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.