25 – Twenty-Fifth Season – Sylvester McCoy

Remembrance of the Daleks

This story reflects beginnings and endings. From the beginnings side, it is set in Coal Hill School, and inside Ace finds a book on the history of the French Revolution. And there is also the junkyard at 76 Totter’s Lane. And it is set in 1963. All of this is a callback to the very first Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child. All in all it is a miracle they didn’t run into Susan, Ian, and Barbara in the school. As for the endings, this is the last story to feature the Daleks in the classic series. We wouldn’t see them again until 2005 with Christopher Eccleston. And it being 1963 Ace is introduced to racism and sexism and doesn’t particularly appreciate either of them.

This story is the beginning of Andrew Cartmel’s plan to make the Doctor more mysterious. McCoy’s Doctor is very devious in this story, and drops some the silliness he had in Season 24. For example, he no longer mangles common sayings, and is decidedly serious throughout the story. In a scene where he confronts Davros there was originally an exchange where Davros calls him “:”Just another Time Lord” and the Doctor replies that he is far more than just another Time Lord. This is part of Cartmel’s plan, but unfortunately they had to cut scenes to get the running length down, and this exchange was left on the cutting room floor. I wish it had been kept in.

What we have here is a Dalek v. Dalek conflict, with the Imperial Daleks in charge of the school, and a rebel Dalek faction in charge of the junkyard. And what they are all after is the Hand of Omega, though it is not a hand, that is just the name for the device that was used by Omega to turn a star into a power source for the Time Lords’ control of time. The Doctor is also after it, as he is the one who left it here in a previous visit, probably when he was the William Hartnell Doctor since the man at the funeral home says he was expecting an older man with white hair. Ace initially assumes that the Doctor wants to get the Hand of Omega and keep it away from the Daleks, but his plan is much more devious: he actually wants the right group of Daleks to get it.

The Imperial Daleks’ mothership is in geostationary orbit above the school, and they have been sending Daleks there via a transmat device, but the Doctor disables it. so they send down a shuttle craft with more Daleks to attack the rebels. The initial group meets fierce resistance, so the Imperials bring out the Special Weapons Dalek, only used in this instance (Though it appears in Asylum of the Daleks in derelict condition). This Dalek does the trick, and the Imperials take the Hand of Omega back to the Shuttlecraft, and then up to the mothership. And this was the Doctor’s plan all along, because he reprogrammed the Hand of Omega. Devious, he definitely is. But it all adds up to a fantastic story, probably the best Sylvester McCoy story, and in the top 10 of all Doctor Who stories.

In this story they made a point of showing a scene where a Dalek goes up a staircase just to put that one to bed once and for all.

Reviews

The Happiness Patrol

The Doctor takes the TARDIS to a colony of Earth called Terra Alpha, but unlike in other stories where the Doctor accidentally stumbles into a situation, this is a case where he knew something was wrong and came here deliberately.The colony is ruled by a woman named Helen A. and she is a tyrant. In this case she has decided that everyone must be happy, and to accomplish this she kills anyone who seems to be unhappy. She is intended to be a parody of Margaret Thatcher, which pretty much everyone involved in the show hated. And to keep the parody going, the Doctor gets the drones to down tools and go on strike. Helen A constantly exhorts people to be happy, but behind closed doors the evil and ruthless side of her comes out. One of her top henchmen is a robot called the Candyman, who kills people by drowning them in liquid fondant. And the others are a group of women called the Happiness Patrol, who all have similar hair and clothes, making them hard to distinguish as individuals, which I think was the point. A blues harmonica player becomes one of the Doctor’s allies as he attempts to overthrow the regime of Helen A.

The point which the Doctor makes to Helen A. at the end is that there can be no happiness without also having sadness, which he calls the two sides of one coin. As everything is collapsing around her Helen A. attempts to flee in a space shuttle, only to find that is has already been commandeered by her husband and one of her top aides, who have up until ow hidden their hatred for her. But when she finds her dying pet Stigorax, Fifi. Fifi was killed in the pipes by a falling mass of candy, and this gets through to Helen A. who now weeps bitterly. Perhaps we are not meant to be happy all of the time. But the harmonica player decides to stay and teach people the blues.

By the way, if you ever hear someone say that “Doctor Who is getting political, it’s not like it used to be,” this show is one of many exhibits that Doctor Who has always been political. And I really liked this story.

Reviews

Silver Nemesis

This is the 25th season, and the first episode of this story aired on November 23, exactly 25 years since the very first episode, An Unearthly Child, aired in 1963. So of course Silver had to feature prominently here. And that means the Cybermen, of course. And the story is set in (mostly) 1988, though some scenes go back to 1688. The plot revolves around a statue made of living metal, something the Time Lords invented. A 17th Century woman named Lady Peinforte has a silver arrow that is associated with this statue, and travels to 1988 along with a servant in order to gain control of the statue. Apparently the Doctor in an earlier adventure had launched this statue into space inside an asteroid, on an orbit that brought it back to Earth every 25 years. And the orbit is decaying so in 1988 it will crash. And this statue has been given the name Nemesis.

Meanwhile a group of neo-Nazis somehow have a silver bow that is also associated with Nemesis, and they want to to get their hands on it. The deal seems to be that if the statue, the silver arrow, and the silver bow are brought together, Nemesis will become all powerful. And then the Cybermen land in a space ship and join the fun. And then there is the Doctor and Ace, who are trying to save the world. So of course all 4 parties are chasing each other as well as chasing the statue. Frankly, the plot does not bear close inspection, but the ride is enjoyable if you relax and let it go. And this is the last time in classic Who that we will see the Cybermen.

Finally, Andrew Cartmel’s plan continues to develop. Lady Peinforte knows more than any 17th century woman ought to. She mentions Gallifrey, and tells Ace that the Doctor is not just a Time Lord. And at the very end, Ace looks at the Doctor and asks “Who are you?” Cartmel wanted to bring more mystery to the Doctor, and to remind us that “Doctor Who” is not a name, it is a question.

Reviews

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

While in the TARDIS the Doctor is practicing juggling (a bit of foreshadowing) when a robot arrives to invite them to The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, which is a circus, and though Ace is not fond of circuses the Doctor persuades her to go. They arrive on the planet and for the first episode pretty much all of it is introducing characters and developing some of them. A couple are fleeing the circus, but the woman is killed and the man brought back by sinister clowns, establishing that there is evil in this circus. An explorer named Captain Cook is a Colonel Blimp-type character with a girl called Mags in tow, and the Doctor and Ace meet up with them before heading off to the Circus. Ace is still resistant, but the Doctor jollies her into entering. When they get inside the main tent, there is a family of three who seem to be the only other audience members. Then the Ringmaster comes out and calls the Doctor to be a participant. He is brought backstage and there meets up with Captain Cook and Megs, and is tricked into being locked in a cell with them. He learns that all of them are destined to be put in the center ring to entertain the three people, and as long as they are entertained, things are fine. But if they get bored, you die! All of the deaths are off-screen, but you can hear the screams so you know it is something dreadful.

Captain Cook proves to be quite a scoundrel who will happily trick other participants into going first, and when the Doctor and Mags make a getaway, he comes along with several robot clowns to bring them back because the Doctor is up next. He is quite deservedly dead by the end of the story, so some justice is served. The Doctor meanwhile confronts the three spectators who are not a human family, but actually three Gods of Ragnarok. He does a variety of magic tricks to stall for time while Ace hunts up a key item that lets him defeat the three Gods and destroy the Circus. But in the end the former owner of the circus is restored to his senses and he and Mags decide to start over on another planet.

This is one of the better stories from Sylvester McCoy, who is overall a pretty good Doctor and you should watch it. The characters alone are very interesting, such as the obsessive fanboy and the fruit lady, and the Clown is a really good performance.

Reviews

Season 25

I really liked this season. Sylvester McCoy was really starting to hit his stride here, and he and Sophie Aldred have great chemistry together. To my mind the weakest story was Silver Nemesis, and that in part was because the story had too many elements and they could not be properly developed within three episodes. The Cybermen, which were the purpose of the story, could easily have been left out and the story would be better for it. But overall, a very good season, I think, and I really did enjoy Silver Nemesis despite my criticisms of the plotting. It is too bad that apparently the higher ups at BBC had already written the show off, because it is getting much better. But then, has there ever been an intelligent television executive?

 Save as PDF
Share

Comments are closed.