The Time Warrior Part Four

The one where Sarah tries to introduce women's lib to the Middle Ages...

It really is quite silly that the Sontarans' only weakness is the probic vent on the back of their neck. Linx seems to think it's fine, because it means they always have to face their enemies, but that's not much use when you're waging intergalactic wars (as the Sontarans do) and you might find yourself surrounded by enemies on the battlefield. The openness, the sheer accessibility, of the probic vent is also silly, because if it makes the Sontaran that vulnerable, why don't they try harder to disguise it, defend it, or cover it up? In the novelisation of Shakedown, the Sontaran helmets do have an extra bit that covers the vent, but otherwise I reckon the Sontarans have got it coming for being so dumb.

Irongron sends Bloodaxe to fetch Linx to the main hall, and I love how Bloodaxe gingerly peers around Linx's door and calls to him. The Doctor pretends to be Linx by popping his helmet on his head and telling him to go away, and Bloodaxe willfully flees, saying: "Come soon, or we'll come and fetch you!" The lily-livered coward... but I do love Bloodaxe.

The Time Warrior Part Three

The one where the Doctor fends off a medieval army using stink bombs...

The Doctor is saved from being hacked to death by Irongron's axe by new revolutionary Sarah Jane Smith, but as she points out: "This isn't a rescue, Doctor. It's a capture!" It's indicative of just how bolshie and ballsy Sarah Jane is in the opening half of this episode. She seems particularly full of herself and bursting with hubris, perhaps bolstered by the fact she's just led a successful raid on a robber baron's castle.

She tackles the Doctor about what she sees as his helping Irongron to kidnap the scientists, and deftly deflects the subject of her being a stowaway aboard his TARDIS. It takes a little while for the Doctor to convince her that he is not on Irongron's side, but actually trying to stop him and Linx, and there's a gorgeous scene between Elisabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee which finally cements their friendship.

The Time Warrior Part Two

The one where the Doctor finally names his home planet...

Here's a question: why does Linx take off his helmet at the end of part 1? He strolls into the castle courtyard, checks there's no one around (except there is), pops off his helmet and has a quick look around, "tasting" the air with his tongue, before quickly putting it back on when he hears people coming. Surely Linx didn't remove his helmet simply to provide writer Robert Holmes with a cliffhanger?

Sarah Jane Smith, meanwhile, is giving Irongron and Bloodaxe a hard time as she's taken into the castle for questioning. Elisabeth Sladen is fantastic in these scenes, firing on all cylinders and pulsing with energy. She makes Sarah a force to be reckoned with, a woman not to be trifled with and who knows her own mind. When Irongron refers to her as "only a girl", she spits back: "Get lost!", and throughout the scene brands the medieval marauders as idiots and butchers.

The Time Warrior Part One

The one where the Doctor first meets Sarah Jane Smith...

Ooh! Ooh! New opening titles! Doctor Who has redecorated... but I'm not sure I like it. I really like how the time tunnel develops as the theme begins, spilling toward the screen like raindrops, and the shiny time tunnel in full effect is gorgeous. What I'm less sure of is the image used of Jon Pertwee, who looks more like Miss Marple than ever before, and although he's supposed to be standing with his arms crossed, he actually looks like he's been laid out in his coffin. It's not a great look.

Then there's the new logo, which looks too busy and over-complicated. It's become known as the classic "diamond logo" and is the preferred choice of almost every Doctor Who fan on the planet, but for me it's a little incongruous within the graphic title sequence we're seeing. It's a perfectly nice art deco design, but I just don't see how it works within its own context. Still, we're stuck with it for the next six years so I'd better get used to it.