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.

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.

Warriors of the Deep

Anything could happen in the next half hour... including lots of killing, unfeasible running and climbing in high heels and a pantomime sea monster.

This is a yet another review I am going to begin with a comment about how this story was one of the first Target novelisations I read as a nine-year old new fan. Yes, I did and I loved it. How was I to know that it was such an unloved story?

Fan opinion has been very harsh with regard to Warriors of the Deep. Many stories with far more significant faults, are dealt with more kindly. I would suggest that this story is far better than popular fan opinion allows.

This story does have a lot of flaws. Let's bring them up and then we can look at what is good about it.

Most obviously, the Myrka is bad. It really does look and move like a pantomime horse. Not that it is the worst designed monster ever. I love sea monsters. If it had just been filmed differently; if we had just been granted glimpses of it, it could have been a really effective and scary monster.

This failure with regard to the Myrka naturally leads on to the failure of Pennant Roberts' direction in general. It really is bad. The invasion of the sea base by the Eocenes looks dreadful. And just what inspired him to have Dr Solow attempting to confront the Myrka with some karate instead of running away? What was he thinking? The apparent drowning of the Doctor is also rather clumsily done. Turlough jumps rather quickly to the conclusion that he is dead. We get an awful lot of flat acting from the guest cast to make matters worse. It must have been lovely to see the late Ingrid Pitt in Doctor Who a second time. I was so saddened to hear about her recent death. She had a genuine enthusiasm for the show and even wrote an unmade episode (The Macross, which you can hear on Big Finish audio). I don't like to say anything bad about her so soon after her death, but it is fair to say that she was more of an icon than a really talented actress. She injected absolutely no life into the character of Dr. Solow.



The new look Eocenes are disappointing too. The Sea Devils look alright, but the actors can barely move in them. The Eocene costumes in Doctor Who and the Silurians look better than the later version here. It is quite remarkable how the two sets of monster costumes in the 70s were superior to these. I don't care for the flashing third eye when they speak; in Doctor Who and the Silurians they indicated speech by wagging their heads, which is fine by me. Their voices are also different. It has been suggested that the differences are due to the Eocenes having been enhanced by cybernetics. This idea makes sense, but it would have been better had it been indicated by the dialogue.

The Eocenes also come across as just a bit too evil for us to sympathize with for the most part. Their origin is brought up in the dialogue, but this is not enough to back up their case for being the original inhabitants of the earth and so they end up seeming like any old alien monsters (and with the continual repetition of 'Excellent!' they sound like Cybermen). We might ask what happened to the old race memory thing in Doctor Who and the Silurians. Yet we do see something of their compassion. We are told that they did try to make peace before. Okay, so the line about the "hand of friendship" does not quite fit the two previous Eocene serials, but Missing Adventure writers have filled in that continuity chink for us. They also tell us that they bear no malice against the Doctor and offer to let him and his companions depart freely. Not typical alien monster behaviour.

So what is good about this story? The set designs are impressive. The Eocene HQ looks interesting. The Seabase set might be a bit wobbly and look too much like polystyrene in places, but it still looks like an impressive 3 -dimensional set that captures how a futurist military base might look. The modelwork for the space probe and the Eocene submarine is also good.

We get some amazing acting from the regulars. Fielding and Strickson are great, but Davison is really on fire in this story. He is no longer the wet fish of season 19. Just watch him fighting with those guards and threatening people with guns! His moral outrage and despair at the conclusion seems so heartfelt.

The setting is really well-conceived. We are given a vision of a future cold war that is not specific enough for us to get smug about. The claustrophobia and tension of a constant threat of nuclear war is convincingly portrayed. We also get a cyberpunk element, with all that stuff about implants and neural connections. I can just imagine Warriors of the Deep with a score composed by Front Line Assembly!

Nevertheless, this story makes me hate the Doctor. This story sees every man and woman on the Seabase die a violent death. Yet the Doctor seems to care far more about the Eocenes who are trying to wipe us of the face of the earth. The Doctor even calls humans 'pathetic!' If only he had been willing to use the Hexachromite earlier, he could saved those people. We can be sure that the Second Doctor would have got the Hexachromite out in an instant. I want to hate him for his inaction in this story. However, I think it is right and good that sometimes we don't agree with the Doctor or feel able to sympathize with him. He is not one of us. He sees things from a different perspective. The Doctor has witness humans commit appalling atrocities and injustices in every corner of history. In this period of 2084, humans are poised ready to annihilate each other with nuclear weaponry. For the Doctor it really is an open question whether the humans or the Eocenes deserve the planet more. We can spit on the Fifth Doctor and call him a moral coward, but we cannot deny that he has a reason for his reluctance to take sides.

The very linear plot of Warriors of the Deep has been criticised; yet I think this is an important element. It helps to underline the sense of inevitable descent into tragedy. The final moments are gloriously tragic with Turlough's grim line "They're all dead, you know" followed by the Doctor's classic lament "There should have been another way." We find out in Timewyrm: Revelation that the Davison Doctor is the Doctor's conscience. In that novel, he manages to get his Seventh incarnation to choose "another way" and find a solution that does not involve death and destruction.

To my mind the individual stories of Season 21 have to be seen as an whole. In Season 21, Eric Saward gave Doctor Who a vision and theme. In every story of that season (and you can see the start of this in The Five Doctors) we see the Fifth Doctor faced with the horror, brutality and futility of the cosmos. In the end, he succumbs to that horror and after his death regenerates into a new incarnation that has succumbed to the horror and madness of it all, as we see in The Twin Dilemma. As an individual serial, Warriors of the Deep finds it hard to stand. Yet in it's relation to the tragic themes of the season, it really shines. I would say it actually rivals Resurrection of the Daleks in the same season.

On a lighter note, costumes are interesting in this story. The Seabase crew all wear shell suits and deck shoes. Nobody wears socks. I suppose there is no reason why military personnel in 2084 would not wear liberal amounts of eyeliner.

I am amazed at Tegan's ability to climb on chairs, crawl through ventilation shafts and run through endless corridors in those high-heeled shoes. THAT must be a result of cybernetic enhancement. Judging by The Stones of Blood, Romana 1 would have kicked them off and run about the Seabase in her stocking feet.

For all it's faults, I really like this story. I like it far more than The Sea Devils, which most fans seem to love so much.

Planet Of Fire

The Doctor and Turlough meet a cute American girl in Lanzarote and the Master has yet another cunning plan (this time subject to the law of diminishing returns).

The best word to describe this story is glossy. Its definitely on the better end of the Davison era, but I can't help thinking that it is more about style than substance, that common failing of the JNT era.

The most notable element of this story is the introduction of Peri. The idea of Peri was that she would appeal to American viewers by having an American accent (which unfortunately Nicola Bryant was unable to portray in any convincing form) and male viewers everywhere by wearing less than modest outfits. In her first story, Peri is actually quite good and lacks the annoying qualities she later developes. Its easy to dislike Peri, but she can be appreciated if you give her the chance. Characters like hers are actually more interesting than companions who adore the Doctor, like Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith.

This story has two settings, Lanzarote and the planet Sarn. The former features some great location shooting and allows the viewer the opportunity to see Peri in a bikini. Other than introducing Peri, the Lanzarote setting does not actually play much of a role in developing the plot. The volcanic, desert planet of Sarn also features some nice camerawork, even if its society is not very well sketched. Superstitious people who want to sacrifice people to their god are not exactly original in Dr Who.

The resolution of the Turlough subplot is a bit anti-climatic. Turlough gets to be the great leader he was always destined to be; but he was probably more interesting when he was cowardly and sinister.

Master stories are so tedious. We are treated to yet another dastardly scheme. At least he looks good in the suit he wears, rather better than the Ainsley Master's usual Shakespearean outfit. It probably would have been better for all of us if he really had been killed at the end.

Kamelion was one of the more unfortunate ideas of the series, in that the production team were unable to operate him after the death of his creator. In this story they resort to turning him into a silver humanoid bloke, which is less than convincing. Kamelion's death does not inspire much feeling from the viewer because we have seen so little of him.

The most fun part of the story is when Peri discovers the shrunken Master and chases him with her shoe. Very camp. They probably should have made that scene last a bit longer than it did.

Frontios

The Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough travel to the far, far future and find humanity struggling to survive and are menaced by giant woodlice.

When completing my viewing of the entire classic series, the serials I had left until last were most of the better Peter Davison stories. The Peter Davison era is quite a mixed bag, with dreadful stuff like Time Flight and some excellent stories like Kinda. Frontios finds itself on the classier side.

Frontios presents us with a dark and bleak vision of the far future, where humanity is scattered and struggling for survival in a cold, uncaring cosmos. Its a vision that works well in Doctor Who. The grey set and costumes reflect this barren idea of the future. The sets really are very well created and present a convincing snapshot of a grim colony planet.

The Tractators are a great monster. There is something really visceral and creepy about big woodlice. They really make your flesh crawl, even if the they don't look quite as menacing at first as some monsters. The suggestion of humanity being prey to such lowly life forms adds to the sense of hopelessness of this vision. The Tractators use of humans as cyborg slaves operating tunnel machines is very macabre.

A significant problem with this story is the destruction of the TARDIS. It just does work together with the Frontios plot very well. The destruction of the TARDIS ought to be an highly significant event in Dr. Who, but it is here just a minor subplot against a much more interesting tale of rugged colonists and giant woodlice. The regular cast also fail to give us a very believable reaction to the destruction of their home and their only way off Frontios.

Despite not quite reacting believably to the destruction of the TARDIS, Peter Davison's Doctor is acting at his best here. The lack of charisma and presence that characterised his first season is long behind him. Mark Strickson is good, while hamming it up a little too much when overcome by race memories. Janet Fielding is great as Tegan. Some of the supporting cast are a little wooden.

I am a bit puzzled by the supposed dangers and illegalities of interfering in the far future. Surely there is far more danger in interfering in the past and the future would be more of a free for all? The Doctor has usually shown less concern about getting involved in the past, on earth and beyond.

The Awakening

The Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough run into those weird people who do historical reenactments.

A lot of Doctor Who stories suffer from the problem of being far too long with loads of padding, but this story has the misfortune of being too rich and deep for just two episodes.

The Awakening could have been a really excellent story, one of the best of the Davison era. It has some great elements. The rural location in an English village and a decaying church is really effective. Its nice to enjoy some English countryside in spring. The Malus idea evokes a strong sense of horror in the style of Stephen King. The idea of ordinary, modern people participating in violent actions is even more horrific. Historical reenactment societies are a bit weird, so a horror story about them is a smart move. Will Chandler is a good character who fits well into the story.

The problem is that these elements are not allowed sufficent time to work. There is a real lack of explanation for too many things. Like the psychic projection met by Tegan. How has an entire village been convinced to take part in an horrendous act of brutality? Why does the Malus bring Will Chandler?

With the shortness of the story, the development of the characters suffers. We never really get a feel for what these people are like and why they do the things they do. Tegan's uncle is the least important part in the story, when really he ought to be central to it.

The image of the Malus emerging from a crack in the church wall is very inspired. The problem is that it is too static to be truly frightening. It is just one example of how this story comes so close to being good, yet fails.

On the plus side, Peter Davison puts in a superb performance. Season 21 was the point at which he really makes the Fifth Doctor his own and loses the weakness of his first season. On the other hand, Mark Strickson and Janet Fielding do not come across too well in this story.

One small point, why does Tegan not think of using one of her high heeled shoes as a weapon? It could help to make a quick getaway as well as any sharp object. There are probably other occasions in the show when she could have used her shoes to fight back. Maybe the BBC was worried that woud be too violent.

The Twin Dilemma

The Doctor has regenerated into a rather more difficult persona. He and Peri must do battle with a big slug.

The first story to feature the newly regenerated Sixth Doctor. I am not a big fan of Peter Davison, so I can't help thinking the change to Colin Baker was more of an improvement than some fans allow. The Sixth Doctor is a much more interesting character, and offers pleasant reminiscences of William Hartnell. That said, Colin Baker does some dreadful overacting in this story and he is a times painful to watch. His attempt to strangle Peri was rather excessive.

I agree with everybody else that Colin Baker's costume is simply awful.

The Twin Dilemma is a bit of a throw-away story. It is more enjoyeable than some fans make out, but it is rather weak and badly plotted. Some of the dialogue is quite poor.

I quite like the Gatropod Mestor, despite claims by fans that he is a terrible monster. I also like the idea of a mythical Gastropod apocalypse. The Jocastan costumes are definitely effective.

Resurrection of the Daleks

Why did John Nathan Turner have to keep sticking Davros in every Dalek story? His elimination at the end of Genesis of the Daleks was a satisfactory end for his character. I think the need to keep bringing back Davros betrayed a terrible lack of imagination. At least in Rembrance of the Daleks (in my opinion the best story Dr. Who story ever) he only appears briefly.

There are some who defend this story, but I am afraid I hate it.

Not that the production values are poor- the photography is superb, it has some great sets, the costumes are decent enough and the acting from the regulars and some of the guests is excellent. However, it is still a terrible story.

The biggest problem is that the story does not make much sense at all. We start the story with a group of prisoners whose origin is never explained. We move into a Dalek plot that gets more and more complex. What are the Daleks up to? Rescue Davros, cure the Movellan virus, kill the Doctor, conquer the earth, assasinate the gallifreyan High Council? How does Davros get his mind control device? Did he have it while in suspended animation? When did he learn about the Time Lords? How did the Daleks create duplicates of the Doctor's companions?

The Daleks are more sinister and evil than ever, but they are a bit overshadowed by Davros and Lytton. Of course, the Doctor himself gets pretty overshadowed too, in a story in which he does very little (in some good stories like Seeds of Doom, the Doctor does very little, but the key is that those are good stories, not bad ones). Neither does Tegan do very much. She ought to seeing as it is her swansong.

There are too many characters who are not uninteresting, but get killed before we can appreciate them. And there is far too much killing. For a show with an audience that includes a large number of children there simply should not be such an high body count.

Ironically, it must be said that Peter Davison's performance here is one of his best. He is really convicing in a script that does not convince. The Doctor happily sluaghters Daleks, but when he steels himself to kill Davros, he is talked out of it by an opponent who he knows full well he cannot trust.

This story represents everything that was wrong with the Saward-era.