Review Of All Four Episode Alone in the Tardis the Doctor has a strange dream involving the president of Gallifrey being murdered . Rushing back to his long lamented home world he finds himself trying to stop a plot involving an old enemy to assassinate the Time Lord president
Yet another story that is constantly praised as an all time classic from the original show The Deadly Assassin should be dissected via a neutral critical eye . It' certainly a very radical story in that reintroduces an old foe in the shape of The Master , but no longer played by icy charm by the late Roger Delgado who died in 1973 but by Geoffry Beevers unrecognisable in heavy make up as a mutilated charred skeletal figure . It's the only story of the 1963-89 era in which the entire story has no companion for the Doctor . It's also the story that set the rather dubious rule that a Time Lord only has 13 incarnations and with hindsight one wonders if Robert Holmes might have painted future writers in to too much of tight corner with this folklore . Let's hope Moffat doesn't spend too much time trying to resolve the problem with Peter Capaldi's doctor
It's interesting how ill received the fledgling DOCTOR WHO fandom took to this story on its initial broadcast and it's only revisionary opinion over the years that turned it in to the classic it has become . One can easily see the differences wrought on the portrayal of Gallifrey and its inhabitants from the tale they appeared in at their debut in 1969 . Instead of being near ethereal God like beings as seen in The War Games of 1969 they're now envisaged as being clergy like with their hierarchy of elderly Cardinals and the like . You have to look upon it from a production point of view and that is if the story is any good then damn continuity because you're only upsetting a small handful of fans who don't really matter in the grand scheme of things
" So Theo is the story any good ? "
Yes it's good . Not really radical storytelling that pushes the boundaries of television but a fairly good story which owes a lot - perhaps too much - to THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE with echoes of the JFK shooting and Watergate . That said most of the story's reputation comes from the style it's told in rather than the substance of the story itself . David Maloney was a class director and he extends himself here and makes the most of a legendary third episode that sees the Doctor battling a Time Lord traitor in a virtual reality landscape . Maloney was always good at developing cliffhanger endings and he got in to serious trouble with the episode three cliffhanger where the Doctor is seen to drown . Indeed the entire story has a dark brooding feel to it that had Mary Whitehouse and her cohorts complaining that it was terrifying small children . You can always tell if a story is good due to how loudly Mary Whitehouse was trying to shout it down . 13 million TV viewers who tuned in to his story might contradict her views
In summary this is a good story .Personal tastes are entirely subjective of course and despite it forever appearing in top ten fan polls I do consider it to be a case of style over substance and not a story I constantly rewatch , possibly down to the fact that a major subplot involves a Time Lord traitor who isn't revealed till the end of episode three . Once you know who the traitor is much of the story then becomes redundant
Yet another story that is constantly praised as an all time classic from the original show The Deadly Assassin should be dissected via a neutral critical eye . It' certainly a very radical story in that reintroduces an old foe in the shape of The Master , but no longer played by icy charm by the late Roger Delgado who died in 1973 but by Geoffry Beevers unrecognisable in heavy make up as a mutilated charred skeletal figure . It's the only story of the 1963-89 era in which the entire story has no companion for the Doctor . It's also the story that set the rather dubious rule that a Time Lord only has 13 incarnations and with hindsight one wonders if Robert Holmes might have painted future writers in to too much of tight corner with this folklore . Let's hope Moffat doesn't spend too much time trying to resolve the problem with Peter Capaldi's doctor
It's interesting how ill received the fledgling DOCTOR WHO fandom took to this story on its initial broadcast and it's only revisionary opinion over the years that turned it in to the classic it has become . One can easily see the differences wrought on the portrayal of Gallifrey and its inhabitants from the tale they appeared in at their debut in 1969 . Instead of being near ethereal God like beings as seen in The War Games of 1969 they're now envisaged as being clergy like with their hierarchy of elderly Cardinals and the like . You have to look upon it from a production point of view and that is if the story is any good then damn continuity because you're only upsetting a small handful of fans who don't really matter in the grand scheme of things
" So Theo is the story any good ? "
Yes it's good . Not really radical storytelling that pushes the boundaries of television but a fairly good story which owes a lot - perhaps too much - to THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE with echoes of the JFK shooting and Watergate . That said most of the story's reputation comes from the style it's told in rather than the substance of the story itself . David Maloney was a class director and he extends himself here and makes the most of a legendary third episode that sees the Doctor battling a Time Lord traitor in a virtual reality landscape . Maloney was always good at developing cliffhanger endings and he got in to serious trouble with the episode three cliffhanger where the Doctor is seen to drown . Indeed the entire story has a dark brooding feel to it that had Mary Whitehouse and her cohorts complaining that it was terrifying small children . You can always tell if a story is good due to how loudly Mary Whitehouse was trying to shout it down . 13 million TV viewers who tuned in to his story might contradict her views
In summary this is a good story .Personal tastes are entirely subjective of course and despite it forever appearing in top ten fan polls I do consider it to be a case of style over substance and not a story I constantly rewatch , possibly down to the fact that a major subplot involves a Time Lord traitor who isn't revealed till the end of episode three . Once you know who the traitor is much of the story then becomes redundant