The Visitation Part Four

The one where the Doctor helps to start the Great Fire of London...

The Doctor discharging the Terileptil power pack to zap Mace's gun was nicely seeded in part 2, when he first demonstrated it. It's not 100% clear what the Doctor does unless you remember the power pack scene in part 2 - and remember, that happened a week ago in 1982 - but it's a nice solution to the Doctor's predicament.

Having overcome Tegan's trance-like state by hugging her, he asks how she's feeling. "Groggy, sore and bad-tempered," she moans. "Almost your old self!" replies the Doctor. Tegan may be some or all of these things from time to time, but she's also very practically minded, and is the voice of reason when they are trying to get the locked door open. Tegan suggests the sonic screwdriver (destroyed), then a flintlock (too noisy, she's told), but is having none of the fact Richard thinks he can pick a lock using a safety pin. The flintlock is the best option after all, and if they hadn't listened to Tegan they might have been there for ever!

As an aside here, Richard Mace is amazed by the safety pin, which doesn't get invented for another 183 years, and tellingly gets to keep it. At the end of the episode, the Doctor hands Mace the keepsake of a Terileptil circuit, which is one of the most irresponsible things he could do! So this man from 17th century England now has in his possession an anachronistic safety pin, and a piece of circuitry from another time and planet, as well as knowledge of the TARDIS and the Terileptil escape pod. Oh, and aliens from other worlds, and androids! Richard Mace really should have written his memoirs...

The Terileptil is off to London with his stash of bubonic plague (love the sight of a caped alien lizard riding a horse and cart through Stuart England), leaving the hypnotised miller to close down operations at the house. That's another thing, isn't it? What happens to all that alien tech at the Squire's house? It's not destroyed or blown up or disconnected, it's just abandoned by the Terileptil, and forgotten by the Doctor. The National Trust is going to have a field day when they find that little lot!

The Terileptil also instructs the android to go get the TARDIS and pilot it to London, not really addressing the problem of how it will get into the ship, and how it will know how to pilot it. The scenes of the android stalking through the woods dressed as the Grim Reaper are fantastic and instantly iconic, and there's one particular low camera shot when Adric is following it which makes up for the otherwise bland direction Peter Moffatt tends to deliver.

Back at the house, the Doctor, Tegan and Richard waste time by jumping the miller using curiously anachronistic cardboard boxes (not invented for another 150 years) secured by masking tape (invented in 1925). It's a stretch to believe that the Terileptil escape pod had a stash of cardboard boxes on board, but neither can they have been from 1666, so the whole idea is terrible.

Meanwhile, the android has found the TARDIS, and the scene where it emerges from behind the police box to grab Nyssa is wonderfully tense. Adric, always prepared to get stuck in, tries to give the robotic giant a good kicking, but is mercilessly chopped to the ground. The robot bursts its way into the TARDIS, but is soon vibrated to pieces by Nyssa's miraculous contraption (Princess Leia earmuffs are a sartorial option). The vibrator is so effective that it does not interfere with anything else in the TARDIS (apart from a few trinkets), and the mirror and teapot collection remains intact!

Victorious, Adric insists that they pilot the TARDIS to the Doctor, but boring old Nyssa comes up with a boring old reason not to (it's getting dark). Adric, the boy who "tries so hard", has more spirit in his little toe than Nyssa ever displays. "You move this ship and we could finish up anywhere," warns Nyssa. "And if we don't, the Doctor and Tegan could finish up dead," ripostes the Alzarian urchin. Sarah Sutton tries to emote at this point, but sadly fails.

Peter Davison does exasperation very well. It helps to portray his Doctor as an old man in a young man's body (it's always weird to think that the Fifth Doctor is so much older than the First!), and his lack of patience with his youthful companions often shows through. He's usually much more lenient with Nyssa than he is with Tegan, and especially poor Adric, but it's always great to see! Take the scene where the Doctor tells Tegan and Richard to look for clues as to where the Terileptil's gone. "Oh, you think they'll have left a forwarding address?" quips a somewhat facetious Tegan. You can see the Doctor's patience snap as he spins round to bite her head off, but wisely tempers himself at the last moment: "WILL YOU... just look around, there might be something?"

Adric manages to fly the TARDIS to the house, although the tension is ramped up by the fact he can't quite get it to materialise fully. My spine tingled when the Doctor, Tegan and Richard could hear, but not yet see, the TARDIS's arrival, while inside poor Adric was trying to get the ship to fully materialise. He ends up doing what the Doctor would do and bashes the console (and there's a lovely little moment where Matthew Waterhouse cradles his bruised fist, just as Tom Baker might have done). However, the Doctor is far from grateful and gives both Adric and Nyssa the evils! He's a testy devil, this Doctor. I mean, take the moment where Adric (who's just saved him a long walk) asks if he knows where the Terileptil is. "Yes, yes, that's why I'm searching," he shoots back sarcastically. There's no need to be such a sourpuss, Doctor. These kids are just trying to help you save the world!

And then the TARDIS arrives in London, 1666, and my brain goes POP! I mean, wow, what an utter triumph from set designer Ken Starkey and lighting designer Henry Barber, whose work to evoke 17th century London works perfectly, especially in tandem with that gorgeous glass shot of distant buildings. Barber's crimson lighting in the bakery is gorgeous, and the scene where the TARDIS materialises and the Doctor wanders out, popping on his hat, is glorious!

The Terileptil leader has met up with his two surviving comrades. These Terileptils are different colours, which means we get a green Terileptil, as well as a red one and a blue one. I love the idea that this alien race is not identical in every way, as so many other Doctor Who monsters are, but have differences. Do the Terileptils suffer from prejudice in the same way humans inflict racism upon each other? Are the blue Terileptils looked down upon, or the green ones the masters? The blue and the red creatures don't have animatronic mouthpieces, but for the amount of screen time they have, that's not surprising. These two do seem much less confident than their boss though, shuffling about nervously like elderly fidgets.

A laboured tussle ensues in which a great fire breaks out, and the Terileptils' soliton technology explodes. This fire is in a bakery, remember, and it's 1666, remember? I think the schoolkids watching would have known exactly what all this was leading to (we were all taught it in school), and as the Doctor and friends throw the plague phials into the blaze, viewers get a feeling of satisfaction that we're seeing Doctor Who start the Great Fire of London!

Pity the poor Terileptils though, who are burnt alive in the fire. The brief shot of the Terileptil screaming with pain, its skin melting and liquefying, is one of the most graphic effects Doctor Who's given us in some time. It's truly icky.

The final shot, of the Pudding Lane street sign succumbing to the flames, is the icing on the cake, a knowing wink to the audience that we can all appreciate. While all this is going on, if the 2004 short story The Republican's Story is to be believed, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane are watching from a distance, and if the 1966 book Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space has it right, the First Doctor is busy rescuing the Mortimer family from the flames. That makes three separate incarnations of the Doctor in the same place at the same time, and I'd imagine the Great Fire is one of those "fixed points in history" the Time Lord's always going on about, so it's a bit naughty of him. Further spin-off fiction goes on to place the Master in the vicinity, as well as Iris Wildthyme!

The Visitation starts off so promisingly. It has a rich setting and premise, but fails to run with it, and ends up being quite static instead. The trip to London could have been expanded upon much more, ramping up the tension, perhaps changing location for the latter half of the story. The Doctor and friends spend far too much time locked up and doing nothing, but let's not lose sight of the aesthetic joys, such as the Terileptils themselves, the set design, the lighting and the location filming. Eric Saward had a cracking idea, but unfortunately dropped the ball in the execution.

First broadcast: February 23rd, 1982

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The climax in 17th century London is designed, lit and shot beautifully.
The Bad: Cardboard boxes and masking tape in 1666? I don't think so, Eric.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (story average: 7 out of 10)

NEXT TIME: Black Orchid...

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

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.

The Visitation is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Visitation-Special-DVD/dp/B00BEYWWES