The one where the Sixth Doctor is reunited with his old friend Jamie McCrimmon...
What exactly is the savage creature trying to do when it attacks Peri? She claims it's her own fault as it was merely "protecting its nest", but when we subsequently learn that this growling, feral entity is actually Jamie McCrimmon, it's not made clear how or why he's ended up this way. How long has it been since the space station was attacked, leaving all but Jamie massacred by the Sontarans? In the meantime Jamie appears to have undergone a bizarre regression, reverting back to an unconvincing primitivism to survive. Protecting his nest he may have been, but why physically molest Peri? Why is he dressed in grubby overalls? Why has he built a nest in the bowels of the station and surrounded himself with half-eaten animal carcasses?
The whys and wherefores are disappointingly ignored, presumably because it made a good cliffhanger and that's it. When the Doctor sees that the poor creature is actually Jamie, he's barely moved at all to be reunited with his old friend (and one of the most faithful companions he'd ever had). "I seem to remember I was always very fond of Jamie," recalls the Doctor. Well, obviously not fond enough to be pleased to see him, or want to reminisce, even briefly. He does very little to convince Jamie that he is the Doctor, he just tells him that he is a future version without the Scotsman understanding that there can even be different versions of him. Jamie knows nothing of regeneration, but just accepts what he's told without question.
What exactly is the savage creature trying to do when it attacks Peri? She claims it's her own fault as it was merely "protecting its nest", but when we subsequently learn that this growling, feral entity is actually Jamie McCrimmon, it's not made clear how or why he's ended up this way. How long has it been since the space station was attacked, leaving all but Jamie massacred by the Sontarans? In the meantime Jamie appears to have undergone a bizarre regression, reverting back to an unconvincing primitivism to survive. Protecting his nest he may have been, but why physically molest Peri? Why is he dressed in grubby overalls? Why has he built a nest in the bowels of the station and surrounded himself with half-eaten animal carcasses?
The whys and wherefores are disappointingly ignored, presumably because it made a good cliffhanger and that's it. When the Doctor sees that the poor creature is actually Jamie, he's barely moved at all to be reunited with his old friend (and one of the most faithful companions he'd ever had). "I seem to remember I was always very fond of Jamie," recalls the Doctor. Well, obviously not fond enough to be pleased to see him, or want to reminisce, even briefly. He does very little to convince Jamie that he is the Doctor, he just tells him that he is a future version without the Scotsman understanding that there can even be different versions of him. Jamie knows nothing of regeneration, but just accepts what he's told without question.
