Who In Review: The Mysterious Planet

Colin Baker's time on the show has always been divisive. It marked a point in the series when scripts tended to lean more toward pandering to what the vocal areas of fandom claimed they wanted, an increase in violence which mirrored the direction popular cinema was taking, and a tendency toward visual excess, be it Colin's garish costume and Nicola's plunging neckline, the OTT characters (and their wardrobes) or the less-than-subtle commentaries on contemporary society. Colin Baker's era was big, bright and bold, whether you liked it or not, and his relationship with his companions was equally extreme. The 6th Doctor's treatment of Peri throughout Season 22 has often been criticised for having the pair bicker and fight, and I've always thought that, whilst having the Doctor and his companion not get on after he's regenerated is a good idea, within a few stories they need to have accepted each other or replaced the companion (it's a mistake Moffat repeated with Capaldi's first series). It's probably this which is at least partly responsible for my favourite 6th Doctor story being the opening instalment of The Trial Of A Time Lord, aka

The Mysterious Planet

Robert Holmes' tales of petty criminals, oppressed societies and the fate of Earth in the far distant future had been told many times over since he began writing for the series and this, his final full serial, recalls many of his earlier scripts as far back as his debut with The Krotons. It would be unfair to call it a reworking of that story (in the same way it would be unfair to call The Caves Of Androzani a reworking of The Power Of Kroll), but many of the same themes feature - a small group of human(oid)s being ruled over by a logical machine creature with its own agenda, kept in the dark about the world outside their habitat and giving up their two brightest students to aid their ruler. So far, so similar, but whilst the Gonds had never dared venture into the 'poisoned' wastes outside their city, Marb Station's Merdeen has been smuggling people up to the surface rather than culling them, and given the ages of many of the Tribe of the Free, he isn't the first.

The Tribe of the Free is one of my favourite things about The Mysterious Planet. For all intents and purposes a matriarchal, Saxon-type community, they look fantastic with wonderful costume design and some particularly nice warrior masks on show. Another example of JNT's 'stunt casting', Joan Sims brings a strength and believability to Queen Katryca thanks to her usually being the straight-woman in the Carry On films for which she was best known. She takes the part seriously, conveying the amusement of a leader well versed in the claims of star travellers interested in the Tribe's Great Totem and the Immortal in his Castle when interrogating both Glitz and the Doctor. The character is ruthless but fair and single minded when it comes to the welfare of her people. Granted, she loses some of that gravitas when she steps down from her throne and leads her warriors to attack the Immortal, but she's an ageing leader who's doubtfully gone into battle in years, if at all, and so looks no more ridiculous than any past-their-prime character in anything from Game Of Thrones to Beowulf to Robin Of Sherwood. Equally, Tom Chadbon brings a sense of pathos to Underground Dweller Merdeen, slightly hunched and dead-eyed, during his scenes. His interactions with Drathro are that of a man carrying out a relentlessly unfulfilling job and his performance is crucial in underlining how repressed the people of Marb Station are.

As I stated earlier, one of the things which makes The Mysterious Planet Colin's best story for me is the relationship his Doctor has with Peri during these episodes. Previously, the closest the pair had got to having a believable friendship was in The Mark Of The Rani. Every other story featured bickering, whining and arguing which distracted from the plot. My second favourite 6th Doctor serial, Revelation Of The Daleks, only succeeded by featuring very little of either lead in the first episode and separating them for most of the second. From the offset, the Doctor and Peri seem closer, happier and more laid back, which is how they should have been from Vengeance On Varos onwards at the very least. This makes the 6th Doctor a much more likeable character and Peri much less annoying. It's a shame their dress sense hasn't improved, but scenes such as the pair walking arm in arm through the woodland of Ravolox or discussing the fate of the Earth with Colin's quite frankly wonderful 'Nothing can be eternal' speech are exactly what was missing from the previous series. The 6th Doctor is brilliant throughout this story - caring, considerate and reasonable; not things you could say in abundance about previous episodes. Likewise, Peri seems much more clued up. Stuck with Glitz and Dibber for a lot of the story, she's a lot less whiny than before and has Glitz sussed pretty early on.

Glitz and Dibber are another one of Holmes' great double acts, and I think they tend to be rather overlooked in favour of the likes of Jago and Litefoot or Garron and Unstoffe. As usual, it's a case of the blustery one and the deadpan one (see also Gatherer Hade and Marn, Morgus and Timmin). Tony Selby is great as Glitz, albeit as a stereotype common in 80s Who, but Glen Murphy's Dibber gets all the best lines - the discussion on philanthropists is Holmes at his best:

GLITZ: Don't I look like a Philanthropist?

DIBBER: Well how do I know? I've never seen one.

GLITZ: A Philanthropist, my son, is someone who gives away all their Grotzits out

of the simple goodness of their heart.

DIBBER: Oh, you mean they're stupid. Oh yeah, you probably do look like one, then.

I'd argue that Murphy is one of the best pieces of casting seen during the 80s and it's a shame Dibber never returned. I reckon he'd've worked quite well alongside Ace!

As usual for me, locations are hugely important in a story, and here we have the gorgeous Butser Ancient Farm Project standing in as the village of the Tribe of the Free. As an Historian and a fan of Saxon and Norse history, I always enjoy seeing aspects of it appear in Doctor Who and the roundhouses seen here are beautiful. The same can be said about the scenes in the Autumnal woodlands of Queen Elizabeth Country Park - there may be a lot of running around in this story, but it's running through some breathtaking scenery! The set design for the ruined entrance to Marble Arch Tube Station is also wonderfully realised and Drathro himself is quite a feat of engineering, possibly the best robot from the Classic run. For me, everything falls into the right place with The Mysterious Planet making it a fantastic opener to The Trial Of A Time Lord.

Speaking of which, I guess I'd better say a word or two about the actual story into which The Mysterious Planet fits.

It was always going to be a flawed concept - 'the show's on trial so let's make the over-arcing theme the trial of the Doctor'. At any other point in the show's history, this might have worked, but it really isn't the greatest way to reboot the programme and try to attract a dwindling audience. That said, in the first few episodes the courtroom scenes aren't too intrusive and the opening model shot is justifiably stunning. The Doctor's childish taunts of the Valeyard hark back to his character from the previous year and are somewhat at odds with how we see him in the 'evidence', Michael Jayston is a little hammy as the Valeyard but Lynda Bellingham is brilliant as the Inquisitor, often exasperated but always authoritarian. The 'crash-zoom on Colin' cliffhangers are a bit naff but given that they tended to be a staple of the Sixth Doctor's era that can't really be helped. To be honest, as is probably apparent from what I've written above, my focus during these episodes is on the adventure and not the story arc and I'd love to see a version of The Mysterious Planet (and the two stories which followed) edited as an feature-length episode without the Trial sequences (and, in the case of the latter two sections, excised of the 'false evidence' sequences*). The Trial Of A Time Lord Parts 1-4 was a great start to Colin's final season and, for me, the highlight of his time in the role. It features some great production, great characters and some inspired casting, gorgeous locations and a solid adventure, and most importantly, a 'Doctorish' Doctor travelling with his best friend. It's a shame that what followed would largely be a downward spiral to an incomprehensible conclusion and the unceremonious sacking of the show's lead. Colin deserved better, but at least he got the chance to show how amazing he could be and was given the chance to follow that through with his Big Finish audios.

*This piece was written before the release of Season 23 on BluRay for which a Trial-free version of Parts 9-12 was put together.