DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SEASON SEVEN

After only a short break to try to determine whether or not Adam Mitchell  is a companion, we're back into Season Reviews. We embark upon 70s Who as we venture into Season Seven... 

Season Seven: Another one of those seasons that receives some pretty high praise amongst Fandom. There is tremendous nostalgia for Jon Pertwee's first season. Although, really, Pertwee gets quite a bit of reverence for all of his work on the show. But Season Seven seems to get the highest level of appreciation. 

Of course, how something is regarded by Fandom has little bearing on my own tastes. I am the guy whose favorite Doctor is the Sixth and whose-second favorite is Thirteen. The guy who thinks Genesis of the Daleks is mediocre, at best. The guy who not only enjoys the writing from the eras of his two most-loved Doctors - but their costumes, too! I'm the guy with two hearts. You can't miss me. 

Sorry! My brain just naturally goes to that quote whenever I start seeing the word "guy"! 

So where do I stand with Season Seven? Does it live up to its hype? Shall I try to keep you in suspense as I did with my Season Five Review and not tell you how I truly feel about its popularity until the bitter end? 

Nah. I'll just say it up front: 

Season Seven is amazing. A work of Televisual Art. Doctor Who at its very best. 

ODD MAN OUT

The first story of  Season Seven sticks out like a sore thumb. What makes it most incongruous, of course, is the fact that it has only four episodes while the rest of the stories of the season have seven. But the differences don't end there. In fact, the differences seem to go on almost forever! To the point where Spearhead from Space almost feels like it belongs in a different season. 

This is probably due to the fact that, rather than letting newcomer Barry Letts do it, the story was, instead, put together by the final producer from Throughton's period . Which gives us a great example of just how different of a vision producers can have from each other. In many ways, Spearhead feels like it's more of a Second Doctor story. There are even moments where Pertwee seems a bit Troughtonesque in his performance. 

None of this, however, detracts from the fact that this is still a really great adventure. One of the better tales that introduces a new Doctor. There's some sequences that still look disturbingly creepy to this day. The various scenes where we watch Autons come to life were hauntingly effective. Not just the shop window dummies in Part Four, but the cliffhanger to Episode Two is also quite terrifying. The fact that the whole story was shot on film really enhances the atmosphere, too. 

Spearhead  works really well. There is a great balance between letting Jon Pertwee find his feet in the role and building up a very sinister invasion plot. It also needed to introduce Liz Shaw and get UNIT more firmly established in the show's formula. It's a very similar situation to whenever we see a new Head Writer step into the Revived Series. The whole slate seems to be wiped clean and we get a bunch of new characters and premises. I would say Spearhead  handles the transition just as well as when this sort of harsh change occurs in New Who. Maybe even a little better. 

Do I have any objections? Not a lot. But Spearhead does introduce one trend that bothers me quite a bit throughout a significant part of the Third Doctor Era. It seems almost trivial. It's one of the few aesthetic issues that I will hold against the show. Because it could have been very easily fixed without incurring any bigger expense on the budget. A courageous director just needed to say: "Are you really going to make that face, Jon?!" 

I am speaking, of course, of what I like to call The Pertwee Gurn. We see it for the first time near the end of Episode Four of Spearhead from Space. There's a tricky enough visual going on at this point, already. Foam tentacles and dry ice spew out from the machine that is meant to be creating a body for the Nestene Consciousness (a process that seems to also involving pulsating clear plastic bags filled with colored liquid). The very comical expression that Pertwee wears as the tentacles attack him really kills any drama the moment was meant to have. Yes, Pat Troughton was swanning about melodramatically in soap bubbles on a few different occasions throughout his era (and performed various other silly antics during certain instances of high tension). But he, somehow, got it to work. Oftentimes, scripts were just written in such a way that enabled the moment to be both dramatic and humorous. But in Spearhead, we are at the climax of a very dark and scary tale. And Pertwee's ridiculously wide eyes just seem to be taking the piss out of the whole thing. The moment falls a bit flat because of this. 

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. He makes those silly eyes several more times throughout the course of the next season or so. It does seem like, eventually, someone tells him he should really stop using that expression. But it takes a while.  We have to watch several more potentially suspenseful moments get ruined, first, before the very absurd reaction is finally abandoned. 

I told you my objection was pretty trivial! 

THOSE GLORIOUS SEVEN PARTERS 

With Spearhead done, Barry Letts is now allowed to properly step in as the show's producer. The season takes a gigantic tonal shift. The new formula for the show is radically different from anything we've seen before. 

This is not a bad thing, however. The stories of Season Seven have simply moved from one strength to another. 

Spearhead was both scary and fun. A great way to start the season. But, from this point onward, we enter into the Great Seven Parters. Three stories that produce twenty-one of the best consecutive episodes the show ever made. 

I'm not exaggerating, here. This really is some great content. What probably impresses me most is just how maturely-written all the scripts are. With such long stories to tell, the characters populating the plot are very three-dimensional. The themes and messages the stories introduce are thoroughly explored. Everything works so beautifully on so many different levels. There are some nice moments of levity here and there that are done in a very thoughtful manner, but the sense of drama in these tales is magnificently-executed. Some very intense moments occur throughout the seven parters that very firmly establish that Doctor Who can no longer be considered the childrens' show it was once labeled as.This is now a show for adults that kids are still capable of appreciating. 

The very first Seven-Parter of the season illustrates all of this perfectly. The Silurians (or Doctor Who and the Silurians for all those pedants, out there!) is probably one of the most sophisticated and intelligent stories the show has ever produced. It still remembers to have some action and intrigue where it needs it - but it has so much more going on than just subjecting the Doctor and his friends to peril and danger. This is, without a doubt, Malcolm Hulke's best script. 

On so many previous occasions (with rare exceptions like The Sensorites waaay back in Season One), the Doctor tends to choose a side. He sorts out who's the bad guy and who's not and then does battle to defeat the oppressors. It was so beautiful to have a tale that deals with shades of grey rather than black and white. There is good and evil on both sides so the Doctor addresses it. He makes an effort to mediate between the two. 

More importantly, time is taken to show why the various supporting characters on either end of the conflict are adopting their stances. Dawson, for instance, thinks the Silurians should be wiped out because one of them ended up killing Doctor Quinn. Her experiences with them cause her to believe they are brutal monsters. So we understand why she has such disdain for the Homo-Reptilians. 

This is such an important element to the Seven Parters. We are able to empathize on some level with most of, if not, all the characters . No one is truly a mustache-twirling villain or whiter-than-white hero. All have flaws and redemptive qualities. I love how, for instance, the Young Silurian still elects to stay behind to save the lives of all the other Silurians that are going back into hibernation. He's done some pretty nasty things as the new leader of his people. But he still lives up to the ultimate responsibilities of leadership when his back is against the wall. We find a new level of respect for him in that moment. Up until Season Seven, it's not often that our feelings for a supporting character in a Doctor Who story can change like this. Most of the time, good guys and bad guys get established pretty quickly and we just follow the fight between them to the bitter end. 

Those trends continue in Ambassadors of Death. Again, the Doctor doesn't really pick a side. He tries to fix things between the two opposing forces. Even someone as cold and brutal as General Carrington gets an explanation for his behavior. As the story reaches its conclusion, we understand why he has become so unhinged.  

The endings to both Silurians and Ambassadors are magnificently poignant. The Brigadier still blowing up the Silurian base was a brutal final image before the credits roll. And it's actually quite beautiful the way the Doctor chooses to humor Carrington just before he's carted off to jail. Usually, someone like him gets told off by the Time Lord during a moment like this. It was a very nice surprise to see the Doctor resist the moral high ground and try to comfort the story's antagonist. 

The fun little visual gag afterwards with the alien ambassadors is also quite cute! 

AND THEN ALONG COMES A TRUE CLASSIC

Season Seven was already doing excellently with its first three stories. Had it delivered something equally-solid as a final tale, that would have been just fine. I would still hold it in high regard. 

But, instead, it goes above-and-beyond the call of duty and brings us Inferno. 

Way back in the 1940s, I wrote a whole series of entries detailing my Top Ten All-Time Favorite Doctor Who stories. Inferno didn't quite make it onto that list. But it came pretty damned close (probably would have been in twelfth place - just after Warrior's Gate!). It is, without a doubt, the best story of the Pertwee Era and the Crowning Glory of Season Seven. A brilliant adventure with one of the most inspirational moments in the show's history. 

No one makes better use of the seven part format than this adventure. The first two episodes take place in our reality, establishing what the secondary characters will be like for this particular yarn. And then the Doctor "slips sideways" into a parallel reality for the next four parts. This is the first time the show uses this particular plot device. At the time, exploring a more fascist version of our own society still wasn't too much of a worn-out trope. So it all works very well. Alternate versions of the more regular characters were especially enjoyable to watch. Particularly the Brigade-Leader. Nicholas Courtney does a magnificent job of being a total dick. Caroline Munro, though, is equally-impressive. It is great to watch her as she slowly shrugs off the effects of a lifetime of conditioning and chooses to save the Doctor at the most crucial of moments. 

The return to our reality for the final part wraps up excellently. The tension that mounts as the Doctor must recover in time to stop Project Inferno in our dimension is done excellently. I genuinely wondered how they were going to make a full episode of the whole thing. I had no idea how they could take any longer than five minutes to get the Doctor to halt the drilling. But they really got it to work without feeling like we were just getting a bunch of padding! 

Of course, that inspirational moment I mentioned also takes place in Part Seven. No review of Inferno is complete unless you mention: "So, free will isn't an illusion, after all!" When you consider how often New Who tries consciously to engineer these sort of things, this scene is all-the-more impressive. Inferno is busy with telling its story. It just happens to throw that moment in at the best possible point in the plot. It then goes back to resolving the main conflict without dwelling on things any longer than it needed to. That, in my opinion, is the way to create an inspirational moment in a Doctor Who adventure! 

THE REGULARS 

A good season of Doctor Who, of course, is more than just well-written scripts (although they are a crucial foundation). There are always other factors at play that should get mentioned in Reviews such as these. 

There are, essentially, three "leads" in this particular season. Characters that were not only in every single episode but also had a strong presence in them (Benton could almost be a fourth character of this nature but, for some odd reason, he doesn't seem to actually start showing up in anything until mid-way through Ambassadors of Death). The actors that played these three leads, I feel, were instrumental to the success of this season and deserve a few paragraphs of praise before I wrap this up. 

Up first is Caroline Munro. In many ways, she deserves the most respect. She did the best she could with what she was given. Back in the 60s, female companions did not get the best of treatment from the writers. For the most part, they just screamed a lot and needed rescuing. Even women that either came from advanced civilisations or were meant to be unusually intelligent still never really did much beyond getting into terrible situations that the male characters saved them from. 

Admittedly, "smart girl companions" were becoming more and more useful as the series progressed. Zoe does do some legitimately clever things in certain stories of Season Six that really do help the plot along. (ie: her advanced trigonometry takes out a Cyber Fleet in The Invasion). Whereas poor Susan, who probably should have been about as clever as Zoe, is largely useless during Season One. 

Liz Shaw tends to get even better treatment as she gets introduced. However, there are still quite a few "damsel in distress" moments for her throughout the course of the season. We barely notice them, though, because Munro is just so damned articulate  in the role. Other "smart girl companions" would come along after her that would be better-written. But her performance makes us almost not notice that the progression continues. She seems just as smart as anyone that followed her. 

Nicholas Courtney is also amazing in his portrayal. It helps that Lethbridge-Stewart is very well-written in Season Seven. In later seasons, Courtney recognizes that the Brig oftentimes becomes the butt of the Doctor's jokes and plays the role accordingly so that he can be properly made fun of. But, in Season Seven, he's allowed to take the role much more seriously. He also remembers to soften the character now and again and make him a bit more personable than just a tough-as-nails military officer. He really does give some great dimensions to the Brigadier that will, sadly, disappear in the years to come. 

And then, of course, there's Jon Pertwee, himself. Up until Who, he tended to not have much confidence in himself as an actual dramatic actor. He'd done a fair amount of comedy or worked as a presenter on shows. Actually portraying a character that he had to play fairly straight was, apparently, quite daunting for him. 

I actually think his insecurity worked to his advantage in Season Seven. It does seem that, because he's so unsure of himself, he puts a tremendous amount of effort into every line he delivers. Which, in turn, gives some gorgeous layers to his Doctor during his first year. A great example of this is on display when he goes to visit Doctor Quinn's cottage for the first time during The Silurians. He knows Quinn is hiding a Homo-Reptilian there. In the span of just a few scraps of dialogue, he goes from someone playing the fool to someone offering sincere help to someone condemning Quinn. Those shifts in emotional tones are executed with a near-mathematical precision that makes the whole scene so much richer than it probably looked on paper. Pertwee is constantly performing this way throughout the season. Making every moment his Doctor has onscreen as strong as possible. It really does enhance the overall effect of all four stories. Because of this, he makes an enormous contribution to the Season's success. 

ANY PROBLEMS? 

Quite naturally, nothing in life is perfect. Season Seven is no exception to the rule. Aside from The Pertwee Gurn, there are one or two other problems that plague this most excellent year of Doctor Who: 

The most significant would be that, even though they're brilliantly-written, the 7-parters don't always fill up so well. There is some padding in each story that's so blatant that it does create a bit of a drag in the plot. Interestingly enough, I find this is less of a problem as the Season goes on. To the point where Inferno's drag is nearly unnoticeable (Petra's problems with re-wiring the nuclear reactor in Part Six is only so much of an extra runaround!). It seems to me that, if they had continued doing such long stories in the future, they would have worked just fine. Season Seven had hammered out the kinks. 

The other problem we see in Seven is one that persists throughout the Pertwee Era and even affects the Fourth Doctor a bit. Whenever he's on Contemporary Earth, the writers keep sending the Doctor to similar settings that have the same conflicts going on. The best example of this in Season Seven would be places that have nuclear reactors. And, of course, the reactors experience different problems that may even cause a full meltdown. This sort of plot trend will run all the way to Hand of Fear in Season Fourteen. Yup, seven seasons later, the Doctor is still showing up at nuclear reactors that almost blow up! 

Inferno, at least, presents the scraps of an interesting alternative to this problem. The Doctor goes to a parallel universe for a bit. He's still stranded on Earth, but it's a different version of it. I think the show should have done similar things in future seasons. Keep him on the same planet but alter the location slightly. They could have let the Doctor partially repair the TARDIS, for instance, and allowed him to travel in time a bit. A couple of nice period pieces with Doctor Three would have been far more interesting than another visit to a nuclear reactor! Or perhaps the TARDIS even takes him to some other strange dimensions that might be out there. The actual journey opens a rift into those places and creates an access point for some evil beings that inhabit that realm. They attempt to create an invasion bridgehead that the Doctor thwarts. We could have gotten much more interesting stories that would have still, technically, maintained the Doctor's exile.  

THE FUTURE NOT SO BRIGHT

Just to conclude: Season Seven, in my opinion, lives up to its nostalgia. This really is the show at its absolute best. The stories, though unusually long (or, in the case of Spearhead from Space, strangely incongruous), are absolutely brilliant. Written with a maturity, sophistication and genuine sensitivity that you don't normally see in 70s sci-fi television. The acting is top shelf. I gave great praise to the leads, but all the supports pitch pretty perfect performances, too. Nothing Zaroffian going on, anywhere. Hell, even the effects are quite decent. Everything is on 20th Century Earth so we didn't need as much otherworldly stuff to be created. Which meant we were less likely to be embarrassed by certain shots that the show usually had to do in previous seasons. 

If Doctor Who had continued this way (with the inclusion of my goofy idea of keeping the Doctor on Earth but getting him out of the contemporary setting), I would have the exact same love for the Pertwee Era that other fans do. Sadly, that's not what we get. More tweaks will get made to the formula in Season Eight that I really didn't end up enjoying. 

But we'll get to that later.... 

Got some ideas for more entries that aren't Reviews, so I think we'll go there, next. 

We'll hold back for a bit on my Pertwee Era grievances!