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Doctor Who - The Ultimate Foe

“If you leave and I die…“

The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe - season 23 - 1986

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TARDIS Tarot - The Devil/The Valeyard

Out Now: Bonnie Langford Returns as Mel in Doctor Who Magazine #595

Out Now: Bonnie Langford Returns as Mel in #DoctorWho Magazine #595

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine puts Bonnie Lanford centre stage as she’s set to return to Doctor Who as Sixth and Seventh Doctor companion, Mel Bush! This is her first major interview since her return was announced; Melanie Bush is set to come back, opposite Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, for the Series 14 finale. Plus, DWM includes We Need to Talk About Mel Bush, arguing that Mel is…

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Long rambling post but. I haven’t rewatched The Trial of a Time Lord as a whole in years, and I dunno, it’s hard to separate from all the behind the scenes crap and my eyes kind’ve glaze over once we get into the Pip and Jane Extravaganza, but... 

The Gallifreyan space station, the music, a sense of weight and gravitas to the power of Gallifrey that haunts and remains (even if the actual set and courtroom scenes are less striking). The Time Lords as the ever-faithful watchers of the Doctor’s adventures through the Matrix, the constant focus on the Inquisitor as the only woman amongst the dusty, sleepy, impassive Lords. “A Merry Christmas to all of you at home” now wrought actual lore, the Doctor’s life accessible to Gallifreyan TV. 

The Mysterious Planet as the show’s “Past,” what the show used to be. Holmes, of course, The Krotons pulled through Full Circle, State of Decay, but that lingering chill of Bidmeadism is more melancholy. Wetter, colder. The forest, the costumes, look of the Tribe of the Free, it’s all more hauntingly fantasy than ever before, overtop the plastic tunnels and trundling BBC props. But it’s the Past as an untouchable “gone before its time, gone too soon, hold onto it or its gone,” the Doctor and Peri at their most ideal snapshot. From Holmes’ previous take on the Fourth Doctor as a mid-life crisis bohemian loom to this, the Doctor in the prime of his life, not a single bite of venom or a bad bone, wearing his hearts on his sleeve, joyful and smart and pompous because of his love of life and experience. Peri gets compared to Sarah Jane, and it’s hard to deny the ache of “this is so familiar” to she and he’s friendship, banter, love and worry for each other’s safety. The Holmes comedy act of Glitz and Dibber, the continued ideas of human persistence, of revolution for the right causes, of the universe’s worst oppressors being comical robots. HG Wells’ Morlocks and Eloi. The Earth’s history broken and interrupted, Ravolox a glaring shift in the universal continuity the show was so beholden by not a season ago (look at Attack!). Something is deeply wrong, frothing under the sad smile of this serial, and that terrifyingly vast station representing Gallifrey’s power feels too connected. 

Mindwarp as “Present,” what the show currently is. Saward and Martin just going full out. More The Twin Dilemma, more Varos, more The Two Doctors, more the Re-Animator gristle and body horror from Revelation of the Daleks. Lynch’s Giedi Prime under the toxic pink sky, the ever-returning caverns and caves sticky under the strobes. It’s hard to deny the sense of perversion through the absurdist humor and world-building, the slime and cruelty soaked in quiet snickers of sex, rape, bodily agency prodded and pulled apart by capitalist slugs. The Doctor’s brain broken, retooled and reduced to his Twin Dilemma and s22 sneer and snide, parodic now only for the point. “This Is The Doctor, This Is What We Have Made Of The Show, Awful Isn’t It?” said almost gleefully. It’s the final bite of everything from Earthshock to Warriors of the Deep to Caves of Androzani and Martin’s own Varos, even as it collapses under its own nasty weight. Peri’s trauma and treatment, finding comfort in something like fucking Brian Blessed because it’s the only thing not trying to hurt her. The final scene, swirling in the Time Lords’ temporal bubble, is legitimately horrifying. Crozier’s distanced and clinical nature going full Davros maniac, ranting and raving of how he would spread this bloated poison to the rest of the universe. Peri’s corpse shouting with demonic relish as Kiv goes from a sinister joke to a full on monstrosity. The universe ravaged and left behind by Logopolis has fully dived into a capitalist nightmare of ooze and neon, and in that horrible swirl of screams, it’s finally all put down, shot, and blown away. Nicola Bryant was right, that should’ve stayed as Peri’s fate. “You killed Peri” the Doctor mournfully says to the Time Lords, the viewers of “the show” that intervened (the very thing they accuse and try him for) for an ending they found better. 

Terror of the Vervoids as an ideal “classic, good old-fashioned” Future, what the show will be or should be. Mel is genuinely an incredible idea for a companion introduction, making her mark after years of unseen adventures. She and the Doctor’s first scene with the exercise back is insanely “Children’s TV Hosts,” moreso than the show ever came close to touching again. A visual backtrack into Graham Williams’ space travel and spaceships, Nightmare of Eden and Horns of Nimon, turning out into The Golden Girls’ breakfast trellis and a lasertag course. And it’s honestly a slog. I get it, not yucking anyone’s yum, but it’s just... too safe, too much retooled and remade, too unambitious, creaking under the colors and tone. Saward’s absurdism presented without darkness, without nasty jokes, and what Pip and Jane set rolling here is what snowballs into the Teletubby feverdream of Time and the Rani. The Doctor is a harmless friend and hero, Mel is a cartoon more than a person. Not for me, but so integral to the narrative decay. The future is just as much of a mess as the present. 

The Ultimate Foe. Holmes’ The Deadly Assassin remake clashing with Saward and JNT’s drama, wrapped in Pip and Jane Pip-n-Janing like their lives depended on it. Some of the most striking surrealism the show had done since the Mara duo and the Black Guardian trilogy, all of it haunted and scary in the shadowed Victorian streets, fighting for life against the courtroom tedium and stroke-serious nonsense everyone announces at each other. The Doctor abandoned the role of the President in the show’s 20th anniversary celebration, and in that void grew a genocidal conspiracy, the Time Lords flexing their cruelty. The Doctor once, on trial, pleaded with them, mentioning the Cybermen and Daleks. Now, on trial, he declares them worse. Holmes’ original ending of the Doctor and Valeyard locked in combat, falling together through the disintegrated Matrix, a cliffhanger vs the finished episode of the Doctor and Mel safely and comfortably leaving to Vervoids’ promised, dull future. Safe, cozy. The Valeyard now so buried in the silly and absurd his threatening laugh just adds to it. 

(Each day that passes, BF Gallifrey making the Inquisitor the most awful goddamn person in this entire franchise becomes more and more absolutely hilarious.) 

Doctor Who: Trial of a Time Lord

I rewatched parts 8 to 14 on 10 May 2023. 

Yes, that does mean I started with part four of Mindwarp… turns out that Peri, Yrcanos and the others were all stunned. But, no. Danger still awaits Peri with a brain transfer on the cards. She really does go through the transformative wringer…  One thing that I hadn’t appreciated before is how much Yrcanos clearly falls in love with Peri and she doesn’t reject him. And, this is where we say farewell to Nicola Bryant as Peri. I do think Nicola tries her best with a character that has moments of excellence. The trauma, though. Oh my word.

Anyway, parts 9 to 12 are called Terror of the Vervoids, which involves the Doctor choosing events in his defence. It’s set on a space liner and set up a bit like a Agatha Christie murder mystery that wanders into another genetics experiment gone wrong. Having said that, the attempt to explore the morality is thought-provoking. Honor Blackman is fab. We meet new travelling companion, Mel Bush, played by Bonnie Langford. Mel is a fitness fanatic who has put the Doctor on a fitness regime involving exercise and carrot juice. As the serial continues, Mel is interested and interesting — I like her. I like her intelligence and gumption, and the fact that she gets on with the Doctor. It’s a fascinating experiment to have a companion appear at some stage during the adventure rather than having and “origin story” of sorts. 

Onward to the last two parts of Trial of a Time Lord, otherwise knowns as The Ultimate Foe. We get to the the trial point with the Doctor alleging that the Matrix was tampered with. Mel and Glitz arrive on the Time Lord space station…. and then the Master appears on the Matrix screen. Honestly, do Time Lords not study their own history?? I think this version of the Matrix is less weird than what we saw in The Deadly Assassin. Ooh, and there are weird revelations about the Valeyard being the Doctor, and all sorts of nonsense about regenerations cycles and whatnot. Finally, a bit of good news: Peri and Yrcanos are alive.

And this marks the point where we farewell Colin Baker as the Doctor. I like him as the Doctor, but I can’t say that I enjoy much of these seasons… the strain of the behind the scenes stuff shows a bit too much despite best efforts. I know people who adore what went out during 1985 and 1986, and that’s what I adore about Dr Who. Different things appeal to different people.

The Valeyard when the Master showed up was basically like: ‘What..?! I… I’ve never seen this man before in my life… who on earth could he be??’

Who Told You There Wouldn't Be Any Math?

Who Told You There Wouldn’t Be Any Math?

It could reasonably be argued that this is a problem that only the Tour cares about, and then compounds within our own nomenclature. The table was set all the way back in The Deadly Assassin which set a 12 regeneration limit for Timelords.  While that might seem a bit archaic in 2022, back in 1976 this was a significant, and in some corners of fandom at the time, controversial limitation put on…

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Radio Free Skaro #866 - Still in the Nursery

Radio Free Skaro #866 - Still in the Nursery - David Tennant's comments from Fan Expo Boston - #DoctorWho Season 2 - the Collection - "The Trial of a Time Lord" Part Thirteen commentary!

http://traffic.libsyn.com/freyburg/rfs866.mp3 Download MP3 What mysteries are in store for us with David Tennant’s already intriguing return in the year of 2023? A recent appearance by Ol’ Ten himself at a Boston convention hints at a lot while saying nothing, and a new trailer for the Doctor Who Season 2 – The Collection highlights the return of Vicki (aka Maureen O’Brien!) Plus there’s the…

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Every Doctor Who Story → The Ultimate Foe

“In all my travellings throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation, decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core. Ha! Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power, that's what it takes to be really corrupt.”

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