Day 294 — October 21st 2021
Time-Flight Parts One and Two
Time-Flight — Part One
I’d written this entry in my head before I’d even watched the episode today. I already knew what I was going to talk about and I’d pretty much decided the fate of the episode. I planned to talk about how awful it was that they sidestep the aftermath of Adric’s death to go off and just have any old adventure, and that it’ a total lapse in judgement and one of the biggest drop-offs in quality that the programme has ever seen between two consecutive stories. But it’s got some nice location work.
Having now sat down and watched the episode in question… well, some of those thoughts still hold. I do think it’s ridiculous that they should go from a moment as momentous as killing off a companion to Doctor Who shrugging it off with a breezy ‘he wouldn’t want us to mourn unnecessarily’ and suggesting they all go look round the Great Exhibition for a laugh. It feels like an absolutely token acknowledgement of the fact that something had happened, and I think Adric deserves better.
That said, by about fifteen minutes into the episode I’d forgotten all about Adric and was getting swept along in the new story. I’m not sure that Old Testament Doctor Who is best placed to deal with a subject as big as killing off a companion, and I wouldn’t want to have a whole story in which the remaining regulars mope about, so perhaps it’s a good compromise to mention it and move on? I’ve a theory of what could have been done — using lots of the stuff that’s already in this story — which I’ll discuss during Part Two.
And it has to be said, the location work in this episode really is lovely. It feels like ages since Logopolis, when we were last on contemporary Earth, and just as being in the layby worked wonders for my interest there, I love this chance to take a look at 1980s Heathrow Airport for a bit. It’s cautious that it looks so dated — and I don’t just mean because it’s 40 years ago, it looks dated for the time. I was a bit disappointed that we don’t get a repeat of the TARDIS materialising on the runway from The Faceless Ones, largely because I’d misremembered the sequence in which the TARDIS hangs in the air as being closer to that earlier example, and I think it would be the perfect culmination to a season of Tegan begging to go to Heathrow — you couldn’t get any closer to the action.
But once the ship has materialised in the middle of the terminal, and it sticks out simply because it’s so out of place in this setting, I was totally sold on the idea. I love the idea of Doctor Who doing something as simple as popping out to get a newspaper, and this incarnation looks especially suited to it. I love the lofty way he misses the guards heading towards them because he’s too busy checking out the cricket scores. I think I also quite like the idea that he saves a lot of repetitive questioning by simply getting the airport security to give UNIT a call so they can vouch for him. In some ways it feels like a cop out, but in others I think it’s exactly what you’d do in that situation.
And it’s odd that he’s so unwilling to let the police take a look in the TARDIS, given how willing he’s been to let any old guest star in over the last few stories…!
The thing is, the episode genuinely falls apart the second we go from real life filmed locations to a bunch of actors mugging around on a ropey ‘prehistoric Earth’ set. Everything looks so flat right from the off, and the difference in the material is particularly stark because of the bright wintery conditions on location — compare how bright everything looks when Doctor Who and friends emerge from the Concorde compared to the dodgy CSO shot of them trying to see through the illusion. I wonder if this would work better shot out on Dartmoor, so it could at least feel as impressive as the airport material?
Overall, it’s a mixed bag and I think a bang-on-average score of 5/10 is about the best I can offer.
Time-Flight — Part Two
A few years ago there was a big hoo-hah around the question of whether liking The Talons of Weng-Chiang made you racist, on account of John Bennett being made up to appear Chinese in the role of Chang. When I watched the story back in August I decided that it was possible to enjoy the story — and the performance — while acknowledging that it wasn’t a practice you should encourage, and which you wouldn’t get away with today. There was a similar furore a few years earlier about The Celestial Toymaker, which seemed largely to be inspired by a deliberate misreading of the use of ‘Celestial’ in the title.
What I can’t believe is that I’ve never seen this story called out for the portrayal of an Asian character by a white actor, in this case Anthony Ainley taking on the role of Kalid. It’s a particularly broad portrayal — probably the broadest that Ainley gives during his time in the series — and I think it comes across as fairly offensive. If nothing else it’s leaning heavily into stereotypes and not with the kind of intentional commentary which was present in Talons’ script. I’m not one to take offense quickly, but even I’m watching this and finding it difficult to get along with.
I think what makes it even worse is that there’s no reason — as far as I can see — for he Master to even be dressed up as a character, let alone a broad Asian stereotype. He’s already wearing his disguise in Part One when Doctor Who arrives on the Concorde, which rather gives the impression that he’s doing it simply because he fancies it. Perhaps he picks a different nationality every day, and this just happens to be the day we join him?
For me, this isn’t the thing which bothers me the most in this episode. This one is home to my single least favourite line of dialogue in old Doctor Who, when the vision of the Melkur appears to scare Nyssa and Tegan;
Tegan: ‘What is it?’
Nyssa: ‘Melkur. What comes from it killed my father.’
It might not stand out to you as especially bad. Certainly there’s a fair few other lines across the history of the programme which would give it a run for its money. But it stuck out to be as so bad when I did my last marathon that I’ve never forgotten it. It stuck in my mind and when I did The Keeper of Traken the other week I kept thinking about it every time the melkur was on screen.
It bothers me so much because it’s not a natural thing to say in the slightest. Nyssa says it as though Tegan has never encountered the Master before, or has no idea what a TARDIS is. That line would be so much better had she said ‘the Master used it to kill my father’ or even ‘it’s the Master’s TARDIS’.
While we’re busy rewriting the script, I promised to give you my take on how you rewrite these episodes as better while retaining almost all the elements they currently include;
- You have Tegan’s pleading to go back as save Adric cut short by the TARDIS being caught up in the time disturbance, rather than by Doctor Who suggesting a holiday to Victorian London. The three of them have to work together to get the ship through unscathed, and when things calm down, the scanner isn’t working. The only way to know what’s outside is to open the door.
- Outside the ship is the runway at Heathrow Airport — and there’s a plane coming in to land! Doctor Who slams the door shut and does a short hop into the Terminal, and the box is surrounded by security. He tries to have them call UNIT for his credentials but they can’t get through. Tegan notices there’s a few things wrong with the airport, but she can’t put her finger on exactly what.
- Eventually the illusion shatters — they’re not in Heathrow at all, they’re on prehistoric Earth, and there’s a mysterious structure off in the distance. They discover the TARDIS being taken there and give chase.
- On the way into the building they’re taunted by nightmarish visions. Nyssa sees Melkur and a Terrileptil. Tegan sees the Mara. Doctor Who sees the Master. They push through the visions, but eventually turn the corner to find Adric standing there. ‘Why didn’t you save me?’ he asks, and the trio realise that this is their chance to say goodbye to the boy. Tegan apologises for being argumentative with him. Nyssa admits she underestimated him. Doctor Who thanks him for saving the Earth from the Cyberman fleet.
- Eventually the Adric vision vanishes, and they find themselves face-to-face with the Master again. But this time he’s not a vision — it’s the real thing, and he’s got his Tissue Compression Eliminator pointed directly at them!
Obviously that condenses two whole episodes into one, which means I’d have to find more material to fill out the rest of the story, but I think it would tighten everything up while giving the characters closure over Adric’s death at the same time. Everybody wins, and it avoids the problem of a potentially racist performance of Kalid and I’d be able to cut my least favourite line ever.
What comes from this is a 2/10.
