Enlightenment Part Three

The one where the Doctor and Tegan attend an Eternal party...

The reprise of the cliffhanger shows that the end of part 2 could have been edited much more effectively by finishing with a shot of Turlough drifting off into space, something you don't actually see in the transmitted episode. At the start of part 3 there are plenty of shots of Turlough looking desperately back to the Shadow as he drifts away, his hand reaching out in agonised terror, which would have been a much more thrilling way to end it.

Luckily, Turlough is "rescued" by the Buccaneer, which scoops him up in a net and takes him aboard. This is just as well because the efforts of the Shadow and its crew to retrieve Turlough leave much to be desired. Marriner tries to comfort Tegan by telling her that Turlough will have a quick death as he has so little oxygen, but I'm not sure this is going to placate her! The half-hearted attempt to throw a life ring to Turlough, which isn't even tethered, shows how little the Eternals value ephemeral lives.

When we get aboard the Buccaneer, things brighten up considerably. We meet Captain Wrack, played with scenery-chewing relish by the buxom Lynda Baron in her second of three contributions to Doctor Who over a span of an incredible 45 years. As much as I appreciate the effort Baron's putting in (and the story is all the better for it), her larger-than-life performance is directly at odds with those of the Shadow Eternals, where Keith Barron and Christopher Brown keep everything tightly bottled and reserved. I thought this was because Eternals are cripplingly bored, unable to feel emotions and sensations as ephemerals do, which is why Eternals surround themselves with ephemerals. Wrack has no trouble at all expressing how she feels, often in teeth-gnashingly melodramatic fashion.

And she's quite bloodthirsty is Wrack. She's obviously used to treating people (ie ephemerals) badly, being well versed in the arts of flogging (whipping or beating) and keelhauling (dragging someone through the water under the ship) to death!

Sadly, her right hand man, Leee John's Mansell, fails to match his mistress's energies. I'll be honest, John is shocking. If ever there was an example of somebody who cannot act, Leee John is it. He can't even spell his name properly! At the time, John was known as the lead singer of the post-disco soul group Imagination, which had five UK Top 20 hit singles in 1981-82. But by the time John was cast in Enlightenment, Imagination's success was on the wane, their singles rarely breaking the Top 40. John was cast at the last minute after original actor David Rhule had to drop out when the shooting schedule was rejigged (it's nice to know the role was always planned to be for a black actor though). I've no idea if Rhule would have been better, but I can be sure he wouldn't have been worse. Leee John can't even pretend to steer a ship's wheel convincingly! His overly demonstrative acting style (if you can call it a style) is better suited to a music video.

Someone else not firing on as many cylinders as perhaps they could is set designer Colin Green. I mentioned in my review of part 2 how bland the sets on the Shadow are. It's as if somebody sent a note down to Green's office saying: "We need a staircase and a corridor", and that's exactly what he gave them. No more, no less, just that. The sets for the ships were lifted from stock, rather than specially built, but surely there were better or more detailed sets from serials like Poldark and The Onedin Line? The deck of the Shadow looks OK shot on film, but you can still tell that the stars are just fairy lights haphazardly hung on black drapes, they don't look at all convincing. It's a shame, because most set designers would kill for a story with this much design potential, but Green definitely lets the side down.

Unlike costume designer Dinah Collin, who drew on the very best of the BBC Costume Department's historical outfits to dress the various Eternals at Wrack's party. They all look absolutely splendid, and it's a real shame we don't get to meet these masters of sail properly, or learn more about them. Finest of all is the specially-designed gown for Janet Fielding, which turns Tegan from an impish tomboy into a beautiful, elegant - and buxom - lady. Fielding seems to suit period dress - remember how fab she looked in Black Orchid? - and it's hard to believe she ever looked more stunning than she does in Enlightenment.

Not that the Doctor notices! As with Nyssa in Snakedance, he's oblivious to his companion's aesthetic splendour, even unceremoniously dragging her along a corridor in haste to get to the wheelhouse! This is wonderfully Doctorish, perfectly in keeping with how the Fourth Doctor might have reacted ("You're a beautiful woman, probably"), and demonstrating that this guy is an alien, who doesn't think the same way humans do. Unless Steven Moffat is writing the story, when the Doctor becomes uncomfortably lascivious.

And just to show that humans are the lascivious ones, I'll freely admit to noticing just how tight Mark Strickson's trousers are, especially when he's writhing around on the floor of the grid room. Yes, this story is full of sex, from the prominent busts to the hairy chests, the tight bottoms to the way Wrack needles Turlough's nipple with a knife! But it's absolutely right that the Doctor doesn't concern himself with any of that!

Turning my attention to the story, it's interesting how Turlough seizes upon any opportunity that he can to get by. He's a survivalist, self-centred and quite mercenary when it comes to choosing sides. He can tell he's in a dangerous place on the Buccaneer, so pretends to side with Wrack in order to get on. Strickson is wonderful in the scene with Wrack where he convinces her to let him in on her secrets. When given some proper material, Strickson shows himself to be a compelling performer, and although he never gave less than 100% whatever he was doing, stuff like this proves he was wasted for most of his time in Doctor Who (Turlough has so little to do in most of his stories). Strickson can carry a scene all by himself with ease, because he's expressive and energetic. The rather pedestrian scene where he explores the grid room is saved by his spark, and when Turlough calls to the Doctor for help, Strickson shows what a damn good screamer he is!

Why does Turlough decide to do the one thing you just wouldn't do when you're trapped in a room with a big hole in the middle which opens into space? He steps on the hole, resulting in the vacuum of space almost sucking him through. It's almost as nonsensical as the Doctor climbing over the side of an ice cliff in Dragonfire!

Of course, at the slightest sign of trouble - or even if there's not - Turlough has to whip out his bloody crystal and appeal to the Black Guardian for help. The Black Guardian keeps promising to destroy Turlough, but never quite gets round to it. I do wish he'd just bugger off and leave everybody else to get on with things.

The Doctor ends up rescuing Turlough, and the way Davison plays these scenes shows that our hero is increasingly suspicious of the boy. He foolishly trusted him immediately when they first met in Mawdryn Undead, but over the course of the subsequent episodes, the Doctor has developed a healthy reluctance to trust Turlough. We're never quite sure why the Doctor feels this way, but the fact it reflects what the audience knows about him is quite satisfying. The Doctor shouldn't put any faith in Turlough, because the lad's just out for himself. All he's wanted to do since the moment we met him is to get back to his home planet (wherever and whatever that is). "Let me stay, or don't you trust me yet?" he asks the Doctor here. No, Turlough. And why are you surprised?

The grid room is the place where Captain Wrack goes to cackle maniacally, and the big red eye in the ceiling acts as an amplifier for her power. The Doctor works out that it's the historically anachronistic red jewels which act as a focus each time. She gifted a bejewelled clasp to the late Critas the Greek, and a bejewelled sword to Davy before his ship exploded. The Doctor doesn't believe Striker would be foolish enough to accept a gift from Wrack, but surely it doesn't have to be given as a gift? The focus could simply be slipped into somebody's pocket before they returned to the Shadow.

Or Wrack could place the jewel in the centre of Tegan's tiara, hiding it in plain sight? Wrack is extremely pleased with herself, cackling into camera and telling the audience that he is a fool, he has lost, and all that awaits him is his ultimate destruction. These words sound suspiciously like the Black Guardian's turn of phrase. Could the busty buccaneer be an agent of the Guardian of Darkness and Chaos?

Oh, and the Doctor's been captured by Mansell, who's inflicting his terrifying lack of acting skills on him. 

First broadcast: March 8th, 1983

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Janet Fielding looks gorgeous in that gown.
The Bad: Leee John (he's like a dictionary definition of bad).
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

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.

Enlightenment is available as part of the Black Guardian Trilogy BBC DVD box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Guardian-Terminus-Enlightenment/dp/B002ATVDBY