Doctor Who Season 23: The Junkyard will now speak for the prosecution

The Trial of a Time Lord opens with an impressive computer assisted model shot, as the camera swoops over a space station, and then shows us a tractor beam that has captured the Tardis. That’s as good as it gets during the next 14 episodes. The show came back from its hiatus with a poorly considered story arc involving the Doctor’s trial for interference lead by the black-clad Valeyard (Michael Jayston; the best thing about the entire season, even if he does wear an embarrassing hat throughout).

Of course, John Nathan-Turner and Eric Saward were still in control, which didn’t bode well for the season as a whole. The “trial” concept was meant as a commentary on their own “trial” by the BBC. This kind of insider baseball rarely works, because the vast majority of folks watching just want to have adventures. From a storytelling perspective, the trial mainly served to stop the action whenever it started to get interesting. The tone is all wrong, the Time Lord costumes are – as always – a disaster. The ratings certainly reflected the general disinterest in the series. The show came back to its worst numbers (under 4 million per episode) in its history, though they did eventually stabilize around 5 million.

The Mysterious Planet

Alas, Robert Holmes ends his nearly two-decade relationship with Doctor Who with a less than stunning script. It involves a mysterious Earth-like planet that turns out to be Earth. A typically crazy robot/computer thing, and warring factions of descendants from a high technology society (think The Face of Evil, but with the wrong Baker and no Leela). On the upside, Holmes’ wit is intact, as we get one last great double act, led by the rascal trader/pirate Glitz.

Mindwarp

Writer Philip Martin returns for best of the Trial storylines, and we get Brian Blessed being Brian Blessed. More horses! The lizard-like Sil returns, and is joined by another of his race (played, in heavy makeup, by Mike from The Young Ones), who plots to transfer his consciousness into another body. There is a lot of corridor running and near escapes, but the story moves at a strong pace and lots of danger. It also ends with perhaps the biggest downer in Doctor Who history, as Peri has her mind wiped and replaced by the evil fish thing. Really, Peri’s had the worst time on the Tardis this side of Katarina.

Terror of the Vervoids

Oh great, Pip and Jane Baker are back in this story that’s a lot like Nightmare in Eden – only
worse. And we get Mel, a companion that is somehow more annoying that Peri. This time out, it’s killer plants on a space liner who are about to kill everything if they escape. Arrayed against the Doctor are some bad scientists, led by an underutilized Honor Blackman. At story’s end, the Doctor kills all of the Vervoids, and gets accused of... genocide! Cue ending credits. And then watch that particular plot thread get dropped in the series finale.

The Ultimate Foe

The finale feels like the work of two different writers – because it is. Actually, there are four writers involved here. Robert Holmes started it, but fell ill and died after completing most of episode one. Eric Saward took over, completed that episode and wrote the second part according to Holmes’ outline. Saward and JNT had a falling out over the ending (involving the Doctor and the Valeyard locked in mortal combat for a cliffhanger), which lead the author to withdraw his script. Pip and Jane (oh no!) Baker were brought in to finish it, but were not allowed to even glance at Saward’s work, but had to use the sets established in that part. In other words, it’s a mess. The Valeyard is revealed to be the evil distillation of the Doctor, out to get his remaining regenerations. The moment is dropped by the Master (oh no!) as a casual aside, like “Hey Doctor. Hey Evil Doctor. What’s up?”

The Valeyard’s plot revolves around something called the Megabyte Modem, so apparently he  wants to bring internet access to the universe and destroy society with Twitter and Instigram. He gets stopped and all is well. Even Peri turns out to be alive, robbing the season of its most powerful moment. And Colin Baker’s last line in the role? “Carrot juice.”

At the end of this season, Baker was fired. John Nathan-Turner was still stuck on the show, and the worst season of the show’s history was, well, history. I wish I could say this lead to a renaissance, but the bad times would continue to roll when Sylvester McCoy took on therole (though it will get better).

Doctor Who Season 22: Change isn't always for the good

Let me say at the outset that I really like Colin Baker as a performer and his interpretation of the Doctor was loaded with potential. It took a couple of decades – and the efforts of the Big Finish audio
dramas – to finally bring that to fruition. His era on the actual program was fraught – haunted? destroyed? – with troubles, as John Nathan Turner’s excesses (and the BBC’s ever-tightening budget)
threatened to kill the long-running show.

The Twin Dilemma

Colin Baker’s first entry on the show was actually part of the previous season, so viewers went from the high of The Caves of Androzoni to… this. The quality of acting went down steadily during
the JNT years, and this is a prime example. Lots of stiff acting across the board, with the best actor trapped in a rather preposterous costume. The story doesn’t make a lot of sense. Then there’s the
Doctor’s behavior. The regeneration – as usual – as gone badly. This time, he ends up being vain, angry and violent. He even tries to kill Peri at one point. Even as the Doctor “improved,” the relationship between him and the companion never recovered from that. He was always cutting and
bitchy; she complained all the time (though after nearly being choked to death, she had cause). Not fun at all.

Attack of the Cybermen

Colin Baker’s first proper season starts off with a bang, with the return of an old nemesis, ex-Dalek agent Lytton, and a trip deep into the show’s history. It doesn’t hold together all that well, and the
senseless violence begins to grate on the nerves. Part of the problem is that the show is steeped in Cybermen history, with references back to The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Tenth Planet (the first was thought lost at this time; the second was incomplete and had not aired in 20-plus years). These weren’t stray lines dropped here or there, but long info dumps that ground the adventure to the halt. And then we get the original inhabitants of Telos, who were thought to be exterminated by the Cybermen. The costume design looked like something from William Hartnell’s era (well, the budget was about the same). There’s also some senseless killing, as the three characters involved in a subplot to escape from Telos as gunned down within a few feet of their target. Gah, the gritty ‘80s were terrible in so many ways.

Vengeance on Varos

Speaking of gratuitous violence. This opens with Sean Connery’s son, bare chested, obviously being tortured. From there, we see a type of democracy where a negative vote mean the leader’s death; old cannibals in baggy underpants; and death by acid bath. Though infamous for all of this, Vengeance on Varos is actually one of Colin Baker’s best outings. The work of author Philip Martin helps a bunch, as does the satiric tone that – for once – matches Colin Baker’s approach to the role. We also the get the delightfully slimy (literally, he’s an amphibian type creature) Sil, who is sort of like a Ferengi without
the positive aspects.

Mark of the Rani

The team of Pip and Jane Baker scarred this era of Doctor Who with their terrible scripts, starting with this one. The Rani is another renegade time lord, who has stopped off in pre-industrial England to
do a bit of experimentation. The Master is there as well. People get turned into trees. The saving grace? It’s not Time and the Rani.

The Two Doctors

Oh, what a terrible waste. Patrick Troughton and Fraiser Hines make their return to the show, as do the Sontarans. We even have a Robert Holmes script. What could go wrong? Well, just about everything in
this overlong and overcooked turkey. Holmes’ story might have worked as a normal 90-minute adventure, but stretching it out to the equivalent of six episodes (they were 45 minute episodes during this season) means the final part is pretty much all filler. Troughton does his best to bring some old-school charm to the proceedings, but the ugly nature of the story (one character gets killed primarily for the shock value; both Peri and Jamie are threatened with ending up on the dinner table) makes it an
uncomfortable and unpleasant watch.

Timelash

You know when the biggest surprise is that the Victorian gent “Herbert” who has joined the Doctor for this adventure is obviously H.G. Wells that the script isn’t working. This brings back plenty of
bad memories from The Horns of Nimon, without the campy and relatively fun lead performances. That’s right, I’d rather watch The Horns of Nimon than this.

Revelation of the Daleks

At least, the season ends on a relative high – and probably Colin Baker’s best aired adventure. That is definitely relative, as this tale has odd pacing and an uneven Eric Saward script. What we do have,
however, is some terrific Grahme Harper directing, who infuses plenty of energy into the proceedings. We also have two warring factions of Daleks – who are fighting for Davros’ head in a jar. Clive Swift (best known as Richard on Keeping Up Appearances) is delightful as a somewhat crazed and vain mortician, while Alexi Sayle gets to be Alexei Sayle.

After the airing of season 22, Doctor Who was cancelled… and then reverted to an 18-month hiatus. Looking back at this season, I would have done the same thing if I had been in control of the BBC (oh, the power). This was a complete disaster of a season in terms of tone, performances, scripts, effects, directing and overall quality. Of course, I would have also purged the production team. That didn’t
happen, which contributes to the ultimate nadir of 26 seasons of the original Doctor Who. In place of the planned 23rd season (which would have included the return of the Celestial Toymaker!) we got (shudder) The Trial of a Time Lord.

Doctor Who Season 21: Caves, Daleks and a pantomime horse

After a shaky start, Peter Davison’s final season ends with one of the best stories of any era. Still, the stress is showing on the show, as the transition into the 1980s made for an uneasy era.

Warriors of the Deep

This is a pretty tense, base-under-attack adventure (ala the Patrick Troughton years) – until the monster pantomime horse shows up. That’s right, the big monster used by the combined forces of the Silurians and the Sea Devils was played by a pair of guys who normally were the front and back ends of a horse on a British comedy program. The adventure never really recovers, and the epic bloodletting that will
be the hallmark of the coming seasons gets off to a roaring start here, as pretty much everyone is dead (certainly all the Silurains and Sea Devils) by story’s end and leaving Peter Davison with his classic closing line, “There should have been another way.”

The Awakening

Two-part adventures were always an awkward fit for the Doctor Who format. These increased pace and tighter direction means that the modern-day adventures mostly have the same running time, but often didn’t have the weight to even carry two episodes of an adventure. The Awakening, on the other hand, really could have used a third episode, because the odd tale of time travel and English Civil War reenactments gone way, way too far really could have used some more time to flesh out the action. There are still good moments throughout here, including a nicely realized stone-face monster thing.

Frontios

The Visitation could have easily taken one of the episodes here. There is at least 25 minutes of  walks along the BBC corridors that could have been cut and not affected the story one whit. It’s a shame, as there’s some in this adventure. First off, we get a little more context for Turlough. Mark Strickson was a fine performer with an interesting look who never really had much to do except be a coward.
Here, there is some tension about his nature, as the villains of this piece (called Tractators; they have epic gravity powers) are buried deep in his previously barely mentioned alien race memory. The Tractactors themselves are pretty daft, as the limitations of the budget come home to roost with these big mollusks.

Resurrection of the Daleks

You shouldn’t get attached to any of the characters in this adventure, because they aren’t going to last long. The Daleks’ return opens with a group of escaping prisoners being gunned down by a pair of London Bobbies. The bloodletting only gets more intense from there, as characters are brought in mainly to be slaughtered – be they on then-contemporary Earth, on a Dalek spacecraft or a space station that guards the vilest prisoner in the cosmos: Dalek creator Davros. We also have a turncoat human working for the Daleks; an awesome cold-hearted bastard (Lytton, he’ll be back) working for the Daleks; and Peter Davison emptying a revolver into a Dalek mutant. By the end, poor Tegan has seen enough and decides to stick it out on Earth. That means, of course, that a new companion is in order…

Planet of Fire

I haven’t talked much about the directing during this era, but one of the reasons the adventures often feel like slogs is static, uninteresting direction. This isn’t necessarily the fault of the people behind the cameras. While the filmed segments were shot, well,like films – with a single camera used and multiple takes needed to cover each scene. The studio still used the format that had been there
since the beginning of the show – five or six cameras shooting the action as “live,” with a mix of these shots used as the foundation for editing and effects. Basically, it’s a set up designed to drain any life and excitement out of a show unless the director forces the action and works to be innovative. Time usually didn’t allow for much of that, and that hurts the studio side of Planet of Fire.

The filmed segments – shot in Lanzarote – do a nice job of bringing the titular planet to life, while the script itself does a lot of cleaning up and place setting for the end of the Davison era. This means Kamilion (remember, the robot locked in a closet) makes his return, though mostly played by an actor in silver makeup. Turlough finally meets up with his people and we learn more about his background – and he even gets to grow a spine at last. And then there’s Peri. JNT wanted an American companion for the American audience, not realizing that we – of course – could watch Americans on TV all the time. That the British Nicola Bryant wasn’t always convincing (she got better over her run) and her
character whined her way through the adventure (this never improved) certainly didn’t help. Oh, and the Master was around – and he was laughably tiny (a lab accident), which brought back unfortunate memories of William Hartnell’s Planet of Giants adventure.

The Caves of Androzani

In the late Aughts, this episode was named the best all time of the program in a survey of fans. I wouldn’t go that far (I’m partial to Pyramids of Mars myself) but it is light years beyond anything else done in the 1980s. Why? Well, Robert Holmes returns for the first time in years and gives us a typical Bob Holmes script, loaded with conflict, skuzzy-but-intriguing characters, and a tough, sardonic wit. We get an absolutely terrific “villain,” Sharaz Jak, who looks like a mix of Diabolique and a rubber-fetish enthusiast. Most importantly, we get Graeme Harper’s first go-round as director. While the show is still studio bound, it bursts with plenty of energy as Harper uses every tool in the limited BBC book to bring the story alive. We even learn what the damn celery was all about. Best of all, this isn’t a story about saving the galaxy or even a planet. Instead, it – like the earliest stories of the show – finds the Doctor and Peri quickly ensnared in a plot happening far over the heads. They are just trying to survive, and any good they may do is just incidental.

Then with a flash, the Peter Davison era is over. Enter Colin Baker – and the terrors of the next two seasons.

Doctor Who Season 20: Hi, Pat, Jon, fake Bill and outtake-only Tom!

It’s another birthday year, which will end with The Five Doctors special (which happened to be the first time I saw William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton on the program; and a first for Jon Pertwee doing more than regenerating into Tom Baker). It’s also when Davison decided that three years would be enough – and considering some of what is to come, it’s hard to fault the decision.

Arc of Infinity

JNT wanted to film out of Britain again (following City of Death) and found that the BBC had a connection with Amsterdam. So… this adventure has plenty of shots letting us know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we were in Holland. The story’s plot centers on Omega – the guy from the antimatter universe in The Three Doctors – attempting to break free again. This involves a complex plot to take over the Doctor’s essence. This leads to plenty of Time Lord politics (sound of paint drying) and corridor crawls that still manages to be more fun than it should. Some of that comes from an unexpected source: future Doctor Colin Baker, who plays an overbearing Time Lord officer (complete with highly plumed hat) who menaces Doctor and Nyssa to great effect.

Snakedance

It’s Kinda part two, as we get a return engagement with the Mara. This is quite a sophisticated adventure that leaves some work to be done by the audience (thought not as much as Kinda) and offers a really intriguing story that is full of interesting characters and generally solid performances. The special effects are a bit more special this time around as well.

Mawdryn Undead

If this episode was the length of a modern-day adventure (45 minutes) or even an hour, it would be a terrific adventure. At 90 minutes, it gets dragged down by some horrible BBC corridor padding that threatens a good idea for a story and some welcome returns. This includes the Black Guardian – now with a bird on his head – who has enlisted the aid of a youngish public school student, Turlough, in a plot to kill the Doctor. Turlough isn’t exactly as he seems (we learn about his origins later), and one of his teachers is the good ole Brigadier. As it turns out, we get two Nick Courtney’s here, one in 1977 and one in 1983. The Mawdryn of the title is one of eight people who, in ancient times, stole Time Lord technology in an attempt to find the secret of eternal life. They were doomed to constant mutations and forced to travel the universe like the Flying Dutchman. The Doctor and crew get ensnared, with the Brig and Turlough in tow. It all goes well until the two Nick’s spend most of the final episode wandering different parts of the alien ship, slowly dragging the action down.

Terminus

Mawdryn Undead was flawed. Terminus is a few good ideas (from Warriors’ Gate scribe Stephen Gallagher) wrapped around terrible execution. What’s good? There’s a faceless corporation exploiting the victims of a deadly disease on an ancient spaceship. There are some interesting performances and a mixture of interesting and unfortunate costume choices (a pair of space pirates look like they are extras in a Flock of Seagulls video). The rest is a disaster. Turlough still wants to kill the Doctor, so he and Tegan spend most of their time locked in a cupboard (really, like for almost the entire serial). Nyssa gets the disease and then meets up with a giant dog creature thing that looks like it rolled out of a space-age panto. And… really, the Black Guardian is around a bit, and then it all ends OK – and Nyssa decides to stay, mainly because they decided once again that there were two many companions.

Enlightenment

Thankfully, the Black Guardian episodes end with a bang in this intriguing adventure. The only dodgy element are some of the early 1980s special effects. The Doctor and crew land on what they think is an Edwardian racing ship. It is – sort of. The ship is actually a space-going vessel, as a group of “Eternals” are involved in a race. Their prize is “enlightenment.” The Eternals can’t feel emotions, so they use folks like us to live and experience emotions. As our crew is ensnared, Turlough goes through a final battle of wills as he works his way through the Black Guardian’s final plans to destroy the Doctor. A nice script, great guest cast and a terrific visual look carry the day here.

The King’s Demons

So, it’s months before the signing of the Magna Carta and…Ugh. I would rather watch Time-Flight on a loop for 12 hours than spend another 45 minutes with this… thing. Essentially a two-episode excuse to introduce a new companion, the story is dull, annoying and ultimately awful. Anthony Ainley is absolutely unconvincing in disguise, the historical setting is poorly realized (though we do get Ilsa Blair, which is nice) and then there is Kamelion. Apparently, JNT saw a demo of a prototype robot and decided he wanted one for the show. As it turned out, the robot never worked properly – it could move a little bit, but never in any convincing fashion. It certainly was unable to walk. After this, Kamelion spent most of his time in a cupboard in the Tardis until finally meeting an end in Peter Davison’s final episode. That, however, is still a year away…

The Five Doctors

This was filmed as part of the 20^th season, but actually was a special 90-minute adventure. It was broadcast on Nov. 25, 1983, two days after the show’s 20^th anniversary. While the term didn’t exist then, this is essentially fan service. All of the actors are represented, though William Hartnell was only seen in a clip from one of his episodes; while Tom Baker refused to take part, so footage from the unfinished Shada was used instead.

Along with Davison, Troughton and Pertwee (and Richard Hurndall, who nicely channels Hartnell as the First Doctor), we have favorite companions (Susan, the Brig and Sarah Jane), along with the Master, Cybermen, a Dalek and a few other cameos. Alas, we also have Time Lord politics again, this time centered on the Death Zone, the tomb of Rassilion, and more corruption. The story barely holds together (Terrance Dicks had to sub in at the last minute for Robert Holmes and assembled it on the fly) and the effects aren’t always all that special… but this was a favorite of the teenage me, especially for the peek into the then unseen early era of the program.

Up next, the Davison era ends with a stunning high – but not before a couple more terrible lows.

Doctor Who Season 19: "The regeneration is failing..."

Hello Peter Davison. The achingly young actor (under 30 at the time) takes up the mantle of the Doctor for an uneven trio of years. Of course, uneven was usually the best you could get out of the John Nathan Turner years, so I guess that is an advantage. We get some new energy, a cricket-style costume and, of course, a piece of celery on his lapel. Strap in, this is going to get bumpy.

Castrovalva

There are a number of sins here, though you can’t lay them all at the feet of scriptwriter Christopher H. Bidmead. The writer – who had just left his post as the show’s script editor – offers up an interesting, science-and-math based concept that has some rich potential. There are a couple of flaws. The main one is that the Doctor is on the sidelines far too long (this is an issue in a number of regeneration episodes – we want to see the character in his new guise from the first moments, not sleeping his way through most of Christmas), spending a good chunk of the episodes locked in a tiny cabinet as the troubled regeneration takes hold. The other has to do with the costume. Davison was saddled with a daft look for three years that had a nice Edwardian cricketer look, but featured a clash of colors that was off putting and was topped with a stalk of celery that was quite a comedown from Tom Baker’s iconic scarf. This was also a sign of costume disasters still to come.

Four to Doomsday

Costumes weren’t the problem in this slog of an episode. We get another interesting idea shortchanged by a lack of interesting design, uninterested directing and a glacial pace (get used to those problems; they are legion in the Davison era). A spaceship that has visited the Earth multiple times through history is on its way back with nefarious plans of course. The Doctor and his cadre have to stop it all and do so.. with the aid of embarrassing cultural dances? Oh yeah.

Kinda

Here’s the highlight of the season, as we get a script that pushes into the nature of legends and the mind – and gives Janet Fielding a rare chance to be more than the “loudmouth companion with an Australian accent.” Tegan gets “infected” by the physic presence of the Mara, a representation of all the dark thoughts of the former inhabitants of the planet. Scriptwriter Christopher Bailey crafted a measured piece of exploratory science fiction that was, in turn, nicely directed by Peter Grimwade (a better director that scripwriter, as we’ll see). Oh, and there’s a terrible giant snake, but you can’t have it all in early 1980s Doctor Who.

The Visitation

A somewhat jolly pseudo-historical has the gang fighting aliens and robots in plaguer-ridden 17^th-century England. There’s an awesomely hammy performance from Michael Robins, a solid script from Eric Saward, and the revelation that the Doctor himself was responsible for the Great Fire of London (as if you didn’t expect that all along).

Black Orchid

And here’s an actual historical adventure, with no science fiction elements apart from the Doctor, crew and Tardis (the first for the show since the Highlanders all the way back in 1966. It’s a simple story, really, about a terrible family secret and murderous intent. Also, we learn that the Doctor is terrific at cricket – hitting multiple sixes and taking several wickets (and yes, my anglophilia means I understand the rules of the game) – and that Adric is mainly interested in stuffing his face than dancing. Also, Sarah Sutton gets a rare chance to do more than show that Nyssa is good at math and stuff by playing a pair of roles here.

Earthshock

Or, when Adric finally gets off our back. This has always been a troubling episode, because Adric’s death (oops, 32-year-old spoiler alert) really doesn’t have any bearing on anything. His sacrifice doesn’t ultimately mean anything except that JNT wanted to get rid of a character with a bang. The Cybermen are back and planning to destroy the Earth again. There are some nice moments with them – even if the 1980s version of the creatures wear moon boots – and good energy from beginning to end. The moments just after Adric’s death are also nicely played by the remaining trio of regulars, though that is rather undercut by the next serial.

Time-Flight

Um, it involves a Concord traveling back to ancient Earth, giant rock things, a badly disguised Master, and… oh, writing about this is just too painful. This is absolutely the nadir of the Davison years.

Next time, things look a bit up, then really down and then up again for the anniversary year.

Doctor Who Season 18: Let the glitz begin

The John Nathan-Turner era begins with a flash, literally, as a new title sequence opens up the season. Gone is the familiar time tunnel from the past seven seasons and the recording of the theme tune that served the show for 17 years. It’s replaced by a star field, a neon-tubed logo and a new arrangement that pushes the sound soundly into the 1980s.

The burst of energy from Nathan-Turner carries on through the series. It isn’t as strong as the first part of Baker’s era, but after the terrors of season 17, even the likes of Meglos don’t seem that bad.

The Leisure Hive

We start out by the seaside – mainly to get K-9 all wet so he wouldn’t play a part in the episode (JNT hated the tin dog), before we head out to a far flung planet for a dying race who seem to spend their last days running a pleasure planet. All, of course, is not as it seems. The marks of the era are all over the show, which means there is an inconsistent tone to the whole proceedings that eventually make it less than the sum of its parts.

Meglos

So, Tom Baker turns into a cactus, there’s a massive roleplaying die controlling a world and… wait is that original companion Barbara Wright playing the overbearing, primitive priestess? Indeed, she is, making a singular reappearance (no other companion ever did this) as a different character. The story is often remembered for the giant cactus makeup that Tom Baker had to wear – and the giant die (the dodecahedron no less) that is the heart of the planet’s power.

Full Circle

Adric looms large over the early years of JNT’s tenure on the role. The oft-hated character (sort of like Doctor Who’s Wesley Crusher) joins the crew, via an intriguing story. An accident pushes the Tardis out of our universe into “E” space. While the Doctor and Romana search for a way out, they land on a planet that seems to include a crew preparing to launch their generational space ship, while all the while cautious of the creatures in the swamp. It turns out to be a bit murkier than that, as it turns out the ship-board folks are actually the evolved version of the swamp creatures. There’s some nice atmosphere along the way to help make this a solid start to the trilogy.

State of Decay

Ah, Terrance Dicks’ Space Vampires script finally comes to the screen. It feels like a relic from an earlier age, because – well, it is a relic from an earlier age. Dicks is a solid writer who provides plenty of creepy details (the spaceship fuel tanks are full of… blood!) that are taken up in the direction and design.

Warriors' Gate

I’ve seen Warriors' Gate plenty of times over the years – and I’m still exactly sure of all of the action. The script (penned by Stephen Gallagher) involves lion-like creatures who can ride the time winds, and an interrupted feast and robot knights and… Oh well, let’s just enjoy the visuals, shall we? The episode also marks the end of Romana and K-9, who rather quickly stay behind with one of the lion guys. So, Lalla Ward is done. She provided a lot of entertainment in a particularly uneven era of the show.

The Keeper of Traken

Wait, don’t trust him, Doctor, it’s the Master! Oh, wait, it actually isn’t the Master at this time. Anthony Ainely – who would carry on in the role of the Doctor’s nemesis throughout the ‘80s – plays a good man who comes to a nasty end in this episode. The episode includes plenty of to-ing and fro-ing by the cast with a story that, in the end, doesn’t completely hold our interest. We do get our first look at Nyssa, who will become another new companion very soon.

Logopolis

The final piece of the overcrowded Tardis is introduced as Australian air hostess Tegan (the always enjoyable Janet Fielding) joins the fray during a particularly bad day (she is late for her first day of work; her car breaks down; her beloved aunt in killed by the Master). Meanwhile, there’s lot of sometimes confusing math going on, centered on the titular planet and block transfer computation (no, it doesn’t make much sense, but they can alter the universe with their equations). The Master gets in the way and threatens the whole universe. As it often happens, the Doctor sacrifices himself to save the day. And he regenerates into…