Warriors' Gate Part Three

The one where the Doctor feasts with the Tharils...

It's interesting that you get a fleeting shot of the injured Tharil's scarred face in the reprise, something left out of the part 2 cliffhanger because it may have been deemed too unpleasant an image to leave kiddies with for a whole week. This Tharil, Lazlo, was played by the terribly handsome vicar from Keeping Up Appearances (Jeremy Gittins). Lazlo is not trying to harm Romana as first thought, but free her, but before they can escape together, they are disturbed by the return of Aldo and Royce.

Aldo and Royce are two characters in search of a point. Fans who analyse this sort of thing far too much have suggested they are some kind of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern device, referring to two characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are often seen and treated as if the two men are one character, always seen together, often finishing one another's sentences. This is also an accurate summation of Aldo and Royce, but the only difference is that in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are commonly thought to be two minor characters of major importance. In Warriors' Gate, as far as I can work out, they are two minor characters of zero importance.

I was hoping for a bit more from this episode than what's provided. In fact, most of this instalment comprises people doing utterly mundane things (the freighter crew), wandering around tossing coins and achieving nothing (Adric) or wandering through pretty photographs achieving very little (the Doctor). Adric continues to be utterly superfluous to the plot, claiming to rescue Romana when all he actually does is hide under a glittery tarpaulin. K-9 has completely lost his marbles, damaged by the time winds and resorting to following supporting characters around for no good reason. He follows Lane and Packard all the way to the freighter, then gets chucked out in the form of an empty prop casing!

Poor Tom Baker probably has the least amount of dialogue he's ever had in an episode of Doctor Who, as he spends most of his limited screen time following Biroc through various monochrome photographs, then a tedious amount of time hanging around outside the banqueting hall before being led in by a young female Tharil. He ascertains that the Tharils had a mighty empire before they were enslaved by Man, and it was Man who built the Gundan robots to move safely through the time winds to wage war with the Tharils. The Tharils turn out not to be as cuddly as they seem, and the bit where one strikes a buxom wench is shocking (but I love how the Doctor glares at the assailant, then rushes to help the stricken girl).

I find this story, and this third episode in particular, really poorly edited. It's so bitty, with scrappy little scenes of little or no consequence being plonked in the middle of other scenes, disturbing the narrative rhythm. There will be a pointless scene of Adric running away, or another of two characters saying the most inane dialogue, and after 20 minutes I realised virtually nothing had happened, progressed or developed. It's just people walking, or talking, sometimes both, but rarely for any good reason.

There are things to appreciate. Such as the genius idea of having colour characters walk through static black and white photographs of stately gardens, grand halls and country mazes. It's a beautiful way of using Colour Separation Overlay (CSO). It feels like something out of  a Jean Cocteau movie, as do the leonine Tharils, who remind me of Jean Marais's Beast in La Belle et la Bete. In fact, Warriors' Gate is rich in high-brow artistic influences, in particular the beautiful paintings of Caspar David Friedrich which must surely have influenced the design of the Gateway (check out his Monastery Graveyard in the Snow).

I also like everything about the Tharil feast, although I don't think we get to see nearly enough of it. I like Biroc's "the universe is our garden", and the Doctor's amusing retort: "This garden of yours, the universe. How do you manage it?" I like anything to do with the Tharils, but the fact is I also find them frustratingly difficult to comprehend. The scene between Biroc and the Doctor behind the mirror is so oblique that I came out of it with more questions than answers (despite the Doctor claiming he understands).

I think that's why I'm finding it difficult to connect to Warriors' Gate. I recognise that it is stylistically and aesthetically trying to do something very different to anything Doctor Who's done before - it's deep, thoughtful, intellectual even - but I'm not sure it's getting it across the right way. It's trying to tell me something that I'm not hearing, and it's trying to make me think something I'm not getting. That may be my fault, but I am trying, very hard! The execution is letting the intent down. I think the main fault lies in Gallagher's script, which I feel knows more than it's telling, and assuming a bit too much of the viewer (especially the lay viewer).

I get that it's clever - or at least trying to be clever - but I'm just not "getting" it. The final few moments - where the Doctor is watching the Tharil banquet in the past, and Romana's looking down on the hall in the present, and then they somehow all come together through time and space to be standing as one around the table - are utterly impenetrable to me. The cliffhanger nature of the scene tells me that something significant has just happened, but I have no idea what, or how, or why?

I don't think I'm being stupid. I just think I'm getting bored. Things are happening, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY!

First broadcast: January 17th, 1981

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Love seeing the Doctor walk through black and white photos.
The Bad: Adric and K-9 continue to be superfluous, and all the nonsense with the MZ laser is tiresome (what does MZ stand for anyway? Nobody ever says).
Overall score for episode: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

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

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; 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/2014/09/warriors-gate.html

Warriors' Gate is available on BBC DVD as part of the E-Space Trilogy box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Space-Trilogy-Warriors/dp/B001MWRTUY