The Ribos Operation Part Three

The one where Binro was right...

It all goes a bit panto at the start of this episode, principally due to Tom Baker sending the whole thing up while those around him keep it straight. He ruins it really, with his childish mugging and attempts to improvise which fall flat. It's a shame Baker felt the need to do things like this, because it invariably doesn't work, especially as the rest of the cast aren't joining in with his game.

It's a rocky start to what becomes a cracking episode though, and that includes a great improvement in the way Tom plays it. After the initial tomfoolery, he settles back down into a semblance of the Fourth Doctor recognisable from earlier seasons, who uses levity to gain the trust of others, but has steel when he means business. The scenes with Iain Cuthbertson's Garron, in which he pumps the scoundrel for information about both his own background and the Graff's, are nicely played, and Tom employs the tempered grit we know of old to keep both a bewildered Romana and a loquacious Garron in check until he learns what he needs to.

The highlight of this episode, however, is undoubtedly the introduction of new character Binro, the heretic. Unstoffe flees to an area known as the Concourse, populated by drop-outs and the dispossessed. There he's taken in by Binro, played by Timothy Bateson, and as a result we get one of the most beautiful scenes in the entirety of Doctor Who history. It's just two actors doing what they do best, interpreting a beautifully written duologue to create dramatic gold. It's shot sensitively by director George Spenton-Foster too, who concentrates on the actors' faces to mine the moment for maximum impact.

Binro has been cast out of society and labelled a heretic for daring to suggest that the lights in the night sky are not ice crystals, but stars and suns, and that Ribos moves around its sun, rather than the common belief that Ribos is a battleground between the Sun Gods and the Ice Gods. Binro is a scientist, whose discoveries are rejected by the feudal, superstitious society he lives in. The way Bateson delivers Robert Holmes's lines really tugs on the heartstrings, and I love how muted and respectful Nigel Plaskitt is, as he allows Unstoffe to sit and listen to Binro, something he's probably not used to. It's two wonderfully well-judged performances, and the moment where Unstoffe speaks up and tells Binro that he's right, and Binro tearfully clutches Unstoffe's hand, is beautiful. It brings a tear to my eye every single time I watch this scene. Once seen, you can never forget it.

Another fantastic character debuting in this episode is the Seeker, a mad old witch who uses some form of divination to help locate Unstoffe. After a very animated ritual involving lots of bones, screeching and flailing of arms, the Seeker manages to come up with the right answer every time. She may look like a pagan seer, but the fact is her divinations actually work: she knows Unstoffe has gone to the Concourse, and when he's left there, she knows he's gone to the catacombs. The Seeker's form of science seems just as effective as Binro's, it's just that the Seeker is believed because she can evidence her prophecies, and Binro cannot. The Seeker is a fantastically colourful performance from Ann Tirard, who was also great as poisoner Locusta in The Romans.

While this episode is essentially a drawn-out chase scene (the Graff pursues Unstoffe, and then the Doctor pursues Unstoffe), it's so richly written that you barely notice. Apart from that stunning scene between Binro and Unstoffe halfway through, you've also got the way designer Ken Ledsham makes it all look, with a gorgeously dressed Hall of the Dead blanketed in candles, and the Graff's quarters laden with furs and candelabra. Ribos feels like a real, believable world, thanks to Ledsham, costume designer June Hudson and musician Dudley Simpson, who drops choral singing and bells into the background from time to time. All Ribos really needs is a few more people about the place, but then I suppose there is a curfew to respect.

Again, the cliffhanger leaves a lot to be desired, with the Doctor, Romana, Garron and K-9 ("Quick! In this hole!") hiding in the catacombs as the Graff and his men catch up with them. "Now we have him, he cannot escape. No one will ever know how he tried to trick the Graff Vynda-K," sneers the Graff Vynda-K. He's not even found his quarry, the ending is just him spouting off. There's no actual danger. A disappointing end to a gorgeous episode.

First broadcast: September 16th, 1978

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Timothy Bateson as Binro deserves Doctor Who's equivalent to an Academy Award.
The Bad: The first and the last scenes let down what comes in between.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 17 - The Doctor has a bag of jelly babies out on the table, but doesn't offer them to anyone.

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Four

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-ribos-operation.html

The Ribos Operation is available on BBC DVD as part of the Key to Time box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Key-Time-Re-issue/dp/B002TOKFNM