The Leisure Hive Part Two

The one where the Doctor ages into an old wizard...

Considering the way this episode ends (with the Doctor aged into an old, white-haired and bearded man), I think Tom Baker looks remarkably youthful in the shot where he reveals he wasn't in the Tachyon Generator at all (where he's standing in front of the TARDIS). For some reason, in that one shot, he looks as young as he did when he started being Dr Who, back in '74. Curious, seeing as this is a story about time experiments and rejuvenation (and the season has a theme of entropy as a whole).

What I like about this episode is that Tom Baker gets to be the Doctor - his Doctor - much more than in part 1. He comes out of his shell more and Tom is able to inject more personality into his performance, more of the little quirks and eccentricities that make watching his Doctor so compelling. The beaming grin is back, and the staring googly eyes, and that wonderful wit that the Fourth Doctor often uses as a weapon, or defence. When Pangol asks the Doctor how he got out of the Tachyon Generator, he replies: "Through a hole in the back". When Pangol states that there is no hole, the Doctor holds up his (damaged?) sonic screwdriver and says: "There is now."

There's much more characterisation all round thankfully, and I particularly like the hint that there's a fondness between Earth scientist Hardin and Argolin elder Mena that can no longer be played upon now that she has responsibilities of office. What have the two of them been up to back on Earth? The idea of an inter-species relationship may not have been intended by writer David Fisher, but it's certainly in the spirit of the story, what with the Leisure Hive's purpose being to "promote understanding between life-forms of all culture and genetic type". Which is actually a very New Who idea.

Lalla Ward's back on form too, showing her feisty side again, particularly in the boardroom scene. Romana characteristically shows off by pointing out that "Gallifrey abandoned tachyonics when we developed warp matrix engineering", and when Mena says she'd like them both to look at Hardin's time experiments, Romana pointedly retorts: "Then can we go?"

Let's also take some time to commend the lighting director, the ever dependable Duncan Brown, the man who concocted Skaro's war-torn skies in Genesis of the Daleks, and created beautiful juxtapositions of lighting on the Voc masks in The Robots of Death. Here, in his final Doctor Who credit, Brown subtly uses muted lighting to make the Argolin corridors and rooms feel realistically illuminated (ie, not like flood-lit football pitches), and the shot with the Doctor, Romana and Mena looking out of the Hive window at the ravaged landscape outside is a masterpiece. It's not just lit well once, the lighting changes and evolves as the camera moves and the elements outside alter. It's stunning.

Talking of stunning, the finest section of this episode also involves Duncan Brown's tremendous eye for light and colour. It's basically Stimson's story, which is short but perfectly told by director Lovett Bickford. It begins in the lab with him laying down the law to troubled Hardin, whose experiments are financed by Stimson. I'm not sure what Stimson's ultimate aim is in doing so, but he does not want the truth to come out that the experiments are faked, so warns Hardin to make sure the Doctor and Romana keep their noses out.

He then sidles out of the lab as Hardin begins to confide in Romana ("It doesn't really work, you know," is perfectly played by Nigel Lambert), and makes his way to Brock's quarters. Bickford shoots Stimson's journey with creeping paranoia and menace. We can see that he is being followed and watched by a Foamasi (but we only ever see a scaly claw), but once inside Brock's room, Stimson finds he is nowhere to be found. Brock's quarters are lit in beautiful reptile green by Duncan Brown, and the tension is ramped up even more as Stimson opens Brock's wardrobe (why he opens the wardrobe isn't clear. Maybe he wants some fashion tips?). What he finds within is horrifying, and framed so terrifically by Bickford: Stimson finds lawyer Klout hanging like a three-piece suit in Mr Brock's wardrobe. Klout is a suit, a costume. But for who or what? It's a perfectly terrifying moment, with Stimson fearfully reaching out to touch the cadaverous Klout mask. It's like something out of John Carpenter's Halloween. I'd even go so far as to say it's one of the finest shots in all of Doctor Who.

Stimson's story continues as he flees in fright, running out into the corridor, where he stupidly drops his glasses - but doesn't bother to pick them up. I'm sorry, but no, I'm not having that. Being chronically myopic myself, there's no way I can accept that someone who wears specs would drop them and just carry on running (in my case, blindly). It does raise a chuckle when the glasses are purposefully crushed by a stubby reptilian foot though!

On and on Stimson runs, into the main hall, where he finally meets a sticky end at the hands - or claws - of a murderous Foamasi. It's all shot and acted so well, a character's entire story in one continuous flow of scenes. David Allister does a marvellous job in the few minutes afforded him, going from overbearing bully to terrified victim. And then his body is discovered with the Doctor's scarf wrapped round its neck, rather awkwardly implicating our hero. "His scarf killed Stimson," accuses Brock. "Arrest the scarf then!" replies the Doctor, grinning like the Doctor we all know and love. The glib tongue is back!

Meanwhile, Romana and Hardin have been making good progress with the time experiments, trying to make sand fall upwards using a steadily increasing power supply. I like the innovative use of crystals and geometric shapes as controls, an example of a designer thinking differently to try and present an alien technology. The experiment appears to work, but one more test is required before Mena can have her wrinkles ironed out. It needs to be tested on a living being, and in this case it's the Doctor.

Romana assures him that it will knock only 10 to 12 years off him, which of course is nothing to a Time Lord, so he agrees to pop into the Tachyon Generator to show that it's all safe. The thing is, it isn't safe, as Romana discovers when she nips back to the lab and finds the sand timer has melted. She desperately tries to get the Doctor back out of the capsule, but it's too late - and it's one of those OMG moments as we see the Doctor's aged into a wrinkly, balding, white-haired, white-bearded old man, like Gandalf in a snowdrift. Fantastic make-up job by Dorka Nieradzik, and a glimpse of things to come for Tom Baker perhaps?

Yeah, that's definitely a bit more than 12 years.

It's a very short episode - the end credits come in before the 20th minute - but then most of Season 18's first eight episodes come in well short of their time slot. Five episodes from The Leisure Hive and Meglos come in under 22 minutes, while Meglos part 4 is only 19 minutes 30 seconds (which is probably a blessing). It's as if the new production team wasn't quite sure what it was doing in these early stages.

First broadcast: September 6th, 1980

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Stimson's story, and in particular the gorgeous shot of Stimson finding Klout's flesh suit in the wardrobe.
The Bad: Nobody who wears glasses would drop them and leave them. Fact.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 24

NEXT TIME: Part Three...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Three; Part Four

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-leisure-hive.html

The Leisure Hive is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Leisure-Hive-DVD/dp/B00022VMR6