Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Trial of a Time Lord Part Two


The one where the Doctor meets Drathro the L3 Robot, and an L1 Robot too...

After pausing the evidence and trying desperately to get the inquiry into the Doctor's behaviour turned into a trial, the Valeyard is roundly put in his place by the officious Inquisitor, who stops short of elevating it from an inquiry. "What the Valeyard wants and what the court decides are two entirely different things," she says. So it remains an inquiry, for now, it seems. The Inquiry of a Time Lord doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Returning to the evidence, we see that the L3 Robot wishes to question the Doctor, who is taken to the entrance to his "castle" by Merdeen and Balazar. It's wonderful just how better written and portrayed the Sixth Doctor is this time. Robert Holmes seems to be channelling the light-hearted flippancy of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, but it works really well with Colin Baker's tempered Sixth. It feels like Colin is having a really fun time recording this story, as if he feels freer now that his Doctor can develop.

There are moments where Colin injects a lightness of touch, such as the little gesture to Balazar mocking Merdeen's taciturn demeanour, or the flippant interjections at the castle doors. When Merdeen says Balazar won't need to go in with the captive, the Doctor ribs: "Lucky old you!", and when the Doctor tires of Merdeen's earnestness and tells him to "push off and guard some trains". This is the Doctor who makes light of heavy situations, a coping mechanism used most often by Tom's Doctor. I must say, it suits both Bakers.

I also like composer Dominic Glynn's hints at Malcolm Clarke's harpsichord-like musical theme for the Sixth Doctor, first heard in The Twin Dilemma, but riffed on much more palatably here.

Inside the "castle" the Doctor meets the towering L3 Robot, named Drathro. It's an impressive costume, but its sheer size and bulk make it rather clunky and unwieldy, and operator Paul McGuinness struggles to mobilise it. Aiding Drathro are blond twinks Humker and Tandrell, two of the cleverest youths selected from the underground dwellers to supposedly get eaten by the Immortal (echoes of The Krotons here). Humker and Tandrell (aka Humbug and Handbag!) are mildly annoying within moments of their appearance, but it's not so much the fault of actors Billy McColl and Sion Tudor Owen as the insipid way costume designer Ken Trew dresses them. The blond wigs don't help either. They just look silly.

The scene where the Doctor talks with Drathro while the twinks search his pockets is nicely played, an element of eccentricity which might be common to all eras (the Doctor's swift confiscation of his teddy bear is very funny!). Drathro thinks the Doctor has been sent from Andromeda. We also learn that, as well as powering Drathro, the black light converter was also meant to maintain the Three Sleepers until they could be returned to Andromeda. However, the Sleepers have died as the relief ships failed to arrive. I get the feeling all of this may become relevant in some way...

Drathro wants the Doctor to fix his computer system, which he says is showing signs of imminent failure, and the Time Lord identifies the problem must be with the black light converter up top. Interjecting in proceedings, the Valeyard tries to make the point that the Doctor is interfering in the affairs of Ravolox at this point, when, as the Doctor rightly points out, he has little choice but to help.

A twist comes in the tale when we discover that moochy old Merdeen has actually been rebelling against the system, and saving the condemned by setting them free on the surface instead of sending them to Drathro. This means the Tribe of the Free are descendants of the undergrounders who have been escaping to the surface, although why they regress to some kind of feudal existence is a mystery. It also means someone must have been doing this before Merdeen, as some members of the Free are older than he is (including Katryca).

Meanwhile, Peri teams up with Glitz (who is to be sacrificed to the flame to appease their god) and Dibber (he of the vacuous expression and the single track mind) and manages to escape from the Free. While Peri and Glitz scarper, fleet-footed Dibber blows up the black light converter (aka the Free's totem to their god Haldren) and they all make a run for it before reuniting with the Doctor and Balazar at the entrance to Marb Station. However, cornered by the Tribe of the Free on one side and the truly pathetic L1 Robot on the other (it looks like a Toblerone on wheels), the Doctor rather pessimistically admits: "I really think this could be the end." Unless, of course, he means the end of the episode, which it is.

Some observations:
  • Joan Sims is a little softer when speaking with Peri, but still insists on shouting her lines, as if Nicola Bryant is deaf. She's treating this like a school play.
  • Glitz's map of the underground looks like it's drawn in crayon by a six-year-old.
  • Love Dibber's description of the Doctor as a "dilly in a long coat", which is actually quite an accurate way to describe his clownish, outlandish, unconventional attire.
  • Glitz knows of the Time Lords and wonders if the Doctor has been sent by them in pursuit of whatever it is that he is after. Interesting that the Valeyard should choose as evidence a Doctor Who adventure involving the Time Lords themselves...
  • Katryca promises to pair Peri up with several husbands ("plural?"), and Dibber adds that on his home planet of Salostopus, women can have up to six husbands! Prescient in light of what's in Peri's future...
  • The Doctor's childish name-calling directed at the Valeyard (what is a valeyard anyway?!) is swiftly shot down by the no-nonsense Inquisitor ("Your puerile attempts at flippancy are not appreciated in this court," she says). How true.
  • Love the very silly, but effective, way the Doctor distracts the L1 Robot by pointing and saying "Look!", then running off!
The Valeyard seems intent on forfeiting the Doctor's life, and is eager to point out examples of interference in the affairs of others at every opportunity. Near the end of the episode he offers up the Doctor's guarded commitment to "crushing the Immortal's power" by claiming it as a "prime example of the Doctor's interference. You will note that he was in a position to free himself of the situation, yet deliberately chose not to." The Inquisitor insists they wait and see, but a little later the Doctor is heard to say "We've got to get out of here" to Peri, which could quite easily be used by the Doctor as evidence in his favour.

First broadcast: September 13th, 1986

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The Sixth Doctor's newfound flippancy suits him.
The Bad: That awful L1 Robot, which must have been so slow and sluggish that they had to speed up the footage to make it look quicker!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆


at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Have you seen this episode? Let me know what you think!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)