The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Castrovalva

 CASTROVALVA (Part One) 04/01/22

It's a new start to the series and a wonderful contrast to the shit K9 story we were fed last week! It wasn't without its faults - the opening scenes as Adric, Nyssa and Tegan carried the newly regenerated Doctor away from the Pharos Project had some horribly stilted dialogue and very dodgy direction, but once everyone was in the TARDIS things started to settle down.

This (so far) is much better than Chris Bidmead's last pitiful effort and actually got the new Doctor off to an interesting start. Peter Davison did some wonderful impressions of the first two Doctors and namechecked Vicki, Jamie and the Brigadier as well as the Ice Warriors!

Nyssa is coming into her own, finally getting to do something (basically run things and figure things out) although it wasn't clear that she knew the TARDIS was a time machine until she actually stated it could travel in time. I mean, why else would she think it inevitable they'd crash into something unless she wasn't aware they were travelling in the Time Vortex (I assume because Bidmead wanted to up the ante and assigned the line to the wrong companion)?

Meanwhile, Adric has been kidnapped by the Master somehow (before he entered the TARDIS or after? It wasn't very well explained - did Adric get kidnapped off screen or was he kidnapped when the Master killed the Pharos security team and the 'Adric' rescued by Nyssa and Tegan just a Block Transfer Computation? Answers on a postcard!).

As for the new Doctor, Davison is quite endearing so far. He has a freshness and clarity which contrast very well with Baker's dour performance from Season 18. There's energy there and the spark of intelligence and curiosity. I think I may like this version!

Anyway, Nyssa and Tegan got the Doctor to the Zero Room (which is a nice concept and pleasantly realised if you ignore the dodgy CSO). Then Nyssa worked out that the Master has had Adric programme the TARDIS to travel back in time to the Big Bang! (Cue cliffhanger). I don't know what the title has to do with any of this but (some dodgy dialogue notwithstanding) this has been a pretty good start to the new era!

OH! And there was this lovely little bit when Adric caught up with the Doctor in the TARDIS where the Doctor said something and Adric flashed this little smile at him. Not a toothy grin or anything, but a really quick smile that said "I know this is weird and you're not making sense and I don't understand this but I'm here to help". It was so naturalistic and if you weren't looking at Matthew you'd have completely missed it, but it was there and was just so sweet and real. It's been a while since there have been so many companions, but compared to 'Robot' where Sarah was completely disinterested in the new Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton seemed out of their depth and Harry barely even figured, this has started really well!

CASTROVALVA (Part Two) 05/01/22

Well, that was a great follow up to yesterday's episode. Don't get me wrong; it was weird seeing two episodes in a row but it was great finding out what happens next the day after Episode One!

The focus has been on Nyssa and Tegan, although Adric's penis has attempted to steal the limelight a few times trussed up in the Master's web! Nyssa seems to have taken charge, which is great as she seems to be the most competent. Tegan is doing pretty well, though, as the bolshy one unwilling to give up. 

A little was made of the fact that the Master inhabits Nyssa's father's body this week, but not quite as much as I think was necessary. The heat inside the TARDIS ignited the Doctor's synapses thus boosting his adrenaline and allowing him to instruct Nyssa on how to get out of the Master's trap (by jettisoning 1/4 of the TARDIS); this was nicely realised, especially the steam which was occasionally difficult to differentiate from being real, specifically in the recap to the cliffhanger where Tegan seemed to blow the steam into spirals when she spoke (elsewhere, it was obviously a superimposed effect). The jettisoning worked, though, and they made it to Dwellings Of Simplicity aka Castrovalva. This bit, displayed on the TARDIS console, didn't make a lot of sense, but it's basically what it says - somewhere simple where the Doctor can recuperate. Unfortunately, the Zero Room was part of the TARDIS that was jettisoned so Nyssa knocked up a cabinet from what remained, and she and Tegan pushed it, containing the Doctor, on a wheelchair (mostly) through some charming woodland where they left it in some bracken while they checked out the cliffs upon which the town of Castrovalva is built, and returned to find the Doctor gone, blood on the grass and the culprits probably some masked hunters that have been stalking them!

On the whole, this story's working out really well, a million miles from the incomprehensible twaddle Bidmead spewed out for Baker's finale, but then I suspect he's had more time to extrapolate his ideas for the new Doctor than he did for the previous, obstreperous incarnation. All said, this is turning out to be a pretty fantastic start for the new Doctor, despite his limited screen time, and very positive for what's to come!

CASTROVALVA (Part Three) 11/01/22

I'm quite enjoying this story! It's certainly a contrast to previous Doctors' debuts. It's atmospheric rather than action-packed which very much works in its benefit. Bidmead clearly isn't equipped to write big, dramatic stories, which is obviously why 'Logopolis' was such a let down, but this is a much smaller, character-led piece which is nicely (if rather sedately) paced. The society of Castrovalva is both more interesting and more believable than that of Logopolis, mostly because it echoes aspects of our own European pre-Industrial towns. It feels a bit like San Marino in concept or, in the Whoniverse, San Martino (albeit a million times more interesting than that Mandragora story!) with a small number of pleasant, amiable characters (mostly in silly hats) where even the least likeable is a fairly nice guy.

Since the story so far has mostly focussed on Nyssa and Tegan they're both feeling a lot more rounded as individuals now. Nyssa is smart and logical, Tegan forward and capable. She's a bit headstrong - demanding to see the Doctor when they first arrived in Castrovalva (after a very nicely shot collection of location scenes where they scaled the cliffs to the town) instead of asking to see him indicates she's likely to be the kind of companion who's going to get into trouble a fair bit, but nevertheless both Janet and Sarah are doing a great job of making their characters three dimensional and relatable.

Adric and the Master were in it only briefly, Adric apparently appearing as a fake version of himself to stop Nyssa from telling the Doctor he'd disappeared. The Doctor, incidentally, started off with amnesia before sleeping it off and spending time with the local wise man, the Portreeve, who seemed to already know who the Doctor was.

The episode ended with the Zero Cabinet going missing and the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan unable to leave Castrovalva as it folded in on itself - it seems the Master has sprung a space/time trap which has made Castrovalva spatially unstable. All in all, this was a pretty good Part Three which focussed on developing the new Doctor's character and that of his newest companions.

CASTROVALVA (Part Four) 12/01/22

That was a pretty great start to the new era! The series has a very different feel to it, even compared to last season which was overseen by the same Production Team. Peter Davison is great in the role of the Doctor, such a contrast to Tom Baker and all the better for it! Whilst Tom would rarely play the Doctor as anything but Tom Baker breezing in and out of scenes, Davison brings a frenetic energy to the part and the sense that (when he's not under attack from recursive occlusions) he knows what he's doing and what he's talking about. We're only four episodes (and only two weeks!) in and already he's incontrovertibly The Doctor!

Nyssa and Tegan continue to be great companions. Nyssa is by far the most capable and dependable one who the Doctor trusts and can talk to on the same level. Given that she really didn't do very much during her first two stories she's come on in leaps and bounds over the last four episodes. I've already warmed to her.

Tegan, likewise, has developed incredibly well over the last two weeks and is clearly a person unwilling to take anybody's shit. She's the forceful one who's willing to mouth off at anyone she feels is taking the piss, but in a way that feels believable and not insufferable or forced like, for example, Sarah Jane Smith.

We didn't see much of Adric today until the very end when it was revealed that the Portreeve was actually the Master (did not see that coming until just before the reveal - I don't think that the makeup or lighting was as good as in the previous episode since it was clearly Anthony Ainley in a white beard and wig as soon as the Doctor's Zero Cabinet was taken into the Portreeve's house. Part Three saw a much better performance that actually had me fooled, even though both the Master and the Portreeve were seen in that order!). Turns out the Master had Adric strapped into his bondage web in order to get him to create Castrovalva via Block Transfer Computation. The whole thing was a construct conceived by the Master and realised by Adric to trap the Doctor. Fortunately, Shardovan the Librarian was faulty (Is that the right word? He was a construct as much as the town and therefore technically not real) and knew something was amiss.

There were some nice scenes where the Doctor discussed recursive occlusion with the local doctor, Mergrave, and Ruther, then got Shardovan to help him sneak into the Portreeve's house for a final confrontation. Possibly conscious he was a construct, Shardovan destroyed the web (and himself) and freed Adric, then Mergrave led the Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan out of Castrovalva. The Master was trapped inside as it collapsed, but I doubt we've seen the last of him.

There was a charming coda where they all returned to the TARDIS but, for some reason, the Doctor pulled out a stick of celery (from the Castrovalvan banquet?) and pinned it to his lapel. 1) Why? and 2) if it's from Castrovalva, how does it still exist?

Anyway, that was a great start to the Fifth Doctor's era and very promising for the future. I really hope the rest of the series feels as fresh and vibrant as this story. It suddenly feels exciting and unpredictable again!