UNADULTERATED BOORISH OPINION: UNSUNG CLASSICS - PART FIVE

Quite a while has passed since I've written something in this particular series. Thought it might be time to do another one...   

RE-ESTABLISHING THE GROUND RULES

It has been a long time since I've done an entry like this. So I thought I might establish, once more, what exactly constitutes an Unsung Classic. After all, I have ascribed all kinds of different titles to various stories throughout the years. There are Guilty Pleasures and Not as Bad as They Say There Ares. I even have a Was it so Bad? series. It can get a bit confusing!  

An Unsung Classic usually has a decent reputation. It's considered by most fans to be a solid story. It's not mentioned in the same breath as such Greatest Hits (Oh look! Another title and/or category!) like Genesis of the Daleks or Seeds of Doom or even Caves of Androzani - but I think it ought to be. It is, essentially, a well-appreciated tale that does not get the credit it deserves. 

So when I start discussing the merits of the story and expressing my outrage over it not getting better recognition, there's no need for you to remark: "The adventure is already well-regarded, Rob!". I know that. I'm saying that we all ought to be holding these stories in better regard than we do.

One other important thing about Unsung Classics: like Krynoid pods, they come in pairs. I always like to cover something from both the Classic and the New Series. So there will be two entries of this nature over the next little while. They might not immediately follow each other. But a second one will, eventually, get written. Otherwise, I feel out of balance! 

STARTING WITH THE CLASSIC SERIES 

So, let's get into it. Which story am I going to rant about this time? Will it be from New or Old Who? 

Just like a good Dalek tale, I've given the answer away in the title. We'll be covering the Classic Series first. The story I will be examining even hails from an era that I don't usually have many good things to say about. I wouldn't claim it's a terrible period of the show - no such time exists. But it is definitely one of my least favorite eras. In fact, one of the reasons why I like this particular adventure so much is because it doesn't really fit in with the other content around it.

As I have frequently expressed, Season Seven of the Classic Series is, pretty much, complete and utter brilliance. Yes, the seven-parters can drag a bit. But there is a certain grittiness to them that I greatly enjoy. This is a version of Doctor Who that frequently feels "the most real" out of anything the show ever produced. The characters are very three-dimensional and believable - both in the way they are written and performed. There's quite a bit of dramatic subtlety going on, too. Scenes will run for long periods of time without any incidental music under them. It's up to us to make up our minds about what we're seeing on the screen. Rather than having the music tell us how to feel. The whole tone of the show feels very mature. Like we are watching a drama that just happens to deal with science fiction ideas rather than an actual sci fi adventure. It's really quite beautiful. 

But then along comes Season Eight. From this point onward, most of the Third Doctor era is going for much more camp sensibilities. We're not talking in-your-face Season Seventeen stuff, of course. But, compared to Pertwee's first season, things are veering much more towards pantomime. Just look at how heavily Terror of the Autons relies on the Master's little theme tune to play almost every time he's in a scene. And listen to how over-indulgent the actual theme song is. There is definitely no allowance for ambiguity with this new villain. He is dark and sinister. And this is being crammed down our throat. The Master might as well be tying Jo Grant to some railroad tracks! 

This is just one of several problems that I have with this particular period of the show. I don't want to complain too much about it, of course. But I need to express it to get you to better understand why it is that I love The Mind of Evil so much.   

STILL STUCK IN SEASON SEVEN 

I still remember the first time I watched the Third Doctor Era. That huge tonal shift that we get in Terror of the Autons, very obviously, had me concerned. It was great to see the Autons coming back and the Master appearing in the show for the first time. I was even quite happy with Robert Holmes' script (the Master's very sudden change of heart(s) about assisting the Nestene invasion in the last few minutes is a bit of a stretch in credulity - otherwise, it's quite good). But I could also sense that, between seasons, some heavy decisions had been made by the production team about a change in direction for the show. And, overall, I really didn't like where it was going. 

Imagine my relief, then, when Mind of Evil comes on. Don Houghton, the same writer that delivered us the magnificent Inferno, seems to have not gotten the memo about all the changes that have been made. He delivers us a tale that feels like Terror of the Autons never happened. 

A great example of this is the way the Third Doctor is much more in keeping with his personae during the previous season. During Season Seven, he is obstinately anti-establishment. I love it, for instance, when he yells down at the guard in Ambassadors of Death that he doesn't believe in security passes. Whereas, in Terror of the Autons, he lets on that he's getting quite friendly with politicians. Given how he behaved in Season Seven, I found it hard to believe he would ever be able to get friendly with people with that level of authority. Within the first few minutes of Mind of Evil, however, we see him back to his old ways. The Doctor is making a fool of himself on a security camera and then completely talking over a presentation to the point where the speaker gets hostile with him. This is the Third Doctor that I loved. For one story, at least, he seems to be back. 

The direction of the story is very much in keeping with the preceding season, too. Again, we have long stretches of no incidental music to suggest how we should react to what we're seeing. In general, things are kept understated. Even Delgado seems to be reigning the character in. That great scene of him in the limo listening to sinister music while chomping on a cigar would have been played up a whole lot more in Terror of the Autons. Here, it's kept to a bare minimum. The sequence still shows us that the character is pretty dark and twisted. But it doesn't have to go too over-the-top about it. Which makes it a much more fun moment than if they had tried to make it bigger. 

Is Mind of Evil completely free of the changes Season Eight heralded? Of course not. We do, for example, get that "UNIT family formula" that begins to present itself over and over again in every story. Mike Yates gets a bit cheeky. The Brigadier is outraged over some minor bit of behavior that a subordinate shows that he feels is inappropriate. Benton has something really crappy happen to him. You could almost make a drinking game with the consistency of this pattern. In some ways, I get that this kind of thing creates a sort of fun familiarity with the UNIT staff. But it also just smacks, ever-so-slightly, of lazy writing. Like the way we always knew in Star Trek that the character we'd never seen before wearing the red tunic was not going to make it out of the story alive! 

MORE THAN JUST A SEASON SEVEN VIBE

If Mind of Evil was merely a return to that 'ole Season Seven atmosphere I would hardly try to qualify it as an Unsung Classic. There needs to be more than just a few well-loved traits from a better time. There also needs to be a great story. Fortunately, Mind of Evil accomplishes this beautifully. 

One of the things that the Seven-Parters of the previous season did to avoid dragging on was to occasionally shift the emphasis of the story a bit. To create a sort of more concentrated storyline within the larger one. Doctor Who and the Silurians, for example, takes an episode or so to focus on a hunt for that wounded Silurian that fled from the caves. Ambassadors of Death focuses for a time on the Doctor launching into space to have a talk with the aliens that are searching for their ambassadors. It's a sort of digression from the main thrust of the story that keeps us engaged and marks time in a creative way. 

Mind of Evil is only one episode less and uses that same trick effectively. Sometime around Episode Five, the whole adventure takes a bigger focus on the UNIT operations as they must figure out a way to storm Stangmoor Prison and bust out the Doctor. It's a great little diversion that creates a pretty nice shoot-out sequence. The Brigadier is also quite heroic for a bit. This would also be one of the last times that UNIT is genuinely useful to a plot. After Mind of Evil, the only purpose they ever seem to serve is to demonstrate that bullets are useless against the current menace they are facing! 

Mind of Evil, in general, does a great job of filling its six episodes. Something that so many six-parters fail miserably at during this particular era. Most just use a bunch of Captures-and-Escapes to fill their extra minutes (have a look at this to better understand what I mean: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/11/complete-and-utter-silliness-capture.html). What Houghton does, instead, is create multiple strong plot threads that will weave in and out of each other several times over. I love how interlinked everything is. This is, perhaps, the story's greatest strength. There are a lot of nice layers going on within the actual story, itself. The Peace Conference, the Thunderbolt Missile, the Keller Machine at Stangmoor. They all have something to do with each other and the back-and-forth between all these Set Pieces is a far better way to fill those six parts than just: "Oops! We're incarcerated again! How will we get out this time?!" It actually almost annoys me that they never hire Houghton again to write a story. 

BEST STUFF IS THE KELLER MACHINE

Okay. Let's keep building on the positives of this adventure and harp less on the things I didn't like about the other stories around it! 

Probably the greatest highlights in Mind of Evil come from the Keller Machine, itself. So many great things happen with it. Some nice intrigue involving it builds up in Part One. Barnum gets too much evil sucked out of him (becoming a sort of low key version of Tommy from Planet of Spiders). Some weird deaths occur that give the Doctor important clues. And then, of course, there's the nice callback to Houghton's previous script as we move into Episode Two. It actually adds a nice dimension to the Doctor's character and shows in a subtle way that the show is not an "etch-a-sketch program" as much of TV was, at the time. Previous stories can still have a bearing on the latest one. 

Of course, the Keller Machine keeps getting cooler and cooler. The Rogues Gallery of villains that we see as the Doctor keeps confronting the mind parasite are another nice nod to the past. Although, it really does say something about the Doctor's psyche that Koquillion seemed to strike such fear into his heart! 

And then there's the most fascinating hallucination of them all: what the Master ends up seeing. The image of a giant Doctor looking down upon him laughing mockingly at his inadequacy is an image that will always stand out for me. Lots of other fans seem to have fond regard for it, too. Easily, one of the best moments for the Delgado Master.  

But it's not just the hallucinations that make the Keller machine so great. It's a genuinely effective story device. Houghton uses it to make a bit of a statement about human nature. The way the machine pursues Mailer instead of the Doctor and Jo is one of his more obvious points. But the gorgeous plot twist with Barnum becoming the source of the mind parasite's ultimate undoing is fantastic. It becomes an even deeper statement about how an evil nature brings nothing but grief. Earlier in the tale, the Keller Machine got greedy and drained too much from Barnum. Its own selfish desire creates the one thing that can neutralise it. 

Using one conflict to resolve another is always a favorite plot device for me. It's one of the reasons that I actually like Tsuranga Conundrum more than most fans do (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/05/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-was-it-so.html). So the fact that the Keller Machine becomes a key point in unravelling the Master's plan brings me great delight. I also love the sad twist with Barnum at the story's climax. Houghton decides to rob us of a completely happy ending. In so doing, he gives us a bit more of that realism that I loved Season Seven for. Having a pure heart does have its benefits. But, sometimes, Evil will still win. 

A FEW FLAWS

Mind of Evil is a magnificent story. But it isn't perfect. I have already discussed some of its plot holes in another entry (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/06/complete-and-utter-silliness-few-of-my.html). So I won't dwell long. 

The two biggest problems with Evil are pretty obvious. The first is the fact that victims of the Keller Machine in Part One die of fright but also show physical manifestations of what is scaring them. This makes no sense. A person can believe they are being attacked by rats or drowned to death and that can cause heart failure. But they shouldn't have tiny bite and scratch marks on their flesh or water in their lungs. By this same logic, shouldn't the Doctor have gotten burnt a bit at the end of Part One? 

The other great goof is the Doctor's escape from the Master when they are in the Governor's office at Stangmoor. Some very obviously-placed drinking water spills across the floor and the Master slips over it several times. It's a damned silly escape sequence. 

Beyond that, the quibbles are pretty minor. Mailer's failed attempt to arrange a prison break feels just a bit like some capture-and-escape padding (another prisoner plants a gun for him - but where did he get it?!). The fact that Jo is a hostage during both prison breaks and has next-to-nothing bad done to her also takes away from that realism I love so much. The show did actually acknowledge the existence of sexual assault in its very early days so it could bring it up, here, too. You'd think there could have, at least, been a bit of dialogue to the nature of: "Let me work a deal with the Governor, first. He'll be more agreeable if she's not harmed. Once we get what we want from him, then we'll have some fun with her!". I just find it a bit hard to believe that a woman is stuck in a building full of convicts out of their cells and the Elephant in the Room doesn't get acknowledged at all.

Could these flaws be the reason why Mind of Evil did not become a Classic? Surely a Greatest Hit is a work of perfection. So if a story does have a few problems - as minor as they may be - won't that disqualify it from ever becoming a fan favorite? 

With that in mind, let's look at Genesis of the Daleks: a highly-revered tale that makes it into most peoples' Top Ten. In many cases, it's a fan's Number One. While Genesis has its merits, it also has its problems. It has so much trouble filling its six parts that it actually starts putting in captures-and-escapes right in the first episode. It has the worst cliffhanger resolution in the history of the show. Its final episode also drags horribly as Davros must stall endlessly while he waits for his Daleks to return to wipe out the Kaled Scientific Elite who refuse to follow him. These are the bigger negative issues with the plot. There are a few minor ones, too. But, already, I'd say the "sins" of Genesis of the Daleks far outweigh those of Mind of Evil. And yet, the Dalek Origin Tale is still considered a crowning gem in the history of the show. If an adventure wrought with that many difficulties can be considered a Fan Favorite, there's no reason this Unsung Classic can't have a similar level of notoriety. 

FINAL CONCLUSION

And so, as Mind of Evil concludes, we return to the more paint-by-numbers storytelling that we will get for the main bulk of the Third Doctor Era. The Master will keep dabbling in things he doesn't understand. UNIT will fire constantly on monsters they cannot harm. The Doctor will complain endlessly about the stupidity of the Military Mentality (but still keep working all the time with a military organization!). During brief respites, he will tell us how much better we need to take care of the environment. And, of course, Jo will trip and fall and get into trouble. In the final season of Pertwee, Sarah Jane will come along and trip and fall and get into trouble but also talk a lot more about Women's Rights.    

But, for six glorious episodes, Season Eight was allowed to borrow from the formula of its previous year. Which was, essentially, to avoid having any kind of real formula. Stories moved in whatever direction they needed to and were competently told. Characters were three-dimensional. The drama felt real rather than forced. The subject matter was mature but still allowed for moments of levity. This is what Mind of Evil brought back just one more time. And I am eternally grateful for it! 

But, as I said, this story is more than just one Last Season Seven Hooplah. It's a genuinely gripping tale that deals with some of the deeper concepts\s of the Nature of Man rather than trying to be overtly left-wing or topical. Which, to me, frequently makes for a stronger Who story. The show has always had certain political leanings - that's undeniable. But, when it strives harder to delve into Immortal Truths than modern agendas, it frequently produces better content. 

Mind of Evil is a stunning example of this kind of storytelling. Yes, Inferno will always be Don Houghton's best script for the show. But this one does pretty damned well too. 

There it is: The first UNSUNG CLASSIC essay in ages. Hope you enjoyed it and weren't too upset by my Negative Third Doctor Sentiment. 

I have already picked out which story from New Who is also an Unsung Classic. We'll be looking at it shortly. Perhaps even next....

 

 

    

SIXTH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! BOOK OF LISTS: FIVE OPINIONS I HAVE ABOUT DOCTOR WHO THAT ACTUALLY LINE UP WITH POPULAR FAN CONSENSUS

Another year under the belt! 

If you go back to the Five Year Anniversary Special (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/03/book-of-lists-five-unpopular-opinions-i.html), you'll see that I did a fun little BOOK OF LISTS essay about some of the opinions I have about Doctor Who that don't line up at all with Popular Fan Consensus. Some of it was genuinely scandalous (but absolutely true - I really don't think Genesis of the Daleks was a particularly good story!).    

Not agreeing with how the fans feel is nothing unusual for me. I try to go with my own tastes and not really care much about what others think. However, I did think it might be fun for this anniversary to do the total opposite of last year's list. Let's actually share some opinions I have on the show that do agree with the majority of fans. 

THE LIST:

Having proudly borne the nickname of "The Great Contrarion" for many years, I feel I should take an opportunity during my Blogiversary (that's a word, I've just decided it) to show that I'm not that contradictory, after all. I have compiled a list of five things that I like about Doctor Who that agree with General Fan Opinion. Given how unique and different my opinions usually are, I thought this might be fun. 

Enjoy this while you can, folks. Once this entry's over, it's back to my old ways of claiming Colin Baker is the best Doctor, Chris Chibnall is producing great Doctor Who and Roger Delgado was merely a decent-but-over-rated Master. 

Here we go:

5. PATRICK TROUGHTON WAS AN AWESOME DOCTOR 

This is a pretty easy one. Even someone who negates Popular Fan Consensus as much as I do would not argue with this idea. Patrick Troughton was an amazing actor even before he got the part. As a performer, myself, I'm actually familiar with some of his techniques and methods and employ quite a few of them when I am at work. 

Of course, I didn't really look into him until I learnt that he played the Doctor. But what I saw of his portrayal immediately impressed me. Which prompted me to investigate other roles he's played and his background, in general. In fact, I'd go so far to say that there are few actors to have played the Doctor who I have researched more thoroughly than Patrick Troughton (I looked into Peter Davison a lot, too. As I also enjoy a lot of his technique). 

It was those incredible acting chops that got us to move past the most radical change the show ever made in its formula and caused us to fall almost-instantly in love with Doctor Two. Troughton clearly put a lot of thought into how he would play the role and gave us a new interpretation that was just as engaging as his predecessor (perhaps even more!). There are all sorts of beautiful layers to his Doctor that he evokes with the deepest of conviction. It's entirely possible that if anyone else had been cast in the role the show would have died.  

Some, of course, have a hard time with his actual stories. Admittedly, they do look very clunky compared to modern-day standards. But part of what lifts his episodes is that he is just so damned watchable. You start to forget about the wobbly sets, poor plot construction or incorrect science because Troughton is an utter delight. 

I will never deny the greatness of this man. Patrick Troughton kicked ass as the Doctor. I am glad he came back so many times after The War Games. His return appearances were always such fun!   

4. CERTAIN CLASSICS REALLY ARE CLASSICS 

Since, in my last Anniversary Special, I picked on certain stories that fans all claim to be awesome but I don't like much, I thought I'd do the exact reverse. This time, we'll look at stories that most fans adore that I am in agreement with. 

Way back in the 18th Century, I did compile a list of my Top Ten all-time favorite Who Stories (Here's the first on the List if you want to see what I like. Just continue from there: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/12/book-of-lists-top-ten-who-stories-10.html). Many on that list are considered to be absolute Classics by people who enjoy the show. 

I won't bother to go into any of those, here. No point in repeating myself. So, instead, I'll put up a few more that don't quite make it into my Top Ten but are still amazing:

Inferno

Oh, Glorious Season Seven. If only your format had continued through the rest of the Third Doctor Era. I might love that incarnation of the Doctor as much as everyone else seems to. But, instead, you became so painfully formula-driven and a bit flat and uninteresting. 

Oh wait, I'm not supposed to be stating the stuff that disagrees with Popular Fan Consensus! Come on, Rob. Focus. 

Inferno is the crowning jewel in a really fantastic season. Any person that doesn't love that "So, Free Will isn't an illusion, after all" line probably has something seriously wrong with them. It's truly a high point in the entire history of the show. The Doctor is, basically, having one of his most triumphant, life-affirming epiphanies. 

Of course, there's more to Inferno than just that sequence. It's one of the best jobs any sci-fi series has ever done with the alternate reality trope. Even though it's that standard "We're all a bit more fascist" storyline that we see done so often when this type of device is used, the execution is still beautiful. It is also just so surreal to see the Brigadier as a snivelling coward and complete asshole! 

We should address the Elephant in the Room: Inferno is a bit longer than it needs to be. But we really only feel a bit of padding somewhere around Episode Five. And, even then, we don't feel it much. For the most part, this is super-compelling drama that explores some really fascinating themes and concepts. It's also very intense and quite eerie. Even if people are running around in bad werewolf outfits!!! 

The Sunmakers

I love the basis of inspiration for this particular story. Essentially, Robert Holmes got screwed over really badly on his income taxes and decided that he should satirise the whole thing. Aliens that oppress society through taxation becomes one of the most utterly brilliant premises the show has ever undertaken.   

Sunmakers is, for the most part, loved by all. But I am actually a bit shocked that fans don't go on about this story more. This is some really clever stuff that still remembers to tell an exciting action story. It's not just Holmes bitching about taxes, it's a very well-rounded tale. It's also done during that period where Tom Baker's Doctor is becoming more whimsical but still isn't, for the most part, taking the comedy too far. There's a great balance, here. On so many different levels. 

In fact, nothing in Sunmakers ever seems to skew too far in any direction. I even love how the rebels are not entirely the most likeable of people. They're in a very difficult situation and this has made them pretty cold. Only as the Doctor begins to offer real hope do they become characters that we are rooting for. 

Of course, the absurdity of the villains is another really fun point of this story. Both the Gatherer and the Collector are portrayed masterfully. How can we not love all the titles Hade comes up with to compliment his pay-master?! It's utterly hilarious. 

Oddly enough, the ending of this story is ridiculously satisfying. The rebels do triumph over the tyranny that has been controlling them (quite cool that the Doctor uses a bit of propaganda to move the process along). But, as they bust into the Collector's palace with guns blazing, the Doctor beats the Usurian at his own game. Rather than taking him out with blunt force, a slight adjustment of the economy sends the evil being into permanent retreat. The whole story is just so damned clever from beginning to end. 

It's great stuff and I love it!

 

Curse of Fenric 

This is one of many stories from those last two seasons of Doctor Who where I found myself saying: "I can't believe TV could be this good!" It is a genuine tragedy that the whole Classic Series is going to end only a few episodes later. Things were going so well! 

A street-smart kid who likes to make her own explosives was already a great premise for a companion. But the fact that the production team really makes a concerted effort to flesh Ace out and give us a three-dimensional character who is also a fun gimmick makes her all-the-more awesome. There are several stories that do this with her, of course. But none do it better than Curse of Fenric. 

We know, as soon as Ace mentions that her mother has the same name as the baby, where things are going to go. She is going to be forced to resolve some of her mom issues. And I really do love how she cries out: "Mum! I'm sorry!" as she stands in the firing line. Those last few moments of the story as she dives into the water and we get all this beautiful healing symbolism is really impressive. It's all great stuff. 

But it isn't the only type of growth that we see in Ace during this adventure. Ace distracting the guard by flirting rather than chucking Nitro 9 at him is another great moment that shows she is evolving and growing. It's this sort of attention that the writers are giving her that will eventually inspire other authors to create such great companions for us when the show returns in 2005. 

But there is so much more to Curse of Fenric than just Ace-development.  This whole secret ongoing battle between Fenric and the Doctor that has been raging for multiple seasons comes to its ultimate fruition in the most epic of manners. I mean, really, defeating one of the most powerful forms of evil in the Universe with a confusing chess move should be completely ludicrous. But we love it. Especially the scenes where Fenric stares at the chess puzzle and is consumed with frustration. It all looks so great! 

There is so much more about this story that I could go on about. There just isn't enough space, here. It did almost make it into my Top Ten. It was so close. Because it really is some of the most magnificent television ever made. 

Waters of Mars

In a Sea of Disappointment that is The End of the David Tenant Era (careful, Rob, you're starting to express unpopular opinions, again!), Waters of Mars was a true ray of sunshine. 

Really, after Turn Left, I found myself enjoying little of what the show was offering until Moff took over. The Tenth Doctor's angstiness and RTD's indulgence was just getting to be too much. But then, suddenly, Waters of Mars came along. For one brief episode, everything that this period of the show was doing was actually working. 

From a purely fannish standpoint, it is great what this episode does for the lore of the show. A very important rule about time travel is firmly established. One that we have suspected since the First Doctor lectured Barbara in The Aztecs, but has never been quite so clearly articulated until this point. 

Watching the Doctor deal with the fact that he cannot interfere with this event is some truly gripping drama. For once, the angst is working. We really feel his pain as he must walk away from the whole tragedy and allow it to take its course. The fact that he then changes his mind and becomes the megalomaniac he has always fought chills us to the core. Tennant really sinks his teeth into this one and does an incredible job with the excellent material he's been given. This is truly a shining moment that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the content that was created around it (Rob! You're doing it again! Lots of people love the end of Tennant's era. Stop provoking them!)

The Flood is also an absolutely terrifying concept for a monster. The idea of just one drop of water being all it takes to turn you into some horrible zombie-like creature is very effective. It's especially great that one character on Bowie Base One actually gets taken out that way. 

The Doctor's Wife 

A love ballad for the TARDIS. How can we not adore this one? 

The episode is, essentially, stating how we've always felt about her. This wonderful magic box that has been taking us on adventures for so many years. It was a beautiful episode where, at last, the Doctor could speak to her and thank her. We also got to learn that she loved him just as much. 

When someone like Neil Gaiman gets commissioned to write an episode of Doctor Who, there's a lot of expectations riding on his shoulders. Impressively enough, Gaiman lives up to his reputation and gives us an incredible script. Not only is there some serious fan love with tonnes of obscure references going on (ie:The actual title of the story alludes to a prank JNT played on a fanzine writer back in the 80s) but it's a legitimately solid story. 

The plot isn't too complex. Which is just fine. It allows for plenty of time for banter between the Doctor and the TARDIS. This is what The Doctor's Wife was really meant to be about. For just one moment, this long-standing relationship between a Time Lord and his quasi-sentient time machine can be properly explored. It's absolutely beautiful stuff. As Matt Smith sheds a tear at the end, so are we. 

I suppose it might have been possible for a casual viewer to not think much of this tale. But, for a real fan - even one as contradictory as myself - there's no way I couldn't fall madly in love with it. Can someone truly call themselves a fan if they don't like Doctor's Wife?!   

3. ROBERT HOLMES WAS THE BEST WRITER FOR DOCTOR WHO 

Admittedly, I have a certain knee-jerk reaction to fan favorites. Everyone claims that Tom Baker was the best Doctor from Classic Who and David Tennant is the most-loved  incarnation from the Revived Series. I think they're both a bit over-rated. In fact, both finish pretty near to the bottom in my rankings (to read the outrageous things I claim about them, you can go here: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-of-lists-doctors-from-worst-to.html. Be ready to be furious with me!). As mentioned earlier, I do love Roger Delgado's Master a lot - but also think he's over-rated. The Philip Hinchcliffe era is considered to be the "Golden Age" of the show. I see a period where there were some great stories, some mediocre ones and some bad stuff. Just like any other era. So, once more, his reign as producer is ... you guessed it ... over-rated!   

Not so with Robert Holmes, though. He deserves all the hype he gets. 

He is a beloved writer from the Classic Series who also served as a script editor during that famous Golden Age I just talked about. Whether writing scripts of his own or editing the works of others, his work was exemplary. His stories were always richly-layered with solid plots, amazing characterisation and cracking dialogue. A lot of his stuff was sheer poetry. 

Of course, the Great Contrarion will steal rear his ugly head in some way. Tales written by Holmes that fans love don't always do so well in my book. Caves of Androzani, for instance, has a fairly seriously-flawed fourth episode. And I have no idea why everyone is so in love with Talons of Weng Chiang. It's an okay story, at best. 

There other stories where fans think he missed the mark a bit (he did write a lot of episodes, he was bound to have an off-day now and again). But I have considerable affection for these tales. 

The Ribos Operation does an excellent job of laying the foundations for the Key to Time season and is a delightful little romp. This story also contains one of his famous double-acts. I totally feel that Garron and Unstoff are a much more lovable pair than Jago and Litefoot could ever hope to be. 

I also feel that The Two Doctors gets picked on way more than it should. It's a fun-yet-morbid little adventure that takes multi-incarnation banter to its greatest heights. Shockeye of the Quawncing Grig is also an utter delight. How can you not love a character who has dialogue like: "I'm not interested in the belief of primitives. Only in what they taste like!"  

Whatever you feel about his adventures, he is the most brilliant author to write for the show. It's a pity he passed back in the 80s. It would be awesome if he had been able to contribute to New Who. 

2. WE NEED MORE PAUL McGANN   

Like most fans, I do feel Doctor Who - The Movie had its problems. I also feel that, in some places, it was quite good and showed enormous potential for an interesting series. I would have loved for the show to come back for even just a few seasons in the 90s. 

Sadly, this was not the case. Paul McGann really only got his one shot. 

Yes, Big Finish did some great audio dramas with him. There were also the EDAs and some nicely-done comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine. There was even the incredibly-brilliant Night of the Doctor webisode that sent most of us into a Nerd Frenzy when it came out. But it's just not the same as "proper" televised episodes. 

Almost any time his name comes up in a conversation among fans, we hear someone say: "I wish they would do a special series for Paul McGann. He needs, at least, a few seasons of his own!" I can't agree more with the sentiment. The performance he gives in the backdoor pilot and webisode are truly magical. There were just so many things he could have done with the character that were never properly explored. 

More than likely, we won't get that crazy console room back (I think 90% of the budget was blown on that thing!). Nor do I think Eric Roberts will be returning. But as long as we get the Eighth Doctor with some good stories that stay true to the character we first encountered way back in 1996, we'll all be happy. 

I just wish people at the BBC would stop saying nonsense like: "It would be too confusing for viewers if there were two Doctors on at the same time". I think we can handle the concept, guys. 

1. RTD DID AN INCREDIBLE JOB OF BRINGING BACK DOCTOR WHO 

I have been hearing a lot of nostalgia for the RTD era, of late. Many people who were kids when he revived the series are now adults. This is the Doctor Who they grew up with. And, like most fans, nostalgia has influenced their opinion. 

Personally, I'm only so fond of what he did. Series Four and the Specials were quite troubled, in places. Series Two was, for the most part, really weak. I can forgive him for a lot of this, though. The show was trying to find its feet back then. There were bound to be some teething problems. 

Having said that, however, Series One was utter brilliance. Even the stuff with the Slitheen farts!   

It was clear that when he brought Doctor Who back, RTD had put a tonne of thought into what he wanted the show to be. That first season was magically-crafted with the sort of love that only the most devoted of fans can have. He also wrote some great scripts and assembled an excellent group of writers to help him. And casting Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper was brilliant. 

What he did with that first season cemented the show's success and gave it a whole new lease on life. No one can ever deny him of that. Regardless of where he took the show in the three seasons after that, he did an incredible job of turning Who back into an institution. And I appreciate him deeply for that. 

Well, those were some painful confessions! I'm glad to have gotten them out, though. And I still managed to say some pretty controversial stuff along the way. So, in the end, I still feel good. 

Thanks, as always, for enjoying this ride with me. Some of you have been reading quite regularly since Day One. Others may have only found me more recently. Whatever the case, I'm grateful for whatever support you have shown me. 

Here's to another year....

FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES: HEARING THOSE DRUMS - HOW EXACTLY DID THE MASTER'S WEIRD AILMENT WORK?!

A FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES essay! I haven't done one of those in ages. Mainly because I've tackled most of the major problems in canon that the show has presented over the years. Or I've been having fun discussing but not trying to solve plot holes in some of my COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS essays ("A Few of my Favorite Plot Holes" Part One: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/06/complete-and-utter-silliness-few-of-my.html  Part Two: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/09/complete-and-utter-silliness-few-of-my.html). 

But I have been re-watching a bit of the Tennant era, lately. The John Simm Master has been going on endlessly about those drum beats he hears in his head. So I thought I should take a closer look at this storyline since it doesn't really make much sense in the overall continuity of the character. Instead of just mocking plot inconsistencies like I have been, of late, I thought I should put my imagination to work and try to come up with a bit of headcanon to solve it. 

THE RETURN OF THE MASTER! 

Like many Old School Hardcore Who Fans, my heart swelled with joy as Utopia aired for the first time way back in 2007. Russell T. Davies had made it sound like no other Time Lords besides the Doctor had survived the Time Wars. Which implied, of course, that the Doctor's beloved arch-nemesis would not be making a return in the New Series. It would appear as if the Master had perished from the Universe along with the all the other Gallifreyans. 

And yet, somehow, we were all certain he had survived. He was too great of an enemy to be written out of the show. Like the Daleks and the Cybermen, he had to still be thriving in the Doctor Who Rogue's Gallery. We needed him to be plaguing the Doctor some more now that the show was back on the air. There must be some sort of Plot Loop Hole in the Time War that the Master had taken advantage of that would enable him to engage in battle, once again, with our favorite Time Lord.

Naturally enough, RTD came up with that plot hole. Quite cleverly, he had the Brilliant Paul Cornell (why has this man only written three episodes?! Bring him back!!!) introduce us to the concept of a Chameleon Arch earlier in the season. And then, suddenly, we meet Professor Yana in Utopia. Like Tremas in Keeper of Traken, he is a man whose name means more than we realize. 

WHY THE DRUMS DON'T MAKE SENSE 

Before Yana uses his own Chameleon Arch to switch back to the Master, he complains of this persistent drumming sound that he constantly hears in his head. I think it's safe to say that most of us assumed this was some sort of weird side effect from having his biology re-written for so long. His true identity was calling to him through the sound of pounding drums. Or something of that nature. 

But then, the Master does re-assert himself in Yana. He gets shot by Chang-Tho and regenerates into John Simm. We plunge into the season finale shortly thereafter. 

But this weird drumming noise doesn't go away in the new incarnation. In fact, the Master is now claiming that he has heard this strange beat in his head throughout all of his life. This revelation certainly makes the character seem even more insane than we've ever known him (and the Master has been pretty damned nuts for quite a while, now!). But it also doesn't make sense.

If, at some point before Utopia, we had heard the Master complaining of this particular ailment - it would be far easier to accept this new development. But we've never heard the Roger Delgado Master turn to Azal during The Daemons and say something to the nature of: "Excuse me a moment, Oh Mighty One, I'm having the worst headache because of this drumbeat I always hear!". Or the Ainley Master say to the Rani: "I'm indestructible, the whole Universe knows that! But I sure wish I could get these drumbeats to stop!" Or even Eric Roberts proclaim: "Soon, Doctor, I will have all your lives. And, hopefully, in your body - those stupid drums will stop pounding in my head!". 

But we never get any of that. Yana is the first to ever mention it. And then the Simm Master can't seem to stop talking about it. Up until Utopia, there hasn't been the slightest hint that the Master suffers from this problem. But now it seems to be plaguing him constantly. This seems to be a massive inconsistency that needs to be addressed. 

WERE THERE, AT LEAST, HINTS? 

Part One: Megalomania

While we never heard any incarnations previous to Derek Jacobi verbalising that they were hearing drums in their head, it's entirely possible that they just never chose to talk about it. Expressing that imaginary percussion is constantly running through your thoughts is not something you, generally, reveal to your arch rival. So it is quite feasible that the Master did have this problem throughout all of his lives. He's just kept it a secret up until the events of Utopia. 

If this is the case, then we should probably try to find hints that this problem was going on the whole time. That those persistent drumbeats were always there and that they had an influence on the Master's behavior. To the best of our knowledge, no other Time Lord has ever had this mental issue. So if we can find evidence of the Master doing things that sets him apart from the rest of his people, we can attribute that to being a possible effect of the curse Rassilon imposed upon him when he stared into the Untempered Schism. From there, we might actually be able to claim that, even though he never admitted to it at the time, the Master was suffering his entire life(ves) from the sound of drums beating away inside his mind. 

Basically, we're trying to say that a unique condition should create a unique response. Which, in turn, creates unusual behavior. If we can see some evidence of this - then we can believe that the Master was plagued by those drums the whole time. 

One thing we see in the Master's earlier days that could support this notion would be his desire for universal domination. This is certainly a personality trait that we don't see in most other members of his race. In fact, most Time Lords are the anti-thesis of a lust for power. They are one of the most advanced civilisations in all of Time and Space. Which gives them the ability to do, just-about, anything they could desire. And yet, most Time Lords restrain those abilities and are content to merely observe what goes on around them and never get involved. If that doesn't show a resistance towards abuse of power, I don't know what does! 

There are, of course, some Time Lords who have renounced this way of life like the Master has. Many of them, however, do not go out into the Universe and try to take it over. A lot of them, in fact, seem to just leave the Citadel and become Shobogans. Some of them will leave Gallifrey but still live fairly peaceful lives. Like K'anpo Ripoche did on Earth or Azmael did on Joconda (yes, he became the ruler of the planet, but he was clearly a benevolent leader). You even have the Doctor renouncing his Time Lord Lifestyle and just deciding to travel beyond Gallifrey to see some sights and, occasionally, right some wrongs. 

The Master, on the other hand, has chosen a particularly different path. Throughout the Roger Delgado incarnation, he is trying to formulate plans that will give him enormous power and control. Could this desire to dominate stem from the way the never-ending drums affect him? Other Time Lords who don't hear drums don't seem to act this way. So this can be legitimate evidence of the drumbeats' influence. 

There is, quite naturally, some evidence to negate this. Yes, the Master is somewhat rare in his motives. But he's not, technically, the only renegade Time Lord that we've seen with plans for conquest. The War Chief from The War Games was equally power-hungry. As was the Rani.  Particularly in Time and the Rani when she is trying to create a Time Manipulator. We could even say the Monk had a bit of a taste for conquest. He just wasn't as ambitious as some of the other evil renegades we've come across. 

So, yes, the Master's megalomania makes him a bit distinct from the rest of his kind. But there are others with similar motives who, to the best of our knowledge, don't suffer at all from his particular affliction. So we can't, necessarily, claim that this particular character trait is a result of it. It's possible that the sound of drums aggravates the problem, but it's not what caused it. 

WERE THERE, AT LEAST, HINTS? 

Part Two: The Quest for Immortality

Eventually, the Delgado Master will move into his Peter Pratt/Geoffrey Beevers version(s). His motivations change slightly when this happens. He's much more hell-bent on trying to find a way to survive the end of his regeneration cycle. This desire to extend his lifespan becomes a huge obsession for him. He makes, at least, two distinct attempts to destroy entire civilisations (one of them being his own planet of origin) to accomplish this. We will also, eventually, see the Eric Roberts Master go to great lengths to try steal the Doctor's remaining lives so that he can avoid his final fate. 

This just might be the evidence we're looking for that shows the drumbeats are affecting him. 

We've heard quite a bit about how most Time Lords handle the end of their regeneration cycle. In Deadly Assassin, we learn they willingly attach themselves to the Matrix for one last brain scan to ensure that all their memories are properly stored. In The Magician's Apprentice, we are told that they prepare a Confession Dial when they know their end is imminent. They also undergo deep meditation to prepare themselves for their final passing (the Doctor doesn't quite follow this pattern. He throws a big party, instead - but he is still accepting the situation). We actually watch Azmael will himself to death during Twin Dilemma. He knows he's on his last incarnation but he still tries to induce a regeneration so the he can expel Mestor's evil from the Universe. He chooses to make a noble sacrifice rather than continue clinging to what little life he has left. Even the Doctor during Time of the Doctor knows that he has no more lives left and will pass away on Trenzalore. It is Clara's pleading with the Time Lords that grants him his extra regeneration cycle. The Doctor makes no attempts to prolong his life(ves). He faces his final moments bravely. 

Time Lords don't seem to have this insistent desire to keep on living past the final incarnation. Instead, they appear to be ready to accept the end when it comes. It's a significant part of their culture to let themselves pass when the moment is upon them. So could the fact that the Master keeps struggling to live on be a result of the madness the sound of drums inspires? 

Once more, this evidence isn't completely consistent. Other Time Lords have sought immortality in the same obsessive manner that the Master has. Borussa re-constructed the entire Game of Rassilon just so he could take Rassilon's Ring and go on living forever and ever. And we're aware of, at least, three other Time Lords who have attempted the same. This indicates that there are Time Lords out there besides the Master who will not meekly allow their ending to happen. 

So the Master seeking immortality the way he has does not, necessarily, qualify as a symptom of mental imbalance caused by his affliction. Other Time Lords, from time-to-time, will also behave in a such a counter-cultural manner. 

WERE THERE, AT LEAST, HINTS?

Part Three: General Madness

As we move on to the Anthony Ainley Master, the evil Time Lord undergoes a serious personality change. Before stealing the body of Tremas, the Master had always showed signs of being a bit unhinged. But now, he definitely seems off his rocker! 

The most evident change is his core motivation. In the Delgado Days, it was all about trying to overthrow the Universe. Clearly, ambitions have to alter a bit as he reaches the final incarnation(s) of Pratt/Beevers. He needs to find a way to artificially extend his life. But, after accomplishing that, the Master seems to be all over the place. 

On some occasions, the evil Time Lord seems to be consumed with a horrible desire for revenge on his greatest foe. Entire stories like Catrovalva or Mark of the Rani are built principally around the idea of luring the Doctor into a trap (the Master does have some discussions with the Rani about using the Earth as a sort of power base in his schemes for Universal domination, but that only comes later in the plot). During other adventures like The King's Demons or Logopolis, he does go back to his older ways of just wanting to dominate the Universe. But that's something that only happens from time-to-time. As if his desire for conquest is now something more fleeting or impulsive. Most interestingly, however, is how "sloppy" the Master is becoming. There are adventures like Timeflight, Planet of Fire and Survival where he is displaying a very different motivation from anything we've ever seen before. He is really just trying to clean up a mess he's accidentally created for himself. 

The Ainley incarnation is definitely very erratic. We see all kinds of examples in various stories where he behaves most unreasonably. He was much colder and calculating in his earlier versions, now he's downright unstable. 

A great example of this occurs near the end of the first episode of Mark of the Rani. The Doctor is strapped to a gurney in the Rani's lab and wants to escape. He relies on the Master's madness to accomplish this. His arch nemesis is showing him an image on a scanner of his beloved TARDIS being dropped into a pit. The Doctor pretends to not believe what he's seeing, knowing this latest version of the Master will become infuriated by his disbelief. This compels the dark renegade to behave in the most insensible of manners. He takes the Doctor outside for a better view. Which enables the Doctor to make his getaway. I really can't see an earlier incarnation going to such great lengths to torment the Doctor. These actions, to me, are the result of a man who is truly beginning to lose his grip. 

This kind of madness intensifies with Eric Roberts in the role. The Master taking time out for a costume change before destroying the world and stealing the rest of the Doctor's lives seems even crazier than anything Ainley's portrayal got up to. 

We don't see much of Derek Jacobi's interpretation since, most of the time, he is Professor Yana. But Simm seems even nuttier. His final moments during End of Time - Part Two really exemplify this. Never before could we envision the Master suddenly deciding to sacrifice himself by taking on Rassilon and flinging the both of them back into the Time Wars. His unstable personality is suddenly seized by a deep desire for revenge against the Lord President and he commits himself to the most uncharacteristic of actions. He appears to be genuinely throwing his life away. This is the Master losing all sensibility. 

So could that endless drumbeat inside his head be slowly driving him crazy? The fact that his sanity seems to slip more and more as he grows older definitely seems to support this. I know if I suffered from the same ailment, I might be able to still function rationally when I'm younger. But it would eventually get the best of me and I would become more and more insane as I aged. It stands to reason that the Master might go through a similar process.

The problem with this idea, of course, is that we do discover that the Time Lords appear to remove the drumbeat from the Master's consciousness sometime after the events of The End of Time (we would assume in The Doctor Falls that when the Master says "they cured me of my little condition" that this included the sound of drums problem - since it is never mentioned again after End of Time). This doesn't seem to improve the Time Lord's mental health, however. Both the Michelle Gomez and the Sacha Dhawan Master show all kinds of instability. Missy building a huge, unbeatable Cyber Army and then handing it over to the Doctor is a great example of this in her incarnation. Dhawan's behavior, in general, seems certifiable. Even little details like imitating the marching sound of his Cyber-Masters leave us thinking there is just no sanity left in this man. 

To me, if he was cured of the eternal drumbeat, the Master should have settled back down after End of Time. Gomez and Dhawan's portrayals should have been more in keeping with how Delgado played the role. But this is definitely not the direction the character went in. This leads me to believe, then, that the sound of drums had little to do with the degenerating sanity that we see in Ainley, Roberts or Simm. I'm more inclined to believe that it's all the bad choices the character continues to make that has led him down this dark path that is eroding his entire sense of reason. 

SINCE THE HINTS SEEM INCONCLUSIVE, HOW DO WE RECONCILE THIS? 

It seems there's nothing that truly re-enforces the idea that the Master, in his earlier days, was hearing those drums. His unusual behavior in his youth is subjective evidence, at best. And yet, Simm's Master claims he has been hearing those four beats all his life. Rassilon, himself, backs up the idea in End of Time when he orders the sound of drums to be implanted into the Master's consciousness when he's but a mere boy. 

So how do we get this to work? New Who is saying one thing about the Master but Classic Who seems to negate the fact. Is there some way for all of this to gel? 

As usual, a certain amount of straw-clutching is going to be required. There is a snippet of dialogue in The End of Time where the Master claims to be hearing the drums louder than he ever has before. This statement could have any number of implications. But I'd like to think that the Time Lords intentionally made the sound intensify as the Day of The Return came closer. When the Master was younger, the drumbeat was very faint. Barely perceptible. But it was still there. Always haunting him, but having little bearing on his behavior. 

But the High Council wanted something powerful to latch onto as they neared the final days of the Time War. So they designed the sound of drums to become louder inside the Master's mind as they reached the point where the breach through the Time Lock would occur. 

This is a sound strategy for multiple reasons. The biggest one being that if the drumbeat was always so loud in the Master's head - he probably would have completely lost his mind before the events of End of Time. He might have even just killed himself in a fit of pique. At the very best, he would have been too big of a mess to execute any sort of constructive plan that would have created the circumstances that occurred on Earth when Gallifrey briefly hung in its sky. 

The Master is about the same age as the Doctor. Which means that, by Tennant's final two episodes, he would have heard those drums for, at least, 900 years (more than likely, a lot longer than that. I believe the Doctor is far older than he is saying during the RTD era. Read about my theories here: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/03/fixing-continuity-glitches-doctors-age_9.html). If those drums were pounding away at full volume that whole time, would anyone have been able to withstand it? 

I think the Time Lords played things smart. The link needed to be established in the Master at an early age. The sound of drums did have some effect on  all the unusual behavior I described in previous sections of this essay. But the drumbeat was very subtle at the beginning. Becoming a bit more intense as he grew older but never getting too loud until sometime after he fled the Time Wars. This would enable the Master to be, more or less, functional up until he was ultimately needed to restore Gallifrey to the heavens. 

This, I feel, gets the glitch in continuity to work. For the most part, the sound of drums were barely audible throughout most of the Master's existence. Only as we approach the Jacobi Master does the volume intensify. 

So that's my theory on how RTD's little bit of retro-active canon about the Master might actually work. There are, of course, other elements of Classic Who continuity that he re-writes that I don't think I'll ever be able to retcon. Sarah Jane Smith, somehow, being in love with the Third and Fourth Doctor, for instance, is an unsolvable mystery. There really is nothing to indicates this in Old Who. And yet, this seems to be what Sarah Jane is claiming during School Reunion. 

I'll never work that one out!   

Still, at least it feels as though I got the Sound of Drums to make a bit of sense!!!