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"It feels different this time..." - The new Doctor Who Thread

I think the scarf works (not a hot take) but I think from then on, the producers put TOO MUCH thought into the costumes in a negative way. Davison's works in it's simplicity for the most part but the celery is dumb. Obviously Colin's is the most reviled and while McCoy's is a big improvement, it is a little too calculated. Also, the question marks feel like a desperate attempt to be brand-y.

Still not as embarrassingly crass as the toyetic "Whomobile".

Kind of shocked they never brought it back just to take the piss out of it.

I'm also surprised the Doctor hasn't ridden in a Bessie in the nu-Who either.
 
Jesus. Well, I for one am excited for The Wilderness Years Part II.

I'm also looking forward to how this will turbocharge the vitriol against RTD on the DW subreddit, which already sees twenty posts a day about how he ruined DW because he hates the fans or whatever. Just insufferable shit.
 
Oh no, I've never been there... I wonder if it or GallifreyBase is worse. It's probably the same people, now that I think about it.
 
Well that was an omnishambles.

I think Doctor Who needs a clean break, so it's probably good news in heavy disguise. The post mortems for this era will be truly fascinating...
 
Welp. Yeah, I was sad to lose Ncuti so soon, but that was already a done deal, so at this point it’s just down to hoping they manage to give the series to someone who actually understands it.
 
It is a damned shame. Despite my issues with certain things Davies does as a writer (boy, he can't end a season satisfactorily, individual moments notwithstanding), the last season was probably the most consistently good since... I really don't know when. A very long time, I think. Outside of the finale, which has good things, no duds.

It does seem like the Doctor goes into hibernation just as things get good again.
 
Yeah, the overarching plot arcs got a little extra nonsense-y, but I super enjoyed pretty much all the stand-alone episodes in the last couple seasons. Lots of good stuff.
 
Johnny Unusual said:
It does seem like the Doctor goes into hibernation just as things get good again.
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We were quite frankly in a better situation in 1989, qualitywise, than things how things were recently, though yes, generally, I agree with you (the highs in the Gatwa era were quite high - there's some absolute all timers in there - but the lows were quite low. Though not Chibnall low, at least).
 
Decided to do a rewatch of the Sylvester McCoy era while I grind PSO, as it’s been a while (I skipped Time and the Rani, I’m sorry. There’s bits of it to like, but I just… Don’t need to see it again. I’m good).

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I love Paradise Towers so much. I love the Kangs, I love the Resis, I love the goofy incompetent fascist Caretakers, I love the music, I love Richard Briers (I would argue he is excellent in the first three episodes, and, uhhh… servicable once Croagnon possesses him lol).

The worldbuilding is quite good, actually - the various groups are very broad sketches, but the dialect Wyatt comes up with for the Kangs in particular feel accurate to what they may talk like if this were real (if 80s cheesy, but I like 80s cheesy so I’m fine with it). The Resis, particularly the ones who want to eat Mel, are delightfully creepy - sweet old ladies who turn on her and don’t stop feeling like sweet old ladies. Great performances, there. Mels fun in this, too, even if her utter determination to go swimming is odd lol. This is one of those stories that I’d LOVE to see Ace in - I bet she’d love the Kangs.

Build High for Happiness! Pex Lives!
 
So anyway, by previous history I guess we have to waffle in here for seven years before they release a terrible, terrible TV movie
 
The tv movie has its moments, but yeah. It's pretty not great. Hopefully whoever they cast is good like McGann was, though.
 

Interesting breakdown from Rachel Talalay, who directed Capaldi's final scene and Whittaker's first. It's been a decade and I still do not understand why Chibnall was so damn secretive - Talalay didn't know who the 13th Doctor was until the day before shooting and had to guess to prepare for filming?! WHY?! Tell the director at least, man!

I truly wonder what the tell-all behind the scenes books about nuWho (I suppose we might need a different term for that now) will be like, because I think between Chibnall tearing up the production process the show had had for years and Disney just, well, being Disney, they will be quite interesting indeed.
 
Castrovalva
"That's the trouble with regeneration. You never quite know what you're going to get."

In this serial, the Doctor, Tegan, Adric and Nyssa escape Earth as the Doctor is regenerating... or so they think. Adric was recently captured and manipulated by the Master and begins enacting the Master's final revenge plan. The Doctor is barely capable and fears his regeneration is fading and opts to heal in the Zero Room, a space in the TARDIS that isolates him. However, the Master has had Adric send the TARDIS back to the big bang. The Doctor leaves the Zero Room to avert catastrophe but wears himself out. Tegan and Nyssa learn of Adric's abduction and decide to keep it from the Doctor, who is frail. After reading on the TARDIS computer that Castrovalva is a place of healing equal to the Zero Room, they decide to take him there.

After an arduous journey, Tegan, Nyssa and the Doctor arrive in Castrovalva, a peaceful community of peace loving people. There he meets community leader The Portreeve, as well as Mergrave, a physician and Shardovan, an academic. When the Doctor tries to leave with his friends, he discovers the town is under an effect called recursive occlusion, which has created the town to be an inescapable trap of warped space. The Doctor also suspects the whole city, it's history and people may have been created whole cloth. The Doctor pretends to be locked in a box (a portable Zero Room) while he works with Shardovan, who he has noticed seems to know more than he is letting on. The Portreeve reveals himself as a Master and Castrovalva as a trap created by Adric's mathematical powers. Shardovan sacrifices himself to save Adric. which begins to destroy and shrink the city. Mergrave sacrifices himself to stop the Master from escaping while Adric guides everyone through the occlusion to safety. The Master is seemingly crushed in the destruction of the town and the Doctor feels like he is ready to adventure again.

Castrovalva feels like an odd duck for a first episode. It feels like what you want to do with a new actor and a new start that might bring in a new audience is to start simple but there's a lot of housekeeping and a lot of the main character stumbling around in pain. I'm not saying it can't work because there's a bit of that in the Christmas Invasion but it makes for a bit of a wonky start. Plus it's continuing stuff from the last arc. I also think it doesn't help episode 2 is a real slog as they slowly cart the Doctor through the forest. We don't even get to Castrovalva until episode three.

Once we are there, things improve significantly. I still think it's a bit of a flawed story but I think Castrovalva itself is an interesting place. If anything, I wish we got there much sooner because I think it would work better as a slow burn as the characters realize they can't figure their way around and soaking in characters having existential crises of realizing everything about the world is a fabrication. It's really the best part of the serial as is as he forces Mergraves and another character to realize the layout of the city makes no sense. I think it probably wouldn't have been the best introduction to the Doctor but a really good, quieter Doctor Who conspiracy thriller.

I really do feel like there's a lot of the latter half that really cooks. I do think if you think of why the Master made the trap specifically this way when apparently he could have made it be ANYTHING never really makes sense. Similarly, I'm not certainly exactly how Adric's really good math can generate entire places. Maybe this ties into the last arc, which was also about math, but really I suspect not and it feels heavily hand waved. Do I would say it's 45% an interesting story but more than that, a missed opportunity for a better one.

Best Cliffhanger: Episode 3 but it really does feel like they could not quite make it as cool as they hoped.

Next Time:

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Yeah, I didnt get into it but the cast is weirdly large and it doesnt feel like the shoe knows what to do with any of them.

I do think Davison had fun impersonating the other Doctors.
 
Four To Doomsday
"You know, I come here from time to time myself and nothing on earth changes quite so often as the fashion! You wouldn't believe the way some people look!"

In this serial, the Doctor's attempt to return to Heathrow Airport to get Tegan to her job fails again when the quartet ends up in a ship controlled by the Urbankans, and their ruler Monarch. Monarch seems delighted to have guests and the four realize they have more humanoid guests as they meet Bigon, a Greek philosopher from long ago. Soon they meet other humans from ancient times and from Bigon learn though it seems there's only three Urbankans on the ship, the ship controls the entire race, billions upon billions of them. The reason they aren't seen is because the entire race has left behind flesh in favour of microscopic machinery. Even the "humans" on the ship are in fact mere machine replicas.

Monarch convinces Adric that he is coming to Earth to relieve humanity of their burdens but the Doctor learns that he is merely planning to steal the Earth's silicon and carbon. The other humans are merely there to convince humanity not to oppose and will be granted leadership of their respective peoples. Tegan panics and tries to escape but somehow manages to get the TARDIS out of the ship. The Doctor convinces Adric and the other humans to rebel against Monarch. Monarch has poison aboard that can shrink people to control his enemies but the Doctor turns it on him, revealing him to be organic. The robot humans decide to not to return to Earth but start over somewhere else.

Four to Doomsday starts somewhat promising, if slow. I think that there's the promise of an interesting idea of a weird, alien tech race with noble intent but at the expense of free will. But then the story really starts to go off the rails. In classic Doctor Who fashion it introduces ideas that never pay off (Monarch plans to travel back in time to meet himself at the big bang, I guess. This goes nowhere). Tegan suddenly freaks out and manages to control the TARDIS as a blubbering mess. And Adric has flaws as a character but this bizarre heel-turn is really inexplicable. That one is the most annoying. I think you could sell the young naïf (who would probably read Ayn Rand in university and be real fucking annoying for a semester) as someone who is fooled into trusting Monarch but it doesn't fly here. Adric, more than any other story, is a petulant idiot.

And Tegan. Boy. Look, I don't think she needs to be perfect either and there's something to be said for a character who does NOT WANT to go on adventures. Because adventures are scary. You're life is at risk. Freaking out and collapsing in fear is absolutely a sympathetic action. But this story feels too lightweight to earn that, when it would work better in the face of an invincible cosmic horror. And Tegan never gets any other kind of virtue within the story. She's mostly complaining in the other stories she's in and now there's impotent wailing on top of that. I will say, as bad as this arc is for the development for her character, she is slowly learning to control the TARDIS, or something? It's weird to give her that progress with absolutely no sense of accomplishment to the character. And I suspect considering how this series is written at this time, this is going nowhere.

There's the tiniest seed of good in here but the last two episodes REALLY killed any positive feelings toward it. I will say Stratford Johns provides some campy fun as the villain. The race stuff is kind of weird, though, with uncomfortable jokes about Lin Futu (actually played by an Asian actor! And a somewhat recognizable one. He's Cato in the Pink Panther films.) and a plot where each person of a certain race is promised to be ruler of their race. It's... a choice. I do want to say something fun so I will say the one moment where a characters plan wasn't dumb technojargon nonsense is the Doctor using the cricket ball in his pocket to save himself while trapped in space. Other than that, it goes down hill pretty fast.

Best cliffhanger: I think it was probably a cliffhanger not by design but they needed a good stopping point in the script but Bigon revealing himself a robot works for me.

Next time:

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Four to Doomsday is dull right the way through. Be glad you're past it.

Incidentally, the 90s New Adventure book I just read by Mark Gatiss, St. Anthony's Fire, had a brief aside where the 7th Doctor wished he had his "rocket powered" cricket ball from this story. The fannish desire to tidy everything up bugged Gatiss well over a decade later lmao
 
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Kinda

"An apple a day keeps the... No, never mind."

In this serial, the Doctor and his party arrive on the planet Deva Loca. While exploring Tegan falls asleep and has enigmatic and foreboding dreams that leave her possessed by an entity called the Mara. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Adric find an encampment of humans who are planning to settle the planet. They reveal everyone who has left to explore has disappeared. All that's left are Sanders (the leader), Hindle (the only other soldier left) and Todd (a scientist). Todd is fascinated by the native population, a people called the Kinda who seem completely harmless. When Sanders goes on an expedition, he leaves Hindle in charge, who is in fact quite mad. Even worse, he's found a way to enslave two Kinda to use against the Doctor. Sanders returns from an encounter with the Kinda, acting strangely avuncular and clueless. He brings a mysterious box given to him by the Kinda called the Box of Jhana that has a strange affect on those who open it.

Meanwhile, Tegan, now possessed, encounters a Kinda named Aris, who is distraught over his people being captured by the colonizers. This allows The Mara to control Aris and begins to take control of all Kinda to attack their enemies. Meanwhile, Hindle, convinced he's completely won, begins acting like a child that Adric tries to appease to prevent him from setting off bombs set across the fort. The Doctor learns of the Mara crisis from Panna, a spiritual leader. The Doctor learns the Mara is an interdimensional force that spreads evil. After encountering Hindle again, the Doctor learns that mirrors have power over the Kinda and, he suspects, the Mara. He creates a cage of mirrors to force Mara to leave Aris. Meanwhile, Todd tricks Hindle into opening the Box of Jhana, which restores his sanity. The Doctor leaves as the humans decide to report the planet is unsuitable for habitation.

I feel I'm having a hard time describing quite what happens there. Now this is a dense, weird tale but the facts of it after followable. But compared to most Doctor Who stories, this one feels a little more arthouse, particularly Tegan's dreams. Apart from that, I wasn't particular into the first couple episodes. Things get much more engaging in the last two though the show's weaknesses are on display. No, not the budget. I find the big inflatable Mara downright adorable. Really the problem remains the rest of the cast. Adric gets to be a better character here but he's still unnecessarily nasty to other characters and Tegan, who gets more play, never gets to have a lucid moment where she isn't barely holding it together (the actress does well with the dream stuff she's given, though). I also think that even though this is a fictive culture, the portrayal of natives as docile innocents, however well intentioned, doesn't quite work. Frankly, it's an idea that's better served with the Ood, in part because they aren't in classical tribal native garb informed by old time movies.

Still, the second half reveals itself as a fairly dense anti-colonialist work. There's a lot to read into, such as the idea that the trauma of colonization leads the oppressed to adopt their oppressors strategies, further killing their own souls (in this case, making a rickety wooden mech). Once the colonizers think they won, they begin acting like complacent but vindictive children. There are lots of good little lines like "Well, we're all good underneath it all, aren't we." which feels primed for dissection because is it being buried actually make that good worth anything? This is a story that is both classic Doctor Who but also weird in the best way. It's not without it's problems, ones that seem to be plaguing the season as a whole, but it's definitely the strongest so far and something I'd like to see more of.

The Mara itself... I remember it being a bigger presence in the story but I'm probably conflating that with Snakedance, the sequel story. I like it when we get the weird dream stuff but really it's more a catalyst for the macro metaphor of the story of human evil inspiring further evil. Doctor Who is a show with a long history of anti-colonial stories that also weirdly dive head first into tribal cliches. I guess the bigger problem is the Kinda themselves. They are almost TOO metaphor in a story arc that is built on big ideas. So are Hindle and Sanders, I guess but they feel like characters, broad as they are, while the Kinda are a collective archetype (Panna gets more to do, at least, being loveably cantankerous) . I don't mean to be hard on this serial because much of it works well, particularly in the context of the time, but with distance, its clear it's having to work within a framework of a familiar presentation of "natives" for it's audience. I do like it though and all around there are some great performances. Really, as far as humans who go mad with power on this show go, Simon Rouse is doing great stuff.

Best Cliffhanger: I guess opening a box.

Next time:

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I love Kinda so much. It and Snakedance are high points of the the show, not just the 80s. I wish we got more like them...
 
The Visitation

"Why are Earth people so parochial?"

In this serial, the Doctor arrives in England in 1666. A plague is... plaguing the land, making the locals paranoid of strangers, who pursue the Doctor and his pals. But they are rescued by Richard Mace, a former actor who now pays the bills as a highwayman. Together, they investigate a nearby abode and discover a strange secret lab... and a fearsome android disguised as the Grim Reaper. It turns out it is under control of a Tereleptil, an alien from a far away world. He is a fugitive who is looking to turn the Earth into his new home, along with his fellow fugitives and there is no room for humans in his plans. So he intends to set free rats who contain a super-plague that will wipe out humanity with great ease. He takes control of locals (and Tegan) to enact his plans but the Doctor is able to free him. The Doctor manages to locate their ground zero in London, a bakery. He, his friends and Mace battles the Tereleptils, which inadvertently causes a fire... the Great Fire of London to be exact. Being such a notable historical event, the Doctor lets it run it's course and leave Mace to help put it out.

The Visitation is a weak story overall but has a lot of bright spots. In fact, I was really in for the first episode. But once the main villain is introduced, most of the stuff is kind of underdeveloped. The lead Tereleptil doesn't even get a name, despite doing all the bad guy business and almost sort of getting a back story. Much of it turns terrible generic when it goes on. The final reveal to a historical event is fun and all but it also makes the Doctor look strangely aloof toward a destructive event he caused that took some lives (whether it is few or many is a point of historical disagreement but it does seem weird the Doctor is OK with his accidentally causing those deaths). Also, I'm used to Davison's Doctor being a little kinder than Baker's. It's a presumption from my memory *mildly* challenged by the actual episodes but here in particular he seems really fed up with his companions. Not that I don't sympathize, most of them only have sour notes to play but it does seem odd to make him so cranky.

That said, Davison has great chemistry with Michael Robbins as Mace, but it would be hard not to. He's perfect as the hammy criminal and is absolutely charming. He elevates the entire story, not quite to "great" but to "OK, this is a pretty easy watch" when I probably otherwise would have been bored. If anything, I kind of wish he dumped his current trio and just let Mace join him. That said, while I think none of the companions are really charming, it does feel like the writers do a slightly better job giving everyone something to do, as awkward as it is. I think the instincts of the show to make him an angry teen is not wrong, I think there doesn't seem to be consistency on the proper way to do it. I think we are a little closer to a formula; put Adric with Nyssa and Doctor with Tegan. Unfortunately, Tegan is still a drag but at least there's more interesting friction for them.

I will say the Tereleptil leader is a wasted opportunity. For much of the story, Michael Melia is playing a bloviating villain but then when he's with the Doctor, he actually takes things down a notch and has a surprising quiet menace that draws you in. I think it's all on Melia because the words as they are appear mostly as generic villain stuff. And I think I was almost interested when his backstory is a scarred criminal who was trapped in a cruel prison and that's an interesting seed for the character... but it felt like the writer didn't know where to take him beyond that to make him a proper villain Doctor and then he just has generic plans to kill all the humans and it's pretty dull. Still, overall, I liked it more than I didn't despite the pronounced problems. The android as death is a cool image. The setting is finally a return to more Gothic horror (until it's more space conqueror nonsense) is very welcome and feels right for who Davison's character is. And really, I just like Richard Mace. TAKE THAT MAN TO SPACE, DOCTOR! He actually... has skills that get used!

Best cliffhanger: I like the "not again" for the middle one.

Next time:

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Johnny Unusual said:
The Visitation is a weak story overall
Click to expand...

Quick, make the writer the script editor for five years!

As much as I love the Davison era despite the above (Saward has his moments, actually), The Visitation is among my least favorite of the era. Not for any interesting reason, either - I just find it very bland and dull.

Where we're going next, though... is an interesting, flawed, weird story, which I really like. Enjoy the rollercoaster of quality that is 80s Doctor Who!
 
Black Orchid

"Well, it wouldn't be cricket."

In this serial, The Doctor and his companions arrive in 1920s London. Due to a case of mistaken identity, they are accidentally invited to the estate of Lord Cranleigh, who is having a cricket game and a party. The Doctor and friends have a grand time but things take a turn when preparing for the costume party, the Doctor finds himself lost in the luxurious mansions secret passageways. This is complicated when someone takes the Doctor's costume and kills a butler in front of Lord Cranleigh's fiancée, Ann. The Doctor is soon blamed and more confoundingly, the family matriarch, who knows the Doctor is innocent, starts trying to build a case against him. The Doctor is taken by the police but the Doctor is able to convince the police to give him a chance by revealing his TARDIS. They return to the estate as the real killer strikes; Lord Cranleigh's brother George, who was tortured and brutalized to madness and disfiguration by an indigenous tribe and rescued by another. George, now crazed, tries to kidnap Nyssa, who looks like Ann but is eventually talked down by Lord Cranleigh and the Doctor. However, when Lord Cranleigh tries to embrace his brother, he recoils and falls off the roof. The Doctor and company stay for the funeral and are presented with a book written by George as a going away gift.

Black Orchid is truly a breath of fresh air. The last story had elements I really liked but the main story fell into generics. Black Orchid really feels like a unique little tale, the first historical in forever and even then it's not about a specific event or figure. Instead, it's a mix of mystery and... I don't know what literary genre you'd pigeonhole Jane Eyre into but there's definitely some of that. And let's get into the weaknesses real quick. If we are looking at it as a mystery the audience can follow along with, it's not good. But maybe that's not how I'm supposed to approach it. Still, it does feel like a bunch of info dumping near the end and it feels like it's in a rush to reveal stuff that probably should have been portioned out a bit. As a reveal to what is happening, it's pretty disappointing, especially since the ins and outs of who the Cranleighs are almost feel secondary to this being... a home cozy. I think that's the term. It's one I remember someone using to describe the classic Tintin story the Castifiore Emerald, a tale where the intent is to make an "adventure" where nothing happens but is still engaging.

Granted, things do happen, mostly in part two. But really, that's not what makes this a rather fun outing. One of my favourite things in fiction is actually to slow down and allow the characters to hang out. Some shows almost make it the show. Steven Universe has lots of high stakes adventures but a lot of the show is reverse escapism where escapist characters take joy in the mundane aspects of life that we enjoy. And this is a rare chance to see the Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan to stop complaining and just enjoy their time. And can I say it works for the characters and the actors. Suddenly, I actually want to spend time with these people. I love that all Adric wants to do is just stuff his face. It gives him real character that isn't complaining about what everyone should do.

The setting and other aspects also add to the fun. I'm happy sometimes just having characters hanging out and the roaring 20s is a great setting. I'll also say that the character of Latoni. It's not a perfect portrayal in that he actually gets little to do and it obviously isn't really specific to a culture the way would be expected in modern media but it's nice that an indigenous person isn't just a "savage" but is just... some guy who wants to help. No exaggeration in the portrayal and even in having a lip plate, it feels more like a matter of fact than a "what?!" (though the Doctor's inability to explain it makes him seem weirdly uncultured of non-British culture). I'm not going to RAVE about it but compared to Four to Doomsday, it feels significantly like a course correction. Overall, it's just a fun pleasure, a nice, concise, if messy, story.

Best cliffhanger: I mean, there's only one but it's not bad.

Next time:
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I'm glad you enjoyed it! Sure, it has problems (and as you say, it's a pretty rubbish mystery), but it's a nice chill adventure that is also not boring.

By the by, that is the last pure historical - you have now seen them all! The show never does a story set in the past without some sci-fi, fantasy creature, or alien of some sort being present, all the way up through Ncuti Gatwa.
 
Earthshock

"Now I'll never know if I was right."

In this serial, the Doctor and Adric have a falling out when Adric, frustrated with being treated like a joke, insists he return to E-Space. After landing in a cave on Earth, Adric works to prove he can perform the actions to take him back to E-Space, the Doctor and company find some dinosaur remains. It turns out within the mine is a war between soldiers and androids who have been killing an archeological team. In the mine is discovered a powerful bomb that threatens to destroy Earth itself. Eventually, the bomb is stopped and androids thwarted but the Doctor decides to trace the source of the bomb. Taking some of the miners, they arrive in a freighter headed for Earth. The crew is unaware that there are Cybermen stowed away in the ship planning to use it to bomb the Earth. The Doctor and company are taken prisoner. Eventually, the Cyber Leader forces the Doctor to use the TARDIS to help the Cybermen escape while Adric stays onboard to try to stop the bomb. He manages to send the ship back 65 million years but struggles to overcome the logic codes the Cyberman put in place. In the last moments, Adric believes he has figured out the code to stop the bomb but a dying Cyberman attempts to kill him and destroys the control panel. The Doctor, who managed to overcome the Leader with Adric's Golden Badge, finds himself unable to save Adric as his ship explodes, having inadvertently killing the dinosaurs rather than humanity, and leaving the TARDIS crew in shock.

Earthshock is considered to be one of the best Davison era episodes but I need to be honest... I didn't like most of it. The individual moments are actually strong. Adric's death took me aback. I knew it was coming but I kind of didn't realize he doesn't accomplish anything on purpose. Yes, he amazingly sends the ship back in time (huh? I think I missed how that works) but he never gets the victory he's been wanting to have. But maybe that's also it. Adric is a snotty kid but he's also particularly success focused more than he is intent. Granted, I feel like the writers never settled on a throughline beyond sort of antagonistic towards a lot of characters (his whole thing is math and he never gets to do it despite the fact that it actually seems relevant in most of the episodes) but I think the script actually does a fantastic job setting up that Adric can do math but more than that, he might do strong work for a human cause even if the fruits of his work come to naught. Maybe it's about trying just as much as it is about succeeding. In the end, he in his final moments must make peace that his noble and brave actions was sort of for not.

There's other stuff I like. I think when the Cybermen are stalking the ship is nice and creepy. I think the chemistry between the Doctor and Adric, despite the fact that it is highly argumentative, is finally clicking. I know this is a greatly beloved episode for many people. But unfortunately, that's not what I'm seeing for much of it. The Cybermen are LESS interesting than ever. The Cyber Leader is a two bit thug who keeps going on about emotion. This story would make more sense if it was a Sontaran or a human Cybermen collaborator who wants to become a Cyberman but cannot. But it feels really weird to have this Cyber Leader keep going on about how emotions are stupid.

There are some good acting from the leads and that helps a lot but this is less "one of the best" than it is "so-so serial with good moments". And it's a shame. Adric was a character with potential. Waterhouse was finally starting to overcome his shortcomings as an actor but the scripts give him little consistency to work with. I think that's actually a problem across the board with the cast. Even Davison, who is doing great work, sometimes gets these bits where he's really short with the other cast and it feels like a holdover from the Baker era that doesn't work with Davison much of the time. But Adric never quite works mechanically or emotionally (it seems like he play a similar role to K9 and also allow for a different point of view and tension within the group). It feels like they kind of got him at the finish line but it's kind of too late.

Best cliffhanger: The Cybermen reveal

Next time:

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Earthshock is overrated, and for all the reasons you list. Adric's death is interesting, but is almost immediately thrown away in Time-Flight, which is among the worst of the 80s, so good luck with that one. They have done some great work in spin-off media with Adric's death, however - while it's got some references to the Virgin New Adventures, the Big Finish audio adaptation of Cold Fusion is fantastic. The book is great, too, of course, but is less available than the audio. In it, the 7th Doctor runs into the 5th Doctor and his season 19 cast pre-Earthshock - his reaction upon seeing Adric is particularly heartbreaking. Great stuff.
 
I know this isn't the first companion death but the first ones were both in that one mega-sized Dalek's arc and one joined right before and died and one joined and died during (and I'm sure most people don't put either of them on their list of companions because they are really closer to just the people Doc meets across the way).

But yeah, this was probably a big deal at the time. I remember this being the era where the show got darker and more nihilistic (I distinctly remember a scene from my childhood where Tegan quits specifically because she's tired of all the fucking death and nastiness) and maybe it gets that way but it's not there yet. But this does feel like a turning point.

In all honesty, though, a tragic death would be more interesting for Leela than "LET'S GET MARRIED" (though in all honesty, I like neither option and would prefer she was just hanging out with the lower class Gallefreyans, fighting for their rights and whatnot).

It's interesting a lot of the companion deaths in the nu Who era come with so many asterisks it becomes a puppet show in The Giggle.
 
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