DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SEASON TWENTY-FIVE

This is it. Classic Who is nearing its unfortunate end. It's clawing viciously at the coffin, but it has very little time left. Surprisingly, as it wrestles in its death throes, it does something beautiful. It makes the best episodes ever....

TRYING TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE SILVER ANNIVERSARY

JNT is becoming desperate. He can see the Writing on the Wall. Season Twenty-Four was a rocky one. It wasn't really anyone's fault, though. He had to pluck a new Script Editor and Doctor out of thin air and get them to hit the ground running. Indeed, that whole year was like trying to change a tire at 90 km/hr. 

Which caused a lot of backlash. The hit-and-miss of that season had consequences. Long-term fans have stopped watching. The casual viewer isn't very interested, either. Ratings have dropped abysmally. It seems obvious: Doctor Who is dying. 

But it's not going to go down without a fight. JNT is doing everything in his power to keep the show alive.  He takes advantage of the fact that the show has reached its 25th anniversary this year and is using that to garner whatever attention he can. In some ways, the gesture feels a bit cheap. It wasn't too long ago that it celebrated 20 years. Was it really necessary to try to create another atmosphere of commemoration? Probably not. But one can also respect what the man is attempting. Any little thing that he can grasp onto to help direct attention toward the show is going to be exploited. Essentially, he is doing what any good producer should do. 

While celebrating Who's 25th anniversary seemed unnecessary, it did bring us two stories that might not have been created had the decision not been made to take the season in this direction. One of those stories is quite enjoyable (for me, at least, others aren't always so happy about it!). The other is one of the best tales the show has ever created. For this reason, alone, I permit John Nathan-Turner his indulgence. Acknowledging the milestone when it didn't really need to be was worth it. 

But something else more important was happening.  During Season Twenty-Four, one must almost question the wisdom of JNT's decision to hire Andrew Cartmel as the script editor. Not only did he not seem quite experienced enough for the job, but he was thrust into the position with little or no time to really prepare himself. This is one of the key factors in that season's failings. But, in Twenty-Five, we witness how the Producer actually made the right choice. He saw Cartmel's potential and encouraged him to develop it. The producer's judgement call results in some of the most consistently high-quality content the show ever made.

As JNT worked the Publicity Machine for the 25th Anniversary, Cartmel sets his sights on delivering great scripts that the public will enjoy once their attention has been captured by the hype and they actually bother to tune into the show. Thus lining things up for what is probably the best anniversary season that we get in the entire history of the show.    

IS "REMEMBRANCE" ACTUALLY EVEN A WORD?!   

So much has been said, already, about this story elsewhere in this blog (Best Dalek Story: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2023/01/book-of-lists-top-five-dalek-stories.html. Second Best Story Ever: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/01/book-of-lists-top-ten-who-stories-2.html). But, really, it deserves all the attention it's gotten. There's just so much to love, here. I have expressed that love quite a bit, already in other entries. But, with something this great, there's still plenty more I can say. 

The opening shot in the pre-titles tells us that we're about to get something special. Quite honestly, it almost feels like Andrew Cartmel is speaking to us directly through it.  

"Hey everybody." Cartmel seems to be saying, "I'm really sorry about the mess I made last year. I've had some time to sit down and think things over.  I've hammered out all the kinks. Things are going to be waaaayyyy better from hereon, in." 

In regards to the overall impact it has on the season, Remembrance of the Daleks was the absolute best way to kick things off. It sets a very clear tone: The stumbles of Twenty-Four are very-much over. From this point, onward, we're going to be experiencing something truly magical: The Vision of Andrew Cartmel. Or, as some folks like to call it, The Cartmel Masterplan. 

No doubt, I'll be deemed a heretic for saying this - but Cartmel really was the best Script Editor Classic Who ever had. I know most think that sort of title should go to either Terrance Dicks or Robert Holmes. But I think they were actually better writers than script editors. When Dicks treated other peoples' scripts, he tended to encourage paint-by-numbers story-telling. And I often felt that a lot of the material that was produced under Holmes' watch that wasn't composed by him needed a bit more polishing before it went to camera. Whereas Cartmel really cared about helping his writers to flesh out their ideas. You can even see that in his first season. He just didn't really have the time and resources to get things to work at the level he wanted to. But in Twenty-Five, he's got his A-Game on. Absolutely beautiful scripts are coming together so that when they are being filmed, we are getting masterpieces. 

And, of course, there's an over-arcing theme that gets introduced in Remembrance. There's more to the Doctor than meets the eye. His past runs deeper than we first expected. Oddly, when Cartmel worked with this idea, fans seemed to like it. When someone else in the far future attempts a similar storyline, it's not so well-received!    

It should be noted that Remembrance shows that it was not only Cartmel that took some time to think things through between seasons. Both Sylvester and Sophie come at their roles with a whole new style that creates the best onscreen chemistry we've ever seen between a Doctor and companion. Again, though, the writing really helps with this. Neither Peri nor Mel got the best treatment from the writers. But Cartmel refuses to allow this to happen to Ace. And Seven, himself, seems to have gotten quite a few extra layers added to him. We see this particularly clearly as we near the end of Part Four. Tricking Davros into destroying his own solar system is definitely one of the darkest things we've ever witnessed the Doctor do.  But it's also quite awesome. I still argue to this day that this might be the most powerful version of the Time Lord, ever. 

Of course, there's also some really great stuff about the Daleks in this story. But if you want to read about that - just go to the links I posted!    

HAPPINESS WILL PREVAIL 

Easily, one of the most divisive stories in the history of the show. People tend to either love or hate Happiness Patrol. It is an even bigger Oddball Story than Paradise Towers could ever hope to be. Which means, of course, even more campiness. And yet, at the same time, Patrol takes itself far more seriously than Towers ever did. Sheila Hancock, for instance, plays Helen A far straighter than Richard Briers did the Chief Caretaker. It's more the visuals of Happiness Patrol that seem to upset the fans. Characters running around in bright wigs and clown white-face is just a bit too much for some. 

I, however, have no issue with it (might be because I worked as a professional clown for quite a few years of my youth so I'm accustomed to the aesthetics!). Which means, of course, that I absolutely love this story. It didn't quite make it into my Top Ten, but it came pretty damned close. 

It's all the layers to the plot that I think I enjoy the most. On the simplest of levels, it's the Doctor taking down yet another dictatorship. But the author understands that the Doctor's done this a lot and openly acknowledges the tropes. The Doctor, for instance, often topples corrupt empires within hours of arriving. So he speaks of changing the society in the span of one night. He also knows that the best way of gathering intel on his foes is to allow them to capture him for a while. So he purposely seeks out a way to become incarcerated. Because things are just a bit "meta", it makes an almost worn-out premise seem interesting again. 

But, of course, there's more to the story than just that. Happiness Patrol is a vicious satire on Thatcherism and conservative ideologies, in general. But, rather than trying to get into political specifics, the author frames the allegory under the ludicrous premise of a government that punishes you for appearing sad.  Taking this tact makes this particular underlying message more subtle. We still feel we're getting a Doctor Who story rather than being subjected to someone's agenda (like, say, a Producer who's Buddhist giving us a story all about Buddhism!).  

The final really big layer to Happiness Patrol is its general commentary on basic human nature. Its main message is the simplest of concepts: Happiness cannot exist without sadness beside it. That final confrontation between hero and villainess is absolutely beautiful. I so love how the Doctor makes the coin appear through sleight-of-hand and proclaims: "Two sides. One coin." It's one of Seven's many Great Moments throughout this season and the next. Helen A's meltdown after discovering Fifi is the perfect fate for her. The story could have closed on that scene, of course. And it nearly did. But the coda ends up still working quite well. 

And then there's that other bit of controversy: the Candyman. Not only did he polarize fans even more over this story, but he almost led to a lawsuit for the BBC! Like the extremely literal Caretakers in Paradise Towers, Candyman does put a slight strain on our suspension of disbelief. Particularly since he can be immobilised by simply spraying lemonade on his feet!  

While some fans may hate him, I think the Candyman is one of the best one-time-only villains in the history of the show. He's absolutely wonderful to watch. Not just because he has those crazy spinning eyes, but he's also just so ridiculously fun. Just like the writers of The Discontinuity Guide, I even love the way he answers his phone!  

It's clear which camp I'm in when it comes to this story (see what I did there/?!) I think Happiness Patrol is brilliant on multiple levels. An absolute masterpiece in three short episodes. While Remembrance is the better of the two, this still constitutes a season that began with two excellent stories in a row . 

"TWAS A SLOW POISON...."   

Admittedly, the weakest link in the season. Which is ironic, of course.as it was trying to be its highlight. 

There is still a lot to like about Silver Nemeses. It's a very thrilling adventure that has one of the best action sequences in the whole history of Doctor Who (Ace fighting the Cybermen with gold coins). It is the story that delves deepest into the Cartmel Masterplan. Lots of hints get made in Part Three that there is more to the Doctor than we were originally led to believe. I found this whole arc that was starting to happen in the last two seasons of the show to be fascinating. So I'm glad that there's some serious discussion about it, here. Other nods to this ongoing storyline are often ridiculously subtle. It needed the attention that it got in this particular tale. 

Fans do complain about the similarity Silver Nemesis bears to Remembrance of the Daleks. Once more, the Doctor is tricking one of his greatest enemies into using an ancient Gallifreyan weapon against themselves. Admittedly, this does feel a bit lazy. But I'm still amused by the complaint. If you're going to be upset about this, you should be foaming at the mouth over Season Eight. Every story is the same thing. Basically, the Master is meddling with something he thinks he can control but, ultimately, can't. Over and over. And yet, I seem to be the only one who ever seems to gripe about this. To me, it's another great example of: "If something stupid happens during the Golden Age, we ignore it. But if it occurs in 80s Who - we gripe about it endlessly and claim it ruined the whole show!"    

I actually think there's a sort of nice symmetry that Season Twenty-Five creates. To me, it's the Seventh Doctor flexing a bit. He's really starting to tap into deeper potentials and become an even more powerful force in the Universe. But he wants to test his abilities in as safe a way as possible. So he battles enemies that he knows well like Daleks and Cybermen. He's highly familiar with their strengths and weaknesses so it's a simpler fight. And he uses weapons that will take them out effectively. Once he's done this a few times, he knows he's ready to fight on a grander scale. This is how I get the two stories resembling each other to make sense. I even think that this was Production's genuine intention behind the duplication of plots. 

And then, of course, there are a few genuine problems with Nemesis. We actually have an  incident that vaguely resembles the "Guy Crawford Eye Patch Scenario" that I so love to bitch about. It is tough to believe that the Nazis wouldn't bother to check inside the case that the Validium bow is meant to be kept in. However, I would argue that there was a lot going on at the time. Maybe they would just assume it was there and safe. By no means is it as ridiculous as the "Eye Patch Situation",  But if I am going to complain about Android Invasion, then it's only fair that I bring this up too! 

A much bigger problem in the story is how it does feel just a bit too much like a collection of set pieces rather than an actual plot. But I do almost find myself ignoring the issue because we have yet another absolutely awesome villainess wandering through the story. The Girl Power (or should I say: "Evil Girl Power"?!) on display during the Seventh Doctor Era is one of its highlights. Lady Peinforte is as delightful as Helen A and the Rani. And this trend of strong female characters who are a legitimate threat to the Doctor will continue on into Season Twenty-Six.    

Sylvester and Sophie are also ridiculously fun to watch in this one. This just might be them at their best together. I love it when they chill on a hillside as they jam Cyber-airwaves with jazz. And them messing with the Cybermen inside the crypt while making chess references is one of the coolest things, ever!  Their chemistry during this one is Top Tier!    

So, yes, there are some flaws to Silver Nemesis. I can't deny it. But there's still quite a bit of really good stuff, too. 

YES, THE RAP IS BAD. BUT IT'S INTENTIONAL! 

And with the slight dip in quality during Nemesis over, we go back to the extreme top-notch content that we've been getting from the rest of the season.

Greatest Show in the Galaxy is one of those stories that illustrates really well a certain style of writing that I deeply appreciate during these final two seasons. I call it: "Ambiguous Story-Telling". Exposition is kept to an absolute bare minimum and much of what is going on in the plot is left up to our own interpretation. Essentially, it's some of the most sophisticated television ever produced. We've seen hints of it in JNT's earlier days with stories like Warrior's Gate. But it starts to become really prevalent in this era. And I love that the show takes this kind of chance during such difficult times. They could have, easily, tried to pander for ratings. Instead, they chose to be artists. 

To this day, of course, I'm still not sure exactly how re-assembling a medallion and tossing it down a pit destroys three gods from Norse Mythology - but it works for me! I also love how the Doctor doing vaudeville somehow figures into their defeat!   

And this is the beauty of Greatest Show and the stories like it during this period. We don't always fully understand it, but it's still absolutely gorgeous to watch. I'd go so far to say that this is the best content the show ever made. In Classic or New Who.  The consistent standard of quality that we get during these two seasons is unbeatable. Not even the Great Hinchcliffe/Holmes era can touch this.  

The rest of this season doesn't really use Ambiguous Story-Telling so much. It all really kinda starts, here. Greatest Show is, most likely, considered an Oddball Story too. This new narrative style makes it earn the title all-the-more. But I'm quite fine with all of this. Doctor Who is an extremely weird show, in general. So let's make it weirder! 

SILVER CONCLUSION 

There's a bit of irony at play, here. Several attempts have been made throughout the course of the show to not just give us an Anniversary Special, but to create a whole season that commemorates the event. For the most part, the efforts are met with limited success. The seasons weren't terrible, but they also weren't as wonderful as the production team was hoping they would be. 

But then there's good 'ole Season Twenty-Five: An anniversary that I did not think was even worth celebrating. And yet, I'm glad they did. Finally, Doctor Who gets a nostalgic season right!

While Production still made a couple of adventures that were definitely fan-pleasing in nature, Twenty-Five shines so well because it has a much higher priority. It concentrates much harder at just building really awesome stories. And, for the most part, it succeeds quite well at it. The one tale that has a few significant flaws to it is still a very enjoyable watch. And then the rest of the season is just an absolute masterpiece. This is the kind of track record a season has that enables us to start bandying about terms like "Golden Age". I know Season Twenty-Five isn't dark and gothic. Nor does it "borrow" from a tonne of other sources. But it's still pretty damned awesome. 

Much worthier of the term than the actual era I'm sarcastically referencing!    

 

 

DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SEASON TWENTY-FOUR

Poor 'ole Season Twenty-Four! It gets slammed so much by Fandom. Many consider it to be the absolute worst season the show ever produced. Any number of people that I have spoken to over the years that followed Doctor Who during the 80s claimed that this was the season where they gave up on the show and stopped watching it. That's just how much Twenty-Four is reviled. 

If you've been bothering to read all of these Reviews, you know that I already consider Seventeen to be the worst season of Doctor Who, ever. So where does that leave Twenty-Four? The second worst? Or do I actually enjoy it better than most? Might I even consider it one of the greatest seasons ever? Second only to Eighteen, itself?!   

I may be the Great Contrarion. But even I can't go that hard against the grain!    

Clearly. Twenty-Four has its fair share of problems. There is some tremendous behind-the-scenes drama going on that interfered enormously with its effectiveness. But, in the end, we can't make excuses for what ended up on our screen that year. Bad TV is bad TV. And it's undeniable that poor choices were made when this season was created. 

But the question still remains: just how awful was Season Twenty-Four? Is it, like so much else of 80s Who, the victim of exaggeration? Or were the fans actually right?   

Let's dive in and figure it out..

STORY-BY-STORY

Unfortunately, at this point in the show's history, reviewing a season story-by-story is all too easy. There's just not that many tales to go through, anymore. It's sad that the BBC, in all their wisdom, have cut Doctor Who down to only 14 episodes a year. I'd go so far as to call this a crying shame. Sylvester McCoy became an excellent Doctor. Even in Season Twenty-Four, he showed great promise. He did the same amount of time most actors do in the role, but we get so little of him. 

Like Colin before him, he deserved better. 

There is, at least, one blessing that comes from this short-sighted decision made by the BBC. After over 20 years, the three-parter makes its triumphant return. Planet of Giants absolutely would not have worked as a four episode adventure. But, in the format it got, it's quite enjoyable. The same can be said with many of the three episode tales that we will get in the next few years. Plots that could not sustain the usual running time would still find a home. And I really like this. Three-parters had a very different flow to them that were a welcome change from always trying to fill those four episodes. I'm so glad the choice was made to do this. Season Twenty-Three, after all, did three four-parters and a two-parter. They could have, easily, kept running with this. But, instead, they took a chance. Not only was a three episode story something we hadn't seen in forever, but it had only been attempted once.  Season Twenty-Four gives us two three-parters. A very bold move, when you think about it. But I feel the decision paid off well. Three-parters are great fun. 

With that said, there is a strong chance that these last few reviews of Classic Who will all have a story-by-story component to them. As I said, it's a fairly easy process since the seasons are now so small. It just behooves me that a season the size of, say, Twenty-Two would never happen again during this period of the show. 

THE RANI IS BACK 

Admittedly, Season Twenty-Four is not off to the best of starts. Time and the Rani has some issues. Many fans use terms like "absolutely terrible" or "incredibly bad" when they describe it. Quite honestly, though, I wouldn't go that far. 

The first two episodes are horrendously discouraging. The pre-titles set an absolutely horrible tone. By 80s standards, the TARDIS being pulled off-course looks okay. But the actual regeneration sequence is fairly laughable. Couldn't we, at least, bring in a body double for Colin? It's as clear as day that we are just getting Sylvester in a blond curly wig as this "transformation" ensues. I get that we needed to do regeneration in a very different way than we had before. Sixie had to go in an abrupt manner. But the visual did not need to be as awful as it was. Especially when you consider that it was now possible to create better effects because each episode had an improved budget. Also: what actually caused Six to regenerate?! He fell off a bike?!! 

I do seem to recall discussing Time and the Rani elsewhere in this blog. Can't, for the life of me, remember where, though. If I did, I would provide a link. In my defence, I have written a lot of entries over the years! But I said in that post that I think the biggest problem with this tale is that Pip and Jane are trying just a bit too hard to give the Rani her "gimmicks" again. We see in Mark of the Rani, that she has a penchant for disguises and creating weird mine fields. Which is fine. Time Lords seem to cultivate these sort of bizarre hobbies! Perhaps it's because their extended lifespans give them a lot of time on their hands to go down various rabbit holes. Whatever the case, the Rani's strange pursuits work in Mark. Whereas they feel very shoe-horned in Time. There must have been a thousand less-contrived ways to fix the damage to her pyramid thingy than disguising herself as Mel and creating some of the most uncomfortably odd scenes we've ever seen on the show. But it's like Pip and Jane were saying to each other: "Sure, there are better ways to fix this plot complication. But we gotta have the Rani wear a disguise!" It's a bit reminiscent of the Master dressing up as Kalid in Time Flight. For a good chunk of that story, he didn't actually need to hide his identity. He just did it because ... well, the Master also likes to wear disguises! 

The mine-fields are equally nonsensical. Yes,the effect looks great. But it's another really over-complicated way to do things. Maybe, every once in a while, the Rani should just make mines that simply blow people up! Trapping them in bubbles and bouncing them off hillsides seems way more elaborate than needed. Credulity stretches even further when Mel gets caught in one but doesn't get smashed against rocks. No clear explanation is offered for why she doesn't get hurt. We have to just assume it's plot armor. 

These sort of issues make the first two parts of Time and the Rani a pretty big mess. However, I do find things settle down fairly well in the latter two episodes and enjoy this section of the story quite a bit. I particularly like that we are already seeing Seven's ability to defeat his enemies through bluffs and deceit. It's quite clever how he manipulates the Rani into activating the bombs in the bangles. And it's the first hint of how this incarnation of the Doctor will fight his foes. 

Probably the only other real problem I have with this particular story is just how much it doesn't fit in with the rest of the season. Pip and Jane Baker wrote a script that was not at all in the style that Andrew Cartmel wanted. Apparently, there was a lot of bickering between the writers and the script editor. And I can see why. The tone of the rest of the season does not line up with what we have here. 

JNT, however, knew he could rely on the Bakers to pull the show out of the fire it was, once more, in. They had saved Trial of a Time Lord, so he felt they could do the same with regenerating the Doctor without Colin. But Cartmel really wanted to take the show in a very different direction than what the Bakers were accustomed to. This causes Time and the Rani to stick out like a sore thumb within the context of the other three adventures.   

BUILD HIGH FOR HAPPINESS 

Paradise Towers, on the other hand, is much more in keeping with what Cartmel was looking for. It's written by someone he, specifically, went out and found. So he knew the author would be far more likely to give him a script that suited his vision. 

It's probably also considered the first of the Oddball Stories that we would see throughout this era (although, there's some pretty odd stuff in Time and the Rani, too!). It's obvious this story has some very solid camp sensibilities. The Doctor tricking the Caretakers with their own manual, for instance, is being played up for laughs. Realistically, the Caretakers would just look at the Manual, themselves, rather than follow the Doctor blindly. But the writer is having just a bit of fun in that scene and asking us to go along with it. But this sort of stuff seemed to outrage quite a few fans. Apparently, we had reached a stage in the show where everything had to be taken absolutely seriously all the time. 

Now, before anyone accuses me of hypocrisy, I still recall how much I complained about the campiness of Season Seventeen. But I do think there's a big difference, here. Seventeen's camp element almost seems to be raging out of control. Like we're watching 60s Batman rather than Doctor Who. Whereas what we get in the Oddball Stories is definitely a lot more carefully-measured. Yes, things do go over-the-top here and there. Richard Briers definitely hams things up a bit when he's meant to be possessed by Kroagnon. But, by no means is it the sort of awful performance we get by Graham Crowden as Soldeed in Horns of Nimon. Or Lewis Fiander as Tryst in Nightmare of Eden. There's definitely a lot more restraint at play in Paradise Towers. Which keeps the whole tale from descending into a gang of wild actors who are clearly just trying to take the piss out of the show. 

Personally, I'm fine with Who getting a bit silly now and again. I just feel there's a definite limit to how much I'll tolerate. I don't feel this particular story goes too far with it. Which makes it all quite fun. 

The plot to Towers is very well-constructed. And there's a lot more of Seven's deviousness on display. Like the Rani, he beats Kroagnon by tricking him. By no means is he coming across as dark as he will be in future seasons. But we are seeing more seeds being planted with that harsher edge to the character. Which is good planning on Cartmel's behalf. When the Doctor does turn into the master-manipulator that he will be in Seasons Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six, it won't feel like it comes from out of nowhere. 

FLIGHT OF THE CHIMERON 

While I find Paradise Towers delightful, I can't quite get behind Delta and the Bannermen in the same way. There is definitely a dip in quality, here. Not a dramatic one, though. The story is still quite passable. Although there are some fans who feel this one is quite awful and use it wholeheartedly to illustrate their "Season 24 is absolutely terrible" theory. 

Bannermen's biggest problem is the fact that, even for a three-parter, the plot is a bit light. Part Two is a fair amount of inconsequential running around whose main purpose was to fill a bunch of minutes. For the first time in ages, we get a full part that we can, more-or-less, skip. 

The Bannermen's motivation for wiping out the Chimerons also seems a tad bizarre. They commit genocide simply because the race they're slaughtering has the ability to occasionally produce an offspring that can, for a while, make a noise that really irritates their ears!  If the Bannermen seemed impervious to all other forms of attack, this whole campaign might make sense  A militant race  with that level of power would want to destroy anything that they might be legitimately vulnerable to. But Bannermen seem to possess all the same weaknesses that normal humans have. So such efforts are just a little too extreme. Even though fascists have been known to go to such great lengths, this still seems a bit much. Since, pretty much, anyone can harm a Bannerman, are they just on  a campaign to kill off every other species in the Universe?! Did we just happen to come in when they were busy with their assault on the Chimeron? Will they, slowly but surely, get everyone else, too?     

Of course, Baby Chimeron having the ability to hurt their ears so badly also makes the ending of the story pretty obvious. Clearly, the Doctor's going to find a way to weaponize that. And, quite naturally, he does. 

But I won't complain too much about this one. There's still a fair amount to enjoy. Oddly enough, I really like the Bannermen, themselves. There's really not much to them. Just another one of those nasty alien races that seems hell-bent on galactic conquest. But I do like the way they run around and wreak havoc everywhere they go. I had just recently read Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe and Everything and they vaguely reminded me of the Krikkit Warriors. Which, somehow, just made them all-the-more fun to watch. I'd actually even love to see them brought back in the New Series. Maybe in just a brief cameo like the Movellans had in The Pilot. But it would be great to see them dashing about some more with flags on their backs. They're just one of those aliens on the show that I've become strangely infatuated with. 

Goronway is another character I adore. I do appreciate the whole theory that he's actually a Time Lord. I even go to the trouble of exploring the idea, here: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/01/point-of-debate-was-goronwy-from-delta.html. 

Seven continues to develop in an interesting manner, too. It's weird that he's, suddenly, spewing mixed proverbs again. Otherwise, though, he is becoming more and more interesting to watch. He's relying less on just full-on visual comedy and starting to add more layers to the character. His social awkwardness, in particular, brings out how alien he truly is. And, again, his trickery is prominently on display. He's almost running circles around the Bannermen as he ties trackers to goats or causes honey to topple down on them so that they get attacked by bees. It's all great fun to watch. 

In the end, Delta and the Bannermen is a fairly mediocre tale that does, however, show promise. This is another new author that Cartmel has found. They are trying to tell a different kind of story than Who is used to giving us. With a bit more tweaking, they will give us something truly magical. 

ICEWORLD 

This, to me, is the story that truly lives up to Season Twenty-Four's reputation. Time and the Rani has some problems but, overall, is okay. I actually really love Paradise Towers. And, as I just said, Delta and the Bannermen is passable. 

But Dragonfire is genuinely awful. 

It's off to a fairly promising start. Seven shows his first signs of pro-activeness (and a bit more sneakiness) by going to Iceworld for a very specific reason but not revealing his purpose to Mel until later. Glitz is back. Which is absolutely fantastic. He was great last season. He's someone else who should've shown up in New Who (sadly, he can't anymore. Unless they use a different actor who looks like him). I always thought it would be great if the Doctor spent an episode dealing with a problem in some huge futuristic mansion and it turns out that Glitz owns the place. His dodgy deals had finally made him a fortune. Or some kind of premise like that. I just really wanted him to come back one more time so we can see what he's been up to. 

And then, of course, there's Ace. British Media had made it very clear that she would be the next companion. But, even if I hadn't known this, I was still adoring her within minutes of her introduction. Part of her appeal comes from how "gimmicky" she is. How can you not like a teenage girl that makes explosives?! But Sophie Aldred  puts so much into the performance that we're convinced there will be more that we enjoy about Ace than just her pyrotechnic skills. 

As promising as Part One looks, everything goes to crap when we get to that Cliffhanger. It is, quite likely, the worst Cliffhanger in the whole history of the show. It doesn't help that its Resolution is equally bad. In a carefully-cut sequence where we don't get to see some of the more crucial elements of the procedure, Glitz seems to climb past the Doctor onto a ledge and then helps him down to it. It's all quite absurd. However, it's not like that scene in Paradise Towers where the Doctor tricks the Caretakers with their own manual. There's just a bit too much disbelief to suspend, here! 

It only gets worse, though. We get this whole big subplot in Part Two where two of Kane's employees conspire to kill him. The whole thing, of course, is so much fodder. Something to help pad out the episode. Kane just catches them at what they're up to and kills them. 

I do despise when writers do this. Creating a story thread that seems to come to no real avail is cheap. It's for this reason that I never really enjoyed The Last Jedi. Finn had absolutely no purpose in that film. Everything they gave him to do in the story resulted in failure. He becomes even more superfluous when you realise the movie lasts for over two hours. He wasn't even needed to pad the run-time! This same "trick" also caused me to not consider the Great City of Death the Classic that many other fans feel it to be. Scarlioni's wife was, pretty much, created to help fill up an extra five minutes in Part Four. Once she's done that, she's executed. I'm not saying, of course, that a subplot absolutely has to lead to success for the characters that are in it. But you can't lead us on this journey that seems to produce no real results at all, either. Your audience picks up on this poor time-filling technique when you've caused them to waste their emotional investment on a useless subplot. 

Part Three really falls apart. We kill off two supports only to bring in two more near-identical characters to hunt down the Dragon. That looks pretty silly, already. But the whole "trying to re-create Aliens" thread gets even more ridiculous. So Kane sends them down to kill the creature and get the power source it's keeping. It took him an entire 3 000 years to finally figure out where the Dragonfire was?! And then it's that easy to recover it?! Just dispatch a pair of shmucks to fire wildly at it and then chop its head off. Seems way too easy. Just what kind of prison is this?!    

Really, though, we should think just a bit more about this so-called prison. Kane is running an active spaceport. Why is he still stuck there when the Dragon is wandering in the lower levels? It seems to me he could easily buy passage on a ship with a really good fridge in it and go exact his revenge with little problem. More than likely, the Dragon would not catch him in time before he leaves. 

There's tonnes of other highly illogical stuff going on, here. Why did he need mercenaries to clear out the station? Why not just claim there's a radiation leak or something and order a mass evacuation? This method seems extra silly since it takes out his entire army to accomplish it. 

The rich woman and her daughter not noticing any of the action in Part Three is another one of those absurdities too great to swallow. Particularly since the little girl saw the bartender at the ice cream parlor get shot right in front of her. She should be, at least, a bit traumatised. 

And then, of course, there's the "doozy". After all his plotting and scheming, Kane realises the planet he wishes to wreak vengeance upon no longer exists. It's a similar plot to Hand of Fear. Eldrad, however, was stranded on a primitive planet with no way of being able to gather information about what had happened to his people. Kane, on the other hand, was running a busy high-tech spaceport. Surely, there was some way for him to keep in touch with what was going on beyond Svartos. There must have been the equivalent of an Intergalactic C-Span that he could tune into to learn what happened to his homeworld. He should have known this long before the Doctor reveals it to him. 

In the end, there's just too many damned plot holes, here. The story does seem to start off fairly well. But, as the episodes progress, it just falls apart more and more. Until the end is just one giant mess.    

FINAL CONCLUSION

So ....there we go: Season Twenty-Four. So many complaints about this one. Allegedly, the most completely awful year of Doctor Who. Or is this, once more, another example of the sort of  exaggeration that was running rampant in 80s Who? 

Personally, I feel that certain episodes from Season Twenty-Four are nearly unbearable to watch. But I wouldn't even say that there's a story in this season that I entirely hate (although Dragonfire comes perilously close!). Basically, the first and last two episodes of the season are pretty bad. Which, in a fourteen-part season does occupy a fair amount of space. On top of that, it means that Twenty-Four leaves a very bad first impression and goes out on a sour note. So I can see why it has garnered the reputation it has. 

But the plain truth is: There's a lot of stuff in the middle that's quite good. In the case of Paradise Towers, I would even say excellent. So I can't agree with the general sentiment towards Season Twenty-Four. It's a weaker season, yes. But it's not the worst season, ever. Unfortunately, because fans were in one of their "overcritical phases" when it came out, this became a final nail in the coffin for them. At this point, many gave up on Doctor Who.

I will openly state that, out of all the seasons that JNT produced, this is his worst.  But I believe I've said elsewhere in this blog that I would rather re-watch Season Twenty-Four than sit through Season Seventeen, again. I'd even say that it's easier for me to view Twenty Four than it is Seasons Eight to Eleven. How's that for heresy?!     

For the most part, this is just a season mired by some serious behind-the-scenes drama. The show underwent some very huge and sudden changes and is desperately trying to find its feet. But it is also massively re-inventing itself and is just stumbling quite a bit as it does so. 

Fortunately, by next season, it has made the appropriate adjustments and is firing on all cylinders. For the next two years, we truly get a Golden Age of Doctor Who.   

 

DOCTOR WHO - SEASON-BY-SEASON: SEASON TWENTY-THREE

Yet another fairly controversial season. Not quite as tumultuous as Twenty-Two, of course. But there was still a fair amount of Yule and Cry. Colin's Era will always have this sort of shadow hanging over it. It was a very difficult period for the show. Unfortunately, his name was attached to it while all of this trouble was going on. Even though he contributed in no real way to the problems that were happening. In fact, I'm amazed he still associates himself with Doctor Who at all. Had I been him, I would have been more inclined to distance myself from the whole experience as much as possible! 

THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD (REVISITED) 

Like my Review of Season Sixteen, we're in a bit of an awkward situation, here. I have done a pretty thorough and comprehensive review of this season, already, in a special series of entries that I did about Umbrella Seasons (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/04/review-overview-which-is-best-umbrella_15.html). For those of you who read it, I would hate to make you endure the same nonsense all over again! 

I shall do my best to repeat myself as little possible. I'll focus on nuances that I didn't bother to bring up in that first review. There will, of course, be things that must be discussed again. But I'll try to cover them in a different way. 

I will also take this opportunity to discuss the Sixth Doctor Era, in general. So there may be some references going back to Season Twenty-Two. There is still a lot that can be said about this period that I couldn't really talk about as much as I wanted to in the previous essay. 

So, if you're thinking: "I can't be bothered to read this one! He said it all in his REVIEW OVERVIEW of Umbrella Seasons!" then, rest assured, I will do my best to give you something new and different. 

MEMORIES....

It's the early 2000s. A friend approaches me with a stack of those recordable "I've definitely pirated something" DVDs and hands them to me. 

"You've got to watch this." he instructs me, "It's a TV show called Dexter. It's amazing." 

Taking his advice, I go home and put the DVDs on. I'm almost immediately sucked in. Not just because the central premise of the show is interesting (a serial killer that only kills other serial killers), but the actual story-telling is quite compelling. My friend pirated the first two seasons for me. I ploughed through them in no time. 

A short while later, I'm returning the DVDs to my friend. We discuss what we enjoyed so much about the show. 

"I love the way there's no attempt to make any of the episodes self-contained." he remarks, "It's just one long story that gets told over the span of the season. It's just so cool and different." 

Of course, Dexter was not quite the first show in the 2000s to use this sort of formula. The Sopranos, for instance, was doing something similar. As were a few other programmes. But Dexter seems to have popularised the format more than anything else that was out at the time. 

(We suddenly get one of those weird "feels a bit like we're underwater" cross-fades that's meant to represent a journey into the past)

It's 1986. Trial of a Time Lord has just finished running its reduced 14-episode season. 

"It's stupid." fans are saying, "The episodes are telling one long story (which, technically, they're not. The story's been broken down into sub-sections!). No one can stay with something for that long! It's bad television." 

"Television will always be about self-contained episodes." other fans claim, "Viewers need that rest in the narrative. You can't do things like this. It doesn't work." 

"You're alienating the casual viewer!" 

"No one will ever watch TV this way!"       

(Another "underwater" cross-fade that brings us back to the present. Although, technically, I should have been using this framing device right from the start since the story does begin in the early 2000s!) 

As rude as it may sound, it seems blatant to me that this "you can't just tell one long story" accusation that was levelled at Trial of a Time Lord was a bunch of horse crap. This season didn't do anything wrong except be about twenty years ahead of its time. Audiences just weren't quite ready for this. 

Although they should have been. They'd had little problem with stories like The Invasion that went for eight episodes. The War Games that went for ten. And The Dalek Masterplan that went for twelve (thirteen if you count Mission to the Unknown. Which is, essentially, a prelude to Masterplan). Did just one more episode, officially, constitute too much?! Or was this just one more example of how overcritical fandom had become during this period? Were they, once more, looking for any little possible flaw and blowing it out of proportion? Or even just making up problems that weren't really there?! 

I think you can guess what my opinion is on the matter! 

THE FANS AIN'T SO BAD THIS TIME

When Trial came out, I was still somewhat young and naive. I tended to trust the opinions of others more than I do, now. Season Twenty-Two, however, had caused me to question Popular Fan Consensus quite heavily So much of what was said about the content of that year didn't line up with what I actually saw..But I still wasn't sure just how much I should disregard how other people felt, yet. Back then, I believed I should still be giving a fair listen to what fans were saying (in many ways, I still do - I just take what they say with much bigger grains of salt, these days!) So what people opined about this season would continue to have some influence on my own views. It would still be quite some time before I really started forming into the Great Contrarion!  

Admittedly, fan reaction from this year won a bit of my faith back. At this point in my life, I was subscribed to multiple fanzines. Most of them ran reviews of people who had managed to watch the season before I could. I enjoyed hearing what they had to say about it - whether the feedback was negative or positive. It gave me some degree of insight into what was coming my way once the episodes made it overseas to the PBS stations in my area. 

I was legitimately impressed by just how many people had good things to say about Season Twenty-Three. Fanzine reviews had been nothing but Doom and Gloom during Season Twenty-Two. Talking about everything that you felt was wrong about that collection of stories was the favorite pastime for contributors. But, with Trial of a Time Lord, many did feel the show was turning itself around. In some ways, such a sentiment still bothered me. I didn't feel like there was anything the show needed to turn itself around from. Season Twenty-Two, as far I was concerned, had been great. So saying that Trial was getting the show back on track did, sort of, bother me. It hadn't gone off track to begin with. But still, it was nice to hear less moaning and groaning. That was happy, at least! 

To say that this season was well-received by everyone, however, would be a pretty big stretching of the truth. There were still fans that were on the warpath with the show. More and more, they struck me as people stuck in the past. They felt Doctor Who should still be making the sort of stuff that had been popular back when it was in its "Golden Age" (please envision those quotation marks as being gigantic!). As far as they were concerned, there was no room in Who for deeply symbolic psychic snakes or other such high-concept nonsense. The show should still have big fat Gothic undertones with a silly Doctor that larked about and tripped over his overly-long scarf. Anything else was unacceptable. 

THE DARKER SIDE OF FANDOM

While some fans did lighten up for this season, there were still plenty who continued to be as toxic as all Hell. I liken them to witch hunters. These particular "crusaders" made a decision, already, before they even apprehended someone they suspected of witchcraft. A trial was conducted on their behalf, but it was there for effect. Evidence was manufactured and a sentence of "Guilty" was ready to be pronounced at the end of the inquest. Someone accused of being a witch had no hope of being found innocent. 

In the same way, toxic fans seem to have already decided that they are going to hate whatever new episodes the show is going to release even before they see it. They put on a pretense of giving the latest content a fair chance. But, as soon as they start watching, they're really just looking for any little flaw that they can exaggerate to an extreme. Ultimately, they will claim there are enough problems with a story to make it officially "bad". But, really, these latest episodes never had a hope of impressing them. Just like the witch hunters, a decision had been made long before the trial. 

Fans of this nature seem quite evident in both of Colin's seasons. They get especially nitpicky with Trial of a Time Lord. By no means is Season Twenty-Three absolutely perfect. But I also don't actually think it has all that many flaws, either. Overall, it's quite competently-written and it actually goes in some very interesting directions. The only aspect that really bothered me that much was the fact that the Doctor and Mel's timelines are a bit muddled at the end of the saga. She's actually meant to be from his future but they still leave the Space Station together in the TARDIS. She should have climbed back into one of those box-like thingies and been returned to her time period. Or something like that. But she shouldn't just be leaving with him as she does. It's an issue that ought to have been dealt with either at the end of Season Twenty-Three or the beginning of Twenty-Four. But it just, sort of, gets glossed over. 

Aside from this, any other quibbles I may have with this season are quite minor. Not even really worth mentioning. More times than others, it's  an issue of my own personal taste rather than a valid mistake made by the production team. Okay, okay - Ycranos and the werewolf fighting over Peri's attention in Mindwarp was immensely blatant padding! But that really is the only other thing that I felt was all that shoddy! 

Just like Season Twenty-Two, when I hear fans going on endlessly about the flaws of  Trial of a Time Lord, I am baffled. I just don't see a lot of  what they're saying. There is even a somewhat popular opinion that this season is as good as it is bad. That, for every impressive moment that it has, there is something else that occurs that is deeply cringe-worthy. 

I'm more inclined to believe that fans that talk about Trial in such a manner are making mountains out of mole-hills. I'm sorry if you're someone who feels this way about the season and I've offended you by saying that. But it's very hard for me to take this view seriously. I really have seen some petty criticisms levelled at this 14-parter. There are, for instance, any number of people who have validly said they don't like this year of Doctor Who because Colin let his hair grow out too long! 

I'm serious. I really have heard that from several fans. It's pretty hard to see such an opinion as valid. They're, basically, saying: "The writing was great! Direction was awesome! Stellar acting! But, I'm sorry, I don't like Colin's hair so the whole thing sucks!" 

SEXY SIXIE  

In an effort to continue to resist repeating myself, I'll now deal with some general aspects of the Sixth Doctor Era. It's almost good that this season has been thoroughly reviewed already. It gives me a bit of room to express some things that I feel need to be said about my favorite incarnation of this Time Lord. 

There are certain tonal issues with this period that I actually really appreciate. Oddly enough, I like that it tends to wear its errors on its sleeve. When Production does make a bad call, it's often quite obvious. Peri being rescued by the tree in Mark of the Rani, for instance, is blatantly awful. But it's over quite quickly and we get back to some fun bickering with the three renegades. Whereas I find a lot of mistakes that get made in that "Golden Age" can muddle on for quite some time. They are, perhaps, more subtle than what we get in 80s Who (which may account for some of the sharper criticism that 80s Who receives), but they do seem to linger for much longer. Padding things out with capture-and-escapes, for example, will go on for a better part of an episode. To the point where you can almost fast-forward to the next part since little will have actually happened in the plot. I find this enormously tedious. I prefer that a misstep be big and bold but very short-lived.  That just works better for me. 

On a deeper level, however, there's something that resonates even more strongly for me. Whether it's flawed or not, I just find so much of what happens during this period to be so much more engaging. Never do I feel more "drawn in" than I do when watching a Sixth Doctor story. It's almost as if what's on the screen leaps out at me and grabs me. Keeping me riveted the whole time. 

Much of this I attribute to Colin, himself. I don't think anyone put more into his portrayal than he did. Shooting schedules for TV can be long and gruelling. Particularly for something as effects-laden as Doctor Who. The leads that have been cast in the show have always been brilliant - don't get me wrong. But there are times where I do get the impression that they're at the end of a long day of shooting and the energy in a scene feels just a bit low. 

That never seems to happen with Colin. Every second that he's onscreen, he's giving it 110%. It's particularly impressive that the role, itself, requires a lot of energy. The Sixth Doctor is confident to the point of arrogance. He also always seems extremely sharp and alert. And, of course, he's a very succinct and animated orator. These are all character traits that demand tremendous effort from an actor to maintain. But Colin always steps up to the plate. He took great relish in playing the part. He also showed tremendous commitment and emotional investment. 

Only giving him two seasons was an absolute crime. 

MY BIGGEST CRITICISM 

While my love of Sixie runs deep, I am still not scared to give criticism where it's due. I laid in to Season Twenty-Two quite hard for a few critical errors that it makes (ie: yet more end-of-story supporting cast slaughterfests), I will do the same in this entry. 

I try not to place blame too specifically on anyone during these Reviews, but I will actually point the finger at Eric Saward for a lot of the issues that I have with this period. JNT did tend to like to give the writers and script editors as much space as he could. But it's possible that Saward should have actually been kept on a tighter leash. A lot of the dips in quality that I do see are often the responsibility of a script editor to fix. Particularly something like continuity from story-to-story. The fact that Colin, himself, had to ask for some dialogue to be put in about the Doctor being Lord President during Trial of a Time Lord speaks volumes of Saward's neglect.     

There is one "sin", however, that I definitely have to pin on John Nathan-Turner. This was clearly something he took charge of. It is also my biggest problem with this whole period. No, it wasn't Six's costume (believe it or not, I actually love the outfit!). It runs far deeper than mere aesthetics. 

Basically, we've taken a pretty big step back with the companions. 

While the number of companions aboard the TARDIS has meant very little to me, many fans do seem to prefer it when it's just the Doctor and one other person. I was happy to see the show revert back to this format just because it had been a few years since we'd seen it. But, as is often the case when the Doctor is travelling with a single female, the companion gets badly-written. 

While many viewers complained of the argumentative nature between Six and Peri, I quite enjoyed it. It was a dynamic that I felt we should see, at some point, with a regeneration. Peri became friends with Five. To have him suddenly make such a big turnaround in personality should rankle her. I liked the realism of it all. This sort of thing ought to happen from time-to-time with a character who can change so radically. 

Outside of the arguing, however, they really don't give Peri much. We've gone back to a female companion being a damsel-in-distress .Her main job in stories is to be rescued at regular intervals. She also gets lusted after a lot (understandably so! Even to this day, Nicola Bryant is stunning). Occasionally, a writer also remembers to bring up that she studies Botany. But that's all there really is to her. And, quite frankly, it's a bit insulting. We had some great companions like Leela and Romana who could really make valuable contributions to the plot. Even Nyssa and Tegan were nuanced enough to keep a story spicy. But, with Peri, it does feel like we've regressed. 

The problem continues with Mel. As a Canadian, it was easier to give her a fair chance. I was not familiar with her career in the way Brits were. Many felt she was totally unsuitable for the show (I still remember Alexie Sayle's famous quote about her!). I will even say that Pip and Jane Baker did their damnedest to make her useful in Terror of the Vervoids. But, from that point onwards, things degenerate rapidly. Essentially, Mel becomes a 60s Screamer for the rest of her time on Who. 

While I do feel that both actresses did the best with what they were given, the Sixth Doctor Era was not kind to its companions. 

This is, perhaps, its greatest flaw. 

"IT'S ALL JUST CARROT JUICE IN THE END!" - C. Baker 

As this era comes to a close, it's hard not to feel sad. Or even a bit angry. 

So many plans that they had for this incarnation were never allowed to reach their fruition. Colin, himself, claimed he absolutely had to beat Tom's record of seven seasons. Ironically, he does the exact opposite and gets the least amount of seasons in the classic series. 

And then there was the arc they were trying to build into the character. Starting Six off as an anti-hero and making him more and more likeable. In that sense, we do get to see quite a bit of that going on in these two short seasons. Especially when you consider that Terror of the Vervoids is set in the future and the Doctor does seem to have softened even more since the events of Mindwarp. 

But, the greatest shame is that someone who loved the role as much as Colin did was not allowed to bid us adieu. Whereas other actors get great final lines like: "Doctor - I let you go." or "It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for.", all poor Colin gets is: "Carrot juice! Carrot juice! Carrot juice!"  

But what I find even sadder is just how mired in controversy this period was. To this day, there are fans who still strongly believe this is some of the worst Who ever made. Which I will never be able to understand. I see so much of the opposite. The stories really tried to take risks and do something different (and often succeeded). The man who played the title character did it with all his heart and all his being. We even got what is, easily, the most memorable costume the Doctor ever wore! 

But some people just don't see things like that In some strange, naive way, I wish I could change their minds. But they will just never be happy with 'Ole Sixie. There are those who even mock me for loving him so much.

Which is fine with me, really. To quote a great man: 

"I always fancied myself a bit of an iconoclast!"