Having some of the more extreme situations being played without even the slightest hint of tongue in cheek made the stories sometimes harder to swallow yet the Davison era has to be given credit for at least daring to try. While all manner of tatty aliens and ludicrous plot developments could be overlooked when treated with ironic disattachment, the level of candid seriousness during Peter Davison's time in the role was both its blessing and its curse. ![]() One of the key tenets of the Davison era was that it was a reaction to the wilder excesses of Tom Baker's later years, where humour was almost stripped entirely from the programme. And while Terminus not only commits all the crimes listed above, but also the fatal Who crime of being dull, it's really not as bad as its reputation. Writer Stephen Gallagher had previously given us the superbly fractured narrative of Tom Baker's Warriors' Gate, but turns in a more plodding, linear tale here. And being helmed by a Blake's 7 director, then there's some painful "slow fighting" to sit through during this story. If your idea of a perfect Doctor Who story is the bloke from All Creatures Great and Small getting pushed around by Liza Goddard in a bubble helmet while a ten foot dog saves the universe by pushing a red lever, then you could be in for a treat with Terminus. Yet although it looks tired today, for one wintery November evening long ago, this story managed to enthral millions.Īppreciation of Doctor Who is a subjective thing. Davison doesn't get much meat to his character, the pace is lacklustre and Richard Hurndall, though he tries his best, really isn't much of a replacement for the sadly deceased William Hartnell. These days it's sad to see Troughton turning in a caricature, just as it's obvious Tom Baker, represented by unused film footage, had said no to appearing in the serial. The month before this special aired, the first Doctor Who story to be released onto video (Tom Baker's Revenge of the Cybermen) went out to shops on Betamax and Laserdisc, and the notion of the series being watched and rewatched was barely thought of. Yet to knock The Five Doctors for how pedestrian it seems in 2012 is perhaps missing the point: this was Doctor Who at the dawn of the video age. While a lot of the previous versions still look non-specifically futuristic, having a console made up of 1980s BBC Micros isn't something that's aged particularly well, a criticism that can be extended to the entire story. ![]() The first scene of The Five Doctors involves Davison unveiling a brand new console for the TARDIS. Sutton playing two parts was an event that famously led to the creation of the phrase "as thick as two short planks". ![]() The 1920s characters involved here are stereotypes and the plot somewhat trite, but the regulars give one of their better accounts, even if director Ron Jones (in his first full job for television) at one point lingers on the face of Sarah Sutton's stand in for her dual role as Nyssa and her lookalike Ann Talbot. The first Davison two-parter, it's a welcome change of pace, but it's not a direct continuation of the series' original Reithian leanings. Often said to be the first historical since 1966, there's really no historical elements here, just a story set in the past with entirely fictitious events.
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