The Horns of Nimon Part Four

The one where Romana visits a planet ravaged by the Nimon...

It's the last episode of this story, as well as the last episode of Season 17. It's also the last episode made in the 1970s, the last episode produced by Graham Williams, the last episode script edited by Douglas Adams, the last episode featuring David Brierley as the voice of K-9, the last episode scored by Dudley Simpson, the last episode to feature the diamond logo, the last episode to feature the original Tom Baker titles from 1974, and the last episode to use the Delia Derbyshire arrangement of the theme tune. It's also the last episode to see Tom Baker wearing his original multi-coloured scarf, and the last Fourth Doctor episode to crack 10 million viewers (or get anywhere near it). That's a lot of lasts.

Of course, it wasn't planned to be the last of any of these things, but following the loss of the sixth and final story of Season 17, Shada, thanks to industrial action, The Horns of Nimon inherited them all. I won't be reviewing Shada on this blog because it was never finished or transmitted in the way it would have been at the time. To all intents and purposes, Shada was aborted and only forms part of the Doctor Who canon thanks to subsequent recreations in audio and animated form. I think I'd find it hard to review an audio Shada or cartoon Shada in the same context as I have the rest of the series, so I'll leave it to one side, just as happened back in 1979.

The Horns of Nimon Part Three

The one where the Nimon's plan for mass migration becomes clear...

It's the first episode of the 1980s, and the first notable thing to happen is that a dying man splits his pants. Let's hope it's not a bad omen for what lies ahead, but I suppose it summarises the last few weeks of the 1970s quite aptly!

Now that the Doctor's back on the scene, Romana reverts back to her second-in-command status, which is a shame because Lalla Ward made a fantastic lead. Most of this episode concerns the Doctor, Romana, Seth and Teka running along corridors and asking questions to which there are few answers. Simon Gipps-Kent's Seth feels like a prototype for Season 18's Adric, but I can't help thinking it might have been better if Gipps-Kent played Adric, or perhaps Seth became a companion who stayed on into Season 18. I don't feel the same fondness for Janet Ellis as Teka sadly. As the prototype Nyssa of the set-up, she's just as plain as Sarah Sutton.

The Horns of Nimon Part Two

The one where Romana becomes the Doctor...

Tom Baker might as well have taken the week off for this episode for all the impact he has. It would have been absolutely fine with Romana taking the Doctor's lead role for the episode, and to be honest, preferable. Lalla Ward is every inch the lead actor here: she looks the part, she acts the part, and she's even given the part by writer Anthony Read. While Romana gets on with the story proper, the Doctor's back in the TARDIS messing about like he's in an episode of Crackerjack.

Every now and then the episode cuts back to the Doctor in the TARDIS, like a late 1970s BBC variety show which jumps between barely amusing comedy sketches. All the guff with the Doctor trying to fix the console is puerile, and when Dick "Special Sounds" Mills wheels out that awful sound effect for the console going whiz-bang-pop (from an old radio episode of The Goons?), it descends into embarrassment. I'm not sure Doctor Who has ever been more infantile. Dear, oh dear...

The Horns of Nimon Part One

The one where the Doctor dismantles the TARDIS...

Another post-Star Wars Doctor Who story, another opening shot of a spaceship flying past the camera. They never look as awesome as George Lucas's ships, of course, but I admire the production team's indefatigable determination to reproduce its effect for British TV! The inside of this ship has quite a detailed set by Graeme Story, full of computer banks and controls and all sorts of gubbins on the walls. Story has also used the ubiquitous triangular wall moulds that date back as far as 1972's The Mutants, as well as some barely disguised ribbed tumble dryer hoses! Ingenuity at work.

These opening scenes mainly comprise two grumpy space pilots arguing over how quickly they can get from A to B. The Pilot is keen not to rush things because the ship is so old it might not take the strain, whereas the Co-Pilot wants to get to their destination as fast as they can when he learns this is the last time they'll have to do it. The Co-Pilot's rash behaviour causes the ageing ship to buckle under the strain, and after a series of explosions and collapsing set, the craft is left hanging in space, powerless and directionless. That'll teach Co-Pilots to take matters into their own hands.