Doctor Who for Goths

Since the 80s there has been a signficant contingent of Goths within Doctor Who fandom. The Goth subculture is all about non-conformity and the Doctor is the ultimate nonconformist. Your typical true and tragic Goth will probably be just as much a geek as a typical Whovian, loving role-playing games, H.P. Lovecraft and old horror movies.

I can't really claim to be a Goth (though I have been described as one) as I don't dress that way. Black is just not my colour and I have yet to see a Goth wear flip flops. I do have a fair amount of gothiness in my soul. I love Gothic rock bands like Joy Division, Lacrimosa and Faith and the Muse. I love industrial music even more and I am a big Lovecraft reader.

Here are ten Doctor Who stories that are especially for Goths:

1. The Curse of Fenric

A really dark bleak story with a new twist on the old vampire myth. It has a thumping industrial soundtrack. True, not all Goths like industrial music, but there is a certain amount of crossover between the Goth and Industrial subculture.

This story also brings in H.P. Lovecraft (Fenric is an ancient evil deity) and has something of a role-playing game ethos (the Doctor in a cosmic game against the powers of evil).

2. State of Decay

Season 18 was the beginning of Doctor Who in the 80s. It is in that decade that the Gothic rebellion began. State of Decay is a really Gothic story, the soundtrack, the vampires, the medieval castle and the emphasis on visual style.

Every other fan will disagree with me, but I think State of Decay is much better than all those faux Gothic Hinchliffe stories.

3. Warriors' Gate

Another Gothic story at the start of the 80s. Visually influenced by the Gothic fairytale movie, La Belle et le Bette, Warriors' Gate gives us a very Gothic looking set.

Warriors' Gate is a tale of despair, tragedy and futility, yet not without hope.

4. Talons of Weng Chiang
Gothic Victoriana

5. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

As with The Curse of Fenric, there is the Lovecraft and role-playing element. You also have a strange girl who is dressed like an 80s Goth and who happens to be a werewolf.

6. The Happiness Patrol

One for the 'Perky Goths.' This may be colourful, but it has that Tim Burton darkness to it.

The Happiness Patrol celebrates misery and blasts conformity. What could be more Goth than that?

And of course, the title is a reference to a certain dark band whose singer had a tragic fate.

7. The Brain of Morbius

A reworking of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Creepy but camp.

The Sisterhood of Karn give us some Gothic exoticism. Dead Can Dance could have given this a great alternative soundtrack for the DVD release.

8. Pyramids of Mars

A dark homage to Hammer Horror films. Extremely bleak. Not a story that I enjoy very much, but dreadfully popular.

9. The Five Doctors

Doctor Who turns into a big game of Dungeons and Dragons.

We get hints of the very gothic past of the Time Lords, back in the 'Dark Times.' Despite the sentimental nostalgia, there are some quite dark elements to this story.

10. The Chase

Episode three is set in a creepy Gothic castle and features a mock-up version of Bela Lugosi's Dracula. Alone in a darkened room. Undead! Undead!

Battlefield

"I'm getting a little tired of hearing about your mother."

I really like Battlefield. It's definitely among my favorite Doctor Who stories. Yet at the same time I have to try hard to be really objective about it. There are an awful lot of things about Battlefield which really drag it down. Just like Ghost Light in the same season, it is a story badly weakened by a clear failure in both script editing and direction. Oddly, however, Ghost Light seems to have a better reputation among fans. I find this surprising because Battlefield seems to me a much more enjoyable and much less dense story than Ghost Light. Both stories suffer from the same problem of having too many characters, subplots and ideas, yet Battlefield is not confusing in the way that Ghost Light is and it has many far more memorable scenes. I suspect it comes down to an additional problem; that is the attempt to do a very epic story on the cheap. It is probably fair to say that Battlefield has the lowest production values of Season 26 and they are very noticeable.

This is certainly not the first story to deal with an Arthurian theme; that had been done rather less obviously in The Stones of Blood (Vivian Fay is very clearly Morgana Le Fay, despite also being a green-skinned alien and a former Brown Owl). We are given the fascinating concept of a world in which the Arthurian legends were true and in which powerful magic sat alongside incredibly advanced technology. Obviously, such a world could never be created on a BBC budget. The real genius of this serial is that it gives us a very vivid glimpse of this world simply through the dialogue. Thus, we cleverly learn something about their technology through the reference to ornithopters. We discover that Morgaine is the battle queen of 13 worlds, a truly titanic notion. Our imagination is fed by the discovery that Merlin, the future Doctor, is imprisoned by Morgaine in the ice caves. Morgaine gives us a beautifully vivid description of her happy childhood in the company of Arthur, her brother. This is a story for romantic, poetry reading Kate Bush fans.

The story begins with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart enjoying his clearly very comfortable retirement with his new wife Doris. Doris was o course mentioned in Planet of the Spiders. Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood point out the incongruity of Doris' portrayal in Battlefield. The reference to the Doris the Brigadier met in Brighton is clearly a girl of rather loose morals and probably from a working-class background. This is a very striking contrast to the very upper-middle class Doris we meet here. Doris is clearly one very expert social climber (and given the simplicity of the Brigadier's lifestyle in Mawdryn Undead and the very plush house and garden in Battlefield, it looks like Doris is the one with the money).

A major selling point of this story for many is the return of Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. This point saves this story from damnation for many fans. Personally, I would have liked to have seen this element left out. There are simply too many other characters and elements going on this story to do the return of the Brigadier any justice. Something has to go. Given that Battlefield offers us a newer model of Brigadier in Bambera, it would make sense to my mind to simplify things and leave Lethbridge-Stewart out of it. I doubt many fans would agree with me, however.

UNIT get a bit of an update in this story. Their international character is manifested in the presence of foreign troops. The presence of Czechslovakians should not be seen as a goof. In the Whoniverse, the Cold War ended in the Seventies and Britain was a neutral power (see Day of the Daleks), so there is no reason why we should expect Cxechslovakia to have broken up in the nineties. Sergaent Zbigniev is a bit puzzling; he claims to have served under Lethbridge-Stewart. Given that he does not look middle-aged, this supports my contention that the UNIT era is the 1980s, not the 1970s. Given that the Cold War ended before the UNIT era and Britain was not an ally of America in the Whoniverse it is possible that there were Eastern European troops on British soil in the UNIT era. What I find troubling is that we never saw this in the earlier UNIT stories. I suppose it is possible he was here as an individual on some sort of military exchange program, but it would be unlikely that a raw recruit (as Zbigniev must have been given his age) rather than an officer would be on such a program. It's nice to see UNIT wearing the UN blue berets (this was not possible before, because of the limitations of CSO). UNIT also have a lot of new military hardware, of which Lethbridge-Stewart has a remarkable awareness given that he is retired.




The new Brigadier, Bambera is both black and female. If this was a development in the BBC Wales series this would no doubt be read as an ironic joke about political correctness. However, this is the 80s when the politically correct agenda was taken seriously (we even get an Asian character thrown in for good measure as well). These politically correct values continue in the Virgin New Adventures. In Transit (by the same writer), we find out that Lethbridge-Stewart had an affair with an African woman and so starting an African branch of the Lethbridge-Stewart family. I quite like the 'right-on' NA values. It is tedious the way people trash political correctness these days. There is nothing funny about taking a stand against racism and prejudice. Angela Bruce gives a very butch performance as the new Brigadier. Some viewers are irritated by her bad language substitute, 'Shame!' I find this rather funny.

I am surprised that more reviewers do not pick up on the similarity between this Battlefield and Delta and the Bannermen. They both have a rural setting and a summery vibe that gives them something of a pastoral quality. They both feature a rather odd invasion of earth. They also both feature a very strange relationship; in Delta and the Bannermen, between Delta and Billy; in Battlefield, between Bambera and Ancelyn. It is so cute the way Bambera and Ancelyn fall asleep on top of each other after their beating each other up. As with Delta, there is a real sense of a classical celebration of love in a pastoral setting. Thus, the two stories can be seen as light-hearted and comedic, despite the violence (and you can find violence in Shakespeare's comedies too).




Morgaine is a strange lady. Ben Aaronovitch does an unusually brilliant job of portraying a completely alien mindset in her. She can't start fighting until her men have venerated the dead of our world wars; she kills a female soldier in cold blood, then heals a woman of blindness because her son has drunk without paying and she wants vengeance against Arthur, yet she gives the most beautiful lament when she learns he is dead. She is not a totally warped and evil being, because the Doctor persuades her in the end of the evil of unleashing nuclear warfare on earth. Jean Marsh definitely makes a cracking return performance to Doctor Who.

I tend to appreciate stories where the bad guys are not killed off Hincliffe style. In the end, both Morgaine and Mordred are taken prisoner by UNIT. The Doctor tells them to 'lock them up.' A lot have fans have suggested this is absurd; surely with her magic powers, Morgaine will have no trouble escaping? However, the Doctor must know what he is doing. Perhaps there are certain drugs that will prevent Morgaine from using the part of her mind that controls her magic. The Doctor also has a lot of occult knowlege. He knew that a chalk circle would keep Morgaine out. Perhaps there are runes or magic inscriptions that will have the similar effect of keeping Morgaine imprisoned. It would definitely make a great prison movie, with a title like 'Deathless Morgaine and other Bad Girls Behind Bars.'

Mordred is defintely a fun character. He is such a mummy's boy. Lethbridge-Stewart puts him in his place with the immortal line "Just between you and me, I'm getting a little tired of hearing about your mother." That Knight Commander is a bit awful, however.

LIn Tai gives a pretty unimpressive performance as Shou Yuing. She seems to be in the story simply to be one of the few Asian characters in Doctor Who outside of Marco Polo, Talons of Weng Chiang, and I almost forgot, Mavic Chen in Dalek Masterplan. Lin Tai did make an earlier appearance as an extra in Warriors of the Deep. The scene with her and Ace in the chalk circle is quite effective. Warmsley is a bit irritating. His part suffers from competition with the many other characters in this story. It is a bit odd that an archaeologist would suggest that it does not matter what period the scabbard is from (or that he would hang up a major find in a pub).




The idea of a future incarnation of the Doctor turning out to be a Merlin in another universe is awfully interesting. The Seventh Doctor is awfully mysterious through this serial, always appearing to know a good deal more than he is letting on. That said, this is clearly not McCoy's best performance. He comes across as quite bizarre, and rather unintentionally hilarious. He is incredibly manic and tries too hard to come across as scary. The moment when he tries to growl menacingly "If they are dead..." just cracks me up. Sorry, Sylvester, you just aren't that scary.

The moment when Ace says 'boom!' just as Ancelyn crashes into the building has been mocked by fans, but I think it makes an interesting point. It seems to challenge Ace's passion for destruction, pointing out the reality of violence and war.

The Destroyer is one of the most effective monsters ever. True, it is killed rather easily, but this is used to make a point about violence and death. As is typical of Cartmel-era Doctor Who, the Destroyer is used as metaphor. He represents the destruction and horror of nuclear weaponry.

With it's Arthurian theme, Battlefield reminds me of CS Lewis' offbeat novel, That Hideous Strength. Like Battlefield, That Hideous Strength threw in a mass of characters, ideas and subplots. It also had the pastoral vibe and the demonic element, though I doubt a Leftie like Aaronovitch would use such and influence. Speaking of CS Lewis, it would appear that as with Narnia, time in the Arthurian universe moves differently to ours, as both Mordred and Acelyn are contemporaries of Arthur, who has been dead in our world for over a thousand years.

There are a fair few places in this serial which are really cheap-looking. The costumes of Morgaine's knights for instance. And of course the interior of Arthur's spacecraft. When you compare that to the brilliance of that other biological spacecraft in Claws of Axos, it looks just pathetic.

This is a very flawed production, but it is definitely a very enjoyable one. It seems to have a paricular appeal to younger viewers. I remember this serial being on television when I was a child, before I started liking Doctor Who. Other boys at m school really loved it, with all those knights and soldiers, plus a big scary monster.

Doctor Who Effects and Ironic Pleasure

On the DVD commentary of The Stones of Blood, Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and Susan Engel (who played Cessair of Diplos) seemed to agree that a major part of the enjoyment of Doctor Who is the cheapness and tackiness of a lot of the effects. So they said in episode two. Yet when they got to the next episode and saw the Megara Justice Machines, they immediately started complaining about how awful the effects were and how much it ruined the final two episodes! This goes to show that the comment that fans always love the tacky effects is in fact patronising nonsense.

We fans know the limitations on the classic series resulting from BBC budgets. We know this and accept it. We are able to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the story despite tacky effects. That does not mean that we always take a completely uncritical stance towards anything they put on the screen. There are some stories where we fans want to scream "You're not even trying!"

I think it is different with what you might call 'casual fans' of the show. I have a colleague who has always enjoyed Doctor Who (though he hated the Matt Smith season and gave up watching that), but who does not own a single DVD and could not name a single Doctor Who title. The other day he said to me that a major part of the enjoyment of Doctor Who is the lameness of the special effects. I am convinced that if he were to start watching DVDs of the classic series on a regular basis, his perspective would totally change.

Imagine somebody who has not watched classic Doctor Who since the 80s or maybe the handful of repeats shown in 1993. He purchases a DVD of The Creature from the Pit. The major part of his enjoyment is likely to be the contrast between his innocent delight he took in the show when he was younger and his present day consciousness of the cheapness of it all. It's a dreadful story, but he can still get a real kick from laughing at that.

Suppose this person then becomes a more committed fan and purchases other Doctor Who DVDs. He then has a framework of reference by which to compare different stories. Now that he is watching other stories he begins to look beyond the cheap effects and notices the quality of the direction, the acting and the script writing. The big rat in The Talons of Weng Chiang starts to appear more painful because of the awareness of how brilliant the other elements of that production are. The cheap effects in The Creature from the Pit start to look less charming because they are not backed up with the redeeming features of a story like The City of Death. The pantomime Myrka in Warriors of the Deep starts to become more painful when you realise how effective it might have been if it had just been filmed differently. In contrast the cheap horror effects of The Image of the Fendahl are made to work through the intense atmosphere that the production manages to generate.

There is so much to appreciate in Doctor Who. Yes, the cheap effects can be a laugh sometimes, but a really critical appreciation of the show can add so much more to one's enjoyment.

Earthshock

"MORE POWER!!" (clenching my fist very tightly)

Earthshock is at heart a story built around the return of the Cybermen to the screen after a pretty long absence. It thus reflects the tendency of 80s Doctor Who to look to it's past to revitalize itself. While Earthshock attempts to recreate many of the elements of 60s Doctor Who, it dresses it all in a very 80s packaging, confidently at home in the screen culture of movies such as Terminator and Alien. Despite the miserable bickering at the beginning and the mournfulness of Adric's death, Earthshock shows a new energy and vitality that had been missing in much of season 19 (and which did was not to be seen so much again until season 21).

A lot of harsh things have been said about Eric Saward, perhaps some of them deserved. Nevertheless, in Earthshock, Eric Saward introduces his vision of Doctor Who and it's an impressive one. Lots of action, bleak design, enemies that have real menace, realistic violence and a sense of despair in a very dark cosmos. More was yet to come when Saward took over as script editor.




The story opens with a bunch of futuristic soldiers. They are mixed-sex platoon, with an about equal number of male and female soldiers. Some of the female soldiers are awfully cute. I love the fact that even as late in 80s everybody onscreen uses received pronuniciation. Being somebody who generally sounds pretty posh, I would have stood out less back then. Hence, most of the dolly soldiers speak very well. The military unit reminds me of the soldiers in Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. I can't help wondering whether, like the mixed-sex units in The Forever War, the platoon in Earthshock have mandatory confraternity. The troops are lead by Lt. Scott (James Warwick) who acts incredibly butch throughout the serial. Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood argue that though the soldiers are very similar to marines in countless American films, like Aliens, they are a new breed in Doctor Who. These soldiers reflect a new kind of gritty professionalism which had come to be the public perception of the military in the 1980s.

At the start of the first episode, the TARDIS crew are falling out with each other again. In particular, Adric is throwing tantrums and being obnoxious. Adric is not the companion-I-love-to-hate (for me that is Jo Grant), but when I watch Adric's behaviour in the first episode I understand why some fans cheered at his death. Still, it's fun to see the Fifth Doctor losing his temper.

The action get's started pretty quickly in episode one, with some very impressive, sleak androids killing several of the soldiers. I must say, showing the melted remains of those killed by the androids was pushing the boundaries of taste a bit. Towards the end of the episode, all is revealed and the Cybermen turn out to be the bad guys. I imagine thousands of young fans must have punched the air at the time.

The Cybermen have been given a new look in this story. I have mixed feelings about the new version of the Cybermen. They look reasonably impressive; the visibly human mouth is an excellent touch. However, I prefer the blank features or cloth face mask of the Sixties version. They come across as a lot more malicious. It is also very obvious that they have emotions. It is of course perfectly possible that Cybermen really do have emotions and all that talk about them being purely logical is a delusion. However, this does render dialogue about them being emotionless a bit irritating. Why does the Doctor not just point out the obvious fact that they are emotional beings? I can imagine the Fourth Doctor getting a real kick out of doing that. On the other hand, it must be said that the Sixties versions of the Cybermen (apart from in The Tenth Planet) often came across as brainless zombies. The Earthshock Cybermen are a far more intimidating on an individual level. I always crack up when I hear the Cyberleader command "More power!" and clench his fist to add emphasis! Whether they have emotion or not, they certainly have testosterone! I agree with Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood, in About Time, that the Cybermemn are time travellers are time travellers from the future. This makes sense of both their strategy and their knowledge of events in Revenge of the Cybermen.

There are an awful lot of problems with the plot of this story. I do not think, however, that they particularly detract from the power and excitement of it. Doctor Who at the best of times has always required viewers to occasionally make a leap of logic. I think it is fair to recognise plotholes, but you will find them in the best of stories. This story is so filled with action, that you are likely to miss at least half of them.

Peter Davison's performance still shows the lack of charisma that bedevils his first season and much of his second. This is unfortunate, because this story is so reminiscent of season 21, where he really came alive.



Tegan gets to do her Ripley bit, putting on a futuristic jumpsuit before going into action and blasting a Cyberman. It is rather convenient that Kyle was wearing a full set of clothes underneath her jumpsuit, though I suppose she could have borrowed one of the outfits in the TARDIS wardrobe (were there no practical outfits in there for Tegan to use?). Nyssa, as usual, does next to nothing in this story. You have to wonder why they even bothered creating this character.

The casting of renowned actress Beryl Reid to play the Captain Briggs was an odd choice, but there is something delightfully surreal about the standard sci-fi role of starship captain being held by a grumpy, bitchy old lady.



This story is by no means the best story of the Peter Davison years, but it certainly is a strong one and a memorable turning point in the history of the show.

Survival of the Fittest, by Jonathan Clements (Big Finish Audio)

The Seventh Doctor shows Klein the universe, but can they stay friends?

* Spoiler Alert!*

This is the second part of the Klein trilogy, which sees the Seventh Doctor taking the unusual companion, Elizabeth Klein on a voyage to discover the universe. Klein is a Nazi scientist from an alternate timeline in which the Nazis won the war. This timeline was wiped out by the Doctor, leaving Klein stranded in real history.

I personally don't care for Doctor Who dealing with history being altered. I think it goes against the initial premise of Doctor Who that history cannot be altered, not one line. I know that later stories challenged that assumption and that Big Finish delight in alternate timeline stories, but I don't think it is territory that is natural for Doctor Who. Nevertheless, I really like the Klein trilogy, despite my dislike of time alteration stories. It is fascinating to see the Doctor taking on a companion who holds to a very different philosophy. Plus, it is great to see the Doctor hanging out with a sophisticated mature woman, as opposed to endless teenage and twenty-something girls. I find it easier to see the Doctor debating ideology with an intelligent lady like Klein than falling head over heels for a young girl as shallow as Rose. I might even go so far as to say that Klein is my favorite Seventh Doctor companion; I certainly prefer her to Bernice Summerfield.

This drama is preceded by Klein's Story a bonus episode-long tale, in which Klein narrates the circumstances in which she travelled back in time to the Second World War. This story features Paul McGann ("dark and handsome in a rather Gothic way"- Klein). This is pretty good. Of course, those who have listened to Colditz will know the basic story of this, but Klein's Story adds a little flesh to it. We find out that the regenerated Doctor in the alternate timeline had been aiding the victims of Nazi oppression. It is interesting that the Eighth Doctor chooses to help the oppressed even in a timeline that he is working to eradicate. It seems hard to imagine the Seventh Doctor being so distracted from his purpose.

After Klein tells her story, she is unable to understand who the mysterious 'Schimdt with his gothic good looks really was. The Doctor then makes the mistake of explaining that this is his regenerated self manipulating her within the lost timeline. Klein is horrified to realise she has been manipulated by the Doctor and determines to get even at the game. Here we come back to that old chestnut of the early Virgin New Adventures; the dark side of the Doctor. I imagine those listening who don't like the NAs must have groaned. Ace came to hate the Doctor when she realised that he was taking advantage of her with his constant Machiavellian games. Klein also comes to realise that she has been taken for a ride by the Doctor and comes to hate him.

At the start of the story, the Doctor has already shown Klein a number of worlds. This brief continuity gap opens the possibility of other audio dramas or novels featuring the companion team of the Seventh Doctor and Klein. Am I being too optimistic? Well, they can count on me to buy them. I love Klein.

The insectoid Vrill are wonderfully conceived. Jonathan Clements has thought really hard about just how sentient insects might think. Remarkably, we learn that the TARDIS gives the Doctor (and every other character, including the human adventurers on the planet) the ability to communicate with a species that use scent as a language. As much as I like the New Adventures, I am not convinced by the view taken (and later adopted by RT Davies for the BBC Wales series) that it is the TARDIS that enables communication between the crew and those from other cultures and species. The Doctor's comment about language in Masque of Mandragora suggests that it is a personal ability that he posesses as a Time Lord and grants to his companions. Given that the TARDIS crew are often separated from the TARDIS, sometimes by time and space, it makes sense that this linguistic ability is independent of it. It may be that the grant of this Time Lord gift is a permanent bestowal; Vicki did not seem worried that she would not be able to communicate with her new husband Troilus.

The human adventurers in this story are a great bunch and well played. I like the way Klein adopts a posture of superiority towards them. Despite being a Nazi, Klein oddly comes to share the Doctor's stance of opposition towards the humans' exploitation and abuse of the native Vrill. It seems that her experiences are affecting her values.

I find it unconvicing that at the climax, the Doctor ends up losing his key. I know even the Doctor is fallible, but you would think with a Nazi who is desperate to steal the TARDIS and get even on the team, he would be a bit more careful. After all, it's not like he has not been protecting that key from evil villains, renegade Time Lords, Daleks and Cybermen for hundreds of years. Needless to say, we fans know that in some stories, only the Doctor can use the TARDIS key.

The musical score is really excellent. This is a great second part to the Klein trilogy and if one has listened to Colditz and A Thousand Tiny Wings, this is definitely worth getting hold of.

The Highest Science, by Gareth Roberts (Virgin New Adventure)

The Seventh Doctor and Bernice investigate a mysterious power known as the 'Highest Science.'

Like many of the New Adventures, The Highest Science divides opinions. Many fans regard it as one of the best of the New Adventure novels. On the other hand, a fair few readers, including NA diehards were unimpressed by it. I found it more enjoyable to read than Lucifer Rising and Deceit, but it is certainly not one of my favorite NAs. In fact, I found the next novel, Neil Penswick's much maligned The Pit, much more fascinating. I read Gareth Roberts' later novel, Tragedy Day before this and was very impressed, so I had rather higher hopes for The Highest Science.

The Highest Science is written in very readable prose and shows plenty of wit. The influence of Douglas Adams is very obvious. Some readers will enjoy that, though I am not a Douglas Adams aficionado.

This novel sees the introduction of the Chelonians, a very aggressive turtle-like race who reappear in several NAs and also get a reference in Pandorica Opens. They are a very well conceived alien race.

I agree with many readers that the Doctor in this story seems much more like the Fourth Doctor than the Seventh. Bernice does not get an awful lot to do and ends up in a rather cliched separation from the Doctor. The three young drop-outs stranded on the alien world are quite interesting.

The biggest problem with the story is the lack of resolution at the end. The Doctor leaves without really resolving all the narrative threads to the satisfaction of the reader.

The Romans

Doctor Who does Carry On with a pinch of Ben-Hur

No fan should underestimate the importance of the historical stories. However, the difficulty in terms of appreciating then is that so few survive. I can't help thinking that it is a shame that this one survives and not Marco Polo or The Massacre.

The big problem with The Romans is that it combines a really camp attempt at Carry On style Roman comedy with a very dark set of subplots about Ian and Barbara being taken as slaves. The gulf between the to moods is a little too disorientating for the viewer. I think it would have been better to have come up with a more light-hearted subplot for Ian and Barbara that would have maintained the comedy vibe througout. Personally, I find a lot of the comedy in this serial a bit silly and not that amusing, but I know a lot of fans love it.

The Romans does not make much effort in terms of historical accuracy. The real Nero was absolutely nothing like the buffoon we encounter in this story. Ofc ourse, the same can be said of Peter Ustinov's rather more well known performance. I also wonder how likely it was that slave traders would just pounce on a bunch of strangers in Roman Italy. True, the slave traders know Ian and Barbara are travellers, but it is not inconceivable that they might not be recognised. They seem to be taking a big risk. Slave traders were not kidnappers in general, but traded in men and women taken in war or the children of slaves.

Hartnell gives a very manic performance. It is very easy to see in this story the wild, immature side of the First Doctor. I like to think of him as a 'teenager in an old man's body,' the very reverse of the Davison and Smith Doctors. Maureen O'Brien has a few nice moments of interaction with Hartnell, but as usual her performance is far from convincing.

Ian and Barbara's moments together have often been described as 'post-coital.' Watching this story, it is difficult to doubt that they might have been sleeping together, at least here in the villa, if not on the TARDIS.

Dating The Seeds of Death: The Miles-Parkin Debate

For fans obsessed with continuity, the dating of The Seeds of Death is a key question. It is one of the few classic series stories that are set in the 21st century. One reason why this is a puzzling question is that one of the companions for this story is Zoe who is also from the 21st century. Is this story set in her past (in which case it is odd that she knows nothing of the events) or is it set in her near future (in which case, is there an older version of Zoe on earth at the same time as 15-20(?) year old Zoe?)?

Two key Doctor Who guidebooks take opposing stances on the question. Lance Parkin wrote A History of the Universe for Virgin books which gave a detailed history of the universe. In this guidebook, he argued that Seeds of Death is set in 2044, before Wheel in Space (Zoe's first story). Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood About Time, wrote a gargantuan six-volume guide to Doctor Who. In the second volume, they placed The Seeds of Death after 2070. Parkin published a massively enhanced second edition, AHistory which responded to the arguments of Miles and Wood.

We know this story is set in the twenty-first century because the rocket is said by the Doctor to be a 21st century technology and because we know that space travel was in a far more advanced state in the early 22nd Century (see Nightmare of Eden). It cannot be too early in the 21st century because the 21st century rocket program was abandoned when Eldred was a much younger man and because weather control was invented in 2016 by Salamander (see Enemy of the World). So either we go with Parkin's mid-21st century date or Miles and Wood's late-21st century date.

Key arguments:

Zoe's lack of knowledge of T-Mat

Zoe does not show any prior knowledge of T-Mat technology or recognition that this is something used in her own time period. This suggests that the story occurs in her future. Zoe is also unaware of any Martians, like the inhabitants of earth in this story.

On the other hand, Parkin pointed out that Zoe shows a peculiar ignorance of history in general.

Zoe's knowledge of rocketry

Parkin pointed out Radnor's comment that Zoe knows more about space travel than Eldred. He argues that this is a clear indication that Zoe is from a more advanced period.

Miles and Wood argued that Parkin reads too much into this statement. They argue that Radnor is not an expert in space travel himself. It is the Doctor who shows the most knowledge of the field and Zoe's main contribution is in making calculations. I would also point out that Zoe's experience of space travel is more recent, whereas Eldred has not travelled in space for many years.

The history of space travel

Parkin argues that the space program must have been in a very primitive state before this story. In Wheel in Space, spaceships have been sent at least as far as the asteroid belt. There are fleets of spacecraft and a space personnel training program has been in place for years. We know from The Sensorites that interstellar missions with crews in suspended animation were sent out in the 21st century. Parking finds this evidence quite conclusive.

I am not so convinced. Eldred does not say how far his space program reached or how extensive it was. It could be that it was as spectacular as what we see in The Wheel in Space. It may be that there were a few spacecraft that were more advanced than the ion-jet rocket designed by Eldred. Possibly there may even have been one or two one-way deep space missions launched with crews in hibernation, allowing colonies like the one on Vulcan to be established in the 21st century. If the story is set no later than about 2080, it is possible that deep space missions could be well on their way at the tail end of the 21st century.

Parkin made much of the dating of the insurance firm Galactic Salvage. This firm was apparently set up in 2068 and went bust in 2096. He argued that it is unlikely that firm insuring spacecraft would be in operation during a period in which they have been abandoned. Miles and Wood reply by pointing out that their market might be no more restricted to spacecraft than Scottish Widows are restricted to insuring Scottish widows. In any case, we can be sure that they are offering coverage to the unmanned satellite rockets that are still launched in the Seeds of Death era.

War or peace?

Parkin argues that Seeds of Death is set in a time of world peace. This does not fit what we see in Warriors of the Deep, set in 2084, in which the world is divided up into power blocks at enmity with each other. Both New York and Moscow are connected by T-Mat.

Miles and Wood replied that China is not included in the T-Mat network. It could be that China and it's allies could be one of the power blocks in Warriors of the Deep. They also point out dialogue in Seeds of Death that suggests that the relationship between the west and Moscow is not all that cosy.

The first Moonbase story

It is clearly stated that the story Moonbase is set in 2070. This features the Gravitron, a technology that controls earth's weather. Clearly, this technology either replaces the weather control technology seen in Seeds of Death or else it is replaced by it.

Miles and Wood argued that the weather control technology seen in Seeds of Death is much more advanced and efficient than the Gravitron, but Parkin is not at all convinced of that. It seems uncertain which of these two technologies is the more advanced.

A more impressive argument was levelled by Miles and Wood concerning the appearance of the moonbase in Seeds of Death. They pointed out that it seems much larger, suggesting expansion. They also pointed out that the moonbase seems to be filled with unused and abandoned equipment, suggesting that it no longer serves it's original purpose. I find this argument very convincing.

One problem with putting Moonbase before Seeds of Death is that we might wonder why, having seen the moonbase invaded by Cybermen, they did not foresee it being invaded by other extraterrestrials.

Technology in Wheel in Space

Parkin points out the use of laser guns in The Wheel in Space, whearas projectile weapons are used in Seeds of Death. In response, I would point out that projectile weapons are used in a number of Doctor Who stories further in the future. It may be that the lasers are used in space because they are more effective there, rather than because they have greater destructive capabilities than projectile guns.

Parkin also points out the advanced robots in use in Wheel in Space. These are of course designed for use in a spacetravelling environment. It may be that these are just not necessary in the earthbound and lunarbound technological environment of Seeds of Death.

Transit

The New Adventure novel Transit is set in the early 22nd century and seems to be set in a world in which Seeds of Death was recent history. The novel assumes a late 22nd century date for the T-Mat incident.


Conclusion

While Parkin offers strong arguments for a mid-21st century date for Seeds of Death, I am more inclined to go with Miles and Wood and place the story in the late 21st century after both Moonbase and Wheel in Space.

The Ark in Space

Ridley Scott's Alien movie- We got there first

Ark in Space is the first story of the Hinchcliffe era. The first story of Season 12 was produced by Barry Letts, the outgoing producer. The Hinchcliffe era is seen by many fans as a golden era of Doctor Who. I differ from most fans in not holding this period in high regard. I certainly think it is the most consistent period in the show. While it had a few disasters, most notably The Android Invasion, on the whole it maintained high standards. However, the Hinchcliffe was far from as perfect as many fans would have you believe. There was something of an overreliance on borrowing plots from horror movies. More controversially, I believe that Hinchcliffe allowed the violence to get a little out of hand. I think there is something of a sadistic tendency in his stories. They seem to indulge a morbid curiosity about pain and death. I think Ark in Space is a good start to this period and while including a powerful horror element, it avoids the excesses of some of his later serials, such as The Robots of Death and Pyramids of Mars (in my opinion the two most overrated Dr. Who stories ever).

Ark in Space introduces a powerful element of body horror; the terror of being transformed into something inhuman; the complete destruction of the personality. This theme would be repeated in the Seeds of Doom. The serial also plays considerably on childish fears, such as the fear of being eaten by monsters while one is asleep.

Doctor Who has made several attempts to create B-movie style giant insects, mostly unsuccessfully. One has to admire them for trying on a limited budget. The Wirrn are not an exception; they are a rather clumsy and very unconvincing creation. Probably, it was a mistake to show a dead Wirrn early in the story, thus reducing their later impact. The metamorphosis effect on 'Noah' is also rather poor; it is very obvious that his hand is covered in bubble wrap.

We are given a very bleak vision of the future. Not only has the earth been devastated by solar flairs and it's surviving population in hibernation, but society seems to have changed. The survivors on the Ark, with the strange exception of Rogin, are very cold and callous. We are given a fleeting glimpse of a very regimented society that looks down on outsiders as 'regressives.' They appear to regard those humans that have colonised other planets as having an almost subhuman status. It is clearly not a future we would relish. This effect is a little ruined by the character of Rogin (Richardson Morgan). His character and posture is just completely out of character with the society in which he is supposed to be living. He even makes a gag about a trade union. So are there trade unions in this apparently fascistic future society?

The musical score is very good and helps to enhance the overall sense of doom. At times the suggestion is made that the entire future of humanity rests with the survival of the Ark's inhabitants. While they might well feel so with their peculiar distrust of space colonists, it does not seem a correct assumption. The story acknowledges that there are human colonies on other worlds and this is supported by many other Dr. Who stories.

Wendy Williams is very good as Vira, showing at first a coolness towards the TARDIS crew, then an increasing warmth. Kenton Moore has often been praised for his performance as 'Noah,' but I am not very convinced. He seems a little awkward in the role and at times hams it up rather too much.

Tom Baker still seems a little uneasy in his role as the Doctor. It is probably only in Genesis of the Daleks that he really makes the part his own. Elisabeth Sladen gives her usual decent performance. It is Ian Marter who really shines as Harry Sullivan. Being a diagnosed Dyspraxic (clumsy child syndrome), I really identify with Harry's clumsiness and apparent stupidity. What is so delightful about Harry is that he takes his reputation for being a clumsy fool with such good grace. As a naval officer and a doctor, he has status in society and is perfectly at ease with himself. After his shoes are destroyed in the first episode, he spends the rest of the story in his stocking feet, which must have been rather comfy.

The similarities between this story and Ridley Scott's Alien movie have often been pointed out. It would be nice to think that this serial was an influence on the film. Nevertheless, it should never be thought that Ark in Space is better. Not only was Alien a landmark science fiction film, but it showed a much greater sophistication, playing on subconscious male fears about female genitalia, childbirth and breastfeeding.

While Ark in Space is not a story that gets me particularly excited, it is a great introduction to the Hinchcliffe era and a worthy second story for Tom Baker.

My Top Ten Favorite Stories

1. Remembrance of the Daleks
2. The Curse of Fenric
3. The Stones of Blood
4. Warriors' Gate
5. The Happiness Patrol
6. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
7. Delta and the Bannermen
8. Battlefield
9. An Unearthly Child
10. Paradise Towers