DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SEASON TWENTY-ONE

So, we had a fun little nostalgia trip all the way through Season Twenty. But the anniversary festivities are over, now. Time to get back to just making some regular Who. 

Season Twenty-One would usher in quite a bit of change. The biggest, of course, being the replacement of the lead. But it wouldn't end there. The supporting cast would be clearing out too. By the end of the year, it would be totally different faces in the TARDIS from the ones we had seen at the beginning. 

Perhaps more significantly, though, would be the tonal shift we would start seeing this season. The Doctor would seem quite ineffectual in several of the stories in Twenty-One. There would be quite a bit of violence erupting around him that he would be useless in being able to stop. Part of this was being done to give Tegan a distaste for the adventures she's been having, of late, and decide to leave.  But some fans also posit that this was meant to show the Doctor that his lofty morals were, perhaps, too impractical. That he needed to start getting his hands a bit more dirty in his battles. Which does seem to legitimately trigger a change in the Doctor's attitude and approach towards injustice. Not just in Doctors Six and Seven, but in most incarnations that we see in New Who, too. In this sense, alone, Season Twenty-One is highly significant. 

In many ways, it changes the show forever. 

THE "BAD" BOOKENDS 

Like Season Twenty, the beginning and end of this latest run would also be a bit weak. In fact, quite a few fans would actually say very weak! 

There is not a lot of fondness for Warriors of the Deep. Most complaints are about over-lit sets or wooden acting or the intensely ridiculous-looking Myrka!   Which, in some ways, are valid objections. Those styrofoam bulkhead doors flopping down at the end of Part Two are not easy to look at! But, as is often the case for me, bad visuals only mar my enjoyment so much. Classic Who did its damnedest to work within the stark means it was given. I tend to judge stories more on the merits of the writing and directorial choices. 

Which means I don't actually find Warriors all-that-bad. Episodes One, Two and Four are, for the most part, solidly put-together. It's really only Part Three that has pretty big problems with how the plot is structured (I go into greater detail about it here: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/09/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-was-it.html). But, otherwise, I'm pretty good with everything. I particularly like the ending. Admittedly, I can't argue with those who, maybe, find it a bit corny! It kinda is. But that doesn't stop me from liking it! 

Probably the only other real problem the story might have is that it does feel a tad dated, now. Warriors of the Deep is meant to be a bit of a protest against the nuclear arms race that was going on at the time. It does almost need to be watched contextually, now. The Cold War, as it was called, is long-dead. Modern-day viewers have a hard time grasping the concept of Mutually-Assured Destruction and how ridiculous-yet-horrifying it was. Because Warriors is trying to mine this fear, it has a lot less impact, now.  

At the other end of the run, of course, we have Twin Dilemma. Poor 'ole Twin Dilemma! It's reputation seems to precede it. It's almost as if Fandom always votes it as the worst story ever because that's what we're told to do. We hear so much about how bad it's meant to be that we walk in with a sort of witch-hunting mentality. The verdict has already been made. We're just looking for any little reason to justify our disdain for it. 

And there certainly are some problems with it. Clearly, the money has run out. The safe-house on Titan Three appears to be made mainly of tin-foil! The aliens are looking quite cheap, too. Particularly Mestor and his slug buddies. But, again, low budgets only bother me so much. I'm more concerned with the lightness of Dilemma's plot. There really isn't quite enough there to sustain the four episodes. I'm also not too certain that anyone really understands basic astronomy and/or physics all that well. Judging, at least, by how they intend do all the planet-moving that they want to accomplish!   

There is something that I feel really makes up for a lot of these problems. The Doctor, himself. I absolutely adore him in this story. In all of his stories, really. But I do think he's great in this one. His extreme arrogance is wildly entertaining. A great contrast from Peter's portrayal. 

I know every fan in the world seems to think the show chose the absolute worst way possible to introduce this incarnation. But I actually liked the whole idea of it. Making us genuinely unsure of his mental stability and whether or not we would actually like him was the sort of brave choice that I distinctly admire. Introductory stories for a new incarnation were starting to become just a bit formulaic. I really did feel that this was a great way to spice things up. No one else in the Universe seems to agree with me on this. But that's okay. I'm perfectly happy being the Great Contrarion!   

I wouldn't even consider Twin Dilemma a Guilty Pleasure. I think it's somewhat passable. Like Robot or Time and the Rani (or even Deep Breath), the story is still fairly weak. But it showcases the new incarnation very well  Much of the entertainment in the whole tale stems from just how fun the latest Doctor is to watch. Which makes all the adventures I just mentioned - and Twin Dilemma, itself - decent stories for me. Far from perfect, but still all right.   

Just for some really crazy context: If given the choice of having to sit through Twin Dilemma or Robot, Dilemma would win every time. Robot is a far clunkier "we have no money!" mess than Dilemma could ever hope to be!   

SOLID MID-RANGERS 

While its beginning and end are not up to everyone's preference (I, myself, like them but don't think they're all that particularly strong), most of what sits in the middle of Season Twenty-One delivers quite well.

The Awakening is a nice little tale that fits the two-part format perfectly. There's just enough there to fill the run-time. The fact that nothing all that particularly big happens in the plot also really suits the situation. The whole thing is a "smaller" adventure that the Doctor had and I love that each of Davison's seasons contains one of these. It just makes things feel a bit more diverse. Classic Who could have benifited massively from more two-parters. Particularly in the 70s when so many six-parters were stuffed full of plot padding. I would be a much happier fan if Seeds of Doom had just been a two-parter in Antarctica and then we had moved on to another story entirely!    

Frontios is also great fun. I love the concept that there are times the Doctor isn't supposed to visit. I also think the Tractators are very interesting monsters. The fact that they are harmless without a Gravis is an interesting twist. The Doctor being so deceptive with the Leader of the Tractators comes across as a bit of foreshadowing. He will become more and more like this with his enemies in Days to Come. 

My absolute favorite part of Frontios, however, is when Turlough goes barking mad! Mark Strickson does not hold back on the OTT and becomes great fun to watch. I saw this story for the first time with a group of friends and it became our favorite thing, for a while, to enter a room by running in and screaming: "Tractators! I saw one of them!" The less people there were in the room that actually got the reference, the more we seemed to enjoy it! 

Speaking of Turlough, of course, we must finally come to Planet of Fire. Like Adric, I decided not to talk about him much til we came to his last story. Also similar to Adric, there seems to be lot of fans who aren't that fond of him. He was intentionally-written to be a bit of an unlikable character and a lot of folks seem to have fallen for it a bit too well!  

I will just state outright that I loved Turlough. He wins out over Rory by just a little bit as being my favorite male companion in the whole history of Who. Yup, I even like him a bit better than Jamie. 

A lot of it has to do, I think, with the arcs the writers built into him His internal struggles during The Guardian Trilogy are magnificently-constructed. We really do believe in his choice at the end of Enlightenment because we've watched all the turmoil he's gone through as he accepts that he can't really kill the Doctor. 

After the trilogy is over, however, the writers continue to grow the character. Turlough seems to be a dyed-in-the-wool coward who slowly-but-surely develops backbone over the course of Season Twenty-One. When he is faced with the ultimate responsibility of dealing with his past, he accepts what he must do in order to accomplish a Great Good. Even if it might have serious repercussions on his freedom. I really love all the treatment this character gets. The amount of growth he goes through (versus so many other companions who can really stagnate!) makes it near-impossible to not fall in love with him. Even if his desire to go home after the Guardian Trilogy does seem to contradict some of the stuff we get in Planet of Fire! 

Aside from saying bye to Turlough, there's a tonne of other things Fire has to accomplish. It must bring back the Master. It has to introduce Peri. Kamelion must also go. It will take advantage of the Lanzarote location. Somewhere along the way, it also has to have a plot of some sort! Planet of Fire does a very competent job with all these elements. To the point where it doesn't actually feel overstuffed at any point. Unfortunately, having to take care of so many things makes it nearly impossible for the poor writer to deliver us a True Classic of any sort. But it's still quite good.  

GOODBYE TEGAN

While I would also consider Resurrection of the Daleks a mid-ranger, I still thought I would give it a category of its own. It's a bit of a special case. 

I have this strange relationship with Resurrection of the Daleks. There have been times where I've watched it and really gotten into it. It's the Dalek Version of Earthshock. Very gritty and violent and genuinely disturbing, in places (that virus the Daleks release on the prison ship does some very nasty stuff!). Like Earthshock, things get very intense. And there's some great pacing to the whole thing. 

Other times, when I watch Resurrection of the Daleks, I really notice how clunky it can be. How it is trying to do waaaayyy too many things at once.  How it uses the end-of-story supporting cast slaughterfest. And how, because it has so many story strands, it feels like it doesn't actually have a real core plot. Just a bunch of threads that never truly come together to form a whole.  

Because it has so many different things working for and against it, the story feels quite middle-of-the-line. But in a very different way than most tales of this caliber do.  Most mid-rangers are just decently-told stories that could have been a bit better. This particular tale is different, though. For every good thing that Resurrection does, something equally-cringey will, oftentimes, happen a moment later. It, ultimately, still achieves mid-ranger status. But not in the usual manner. 

And then there's the departure of Tegan. My first impression of the scene is that it feels very rushed. But then, that makes a sort of sense. If she stops to think too long about what she's doing, Tegan won't follow through with the decision she's making. So everything has to happen fairly quickly. But it does feel that someone that's been on the show as long as she has deserved a farewell scene more akin to what Sarah Jane Smith got. 

In both Classic and Modern Who, there have been several companions that have hung in there for about three seasons.  This gives them a very special presence within the context of the programme. We feel a lot closer to them than we do most companions. Of all the Three Season Companions, I have always considered Tegan to be the most underrated. She is absolutely fantastic as the Mouth on Legs with a Brave Heart. I adored her. After Jamie, she is my absolute favorite in this category of companion. It was totally gut-wrenching to see her go. But I also absolutely love the bold way in which she was written out. Many times during the season, the Fifth Doctor seems to fail. And the fact that Tegan no longer seems to enjoy her travels with him is, perhaps, his greatest failure of them all. This is an extremely sobering moment for the Time Lord. I love it when the whole experience forces him to proclaim: "It seems I must mend my ways..." 

Like the rest of Resurrection of the Daleks, I have mixed feelings about Tegan's farewell. But I mostly appreciate what was achieved by it. And, of course, I cried like a bitch during Power of the Doctor when, at last, Tegan and Five made peace. I love how the hologram becomes solid for that briefest of moments as the Doctor answers: "Missed you too". 

But I am getting about 40 years ahead of myself, here. While Resurrection of the Daleks is a fairly strange tale, it is still another solid mid-ranger in the season.  

GOODBYE PETER

And then, at last, we reach what is considered by many as the Peak of Season Twenty-One. 

There is much to appreciate about The Caves of Androzani. A great script brought to life by some brilliant direction. I can see why it gets so much love. I, myself, enjoy it quite a bit until we get to Part Four. Where it does feel as though things fall apart a bit. And, of course, we get another end-of-story Supporting Cast Slaughterfest. I've griped about these quite a bit in other entries so I won't go on about them too much, here. Here is an essay where I do harp about it quite a bit: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/07/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-more.html

Androzani, to me, is another "Fake Classic". Unlike a lot of other stories of this nature,  it almost achieves the lofty status fans ascribe to it. As I said, those first three episodes are pretty damned amazing. Whereas many other Fake Classics out there like, say, Genesis of the Daleks or Talons of Weng Chiang or Seeds of Doom legitimately baffle me, They don't strike me as being all that particularly great. But I'm almost able to see what fans like so much about this story. I would say it's nearly a Classic. In the case of the other Fake Classics I just mentioned - I don't feel they come anywhere close to achieving such a title. With Caves, at least, I appreciate it more than I do most adventures that fit under this category.     

Peter Davison's send-off will always stand out for me. Other Doctors, in their final tale, get to pull off an act of heroism of some sort. At the bare minimum, they save a town of people like Eleven or Twelve did. In some instances, they do like Four and rescue the entire Universe!  But this particular incarnation just runs around and tries to stay alive for four episodes (and doesn't even manage that!). It's the ultimate example of how the Doctor's ways are no longer working and he must mend them. He needs to become more ruthless in his approach to fighting injustice. His current attitude no longer works. 

I was very sad  to see  this incarnation go. Also quite shocked! The first time I saw this story, I didn't actually know it was his last. So I was freaking out pretty badly in those final few minutes when he suddenly regenerates. 

As I have explained in another Review, Five was my Doctor. I may have actually experienced Tom first but it was in a fairly random way. I decided to sit down and start properly watching the show as Davison took the reigns. His three seasons represent quite the journey for me. I was falling in love with Doctor Who as I followed those seasons. So losing the Fifth Doctor took a heavy toll on me. I didn't want the man who had really shown me what this show was about to leave. 

Nostalgia aside, however, Davison gave us one of the best performances in the role. Nowadays, I do hear some fans say he's a bit vanilla. I almost resent such a statement. He simply played his version of the Doctor with a degree of subtlety and naturalism. Even in New Who, actors tend to make the part feel a bit stagy. Which is fine, really. The character lends itself to that sort of interpretation. But, for me, Davison stands out so much because he avoided that approach as much as possible. I will always hold the Fifth Doctor in very high regard because of the brilliant choices Davison made as he played him. 

He was a great Doctor. Better than most. 

FINAL ANALYSIS 

If I continue with my current trend of comparing all the JNT seasons to each other, I would say that Season Twenty-One ties with Twenty. There are some rougher stories in both seasons, of course. But neither Arc of Infinity nor King's Demons go as badly as  Warriors of the Deep and Twin Dilemma did. Twenty also has a "True Classic" in Enlightenment whereas Caves of Androzani doesn't quite get there because of its sloppy ending. Even as we compare mid-rangers, the anniversary season had Snakedance. Which may not quite be a Classic, but it's certainly outstanding. There's nothing in Twenty-One's middle-of-the-line stuff that stands out like Snakedance does.  

It's in the "overall vibe" of the two seasons where things come clean in the wash. Twenty attempts a great little nostalgia trip but, for the most part, fails in the effort. Whereas Twenty-One offers us something different and more gritty that is clearly taking the show in a new direction. Which I think makes the whole set of stories more interesting, in general. 

So, while Twenty-One falls a bit short with its individual stories, the whole is better than the parts. Whereas Twenty suffers the exact opposite problem. Which gets them to tie each other in the grander scheme of things. Nineteen, of course, beats them both by a bit. And Eighteen blows everything away. Not just in the JNT era, but in all of Doctor Who, ever.   

Speaking of the JNT Era, a strange undercurrent in fandom seems to start developing around this time. There are, of course, fans who have been disliking the Hawaiian-shirt-wearing producer since Day One. This sort of thing happens with just about any new showrunner. Some folks just aren't happy with the changes they institute in their favorite programme. JNT probably got this worse than some because he made very radical alterations to Doctor Who when he stepped in. Audiences can respond harshly when they don't feel as though they've been eased into new things. But it's right around this period that fans who dislike him seem to grow a bit in number and start becoming much more vocal. Discontent really starts to breed amongst those who are devoted to the show. Much of it is directed specifically at the Producer. And, while it would get much worse in years to come, the seeds of that disdain get planted here. 

Which strikes me as odd, really.  I'm greatly enjoying what JNT has done with things. Sure, we're getting the occasional Time Flight. But, overall, I find a lot of the content he's giving us to be more than above-average. Rant and rave all you want about Hinchcliffe or Letts. I'd actually take most of JNT's work over their output any day. He delivers quality material on a far more consistent basis. He gave us just as many Classics as the other two did. But gave us far less duds. 

I think JNT was probably the best Producer Classic Who ever had. And Season Twenty-One is just one more example of how good he was. It may have had a problem or two here and there, but it's still an excellent season. Far more enjoyable to watch than most other seasons.