Day 318 — November 14th 2021
The Caves of Androzani Parts Three and Four
The Caves of Androzani — Part Three
I think it’s generally accepted that the Magma Beast is the weak link in this story. I thought it looked pretty rubbish in the cliffhanger to the last episode, but watching it again in the reprise here it’s even worse than I thought. The design isn’t so bad in itself, but the execution is one of the worst monsters we’ve ever had — the head is far too static and lifeless, and the body looks like exactly what it is; a bloke wandering around in an ill-fitting costume.
And it’s fairly unforgivable, because I honestly don’t know what the monster adds to the story. I can’t think of anything that would happen if you lost it other than making the story better. It doesn’t kill off anyone important, it’s not an obstacle that Doctor Who or Peri have to face. And it’s not like the Davison Era has been particularly heavy on the monster front, so it’s not as though it’s there for the sake of giving him one last creature to battle with.
All in all it makes the cliffhanger to Part Two one of the weakest ever.
But that’s not the end of the world, because the cliifhanger to this episode is right at the other end of the spectrum, up there with the very best.
Stotz: ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t.’
Doctor Who: ‘Not a very persuasive argument actually, Stotz, because I’m going to die soon anyway. Unless, of course…’
Stotz: ‘I’ll give you to a count of three.’
Doctor Who: ‘Unless, of course, I can find the antidote. I owe it to my friend to try because I got her into this. So you see, I’m not going to let you stop me now!’
Stotz: ‘Three!’
My favourite thing about the entire sequence — even above the sheer drama and tension of it — is something I didn’t even notice myself. It was pointed out by Clayton Hickman in a DVD special feature years ago, and I’ve never been able to forget it. When Doctor Who first starts the ship on its collision course back to the planet below the regeneration effect begins to appear in his vision, but he shakes it off. It’s a little subtle thing, and I don’t think you’d ever realise it on a first viewing until you know what the regeneration looks like, but it’s something really rather special.
8/10
The Caves of Androzani — Part Four
Graeme Harper has been quoted in the past as saying that his intention with the regeneration sequence in this episode was to channel The Beatles’ A Day in the Life, and I can totally see that when I’m watching now. It’s true of the final moments of the Fifth Doctor Who’s life especially, but I think the last half of this episode is all about building up to the crescendo. It must be about the most dramatic ten minutes in the entire Old Testament, as the stakes are raised higher and higher, and it becomes increasingly apparent that there’s no way our hero can make it out of this one alive.
It’s helped along by the direction, which I think I’ve finally gotten used to after four episodes, just in time for it to go back to the usual standard tomorrow! There’s a particularly brilliant moment early on where Peter Davison tears across the landscape as bullets fire at his feet. It’s all shot incredibly close up, and feels so much more exciting than usual. Indeed, that entire chase across the planet’s surface is incredible, including a moment where Doctor Who tumbles down a huge sand bank which I can’t believe I’d forgotten. That’s the shot I wanted of the Kamelion-Master in the last story! It’s made me realise how few stunts like this we get in the show these days, when a decade earlier they’d been one of the key selling points.
I’m also amazed by just how much I’ve enjoyed that everyone (except the only two female cast members, notably) dies in this one. I can’t say I particularly cared one way or the other when most of the cast bit the dust in Resurrection of the Daleks the other day, but here it all adds to the growing sense of inevitibility. I’d have understood if Tegan had wanted to chuck it all in at the end of this episode! Some of the deaths are proper nasty, and I was genuinely shocked by some of them. When Stotz turned back to shoot his former allies it was a really exciting revelation for me that basically anything could happen now.
Sharaz Jek is well served by this final episode, and the reveal of his mutilated face feels like a decent payoff to the build up it’s given earlier in the episode. I couldn’t remember what the make up looked like, so I worried it might be a Magma Beast situation where it really lets the side down, but thankfully not. Christopher Gable’s performance continues to shine right through to the end and I think it’s a great shame he never appeared in the show again as another character, because he’s absolutely one of the best guest actors we’ve ever had.
As for the regeneration itself… God, it’s got to be the best one in the Old Testament, hasn’t it? The sheer excitement and tension of those final moments, as Doctor Who’s friends all pop out of his head to try and guide him towards his next incarnation is joyous. There’s something oddly fitting about his final word being ‘Adric’, and I think it’s the best example of the ‘montage in the final moments’ idea they’ve ever done. My absolute favourite thing about the regeneration, though, is Peter Davison himself. There’s something so brilliant about his performance here. When he tells Peri that there was only enough antidote to cure her and not him, there’s a flash of anger to his tone which we’ve not seen since the days of The Visitation. There it really bothered me. Here, as he lies dying, it’s strangely exciting to see this incarnation let the facade slip a little.
By the time Colin Baker sits up at the end (‘and it seems not a moment too soon’) I think I’m more engaged with the show than I have been in ages, and that’s in spite of Season Twenty-One faring especially well with me. In hindsight the decision to give Colin four episodes at the end of this season was probably the wrong idea, but the thought of having to wait nine months for more Doctor Who after the sheer emotion of these final minutes is unbearable.
Absolutely a 10/10.
