Doctor Who-Battlefield

           Considering that pretty much all parties in Doctor Who knew that the programs 26'th season was to be it's last. The BBC and the public attitude on it had been on a downward spiral pretty much since Peter Davison left the series in 1984. After having an excellent silver anniversary that provided the show with some of it's best episodes however,it's creative energy was firmly on the upswing. Considering the decidedly nostalgic tone the program took in it's previous season,it was surprising that this serial would pick up on a significant element in the doctors connection to the human race: UNIT and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Doctor and the Brigadier had been the ultimate complimentary "night and day" element of the show,essentially with the same goal but different approaches. And this particular serial gives that plot a lot to work with.

       The Doctor and Ace respond to a distress call on Earth sometime in the 1990's. Apparently there's been some explosions near an archaeological dig where the sword Excaliber was thought to have been. Not only does this give Ace a semi new companion in Shou Yuing,who shares her love of explosives but the doctor with the Brigadier himself who was bought out of retirement specifically to assist him. After a journey onto an underwater spaceship it's discovered that the once legendary characters of King Arthurs round table were no legends but ancient space travellers. Their leaders Morgaine and Mordred,by the use of the monstrous Destroyer are intent on destroying the Earth to finish her final battle and that the doctor,who they perceive to be Merlin,the fame magician of their era,is another enemy for standing in their way.

         In the meantime the knight Ancelyn develops a peculiar relationship with UNITS new Brigadier Bambera as they both ally with the Doctor,Ace,Lethbridge Stewart and Shou Yuing in defeating Morgaine,who intends to launch a nuclear weapon to defeat her enemy and revive King Arthur,who has actually turned to dust. Ace soon gains custody,but almost looses,of Excalibur. And is able to travel into Morgaines alternate dimension with the doctor to try to defeat them. While they are double crossed by Morgaine's powers again,it is the doctor who persuades Morgaine herself into stopping her deadly assault. Though it's the stubborn Brigadier's silver bullet that destroys the destroyer in the end. After,at the brigadiers home the Brigadiers wife,Ace,Bambera and Shou Yuing go in the doctors car Bessie on a girls night out leaving the Lethbridge Stewart,Ancelyn and the doctor on their own accords. Of course,the doctor will be doing the cooking.

         This is actually one the strongest and most well rounded of all the seventh doctor stories. The presence of two UNIT Brigadiers,in a semi rivalry over which generation essentially will prevail is in contrast to the doctor and Ace's earnestness in their mission. The idea of King Arthur's court and Merlin being aliens from another dimention is a fascinating idea,hearkening back to earlier Doctor Who tales of fiction versus fact,even evoking Arthur C Clarke's famous law that "any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from fiction". Humor is also a big part,particularly with the semi romantic/sparing comedy between Ancelyn and Brigadier Bambera. The Doctors succinct and to the point discussion with Morgaine at the end of the episode also brings up the anti nuclear war theme at the end of this story. Only after the doctors Helen Caldicott-like emotional yet level headed description of the medical consequences of nuclear war does Morgaine realize the futility of the weapon and decides on a new course. One of those Doctor Who stories were all the programs best elements fall right into place.

Doctor Who-The Greatest Show In The Galaxy

                           With the ending seemingly looming on the horizon,Doctor Who was exiting it's silver anniversary season when this serial began airing and entering the final season of it's original run. It was a very strange ending to say the least. The program had gone from the peak of it's popularity,from the Jon Pertwee up through the Peter Davison era of the show as one of the premiere science fiction programs of it's day,when it seemed to be able to do no wrong even when the budget was occasionally tight. The BBC were viewing sci fi at the time as a distraction from the realities of the world,not a metaphoric medium that could in any way imply any change on the future of the world. Doctor Who not only needed to prove them wrong,but to do so by reflecting this attitude in different ways in the show itself.

                      The Doctor and Ace receive a robotic advertisement for something called the Psychic Circus on the planet Seganax. The Doctor decides to take Ace even after her revealing her fear of clowns. When they arrive they encounter not only distrustful natives,but a shady explorer Captain Cook and his companion Mags. When they enter the circus,they find a ring occupied by only one family so it seems and when they think they've been invited in as part of the act,they are taken prisoner. After Mags and the doctor engineer an escape with Ace,who discovers that the circus itself,having originally arrived with Utopian intentions are now being manipulated by another force.

                     The doctor and Ace find companions in Bellboy,who designed robot clowns who are now used by this greater force to kill "unworthy acts" in the circus and Kingpin,whose mind has been swiss cheesed for trying to discover the true nature of this greater force. While playing the conniving Cook and the other clowns at their games the Doctor soon discovers this great force that turned the Psychic Circus into a murderous cult are the Gods Of Ragnorok,powerful sadists using the circus people to entertain only themselves. The Doctor is able to topple their game with his own brand of slight of hand,using a medallion they created to harness their power to destroy them in the end. When invited to join Kingpin and Mags new circus the doctor and Ace,now free of her fear of clowns decide to depart Segenax,with the doctor concluding circuses have grown sinister to him.

                On the top of this story is the idea of the circus that comes into town and causes trouble with the locals. But there's a stronger message to this story that the writers don't even try to hide. The Gods Of Ragnorok  are clearly manipulators of the people of the Psychic Service,whose Bohemian ideals allowed their world access to evil. The word "hippie" is even used several times,the doctor himself stating he never has strayed from his Bohemian nature that first become obvious with Tom Baker years before. The Psychic Circus is only turned murderous when the free spirited circus people have their own imagination and creativity turned against them and their customers. As with all quality Doctor Who,it becomes a show championing the free spirited and creative people over tyrannical leadership. In addition to the presence of a rapping ringmaster and it's abundance of colorful,surreal imagery this goes down as one of the most inventively designed and compellingly written stories of the classic Doctor Who series.

Doctor Who-Silver Nemesis

           During 1988,the year in which this particular Doctor Who serial was aired,was the programs silver anniversary. At a quarter of a century it was a bit of a pitty that Doctor Who wasn't exactly at it's highest point of popularity with BBC or the general public. Popularity or not,the fact is the show was entering into another creative high point. Starting with 'Remembrance Of The Daleks' there was a feeling of bringing the program somewhat back to the questions Ian and Barbara asked of the Doctor when they first encountered the doctor and his TARDIS. And this episode,although like many of the seventh doctor era represents one of the shortest serials of the series,seeks to answer some of the shows biggest questions.

            The story begins with the doctor and Ace enjoying an outdoor jazz concert from Courtney Pine when the are attacked by a pair of armed henchmen. Meanwhile in 1638 the conniving Lady Peinforte believes she's found the secret of the Nemesis. But the doctor already knows that secret. It's an artificial life form made of a living metal called Validium,which comes from the time of Rassilon and Omega. It circles around to Earth every quarter century,causing mass chaos in it's wake such as the first world war and JFK's assassination. Which is why in 1988 a neo Nazi faction are after the Nemesis as well,along with a fleet of Cybermen who are about to invade Earth with a swarm of clocked ships. In the end it's the Nemesis that defeats all parties based on their own avarice. Though more questions are raised about the doctor than are answered as a result.

           In this serial one begins to wonder if the Doctor has access to a source of enormous power he isn't letting on. He has intimate control over Nemesis,implying to a degree he has participated first person in the evolution of life on Earth. The idea of "the doctor as god himself" has been hinted at many times before,but is almost directly answered here. The idea of Ace using Courtney Pine's jazz cassette type to jam the Cybermen's signals is an excellent analogy: the adversarial relationship between improvisation and clinical totalitarianism. The Doctor's manipulative and highly cryptic manner is played up to a huge degree here. In particular when you see his genuine mentoring/father figure relationship to Ace,who shares his earnestness and mutual trust even if she has questions as to his identity. Solid proof the questions of Doctor Who are more important than the answers.

Doctor Who-Delta And The Bannermen

          One of the things that tends to be a debate among Whovians is the witty humor of Doctor Who. It was always a show that never took itself 100% seriously. There are many episodes throughout the series that are created largely for comedic purposes. Some of them are revered as some of the best episodes of the series. Others are seen as embarrassments of the highest order. It depends a lot on the part of the popularity of the series at any given time. Or the popularity of the doctor. With both of those things said,this serial never had much of a chance to go over well with much of anyone because of it's timing.

          The last survivor of the Chimeron,Queen Delta escapes from her peoples massacre by the ruthless Bannermen. She encounters Mel who,along with the doctor travelling along with the TARDIS is on route to 1950's Earth on the shape shifting Navirino race,who have as huge a fascination with 20'th century American nostalgia as Mel. While at first the journey is a fun romp in time the Doctor and Mel are soon menaced by the Bannermen,who have followed everyone back in time to find Queen Delta and her special cargo-an egg that is about to hatch into the last surviving member of her species. With the help of the period couple,Mel and the Doctor are able to catch the Bannerman and therefore save the Chimeron race.

            This episode has a minor story of genocide wrapped into what is largely a light hearted context. The idea that a non humanoid alien race would find 1950's America to be one of the greatest moments in history is a superb satire on the "traditional values" attitudes of period political leaders. One thing this character does is more heavily develop the seventh doctors strong sense of morality. He makes a strong point of the Bannerman's completely self centered attitude towards exterminating the Chimeron. Even though it sadly remains the butt of a lot of jokes even among some of the hardest core Whovians it's one of the wittiest and most entertaining stories from Sylvester McCoy's first series as the doctor.

Doctor Who-Paradise Towers

                Sylvester McCoy was only one serial old by the time his second came into being. So far his reception as the seventh doctor was almost worse than that of Colin Baker before him. He was seen by and large as a comic buffoon. So there was a concerted effort on the part of the writers on the show to bring more topical and modern stories into the framework of the program. It was probably believed that this would create a more provocative identity for the new doctor. The Thatcher/Reagan era presented a lot of social problems for both England and America. In particular the concept of urban decay and the advent of mechanization. And this is the topic of this serial.


              Looking for a vacation spot with a swimming pool for Mel,she and the Doctor misread the brochures from Paradise Towers,a 22'nd century high rise. They arrive years too late to find a building fallen into disrepair,led by neon haired female gangs called red and blue Kangs. The Kangs and the ruling Caretakes believe the doctor to be the "great architect". In their search for the truth Mel escapes from two cannibalistic residents called "ressies"  and a cowardly wanna be vigilante named Pex. In the end it's not only up to the ressies,Pex and Kangs to unite up with the Doctor and Mel but to understand that the designer of Paradise Towers designed a deliberately parasitic building to satisfy his ego. In the end Pex sacrifices himself and unites the population of Paradise Towers.


            Aside from an excellent story of noble sacrifice in the face of despotic ruling this episode does an interesting job of addressing it's social concerns in the science fiction format. The Kangs are modernized 'Clockwork Orange" like cyber punks with their silly "ice hot!" catch phrase. And the cannibalistic "ressie" characters are cast very happily against type. They are not a group of foreign seeming head hunter style cliched stereotypes.  They look and act like regular middle aged English women from the late 20'th century. In this serial you have the beginning of the seventh doctor using his wit and humor to disarm and distract rather than muddle about aimlessly. Not only was this a quirky,colorful and topical episode but also did a lot for the character of the new doctor.

Doctor Who-Time And The Rani

                Even as American television was warming quickly to science fiction with the huge success of shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 the same couldn't exactly by said for the BBC. Every important sci fi program they aired were either cancelled or transferred to BBC2. Especially with the controversies surrounding every aspect of Colin Baker's all too short tenure on the program,Doctor Who in particular was singled out. Though at one time a BBC institution of sorts the program,with it's serialized format and elongated story lines were beginning to seem like the last gasps of another age. An age that had gone by. Things went down so badly with Colin Baker that he wasn't even invited back to do is own regeneration. New doctor Sylvester McCoy had to don a wig and do it himself. But regeneration stories were always a great opportunity to add a different spin to stories. And especially since the show needed it very much here bringing the relatively new time lady The Rani into the story was an excellent idea.


               The TARDIS is pulled out of time by the Rani to the planet Lakertya,where the doctor is forced into regenerating do to injury.  The Rani is constructing a rocket to harness the power of an on coming asteroid containing what the time lords call strange matter,an unusually powerful substance she plans on using to transform the planet into a gigantic time regulator to control the temporal flow of the universe. But the new doctors post regeneration doesn't know any of this so the Rani takes advantage of this by impersonating companion Mel. Mel meanwhile is assisted by one of the Lakertians in locating the doctor,who she doesn't recognize at first but both convince themselves of their identities and set about trying to thrawt the Rani's sadistic plan. She plans to use the power of the doctors mind,along with other historical figures like Albert Einstein's to harness a giant autonomous brain that will operate her launching device. Catch is the Lakertians,whose she's made pawns of in different ways are enslaved by her using a technology the doctor uses to thrawt her plans. And after escaping in her TARDIS the Rani is captured by the Tetraps,triclops creatures with a literal eye in the back of their heads who she basically enslaved.


             While this serial,as with any featuring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford were pretty much roundly scoffed at by the media and public alike in their day,and often still are this is an excellent story that could possibly put a cap on the Rani's story. With a brilliant mind the doctor continually shows admiration for, she lives without any conscience and all of her practices show no ethics or compassion. He even sites the incredible feats she could've created if she had used her mind for good as he does. The most interesting elements to this story is the doctors regeneration. The seventh doctor is manic and confused during his post regeneration crisis,quite a different reaction than the sixth doctors needlessly violent treatment of companion Peri a couple years earlier. It's a testament to the Rani's intelligence that she was able to fool another time lord,even in a semi amnesiac state,so easily. The Lakertians for their part are a race that the Rani have either intimidated into complete servitude or made into what are literally slaves to pleasure. This points to perhaps a highly domineering aspect to her personality. An excellent start to the seventh doctor era and an excellent character study for what is one of the doctors most compelling adversaries.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR A TIMELORD!

                                 On August 20'th of this year Sylvester McCoy,who portrayed the seventh incarnation of the time lord known as the doctor on 'Doctor Who' will be turning 69. You;d probably have to put a zero after that nine to indicate the actual age of the character. But over time Sylvester McCoy's portrayal of the seventh doctor has been re-evaluated over the years.  Portraying the doctor as a wily and somewhat manipulative personality who frequently uses witty wordplay to make his points he,at the very least got a chance to do a regeneration sequence which his predecessor Colin Baker never got a chance to do. I am devoting the period up until his birthday to review the seventh doctor serials of the series in tribute.