Day 275 — October 2nd 2021
State of Decay Parts Three and Four
State of Decay — Part Three
Regular readers will know that I’m not a fan of Time Lord mythology and Gallifreyan bollocks. It’ll come as no surprise, then, when I say that I’ve always found the concept of the ancient Time Lords fighting a race of giant vampires a bit dull, and I’ve never understood the fascination it seems to have inspired in fan fic writers and expanded media. It’s the kind of thing which was being explored in the books during the 1990s and still rears its head now — I think the vampires were a part of the Time Lord Victorious material last year.
I’m amazed to discover, though, that it’s actually been my favourite part of this episode! Tom baker gives the discovery of the records in the TARDIS some real weight, and you genuinely believe that he’s quietly terrified about the creature he’s discovered sleeping beneath the castle. Those scenes broadly boil down to him reading out some ancient legends, but he manages to make them genuinely quite enthralling, helped by some great writing from Terrance Dicks.
I love also that we get an extended repeat of the scene from The Time Monster, in which Doctor Who — locked up with his companion and feeling helpless — recounts a tale of the old hermit he used to visit in the mountains of Gallifrey. It was a great scene when they did it before, but I think I might actually prefer it this time around. It’s such a great illustration of the relationship he has with Romana that while he tries to be serious while telling his story, she interjects and takes the piss throughout. I think it’s the closest we’ve ever seen to Doctor Who flirting with his companion, and of course the scene ends with Doctor Who complimenting her.
Doctor Who: ‘Psst. You are wonderful.’
Romana: ‘Me? Wonderful? I suppose I am. I’ve never really thought about it.’
State of Decay is an interesting watch when you know how volatile Baker and Ward’s relationship could be. During the location filming they were reportedly not on speaking terms, and when you know that you notice how little he looks at her in those scenes. The studio recording seems to be a far warmer affair, and when he tells her she’s wonderful it feels like he genuinely means it.
This episode has also given me a new head canon. It’s not something I’ve seen suggested before, although I’m sure it must have been. I reckon the Time Lords managed to track the Great Vampire to E Space, and they’ve sent Doctor Who specifically to deal with it. Let’s look at the facts; the TARDIS gets a summons to Gallifrey at the end of Meglos, so they set the co-ordinates and head off. On the way they get caught up in what we’re told is one of the rarest things in the universe — a CVE.
On the other side of that CVE they just happen to find the last surviving member of a race the Time Lords have sworn to wipe out. Add to that the information regarding these ancient beings is so restricted and rare that Doctor Who’s always thought of them as myths until now and Romana’s only heard of them from an obscure book she happened to be in a position to read once… a record which just so happens to be included in only one model of TARDIS.
I reckon the Time Lords managed to pick up a trace of the Great Vampire and decided to send Doctor Who after it. They’ve not told him about the mission of course (just like the didn’t in The Brain of Morbius, or several others), and they’ve engineered it to make sure he’ll fall through a CVE to the place he needs to go. They know that if anyone can deal with this threat it’s him, and it would explain several of the coincidences on show here…
The script continues to shine, and we’ve gone broader on the comedy here than we have in any story since Season Seventeen. Fan wisdom says that this season does away with all the ‘silly’ comedy of the previous year, but the moment here when an ally opens the door to the cell and smacks Doctor Who square in the face would be at home in any story Douglas Adams had a hand in. And d’you know what? It’s proper funny, too!
One last thought for here — there’s a beautiful shot of Doctor Who returning to the TARDIS as night falls across the forest. It’s got the same gorgeous eye for framing which has been present in all the previous episodes of this one, but it’s the first time I’ve ever genuinely wished the TARDIS windows in the Old Testament lit up like they do these days — I think that shout would be even more stunning were the police box sat at the top of the hill glowing in the night. Is it too late to go back and add it as a CGI option to the Blu-rays…?
9/10
State of Decay — Part Four
The early half of Season Eighteen was shot out of order, meaning that this story was Matthew Waterhouse’s first experience of playing Adric. He had a few weeks off after this during which Meglos was in production before returning to do his debut story as broadcast. I find that surprising, because I think he’s largely better in this one that he was in Full Circle, but I’ve a few ideas as to why that might be.
One of them is that Waterhouse — and Adric — are best when allowed to be a bit sarcastic and bitchy. That’s certainly the case in this episode, and I think he’s brilliantly catty when he finally gets to sit down with Romana;
Romana: ‘We were supposed to join [Doctor Who] after we’d rescued you.’
Adric: ‘Only you didn’t, did you.’
Romana: ‘Didn’t what?’
Adric: ‘Rescue me. Tarak got killed, you got caught, and the Doctor’s safely out of it. He can clear off in the Tardis whenever he likes.’
It’s taken until this episode for him to engage with the other regulars (although Romana found him asleep at the end of Part Three), and I think that’s the other reason why he’s better here. The impression one gets from a combination of interviews, anecdotes and commentaries over the years is that people weren’t especially kind to Waterhouse during his time on the programme. Lalla ward has described him in a number of uncharitable ways, for example.
Waterhouse was a big fan of the show before getting the part — he even had a letter published in an early edition of Doctor Who Weekly — and I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for him to find himself in his dream job, but up against people who weren’t being very welcoming. I wonder if being separated from the rest of the cast for the first three episodes means he’s feeling a bit less self-conscious? Of course they’d have all been together in rehearsals and the studio, but not sharing scenes which I suppose would make all the difference.
The atmosphere in this one is stronger than we’ve seen in ages — it’s a properly confident production, with every department pulling together to make it work. There’s something about all this which is oddly sexy in a way I don’t think Doctor Who often is, and I think you could probably get away with the cool New Romantic vampires in the series today. I love their synchronised movements in this episode, clearly the product of some productive work in rehearsals.
There’s a lot of care taken with little movements throughout this story, actually, including the fun ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ greeting that the villagers do throughout. It’s never drawn attention to, which makes it work all the stronger. This is the most well-realised civilisation we’ve had in ages, and I totally believe in it. The movement is specified in the script which surprised me, as I expected it to be another product of rehearsal.
Something else which is in the script is more great dialogue. I’m especially fond of Autloc’s callous attitude when told that the guards can’t hold the tower against the oncoming rebellion;
Guard: ‘We are outnumbered. Unless you aid us, we shall all be killed.’
Aukon: ‘Then die. That is the purpose of guards.’
I could go on and on about little details I’ve enjoyed in this one — the TARDIS’ arrival in the rebels’ hideout, shot from above, and K9 being seen to go over the lip of the police box for the first time ever… just in time for him to leave in the next story — but I’ll just say that this one has been very enjoyable, and with another 8/10 for this episode it’s the strongest story of Season Eighteen by a fair mile.
