Enlightenment Part Two

The one where Marriner rummages through Tegan's mind...

Those sailing (space)ships look gloriously quaint. The way they hang in the vastness of space, their sails quivering in the solar winds, has a certain magic. The fact they are real models, not CGI, adds a beautiful hauntological quality, reminiscent of the work of Ray Harryhausen. The re-edited version released on DVD in 2009 was, to my mind, a comparative abomination, removing the homespun joy of these model ships and replacing them with a studied soullessness.

The Shadow is approaching the next "marker buoy" in its race through space, which is actually the planet Venus. Striker wants to be first to pass the planet, and narrowly succeeds in doing so, before witnessing the unexpected destruction of Critas the Greek. Before the Greek ship blew up, the Doctor noticed an historically inaccurate piece of jewellery on his finger, a Spanish jewel from the 17th century. Curiouser and curiouser...

Captain Striker, First Mate Marriner and the other officers aboard the Shadow are revealed to be Eternals, creatures that exist outside of time as we understand it, and who exist in perpetuity. They refer to humans as ephemerals, and see them as having pointlessly short lives. To keep themselves entertained through the endless expanse of their never-ending existence, the Eternals pluck ephemerals from their respective times and places and use them to man the ships taking part in the race. It all sounds very similar to what the War Lords were up to in The War Games, abducting humans and using them as entertainment, and the absence of new or fresh ideas to keep themselves entertained harks back to beings such as the Toymaker, and forwards to the Gods of Ragnarok.

The idea of the Eternals is fascinating. They are beings that exist ("It's not really what you'd call living") outside of time, and view even Time Lords as rather quaint. "You are a Time Lord, a lord of time," remarks Striker, reading the Doctor's mind. "Are there lords in such a small domain?" Eternals cannot die, they merely "transfer", and because of their distance from the lives of lesser mortals, they feel very little. They have no real emotions to speak of, and struggle to relate to those that do, although Marriner's fascination with Tegan (or rather, her mind) proves that Eternals are certainly capable of trying to empathise.

Keith Barron is magnificently impassive and stoical as Striker, and the scene where he and the Doctor lock horns is one of Peter Davison's finest yet as the Fifth Doctor. "Parasites!" spits the Doctor. "That's what Eternals are. You feed on living minds, you use them as blueprints!" The Doctor is clearly repulsed by the dispassionate way the Eternals treat what they refer to as ephemerals, and Davison gives a tour de force as he goes toe to toe with Barron's poker-faced opponent. The climax gives me goosebumps, when Striker asks the Doctor where he's going, and the Doctor realises that, just for a moment, Striker doesn't know, despite his telepathic powers. The Doctor almost triumphantly signs off with a breathless "Interesting!"

The Doctor is on his way to Tegan's room ("I think it's time we had a conference" being something the Doctor should do more often!), which has been dressed and decorated from Tegan's own memories. It's a jumble of her bedroom aboard the TARDIS, and her room in Brisbane, "as though someone's been rummaging around in my memories". That'll be creepy old Marriner, then! It's a nice touch to see Tegan's air hostess uniform from earlier seasons, as well as her flapper's dress from Black Orchid and a framed photo of the late Aunt Vanessa. I presume the stuffed koala is from her Aussie bedroom.

Marriner continues to creep poor Tegan out, and Christopher Brown does it so well. He really is fascinated by Tegan - that's absolutely the right word for it - and is actually trying to impress her without knowing what that really means. He creates her bedroom from her memories, to surround her with familiar things (although why Turlough says he also finds the room familiar is strangely unexplained), and when he takes her up on deck to show her the beauty of the stars, he's clearly trying to woo her, without knowing what wooing is! He wants to please her, make her happy, because that way he gets the most out of her mind. He doesn't help himself with super-creepy comments like "You're not like any ephemeral I've ever met before" though!

A few more observations:

• I love the eldritch drone musician Malcolm Clarke uses as a bed to the score sometimes, which adds a disconcerting unheimlich quality to the otherwise quite grating and repetitive use of hornpipe music.
• Colin Green's set design is a little sparse at times, never quite meeting its potential. The sets sometimes appear a little under-dressed and bland, and although it's entirely effective in and of itself, the repeated use of the stairwell and companionway makes it so obvious it's the same bit of set being used over and over again. It never feels like the ship is any bigger than that one corridor and stairs.
• The mandatory appearance of Valentine Dyall's Black Guardian means Turlough has to whip out that bloody annoying crystal and crouch in shadows once more. Although it's obviously leading somewhere, the whole Black Guardian thing gets quickly tiresome, and I cannot wait for the arc to be over in that sense. However, we do get a magnificently comic book evil laugh from Dyall here. "Nnnnyer-her-her-her-her!"
• The way Fiona Cumming directs the moment the Eternals learn of the TARDIS is genius, it gives me goosebumps! Striker and Marriner stand still and silent in the wheelhouse, listening in telepathically on the Doctor and Tegan's conversation. "The TARDIS is the last thing I want them to find out about," says the Doctor. Cumming then swiftly cuts to the officers, and Striker says: "TARDIS?", before we cut back to Tegan's room. They've found out!
• In fact, Keith Barron is so good in this, having given plenty of consideration to his style of delivery. Most of his dialogue is passionless and matter-of-fact, but there are moments where the choice he makes really adds power to proceedings. Take, for instance, the scene where the Eternals are silently conversing telepathically, just staring at one another with glazed expressions. They're obviously exchanging ideas and thoughts on some level, but then Barron speaks, in the softest tone possible: "Now...", and Marriner salutes obediently. What was said? We do not know, but the menacingly quiet way Barron underplays that one word is really quite chilling. Then there's the bit where Striker tells the Doctor that the prize for winning the race is Enlightenment: "The wisdom which knows all things, and which will enable me to achieve what I desire most." But before the Doctor can open his mouth, Striker has read his mind: "Do not ask what it is... I will not tell you." It's just the way Barron says these lines. Genius!
• Then there's the scene in the hold where the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough try and find the TARDIS. It's gone, but the way Cumming directs means we briefly glimpse an Eternal standing impassively in the gloom. No attention is paid to the Eternal, but he is there, watching, waiting...

The end of the episode is set up on deck, all shot on film to give it that otherness, just as deep space should feel. Turlough, tortured by the Black Guardian's threat that he will never leave the Shadow and will live aboard the ship in perpetual torment, decides to take control of his own destiny, and top himself. "I will never serve you again!" he screams, and goes to jump overboard into the vastness of space. He's obviously saying this to the Black Guardian, but if you think about it, from the Doctor's perspective, he may well be saying it to him! Do the Doctor's companions feel that they "serve" him? Perhaps this will give the Doctor food for thought... until next week.

First broadcast: March 2nd, 1983

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Keith Barron is magnificent as cold, calculating Striker, and his scenes with Peter Davison are mesmerising.
The Bad: The same staircase, over and over and over again...
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

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.

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