After a brief but eventful sojourn, I've arrived at the end of the Philip Hinchcliffe era of Doctor Who. Although Robert Holmes will remain with us as script editor for a few more stories (and will come back to write his own scripts independently for a while yet), his time shaping the direction of the program is also coming to a close here. It seems appropriate to reflect on this milestone as I finish up Season Fourteen.
Although I've talked about my issues with the content of the stories in this period (namely, that many of them have a tendency toward style without substance), there have been many exceptions, with thought-provoking stories like Genesis of the Daleks and The Face of Evil proving that the program still has its chops. The big area in which this era has been an unqualified success is in drawing once again on Doctor Who's literary roots in science fiction and horror, and using them to make the show scary again. Even the stories that I thought were missing that special something at least succeeded in that much.
The high levels of production value have also been a joy, though knowing what I do about the behind-the-scenes, that looming inflation crisis is looking like a Sword of Damocles for incoming producer Graham Williams. We wish him the best.
Here's the score breakdown:
The Masque of Mandragora - 7.25
Part One - 8.00
Part Two - 7.00
Part Three - 7.00
Part Four - 7.00
The Hand of Fear - 9.00
Part One - 9.00
Part Two - 9.00
Part Three - 9.00
Part Four - 9.00
The Deadly Assassin - 8.25
Part One - 9.00
Part Two - 8.00
Part Three - 8.00
Part Four - 8.00
The Face of Evil - 8.75
Part One - 9.00
Part Two - 9.00
Part Three - 9.00
Part Four - 8.00
The Robots of Death - 9.75
Part One - 9.00
Part Two - 10.00
Part Three - 10.00
Part Four - 10.00
The Talons of Weng-Chiang - 6.00
Part One - 6.00
Part Two - 6.00
Part Three - 6.00
Part Four - 6.00
Part Five - 6.00
Part Six - 6.00
Best episode: The Robots of Death, Part Two - 10.00
Runner-up: The Robots of Death, Part Four - 10.00
Worst episode: You know, I just chopped all the Talons episodes down to 6 on principle, put whichever of them here that strikes your fancy.
Season Fourteen average: 8.00
Best guest appearance(s): Christopher Benjamin & Trevor Baxter as Henry Gordon Jago & Professor Litefoot (The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
Best special effect: The robots! (The Robots of Death)
Best musical score: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Dudley Simpson)
An exciting new leg of my adventure seems to be ahead of me. First, a detour away from the televised world (our first in a while!) to the audio story The Wrath of the Iceni. Until next time!
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 18 May 2021.)
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