DOCTOR WHO: THE DEADLY ASSASSIN of Your Face

“THE DEADLY ASSASSIN” – Season 14, Serial 3, Story 88 – Written by Robert Holmes; Directed by David Maloney – It’s a highly unique serial in DOCTOR WHO lore as the Doctor gets a solo adventure, free from any Companion. With Sarah Jane having departed and Leela yet to arrive, the Doctor is left to his own devices to foil an assassination attempt on the Time Lord President. Only problem is, the Master is behind it and he’s super angry because he doesn’t have a real face anymore.

THE DEADLY ASSASSIN is one of the more difficult serials for me to wrap my head around. I do not mean that the plot is extra complex or the philosophical issues deeply troubling. I simply mean I don’t know if I like it or if I really like it.

My consternation comes from two primary aspects: the first is the slow start and the annoying “TV program infodump” and the second in a mind-numbing third episode that completely takes me out of the plot. I’ll take them in order.

After dropping Sarah Jane off in Not Croydon at the end of the last serial, the Doctor sets a course for Gallifrey. On the way, he gets a powerful vision of killing the President. When he arrives, the Time Lords freak out about the appearance of a Type 40 TARDIS, and we get a full introduction to the pomp and circumstance of the Time Lords with their crazy cloaks and funny hats and strange titles. DEADLY ASSASSIN is one of those serials where the budget doesn’t necessarily hurt the serial, but if they had more money to spend, we could have gotten sets to match the Time Lords’ grand pomposity.

This is the first time we get a really close look at the Time Lords and as interesting as it is to take them in, it’s just as interesting in how they view the Doctor and the Master.

Which is to say, if this serial was written today, there would be about 42 “Doctor Who?” jokes because the Time Lords largely don’t know who he is. The Doctor returning to Gallifrey with a missing TARDIS is greeted with all the fanfare of crickets chirping in a nearly empty cathedral. Imagine if Cameron had spent all that time worrying about what his dad would think about him taking the Ferrari 250 out for a spin and his dad came home and was like, “Huh, I thought I left my gloves in the driver’s seat and not the passenger’s seat.”

All of that is awesome, which is why it’s so damaging when they introduce Runcible, who’s a TV reporter. Ugh. Coming so near the start of the serial, the image of the Doctor trying to find the local news report for an update of the day’s festivities is kinda lame.

The serial moves quickly, though, blending humor with its political intrigue and before the first episode is out, the Doctor appears to have killed the President.

It’s good stuff, and the interplay between the Doctor and the Castellan during the investigation of the crime is the best part of the serial. The Doctor is quickly put on trial and Chancellor Goth wants him executed as quickly as possible. It’s obvious that Goth is one of the bad guys, but he’s just a flunky for the return of the Master.

The Master is making his first appearance since the tenth season’s FRONTIER IN SPACE. He’s in bad shape, with a scarred, disfigured face, but he’s still up to his evil genius tricks. While it’s a shame, of course, that Roger Delgado passed away and thus it’s someone else beneath the costume, this version of the Master is serious and well worthy of the name.

There’s not a lot of direct Doctor/Master interaction here, but both men are clearly playing a chess game against one another and we get to see both of their intellects at play. To get out of being ramrodded through a quick trial, the Doctor invokes Article 17 and runs for President. The Master, for his part, unleashes lackeys, uses mind control, and tricks the Doctor into entering the Matrix, which is really just an excuse to get a bunch of outdoor sequences into the narrative.

It’s a huge mistake. Prior to the Doctor’s mind becoming one with the Matrix, the serial had recovered from Runcible and had set up a good political thriller. But then the Matrix happens and we get an entire episode of the Doctor running around a virtual reality world being chased by a guy who’s hiding his face. It’s Goth, of course, and the whole episode is wasted by being outside. It’s not that this sequence is executed poorly; Director David Maloney does a really solid job with it, but I just don’t care. I want to be back on Gallifrey, not stuck in a VR simulation that looks like a whole lot of other episodes.

There’s a lot of whiz-bang at the end and it’s a satisfying conclusion. THE DEADLY ASSASSIN is one of those serials you have to see for the novelty of the Doctor having a solo adventure (though the Castellan really serves in the Companion’s place) and the disfigured Master. I could do without Runcible the TV Reporter, without the shot of the shrunken man, and without the journey through the Matrix, but the rest of the serial is rather enjoyable.

DOCTOR WHO: THE HAND OF FEAR and Farewell to Sarah Jane Smith

“THE HAND OF FEAR” – Season 14, Serial 2, Story 87 – Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin; Directed by Lennie Mayne – Sigh. It’s the end of an era as Sarah Jane Smith takes her last spin in the TARDIS as a Companion. It’s the mid 70s, so that means we’re due for a story involving mind control. It’s Sarah Jane (of course) who falls under the spell of Eldrad after finding a fossilized hand in a quarry explosion. The Doctor runs around a nuclear facility playing expert as Eldrad takes control of mind after mind before finally attaining a humanoid form after the RAF tries to nuke Eldrad to bits. Our nuke facility adventure then transforms into an alien civilization story with silicone-based life as Eldrad tricks the Doctor, turns male, and reveals his plans of interstellar conquest. Everything turns out okay. Except for the bit about Sarah Jane leaving.

And just like that, Sarah Jane Smith is gone.

Undoubtedly one of the most beloved Companions of all time exits the TARDIS at the end of THE HAND OF FEAR after the Fates conspire to terminate her run. Sarah throws a bit of a hissy fit after the adventure is over and her and the Doctor are back in the beloved secondary control room. She’s upset that he doesn’t listen and wants to go home, and even packs her bags in a fit of anger. For his part, the Doctor really isn’t listening to her as he’s trying to fix the TARDIS and has his head buried in the central console. When Sarah is off packing the Doctor receives a summoning to return to Gallifrey and cannot bring Sarah Jane with him.

Sarah changes her mind, of course, about wanting to leave but the clearly frazzled Doctor says she has to go. Now, there’s no reason why the Doctor couldn’t have simply said, “See you next week,” but that’s not how it used to work in the TARDIS. The Doctor does say to Sarah Jane that he’ll see her again, but as we all know that didn’t happen until SCHOOL REUNION, some six iterations of himself later.

The serial puts a nice comedic bow on her exit, though, when it’s revealed that the Doctor has not delivered her to South Croydon, as promised.

Like nearly every DOCTOR WHO fan I’ve ever talked to, I believe Sarah Jane Smith is a special Companion and Lis Sladen is a special actress. As I’ve discussed elsewhere, I have not been a lifelong DOCTOR WHO fan. I watched the show intermittently as a kid. Growing up in the ’70s with DOCTOR WHO only airing occasionally on one of the two or three PBS affiliates we could watch, depending on what the antenna was picking up that day (ask your parents, kids), Sarah Jane was the only Companion I could name for much of my life.

I love her enthusiasm, her intelligence, her joy, her willingness to spar with the Doctor, her smile, and … well, I just love everything about her. More than any other Companion of Classic Who, Lis Sladen was able to take an often generically written character and make her feel alive and real.

I mentioned it during the Earth Station Who podcast that I guested on back in October that I was greatly affected seeing Sarah Jane’s return in SCHOOL REUNION, even though I hadn’t “lived with her” my whole life. Yeah, she was the only Companion I “knew” (well, her and K9), but there’s a big difference between being aware of someone and knowing them. When I started my big DOCTOR WHO watch several years ago, I had no idea what I would think of the show, but I quickly fell in love with it. I watched all of the DVDs that Netflix had (which was far from complete) and even that compressed viewing experience had me bursting when Sarah Jane opened that door and saw the TARDIS standing before her. I can’t imagine how joyous long-term fans must have felt upon seeing her return.

Now that I’m watching the series for a second time, my appreciation for Sarah Jane and Lis Sladen grows with each story. She really is the greatest of all Companions in my mind. The only Companion that could compete would be the Brigadier, but he doesn’t count.

Because the Doctor was his Companion.

As for the serial itself …

THE HAND OF FEAR is a really dumb title.

It may, in fact, be the single worst title in all of DOCTOR WHO lore. The only thing I like about it is that it is so generic that it makes me want to write a story called THE (BODY PART) OF (EMOTION) because I can’t imagine that the title was created by any means other than a generic formulation.

The serial itself is pretty darn good. I wish more four-parters would take HAND OF FEAR as a blueprint because this serial moves rather quickly. What starts out like it’s going to be a new spin on a science facility serial morphs into an alien space station story, complete with the Doctor being tricked into helping Eldrad. It’s good stuff and I love stories where the Doctor gets tricked and then gets his revenge, which here consists of the Doctor and Sarah Jane using his scarf to trip Eldrad into falling down a huge chasm.

Really, though, this serial is defined by a great Lis Sladen performance. Sarah Jane is mind-controlled (by Eldrad) and hypnotized (by the Doctor), which combine to set up her ending frustration really nicely. (The final scene between her and the Doctor was reportedly re-written by Slade and Tom Baker off of Robert Holmes original draft.) You can see why this is the serial that pushes her over the edge.

It must be said, though, that THE HAND OF FEAR is one of the most painful serials to watch because half of the noises your TV will make when you watch it consists or two sounds: the most blaring, repetitive alarm ever committed to the small screen and the unending string of dialogue with people saying, “Eldrad must live.” I think it’s said 836 times during the serial but I may be understating that by a time or two.

THE HAND OF FEAR is a really good serial, but I wouldn’t recommend watching it until after you’ve seen a bunch of Sarah Jane serials so that you can properly appreciate her exit.

Check out all of my DOCTOR WHO reviews here.

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DOCTOR WHO: Glowing Things are Deadly in THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA

“THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA” – Season 14, Serial 1, Story 86 – Written by Louis Marks; Directed by Rodney Bennett – Tom Baker’s third season in the scarf kicks off with a really good castle mystery that OH MY GOD IT’S THE SECONDARY CONSOLE ROOM!

I am a sucker for stories that take us deeper into the TARDIS.

I love DOCTOR WHO, of course, but if there was one change I would make to the series it would be to explore the TARDIS to a much greater degree. If I was the showrunner, I’d even fool around with the idea of spending an entire season inside the TARDIS – it would make a great set-up, I think, for the 50th season to have the Doctor get lost inside the TARDIS (or purposely trapped there by the TARDIS) and bump into previous versions of himself, friends, and enemies. I just love this idea of the Doctor zipping through time and space with all of this other stuff being dragged along with him.

I understand, of course, that there are metaphorical reasons why the Doctor explores the outer rather than the inner, but it’s still something I’d like to see. If nothing else, it would make an excellent trait for a Companion to be more interested than the Doctor in the inner workings of the TARDIS.

I understand, too, that Moffat has been using the interior of the TARDIS as a way to build both the whimsy and the mystery of the Doctor, with the repeated mentions of the TARDIS’ pool.

But.

Still.

Even if THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA stunk, then, it would be worth taking a look at just to see the TARDIS’ secondary control room, a wood-paneled version of the familiar set that makes its debut in this serial. I love the look and feel of the wooden room, even if it does vaguely have a sense of a Time Lord’s basement man cave. I really like how the Doctor enters the room for the first time in this incarnation, and it’s always a nice prop move to have old items make an appearance, even if it’s a bit weird that the Third Doctor let a puffy shirt laying around in the room, and the Second Doctor left a recorder. The way the Doctor and Sarah Jane experience these items does make the room come off a little like a closet.

I half expected to see Polly and Ben caught snogging in the corner.

Complete tangent – no one in the States used the word “snogging” before the Harry Potter books.

As for MANDRAGORA itself, it’s a rather good castle mystery that perfectly satisfies if you’re jonesing for a Fourth Doctor/Sarah Jane adventure. The TARDIS accidentally transports a piece of the Mandragora Helix to 15th century Italy where the Doctor and Sarah become embroiled in political turmoil and a religious cult.

You know it’s a religious cult because people wear robes and masks and meet underground, but the serial makes good use of a religion vs. science angle angle to build some tension between the Doctor and Hieronymous, the royal astrologer who predicts death by day, and then creates death by night, when he’s wearing the robes and mask and meeting people underground. What I like most about this angle is how different characters tread this science vs. religion line. Count Frederico, who wants to usurp the throne and become the Duke of San Martino. He kills the current Duke and has his eyes set on the Duke’s successor, Giuliano, and while he thinks Hieronymous is a flake, he’s willing to use the belief others have in the astrologer to further his usurpation.

The plot has enough of these elements running around to make me feel like the Doctor and Sarah have stepped into a fully-realized world and not just whatever set the prop guys built for this month’s worth of filming. It’s a simple but smart technique to present the Doctor with as many as four different factions in MANDRAGORA: Guiliano’s supporters, Frederico’s supporters, Hieronymous and the cult, and the rebellion going on outside the castle walls.

There’s also plenty of running around outside the castle. It’s just a general truth of both architecture and limited budgets that castle interiors in DOCTOR WHO tend to look the same, so I love it when directors take advantage of outside locations to help add something unique to the program. This time around, we have a really nice set of stairs on the grounds and an underground entrance to the tunnels beneath the castle where the Brethren hang out and act all spooky.

There’s also a bit of swordfighting this time around, and the Doctor saves himself from being guillotined with some nice scarf usage.

The Doctor/Sarah Jane chemistry is spot on as the two of them are completely willing to both give each other a hard time and show affection. What’s really special looking back on these episodes from here in the Relaunch Era is how the Doctor and Sarah can have this kind of playful chiding absent of any sort of romantic tension. Only Donna has really been allowed to have this type of relationship with the Doctor on a consistent basis these last few years and it’s pleasant to watch two adults having an actual friendship in these classic WHO serials.

MANDRAGORA kicks off the third Tom Baker season with style. This serial does have that timeless feel to it, and I could easily see the show’s producers giving this script to any of the Fourth through Seventh Doctors. Where Baker makes this his own is in his wit and charm; this is a Doctor that can be wonderfully over-confident and concerned at the same time, and it’s an absolute joy to watch him and Sarah Jane adventure together. There is danger but there’s a bit of breeziness here, too, that doesn’t always come up as an attribute of the Fourth Doctor’s run. At times, the Fourth Doctor almost seems like he knows his life is one big adventure novel, and this is but one story of many still left to tell.