The Trial of a Time Lord Part Nine

The one where the Doctor has a new companion we've never met...

Fittingly, there's a solemn beginning to this episode following the events of the previous, in which the Doctor's long-time companion Peri was killed. I love how the theme music continues to run over the footage of the mourning Doctor re-entering the courtroom, and as he sits down the music ends. Colin Baker thankfully grasps the right tone in these early scenes, reflecting the horror of what has happened, both for the Doctor and the audience. To have an angry Doctor blustering and shouting across the courtroom would have been disrespectful and inappropriate.

The Doctor is clearly disturbed by Peri's death, occasionally distracted by his thoughts. There's a nicely judged moment when the Inquisitor asks if he's had enough time to overcome the distress of his bereavement, and Baker leaves a brief pause, before replying: "I doubt that there will ever be sufficient time for that." This is a Doctor tripped up by his own hubris (at last!), who is coming to terms with the fact that his friend through so many adventures is gone. Dead. And according to the prosecutor's statements, it's all the Doctor's fault. Our hero is in a dark place right now.

But he has had time to select evidence to support his defence case, lifted from his personal future. Stingingly, the Valeyard asks whether it is the Doctor's intention to show that he "improves", to which the Doctor says: "Precisely." The Doctor damns himself by agreeing that his past/ current behaviour needs improvement, and he is no longer arguing that he's being framed in some way. The Doctor has sifted through various adventures in his personal future, housed within the Matrix, and selected one which should show him in a better light. I'm tempted to wonder why he doesn't select an adventure from a future incarnation, but maybe he's not allowed to, seeing as this could potentially be his final body if found guilty.

The Doctor's story takes us aboard an intergalactic cruise liner in orbit around the metal-rich planet of Mogar. As well as numerous passengers, the Hyperion III is transporting precious metals from Mogar to Earth, in the year 2986. I like how director Chris Clough shows us the interior of the ship looking in from space, then focusses in on the milieu of passengers. Designer Dinah Walker makes the Hyperion III look like a 1980s health farm (I expect Victoria Wood and Julie Walters to walk in at any moment), while the passenger quarters are disappointingly cramped. The lounge is passably functional, but the corridors are terribly narrow, and the rooms little better than your basic Travelodge. This is supposed to be a luxury liner, but it feels more like a prison ship in places!

Writers Pip and Jane Baker have obviously gone for an Agatha Christie whodunit vibe, and evoke that very quickly by introducing a large cast of characters who all seem either suspect, or suspicious of each other. Prevalent among them is the ferocious Professor Lasky, played by the indomitable Honor Blackman, who charges into her lines like an angry bull. Lasky is immediately unlikeable, a woman who snipes and bullies to get her own way. There's also security officer Rudge, an amiable chap on his final voyage before retirement, as well as delightful receptionist Janet, and bumbling old dodderer Mr Kimber.

Then there's Grenville, who Mr Kimber believes is actually called Hallett, a man he previously met on Stella Stora investigating granary shortages. Grenville denies he is the same man, but already the seed is sown. Is Grenville who he says he is? The Bakers are very adept at evoking the Christie atmosphere of unease, suspicion and secrecy. It makes a nice change for a story to have such a strong thematic drive.

We then get our first TARDIS interior scene since Timelash, in which the Doctor is toiling away, rather reluctantly, on an exercise bike at the behest of the vision in lemon that is Bonnie Langford. This is Melanie, the Doctor's companion from the future, a woman we have never been introduced to and that we've never seen the Doctor meet. It's an innovative idea, to introduce a new companion after she's met the Doctor and when their relationship is already bedded in. There's a latent assumption that Mel will only be in this set of episodes, like a star guest companion a la Kylie Minogue or Lindsay Duncan, but my fan foreknowledge knows that things are going to get complicated in this regard!

Anyway, Mel is a breath of fresh air after the festering resentment that defined the Doctor/ Peri dynamic. Mel is brighter, happier, much more positive and much more active a companion than Peri ever was. Langford eases into the role with elan, and the relationship between Mel and the Doctor is more positive and relaxed. On the one hand it's odd that we don't get a proper character introduction, but it's also quite fun to just get on with things, and find out about Mel along the way.

The TARDIS receives a mayday call from the Hyperion III (a mysterious assailant hijacks the liner's communications system to lure the Doctor), and the police box materialises in the cargo hold. The first to step out is the enthusiastic Melanie, raring to go on a new adventure. "Come on Doctor! Come on, hurry!" she beckons. This is so refreshing, to have a companion leading the way, eager for new experiences, keen to get out there and see new things. There's a mystery to be solved, and Mel is first in line for it, ahead of the Doctor even.

It's clear why the Doctor might have selected this adventure in his defence, because he behaves much more cautiously than we've seen him before. He senses evil somewhere, and would rather return to the TARDIS than investigate its source. That's not like him - not like any Doctor in fact - but shows that the Sixth Doctor can, and does, mellow over time. We've no idea how much later in the Sixth Doctor's timeline this takes place, but Colin Baker does seem genuinely plumper than he did in the Ravolox and Thoros Beta segments!

Predictably captured, the Doctor and Mel are taken to the bridge, where the Time Lord is reunited with an old friend, "Tonker" Travers, Commodore of the Hyperion III. Flamboyant dialogue hints at a previous, unseen adventure - "On the previous occasion that the Doctor's path crossed mine, I found myself involved in a web of mayhem and intrigue" - but Travers seems secretly glad to see the Doctor because he may help solve the mystery. That's the mystery of who sent the mayday call luring the Doctor to the Hyperion III, making all this feel quite circular!

Lounging in the lounge, the Doctor seems reluctant to get involved - hence why the Doctor's using this as evidence - and it is the plucky Mel who eggs him on, encouraging him to peruse the passenger list for familiar names. "Meanwhile, I wander around, poke my nose into a few nooks and crannies and see if anyone tries to make contact," says Mel, cheekily. This girl is a breath of fresh air after the moaning Perpugilliam Brown. It's great to see a companion who wants to be with the Doctor, who wants to get involved with things, and who has a certain strength of character with strangers that Peri lacked.

Her character is summed up in the bit where the Doctor says it's "a far cry from the carefree life of Pease Pottage", to which she cheerily replies: "I'm not complaining." No, she's not. But Peri would have. Hell, even Tegan and Turlough would have. This companion is revolutionary in her simplicity!

Mel makes for the ship's gymnasium, where the 60-year-old Honor Blackman is putting on an impressive display of fitness that I could only aspire to (that woman was a marvel!). Mel overhears that there seems to be a problem in the Professor's hydroponics centre in the hold, and before she can act upon that, she is contacted by a person unseen over the aerobics intercom. Melanie really is at the forefront of this adventure's investigation. It's hard to imagine Peri being this willingly involved.

Mel tells the Doctor that it is the person who sent the mayday call that wants to meet him, in Cabin 6. They each make their own way to Cabin 6 under their own steam (the Doctor pretends he's not going so as to protect Mel from danger - another example of an "improved" Doctor), where they find the room's been ransacked in some kind of struggle. We also see the demeter seeds that a Mogarian stole from the hydroponics centre earlier, as well as one lone boot. Curiouser and curiouser. This feels authentically Christie-like (even down to the brief glimpse of Lasky reading Murder on the Orient Express!).

A klaxon sounds, attracting everybody to the waste disposal centre, where Travers and Rudge discover somebody's been horribly disposed of. "Whoever's been dumped in there has been pulverised into fragments and sent floating into space, and in my book that's murder," asserts Travers. Duhhh, ya think? A clue is left behind, one lone boot matching the one the Doctor found in Cabin 6. And who was staying in Cabin 6? Apparently it was the mineralogist Grenville (or was he Hallett?).

Proceedings take a puzzling turn when the Doctor seems to just drop everything, acting as if everything is solved. Grenville is the one who lured him to the Hyperion III, and it's Grenville who's been killed. End of story. But it's not the end of the story, not at all. Because how did Grenville know the Doctor? Why did he bring him to the Hyperion III? And who killed him, and why? All of these questions are neatly glossed over, but it seems there may be an explanation for that...

The Doctor pauses the tape and denies that this is how the evidence played out when he reviewed it earlier. But rather than refer to all of the unanswered questions as I have above, he refers to the tantalising information given to him by Mel about possible misdemeanours in the hydroponics centre. The Doctor on screen is happy to ignore this intrigue and let Mel investigate it alone, while the Doctor in the courtroom maintains that he would never act this way. "This isn't what happened," he says. "The girl, Melanie. Her information was important. I wouldn't have just ignored it. Completely uncharacteristic."

He's not wrong. At least, he's not wrong from his own personal perspective, because the Doctor in the courtroom is still the version of himself that had a tendency to act recklessly, to "get involved". But the future, mellower, less interfering version of the Sixth Doctor might very well behave this way, refusing to get embroiled in events that don't concern him (remember the way he wanted to leave when he sensed evil?). It's complicated, and I'm thinking about it much more than anybody ever intended, but if you're going to introduce the concept of 'before' and 'after' versions of the Sixth Doctor, then you need to properly map out the consequences.

Anyway, the Doctor believes his evidence is being tampered with, and notice how the Valeyard bristles with anger when it's suggested the Matrix has been manipulated. "Preposterous!" he blurts. "Absolutely preposterous!" An accusation rather too close to home, Valeyard? The Bakers also lay another breadcrumb clue when the Doctor points out that some of what he says on the screen doesn't sound like his words: "My dear Melanie, if you wish to pursue this completely arbitrary course, pray hurry along to the hydroponic centre and leave me to my static and solitary peregrinations." No, those words sound much more like the sort of thing the more verbose Valeyard might say...

Returning to the evidence, we find Mel exploring the cargo hold on the way to the hydroponics centre, where she is discovered by the handsome Edwardes, who looks like he's got his eye on chirpy Melanie. He offers her a guided tour, and Mel gets to ask Miss Marple-like questions to find out more about Lasky ("the woman with the dragon's voice"!) and her aides, Bruchner and Doland. It all feels very cosy and amiable, until Edwardes enters the hydroponics centre and all hell breaks loose.

This cliffhanger has to rate as one of the finest crafted in the history of Doctor Who. It comes at you like a speeding bullet, exploding into a miasma of flashing lights, explosions, flying sparks and screams. Edwardes cries out in electrocuted agony, a blue glow enveloping his body, before he collapses to the ground dead. We glimpse a strange creature start to emerge from a cocoon. The hydroponics centre erupts in a shower of sparks and explosions, and as Chris Clough pans and zooms the camera out to take in the carnage, Mel's terrified screams echo around the hold, blending magically into the closing theme music.

It's simply masterful, so well executed, and the fact it happens so suddenly and apocalyptically makes it all the more powerful and lasting. Truly, one of the best episode endings in Doctor Who ever.

First broadcast: November 1st, 1986

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: That cliffhanger!
The Bad: The design of the passenger quarters of the Hyperion III; they're unrealistically cramped.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

Word repetition: 7

NEXT TIME: Part Ten...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five; Part Six; Part Seven; Part Eight; Part Ten; Part Eleven; Part Twelve; Part Thirteen; Part Fourteen

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 Trial of a Time Lord is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Trial-Time-Lord/dp/B001ARYYNG