The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate: Part One (03/01/21)
Back after New Year and the Doctor, Romana, K9 and Adric are still stuck in E-Space. It was quite nice after the short break to have the Doctor and Romana briefly recap the story so far - Romana called back to Gallifrey, and Adric from E-Space and now travelling with them.
First, though, we got a terribly atmospheric opening sequence on board a freighter transporting Leonid aliens which seem to be used by the Human crew as navigators. Their ship seems to have been trapped in a void for months, unable to escape. Their Captain, Rorvik, seems a bit of a hard case, choosing to risk killing the navigator, Biroc, in order to push through to N-Space. They failed and Biroc survived and escaped when he was taken to recover by two of the crew. Leaving the freighter, he entered the TARDIS (because he was out of phase with the time line) and took it into the void. The freighter crew picked it up on their scanner and went to investigate.
There's been a lot of talk about the I Ching and Jung which fits nicely with the peculiar atmosphere. The Doctor has followed Biroc through the void to a Medieval banqueting hall drenched in cobwebs where he's been attacked by a suit of armour!
The set and costume design is rather beautiful, the functional boilersuits of the crew and Rorvik's uniform contrasting very nicely with Biroc who looks very much like the Beast from 'La Belle et la Bête', the functional freighter reminiscent of the industrial ship interior from 'Alien', and the banqueting hall very out of place. The void is beautiful and very reminiscent of the first episode of 'The Mind Robber', and Romana's outfit fits well with all the talk of Eastern philosophy. Speaking of talk, she's hinted to Adric that she might leave the Doctor rather than return to Gallifrey! Oh, and K9 has been badly damaged by the Time Winds. It seems the new production team hates him!
This episode looked absolutely amazing, even if it wasn't exactly clear what's happening. It's beautifully paced, though, and brilliantly directed featuring some incredibly striking digital effects such as Biroc's phasing and Aldo and Royce's coin. Visually stunning, let's hope it isn't just style over substance again!
Warriors' Gate: Part Two (10/01/21)
This has to be one of the most abstract and interesting stories since the 60s! The design on it is absolutely stunning - you have the industrial utility of the freighter, the strikingly beautiful off-white of the void, and the Medieval architecture of what I assume is the 'Gateway'.
We had a Romana-centric episode this week. The Doctor spent all his time fannying about with the Gundan Robots, but uncovered some history of the place in the second half: apparently, the robots were sent to battle the Masters who came and enslaved their Makers. Nobody at the banquet was to survive!
Rorvik's team turned up at the Gateway and tried to force out answers, but the Doctor evaded them by following a Gundan through a mirror. Adric did fuck all really. He left the TARDIS with K9 (despite Romana's instruction to stay put) then got left behind helping a damaged K9 triangulate the Doctor's location. There was a bit of a continuity guff here, since Adric took one of K9's ears to do this, yet when K9 reached the Doctor he still had both!
Overall, it was Romana who stole the show (despite mispronouncing her name as 'Romanavortralundar' (instead of Romanadvoratnelundar as it's always previously been pronounced) when she encountered Rorvik. He took her back to the freighter after they had a very complicated conversation where she painted herself as a mysterious traveller with greater knowledge of travelling the Timelines (which, obviously, she is), but this only resulted in Rorvik assuming she's a Time Sensitive like the Tharils, strapping her to the navigational equipment and being proven right. She showed them an image of the Gateway (which is geographical) which is why they ended up meeting the Doctor.
Meanwhile, comedy duo Aldo and Royce were given charge to prep another Tharil but ended up torturing him, after which he went and attacked Romana.
It's a complex story and you really have to pay attention, but really good because of it. The freighter team both look and act like a group of fed up labourers, too, which adds to the realism in an otherwise very surreal story. I do hope it continues like this and doesn't cop out like so many of its predecessors as, so far, it's one of the best stories in years!
Warriors' Gate: Part Three (17/01/21)
This story is very stylish, the atmosphere is stunning with some very nice visuals. I won't pretend to fully understand what's going on, but then it's one of those stories where that doesn't matter; a bit like 'Sapphire And Steel'.
Rorvik seems to think the mirror in the Gateway is the way out of the white void and plans to blast it with some form of cannon which Lane and Packard went to fetch from the freighter. Adric made his way to the ship and hid under the tarp covering the cannon. The Tharil Aldo and Royce tortured freed Romana and she also hid under the tarp. Royce and Aldo took the cannon outside (there was a lovely piece of play where Aldo conned Royce into pulling from the front while he took the back then didn't bother pushing - it was a nice study of the two characters which made them feel quite real) and Romana discovered that the freighter hull is made of Dwarf Star Alloy (ie - it's very, very heavy). She then sent Adric and K9 (who's returned with Packard and Lane) back to the Gateway before being recaptured then rescued by the Tharil; they then touched hands and faded away, reappearing outside and going into the Gateway.
Meanwhile, the Doctor met Biroc on the other side of the mirror which seems to be a gateway into the past, all ornate gardens in black and white. It looks wonderful and is an interesting idea, although the Bluescreen didn't always work. This is the Gateway at the height of the Tharils' empire when they had the universe as their garden and took Humans as their slaves. Now they're slaves to Humanity and traders like Rorvik, which is a nice piece of symmetry. The Doctor met a Tharil girl, then ended up back in the present somehow with Rorvik's crew and Romana.
Tom's taking the story very seriously. He hasn't been this convincing in years! Adric hasn't done a lot - I'm wondering why they introduced him; it feels a bit like when they introduced Jamie. One other note - as well as this story looking pretty gorgeous, the score is actually quite stunning, one of the best there's been. Great music, great costumes, great sets, great model work, great cast. But I've no idea where all this is going!
Warriors' Gate: Part Four (24/01/21)
I think this was one of the most beautifully shot stories there's ever been! The studio sets and the model work matched up wonderfully, and what model work! The freighter was a gorgeous design, and the Gateway sat in an off-white void looked stunning.
Romana's gone. She's taken K9 as well. It was all very sudden, but when the Doctor made it clear that Rorvik and his crew were slave traders and the Tharils were their trade, I think Romana pretty much decided she was going.
The freighter was causing the void to collapse in on itself due to its hull's weight - Dwarf Star Alloy being the only material Tharils can't penetrate. Adric saved the Doctor, Romana and K9 from Rorvik's crew at the Gateway after a really wonderfully scripted exchange where the Doctor and Rorvik discussed the situation and the Doctor ate a pickle. They returned to the TARDIS and could have dematerialised, but couldn't leave the Tharils enslaved. Rorvik took his crew back to the ship and Sagan, the good-looking one, took over from Aldo and Royce reviving Tharils to navigate (on Rorvik's instructions), killing three of them.
The Doctor and Romana went to try and stop Rorvik from trying to blast through the mirror using the ships engines (it wouldn't have worked as it only leads into the Tharils' domain and can't be traversed by non-Time Sensitives like Humans) by shorting cables exposed in the damaged hull, and encountered Rorvik who kicked the Doctor in the face and tried to strangle him. Then Biroc turned up and said to do nothing, phasing himself, the Doctor and Romana out of the ship.
Lazlo, the once-scarred Tharil retrieved the remaining Tharils, and it was interesting that Sagan was the only member of the crew we actually saw die, electrocuted by Lazlo with the equipment he'd been using to electrocute the Tharils. The rest of the crew, including Rorvik, were blown up offscreen when the back blast bounced back and destroyed everything. Part of me feels sorry for the likes of Aldo, Royce, Packard and Lane but, ultimately, they were willingly participating in the enslavement of an intelligent species regardless of how likeable they may have been as individuals.
The Doctor returned to the TARDIS where Romana revealed she was staying with Biroc to free his enslaved people in E-Space, taking K9 as he could only exist beyond the mirror. And the Doctor left with Adric, back to N-Space and travelling with only a male companion for the first time since the 60s! At least this should give Adric room to develop as a character.
Romana's leaving scene was brief but poignant, and we at least got to see her with a recovered K9 beyond the mirror. I think I'm going to miss her. K9 too. She worked really well with Tom's Doctor. And at least she got a great final story; possibly the best serial we've had in years!
Confusing but classy, it really is one of the best stories the classic series produced, with breadth of vision and scope of ambition being surprisingly well matched by the abilities at the time, at least in the hands of an innovative director. (Even if it did cost him his job and basically any future at the BBC.) The novelisation makes much more sense of everything than the TV story does, but the latter is still brilliant, and very stylishly done for all the reasons you point out. In his third-last story, Tom Baker is still looking rather washed out but puts in a suitably serious performance, only cracking - by design? Who knows, but I'd like to think not - as the Doctor and Romana part ways.
ReplyDeleteI've been very off and on with Tom's performances as the Doctor. His portrayal has no continuity, how seriously he takes the part depending on his opinion of the script/director/other actors (take your pick). He also looks very drained in this season. Obviously this is in part because he was very ill during filming (Meglos?) and hadn't fully recovered, but I think it's also because he isn't getting on at all with the new Production Team, has made the decision to leave, and can't wait to go. Walking away from a show which has not only been regular work for over half a decade is difficult enough, never mind it being a role which has shot him to stardom, so I can understand why he looks so miserable and tired most of the time. That said, here he gives one of his best performances. His exchange with Rorvik at the start of Part Four is quite brilliant, likewise the preceding discussion with Biroc at the banquet. He's clearly responding to the complexity of the script and the quality of the Director. He's probably impressed that the Tharil design is a tribute to a classic French film, too. I can imagine him liking that, especially since they look so good. Having rewatched it in context, I think Warriors' Gate has actually gone up in my estimation and is certainly one of my favourite stories from Tom's era. With only two more stories to go, I'm wondering whether my opinion of them will also improve...
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