The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Visitation

 THE VISITATION (Part One) 15/02/2022 

It's been about four and a half years since we had a story set entirely in the past and, lo and behold, the new series has only gone and taken us back to the 1600s! It all started off with a family in a rather nice manor house in the rural village of Heathrow finding themselves attacked one evening by aliens and a rather nicely designed robot (well, I say robot but the Squire claimed it was one of the aliens in armour so he may have been right!). Sadly, it appears the Squire and his son and daughter may be as dead as their servant, Ralph, although we may well meet them tomorrow. It would seem to be a waste of some nice characters if they were.

Continuing the links to the Hartnell era, we then got some scenes in the TARDIS with the Doctor admonishing Adric for being a dick in Kinda by trying to escape in the TSS. Then Tegan told Nyssa (in brief) what had happened to her on Deva Loka as she got ready to leave the TARDIS and start her job as an Air Hostess at Heathrow Airport (can you see where this is going?). It was really nice to have some character development for the main cast, something lacking over the last few years. Seeing them interact - the Doctor making an awkward sort-of-apology for being harsh on Adric; Tegan confiding in Nyssa that she's going to miss them - is so refreshing after several years of stories  where developing the main cast has felt secondary to the monsters and adventures. It's another example of how the series has evolved and developed into something more than a 'monster of the week' adventure series; a show with a regular cast to mirror the different people watching and interpersonal relationships which go beyond the usual stereotypes. In short, a style more akin to the first two seasons of the show with Susan, Ian, Barbara and Vicki, and to some extent the majority of the Pertwee era.

The locations are beautiful! I mean, really well chosen and filmed. And the interiors, as one would expect from the BBC, are incredibly good. Finding themselves 300 years early, Tegan stormed out the TARDIS (because of course you would) and so they all ended up having a nose round. They're in the woods around Heathrow and the area has been hit by the Bubonic Plague (it's the 1600s so it's not such a leap to conclude that). Fleeing xenophobic locals, they met up with an out of work actor (parallels with 2020/21 there!) who's sort of turned Highwayman Richard Mace who took them to his current digs (a barn) where the Doctor and Nyssa found alien devices which led them to the Squires house. It's clearly occupied by the aliens, but first the Doctor took Nyssa off to explore the seemingly deserted building (which I found hilarious - it's very clear he's quickly figured out Adric and Tegan are liabilities, but to leave them on the doorstep with a dodgy, gun-wielding thespian was a brilliant piece of comedy). Mace is interestingly portrayed by Michael Robbins from On The Buses as a very fruity-voiced luvvy. It works as shorthand.

Again, the Doctor and Nyssa's exploration mirrored the opening episodes of the Hartnell era with lots of discussion, supposition, atmosphere and intrigue - I think 'intriguing' is the best way to describe this episode; it's set everything up wonderfully but not revealed everything - we haven't even seen what the aliens look like yet, only their robot/armour and their escape pod (if their ship actually did burn up in the atmosphere) in a rather effective night shot.

Leaving the Doctor investigating a wall at the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen (which wasn't there in the opening scene) to let Adric, Tegan and Mace in, Nyssa returned with them to find the Doctor gone - cue cliffhanger.

This episode was brilliant. I'm honestly hard-pushed to pick a favourite from the stories so far (even though I'm only one episode into this one) because they're all so diverse and so different and just really, really well made and written and directed (on the whole). This is a massive step up from the series over the last several years. I'm enjoying the show more than I have in a very long time.

THE VISITATION (Part Two) 16/02/2022 

I can't believe we're already half way through the fourth story of the season! We must be about halfway through the season itself now. I must say that I'm rather enjoying the twice weekly format. It feels like we've got to know the new TARDIS team quite well. Speaking of which, Eric Saward is utilising each character very well, something this story has in common with Four To Doomsday.

We also have a better realised alien. The creature - a Terileptil, according to the Doctor - is nicely designed, slightly reptile-like and quite scaly, and is possibly disfigured. No hint as to what he wants so far, although he's collecting rats and caging them for the Miller to collect with his horse and cart; is he responsible for the Black Death? It had been around for centuries before the 1600s so possibly not. But he's got his android dressing up as Death in a black cloak and skull-like mask, so maybe? But to what ends?

The wall from the cliffhanger had a cloaked door and the Doctor et al. went exploring in the wine cellar but were attacked by the android. Tegan and Adric were shot (but only stunned), and Nyssa and Mace, and then the Doctor escaped upstairs. While the Doctor and Nyssa failed to convince Richard Mace to help them before they discovered the Terileptil escape pod outside the Manor, the Terileptil interrogated Adric and Tegan.

I'm enjoying the script to this one. The dialogue flows  very nicely and there are some quite funny lines, such as Adric and Richard's discussion on how wine tasted, and Tegan's responses to the Terileptil. It was interesting seeing the Doctor in a bit of a panic after having to flee the cellar and leave Adric and Tegan behind, and nice to have Nyssa level-headedly reasoning with him ("Now, if you've quite finished lecturing me!").

Whilst Adric managed to escape, although Tegan got recaptured, Nyssa returned to the TARDIS to try and construct something to tackle the android, and the Doctor and Richard went to see the Miller as he can come and go from the manor as he pleases. Unfortunately, this is because, like several other villagers, he's under mind control wearing a green device like the one Richard is wearing as a pendant, charged by a power pack like the ones Nyssa found in the barn. Worn on the wrist they enslave the wearer.

This was right at the end of the episode, which itself was quite funny. Ambushed by the locals who chased them in the woods in Part One, the Doctor and Richard were forced to their knees and the lead villager instructed the Scytheman to execute them for being Plague carriers, at which point the Doctor said "Not again!" (referring to Four To Doomsday). Given we know he's not going to die, it was a nice subversion of the usual cliffhanger.

The sets, music and atmosphere are once again really good and the location work is really lovely. This is set to be the best series since the Pertwee era, maybe even before! Really gripping and arresting stuff!

THE VISITATION (Part Three) 22/02/2022 

Oh my god! They killed the Sonic Screwdriver! You bastards!

To be fair, it's about time they got rid of that thing since it was nice during the technology-loving Pertwee era but started to feel like a silly gadget in the Baker era and, whilst well used in Four To Doomsday, was cleverly written out of Kinda and without it I think there will be more jeopardy, and writers will be forced to think of more ways to circumvent problems than have the Sonic Screwdriver there to detonate mines/open doors/meddle with monopticons.

Nyssa built a very big vibrator in the TARDIS; Adric escaped, found the TARDIS, left the TARDIS and got captured again; Tegan was given a bracelet and made to work packing the Terileptil's poison; and the Doctor and Mace were saved by the Terileptil-controlled Village Headman and locked up in the barn. Trying to ambush the Headman, they merely got themselves clocked as warlocks when they removed the Headman's bracelet allowing him to tell the other villagers of his hearing a voice in his head and seeing a vision of the Doctor. Fortunately, the Terileptil leader (there are three survivors) got bored and sent the android (again dressed as Death) to free them and bring them to the manor (replete with the Scytheman's scythe).

There was a nice little sequence where the Doctor offered to help the Terileptils find a new home, which resulted in underlining that the leader is a wrong 'un. He's been in prison - condemned to mines on Raaga where he got his scars for a very heinous-yet-unrevealed crime - and would rather kill off the Human race using a stronger variant of the Bubonic Plague he's engineered, then settle down on Earth with the TARDIS as a defence weapon (or maybe just commit genocide then fuck off in the TARDIS - the plans were unclear) than accept the Doctor's offer. We got to learn about Terileptil culture, and it was well acted and none of the information felt forced. Then the Terileptil loaded up the Miller's cart with Plague capsules to take to "a nearby city" - clearly London - while leaving brainwashed Tegan and Richard to release Nu-Plague-bearing rats in the cell they share with the Doctor.

Again, the companions are being utilised well; Tegan didn't get to do a lot, but there was plenty of character stuff for Nyssa and Adric. I particularly like the continuation of Adric feeling useless and frustrated. He isn't getting on with the new Doctor and it's a nice contrast to the Teacher/Pupil relationship he had with the Fourth. Matthew also played his stress at not being able to immediately go back and help Tegan very well - the main cast are (on the whole) much more emotional than they have been before and I quite like it - although he ruined it by pronouncing 'want' like 'wank' instead of 'font'. 

Nyssa continues to be the sensible one, aware that the device that she's made may not work and trying to reason with Adric. It was a nice touch that, after failing to persuade Adric to stay in the TARDIS, she saw him ambushed on the scanner, ran and opened the doors, paused, then resignedly closed them again. She's very much like a younger Romana and works well with the new Doctor.

Overall, more great location work and music, nice sets and plenty going on. I really hope we get more adventures set in the past as this reminds me a lot of the Hartnell era and it provides a nice contrast to the usual Sci Fi fair of spaceships and quarries.

THE VISITATION (Part Four) 23/02/2022 

That was really enjoyable! A bit more traditional than any of the other stories so far, but that isn't a bad thing. The Terileptil designs were brilliant and I really hope we get to see them, and their android, again. Actually, the design was very good across the board with the London sets looking especially nice. It felt very natural, not overly 'atmospheric' but then it didn't need to be as the music and camera work did enough. It really was very well directed and performed, but then it was a very good script with some great dialogue. The Terileptil's line in the recap where he responded to the Doctor's observation that killing Humanity because they kill each other and the animals on the planet is "hardly an argument" was nicely written and wonderfully delivered - "It's not supposed to be an argument; it's a statement!" - and after freeing Tegan from the mind control device, the Doctor's reply to Tegan saying she felt "Groggy, sore and bad-tempered." - "Almost your old self!" - was a laugh-out-loud moment.

The relationship between the main cast is developing really well. Granted, the Doctor's relationship with Adric is rocky - he was very ungrateful when Adric managed to pilot the TARDIS to the manor to rescue them, although it was really nice to see Tegan express her thanks, especially when they usually don't get on, but it helps make everything more believable and interesting. This incarnation of the Doctor is actually quite short-tempered, which contrasts nicely with his more considered attitude. He was very short with Tegan and even Nyssa at one point! I don't know if it's because we're getting to know them twice as fast as usual or if it's the writing - there does seem to be a lot more time given over to character development than before; than since the 60s, even! - but I feel like I know the crew better than I have any Doctor/Companion teams in a long time!

Nyssa destroyed the android with her huge vibrator and, after picking up the Doctor, Tegan and Richard, they tracked the Terileptils down to a baker's in London. This led to one of those 'ohhhh!' moments: we're in 1666 and at a bakery where, having faced off against the Terileptils the Doctor accidentally dropped his torch (fire stick, not battery powered) on some hay beside the Terileptil's gun which started a fire, then an explosion, then, after the Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan legged it in the TARDIS leaving Richard to fight the fire, it was revealed to be Pudding Lane. Obviously!

Actually, then end for the Terileptils was quite grim. Blue Stripes was shot point blank by Richard, the leader was shown to be getting burnt to death, and it looked very much like the other one was beaten to death by Tegan! That bit all happened in the background so a definitive conclusion can't be reached.

Overall, this was yet another really good story and continued the massive upswing in quality we've seen so far this year. It was great to finally have another adventure in Earth's history, and looked incredibly good on top of being so well written and performed. I think this is probably (so far) the best series since the early 70s. Can't wait to see where we go from here!