4Z3 - The Invasion of Time 3

Ah, the Vardans. So much has been written about these feared invaders of Gallifrey, who are revealed at the cliffhanger to Episode Two, and with good cause. Even as a young child watching parts of this story, I was quite put off by these have dissolved sheets of tinfoil. They were sort of mysterious to me, but also looked really, really cheap.

The problem, though, is that, unfortunately, both the visual effects and sound effects teams were on the exact same page when it came time to design the disguised Vardans. Visual effects designed it as shimmering tinfoil that was supposed to be more subtly integrated into the picture - fine. But when the sound effects team saw this tinfoil and decided to make them sound like...sheets of tinfoil being rustled about, it only enhanced the image that much more.

However, when you look at the story as a whole, these tinfoil shrouds are a brilliant bit of foreshadowing for what is to come in the final two parts of this story (oh, and by the way, all my reviews are rife with spoilers, if you haven't yet noticed). Those of you who know this story well enough know that the Sontarans feature in the final two episodes, having used the Vardans as their way into an invasion of Gallifrey. The Sontarans' heads have often been compared to potatoes in the past. And what to you bake potatoes in on the barbecue?

Tinfoil. See? It all makes sense now...

4Z2 - The Invasion of Time 2

It's difficult to tell where the line between The Doctor playing strange due to his bargain with the aliens ends, and the growing onscreen madness of Tom Baker begins. It's an oft-repeated tale that Baker had the idea that his next companion should be a cabbage perched upon his shoulder who he could talk to and dispense the plot to. It seems as if one scene in Borusa's office was Baker's test run with an invisible cabbage.

The entire scene features The Doctor talking to himself (or an unseen Borusa) as he tries to figure a way out of the office. As if talking to himself wasn't enough, after finding that his trusty sonic screwdriver won't open a secret hidden door, Baker full on turns to the camera and says (everybody now), "Even the sonic screwdriver won't get me out of this one". Tom Baker has spoken to three different people in this scene - a cabbage, Borusa, and you, the viewer.

Later on, Baker shares a (somewhat pointlessly long) scene with K-9 inside the TARDIS. It's almost like Baker doesn't want to actually share screen time with fellow actors, content to hog tight two-shots with robotic dogs and invisible vegetables. This story is the most obvious example of the transition of the gloomy, eccentric Fourth Doctor of his first three seasons to the whimsical, dramatically indifferent Doctor of Seasons 16 and 17.

4Z1 - The Invasion of Time 1

The Invasion of Time starts off remarkably bold and assured. In response to the recently released Star Wars, Invasion starts off with Doctor Who's own answer to the first shot of Star Wars, with a poor man's Star Destroyer flying overhead, with an equally poor man's Tantive IV following closely behind. It may not have been as impressive as Star Wars, but for Doctor Who, it looks pretty not bad at all.

Where this episode really plants its foot, though, is how it picks up the story midstream, as The Doctor is signing a contract with mysterious, unseen aliens, about which he tells Leela nothing and acts very erratically afterwards. Only The Doctor knows the reason for his bizarre attitude - not even the audience is let in, other than the fact that, surely, their hero wouldn't turn to the dark side so readily. Would he?

However, the differences between how Gallifrey is portrayed here and how it is seen in The Deadly Assassin are quite obvious. Despite both serials using the same sets and costumes, Gallifrey looks like a cold and empty place nowadays as opposed to the grand splendour that was Gallifrey in The Deadly Assassin. In a little over year, it is evident how little money the Doctor Who production had to play with thanks to the crippling inflation that was ravaging Britain at the time. The complex video effects that quadrupled the ranks of the Time Lords in Assassin are sadly missed here, as a paltry number of Time Lords are around to attend The Doctor's induction as president.

4Y4 - Underworld 4

Not knowing much (or anything) of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts at the time, the parallels between that and Underworld were completely lost on me at the time. However, this is Doctor Who at its educational best. Having already taught us about various notable moments and eras in Earth's history during the William Hartnell era, stories like Underworld teach us about ancient mythology, which is perhaps just as important.

Watching Underworld with a more knowing and understanding eye, it now makes me want to research the various myths and legends (pun not intended, DVD fans) on which stories like this one are based.

The Doctor has another shouting match with a giant, bonkers, and, more or less, unseen computer. Only Tom Baker can get away with doing this as many times as he has done so early in the series, and do it so convincingly.

Something I never noticed before - the child that Tom Baker is carrying late in this episode full has a wardrobe malfunction and full on moons the camera before embarrassingly adjusting her clothing after Baker puts her down!

What an enjoyable story, worthy of far more than the scorn it deserves. Watching it in the course of an afternoon may have done it some favours, perhaps, but it's another one of those little neglected gems of which the rediscovery of makes this whole Chronic Hysteresis worthwhile.

4Y1 - Underworld 1

I'm watching Underworld on Doctor Who Day, November 23, 2009, and so I thought, for a change of pace, I would type this review whilst watching the episodes themselves. Underworld is one of my earliest Doctor Who memories, so it's only fitting that I'm watching this on such a momentous day in Doctor Who history (at least that's what I'm telling myself). Like this blog itself, these reviews will include warts and all....

Interesting to see, in the very first scene, how Leela actually seems to be, if not piloting the TARDIS, then certainly monitoring how the controls are functioning. Not even Sarah Jane Smith was granted access like that. Given that Leela was only trying to learn handwriting a couple of stories back, this is a monumental leap forward for here, to say the least.

There's another mention of how the Time Lords have meddled in the development of other planets and civilizations (the last having only just happened in Image of the Fendahl). It's one of the after effects of The Deadly Assassin, it seems. Now that we've seen the Time Lords, met them, and spent a good time on their home planet, it seems as if we'll be seeing and hearing about them a lot from here on in.

One episode in, and I'm already willing to compare this story to the William Hartnell serial The Ark, as both stories are remarkable visual specimens, especially given the time period in which they were created. The model work is fantastic, the main set of the ship is one of the largest and most detailed seen in the series, and the laser effects of the gun shields are better than most laser gun effects ever seen years after this story was broadcast.

4Y3 - Underworld 3

After having just watched the reprise from Episode Two, I am absolutely blown away by how good the sequence looks. The Doctor is fighting through a steady haze of fumigating gas, trying to find the shutoff valve. The scene features Tom Baker, stumbling through a set consisting entirely of blue screen, as the camera follows him over to the shutoff valve, while another camera (live, with no computer assistance or duplication), and all the while, a fluid, smoky haze is superimposed over top of the whole picture.

Remember - this was broadcast in 1978, and probably made shortly after Star Wars had turned the world of science fiction on its head. And even then, Star Wars featured next to no blue screen work with live actors, as the technique was most often used exclusively through model shots. The effects seen in Underworld are staggeringly good not necessarily because they are actually good, but because they should be much, much worse.

Oh, I like that dreamy little but of music whenever The Doctor, Leela, and Edas float down the core of the planet. Simpson's scores were starting to become a little bit tired as the years went on during his (by now, non-stop) tenure on the show, but it's good to see he can still come up with something memorable. The music during the sacrifice scenes in the P7E are equally good.

Cool - lots of laser gunfights in the latter part of this episode. I can see why my nine-year-old self was becoming hooked on this show.

4Y2 - Underworld 2

People often deride Underworld because of the rampant use of CSO for the scenes set in the planet of the P7E. I find this criticism entirely unfounded. Honestly, the CSO work not only doesn't look bad, it's downright impressive. The scenes are well lit in relation to the model sets, and - oh! - there's even some movement of the background in the scene where The Doctor and Leela are walking down a passageway.

That moving shot is rare, though, by the looks of it, and phenomenally difficult to pull off in the days before CGI, or even SceneSync. As such, there is a static element to many of the scenes, and most of the are shot beginning with the subjects in long shot, then advancing towards the camera during the course of the scene. However, static camera shots are hardly to fault of director Norman Stewart, and Stewart certainly doesn't have a monopoly on them amongst is esteemed peers (I'm looking at you, Peter Moffatt).

It's the tail end of this episode that was probably the first thing I tried to actually sit down and watch when it came to Doctor Who. I was nine years old when I first saw this. I might swimming in nostalgia right now, but I can't help but thoroughly enjoy this story two episodes in.

4W4 - The Sun Makers 4

I won't often compare my own personal opinions with those as voted on by the readers of Doctor Who Magazine (the results of which can be found in DWM 413 in the form of a ranking of every Doctor Who story ever made), but when I saw that The Sun Makers was ranked a paltry 147th out of 200 stories in that DWM poll, I was flabbergasted.

How can so many people have rated this story so low? The wit is biting, the comedy is bristling, and everyone does a superb job of playing the humour of the piece just below the line of going over-the-top.

The Sun Makers is also an "oddball" story before oddball stories ever became part of the Who lexicon in Season 24. And despite its' 147th place finish in the DWM poll, it still finished well ahead of other similarly themed stories like Paradise Towers and The Happiness Patrol. Really, if The Sun Makers had been made ten years later, the production values and attitude towards the show would have made it one of the most lightweight and inconsequential stories ever made, with silly performances all around. Richard Leech as the Gatherer? Try Richard Briers instead.

The one thing that raises The Sun Makers above the trappings of throwaway comedy is the pen of Robert Holmes. How dreadful for Holmes that his tax situation at the time gave him so much grief, but out if it came the inspiration to create and write this story, which is one of his finest moments in Doctor Who.

4W3 - The Sun Makers 3

There's even more brilliance in this episode from Robert Holmes through his ciphers, namely the Gatherer and the Collector. The Collector's commands for Leela ("Maximize her medicare", and later, her execution order is deemed as "pending") are some of the more overt references to the UK tax system that were left in Holmes's script (one can only imagine to jaded barbs that were removed before the serial went into production).

The Collector is played by Henry Woolf in one of the more superlative comedic performances seen in the show's history. Woolf is perfect as the sniveling Collector, who is thoroughly evil not because it's in his nature but because his motives are influenced purely by greed and profits for his company. Woolf is part Boss Hogg, part Dr. Evil (while predating both characters), and is one of the best villains during Tom Baker's reign as The Doctor.

Leela also has a strong story, and it's not surprising that Louise Jameson rates The Sun Makers as her favourite story. Even in this episode, where she spends the entire duration being held captive in a varied assortment of ways, her character is just as feisty, if not more so, than it ever was. In fact, not a single character is underused, with the possible exception of Michael Keating as Goudry, who is so magnetic in his limited screen time that it's no wonder he was tapped to play Vila in a new BBC science fiction series called Blake's 7...

4W2 - The Sun Makers 2

We first meet the Collector in this episode in a scene of pure, comedy gold, as a sycophantic Gatherer Hade informs him of the threat of unrest amongst the Ajacks. The best bits are the various cloying titles that the Gatherer bestows upon his superior - "Your Colossus, Your Pinnacle, Your Elevation". I could quote pretty much every line that made me laugh out loud during this episode, and indeed this story, but I would run out of time and room.

Similarly, the first (and only, as it would turn out) meeting between The Doctor and the Gatherer is equally enjoyable. Neither man is speaking truthfully, and both are concealing more than they are letting on. Tom Baker would ramp up the humourous side of his portrayal of The Doctor during the 1970s, but in this scene, he pitches it at just the right level.

Something must also be said about the sterling location work in this story in one of the rare cases of the production team using interior locations as something other than what it's supposed to be (for instance, the power plant location in The Hand of Fear looked fantastic...as a power plant). The endlessly long corridors that the team found match the equally long hallways needed in the script, as well as the interminable tax corridors that Robert Holmes was spewing hate for in this story in the form of clever, biting wit.

4W1 - The Sun Makers 1

On the outset, The Sun Makers looks like a very basic Doctor Who story. There's a harsh and brutal regime ruling a planet and its people, The Doctor lands on the planet, meets the repressed and huddled masses, then (presumably) saves them, with an acceptable amount of casualties, and then flies off before anyone asks too many questions.

But get a basic story written by such a script-writing pantheon as Robert Holmes, and all bets are off. Holmes decided to turn a rudimentary Doctor Who story into a scathing satire of the British tax system and, in the process, probably churned out one of the best stories of his career, and certainly the most clever. This episode is concerned more with the plight of poor Cordo, our window into the poor, working class of Megropolis 3 on Pluto, and the outsiders who live in the underground and scavenge what they can find from the vast city above them.

However, it's the scenes with Richard Leech's delectable Gatherer that makes this episode zing. Leech is hilarious, and of the reactions his sidekick, Marn, to his various boastings are very amusing to watch, just as that of any personal assistant's eye rolling towards her less intelligent, yet more experienced, boss. 25 minutes of pure Doctor Who delight.

4X4 - Image of the Fendahl 4

There are two images that stand out for me in Episode Four - Wanda Ventham looking absolutely divine in gold paint (and looking somewhat less inspiring with fake eyes painted on her eyelids - why did the makers of the show think they could get away with this?), and the body of Stael lying on the floor after having shot himself.

The suicide of Stael is shocking enough for Doctor Who. There have been characters who have sacrificed themselves to save others, but very rarely has someone taken their own life without having it mean something. What's even more alarming is that The Doctor gives Stael the gun! Not only do we have a suicide in Doctor Who, but an assisted suicide on the part of The Doctor. One assumes that The Doctor could see no way out for Stael (he does say to Stael that it's too late for him once he's looked into the Fendahl's/sexy gold Thea's eyes), but to see The Doctor tiptoe his way across the room, casually grab the revolver from the mantle, and drop it into Stael's waiting hands is somewhat disturbing. Tom Baker plays it well, though, not once looking at Stael while giving him the gun, and Stael's polite "thank you" once he receives the pistol is quite sad. Here is a man who was driven mad for power, then driven equally mad whilst betrayed, but still had the logical foresight to off himself and end his torment.

Overall, Image of the Fendahl is one of the moodiest and gloomiest of Doctor Who stories ever, and the absolute last holdover from the Philip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes era of Gothic horror. Things would get considerably lighter and more fantastical from here on in.

4X3 - Image of the Fendahl 3

There's a bit of an odd sequence in this episode that sees The Doctor and Leela fly off to try and find the fifth planet, thus taking themselves out of the action for a good part of this episode. It's an odd wild goose chase that gets them nowhere, and only seems to kill time in a story that is strong on atmosphere but short on incident.

I compared it before to another minimalist story featuring a small cast, Horror of Fang Rock, but while the latter managed to find enough twists and turns to keep the story moving, The Doctor's and Leela's sudden trip in the TARDIS is emblematic of a story that just doesn't have enough steam to keep it going over the four episodes (and barely, at that, as Episode Four only just clears the 20 minute mark).

Plus, why does Stael, after being assured that 13 people are necessary for the ceremony in the cellar, kill Fendleman so readily, and without much forethought? The one thing that his actions do is offer the somewhat shocking image of blood dripping from Fendleman's temple, which won't be the last graphic image seen in this story...

4X2 - Image of the Fendahl 2

There is some simply gorgeous direction in this episode by George Spenton-Foster, which makes for a nice change from the hack job done by Derrick Goodwin in The Invisible Enemy. The still above is taken from a scene where Fendleman and Colby discuss the x-ray results of the skull. Most of the scene is captured in a tight two-shot which perfectly captures the expressions of expression from Fendleman and the increasing wariness of Colby, and the only prominent lighting is from the x-ray screen itself, lending the scene a cool glow that looks staggering.

Colby is probably favourite character in this story because he is so relentlessly posh. I could repeat Colby's line to Thea about the recently deceased security guard 50 times and never get tired of it. "The mahn's dead, Thee-uh!". Despite being posh, Colby is slightly played to be the stooge in this episode, too, which means actor Edward Arthur will be having some great scenes with Tom Baker, the latter of whom always seems to get along well with endearing comic stooges.

Also amusing is the character of Martha Tyler (how many times did Russell T Davies watch this story when trying to think up companion names for the new series?), partly because of the fact that she's quite cantankerous and superstitious, but still manages to be one step ahead of almost everyone in this story, but mostly because, as a Canadian, I think people with West Country accents sound funny.

4X1 - Image of the Fendahl 1

I've always had a hard time getting to grips with Image of the Fendahl. It's probably because of the very ambiguous (ambiguous to me, at any rate) first episode, which raises more questions than it answers. While it's clear that Dr. Fendleman and his team are investigating the skull to determine why it appears to be 12 million years old, it's not immediately apparent what Fendleman and Stael are doing with the equipment in their secret room later in the episode.

Whatever they're doing with the equipment, though, it's sure screwing with the skull, which is messing with the mind of Thea Ransom. Also, a hiker nearby is being pursued by something, apparently, although from the way the scene is shot, it's never made clear that it he's being pursued at all. For years, I always just assumed that the camera is simply moving towards the hiker and, at the episode's end, towards a taciturn Tom Baker in a moody choice of shots from director George Spenton-Foster.

The most dramatic thing about this episode, though (and the most pleasantly surprising) is the complete lack of incidental music. The tension and overall weirdness builds purely through the sounds of the skull and the computer equipment escalating throughout the episode. It's another minimalist stroke in the same vein as the earlier Horror of Fang Rock, and part of a curious opening episode that intrigues the viewer to want to watch more.

4T4 - The Invisible Enemy 4

Things finally limp to a finish in an episode that, while barely clearing 20 minutes in duration, seems much, much longer. The Swarm, in its final manifestation, looks quite ridiculous, and needs to be helped to move around wherever it goes. The final explosion of the Titan base is equally disappointing as the shot cuts from a static shot of the base model to a different shot of a wall of flame, the join covered by a white flash.

The Invisible Enemy was the first story produced by Graham Williams, and it bears all the lesser hallmarks of his era - cheap looking sets, lazy direction, and bad jokes. You can almost hear the canned studio audience laughter over the final scene when Professor Marius wonders aloud if the recently departed K-9 is "TARDIS trained". Groan.

K-9 is possibly the most troubling aspect of this whole production. As much as I do enjoy the dog (and I do, to a point), K-9 has been an easy out in this story - always ready to provide the answers, always there to scan for danger, and armed with a wickedly accurate nose laser. The Doctor is now, in effect, armed for the first time in the series' history. The level of danger that The Doctor finds himself in severely drops whenever K-9 is around, and so, too, does the level of drama. Admittedly, one often expects new companions to receive a greater share of the action in their debut story, but such a start for K-9 does not bode well for the future.

4T3 - The Invisible Enemy 3

The Invisible Enemy reminds me slightly of the previous effort from Bob Baker and Dave Martin, The Hand of Fear, in that both stories see one of our heroes taken over briefly by an alien influence, and both stories involve many changes of setting throughout the four episodes.

Episode One of Enemy is predominantly set on Titan Base, while Episode Two takes place mostly at the Bi-Al Foundation. Episode Three, though, occurs mainly in The Doctor's mind - a tacky, cheap looking place if ever there was one. There are a couple of the CSO shots that are legitimately impressive, but, for the most part, it looks like what it is: the Doctor Who production team trying to do Fantastic Voyage with a fraction of the budget for that bigger budget Hollywood epic.

And, again, there are some poor directorial decisions from Derrick Goodwin. The scene where the clone doubles of The Doctor and Leela are injected into The Doctor's brain is laughably bad as the sequence consists entirely of Tom Baker and Louise Jameson standing and spinning around on a studio floor while their image is superimposed over spinning cone of water. And the less said about the precut wall being shot away by the increasingly useful K-9, the better...

4T2 - The Invisible Enemy 2

We first meet K-9 in this episode, otherwise known as producer Graham Williams's first and most famous attempt to take Doctor Who away from the grim, horror laden days of the Hinchcliffe era into the land of, to borrow a line from Episode Three, dreams and fantasy.

K-9's debut is by no means subtle. By the sheer nature of the character, he's obligated to give a full and detailed description of himself and his operating parameters to anyone who asks, although his master, Professor Marius, does his best to fill in any gaps in the story. How it wasn't 100% assumed by those making the programme that K-9 would be joining the TARDIS crew at the end of this adventure is beyond me. K-9 doesn't steal every scene he's in. He doesn't have to. Every one of his scenes is handed to him to do with what he pleases. K-9 acts as a know-it-all in this episode, giving everyone all the answers before anyone's even asked for them. Plus, in order to get tight two-shots involving K-9, everyone now has to kneel down to get into the same shot as K-9.

The direction from Derrick Goodwin also leaves something to be desired. Goodwin came from a background of directing sitcoms and light dramas before doing his first Doctor Who, and he was inexperienced in working on science fiction programmes. It shows. There are one or two model shots that were done in the studio, as opposed to film, which are quite poor. There's also a lack of imagination or dramatic tension to some of the scenes. Look at the resolution to the cliffhanger from Episode One. The Doctor is arguing with the Swarm in his head about whether to kill Leela or not. It could have been an intense scene, shot in a way to show the conflict between good and evil taking place in The Doctor's mind. But what to we get? A static medium camera shot of Tom Baker standing still while the voices of The Doctor and the Swarm are dubbed over it.

Boring, boring, boring. Kind of like the episode itself.

4T1 - The Invisible Enemy 1

Doctor Who jumps into the world of space ships and moon bases full force for the first time since 1973's Frontier in Space. It's a welcome sight in some ways, but the results are mixed. There's a model sequence featuring a shuttle landing and being transported deep inside the base on Titan that looks quite good, but other shots never let you think that the spaceships are anything else than lightweight models on strings.

The new/old TARDIS set makes its first appearance in a while, too. Replacing the wood panel set of Season 14, this version would remain relatively constant for the duration of the classic series. Showcasing it here, though, means that there's a few scenes featuring Leela hand writing and others featuring general silliness that keep The Doctor from entering the story. There's also a lighter feel to things. This is Graham Williams's first story made as producer, and the grim aspects of his predecessor's time on the show are a distant memory already.

Along with some dodgy makeup and some even dodgier dialogue, The Invisible Enemy does not start out as well as one would hope, despite the best efforts of the ever reliable Michael Sheard.

4V4 - Horror of Fang Rock 4

If I was to select one story to introduce new viewers to classic Doctor Who, I would choose Horror of Fang Rock. It is a story that is not only tense and holds the viewers' attention throughout the four episodes, it is not reliant on the special effects of the day, but is driven by pure dramatic tension.

Horror of Fang Rock is an exercise in perfect minimalism. There are only ten characters that appear throughout the entire story, including The Doctor and Leela, and never are all ten alive in the story at the same time (indeed, all but The Doctor and Leela die by the end of it, a first in Doctor Who history). There are a grand total of six sets - the lamp room, the crew room, a stairwell, Reuben's room, the boiler room, and the rocky area surrounding the lighthouse. That this tiny list of ingredients works as a gripping and claustrophobic story is a testament to the talents of writer Terrance Dicks.

Dicks is one of the series' more underrated writers. Put aside his speed written Target novelizations (and really, these should be praised for what they are, too. You try and write a novel a month based on someone else's scripts and see how well you do, and see if you can inspire a generation of future Doctor Who writers in the process). Dicks proved, with Malcolm Hulke's help, that he could make a fantastic story that spanned ten episodes and contained everything including the kitchen sink with 1969's The War Games. As superb as Patrick Troughton's finale is, Fang Rock is most likely the finest story that Dicks has ever written.

The lack of characters allows us to get to grips with each one of them, and when they each die, one by one, you feel their impact. Someone as noble, innocent, and likable as Vince would usually survive an average Doctor Who story, but is cruelly killed early in Episode Four. Adelaide, the least endearing character of the bunch, still has a horrible death scene that at least garners some sympathy from the viewer. Skinsale, though noble and heroic, is done in by his greed, but his death still leads the viewer too feel pity.

The atmosphere throughout the entire story is unabated in its tension. Dudley Simpson's sombre score accents the action where needed, but the soundtrack for this story is most often the sounds of the lighthouse foghorn and the unrelenting, crushing sound of the boiler. Even something as simple as the door to the boiler room is a portal of dread and doom. Many who leave through it don't come back, and those that come through bring death with them.

Paddy Russell directs her crew with unique precision. It might have helped that this story was recorded at BBC Birmingham, and the crew there were eager to go above and beyond to show their London counterparts that they were as good as, if not better, than any production crew in the UK. The performances from the cast are universally strong, and Tom Baker is at the absolute peak of his powers. He has never been better as The Doctor, before or since.

Horror of Fang Rock is not only a triumph for all involved, it is one of the finest examples of how so much can be made out of so little, it's one of Doctor Who's most criminally underrated stories, and one of the finest adventures in the long history of the series, old and new.