TIME FLIGHT
Yet another story from the 80s that suffers from "The Curse of Time" (a nice title for a Who story but we know, already, it won't be good!). Any story that has the word "time" in it doesn't tend to fare well among fandom. Particularly stories from the 80s. One of my other stories on this list exemplifies this idea quite well.
In some ways, Time Flight was dealt the same bad hand as Twin Dilemma. A super-intense Peter Davison story was just shown that was flat-out amazing and this is the story that has to come after it. It's like having to follow the guy in an open mic show who just did an awesome set. It's incredibly daunting and there's a good chance you're just not going to measure up. Even if you're just as good as he was - he went up first and rocked the House. You're the guy going after him and the House is a bit worn out from clapping so hard for the first guy.
There is, of course, a second similarity that Time Flight shares with Twin Dilemma: a tremendously poor budget. There was just no money left for either of these stories. And we can totally see that. It's pretty damned embarrassing, actually. Particularly any time the Plasmatons appear!
Here's the thing: I can put up with poor budgets and rough placements in the story order. There are countless other examples in Who where such dynamics occurred and everything was fine because we had a well-written script with a good director and some fine actors who were able to overcome the obstacles thrown at them. Unfortunately, both Time Flight and Twin Dilemma were not gifted in such areas. Both have sloppy scripts, lazy direction and less-than-stellar performances in them. Twin Dilemma does suffer from all these problems but not quite enough for me to officially declare the story bad. There are enough redeeming qualities to it that inspire me to defend this story to the bitter end and give it a "not as bad as everyone says it is" status.
Time Flight, however, is just plain bad. Not only is it hindered by a lack of budget and having to come after Earthshock - there's just not a lot of good stuff to say about the writing, acting or directing, either. It's just really weak. Not just the worst Fifth Doctor story, but one of the worst stories, ever.
And yet, I do love watching Time Flight just after I wrap up Earthshock. Or just before I dive into Arc of Infinity. Or I'll even just enjoy it all by itself. Can't for the life of me understand why - but I do really enjoy Time Flight.
What the hell's a matter with me?!
I am quite pleased with how the story started. Self-contained episodes were still very big back then in television. Even in Doctor Who, we often saw a new story start that didn't acknowledge at all what had happened in the previous one. It just put less pressure on everyone when you made TV that way. Writers didn't have to take on what the previous writer did. Script editors didn't have to work in extra references. Even actors could just dump out of their memories what had happened last week and start the slate fresh. But something so big happens in Earthshock that Time Flight has no choice but to pick up where things left off. The mourning between the three remaining TARDIS crewmembers is still woefully brief (which is your first clue that there might be something wrong with this story) but it's still good that it's there. The fact that Adric also appears in the illusions being thrown up against Nyssa and Tegan an episode later is also a nice touch. The Alzarian Brat might not have been too popular with the fans, but his passing is still handled somewhat respectfully. I like that.
Episode 1, in general, seems quite promising. We have a few shots that blatantly scream: "My God! Where has all the money gone?!". But then we also have some very nice location work at Heathrow to help atone for some of these low-budget sins. More importantly, there's a suitable amount of intrigue to the plot and some nice supporting cast that are introduced as the Doctor talks his way into riding on a concord jet. Even the reference to the Brigadier and UNIT isn't overworked. It's simply used as a quick device to get the Doctor into the story. I also quite like the fact that if the Doctor hadn't bothered to stop and check the cricket scores, none of this would've happened. There was a definite attempt to pull away from quirkiness because Tom Baker's Doctor had so much of it. It's nice to see the Doctor Five starting to indulge in his own version of eccentricity.
Part Two is where things starting getting a bit pear-shaped. There's some definite padding starting to creep in but it's still not actually too bad. Still, we can sense trouble on the horizon. Time is being marked for a big reveal at the end of the episode and that's never a good thing. Delaying plot development just so it lines up with a huge revelation can have huge consequences on pace and flow. We see some of this happening as the episode nears its climax.
The first time I saw Time Flight, the surprise return of the Master was very exciting. I was still very new to the show and had only seen a handful of stories. Those had included Logopolis and Castrovalva so I was familiar with the whole Doctor/Master rivalry and had greatly enjoyed it. But the format of the show was still so foreign to me. I didn't know that the Master was in the habit of "living to fight another day" so it was great to see that he was that sort of villain. I waited in eager anticipation for Episode Three.
Within moments of that new episode that excitement died away. Some very clear bad writing was presenting itself. "So you escaped Castrovalva, after all...." was all we got as an explanation for how the Master had survived his last peril. Really? That's it? Writers do know that when you seem to have killed off a character and he's suddenly still alive that an audience wants an explanation, right? No such luck, though. The scene moves on and how the Master survived Castrovalva is now an eternal mystery.
But the Master's return presents a second significant problem. Why was the Master dressed as Kalid in the first place? I mean, once the Doctor meets him in his control center - disguising himself just before the confrontation might make some sort of vague sense. But we see lots of shots of Kalid just by himself before this ever happens. Short of creating a really great ending to Part Two, why would the Master do this?
Episode Three begins with these two huge problems and just gets worse. Those who site Ainley's Master as being infinitely inferior to Delgado's Master are thinking of this episode. Ainley does really seem to go pretty over-the-top in this story. I actually have little or no objections to his performances in any other stories. But, here, he's just a bit too big of a ham. He's a full-on panto villain.
The storyline with the Xeraphin and the Master's need for them isn't too bad. A bit over-contrived in places and difficult to believe. But Who has dealt with far worse premises. The confrontation the Doctor has with them in the sarcophagus is one of the few moments where Episode Three seems to go well. Otherwise, it's all just a lot of silly runaround. Particularly when you consider that the Master has gone to all this trouble to get a workforce and then he just puts together an induction loop to achieve what he wants. Why didn't he just do that to begin with?!
Part Four doesn't improve too much. There is, of course, a certain amount divisiveness in Fandom about Professor Hayter's saving of the Doctor and his companions from the inner sanctum. Some say it was a very profound moment where Doctor Who offers just the slightest glimpse into the nature of the afterlife. Others say it was just a cheap cop-out to get the protagonists out of the corner they'd been painted into. I sit somewhere in the middle about this.
The rest of the episode has problems and strongpoints. A concord taking off in prehistoric times is a bit of a hard pill to swallow. Ainley does settle his performance down a bit - particularly during his bartering with Davison. Those are actually some fairly nice scenes that show a very different dynamic between the Doctor and his arch rival.
Overall, though, Time Flight's conclusion is fairly lackluster. The resolution, in general, is pretty unsatisfying. I remember when I first watched this story, I wasn't even totally sure how the conflict had been solved. It's a bit contrived.
So, there you go: a bit of a breakdown to help better understand why I enjoy this extremely weak story so much. The deeper problems with the story only start to really present themselves' in the later episodes. And, even then, there are some still some nice moments. It probably doesn't help, though, that I watch this story with a sense of retrospectiveness that colors it even more negatively. I know that Time Flight marks the beginning of a series of adventures where the Master just keeps on being left in horrible situations and no one makes the slightest attempt in his next appearance to explain how he made it out. It's very frustrating.
Still, even with all these problems - I love putting on Time Flight. As horrible of a visual as they may be, those swaying Plasmatons do seem to have a sort of hypnotic quality to them. Maybe, if you turn up the soundtrack really loud during the Plasmaton attacks, you can hear a voice faintly muttering: "This story is actually good. You will enjoy it. You will enjoy it...."
The other Four:
#5
http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/05/book-of-lists-top-five-guilty-pleasures.html
#4
http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/05/book-of-lists-top-five-guilty-pleasures_11.html
#3
http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/05/book-of-lists-five-guilty-pleasures.html
#2
http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/05/book-of-lists-top-five-guilty-pleasures_21.html
And, just for fun, here's a link to my 10th Favorite Who Story Of All Time. It will have links to the other Nine of them....
http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2015/12/book-of-lists-top-ten-who-stories-10.html
I have also referenced my "Not As Bad As They Say It Is" List once or twice in these posts. Here it is:
http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2015/07/book-of-lists-5-not-as-bad-as-everyone.html
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