Day 181 — June 30th 2021
The Time Warrior Parts One and Two
The Time Warrior — Part One
Just when you start wondering how they could possibly replace Jo Grant — who’d felt so integral to the show for the last three seasons — they go and bring in perhaps the definitive Doctor Whocompanion in Sarah Jane Smith! When I was first getting into the show I always wanted to be a bit contrary about Sarah Jane. She was always listed as the ‘best’ companion, so I used to purposely pick other companions as a favourite. But it’s hard to deny that she is brilliant, and she hits the ground running right here in her very first episode.
I love that her first encounter with Doctor Who is a little frosty — he knows she’s not who she claims to be and has no hesitation in calling her out on it. Crucially, though, he seems to be having fun with the situation. he’s joking with her, rather than having a go. I worried that we might reset to the Season Eight version of Pertwee’s Doctor Who and have to watch him learn how to be nice to a new companion. Clearly his friendship with Jo has left an impact.
Doctor Who: ‘You’re the virologist, Miss Smith?’
Sarah Jane: ‘Yes. Who told you?’
Doctor Who: ‘I read your paper on the teleological response of the virus. A most impressive piece of work.’
Sarah Jane: ‘Thank you.’
Doctor Who: ‘Particularly when I realise you must have written it when you were five years old.’
Sarah Jane: ‘Ah. Er, yes, that is rather difficult to explain, isn’t it.’
Doctor Who: ‘But you’re going to try, aren’t you.’
Sarah Jane is strong-willed enough to get herself caught up in the narrative, too. An inquisitive journalist is such an obvious candidate for a companion, and I love that we don’t waste time on seeing her blag her way into this week’s scientific establishment — we’re to take it on trust that she’s got the wiles to get as far as she has. Even Doctor Who blowing her cover doesn’t diminish her, and she goes out of her way to try and remove him as an obstacle, suggesting to Rubeish that Doctor Who might be a spy.
She gets caught up in the adventure of her own volition, too, slipping inside the TARDIS simply because she wants to find out what the big secret is. We’ve not seen that happen since Zoe’s arrival six years earlier, and it feels fresh after all this time. Sure we’ve still got UNIT hanging around the fringes of the series, but it’s starting to feel like we’re evolving into a new format.
But Sarah Jane’s not the only new arrival in this story — we’ve got the first appearance of the Sontarans, too! Truth be told I can take or leave them as monsters. They’re fine, but I don’t think they’ve ever topped my list. Watching The Time Warrior again though you remember just how much of their character is established up front, and just how great Linx is as a character. The first eight minutes of this episode are spent establishing the middle ages location and the introduction of Linx so it’s not wonder they feel so richly drawn.
The cliffhanger — in which we get to see under the Sontaran helmet for the first time — is the perfect way to wrap up the episode. I’m not sure there was a lot of mystery about what might be under there (although Irongron does wonder at one point why the helmet is never removed) but it’s a brilliant reveal nonetheless. We’ve got another fantastic mask and as with the Draconians last series it feels like we’re looking at something which would work just as well today as it did half a century ago.
We’re also introduced right here at the beginning to the design of the Sontaran spaceships — the golf-ball like craft looks so out of place and alien stood in the woodland, and it’s a great design. And I know it’s a sillything to want to highlight, but I really love the little flag which Linx plants in the ground upon his arrival. It’s so silly and brilliant; another one of those things which is either ‘perfectly Doctor Who’ or ‘perfectly Robert Holmes’ — if there’s any difference between those two things.
One final thing; I’ve praised how out of place the Sontaran ship looks in the woodland, but how great does the TARDIS look once it’s travelled back in time? I’m really excited to be entering a phase of the programme where we’re going to be seeing more of the battered blue box out on location again.
A bold start for the new season, managing to feel familiar and totally fresh at the same time. An 8/10.
The Time Warrior — Part Two
You forget just how much The Time Warrior introduces into the Doctor Who canon. Obviously I’ve already discussed how well Sarah Jane Smith is brought into the series, and the debut of the Sontarans, but the first episode also sees the first appearance of Pertwee’s second title sequence! I have to admit that it’s not my favourite title sequence, but switching from the swirling pattern I’ve been used to since the start of May helps to make this feel even more like a fresh start for the programme.
These titles are also important because they mark the first time the series has done something other than a howlround effect for the opening, and introduce the ‘vortex’ style which will go on to influence… well, pretty much every set of titles which follow. Of course they’re also a bit like a rough draft for the iconic sequence Tom Baker will use for his first six seasons.
But this second episode also introduces some new things of it’s own. Of course we establish the long-running war between the Sontarans and the Rutans, which will be mentioned in every subsequent story featuring either species, but there’s also another more important introduction;
Linx: ‘You have encountered my race before, Doctor?’
Doctor Who: ‘Unfortunately.’
Linx: ‘I’ll overlook that insult for the moment. What is your native planet?’
Doctor Who: ‘Gallifrey. I am a Time Lord.’
Linx: ‘Ah, yes. A race of great technical achievement, but lacking the morale
to withstand a determined assault.’
It blows my mind a bit that it’s taken until 1974 for Doctor Who’s home world to be named. Heck, we even went there five years ago! I like that they don’t make a big deal of it here — the name is just thrown into the exchange as though it’s the most normal thing in the world, and that’s probably the right approach.
The writing across the board in this one is worthy of praise, actually. Regular readers will know that I’ve not particularly rated Robert Holmes in this marathon so far, but this is his best script to date, and it feels like a world away from the material he was penning for Troughton. He’s especially having fun with all the cod-Shakespearean ‘old world’ dialogue for the likes of Irongron and his cronies, and there’s some gorgeous turns of phrase in here. For this episode I’m keen on the description of Sarah Jane (‘she spits fire’) and Part One had a few great moments of its own, including ‘it pleases him to be high. He’s like a cockerel’ and the description of the scared knights as ‘chicken-hearted knaves’.
That said, if I have to hear Irongron shout the word ‘dogs’ one more time I may scream…
I quite like Doctor Who’s little speech about Earth, too. There’s something quite lovely about the fact he’s grown to like the planet again now he’s free to travel in the TARDIS. It’s such a reversal from the mindset he had at the start of his tenure;
Doctor Who: ‘I’m just a tourist. I like it here.’
Linx: ‘This hole in space.’
Doctor Who: ‘You haven’t seen it at its best.’
Sticking with the theme of introductions, Holmes is doing something quite daring with Sarah Jane in this one. It’s only her second episode, and yet she’s already been split up from Doctor Who. Sladen and Pertwee only share the screen for a matter of seconds — in which she spots him and runs away — and yet she’s still; very much at the heart of the narrative.
She manages to be totally unlike Jo Grant and yet also the absolute archetypal Doctor Who companion. I really love her refusing to be scared by Irongron because she’s too busy trying to work out what’s really going on, and her refusal to accept that she might have travelled in time is oddly charming. It reminds me of Ian in the very first story — ‘I know that free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don’t expect to find solved in a junkyard’.
We also toy with the idea that she still doesn’t trust Doctor Who. In Part One she tells Rubeish that she thinks he might be a spy simply because he’s blown her cover, and here she’s utterly convinced that he must be the one behind the evil going on. She goes as far as to telling Sir Edward that if they want to save the day then it’s Doctor Who they need to defeat;
Sarah Jane: ‘I’m sure the Doctor’s the key to it all. He was there when one of the scientists was taken. He has a machine that can travel through time. Well, it must be him, and somehow we’ve got to stop him.’
It’s a really bold way to introduce a new character, and it’s to Sladen’s credit that you never resent Sarah Jane for causing trouble for our hero. She’s likely helped by the fact that we know what good friends they’ll go on to be, but there’s also a real charm to her performance which shines through at all times.
I’ve nowhere else to really bring this up, so I might as well do it here; this story is also June Brown’s only appearance in Doctor Who. She’s so simpatico with EastEnders and Dot Cotton that it feels almost a bit strange to see her here in another role — I’ve only ever seen her in these two parts. But it’s nice that she’s given some nice material to work with. A couple of years ago I started watching my way through EastEnders, and made it as far as 1993 before other things got in the way. Brown was a constant delight in that, and I think people can forget just how good of an actress she really is. I’d love to see her back in Doctor Who one day — she’d make a fabulous glamorous villain!
7/10
