Cities Made of Song, 1984

 

Cities Made of Song, 1984 - Grow Old With Me by John Lennon

"Grow old along with me
Whatever fate decrees
We will see it through
For our love is true"
​

And so we have our first musical interlude since just before Castrovalva. The Fifth Doctor era is book-ended by Cities Made of Song, which I guess is kind of poetic. I never really intended the gap between these to get as long as it did; it's just that I got embroiled in a series of protracted delays, hiatuses, and anxieties that compelled me to crack on with the TV reviews to the exclusion of everything else.

This album, partly recorded around August 1980, happens to represent some music from within that gap. A bittersweet sort of accident that nevertheless feels right, somehow.

Ages ago, long before that constant series of distractions, I dedicated two different Cities Made of Song posts to the Beatles, specifically A Hard Day's Night and A Day in the Life. These happened to snapshot the band at two of the most triumphant parts of their careers: the peak of Beatlemania, and their transition to the studio where they sought out new musical heights. By necessity, we didn't spend much time on all the drama, pre- or post-breakup, which has defined much of these musicians' history.

Quite by accident, both of those songs were largely conceptualized by John Lennon (though Paul McCartney collaborated on both, particularly on the latter). While George Harrison easily remains my favorite Beatle, and Paul has had a long and varied career to put any pop artist to shame, Lennon's life and musical career have always fascinated me. A mercurial, opinionated, and often controversial figure, he lived his life from one extreme to another without compromises.

Yoko Ono had an extensive career as a photographer and artist well before ever meeting Lennon, but as a matter of course, she is best known for her 12-year relationship with Lennon, a partnership which was itself quite controversial. Their relationship infamously began as an affair while both were still married to other people, after a gradual courtship originally sparked by their shared interest in avant-garde art. Shortly after recording their first experimental music together, and marrying in 1969, the two staged their "Bed In" protest for peace in Amsterdam, earning some notoriety for the stunt, and for the remarks to the press they soon made a habit of.

Their adversarial relationship with the British press (in particular, the constant racist and sexist abuse heaped onto Ono) eventually drove the couple to America, where they settled in New York. Their life there wasn't any less fraught, including more than one attempt by President Richard Nixon to have Lennon deported and a "Lost Weekend" where the pair were separated for eighteen months after Lennon was unfaithful.

After reconciling, Ono and Lennon would have their first child, Sean Ono Lennon, in 1975, marking the beginning of a 5-year long withdrawal from the public eye to raise their son. This seems to have been a constructive period for Lennon in particular, who spent the time working on himself and enjoying the chance to be a "house-husband" out of the limelight.

This belated honeymoon period finally drew to a close when Ono and Lennon returned to the studio in mid-1980 to record a collaboration together, which was released in November as the electrifying "Double Fantasy". Sporting a black-and-white photo of the couple kissing, the album alternated songs by Lennon and Ono, focusing on themes of love, loss, reconciliation, and new chances. Lennon's (Just Like) Starting Over was the A-side for the single off of that album (the B-side being Ono's Kiss, Kiss, Kiss) and reflects his newfound optimism:

"It's time to spread our wings and fly
Don't let another day go by, my love
It'll be just like startin' over."
​

In the end, Lennon and Ono would not have the chance to explore this future together, as Lennon was murdered on 8 December 1980. His death stunned the world, and saw "Double Fantasy" jump to number one on the album charts in both the US and UK. Many negative critical reviews of the album found themselves retracted or supplemented by more glowing ones in the wake of the event.

Lennon's sudden passing left behind a lot of unfinished material, including a follow-up album between the couple titled "Milk and Honey". In 1983, Ono resumed work on the project, which was finally released in January 1984. With a color picture from the same photo shoot as "Double Fantasy" on the cover, its resemblances to the previous record were more than superficial, as the format and tone of the music are largely the same as well.

The chief difference is the markedly more bittersweet tone, particularly to Ono's songs. Popular perception of Ono's music has been largely negative for most of her career, but I have to say that her work on both "Double Fantasy" and "Milk and Honey" is really interesting both lyrically and compositionally, even if her singing voice isn't the strongest. It has a frantic, modern sound to it that reminds me a bit of Talking Heads. It's very different from the surrounding Lennon songs, but I think they complement each other well, as the albums are supposed to be a conversation between the two halves of this partnership.

My favorite of hers on this record is You're the One, the final track, its refrain of "How could I tell you?" reflecting that even after all the years they spent together, she feels she never had the chance to really communicate the depth of her feelings. She reveals a lot about their relationship when she says:

"In the world's eye
We were Laurel and Hardy
In our minds
We were Heathcliff and Cathy
In a moment of wisdom
We were a wizard and a witch
In a moment of freedom
We were Don Quijote and Sancho
In reality
We were just a boy and a girl
Who never looked back..."
​

This song is a sort of reply to the one immediately before it, the final Lennon track on the album, Grow Old With Me. Like all of Lennon's songs on "Milk and Honey", it's a lo-fi piece, basically an unfinished demo with nothing more than John's voice, a piano, and some incomplete verses. It's no less powerful, even in this threadbare form, as Lennon's command of lyrics and melody still shine through. Robert Browning's poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra" lent the song its title and first two lines. There is apparently another literary reference here, to the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi, at the start of the next verse:

"Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
When our time has come
We will be as one
[...]

"Grow old along with me
Two branches of one tree
Face the setting Sun
When the day is done"
​

Where Starting Over becomes bittersweet only in hindsight, Grow Old With Me is haunting. Lennon, at 40, would have started to face the prospect of aging; something he would ultimately never have the chance to do. A promise to Ono that they would be together even in their advanced age becomes a missed opportunity, a chance stolen from them.

In Ono's decision to finish and release the album, I see a bit of defiance, an insistence that their love has not ended, even after their time together on this earth has run its course, that their love goes on through their music.

Every life leaves work undone. Songs unfinished. Things left unsaid. Our lives are constantly unfolding, each chapter written before the ink of the previous has a chance to dry. One day we'll run out of time, and our pens will still. It's a tragedy that Lennon died just as he was coming to terms with his past, changing his ways, and in the words of his old "Sgt. Pepper's" song, "getting better". But John and Yoko never looked back, just as You're the One said. The messy, imperfect romance between these messy, imperfect people left no room for regrets. But it did leave behind a musical legacy worth admiring, and a reminder that love - and art - endure even beyond death.

"God bless our love, God bless our love."
​

Back to television shortly. Attack of the Cybermen is next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 7 May 2024.)

Doctor Who, Season 21

I've committed a small crime by including The Five Doctors in this season even though it's a special, and not technically part of any season. It's a crime which I'll repeat many, many times for my own convenience, I promise.

Season 21 is quite the interesting beast, boasting a few very high quality stories mixed in with some relative duds. At the very least, none of them were forgettable. This last stretch of the Davison era has been a roller coaster, including the great stories, the misses, and the one-by-one departures of its TARDIS team until we're left with Colin's Doctor and Peri in a very curious coda.

On the whole, this mixed record gave the season a noticeably lower score average than the two seasons before it, but I still think I'll remember this experience fondly, if only because it marked the time where I managed to get back into the swing of this marathon. Finally!

Here's the score breakdown:

The Five Doctors - 9.00

Warriors of the Deep - 5.25
Part One - 6.00
Part Two - 6.00
Part Three - 4.00
Part Four - 5.00

The Awakening - 7.50
Part One - 7.00
Part Two - 8.00

Frontios - 9.00
Part One - 9.00
Part Two - 9.00
Part Three - 9.00
Part Four - 9.00

Resurrection of the Daleks - 5.00
Part One - 6.00
Part Two - 4.00

Planet of Fire - 6.25
Part One - 7.00
Part Two - 5.00
Part Three - 6.00
Part Four - 7.00

The Caves of Androzani - 10.00
Part One - 10.00
Part Two - 10.00
Part Three - 10.00
Part Four - 10.00

The Twin Dilemma - 5.75
Part One - 6.00
Part Two - 6.00
Part Three - 5.00
Part Four - 6.00

Best episode: The Caves of Androzani, Part Four - 10.00
Runner-up: The Caves of Androzani, Part Three - 10.00
Worst episode: Resurrection of the Daleks, Part Two - 4.00

Season 21 average: 7.16

Best guest appearance: Christopher Gable as Sharaz Jek (The Caves of Androzani)
Best special effect: The petrified Time Lords (The Five Doctors)
Best musical score: Frontios (Paddy Kingsland)

Before we move on to Season 22, our 1984 Cities Made of Song post is coming up next.

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

The Twin Dilemma [Doctor Who, Story 136]

The Twin Dilemma by Anthony Steven
22 - 30 March 1984​

 

Is that what all the fuss was about?

It has to be said that years of hearing this serial roundly pronounced "one of the worst Doctor Who stories of all time" along with Time and the Rani (which I have also seen and which also isn't quite as bad as people say) gave me some elevated expectations.

Instead I found a story which is, while messy and full of misjudged moments, still very entertaining, if not always for the reasons it intended. Is it so bad it's good or is it just OK? I don't tend to differentiate, but suffice it to say that I had a bit of fun.

Our new leading man immediately makes a strong impression, his boisterousness and grandiloquent speech both miles away from his predecessor. I really love Colin's voice; it does make me sit up and pay attention, even when the lines he's delivering are not very good. There are still a few here that I did appreciate, like when he cheerfully informs the chamberlain, "I don't like you," or when he says, "I no longer know if I'm coming, or going, or even if I've been!" His chinwag with Mestor is also pretty good, for what it's worth.

These aside, I must admit that the dialogue is hilariously elevated in this script, and we also get 'oof' lines like "... and may my bones ROT for obeying it!" or "Our genius has been abused!" or "a manic-depressive paranoid personality!"

This script definitely needed a third or fourth or fifth pass, but such are the usual end-of-season woes, where there's just no time. This makes the decision to slot this here instead of at the start of the next season very questionable indeed.

Story-wise, it is kind of interesting to see the Doctor struggle so much with the regeneration process, but in practice it is handled pretty messily. By far the worst part of this is the infamous scene where the Doctor tries to choke Peri, which is just as uncomfortable as I expected.

Still, aside from that one, the other moments mostly fall into the territory of lovable schlock. Looking back 40 years later it's easy to laugh when it's no longer "the story that killed Doctor Who". I had fun, but I am still hoping to see some more promising stories in the next season.

But first, our Season 21 roundup, coming soon.

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

The Caves of Androzani [Doctor Who, Story 135]

 The Caves of Androzani by Robert Holmes
8 - 16 March 1984

​

For all that it has taken me a couple years to really chew through Peter Davison's tenure as the Doctor, it still feels too soon when I finally arrive at The Caves of Androzani. Maybe it sort of is, at least early by four episodes, as JNT & company made the interesting decision to reserve the season's last story for the incoming Doctor.

Until then, I have myself the task of giving a suitable write-up for one of the most beloved stories in the show's whole history without somehow coming across as incompetent... We'll see about that.

Once again, my schedule intersected with Quinn's here, and we sat down together to watch Caves. Quite fortunate, I thought, considering how good this story is.

This is actually one of the few Classic Who stories I've seen before the marathon, as I mentioned some time ago. I watched this separate from any ongoing marathon (back when that was still a thing I apparently did) around April 2017, which feels like (and actually is) fucking ages ago now. I remember liking it the first time, but couldn't remember all the details.

I'm pleased to say that the refresher didn't alter my opinion in any big way. The combination of Robert Holmes writing and Graeme Harper directing is just a dream team, and the cast bring their all in response. It's somewhat rare for Who to specifically aim for "mature, high stakes drama" and actually land successfully in that ring, but I have to say that the cast and crew managed it with aplomb this time.

There is a giant armadillo monster, but rather like the clams in Genesis of the Daleks I think we can charitably ignore it.

It really is a pleasure to have Robert Holmes back. At this point it's been more than five years since his last script, The Power of Kroll, and he has been missed. His biting wit and skill with satire are used to expert effect in Caves, painting an authoritarian, corporatist society which is... really rather familiar, come to think about it. It's like hearing the voice of an old friend when Chellek says shooting the Doctor and Peri will make for "great moral reinforcement" or when Morgus asks for a minute's silence in honor of the deceased miners before slashing it to half of one.

Caves comes across, to me, as an indictment of corporate greed and the violence which is necessary to carry it out, whether it's Morgus' cold-blooded sacrificing of his workers, or his back-stabbing as he tries to maintain his power, his creation of his own worst enemy in the form of Sharaz Jek, or the throwing away of hundreds of soldiers' lives in order to maintain his profit margin. Morgus really is excellent all around, played to perfection by John Normington. For all that he speaks down the camera lens, often looking over his shoulder to do so (making me and Quinn both giggle in the process), it never feels unnatural.

Sharaz Jek, as the secondary antagonist, warrants praise as well. Calling to mind The Phantom of the Opera with his disfigurement, his mask, and his obsession with Peri, he's such a classic villain that I'm surprised we haven't really had his like in Who already... Despite what could be a rather tropey and "generic" villain role, Christopher Gable's performance elevates Jek beyond any risk of that and into one of the most memorable antagonists this program has ever had.

Some words are owed to dear Peri, who is really put through the wringer on her second ever* TARDIS adventure. She's poisoned, shot at, dragged around, and thoroughly creeped on by Sharaz Jek. It's more than a bit uncomfortable to watch her scenes with him. These parts aside, I think that Quinn was right when they told me that Peri feels a lot more reactive and shows a bit less of a distinct personality than the other two companions they've seen, namely Tegan and Turlough in Frontios. We'll have to see how Peri develops over the next couple seasons.

I find spectrox's life-extending capabilities very ironic in the context of this episode. This is, after all, the Doctor's thanatopsis. In fact, its raw form actually kills him. I was moved by his determination to sacrifice his own life to save that of his companion whom he barely knows. He barely seems to think twice about it. That's my Doctor.

He really is so brilliant here, from his regret about getting them into the situation, to his determination to rescue Peri, and everything in between. I'll save my more in-depth remarks on his performance for later, though.

All in all, we thought this was a brilliant story. What a way to go out on this Doctor's tenure.

Before we get into the next episode, I have some housekeeping to do. Specifically, our end-of-era roundup for the Fifth Doctor, coming up next.

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

Circular Time [Doctor Who, Diversion 33]

 Circular Time by Mike Maddox & Paul Cornell
20 January 2007​

Over the course of this Doctor's era, I've moaned more than once about the fact that I could not get to know Nyssa as well as I would like. The golden factors of a fun concept and a great actress are both there, but in practice this potential never really had many chances to flourish on the screen. It's good that Big Finish exists to give a second chance in cases like this, as in my experience so far, Sarah Sutton always makes the most of these audio appearances.

This may be a slightly odd place to slot this in the marathon as Nyssa has now been gone for a season, but time is circular, after all, and there are more seasons where that came from...

What we have here are four more-or-less standalone audio stories making up an anthology, connected by a few common threads. They're all essentially character pieces with only the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa as the recurring cast members. Over their course, the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of the Doctor's and Nyssa's friendship are charted out. We see Nyssa's fresh trauma about Traken give way to increased confidence, to her seeming to grow up and consider what a life without the Doctor would be like, and finally to a time many years later when she has forged her own path in life.

The "Spring" segment is as light and breezy as you'd expect, with a society of avians that is quite well-rendered, when you consider how little time the audio has to establish it. Zero is a really fun quasi-antagonist, and I laughed with disbelief at his regeneration into a bird-man at the end. Nyssa's petulant response to the Doctor's teasing, "I shall sulk..." is pitch-perfect for the Nyssa of this period. Really great stuff.

"Summer" goes into very different territory, a short and sweet celebrity historical guest starring the incomparable David Warner as Sir Isaac Newton. I was surprised to learn that Newton worked for the government chasing around counterfeiters, and he was certainly a bigger jerk than I'd have expected him to be. It's very cool to see Newton predict large swathes of the future simply based on a few stray coins. The Doctor seems to understand the mavity of the situation as Newton comes perilously close to understanding too much.

These first two segments are less closely focused on the "character study of Nyssa" angle that the set is going for, and while they are fantastic, it's the two latter ones, written by Paul Cornell, that really transcend them and bring this set to another level.

"Autumn" slows the action down to show the Doctor and Nyssa spending a season in a small English town, the Doctor spending the time playing cricket with the local guys and Nyssa trying to write her experiences and her memories of Traken down as a book, to preserve it for the future. The brief romance that blossoms between her and local boy Andrew is very sweet and lovingly developed. I couldn't get enough of their conversations as he slowly started to believe her about her background. Her small paean for Traken, talking about how she can still see its light in the night sky because its destruction hasn't traveled far enough yet, just about broke my heart.

The Doctor's part of the plot is also rather good. As much as he's always wanted to get some time to enjoy cricket, he clearly isn't at ease with his close-minded teammates, and seems almost like he'd rather be elsewhere. Sticking around for Nyssa's sake? Perhaps. He is quite sullen about the possibility of Nyssa leaving him soon as well, and I really feel for his mixture of pride and love and worry for her.

Finally, the set culminates with "Winter", a chilling and surreal little story set during the Doctor's impending regeneration, taking place during the moments where he's succumbing to the spectrox toxemia. Seeing Nyssa all grown up, so to speak, is very gratifying, and the way she saves the Doctor just like he's saved her in the past is absolutely wonderful.

The mindscape the Master has trapped the regenerating Doctor in is rendered beautifully, from the return of the Watcher to the bits of TARDIS decor embedded in the farmhouse, to the borrowed names for his invented children.

NYSSA: Tegan is here?
DOCTOR: Yes, asleep in the bed upstairs.
NYSSA: Oh.
DOCTOR: With Adric.
NYSSA: ... Oh!

It's really heartbreaking, seeing the Doctor lost in the sort of life he could never have, until he's pulled back to the light again by his friends. I can't state enough just how much I love the way that this ties into Androzani. It should be an essential listen for everybody who enjoys this era.

All told, I'm glad I took this diversion. I gained some further appreciation for both Nyssa and for the Fifth Doctor in the process, and it got me really pumped up for the final Fifth Doctor story.

Inevitably, The Caves of Androzani is next.

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

Planet of Fire [Doctor Who, Story 134]

 Planet of Fire by Peter Grimwade
23 February - 2 March 1984​

After a momentary diversion in the Time Vortex, we arrive back in the 1980s with Planet of Fire. I had a little giggle when the first episode began with the Doctor ranting about the Daleks. This is clearly supposed to follow right after Resurrection, but I prefer to think we just happened to catch him at a moment where he was randomly going on about how he hates the little bastards. ("Okay, grandpa, let's get you to bed...")

My immediate impression once we arrive on the Canaries (swanky!) and meet Peri and her stepfather is that the dialogue in this story is a bit... iffy at times. This didn't really surprise me, as Grimwade's other scripts also have some pretty hit or miss dialogue. Here I think of "You will come with me or you will remain in the TARDIS... DEAD!" and "How positively effervescent you've become..." But, that being said, I do really like "So what? I'm Perpugilliam Brown and I can shout just as loud as you can!"

The gradually unfolding story of Sarn and its connection to Turlough's troubled past is generally quite interesting, and the aspects of Sarn's religion that are ultimately based on Trion technology call to mind the same concepts that The Face of Evil once played with. It has to be said that Planet of Fire doesn't have quite the same deft touch as that earlier story, so it doesn't land with quite the same effect. Not to say it's bad, just nothing special.

... Oh, and Kamelion is in this one. I totally understand why the robot prop didn't appear in any of the other stories since The King's Demons, but isn't there a benefit to him being a shapeshifting robot? They could have easily had him just appear in a human guise to at least let him be part of the TARDIS crew instead of the weird, tacked-on thing that he is. As it is, his sacrifice at the end of this story feels utterly meaningless, and the Doctor being the one to pull the trigger is especially heartless, especially when you consider how he doesn't even really look sad afterward.

Our first real look at Peri gives us a little bit to work with. She seems sassy and resourceful, at least, which are good qualities for a prospective companion. The performance is fine, though she pitches some lines a bit incorrectly and her accent can be a little distracting, but I'll reserve further judgement for when she's settled into the role a bit more.

This is not the Master's prouder appearance, though I feel like he has already taken more embarrassing L's than this one. It has to be said that seeing Peri try to swat a shrunken Master with her shoe like he's a cockroach is pretty hilarious.

All in all, a decent story but nothing to really sink my teeth into, except to bid farewell to Turlough, who really has been a delight. We wish Ms. Brown the best of luck in her travels to come.

The journey continues with Circular Time, next.

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

Loups-Garoux [Doctor Who, Diversion 32]

 Loups-Garoux by Marc Platt
21 May 2001

​ 

With Tegan stepping off, our male Doctor and his male companion travel alone together for the first time since 1966's The Massacre (don't be silly, there is no third member of the crew). This is a unique opportunity, though the televised program does not take the chance to really mine it for its potential, as the next story after Resurrection introduces a new female companion. I'm grateful to Marc Platt (who is always excellent) for writing a story to fill this gap.

I was interested to learn that this is actually based on a script called The Werelings, which Platt submitted to the production office during the Davison era, but which was not picked up for production. I imagine it must be pretty gratifying to get a chance to get your rejected script into the show much later (even if only in audio form). I'm sure Russell T. knows all about that, too.

This one has an interesting conceit, relying more overtly on "old world" themes of magic, spirits, and lycanthropy than the average Doctor Who story, while simulataneously being set in the painfully futuristic world of 2080s Brazil, a wonderful contrast. See Ileana's remark that werewolves are creatures of earth and water, and cannot bear to be airborne for more than a few moments at a time. (I think that, rather like the Cleopatra quote he utters afterward suggests, the Doctor's elements really would be fire and air.)

It is possible to extract a scientific explanation for this from the story, of course, but the Doctor shows little interest in finding one. The character who does try, Dr. Hayashi, is trying to do so in order to find a "cure" for lycanthropy. This resonated with me, as it reminded me of real-life attempts to isolate a "gay gene" (or, more recently, a "trans gene", or even an "autism gene") and any number of other eugenicist attempts to pathologize and "cure" certain inborn characteristics of (usually marginalized) people. The Doctor is right-on when he calls this out as an attempted genocide, as it would mean the end of who the werewolves are as a culture and as individual people.

A more active genocide is plain in the foreground of this story in the form of the W'rana, a tribe of native people in the Amazon. As the last surviving member, Rosa Caiman, tells us, those who did not die when the Amazon Rainforest dried out (a deeply unsettling thing to hear, which I hope never becomes a reality) went to the cities and assimilated. A heartbreaking account which matches much of what I've read about the native tribes of the Amazon in real life.

To turn away from the weightier subjects and dig into the story a little further, I return to that first paragraph and point to one of my favorite scenes of this audio, which comes in the later part. Having watched the werewolf matriarch Ileana de Santos fall for the Doctor over the course of the audio, Turlough questions him about his intentions, and the Doctor admits that women have never really been "his area". He reflects, however, on the central role that women have played in his life, wistfully mentioning the names of his female companions so far. I think it's really interesting that this note is focused in on considering the peculiar window of time this audio is set in.

Speaking of Turlough, he's fantastic in this. His moments of fear and grappling with his own shadow remind me strongly of his parts from Frontios, and his rapport with Rosa is really nice. They have some fun chemistry, in my opinion. And a kind word is very much owed to the wonderful Eleanor Bron as Ileana, who brings a lot to this story. Her doomed love story with the Doctor is absolutely brilliant. (I am, of course, reminded of The Aztecs when the Doctor unintentionally proposes to her! Great callback.)

Just the antidote I needed after Resurrection, all told. Absolutely brilliant and well worth a listen for anyone.

Planet of Fire is next.

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

Resurrection of the Daleks [Doctor Who, Story 133]

 Resurrection of the Daleks by Eric Saward
8 - 15 February 1984​

How far are we now from the days of the Hartnell Doctor, when the Daleks appeared multiple times a season? It has "only" been a five year wait, same as the last one, but because of my various delays it feels much, much longer. As much as I like the Daleks - when they are used well - I have not missed them terribly, considering what a dud Destiny was. Accordingly it was with a mixture of tentative excitement, and slight trepidation, that I saw the first Daleks appear through the space station airlock in episode one.

This story is positioned as a sequel of sorts to Destiny, showing the aftermath of the war with the Movellans. In that regard it does a decent enough job, carrying on with Terry Nation's final story direction for the Daleks, and also introducing a new direction which shows some promise. I also must point out the irony of the Movellans using a contagion to defeat the Daleks; the Daleks have shown no shyness about using pathogens against their enemies before, but now the tables have been turned.

It's quite a thing to see the relatively pathetic state they're in now, reduced to very small numbers and relying on human mercenaries and their replicants (last seen in The Chase, a very long time ago indeed!) which must be humiliating for them. This is an interesting position of desperation to see the Daleks in, uncommon as it is.

There is so much here that I want to like, that it makes the overall effect of this story somewhat harder to stomach. It's impossible for me to really excavate a story that I would enjoy out from under the sheer weight of the misery that Resurrection wallows in.

I don't want to come across as pearl-clutching about violence in Doctor Who. That's an inherent element of all adventure stories, and more often than not, Who remains on the right side of that fence. I didn't blush and fan myself during The Deadly Assassin, and I only flinched a little at the bloodied windshield in Spearhead from Space. Some amount of violence is only to be expected.

So it's not the level of violence in Resurrection that bothers me, per se, but its constant reliance on it for shock value. The merciless and pointless killing of all the side characters, the bodies dropping left right and center, just wore on my nerves until they were gone entirely. It gave me a grody feeling that didn't dissipate until the last episode was well past over.

Leaving a taste in my mouth that was altogether worse, was the Doctor's out-of-place transformation into an action commando, gritting his teeth as he tells us "Once before I held back from destroying the Daleks... It is a mistake I must not repeat." Him gunning down a Dalek mutant in the warehouse or pointing a blaster at Davros (now played by the really very good Terry Molloy, on whom more another time), threatening to destroy him once and for all, is completely out of place not just for this version of the character, but really for the character as a whole.

When I consider Terry Nation's avowed pacifism, and distress at being compelled to write violent solutions to issues like that of the Daleks in his stories, which I covered at some length a few years ago now, this just turns doubly gross. It can't have been calculated, but it does add just another layer of wrongness over the whole thing.

It's telling that Tegan evokes her own murdered aunt when she says:

TEGAN: My Aunt Vanessa said, when I became an air stewardess, if you stop enjoying it, give it up.
DOCTOR: Tegan...
TEGAN: It's stopped being fun, Doctor.

I'm quite inclined to agree. Eric Saward isn't a bad writer, but so far, between the oddly grubby and violent end of Earthshock, the ending of Warriors of the Deep, and now this, I have to say that I am not very enamored with his vision of Doctor Who.

Don't go anywhere. Our latest diversion into the world of audio is arriving at the station shortly with Loups-Garoux.

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

Frontios [Doctor Who, Story 132]

 Frontios by Christopher H. Bidmead
26 January - 3 February 1984​

I came into this marathon with a considerable wealth of facts and figures, plot synopses, crumbs of fan lore, and assorted trivia all stuffed in my head. I supercharged myself by reading and watching reviews and best-of compilations as a way of winding myself up for what I suspected would be a lengthy and difficult marathon. (Only the former ended up being true, and more than I could have guessed).

In the process I inevitably spoiled myself on dozens of twists, hidden villains, funny moments, and sundry other things, big and small. I knew full well what I was doing, but I couldn't really help myself! This has affected a couple of my reviews - The Rescue and The Invasion of Time come to mind as particularly noticeable cases - and it has tinged every story so far with expectations going in.

Terror of the Autons is a story about the Master and killer daffodils. The Power of the Daleks is the story Victory of the Daleks would lovingly rip off years later. The Two Doctors is about cannibals and Sontarans, and having Troughton and Frazer back. Frontios is...

Frontios is...?

Wait, hold on, what is this one about?

I've seriously never heard or read anything about it? I'm going in blind?!

Well. This is a special occasion now, isn't it? I couldn't pass up the chance to do something memorable with it. I took the opportunity to bring along my partner, Quinn, whom I've been showing the new series, but who's never seen Classic Who despite being interested. We both, for once, went in equally oblivious about the story.

They were probably pretty confused when the first thing I did upon starting the episode was moan about the poor hat rack, the longest-serving companion! I was properly attached to that thing! Just another example of the "out with the old, in with the new" trend in JNT's Doctor Who. It's only occurring to me just now that we haven't seen 5's hat in a hot minute; all part of JNT's dastardly plan, no doubt...

The hat rack still, funny enough, gets a fairly dedicated send-off as it's used by the Doctor and Turlough to intimidate the Frontios colonists, who think it's a weapon at first, before it's finally given to them as a parting gift at the end of the serial. Very funny stuff.

Although the colony itself isn't perhaps the most lovingly realized setting in the show's whole history, it is at least fine, and it's elevated somewhat by the guest characters, all of whom I thought were pretty memorable. Cockerill less so than the others perhaps, as it appears a lot of his more important scenes were cut for time, and Brazen's actor doesn't bring a whole lot of breadth to the role, but the fact I remembered their names offhand should still tell you enough. For my money, my favorite was Lesley Dunlop as Norna, who gets a great moment breaking out of her restraints with her own ingenuity, and is just kind of cool in general.

The Doctor shines in this, given some stellar dialogue by returning writer Christopher H. Bidmead. His acerbic wit is balanced well with his kindness and eagerness to help, and he seems to channel Troughton when tricking the Gravis later in the story. I've just read that Peter Davison thought this script was much better than most of the ones he was handed, and I can tell just from watching that he took much more of a shine to this one.

DOCTOR: Marvelous, you're going to kill me! What a finely tuned response to the situation.​

My favorite Tegan moment from this serial is when she's suspended in a gravity beam by the Tractators and the Doctor has to try and talk their way out of it. The death glare she sends at him when he starts talking about the various faults of his "service machine" absolutely sent me into a giggle fit.

Meanwhile in our redheaded friend's corner, Turlough gets a hell of a lot to do, including continuing to struggle with his inherent cowardice (here I'm thinking of the moment where he has Norna pick the hand with the chip in it and he rigs the game against himself) and his moments of literally mouth-frothing terror as his ancestral memories take over. It is interesting to finally get a bit of detail about his past, but I think it would have perhaps been more affecting if the Tractators were a personal trauma of his and not a "race memory".

Wasn't there a fourth member of the TARDIS team? Uh... Well, I can't feel too bad about forgetting. The other three don't so much as utter the name of any hypothetical fourth members out of worry when the TARDIS seemingly gets disintegrated in this episode. If they can't be bothered to care, why should I?

Rounding out my quick journey through the characters of this serial, we finally arrive at the Tractators, whose name is crap but whose concept is still pretty cool. Creepy psychic isopods sucking people underground? Very cool stuff. Their costumes bring them up a little short of actually scary, but overall I do like their look.

The plot about hollowing out a planet to drive it around through space is... familiar. It makes slightly more sense here than it did back in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and while still rather silly on the whole, it can mostly be forgiven.

The story's deeper purpose seems to be to interrogate Brazen's assertion that, "You can't broadcast socially sensitive information unless you're in control of the facts." Revere keeps what he learns about the Tractators secret, only for it to come back and bite him, and then his people too after he's gone (or rather, takes up a new line of work). Range gathers information about the disappearances but keeps it secret because he fears a conspiracy, only for this to cause issues as well. The leaders of the colonists try and try to either bury the problem or work secretly to uncover it without telling anyone, and it uniformly turns out to be a bad idea. It's only when the truth is really unearthed that it has a hope of being resolved.

Quinn enjoyed the experience and was charmed by the dated effects, the soundtrack, and the story. I must say that there is nothing quite as gratifying as successfully getting one of the not-we into Who. "Good, good," I cackled, rubbing my hands together, and they rolled their eyes.

I must agree with their assessment, as this was quite the hidden gem for me. Though imperfect, its use of the regulars, the guest cast, and the way that the plot unfolds all make for a solidly enjoyable watching experience.

Resurrection of the Daleks is next.

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

The Awakening [Doctor Who, Story 131]

 The Awakening by Eric Pringle
19 - 20 January 1984​

After escaping from Sea Base 4, we are treated to a fine bit of whiplash in the form of a cheery family visit to sleepy Little Hodcombe in England. One has to imagine that some time has passed since last episode. So I assume for the sake of my own sanity, at any rate.

Visiting a companion's grandfather is a bit of domesticity I certainly did not expect. It's worlds away from Season 19, when Tegan was constantly begging to be brought home. Now a casual dip back into her own time and her family life is almost a thing of no note whatsoever.

As a two-part story of this era, it is of course a bit on the thinner side than most of its longer contemporaries, but I must say that I found it thoroughly enjoyable. It's rather like a pseudo-pseudo-historical, being a story set in the present day but with the imagery and trappings of the English Civil War all over the place. This leaves us with wonderful images like the cavaliers trotting past post offices and phone booths on their horses, which do stick in the mind. The location shooting is very lovely, but the dusty church set also looks pretty good, aside from the foam walls at least.

I enjoyed the presence of Jane Hampden, who takes none of the Doctor's nonsense, surprising nobody as I was also a huge fan of fellow schoolteacher Barbara...

Secondary antagonist Sir George Hutchinson is fine for what he is, though the way he dies is quite baffling. Contact with the Malus kills, apparently? Speaking of that, the Malus itself is fairly creepy despite its constraints as an immobile animatronic in the wall. Its tiny, crawling projection that we see inside the TARDIS mostly just made me laugh, but the main article is shot and framed fairly well, complete with belching ominous clouds of fog.

Comparisons with the Jon Pertwee serial The Dæmons are inevitable because of the rural setting, the ancient evil lurking beneath the village, and the church getting destroyed, but apparently it's all a coincidence. The resemblance is never to the story's detriment however, and this combination of themes makes it stand out among the other stories of its era.

That's all I had on this one, there isn't a whole lot of meat to dig into. Frontios is next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 2 May 2024.)

Warriors of the Deep [Doctor Who, Story 130]

 Warriors of the Deep by Johnny Byrne
5 - 13 January 1984

I've always had a particular soft spot for the Silurians and the Sea Devils. Their conflict with humankind is inherently different from that of the various alien races that populate this show, and lends itself to some interesting drama.

It's unfortunate that their appearance here, their first since Pertwee's early days, is wasted on a story that fails its promising foundations and is all around just a bit unpleasant.

The way this story looks has been remarked upon many times, from the wobbly sets to the Myrka, problems which were probably unavoidable for the most part. I can't help feeling, however, that some different directorial decisions could have patched up most of these issues and made the story more visually pleasing.

My chief issue with the story lies more in its unremitting pessimism and its level of violence. Not to go all Mary Whitehouse on you or anything, but some moments felt excessive, like the Sea Devil melting in the latter part of the story. The "everybody dies" ending left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. It is arguably a good fit for the theme of mutually assured destruction that permeates this story, but I wasn't in much of a mood for it and thought it was done in a bit of a tacky way regardless.

I don't have much else to say about this one at present except that I'm a bit disappointed that a great story could have been made from this. Alas.

The Awakening is next.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 28 April 2024.)