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.