Thursday, June 13, 2024

Peri and the Piscon Paradox [Doctor Who, Diversion 48]

 Peri and the Piscon Paradox by Nev Fountain
January 2011


I owe some thanks to my friends, who reminded me of this audio's existence at just the right time for me to slot it in. This is as close to closure on Peri as we will get, and I'll gladly take it.

I didn't really grapple with it in my Trial posts, but it's not exactly a hot take to suggest that Peri got short shrift during her time on the show. There are occasional, faint glimmers of a character under there, but under her constant bickering with the Doctor, the questionable accent, and the fan service, they're pretty hard to see. Nicola Bryant is a pretty good actress in my opinion, and it sucks that she never really got the time to flesh her character out. Until Big Finish rolled around, at least.

I didn't really know what to expect from Peri and the Piscon Paradox when I put it on, but I was attentively listening while running around the world of Skyrim with the audio playing in another tab.

The first half begins with Peri and the Fifth Doctor arriving in the far-off year of 2009 in Los Angeles. The tone is established quite early on as being somewhat humorous, with Peri's comments about life in the 21st century being especially memorable. The Piscons, the titular alien of the week, are established in a throwaway line as distant cousins of the Pescatons, and are played mostly for laughs.

After encountering a future Peri who is supposedly tracking a Piscon criminal named Zarl, the past Peri interrogates her about her future, but the elder Peri is a bit reluctant. She shields herself from further questioning by claiming to be a government agent, but the events of the story quickly cast some doubt on this cover.

A particular sticking point for the past Peri is that her older self never had a family, something which is clearly very important to her. When they part in anger at the end of part two, the past Peri swears that she'll go back to her high school sweet heart after she's done traveling with the Doctor and start a family, the shouts of her future counterpart drowned out by the TARDIS doors closing. The note it ends on is more sober than we'd expect from the rollicking parts that preceded it, but it's still nothing, compared with the end of the second half.

In the second half we see the same events from the future Peri's perspective, learning that she's not a government agent but a talk show host. She and her assistant, Buretor (short for Carburetor, natch) get sucked into an adventure by an unfamiliar man with curly blond hair. The Sixth Doctor is a little confused when he realizes that she doesn't recognize him; it seems this Peri only remembers Planet of Fire and nothing else, an experience which the Doctor later glumly compares to that of Jamie and Zoe.

The Doctor mentions that he remembers an adventure during his previous incarnation where they met Peri's future self here, which he knows now should be impossible based on what he knew of her fate in Trial. When they go try and find the fugitive Piscon Zarl however, he gets surprised and accidentally falls to his death on the beach. The dawning realization that the Zarl in the first half was just the Sixth Doctor in a fish suit the whole time is really quite something.

As funny as these parts are too, it's hard to see the gut-punch come at the end of the story, when we hear future Peri's rant in full, no longer stopped short by the TARDIS doors. How she did settle down with her Guy Back Home just like past Peri threatened to do. How he beat her on their honeymoon. How she can't have kids anymore. It's just absolutely devastating.

The actual coda to the story is a little more sweet, with a Time Lord appearing to explain what's going on. Supposedly, all the changes in Gallifreyan government had led to different groups trying to "fix" Peri's fate, resulting in several different Peris running around, each with a different fate. It seems that one of her really is off living with Yrcanos, and future Peri's slightly shy question, of whether that Peri has kids or not, is really touching.

I'm having a hard time making sense of my emotions after listening to that one. At making Peri a real character, it succeeds brilliantly. The tonal whiplash is just hard to grapple with. Domestic abuse is a particularly heavy topic for Who in particular, but I wouldn't say inappropriate. I just have to wonder if it works when the tone of the rest of the story is so self-consciously silly.

Regardless of my mixed feelings, it was really interesting and well-written on the whole and a gem of the Companion Chronicles range.

"We'll always have Peris..."

Time of Your Life is next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 13 June 2024.)

Saturday, June 8, 2024

Cities Made of Song, 1986

 Cities Made of Song, 1986 - Dear God by XTC



"Dear God, hope You got the letter and
I pray You can make it better down here
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that You made in Your image
See them starving on their feet
'Cause they don't get enough to eat from God"
 
​While The Trial of a Time Lord, Part One was airing on the BBC, a British rock group was making a big splash overseas. This wasn't exactly a common situation for XTC, a Swindon band formed in 1972 as Star Park before achieving their "classic" incarnation. As a rule, despite the rare Top of the Pops appearance or Top 30 single, they achieved very little in the way of fame and fortune during the height of their career.

This was partly because of their management, which ranged from the nonexistent to the actively hostile. This enabled their record label, Virgin, to give the band an absolute bollocking without anybody to push back and argue for the band's rights. As a result, they barely ever saw either a cent or a pence for their record sales and constantly struggled to repay their various debts to Virgin.

Although several people were a part of XTC over the years, the group was chiefly centered around its songwriting duo, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, and its guitarist and arranger, Dave Gregory. Partridge and Moulding grew up on the same council estate together, listening to the same music and developing similar tastes. Although they each brought a different sensibility to their songwriting, I think they complemented each other well. I also happen to think they're two of the finest songwriters of the last century, and that it's criminal that they haven't been widely acclaimed as such due to XTC's endless financial issues and lack of commercial success.

Even if this opinion exists at an extremity, one would be hard-pressed to look at the string of albums from 1979's "Drums and Wires" to 1992's "Nonsuch" and deny XTC's artistic achievement. Emerging from the primordial ooze of punk and New Wave, they came up with a sound that was influenced by both, but not quite either. Another important ingredient was the 1960s music that they grew up listening to, which infused a bit of acid-pop quirkiness into their material. If the Beatles had gotten their start in the late Seventies, I have to imagine they would sound sort of like this.

This period wasn't entirely a positive one, of course, even leaving aside the band's constant issues with their label. During the 1982 tour for "English Settlement", Partridge suffered a nervous breakdown which soon prompted the band to stop touring altogether and become studio-bound from then on, incurring a large debt due to their show cancellations in the process.

Between the collapse of the tour and the other issues simmering concurrently in the background, when 1986 rolled around, Virgin put their foot down and threatened to cut the band off entirely if their next album failed to sell well. Faced with a list of producers dictated by the label, the band chose Todd Rundgren, reportedly because his was the only name they recognized. It was a good choice, in the event; Rundgren was, and still is, an innovator, and matched well with the group, despite the personality clashes that arose between him and Partridge during the studio sessions.

The end result was "Skylarking", which released in October 1986 in the UK, and December in the US. It seems inadequate to call it a masterclass in rock music, each track flowing seamlessly into the next, and all beautifully arranged, courtesy of the irreplaceable Gregory. Songs like Mermaid Smiled and Earn Enough for Us showcase XTC at their very best.

Despite this, the album received a lukewarm reception in the band's native Britain. It only rose as high as #90 on the album charts, no doubt an unwelcome response considering the pressures they were under.

Then something curious happened. The B-side of XTC's August 1986 single - made up of two outtakes from the "Skylarking" sessions - exploded in popularity. Written by Partridge, Dear God tells the story of an agnostic grappling with the notion that a God can exist with so much evil in the world. Its sound was inspired in part by the Beatles song Rocky Raccoon, one of the first songs Partridge ever learned to play on guitar back on the council estate in Swindon.

It was a massive hit on college radio stations in America, so much so that the American pressings of "Skylarking" were recalled and re-pressed with the song added, a move which would end up causing years and years of controversy among XTC fans. Nevertheless, it worked out, propelling the album as high as #70 on the US album charts and giving the band a much-needed break.

Given the song's popularity, it is surprising that it wasn't included on the album in the first place. Rundgren proposed the final order of the songs on it, so he may not have found a good place for it. Alternatively, Partridge has said that he is regrets releasing the song as is, because he found it did not adequately reflect his actual opinions about religion.

This would certainly explain why it was relegated to the B-side of their single, but I think the heavy lyrics were a factor in themselves. Accolades and airtime weren't the only responses to the song's release; the band received plenty of hate mail, and radio stations caught flak too, up to and including bomb threats.

I must say, speaking as somebody who's not even an atheist, I think the song is compelling, emotional, and beautifully composed. It's a good example of how pop music can challenge the listener. I just wish we lived in a world where those who felt the most challenged by it didn't feel entitled to respond with threats of violence.

That's all for now. We aren't heading into Season 24 just yet; the Sixth Doctor still has some stories to tell, starting with Peri and the Piscon Paradox, next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 8 June 2024.)

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

The Chase, Redux [Doctor Who, Story 16]

 The Chase by Terry Nation
22 May - 26 June 1965

I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad is going away...
— Lennon/McCartney
I've been planning for ages to go back and re-review this story. Long-time readers may recall that I stalled out around The Chase and The Time Meddler and did not write full reviews for either, instead relegating them to a section of my Season 2 roundup.

I was a little hard on it the first time that I watched it, finding it fun but somewhat incoherent. In the five and a half years (Jesus!) since I watched it, a lot of things have changed, including my opinion of the story. It was my intention to rectify this once I reached the end of the Classic era as a sort of victory lap.

After yesterday's sad news, however, I decided that my plans would change, and I dropped everything else to sit down and watch The Chase again, not only to fulfill that old promise, but to pay tribute with what I hope will be a nice review.

With that preamble squared away, let's hop aboard the TARDIS and begin The Chase. I have a ticket to ride, after all.
‘Our enemy is the Doctor. His appearance has changed many times over the years, yet our instruments have determined his basic metabolic pattern. This has been programmed into your computers. You are to locate and exterminate him. Exterminate!’​— John Peel
Before I get started in earnest, let me tell you about a rare detour I made into the world of Target novels. After watching, I decided to scope out the novelization of The Chase, written in 1989 by Nation's favored novelist, John Peel. It was out of curiosity more than anything else, to see just what, if anything, was different. In his foreword, Peel says that as The Chase was known to still exist in 1989, though it hadn't yet received a home release, he wanted his novelization not to be an exact copy of the televised version in an attempt to present something a little different for fans.

He says he based the novelization off of Nation's original scripts, not the final version that went to screen, which was significantly modified by then-current script editor Dennis Spooner. Accordingly, it does feel quite different to the serial that I've watched. While the book is solid enough, I couldn't help saying to myself as I read it: "God, how much poorer would we have been if this is what we got on screen?"

I can only speak for myself, but I'm glad that The Chase is silly. I'm glad that it meanders. I'm glad that it's hard to take seriously for 90% of its runtime before gut punching you in the last episode. Although it makes the story much weirder, I think it also makes it more brilliant.

Granted, I'm not sure if being high satire was actually intended. The fact that Nation's original scripts were so much less funny (according to the eternally dour John Peel, anyway) suggests it wasn't, but it doesn't have to be intentional in order for it to work out that way. This feels like a parody of the first two Dalek serials welded onto the basic structure of The Keys of Marinus, something which I think fits wonderfully into this season full of stories both humorous and bizarre.

Its metatextual elements lend to this as well. The time-space visualizer sees the TARDIS crew sitting around it and enjoying the programs playing, sort of like the families who might have been waiting around their TV sets to see the latest return of the Daleks back in 1965 England. The Doctor's much-derided body double later in the serial might have been a little harder to tell apart from Bill Hartnell over a terrestrial signal on an ancient television, but I feel like there's no mistake about the moment where he's gleefully encouraging Ian to wallop the real article, which feels like a wink at the audience.

So too are there are moments like the Dalek grunting and gasping as it rises laboriously from the sand in a clear prod at the famous cliffhanger from the first episode of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, or the Doctor cheerfully guessing that they've arrived in The Mind Robber a few years early, only for the camera to pan out and inform us that they were just in a carnival haunted house. And of course there's the greatest character in televisual history, Mr. Morton Dill of Alabama. There are many things in this story which just don't make loads of sense, but when it's so delightfully light-spirited and entertaining, how can I possibly care about that?

Aside from the serial as a self-contained unit, this also helps the Hartnell era in the long run, if only in a small way. If this was just a mini version of The Daleks' Master Plan (which had its own silly moments, of course, but we can all agree it's far more serious on the whole) then neither story would really be unique within the Who canon. Both would be poorer for it, as far as I'm concerned.

The novelization of The Chase is there for those who prefer it. Heck, I like it. But if I was forced to choose, I'd pick the original every time.
Watching The Chase again after so long away from this team (having not really rewatched any First Doctor stories since I moved on to Troughton for the marathon a few years ago), I was struck again by just how wonderful their chemistry was. Ian and the Doctor are great foils for each other, Barbara complements each of them, and Vicki's dynamic with the Doctor is one I've extolled at length before.

Before this rewatch, I never really took notice of just how much Barbara and Ian look after Vicki. I think they probably see her like she's one of their students, despite the fact that she doesn't have a whole lot to learn from them! Vicki, who lost her father on Dido, seems to view the both of them as surrogate parental figures, or at the very least an aunt and uncle, or elder cousins she badly wants to impress.

Considering the age of this season, it's amazing just how naturalistic all the characters' relationships feel, how much they each feel like fully-figured people with their own thoughts, desires, and perceptions of each other. This serial was a good pick for reacquainting myself with this team, not just because it's their last outing together, but because they all get their own things to do in the story and show off what makes them so great as characters. The humor gives way to gut-wrenching pathos at the very end as we're forced to finally say goodbye to half of the team.

This time, watching the two of them fade from the time-space visualizer screen feels a little more final than it did before, my time together with them all the more distant. That's the thing about television in the modern age, though; you can always go back and experience it again, and the experience still feels a little bit new every time.

I shall miss them. Yes, I shall miss them. But they're still out there, somewhere, on some greater adventure. Barbara and Ian. Ian and Barbara. Traveling together, forever and ever.
The Doctor turned and glared at Vicki. ‘I’m quite exhausted,’ he informed her. ‘I’m going to lie down for a moment. Yes, just a moment. Don’t touch anything.’
He hurried from the room, but not before Vicki had seen the tear on his cheek that matched the one running down her own. — John Peel
Jacqueline Hill — 1929 - 1993
William Russell — 1924 - 2024


The Chase - 9.17
The Executioners - 10.00
The Death of Time - 9.00
Flight Through Eternity - 10.00
Journey into Terror - 8.00
The Death of Doctor Who - 8.00
The Planet of Decision - 10.00


Once I dry my eyes, our 1986 music post will be up next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 6 June 2024.)

A Word on Robert Holmes

 A Word on Robert Holmes

 
Back in Monochrome Malarkey, I resolved to periodically memorialize cast and crew of Doctor Who when their time with the series ended. In practice, most of these have been for the Doctors themselves, doubling as roundups for their eras. The last time I felt it essential to sit down and do it for someone behind the camera was for Verity Lambert, way back in 1965. Since then, some other important figures in the show's history have come and gone. For many of them, I didn't feel it necessary to dedicate more than a paragraph or two, or else their work would continue after the cancellation of the show during the "Wilderness Years".

Robert Holmes is a different figure entirely, and while abler pens than mine have tried to pay him tribute, I still intend to join the choir praising him with as clear a voice as I can manage.

Holmes was a man who always marched to the beat of his own drum. Joining the army at the tender age of 18 under false pretenses, Holmes became the youngest officer in the British Army during his time serving in what is today Myanmar. After the war, he spent a spell as a police officer in London before becoming fascinated with the written word and resigning. His previous work fueled his early televisual career, writing for police serials, but Holmes eventually came to spend more time writing science fiction than anything else.

His work on Doctor Who spans 73 episodes written by him directly, and many more for which he was the script editor. It's almost impossible for me to imagine what the show might have been like without his influence. The list of concepts he either originated or shaped by introducing them in his scripts is a long one, including such important things as the basic picture of Gallifrey and the Time Lords, the Autons and Sontarans, even the Master to some extent.

His impact is easy to understand, but getting a read on him as a person is somewhat more difficult, as he left little behind except for his body of work. I was able to dig up a handful of interviews, where he mostly talks about his work on Who; I get the sense that he was very proud of it, and that it let his best writing habits flourish. He admitted that it could be difficult to write for at times, "because you’re in between Grand Guignol gothic horror on one side, and Monty Python on the other." But he must have liked it, or he wouldn't have kept coming back, even, in the end, at the cost of his own health.

Holmes cheerfully confessed: "I’m not a serious writer. I like to get some fun out of what I’m writing." His twisted sense of humor shows frequently in his work, but also in his commentary about it, seen here when discussing Terror of the Autons:

I was sitting opposite Ronnie Marsh, the then Head of Serials, across an acre of polished maple. He started telling me about the guidelines he felt the programme should follow. ‘Two or three seasons ago,’ he said, ‘we had some clot who wrote the most dreadful script. It had faceless policemen in it and plastic armchairs that went about swallowing people. I might tell you, there were questions in the House. Mrs. Whitehouse said we were turning the nation’s children into bed-wetters’. Could it be that he was referring to my ‘Terror of the Autons’? ‘Tut, tut’, I muttered, feeling the job slipping away. ‘how awfully irresponsible’.​

Beyond his own words, he is mostly memorialized through the words of those who worked with him, buried within so many DVD commentaries and "Behind the Sofa" featurettes which I can't get at from the work desk I'm writing this on. What is clear from the ones I can call to memory is that he was a brilliant guy as well as a good writer, and that he was missed terribly by all of them. Beyond his own tenure as script editor, he seemed to get on with all the others he interacted with like a house on fire: from Donald Tosh when he first attempted to submit a script in 1965, to Terrance Dicks, to Anthony Read and even Eric Saward.

Later generations of Who writers who grew up with his work pay him high accolades as well. Russell T Davies, no slouch of a writer himself, had this to say:

When the history of television drama comes to be written, Robert Holmes won't be remembered at all because he only wrote genre stuff. And that, I reckon, is a real tragedy.

It is remarkable in the extreme that somebody whom I suspect to be one of the greatest television writers of the last century has remained in such obscurity outside of this fandom. He could have done anything, but he did Doctor Who, out of what appears to be a sense of honest affection for the program. I think we must all consider ourselves very lucky to have had him.

Farewell, Mr. Holmes, and thanks for all the memories.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 5 June 2024.)

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Doctor Who, Season 23


Well, let's have a quick chat about this out of the narrative world, too. As the last season of Doctor Who that I'd never watched, The Trial of a Time Lord was always going to fill a bit of an interesting spot in the marathon: the last of the unknown, and a chance to end the first leg of this marathon (the leg where I mostly had no idea what to expect) on either a high or a low.

You know what? I liked it. The season was made by the seat of the production team's pants, which makes it suffer in some ways, but in others gives it a sort of madcap energy that I find downright infectious. The feeling is one of a show desperately trying to rediscover its identity, while not yet discovering a new direction to go in. It feels like a more successful spin on the previous season's formula, but it is very much still the same formula.

I've given Eric Saward a bit of grief in my reviews, but I do think he's a good writer. He just displays some bad habits in his Who writing that occasionally get in the way of true greatness. As a script editor, I perhaps don't rate him as highly as his predecessors or successors in the role, but he deserves some praise for patching the holes in the rapidly sinking ship that was this period until he couldn't anymore. His departure leaves the program in a bit of an odd state, but we'll pick up on that some more once we actually make it to the next season. It will fall to his successor to find that new direction that the show needs.

In order, I praise The Mysterious Planet for being a quite solid Holmes story, and his last full one for the program; Mindwarp, even though its brutality (physical and emotional) is awe-inspiring, for being an absolutely uncompromising watch that left me on the edge of my seat; Terror of the Vervoids for its mystery plotting and classic sci-fi vibes; and The Ultimate Foe for its bonkers and surreal first episode, if for nothing else. It must be said that the season absolutely fails at sticking the landing, partly on account of Saward's unexpected departure, but for a first-time viewer who isn't spoiled on everything (just some things!), it is decidedly entertaining.

We start to see a new Colin here, just a little more cuddly; still pompous and outspoken, but generally nicer and funnier than his counterpart from the previous season. His new dynamic with Peri is short-lived, but very sweet, and what little we get of him with Mel is fun, too. I think it's a pity he didn't get to continue this in the TV series, but as we'll see very soon, his future has vindicated him indeed.

Well, enough waffling. Here's the score breakdown:

The Mysterious Planet - 8.25
Part One - 10.00
Part Two - 8.00
Part Three - 7.00
Part Four - 8.00

Mindwarp - 8.50
Part Five - 8.00
Part Six - 9.00
Part Seven - 8.00
Part Eight - 9.00

Terror of the Vervoids - 8.00
Part Nine - 8.00
Part Ten - 8.00
Part Eleven - 8.00
Part Twelve - 8.00

The Ultimate Foe - 7.00
Part Thirteen - 9.00
Part Fourteen - 5.00


Best episode: The Trial of a Time Lord, Part One - 10.00
Runner-up: The Trial of a Time Lord, Part Eight - 8.00
Worst episode: The Trial of a Time Lord, Part Fourteen - 5.00

Season 23 average: 8.07

Best guest appearance: Michael Jayston as the Valeyard (The Trial of a Time Lord)
Best special effect: The Lukoser prosthetic (Part Five)
Best musical score: Parts 1 - 4 (Dominic Glynn)

Coming up next, the first of two memorial posts. Be seeing you soon.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 5 June 2024.)

The Trial of a Time Lord [Doctor Who, Story 143]

Parts 1 - 4, by Robert Holmes
6 - 27 September 1986

 
My summons find me not in the Capitol, but tending to my garden. For delicate plants (and delicate Time Ladies, for that matter) the atmosphere in the Capitol can be decidedly poisonous at times. The rolling fields of burnished red at Mount Perdition's foot, the fields on which I was raised, provide a much healthier environment for the both of us.

My father hardly seems to notice I'm there. Others who know him have said he's never been quite the same since I was loomed from one important day of his. They say he unspooled, came frayed at the ends, when that day was removed. I suppose it's a lingering feeling of guilt that has kept me from moving away, even into my second regeneration. He refuses to ever leave my childhood home, saying that he's still waiting for a hermit to return, a Stranger who once lived in a cave on the highest peak. He's well into his last life, and has never lived recklessly. I assume he's been waiting for a very long time.

The missive is an unwelcome intrusion into this quiet life, and I eye it with a mix of resentment and suspicion. I'm no High Council emeritus, nor a member of any esteemed society. My work with my botanical specimens is my life, and I don't cherish any interruption to it. But still, an invitation to such august company isn't something one ever refuses, if one knows what's good for them. I accept, and take the next shuttle to the Capitol, whence I can board a waiting time capsule.

The Space Station Zenobia is impressive, even through the scanner. I've never seen it before, and the sight is awe-inspiring. Still, I can't help but wonder why we're so far out of the way, out at the very edge of Kasterborous. Usually even the most closely guarded trials are held at the Citadel. I put it out of my mind as I'm ushered out of the capsule.

I'm shown to Courtroom 1, where the Madam Inquisitor shakes my hand and thanks me for coming on short notice. I fidget in my tall, tall collar, projecting confidence and trying to seem like I belong, some small part of me still feeling like it's a mistake. After taking my seat with the other judges, I am finally briefed on the nature of the inquiry I'm about to sit in on.

Things begin to make a little more sense. The subject of the inquiry is none other than the Doctor. As a rule, I don't make a point of paying much attention to the activities of renegades, but I must confess to having a sort of soft spot for this one in particular. I know all about the Doctor, of course. His defeat of the Vardans and Sontarans took place when I was a child and left a rather strong impression. I've studied several more of his adventures, at least the ones that aren't officially censored. Blame it on that dash of the romantic that exists in me, buried deep beneath so many flower trimmings. The idea of seeing him in person intrigues me, but I school myself, trying to remember that I am supposed to be impartial.

Then the Doctor swans in, late, and I feel the needle swing the other way. His disrespect for the assembly is absolutely staggering - as is his dress sense. As the Valeyard's words wash over me, I harden my heart to my childish fancy and focus on adult business. Along with everyone else, I turn to regard the viewing portal to the Matrix as the Doctor's misadventure on Ravolox plays out before us.

I'm a little mortified at first. I don't remember the adventures I'd read as a child being quite so violent - or so laden with puerile humor. The bumbling Andromedan spacers almost - almost - break my composure. They are a little funny, even if I only admit it privately.

I feel an immediate kinship with the Doctor's traveling companion, who is very pretty, but perhaps more importantly a fellow botanist. I reflect that traveling through time and space would allow one to explore a far greater botanical realm, but if I had to keep such disreputable company, maybe it's for the best that I've never had the chance.

When a row begins over censorship in the Matrix recordings, I pay it little heed. The question of why the planet formerly known as Earth finds itself spacially out of place is not really germane to the issue of the Doctor's missteps. When the Valeyard moves to escalate the proceedings to a full trial, I listen attentively. Have the Doctor's adventures outstayed their welcome after all?

Parts 5 - 8, by Philip Martin
4 - 25 October 1986

 
Thoros-Beta seems so dazzling at first with its many colors, but its luster fades once the Matrix begins to look into its dark heart. There is such a depth of desparation and sentient misery going on in those caves that it almost chokes me, its thousands of slaves as distant to me as the creation of the universe, but so real on the screen.

It makes it all the more galling that the Doctor treats his companion so terribly as the events unfold. What a coward! Back in the courtroom, he claims that the evidence has been tampered with. Even I know that ought to be impossible, and I'm prepared to write the explanation off as mere desperation. But the clear confusion and pain on the Doctor's face gives me pause. Surely there's no chance that he's telling the truth?

My eyes remain riveted to the screen for the rest of the presentation. As grisly as the display is, I simply can't stop watching. When, in its course, it is revealed that the Doctor was performing a ruse after all, I relax a little. He did the same thing during the Vardan incident, did he not? But something still feels wrong.

The Doctor being forcibly plucked out of events before he has a chance to clean up after himself stuns me. I barely hear the Inquisitor saying that it had to be done, and am instead struck by the unfairness of it all. Especially when the second blow arrives, showing the fate of his charming companion.

"You... killed Peri?" He no longer seems to fill the whole courtroom, instead sounding so very small. My hearts break for him a little, and as we break for recess, I steal a glance at the Valeyard. Seeing a glint of smugness on his learned features makes me decide that his "evidence" is having the opposite of the intended effect - on me, at the very least.

Recess
During the recess, I steal out of the hall, hiking the far too long hem of my robes a little so that I can move with speed. I thus manage to prevent any of my learned colleagues from stopping me as I go to find the Doctor.

He is lingering down one of the long, labyrinthine halls spiraling out from the courtrooms, staring out the window. I doubt that he is actually paying much attention to the shipwrecks outside. He seems a million miles away. It takes him several moments to notice me standing nearby, his eyes faintly reddened and his expression guarded.

I clasp my hands in front of myself to try and seem as important as I have been dressed, but end up fidgeting instead. Anything I say will seem paltry, but I pick something eventually. "I'm sorry. About what happened to your companion."

There's an almost imperceptible softening in his gaze. "Yes," he answers, more to himself than to me. A confusion follows, though, as he looks at me strangely. "Have we met somewhere before, young lady?"

I blink, not knowing the answer. There's no way we could have. "I don't believe so."

The Doctor seems to shake it off after a moment, and sets his elbow on the sill of the window, lofting an eyebrow at me. His eyes are a most impressive blue, now that I can see them clearly. I try to focus on them instead of the outfit. "The judges aren't meant to have private discussions with the defendant, are they?"

"Well, no," I answer, gazing back the way I came. "But you don't have any of your friends here." No character witnesses, I suddenly notice, furrowing my brow. That is odd indeed, when it's the Doctor's character that is being impeached. "If they wish to censure me for it when I return, then I suppose they can."

He smiles, though it still has a sad tint to it. "You're welcome to be as disobedient as you like. Renegades are welcome here." I smooth my robe in embarrassment at that remark, and he looks back out into space again, pondering. "I think that this may really be the end for me. Maybe it's time."

"Don't say that," I protest, shocked. "I've read all about you. I know the good you've done." To my surprise, I find that I mean it. How quickly my opinion has solidified! I'm more surprised that the realization doesn't shame me.

"And the ill?" he asks with an ironic lilt to his voice. "Oh, I'm not quite the man I used to be. I was so sure of myself when I reached this regeneration. Sure that I would do such great things, such that all my previous could not compare!" He bows his head, forehead pressed to the window. "But where has that bragadocious swagger, all that vim and vinegar, gotten me? I seem to fail more often than not these days, each adventure claiming a greater toll in lives than the last. All faded glory, and missed chances. The autumn of my life... I'm starting to think that the universe doesn't need a Doctor anymore."

"But that's all in the past," I cut in. "Those adventures may have been written already, but what of those yet to come? I think the future may vindicate you. You just have to fight long enough to see it."

He rises up, realization shining on his broad face, obviously having heard something in my words that I did not. "But that's it, dear lady! Of course, that's it!" He turns to me laughing and pats me boisterously on each shoulder, jostling my collar. "Do pardon me, but I have much to do before the recess is over."

He begins to rush off and I turn, bemused, to watch. He stops before he's fully out of view to shout back: "... And thank you very much!"

I shake my head and slowly wend my way back to the courtroom, hands folded in my sleeves and posture as upright as I can make it. The Inquisitor raises an eyebrow at me, but says nothing as I go to sit. The Valeyard's cool gaze is more difficult to ignore, but I try gamely anyway as we wait for the court to return to session.

Parts 9 - 12, by Pip & Jane Baker
1 - 22 November 1986

 
The Doctor is all firm resolution when he strides back in after the end of the recess. I'm not at all shocked when he brings forward a Matrix recording of future events for his defense. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is legal precedence for this in Gallifreyan jurisprudence, but it is still a bit fascinating. It's with more than professional concern that I turn to regard the screen when the events begin to play.

Once again, my botanical interest is piqued, though my reaction becomes stunned horror as soon as I actually lay eyes on the so-called Vervoids. How vulgar-looking they are! Still, I reflect sadly that the Doctor's late companion might have gotten something out of this adventure. His new friend, another Tellurian woman with a big personality, seems capable enough, but her scream almost jostles me out of my seat.

All things considered, the Doctor behaves admirably in the recording. His concern for his friend, and for the lives of the crew of Hyperion III, shine through. It seems clear enough to me that he went in with the expectation that his assistance was specifically requested, and acted in the knowledge that, had he not been there, things would have been much worse.

I wonder what the Valeyard's counterpoint will be, until I see him rising in a great fury, his eyes flashing with victory. "The charge must now be genocide!"

My jaw drops, and a murmur rushes through the proceedings. I find it an absurd charge; I know a thing or two about dealing with weeds, and the Doctor's point that his inaction would have led to the destruction of the Tellurian race is a good one. But can it stand up in the face of the law? I worry about the answer...

Parts 13 and 14, by Robert Holmes, Eric Saward, and Pip & Jane Baker
29 November - 6 December 1986

 
After a short break of necessity, the Keeper of the Matrix is bundled into the room to account for the Doctor's accusations of tampering. He swears up and down that no tampering could have taken place, leaving the Doctor with little wiggle room unless witnesses can somehow be produced. A glaring omission from these proceedings which I noticed earlier, but at this late stage I'm not sure if any can be scrounged up.

Accordingly, I am a bit flummoxed when Sabalom Glitz and Melanie Bush suddenly stride into the room. So, it seems, is the Doctor. Scarcely do they have their introductions out of the way before a malevolently smiling face with an urbane voice appears on the Matrix monitor. It was he who summoned the two witnesses, to intercede on the Doctor's behalf — despite their long antipathy.

I'm bewildered when I realize that most in the courtroom don't seem to know who the man is. The assassination of Lord President Pandad was before my time, but I still know about the Master's part in it all too well. I start to wonder just how much the most wise and learned members of Time Lord society actually read their history.

So distracted am I by this thought that I almost think I mishear the Master when he refers to the Valeyard as Doctor. Suddenly the proceedings take on a new tinge, and the Doctor's expression of sheer horror is a good echo of what I feel. I, and all of my fellow jurors, were used in a power play by the High Council? I feel shaken to my very core.

The news scarcely has time to sink in before the Valeyard has made a run for it, the Doctor and Glitz hot on his heels. Confused and fearful chatter echoes through the chamber, while the Master continues to exposit on the events that have transpired without our knowing. He soon excuses himself, however, allowing the screen to track the Doctor through the Matrix. We rejoin him just as he's ensnared in a false courtroom scene where his guilty verdict is delivered. His companion rushes off to his rescue, and soon the Doctor is exploring some absurd factory again, rubbing his chin at a list of names.

"... Of Time Lords attending my trial," he muses. "Every member of the Ultimate Court of Appeal, the supreme guardians of Gallifreyan law. The handwriting..."

"It's yours!" Mel says, breathless.

"And there's another thing," the Doctor continues, raising his eyebrows slightly. "There's one name too few on this list. Someone in that courtroom is not supposed to be there."

A hush passes over the room, the words on the screen sending a ripple through all present. I shrink in on myself a little, that feeling of unbelonging waxing once more. I knew it was a mistake. Will I be punished for hearing state secrets, even if it was quite against my will?

The revelation does not have time to sit fully before the Master takes over the screen again, while the Keeper returns to inform us that the High Council has been deposed by a mass uprising on Gallifrey. It appears that the Master has broadcast the whole trial to the interested public in order to overthrow the Council. That settles my worries about impending arrest a little bit, but opens a whole new set of problems. What in the stars will happen to us now? We can never let this... this villain take over Gallifrey!

We are saved from that fate when some calamity befalls the Master, and Mel rushes in, urging us all to evacuate. I barely make it halfway to the door before the screen above us shatters, and I hit the floor, ducking beneath the pews. The acrid smell of ozone fills the air, but blessedly, not the sounds of the dying. I laugh in disbelief when I look up and find that everyone has survived.

I feel a hand on my arm and realize it's the Inquisitor, helping me to my feet. I shy away from her gaze a little, but she only smiles before looking around and recalling all the judges now that the danger has passed. When the Doctor does return, a few minutes later, it is to the happy news that the trial has been called off, and himself cleared of all charges.

I beam with satisfaction, but only moments pass before the Doctor moves to escape yet another unwanted presidential bid. He brushes past me as he goes, and I think to give him a word or two about his conduct before I notice a slip of paper that has been slipped into my hand. I uncrumple it and read:

Dare to think differently!

— D​


Laughing openly and not caring who notices, I stand there with it a moment. But time runs short, and I'm very eager to get home, to the comforting hush of wind in the grass, far away from this place.

I never notice the pair of eyes coolly following me as I go, gazing out from under the Keeper's skullcap.


 (Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 4 June 2024.)

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Slipback [Doctor Who, Diversion 47]

 Slipback by Eric Saward
25 July - 8 August 1985

So, in the absence of the originally planned Season 23, what did fans get during that hiatus in its place? Encouragingly enough, fans of the Sixth Doctor could get their fix in the form of a full-cast audio drama on BBC Radio 4. So we stay in the audio realm, but slip back (ha, ha) to an earlier point in time, well before Big Finish, or BBV for that matter.

We also fall back into the hands of a writer who is fundamentally sort of disinterested in the Sixth Doctor and in Peri, which is a bit of a shame. There were obvious touches of 21st century character writing in the audios I just finished, and losing that feels like a bit of a downer. If this was like Revelation, where there was a strong cast of side characters and a strong core story to distract from this, then I wouldn't mind. Unfortunately, Slipback is only an hour long and doesn't have any idea how to pace itself. Even if it did, there's just not very much there.

Sure, there's the comic duo of Snatch and Seedle, who are a bit of fun, and the whole concept of the computer with competing personalities working toward different goals, but what else, really? Another lecherous alien perving after Peri? The story doesn't lack in incident, per se, but it doesn't have the time (or the good pacing) to make use of it.

The most unforgivable thing in my eyes is the ending of the story. A Time Lord Skype calls in from Gallifrey and tells the Doctor to stop trying to save the ship, because it's about to go back in time and cause the Big Bang. The Doctor slaps himself on the forehead, saying oops, silly me! All but calling himself a fool for trying to help others. Just another example of Saward's dislike for the character coming out, more blatant the last.

It's nice that there was Doctor Who being released during the hiatus at all, but I can't say that I'm glad to have listened to it now in the 21st century. But, enough of that. I've just received my summons for jury duty, and The Mysterious Planet is (finally!) next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 3 June 2024.)