Day 311 – November 7th 2021
Frontios Parts One and Two
Frontios – Part One
I’ve been looking forward to this one, but there’s been a bit of trepidation, too. I recalled liking Frontios during my last marathon, but the double whammy of Logopolis and Castrovalva last month convinced me that Christopher Bidmead might just be my least favourite Old Testament writer for the show. This one could go either way!
I’m pleased to report that I’ve really enjoyed this episode – to the point that I’ll be going with a 9/10 for it.
It’s one of those occasions where everything seems to come together just right. The most impressive things for me are the sets, which feel really rather special. This is another entirely studio-based planet, which could be a risk following a story with lots of lovely location work, but I totally buy this as a place. There’s some especially great glass paintings on display which really add to the overall effect, too, especially inside the Colony Ship which feels genuinely vast in places.
The whole of Frontios is rather drab and grey but then that’s the point – this feels like a world worn down by thirty years of bombardments, and it means that when we do get flashes of colour they make all the difference. There’s some green in the lighting early on which really stands out, and I can recall some similarly brilliant use of the lighting later on in the story.
If there’s one place that the design falls a little short for me then it’s the sequences on the roof of the Colony Ship. The set itself is impressive, and looks a decent size, but they’ve taken the decision to make the sky a flat bright white across the background. It has the unfortunate effect of looking as though they’ve simply forgotten to key in something a bit more dramatic. I wonder if it would be possible to do something about that when it comes to the Blu-Ray release? I think some ominous swirling clouds would make all the difference in these sequences. Still, it’s a minor quibble.
Aside from the sets the other thing which this episode gets right is the interaction between the TARDIS crew, which feels more natural and real than in any other episode since John Nathan-Turner took over. They talk to each other as though they’re real people, and while there’s still a hint of tension between the trio which suggests they’re not the most comfortable travelling companions, it works so much better than the bickering which plagued Season Nineteen. I think the best example is the opening TARDIS scene, in which Doctor Who avoids upsetting Tegan but Turlough is more than happy to be a little insensitive;
Doctor Who: ‘Veruna is where one of the last surviving groups of mankind
took shelter in the great… er... Yes. Well, I suppose you’ve got all that to
look forward to, haven’t you.’
Tegan: ‘In the great what, Doctor?’
Doctor Who: ‘All civilisations have their ups and downs.’
Turlough: ‘Fleeing from the imminence of a catastrophic collision with the
sun, a group of refugees from the doomed planet Earth…’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, that’s enough, Turlough.’
I also love the interplay between Doctor Who and Turlough when it comes to the lighting in the medical area. It seems to latch onto the idea that Turlough is an alien without having him resort to the kind of technobabble which so often marked Nyssa’s dialogue.
Indeed the dialogue is great across the board in this one, and Davison is the recipient of some of the best. I love his description of the TARDIS as ‘about as offensive as a chicken vol-au-vent’, and he gets one of his best speeches when trying to help even though he knows he shouldn’t;
Range: ‘It’s very good of you to help us.’
Doctor Who: ‘I’m not helping, officially. And if anyone happens to ask whether
I made any material difference to the welfare of this planet, you can tell them I came and went like a summer cloud.’
This episode also marks the return of something very special – Doctor Who sticks his glasses on! I’ve been trying to recall when he last wore them and I think it might have been as far back as Castrovalva, which would suggest that we definitely have Bidmead to thank for their reappearance.
Frontios – Part Two
This one is filled with images and moments which I just know would have stuck with me if I’d seen it as a child – and I think it’s probably the most effective episode of Doctor Who we’ve had like that in a very long time.
The Plantagenet being sucked into the ground is genuinely scary, and I love Norna’s description of the Earth being hungry which sets us up for the moment. There’s something poetic about the idea and the way it’s presented. No wonder there’s an episode in the New Testament called The Hungry Earth – we know Chris Chibnall was watching the show at this time, and I’m willing to bet he was inspired.
Then there’s the brilliant moment in which two bits of the scenery turn around to reveal that they’re actually monsters! Ooh, that’s brilliant. I skipped back and watched it again because I wanted to see if it was more obvious when you know what’s coming… but it isn’t! The shells of the Tractators blend perfectly into the background, so their reveal is incredibly effective. I can’t recall the series ever doing this sort of thing before, which is strange because it’s such a simple and striking idea. We get a better look at the creatures towards the end of the episode, and while I’m not sure they’re the best monster costumes we’ve ever had I’m totally on board with them. I’m invested enough in the story to go along with them.
I think the most effective thing in this episode is actually Mark Strickson – this is definitely his strongest story so far, and it repositions Turkough’s place in the show cleverly. Bidmead makes the most of the fact that Turlough is an alien, in a way that I really don’t think any other writer ever has. Sure we’ve had passing references to his own planet before now, but here he’s presented as being clever like Doctor Who, and competent too. Early in the episode he used the TARDIS’ hat stand to fend off an attack by the guards of Frontios, and it’s a brilliant moment.
But his best sequence comes later, when his mind has snapped at the thought of the Tractators. When I say that I’m completely bought into the idea of them no matter how effective the costumes are, a lot of that is squarely thanks to Strickson’s performance. There’s something genuinely terrifying about the sight of him paralysed with fear, and it’s the most interesting thing they’ve done with a companion in years. When I said during Part One that I could remember some more striking work with the green lighting in this story, it was this scene I could recall. It’s stuck with me in the eight years since I last saw the story, and a lot of that is down to Strickson.
Tegan gets a good showing in this one, too. Separating her from Doctor Who works wonders, and allows her to be far more proactive than in pretty much any other episode she’s had so far. It’s Tegan who discovers the ‘Deaths Unaccountable’ and is forced to hold her own against Brazen. By the end, when she’s making her own way into the tunnels to explore what’s going on I was realising that this is how the companions used to be written. She even gets to be part of one of the memorable visuals in this episode, as the hand of a dying man clasps her ankle as he begs for water.
I think this might be the strongest outing for Davison as Doctor Who, too. Bidmead has really nailed the frustrated demeanour of this incarnation, and I think Davison is so good in this one because it’s been written to his strengths. He also gets to spend a chunk of this episode being an actual doctor – rigging up a defibrillator in an attempt to save the Plantagenet’s life. His modest response – ‘Not a word to the Time Lords...’ – just feels perfect. My favourite moment for him here, though, comes right at the start when he’s discovered that the TARDIS has been destroyed and spins around to find himself facing a firing squad;
Doctor Who: ‘Oh, marvellous. You’re going to kill me. What a finely tuned response to the situation.’
This one was on track for a nine, but the more I think about it, the more it has to be a full 10/10.
