, we have a wedding in the first episode. How often do we see a wedding on an alien planet in Doctor Who? Furthermore, all of the characters are fleshed out fairly well and given plausible motives. The narration of the history of the Melkur by the Keeper at the beginning is really effective and thus removes the need for clumsy exposition.

Dr. Who monsters invariably suffer the same problem in that no matter how good they look, the actors cannot move them properly. The ideal monster would avoid this clumsiness by not moving very much at all. This is why the Melkur is effective- he is a creepy living statue. The idea was such a good one that the BBC Wales series adopted it to great effect with their Weeping Angels. It might have been nice to have seen other calcified evil beings. A garden full of evil statues or petrified monsters would have looked so cool. I suppose their budget did not go that far.

As with many fairy tales, there is a wicked stepmother. In this case it is Kassia, who is not really wicked, but has a warped and twisted desire to protect her husband. She is a really effective character and is ably played. The scene of her as a girl greeting the Melkur is one of the most effective scenes in the story, not only in setting up her character and relation to the Melkur, but in showing the world of Traken.

This story sees the first appearance of Anthony Ainley, for most of the story as Tremas and finally as the Master. He does a great job and gives a performance that is much better than some of his later appearances. On the whole, the other cast members are very good and there is no bad acting anywhere in this serial.

We also see Sarah Sutton's Nyssa for the first time. Nyssa was always a boring character who was never really developed. She is pretty good in this story, especially the way she stands up to her 'wicked stepmother.' The question does remain as to exactly why she was made a companion in what would become a rather overcrowded TARDIS.

Tom Baker puts in a performance that is both brilliant and different to his other acting styles, even in the same season. In The Keeper of Traken, as with other stories in this season, he is acting instead of being a stand-up comic, yet he lacks the moroseness that can be seen in other Season 18 stories, particularly the next one. He seems really relaxed and getting into the spirit of this story. It comes across as so very naturalistic. More controversially, Adric comes across really well here. Perhaps he is at his most likable in The Keeper of Traken. He has such a great rapport with Tom Baker.

The Keeper of Traken challenges it's own premises. We are told that the people of Traken are always 'being nice to each other,' but we actually don't see that much of it. The Trakenites actually come across as remarkably hostile and suspicious. What is more it seems unlikely that Neman is the only person in this society who is hopelessly corrupt. We learn in this story that the best of societies have their hidden flaws and can so easily descend into tyranny.

The Keeper of Traken may not feature in many fans' lists of the best stories, but it is a true classic and a John Nathan-Turner production that has as much substance as it has style.

Warriors' Gate

A slave ship is trapped in a void between universes. The TARDIS becomes a trapped there as well.

I think Warriors' Gate is a nearly flawless story. The superior production values of Season 18 are honed to absolute perfection in this story. Yet strangely, while being one of the finest and best produced Doctor Who stories ever, it departs radically from the conventions of the show.

The most notable feature of Warriors' Gate is that its plot is not explained and the viewer is left to make sense of a quite puzzling narrative, that takes place across the time stream in a not-quite-linear sequence. Some fans might be tempted to compare Warriors' Gate to the Season 26 story, Ghost Light. This is a significant and interesting comparison, not least because both Season 18 and Season 26 are highly regarded by fans. I would argue, however, that the comparison is wrong.

Like Warriors' Gate, Ghost Light leaves making sense of the plot to the viewer. All the clues are there, but you have to figure them out and this requires viewing it several times. Ghost Light is not so fun a story to watch on first viewing. A significant difference between Warriors' Gate and Ghost Light is that in the latter, the clues to make sense of the narrative are mostly in the dialogue and thus the imperative nature of a repeat viewing. In the former, the dialogue is much sparser and the varied visual images are used in place of a lucid plotting. The emphasis on the visual means that Warriors' Gate can be enjoyed much more than Ghost Light without a repeat viewing. Ghost Light also differs from Warriors' Gate in its annoyingly frantic pace; so many things are going on in a short time, so many subplots and weird characters have been thrown in. In contrast, Warriors' Gate has a much more relaxed space, allowing the viewer to soak in the visual images and dwell on them.

This story is a visual feast. We are treated to a fantastic spaceship set, one of the best on Doctor Who, echoing the Nostromo of the Alien film, to a strange white void with a medieval gateway (taken from a Caspar David Friedrich painting) surreally deposited,to a race of aliens that are based on the French film La Belle et le Bette to a creepy gothic castle with some quite impressive robots and finally a fascinating monochrome world that looks very much like a gothic English country garden. There is a wonderful contrast between gothic, fairy tale images and the bleak functionality of an Alien-style spaceship and its rugged crew. This reflects the way the story blends tragedy with bleak comedy. We have the rather Shakespearean duo of the two crewman, Aldo and Royce who act as a sort of Hellenic chorus, while making some very morbid jokes.




The use of out of sequence narration regarding the events of the fall of the Tharil empire is deeply clever. It is rare that Doctor Who does clever stuff with time. In this case, the out of sequence narration enables us to put together the background of the Tharils piece by piece, rather than being giving an annoying info dump. This trick makes excellent use of the set, showing the gothic chamber both in desolation and in splendour at the height of the Tharil empire. We are able to see the tragic way that history unfolds.


The Tharils are a masterfully constructed. Their time-sensitive ability and leonine grace gives them a great nobility. We initially see them as wretched slaves of their brutal human masters, but then we are lead to see that they themselves the masters, tyrannising over captured humans. My favorite moment in the whole story is when we see the Tharils feasting with the Doctor. One of the Tharils suddenly punches the human serving girl brutally in the breast. Some people have made the silly suggestion that we ought to be told a bit more about this serving girl; who she is and what happened to her. This completely misses the simple beauty of this scene. In that one image of a girl being brutalised, we have a glimpse of what might have been centuries of tyranny and abuse by a decadent empire. we don't need to know more about her; that punch on the breast tells us everything. The Doctor protests by filling his goblet to the brim and knocking the wine over. The Tharil chillingly responds "They're only people!"



Rorvik is a fantastic character. A villain who, for once, does not seek ultimate power over the cosmos or the domination of the earth, but simply to get to his destination and make a reasonable profit. As he becomes trapped in an impossible situation, he loses his grip and desires only to make a difference to his dilemma, no matter how futile; his incredible final words are "Now I'm finally getting something done!" He is a man of action trapped in a situation where all action is hopeless and it destroys him. Doctor Who has showed us plenty of madmen, but Rorvik is a character who is convincingly losing his hold on sanity. Nevertheless, he is a villain, a man who will enslave, abuse and kill to make a profit. His crew are no better. They show not the slightest nod towards a conscience about their enslavement and ill-treatment of the Tharils, going about their work with a mixture of dark humour, bored indifference or casual sadism. In Rorvik's crew we get a taste of the banality of evil shown by those who try to profit from injustice.

Tom Baker's performance has lost the exuberance that characterised the Williams' era. It has been replaced by a very convincing image of a character wearied by the darkness of the things he has seen. The Doctor is confident and relaxed when threatened by Rorvik and unflinching in his condemnation of the Tharil's past tyranny. Peculiarly, in this story, the Doctor is left with no role to play in determining events. His only recourse is to do nothing.

Lalla Ward gives us one of her best performances as Romana. When she first meets Rorvik and company, she comes across as genuinely alien. Her departure is rather hasty, but it is an appropriate ending for her. She effectively becomes a female Doctor, helping the Tharils to right their wrongs, though the way Biroc says "You will be OUR Time Lord," I can't help wondering if the Tharils are back to their old tricks and thinking the universe is their garden once again. I rather dislike the way that the novels and audios have seen her return to Gallifrey and become Lord President. That would make sense if the Season 16 Romana had returned to Gallifrey, but it does not fit the way Romana developed after her regeneration. The wardrobe department was evidently left a bit short of cash, as Romana has a much less interesting costume than her previous outfits.




Matthew Waterhouse is a bit annoying as the waddling Adric, but he would get worse in the next season. As I said, this is a nearly perfect story. And of course, the "Kilroy was here" graffiti is a nice reference to The Invasion.

State Of Decay

The Fourth Doctor, Romana and Adric discover a coven of vampires in E-Space.

Disconcertingly, after the attempt to break into 'hard science' territory with Full Circle, we are back in Hammer horror territory with a story about old fashioned fanged vampires. This story seems like it is in the wrong season and ought to be a Hinchcliffe-era story (Terrance Dicks originally wrote it to open Season 15, but it got shelved until it was picked up again by the economically-minded John Nathan Turner). What sets it apart from all those Hinchlife Hammer re-workings is its magnificent production values which put the Seventies stories to shame.

I find it remarkable that fans , in general, do not consider this story to be a classic. The usual verdict tends to be that State of Decay is a good story, but not that interesting. In my opinion, it is better than Brain of Morbius, much better than Pyramids of Mars and easily the equal of Horror of Fang Rock (which Dicks hastily wrote to replace this story in Season 15). Like all of the classic stories it has faults, but these do not stand out because of its well-paced narrative and highly effective production.

Terrance Dicks has a reputation as a 'Traditionalist' Doctor Who writer and certainly State of Decay takes many stock elements of Doctor Who- tyrants needing to be overthrown, 'Creature Feature' horror the value of scientific knowlege and ancient evil. This takes the risk of cliche, but Terrance Dicks knows them well enough to make them work. The revelation that the tower is a spaceship is brought out early on in the story. Other Doctor Who writers would probably have made this overly dramatic and brought it out towards the end, under the misguided notion that this is something of great interest to the viewers. State of Decay has a much faster and more exciting pace than the Seventies stories in a similar style. Dicks was a master of his craft.

A good deal of Doctor Who fails to generate atmosphere and this is always a big failing. In contrast, State of Decay is dripping from bucketloads of atmosphere. The woodland and the gothic sets both contribute to this, as well as the scripts descriptions of the ancient menace involved. This is the perfect story to watch on a cold, dark winter evening, with a glass of red wine or a pint of ruby ale in one's hand. Thanks for this go to Nathan-Turner's push for strong production values. We see some marvellous camera-work and effective use of location filming, as well as some brilliant sets- the gothic tower and the rebel HQ with its abandoned machinery.

I love the fact that this story ties into the lore of Gallifrey. The idea of the powerful Time Lords having an ancient arch-enemy in the vampires is very inspired. Despite the clear 'Trad' leanings of this story, the Virgin New Adventures have been considerably inspired by it. As I have said on this blog, I am a huge fan of Neil Penswick's The Pit that deals with the theme of horrors from the Gallifreyan Dark Times. It is not made clear in that story whether the Yssgaroth Old Ones are the vampires or some other Lovecraftian extra-dimensional monstrosity. Strangely, when Terrance Dicks himself used this story in his New Adventure novel, Blood Harvest, he re-wrote the background of State of Decay, introducing the idea that there were far more inhabitants of the planet including other vampire lords. I suppose this makes a bit more sense that their being just one village on the planet.

I think that it was a very smart move to leave the Great One largely to the imagination of the viewer. Imagined terrors are always better than clumsy monster props and suits. We could probably have done without the fleeting image on the scanner, though I think the claw emerging from the ground is more effective than some people allow.

The vampires are brilliantly characterised, with the cunning and ambitious Aukon and the more venal Zargo and Camilla. Aukon seems to be the real power amongst The Three Who Rule. He also comes close to stealing the show with Emrys James' camp but chilling performance. Their final disintegration is very convincingly done. The peasents are a little cliched, but they fit perfectly into the pseudo-medieval world of the story.

Tom Baker and Lalla Ward are at their best, with Romana showing genuine terror and the Doctor clearly chilled by the thought of horrors from the Dark Times. There is plenty of humour and Baker's 'St. Crispin's Day' speech is a classic moment. Adric is a little annoying, but it is more interesting to have a companion who does the dirty on the Doctor instead of turning into an instant hero. What makes him work here is that he gets an instant telling-off by Romana. Adric's blaming his brother's death on the Doctor would probably have evoked sympathy from the soft-hearted Fifth Doctor. Adric was a companion for the Fourth Doctor and Romana and needed them to keep him in line. Without them, he became a nuisance.

There is something of an irony in this story in that while it supposedly holds out the value of learning and scientific knowlege, in the end it is the brute fore wielded by an ex-guard and his fellow rebels tha brings down the vampires misrule. The scientific studies of Kalmar are shown to be rather useless.

Two obvious faults with State of Decay stick in my mind. Firstly, what in E-Space is the 'Wasting?' It sounds an intriguing idea, but it is never explained. It reminds me a little of 'The Nothing' from the film NeverEnding Story, a kind of unstopable force of existential decay. What the theologian Karl Barth had in mind when he wrote of the 'Nothingness.' Or maybe some kind of cosmic terror, a vague entity we might see in a H.P. Lovecraft story, like The Colour Out Of Space. Sadly, we never learn anything about what it is meant to be. The second fault, is the bizarre desire of Kalmar to return to earth. There has never been any suggestion in the story that his people are from earth; they are certainly not descendants of the Hydrax crew.

Maybe its because I am a bit of a Goth at heart, but I love this story despite my preference for more 'Rad' elements in Doctor Who.

Full Circle

The Fourth Doctor and Romana find themselves in a different universe.

It is in Full Circle that we really see the emergence of both producer John Nathan Turner's vision for an higher standard of production values and script editor Christopher Bidmead's vision for a more serious hard science approach to Doctor Who. Fans will be eternally divided on whether the changes Nathan-Turner and Bidmead brought were for the benefit of the show. My own feeling is that the changes were necessary and inavoidable. As much as I love so much in the Graham Williams era, the show had gone down a blind alley. Had a new Doctor (and Tom Baker inevitably needed to be replaced) taken over and the show continued in the comedy vein, we would only have seen it sent up futher to the point of ridicule. Doctor Who simply had to become more serious or it would have died. A lot of things in the JNT era were really bad, but love him or loathe him, JNT manage to breathe life into the show so that it could continue through the Eighties.

Visually this story is a triumph of JNT's new production values. The camera and location work is amazing. The mist in the swamps is atmospheric. After the hilarious monsters of Season 17, we finally have some well designed monster costumes for the Marshmen. The Starliner is well designed and the cliche of corridors is actually used to make a subtle point about the Starliner's occupants. The costumes are excellent too. The spiders are obviously made of plastic, but never mind.

Full Circle is an intelligent story. A good deal of thought has gone into the concept. In terms of science, the idea of evolution suggested here does not make such sense. For all the desire to ground Dr. Who in scientific concepts, the notion of evolution we get here is rather fantastical. I am a fundamentalist Christian and have serious doubts about evolution (though I don't dismiss the idea), but it I do find it irritating that evolution is so often misunderstood by science fiction writers.

The plot is perhaps not that inspired. It was daring of writer Andrew Smith to create a Doctor Who story without a villain, but I think it does result in a certain lack of conflict. Hence, we are left with a story that creates very little tension.

The subplot with Romana turning into a Marshwoman was rather silly and unnecessary. The idea of Romana turning into a Marsh creature on being bitten by a spider rather deviates from the evolutionary idea in the story of Alzarians evolving from Marshmen.

Tom Baker gives a nice understated performance, showing compassion to the young Marshman and showing real anger when challenging the Deciders. Romana is superb (except as a Marshwoman) coming across genuinely as a Time Lady. She shows complete confidence when the TARDIS is invaded by the Outlers, relieving one of them of his knife and then giving it back!

As everybody knows, this story introduces the much hated Adric. He can be a bit irritating, especially his inability to walk properly. However, in Season 18 he had the Fourth Doctor and Romana to shout at him and keep him in line. He only becomes unbearable with the softhearted Fifth Doctor.

The Outlers are not terribly impressive. Their inability to steal fruit makes one wonder how they can imagine surviving on their own. The Deciders are well conceived and acted.

On the whole, this is a decent story, even if not the most exciting.