Arriving in 1983 England The Doctor is surprised to find his former friend Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart is teaching at a boarding school . One of the pupils there is a Trion called Turlough and The Black Guardian promises him passage home if he kills The Doctor
I was climbing the walls looking forward to this story when it was revealed that Lethbridge Stewart was returning to the show . The Brigadier was as much .as a part of my childhood as the third Doctor was . It's impossible to think of the Pertwee era without thinking of The Brigadier charging to the rescue of the Doctor and battling bullet proof monsters every Saturday afternoon . It might seem strange that Lethbridge Stewart is now a teacher but Ian Chesterton was supposedly written to be that character and due to William Russell being unavailable the role was changed to accommodate Lethbridge Stewart . This is a pity and once you know about this character change it does jar somewhat . If you're expecting a battle scene of soldiers against monsters that look like giant melted condoms then you'll be very disappointed . Perhaps that's why the highlight is the flashback scene in episode 2
It also leads to a very annoying continuity problem that wouldn't have happened with Ian Chesterton in the role that is the plot revolves around the Brigadier existing in two time streams , one in 1983 and one in 1977 set during the Queen's Silver jubilee . . " So what ? " Mr Casual Viewer asks and you'd be right but the UNIT era would always be set in a non specific near future and in 1977 Lethbridge Stewart would still be the commanding officer of UNIT .
I don't want to sound too anal but this plot point is very annoying It wouldn't have mattered if the continuity had been sacrificed for the sake of a great story but Mawdryn Undead is very average stuff . Perhaps even more sadly is that amongst the nostalgia there is a great story trying to get out . DOCTOR WHO in its original incarnation didn't really concern itself with the dynamics of time travel and used time travel as a mere plot device to send the Tardis on a new adventure every few weeks and director Peter Moffat fails to develop Peter Grimwade's script to its full potential . It should be pointed out that Moffat was much better in creating historical adventures and this type of glossy time travel space opera shows he's a bit out of his depth
Mawdryn Undead also features the debut of Mark Strickson as Turlough a humanoid with a dark secret . Turlough is slightly better regarded than Adric but that's not saying much and once again a character of great potential seems rather poorly developed . It's also noticeable that Strickson seems to be a little too old to be playing a public schoolboy and lacks a menacing edge needed for the character . Perhaps if the premise had Lethbridge Stewart teaching at a dead end school on a rough council estate we'd see a working class character with a Scouse or Glasgow accent played with a violent intensity by an unknown actor with a big future like Robert Carlyle . This confirms a criticism that the original series did pander to the middle classes too much and Russell T Davies made the new show identifiable to the proletariat
I was climbing the walls looking forward to this story when it was revealed that Lethbridge Stewart was returning to the show . The Brigadier was as much .as a part of my childhood as the third Doctor was . It's impossible to think of the Pertwee era without thinking of The Brigadier charging to the rescue of the Doctor and battling bullet proof monsters every Saturday afternoon . It might seem strange that Lethbridge Stewart is now a teacher but Ian Chesterton was supposedly written to be that character and due to William Russell being unavailable the role was changed to accommodate Lethbridge Stewart . This is a pity and once you know about this character change it does jar somewhat . If you're expecting a battle scene of soldiers against monsters that look like giant melted condoms then you'll be very disappointed . Perhaps that's why the highlight is the flashback scene in episode 2
It also leads to a very annoying continuity problem that wouldn't have happened with Ian Chesterton in the role that is the plot revolves around the Brigadier existing in two time streams , one in 1983 and one in 1977 set during the Queen's Silver jubilee . . " So what ? " Mr Casual Viewer asks and you'd be right but the UNIT era would always be set in a non specific near future and in 1977 Lethbridge Stewart would still be the commanding officer of UNIT .
I don't want to sound too anal but this plot point is very annoying It wouldn't have mattered if the continuity had been sacrificed for the sake of a great story but Mawdryn Undead is very average stuff . Perhaps even more sadly is that amongst the nostalgia there is a great story trying to get out . DOCTOR WHO in its original incarnation didn't really concern itself with the dynamics of time travel and used time travel as a mere plot device to send the Tardis on a new adventure every few weeks and director Peter Moffat fails to develop Peter Grimwade's script to its full potential . It should be pointed out that Moffat was much better in creating historical adventures and this type of glossy time travel space opera shows he's a bit out of his depth
Mawdryn Undead also features the debut of Mark Strickson as Turlough a humanoid with a dark secret . Turlough is slightly better regarded than Adric but that's not saying much and once again a character of great potential seems rather poorly developed . It's also noticeable that Strickson seems to be a little too old to be playing a public schoolboy and lacks a menacing edge needed for the character . Perhaps if the premise had Lethbridge Stewart teaching at a dead end school on a rough council estate we'd see a working class character with a Scouse or Glasgow accent played with a violent intensity by an unknown actor with a big future like Robert Carlyle . This confirms a criticism that the original series did pander to the middle classes too much and Russell T Davies made the new show identifiable to the proletariat