The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Time Warrior
The Time Warrior: Part One (15/12/13)
New series; new opening titles! And we're back in the Middle Ages where an alien called Linx, a Sontaran, has landed his small, round, damaged ship and enlisted the help of a local Lord, Irongron, to help him fix it. Seems he's able to travel forward in time, though, as he's kidnapping scientists from a space research institute and, obviously, the Brigadier and the Doctor are investigating.
Overnight, one of the scientists - Rubeish (a rather doddery old fart who's clearly only technically intelligent whilst socially naive) is kidnapped and the Doctor uses his Delta Wave Detector to track the trace back to the Middle Ages in the TARDIS.
Stowed away is a journalist called Sarah Jane Smith who's infiltrated the institute with her virologist Aunt Lavinia's visitor pass in search of a good story. Stepping out the TARDIS and distracting an assassination attempt of Irongron by a poncy local lord's archer, she's been caught by Irongron's men and taken into his castle. The Doctor saw her and followed in time to see Linx remove his space helmet for the first time to reveal a head like a potato!
Very good this week, with great production values, nice location work, good sets and costume, and an interesting plot by Robert Holmes. Sarah Jane Smith looks like she could be interesting, being nosy, forward and opinionated - she's already told the Doctor to stop patronising her and put up a struggle as Irongron's lackey carted her off. Time will tell if she grows as much as Jo as a companion! Some good banter between the Doctor and the Brigadier, too. Off to a promising start!
The Time Warrior: Part Two (22/12/13)
This story's progressing quite well. Linx hypnotised Sarah and learnt about the Doctor when he asked how she got there. She's had some great dialogue so far, standing up to Irongron and his lackey Bloodaxe before escaping with Hal the Archer and rallying Hal's lord into raiding Irongron's castle and taking the Doctor (who she thinks is behind the kidnappings due to him having a time machine).
Meanwhile, Linx made a robot for Irongron to kill people with, but it went wrong attacking Hal when the Doctor shot the controls from Irongron's hands (thus facilitating Hal's escape with Sarah). Then the Doctor found Linx's workshop, had a nosy round while Linx was out and found Rubeish, who didn't get hypnotised like all the others because he's blind as a bat! Linx came back and caught the Doctor, shooting him, then interrogating him.
The Doctor named his home planet for the first time, too! It's called Gallifrey. The Sontarans have heard of it but regard it as a waste of time invading. Linx stuck a control device on the Doctor, set him doing some work, and buggered off again. Then Rubeish turned up again and, eventually, managed to free the Doctor. Rubeish, it seems, is very much the comedy character in this story! The Doctor legged it at the same time that Hal and Sarah led the raid on the castle, and Irongron's men chased the Doctor all around the courtyard. However, he fell over and the cliffhanger saw him about to get it from Irongron's axe.
Entertaining, exciting, with great dialogue and a good pace, but that's what I've come to expect from Robert Holmes. Think I may grow to like Sarah, as she's quite a contrast to Jo; more forceful and gobby, and they've already set her up for a very different relationship with the Doctor. Good signs!
The Time Warrior: Part Three (29/12/13)
The plot's still going strong; Hal and Sarah Jane saved the Doctor by shooting the axe from Irongron's hand. They then captured him themselves and took him to Sir Edward's castle where he explained that he wasn't helping Irongron but Linx was, and agreed to help fend off Irongron's attack later that day. The Doctor and Sarah had a good chat while making stink bombs and dummies which developed Sarah's character some and let Pertwee show a fun side to the Doctor which hasn't often been seen during all the UNIT stories. Then they fought off the attack and arranged to infiltrate Irongron's castle to free the scientists and stop Linx.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of good dialogue between Irongron and Linx throughout the episode, but the best bit was Irongron's conversation with Bloodaxe, who was given some of the funniest lines in the story! Anyway, the Doctor and Sarah disguised themselves as friars to gain entry to Irongron's castle and went down to the workshop where the met Rubeish and found the scientists half dead through starvation (or something).
Sarah's got another costume, making that the third in as many episodes, but their de-hypnotising the scientists was interrupted by Linx returning. Sarah and Rubeish hid, but the Doctor confronted Linx when he threatened to kill a scientist. The Doctor attempted to make a deal with Linx, but Linx just shot him in the face instead! Bit harsh.
All very good, although Sir Edward's wig has to be seen to be believed, and the guy guarding Irongron's castle made a right mess of some distinctly dodgy lines. However, all in all very good.
The Time Warrior: Part Four (05/01/14)
Well, that was really quite good! Sarah stopped Linx from blasting the Doctor enough to kill him then, while he was down, the Doctor explained how to stun a Sontaran (by twatting it on the Probic Vent on the back of its neck) giving Professor Rubeish chance to do so. Sarah infiltrated the kitchen and had some comedy dialogue with the silly serving wenches and drugged the stew.
Irongron requested Linx's presence, but as he was tied up, the Doctor dressed up as the fighting robot and went instead, purely (it would seem) so Mr Pertwee could have a cool fighting sequence. Sarah rescued him with a chandelier.
Then they all buggered off and returned once everyone was drugged, transported the scientists home, had a fight with Linx and evacuated the castle. Irongron blamed Linx for the drugging, confronted him and was shot dead, and Hal shot an arrow into Linx's Probic Vent as he got into his ship. The Doctor, Sarah and Hal legged it and the ship and castle blew up!
Very cool, although you didn't see the wenches getting warned so they're probably dead, too... All in all, a great start to the new series. Sarah's quite good and it was nice to have a purely historical setting - previously with Mr Pertwee we've only had brief glimpses into history and then only in 'The Time Monster' and 'Carnival Of Monsters', and I'm not sure the latter actually counts. Hopefully we'll see a few more excursions back in time. Lots of great location work and a brilliant alien. Good signs for what's to come!
New series; new opening titles! And we're back in the Middle Ages where an alien called Linx, a Sontaran, has landed his small, round, damaged ship and enlisted the help of a local Lord, Irongron, to help him fix it. Seems he's able to travel forward in time, though, as he's kidnapping scientists from a space research institute and, obviously, the Brigadier and the Doctor are investigating.
Overnight, one of the scientists - Rubeish (a rather doddery old fart who's clearly only technically intelligent whilst socially naive) is kidnapped and the Doctor uses his Delta Wave Detector to track the trace back to the Middle Ages in the TARDIS.
Stowed away is a journalist called Sarah Jane Smith who's infiltrated the institute with her virologist Aunt Lavinia's visitor pass in search of a good story. Stepping out the TARDIS and distracting an assassination attempt of Irongron by a poncy local lord's archer, she's been caught by Irongron's men and taken into his castle. The Doctor saw her and followed in time to see Linx remove his space helmet for the first time to reveal a head like a potato!
Very good this week, with great production values, nice location work, good sets and costume, and an interesting plot by Robert Holmes. Sarah Jane Smith looks like she could be interesting, being nosy, forward and opinionated - she's already told the Doctor to stop patronising her and put up a struggle as Irongron's lackey carted her off. Time will tell if she grows as much as Jo as a companion! Some good banter between the Doctor and the Brigadier, too. Off to a promising start!
The Time Warrior: Part Two (22/12/13)
This story's progressing quite well. Linx hypnotised Sarah and learnt about the Doctor when he asked how she got there. She's had some great dialogue so far, standing up to Irongron and his lackey Bloodaxe before escaping with Hal the Archer and rallying Hal's lord into raiding Irongron's castle and taking the Doctor (who she thinks is behind the kidnappings due to him having a time machine).
Meanwhile, Linx made a robot for Irongron to kill people with, but it went wrong attacking Hal when the Doctor shot the controls from Irongron's hands (thus facilitating Hal's escape with Sarah). Then the Doctor found Linx's workshop, had a nosy round while Linx was out and found Rubeish, who didn't get hypnotised like all the others because he's blind as a bat! Linx came back and caught the Doctor, shooting him, then interrogating him.
The Doctor named his home planet for the first time, too! It's called Gallifrey. The Sontarans have heard of it but regard it as a waste of time invading. Linx stuck a control device on the Doctor, set him doing some work, and buggered off again. Then Rubeish turned up again and, eventually, managed to free the Doctor. Rubeish, it seems, is very much the comedy character in this story! The Doctor legged it at the same time that Hal and Sarah led the raid on the castle, and Irongron's men chased the Doctor all around the courtyard. However, he fell over and the cliffhanger saw him about to get it from Irongron's axe.
Entertaining, exciting, with great dialogue and a good pace, but that's what I've come to expect from Robert Holmes. Think I may grow to like Sarah, as she's quite a contrast to Jo; more forceful and gobby, and they've already set her up for a very different relationship with the Doctor. Good signs!
The Time Warrior: Part Three (29/12/13)
The plot's still going strong; Hal and Sarah Jane saved the Doctor by shooting the axe from Irongron's hand. They then captured him themselves and took him to Sir Edward's castle where he explained that he wasn't helping Irongron but Linx was, and agreed to help fend off Irongron's attack later that day. The Doctor and Sarah had a good chat while making stink bombs and dummies which developed Sarah's character some and let Pertwee show a fun side to the Doctor which hasn't often been seen during all the UNIT stories. Then they fought off the attack and arranged to infiltrate Irongron's castle to free the scientists and stop Linx.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of good dialogue between Irongron and Linx throughout the episode, but the best bit was Irongron's conversation with Bloodaxe, who was given some of the funniest lines in the story! Anyway, the Doctor and Sarah disguised themselves as friars to gain entry to Irongron's castle and went down to the workshop where the met Rubeish and found the scientists half dead through starvation (or something).
Sarah's got another costume, making that the third in as many episodes, but their de-hypnotising the scientists was interrupted by Linx returning. Sarah and Rubeish hid, but the Doctor confronted Linx when he threatened to kill a scientist. The Doctor attempted to make a deal with Linx, but Linx just shot him in the face instead! Bit harsh.
All very good, although Sir Edward's wig has to be seen to be believed, and the guy guarding Irongron's castle made a right mess of some distinctly dodgy lines. However, all in all very good.
The Time Warrior: Part Four (05/01/14)
Well, that was really quite good! Sarah stopped Linx from blasting the Doctor enough to kill him then, while he was down, the Doctor explained how to stun a Sontaran (by twatting it on the Probic Vent on the back of its neck) giving Professor Rubeish chance to do so. Sarah infiltrated the kitchen and had some comedy dialogue with the silly serving wenches and drugged the stew.
Irongron requested Linx's presence, but as he was tied up, the Doctor dressed up as the fighting robot and went instead, purely (it would seem) so Mr Pertwee could have a cool fighting sequence. Sarah rescued him with a chandelier.
Then they all buggered off and returned once everyone was drugged, transported the scientists home, had a fight with Linx and evacuated the castle. Irongron blamed Linx for the drugging, confronted him and was shot dead, and Hal shot an arrow into Linx's Probic Vent as he got into his ship. The Doctor, Sarah and Hal legged it and the ship and castle blew up!
Very cool, although you didn't see the wenches getting warned so they're probably dead, too... All in all, a great start to the new series. Sarah's quite good and it was nice to have a purely historical setting - previously with Mr Pertwee we've only had brief glimpses into history and then only in 'The Time Monster' and 'Carnival Of Monsters', and I'm not sure the latter actually counts. Hopefully we'll see a few more excursions back in time. Lots of great location work and a brilliant alien. Good signs for what's to come!
I'm not sure, but I get the sense that this story is a little underrated; if it is, I don't know why. I'm with you 100% on it. It's a great introduction for Sarah (and it's great to see that Elisabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee are clearly already getting on well), introduces a truly iconic monster in memorable style and has all the best bits of a period drama. In its way it's a template for many a new-series episode, given the 21st-century aversion to pure historicals. The only thing I don't particularly like is the new titles, which have lots of good ideas but none of them joined up very well (figuratively and literally). Still, they're a useful way of signposting that change is upon the series.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about it being underrated - I think that may have a lot to do with it having an historical setting. But it's a really enjoyable new start to the series, a change of pace after the brilliance of the Jo Grant era and Sarah comes across as very different so that any comparisons are difficult to make, which really works in her favour. I agree entirely about the new titles; I find them quite jarring and not a patch on anything that went before. Still, a minor quibble about a damn good serial.
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