This was the last full televison series/season of Doctor Who before it’s cancellation, and the 1996 television Movie which was meant to revive the entire concept. But all know how that played. (and as Sylvester McCoy is in it I will talk about that in the future) For now we have four episodes to look at and the Andrew Cartmel plan to discuss. (named after the then script editor but mostly it was collaborative effort between the writers)
Battlefield – Written by Ben Aaronvitch – A 4 Part Story.
We join the now retired Brigadier Leftbridge Stewart, as him and his wife Doris walk around a garden centre they talk about his recent retirement and the fact that he’s also given up teaching (a storyline that was meant to be for Ian Chesterton but William Russell was unable to flim the episode) . We then see a UNIT convoy head towards, and small Platoon, Brigadier Winifred Bambera in charge. Somewhere unknown a shaft of light falls an sword.The Doctor and Ace are the dark when they receive stress signal which they’re going investigate. The UNIT convoy pass them, but a second vehicle picks them up and quite fortuitously this heading in the same direction.
My Review – Now this one of the best 7th Doctor stories, it does so much you get a lot of action, you get a lot of history, and there is so much potential. Yes there is a lot of short hand and exposition, which would make it a little hard for the first time viewer. The ending is extremely 1980s but I can forgive that, as we have such an intriguing idea that the doctor is in fact Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table are a group of intergalactic heroes. Also the introduction of a new Brigadier, which shows that the world carries on in the absence of the doctor which once again is something the new series to takes great delighting.
However I do take issue with the fact that the Brigadier does come off as somewhat comic relief during points, something that would be rectified by Big Finish with Brave New World series and I will get to talking about them later on.
Ghost Light – Written by Marc Platt – A 3 Part Story.
We in the cellar of an old Victoria house, two maids give food to someone or something trapped in a hidden room, on the ground floor the front door bell and it’s answered by another maid who is somewhat surprise by the gentlemans of arival who turns out to be a Vicar. Up stairs in what was a childs play room the TARDIS lands. Ace is frist to leave and then questioned by the Doctor works out the room is now a laboratory, and they go exploring and find a radioactive snuff Box, and man who has hunting the owner of the house for years. The cellar maids return to the ground floor to be greeted by the Vicar who is upset about not having had tea and being left alone.
As the Doctor, Ace and the Hunter examining the one of the rooms, the Hunter loses his grip on reality and believes the Doctor and Ace are trying to kill him, however help arrives in the form the new set of maids from the cellar and a butler who invite them to join his master. (Yes there is a lot more but I want you go watch it)
My Review – Now Ghost Light can be hard to get your head around for some. So this review is going to be how I understand it.
A Victoria Explorer and his friend a Hunter travel around the world they come across a primal alien, the Hunter goes mad, and the Explorer brings alien home to his house. Believing he can control it. Slowly the alien takes over both the house and the people into. The added complication is that young Ace discoved the deserted and abandoned house in the 1980’s which she then bunt down, having been taken over by the evil that was still there. After the death of her friend at the hands of racist teenagers.
Throughout the episode, the Doctor leads Ace form her own ideas about what they have found, even purposely keeping her in the dark about were they really are. 7 like all the other classic Doctor is the cleverest person in the most of the time, and knows it. But now we are getting him using this knowledge to directly affect a companion’s life rather than just lifting them out of that life and have them adventure with him. And if you can follow the story it will worth the effort.
The Curse Of Fenric – Written by Ian Briggs – A 4 Part Story.
As a small coastal town is being evaded by Russian submariness, under the waves there ancient Viking longship. The TARDIS lands on in a naval base and it appears to be sometime during the Second World War. The Russian submariness have made land, but only one boat. The Doctor and Ace are finally spotted by a patrol and held at gun point, yet are able to simply walk by them. On the beach the Russian find one other member of the other group, however he is now dead and the sealed ordered he was carrying have mysteriously disappeared.
The Doctor and Ace walk into the office a wheelchairbound professor as he’s working at an algorithm and a logic puzzle on his chalkboard. Which something to do German communication cipher Ultra. As Ace distracts both him and his nurse the doctor is able to forge them both credentials so they can remain on the naval base.
My Review – Just like the episode this isn’t about what it first appears to be. Yes there the monster Fenric running around possessing people. Having been chasing a incarnation of the doctor for millennia. And now the simple act of belief can save you. It’s much deeper than that, you see the Doctor knew all about Ace and her past the very second stepped on the TARDIS, he was/is setting her up to become the best version of herself she can be, by helping her stop running from her own past, showing her that she is whatever she wants to been. OK I am going to stop talking about Ace here as there will be an additional post all about her later on.
Back to the story it clear that the wheelchairbound professor and the ultra code is basically an extremely scaled back version of The Bletchley Park and enigma code, which at the time was just about running down the clock on the official secrets act. And how obsession can be a belief for both good and bad, but if taken to far will in the end all consuming
Survival – Written by Rona Munro – A 3 Part Story.
On a quiet suburban Street a man is washing his car, there are only two eitnesses, one a woman in the house who informs him his food is almost ready and a cat and a wall. A few seconds later when woman has turned her attention to something, else the man washing his car is attacked by an unknown force.
A few streets away the TARDIS lands, Ace and The Doctor disembark we are in Perivale and it’s Sunday Ace has requested the doctor take her home and she’s quite surprised at the lack of people. Together they walk around and end up at the youth club as a survival class is taking place but the instructor pushes just a little bit too hard.
My Review – Yes again there is far more in this episode than I’m willing to write down here because the whole point of this is to go and watch themselves because they’re free. Again all being watched by a cat.
Despite certain elements being brought back for bizarre reasons (the …) it’s more a psychological episode, with Ace seeing how far she could have fallen if she’d been left here in Perivale. How she no longer fits in with her friends and family (mother who we never see as a grownup) Yet she’s no longer has run from her problematic childhood. Working out who she truly is.
Overall Review.
The whole series feels like a half finished jigsaw puzzle, or if you know the scene from the Wallace and Gromit film The Wrong Trousers with Gromit frantically trying to throw railway line in front of himself as he tries to catch up with the penguin. There was so much was happing to keep show on the air. The change of time slot the addition of new writers the guest stars down as light entertainment actors so they could they’re far increased the budget none of that in the end actually worked. And there ending of survival was changed and the off-screen monologue was added leaving it open.
But that’s how things ended up in the air. The fan base looking for answers that didn’t come, anytime soon. The BBC would sit on the Doctor Who brand for years and license it out, one of those being Virgin books creating the new Virgin Adventures and the second being Universal Pictures and BBC worldwide which created the Doctor Who television movie in 1996.
Starring Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy giving a cameo appearance, trying trying to tie up all the loose ends but that’s the next set of blog posts what happens to the seventh up to within universe and where did Ace eventually end up.
Inside my head 