Time-Flight Part Four

The one where Tegan's left behind...

So that's that, then. The Master has the power of the Xeraphin at the heart of his TARDIS, so the Doctor simply gives up. He admits that the Master has finally defeated him, and prepares to shrug off all responsibility, claiming nothing can be done. It's the most pathetic and defeatist this Doctor has been, but made me see one of Time-Flight's biggest flaws (there are so many that it's hard to tell them apart sometimes). The fact is the Doctor is pretty useless in this story. He doesn't do very much at all. He seems almost completely superfluous.

Superfluity is a common complaint in this story as a whole. Keith Drinkel's Scobie spends much of his time looking and watching other people do things; Nyssa and Tegan are pretty ineffectual throughout, as is the Doctor; the Xeraphin appear in part 3, have an argument, then completely disappear for the rest of the story. Even the presence of the Master seems pointless. His role could have been any old bad guy, there's no good reason for it to be the Master. It might as well have been a real Arabian conjurer trapped in time for all that Anthony Ainley brings to the story. The best thing about the Master being in Time-Flight is the part 2 cliffhanger twist, after which he might as well be Scaroth or Monarch or the Terileptil android!

Time-Flight Part Three

The one where Professor Hayter becomes a Plasmaton...

My hope that things would improve now that the Master's on the scene seemed to be misplaced. For most of this episode the Master is trotting in and out of the Doctor's TARDIS with various bits of circuitry, achieving very little but chuckling an awful lot. Stapley and Bilton's attempts to derail the Master's plans are shockingly inept too. In fact, there's very little about the aircrew that impresses me. The actors are passable at best, with Michael Cashman and Judith Byfield particularly poor ("Nyssa and Tegan dead?"), and Richard Easton and Keith Drinkel struggling to make anything they say or do believable. Drinkel's delivery of the line "Oh no..." when the Master steals the TARDIS is truly awful.

I mean, this whole thing is awful. What's going on, and why? We learn that the Master is stranded in prehistory and managed to harness the psychic powers of the mysterious intelligence he found in the Jurassic to reach forward in time, accidentally abducting Concorde. We later learn that the entity, "an immeasurable intelligence at the centre of a psychic vortex", came to Earth in search of a new home after its planet Xeriphas was destroyed in the Vardon-Kosnax War. The Xeraphin were poisoned by radiation, and so merged into one gestalt being, an entire race absorbed into one bioplasmic body.

Time-Flight Part Two

The one where Kalid's true identity is revealed...

Is Time-Flight the story with the very worst merchandise design history of all? I remember when the Time-Flight/ Arc of Infinity DVD box set came out how appalling the sleeve designs were (by Dan Budden). On the Time-Flight cover, Nyssa looks like she's just been dug up, and the cut-and-paste techniques used were worthy of an eight-year-old with Gloy glue and rounded scissors. The heart of the DVD sleeve's "design" is a close-up of a Concorde cockpit. The VHS cover was better, but you can tell that Budden simply glanced at that and tried to copy it (and failed). The bluray disc opted for a shot of Kalid and a plasma-poo, while the box set's booklet tries to make a play on the Fairy liquid bubbles. The Target book had one of those rubbish photographic covers, showing the Doctor smiling in front of Concorde. At least someone was happy.

Anyway, back to the story. It's too easy to get distracted from it because there's so little on offer. We rejoin our heroes as the Plasmatons (for that is what they are) encase the Doctor in soapy bubbles, and while he's in there he hears a spooky voice ask him for help. Despite the fact he was encased while standing, he re-emerges from the bubbles lying down. Not sure why.

Time-Flight Part One

The one where Concorde flies back in time...

Ah, good. How clever that this next story should be written by the man who directed Earthshock. That means there should be a nice transitional through-line dealing with Adric's tragic death and the impact it has on the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa. Peter Grimwade was an excellent director, so should have a firm and realistic grasp of what's possible on a television budget.

Ha ha! I know, I'm being facetious, but that is what you'd think if going into all this with no foreknowledge. One of Doctor Who's companions has just died, and this sort of thing virtually never happens, so you'd think it would be dealt with in a mature, reflective and sensitive way. But no, the best we get is a half-hearted scene trying to wrap up everybody's "feelings" as quickly as possible so that the new story can get underway.