Welcome to the Time Space Visualiser reviews!

Welcome to my episode-by-episode reviews of Doctor Who's classic series, from 1963 to 1989. This project took a whopping 5 years and 4 months, from start to finish, and was a rollercoaster ride. I enjoyed it. But no, I'm not moving on to the new series (in case you're wondering!).

If you're looking for a particular story or episode, you can use the Search tool on the right, the A-Z list in the right-hand column further down, or click 'Read More' below for links to individual Doctors.

And thank you - so much - for reading. I hope you enjoy!

~ Steve, July 2022

Doctor Who Decades: The 1980s

Every time Doctor Who reaches the end of a decade, it seems to be an automatic point of change and renewal for the series. However, in this case there was no change or renewal, just a full-stop. Here's the third in a trilogy of blogs looking back over a decade of Doctor Who.

The 1980s

I reached the end of the 1970s in December 2020, when the world was in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK we were initially under the impression we'd be able to spend Christmas with our families, but as the infections worsened, this leeway was reduced to just one day. It was a sad and frustrating time in world history, but if everything else was falling apart around me, there was one shaft of light that kept me going through it all - Doctor Who!

Here I am, 18 months later, and I've reached the end of the 1980s, and the end of Classic Who. It didn't take me as long to review the 1980s because I simply had more time to do it in, although family issues did interfere quite stressfully along the way. There were times - notably towards the end of the Davison era - when I considered packing it all in. My blog would have ended with part 4 of Planet of Fire, and its 'unfinishedness' would frustrate millions of readers for generations to come. Well, a couple perhaps. For minutes!

Survival Part Three

The one where it all ends...

While being the end of an era, Survival part 3 is also something of a transitionary episode. As well as neatly reflecting elements from both parts 1 and 2, and how they dangerously merge together, it also serves as a pathway to the future. When Doctor Who began in 1963, it was set in contemporary London. When the classic series finished in 1989, it was also set in contemporary London. Perfect symmetry. And when the series returned in 2005, where was it set? Yes that's right, in contemporary London. Shoreditch, Perivale and Kennington (the probable location of Rose's Powell Estate) are bound together across the decades by the creative forces behind three different iterations of Doctor Who. The same, but different. London would seem to be the Doctor's "home".

At the start of the episode we see Ace lose her fight to hold on to herself, and run off with her new "sister", Karra the Cheetah person. I'm not crystal clear on why Ace and Karra share this bond, unless it's something to do with Karra hypnotising or bewitching Ace when she helps her at the waterside. It's obvious that Karra sees something in Ace which is different to any other Earth girl brought as prey to the planet. Later on we see the feline Karra revert to her original human self, suggesting that maybe, just perhaps, Karra had the hots for Ace, and her latent sexuality was brought to the fore. "I'm your sister. You're like me. You will be..." Karra tells Ace in one scene.

Survival Part Two

The one where Ace is bewitched by an alien planet...

It's great how the white flash at the end of the opening credits merges perfectly into the effect of the Doctor and Paterson being transported to the Cheetah planet. I'm glad director Alan Wareing thought to do that, because if he hadn't, the lost potential would have bugged me until my dying day!

The Doctor and his narrow-minded new pal are herded towards a tent, the Cheetah people constantly growling and snarling along the way. As much as I quite admire the Cheetah costumes and make-up, dubbing sound effects of real-life big cats on top of these cuddly creatures just does not work, and only accentuates the fact they are not big, vicious, carnivorous monsters, just people in leopard-print suits!

Survival Part One

The one where Ace goes back to Perivale to see her mates...

This is it. The final story of the classic series run, ironically yet appropriately entitled Survival. Nobody knew it when they made it, but they certainly knew there would be no Season 27 by the time Survival was broadcast. Blame Philip Segal, because if he hadn't made that fateful telephone call to the BBC on July 12th, 1989, things might have carried on as normal, and I'd be reviewing Ice Time, Earth Aid, Crime of the Century and Illegal Alien too.

But it didn't pan out that way, and instead this surreal suburban thriller is how classic Doctor Who bowed out. Fittingly, it left by telling a story set in contemporary London, just as it began 26 years before. From Shoreditch to Perivale, via Skaro, Peladon and Gallifrey!

The Curse of Fenric Part Four

The one where Ace learns who the baby really is...

What I'm getting from this critical review of the story - after decades of watching it thinking I'm understanding it all - is that the Doctor hasn't necessarily fought "Fenric" before. Fenric is just Millington's interpretation of evil, and as the Doctor says in part 3, "evil has no name". It seems to me that evil has simply chosen to manifest itself in this way on this particular occasion, using Norse mythology as an amusing cover, but the adversary the Doctor played chess with in the shadow dimensions, and trapped there for 17 centuries, was not Fenric as such. It was evil. The Doctor played chess with evil.

He says elsewhere in this episode, as he tries to remember where the pieces were left on the chess board, that it took place "so long ago", suggesting it wasn't his seventh self which did all this. It's an interesting take on things, and I'm not convinced it was meant this way by writer Ian Briggs, but I quite like the theory that Fenric isn't the Doctor's ancient enemy. Pure evil is his enemy, and this time around it's called Fenric.

The Curse of Fenric Part Three

The one where evil takes a body...

Wow, when Perkins gets an order, he certainly carries it out to the very best of his abilities, doesn't he? And with so much gusto! Charged with the task of disabling all of the radio transmitters on the base, he sets about chopping them up with an axe, sparks flying everywhere! Millington rushes in, hoping to find that Perkins isn't as loyal as he fears, but too late - the hardware's in bits. "Splendid work, Perkins, splendid work!" jeers the Doctor. "Now put them back together again." And just look at the sweet little smile from Ace behind him when he says that. That girl really loves that man (for now).

There are so many little moments like this in the relationship between the Doctor and Ace / Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. The chemistry between them is like lightning in a bottle, and beyond the narrative development of the relationship and characters, it can be found in the organic performance between the two, the unscripted looks and gestures which were also present between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. That naturalness, that ease between them, is palpable. It happens again when Ace blows up the brick wall with her nitro-9, and as they're all escaping, the Doctor stops Ace and says: "I'll talk to you later", and Aldred responds with a big goofy grin. It's a timeless, organic working relationship and we are so lucky to have witnessed it.