08/12/31

The one everyone loves to hate.

Doctor Who: Timelash

This serial was first broadcast between 9 - 16 March 1985. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: when the Doctor and Peri decide to go on holiday they end up in an episode of "Blake's 7" and meet H.G. Wells.

Though this isn't a good serial, it's not entirely bad either. Some good things:

• the incidental music is unusual and excellent
• the scene in part one where the Doctor first meets Herbert and Vena stands out. Colin Baker is very likeable here, he gets some good lines, and the Victorian set looks fantastic
• the 'underworld' of Karfel where Peri finds herself after escaping from her would-be captor in episode one looks good, even if the monster that inhabits it does not
• the Borad is one of Doctor Who's better hideously deformed villains (with the added bonus of the actor giving a nicely understated performance) and I liked the design of the android

Some still somewhat good things:

• the scenes in episode one that introduce us to Karfel are bad in a rather enjoyable way. The dialogue is almost 100% exposition (I'm getting out of the city to join the rebels who are camped in the hills nearby, are you with me?... no, the city is too heavily guarded by the evil tyrant who rules us, so I will stay and try to start the revolution from within...) but the actors make the most of it, giving the whole thing an almost Shakespearean feel
• Paul Darrow's performance as Tekker is completely over the top, but the script gives him so little to work with (and the audience so little to take in) that this becomes a good thing. The long wig he wears here (presumably meant to remind us of Olivier's Richard III) is even worse than any of his bad haircuts in "Blake's 7"

The big problem, however:

• the script is a mess. It's padded, there's no tension, there's no characterisation and the dialogue shows very few signs of intelligent life

My verdict:

Kind of fun, in a weird sort of way.

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Timelash (1985)

08/12/30

Doctor Who goes to Amsterdam.

Doctor Who: Arc of infinity

This serial was first broadcast between 3rd - 12th January 1983. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: after his execution, the Doctor doesn't go to heaven but to Amsterdam...

Like in 'Time-flight', in 'Arc of Infinity' we have (beware, spoiler ahead) a renegade Time Lord who is able to do his mischief by means of a lot of dodgy technology, and it's interesting to compare and contrast the way this is dealt with in both serials. The main difference with 'Time-flight' is that in 'Arc' Omega has a reason to do what he does, he has relationships with the other characters and the conflicts that arise from this are what drives the plot. While 'Time-flight' was about science and technology, 'Arc of infinity' is about character and relationships which makes it a much better story.

Some good things about this serial:

• we get a clever mix of several different story lines (the two young travellers in Amsterdam, the conspirators, the Doctor and Nyssa, the events on Gallifrey) that gradually merge into into a coherent whole
• this is a good story for Tegan, who always seems to work better as a character when the Doctor isn't around and she has to take the initiative in order to protect those around her, and it is especially a good story for Nyssa. It explores Nyssa's relationship with the Doctor and her budding romance with the Doctor's old friend Damon, and as a result she seems to have more of a personality here than in any other serial that I've seen her in. Perhaps this isn't surprising, as 'Arc of Infinity' was written by Johnny Byrne who had also written Nyssa's first story 'The keeper of Traken'
• we get good performances from the regulars and from the Time Lords, helped by good characterisation in the script
• the costumes and the sets look like money has been spent on them
• the serial rather cleverly combines location filming at Frankendael, a fairly unknown spot in Amsterdam, with studio work

The less good news:

• part four is a bit superfluous. Its main function seems to be to give the Tardis crew a chance to chase Omega through the historical city centre of Amsterdam
• the visual effects aren't great. The visual effect used for 'the matrix' had been used before in 'Castrovalva', and seems to be reused here for no apparent reason other than that the makers knew how to achieve it and thought it looked cool
• the Ergon, Omega's sidekick, is one of Doctor Who's dafter-looking monsters. Come to think of it Omega himself isn't one of the BBC's more successful creations either, though shown in negative he doesn't look that bad

The fun fact about this serial:

• in this serial Colin Baker, who would take over as the Doctor in 1984, shoots the fifth Doctor

My verdict:

I have a bit of a weakness for this serial since part of it was filmed in Amsterdam, a city I know extremely well, and some of it was shot at Frankendael which is a location that I'm quite fond of. Although I realise 'Arc of infinity' is far from 'Doctor who for the ages' I do think it's a sweet little story.

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Arc of infinity (1983)