The Trial of a Timelord: Terror of the Vervoids (1986)

The third story in this Trial of a Timelord season is the one where we are introduced to a new companion and the story just goes bonkers and not necersarily in a good way. Written by Pip and Jane Baker this is their second contribution after the previous years Mark of the Rani which I quite liked despite it not being liked by many. I think that story doesn’t start well because it is set in the future and it immediately leads to the end of the season because if the Doctor has a future then it implies that he gets found not guilty at the trial which makes the whole court stuff redundant. Anyway once we get past that we find we have a new companion in the form of Melanie Bush as played by Bonnie Langford. It’s never explained how far in the Doctor’s future this story takes place and as a result we are expected to warm to Mel under the idea that she has been travelling with the Doctor for sometime. This is quite a bold idea by JNT of introducing a companion without witnessing their introduction into the show.

The main ‘threat’ comes from the Vervoids and to be honest the look of them is ridiculous because they look quite rude and its hard to get past that. Their motives are quite interesting, that they see humans in the same way that we see trees and this leads to an good and credible threat. The crew and passengers on the crusieliner range from bland to irritating. Lets start with Honour Blackman who famously appeared in the James Bond film Goldfinger as Pussy Galore but in this story she plays Professor Laskey and spends most of the story really angry and it doesn’t seem like she’s doing too much acting. It’s almost like she took on the role and then changed her mind as soon as it began.

Unfortunatley the Mel that we get on TV is not a very good one. Part of me thinks it is down to the acting but then part of me thinks it is down to the writing. It has to be said that since the character appeared in several Big Finish stories since 2000, the character and actress have improved drastically. In the first cliffhanger we get a prime example of what is wrong with the character. It seems that Bonnie Langford has been hired because she can scream and man alive can she scream. It’s quite good how her scream mixes into the closing credits but aside from that she is irritating beyond believe throughout this story. The appearance of Commodore Travers is a curious one because he and the Doctor have met before in an unseen adventure. Like Mel were expected to believe these two have history from the beginning and for one person this is fine but for two its stretching it a bit. That said I did like the character of Travers as he doesn’t get on well with the Doctor at first and even by the end their friendship isn’t easy.

The story does have two very good cliffhangers. The first being the one where Mel screams after that bloke puts his hand on the hydroponics door and gets electrocuted. One does have to ask why he wasn’t more careful considering what was inside. The second good cliffhanger was at the end when after watching the events unfold and realise that not one Vervoid had survived, the Valeyard wanted the case to involve the charge of Genocide. This was a nice dramatic moment but the sudden change of what the case is about is totally preposterous. In no legal system anywhere in the world would you be able just change the charge at the drop of a hat.

The main cast do well with Colin Baker really coming to the front when he’s away from Mel. The relationship between Colin and Nicola seemed very strong on TV and it was always going to be difficult for Bonnie Langford but unfortunately this pairing isnt one the best in Doctor Who history. Michael Jayston and Linda Bellingham do well in their brief scenes but it wouldn’t be until the next story that they really show why they are there.

It’s not a bad story, certainly not on par with The Mysterious Planet but there are things that the story could have done without but we are now approaching the final two stories and as a result I have to say that at least the series was heading in the right direction. Pip and Jane Baker have written a story with good intentions but its sadly let down by some dubious production decisions and a mix quality of supporting cast members.

The Trial of a Timelord: The Ultimate Foe (1986)

So it comes down to these two episodes. The longest season single story arc in Doctor Who history is about to reach its conclusion. This story has the most turbulent of stories just to get it to the TV screen. Episode 13 and 14 was suppose to be written by Robert Holmes (author of The Mysterious Planet) but after writing 13, he became ill and Eric Saward took over except. However due to ‘creative differences’, Eric Saward withdrew his script and according to the documentary to accompany this story on DVD, John Nathan-Turner had to get Pip & Jane Baker to write Episode 14 in just a few days. It’s an amazing achievement that they were able to do it.

This is arguably the best part of the entire Trial season. Partly because it ties up all the loose ends from the previous twelve weeks, partly because its where the story goes well and truly bonkers and also partly because Anthony Ainley returns to Doctor Who for his penultimate performance as the Master. The Master reveals the big twist about the Valeyard by informing us that he is the dark side of the Doctor. I cant quite make my mind up about whether it’s a good idea but something that was quite a joke clearly was when the Doctor said that the same person cant be the prosecutor and defendant. This is the same judicial system that can change a simple investigation into a Timelords activities and then on a whim change it to a charge of genocide.

This story does boast a relatively small cast, not including the regulars there are six actors and The Inquisitor and the Keeper of the Matrix don’t appear in it much. Michael Jayston is on fine form and it seems that Jayston has been saving this performance for the previous twelve weeks and he shines. It’s also good to have Tony Selby back as Sabalom Glitz and he acts as a sort of comedy relief to what is otherwise a very dark and intense two part story. I quite liked the bit when he arrived in the courtoom and got sidetracked by looking at part of the scenery and then also getting sidetracked when the Master is trying to hypnotise him.

It’s a shame that they waited until episode 13 to bring Ainley back because I genuinely feel that he could have livened up proceedings. The moment where he returns was a genuine surprise to me and it was perhaps the most exciting moment of the entire series. The cliffhanger was also very dramatic despite watching it in 2011 it does look slightly iffy but it was a good attempt and the resolvement in Episode 14 was also very good.

This story marks the end of the Colin Baker era. It’s a shame that his final words were ‘Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice’. It was a shameful way by the BBC the way that they just discarded of Baker’s services because I think that he wasn’t given enough support by the BBC and it wonderful that Big Finish have reinvented the character to be one of the best Doctor on the range. The Ultimate Foe isnt quite the ending that the story should have been but considering the obstacles that Pip and Jane Baker as well as JNT had, it was a good solid story.

As a season, this wasn’t a particularly fine one. There were flashes of good storytelling but there was too much wrong with it to enjoy it. I think out of the four stories that formed this season, Mindswap was the one I thought did best. The next time we would see Doctor Who it would be the final stretch for the classic era and there would be a new intro, new theme tune and more importantly a new Doctor. This is a story that should be watched because it’s an important part of Doctor Who history.

Time and the Rani (1987)

Time and the Rani was the first story to feature Sylvester McCoy after Colin Baker had been unceremoniously sacked and refused to record a regeneration sequence. Unusually (at that time) there is a pre-title sequence which sees the TARDIS crash land on Lakertya, the Rani walks in and the creature with her turns over the Doctor and ‘he’ regenerates into McCoy. It’s perhaps the most ill conceived sequence in Doctor Who. Why they couldn’t have thought of something better is beyond me. They could have done a sequence where the Doctor has his back to the screen and there is a power surge in the console and it affects the Doctor and forces him to regenerate. That’s a much better idea that sadly came 23 years too late. Unfortunately the TARDIS scene pretty much sets the stall out for this story and it’s not good.

There are good things about this story. It’s good to have Kate O’Mara back as the Rani because I think that O’Mara is a very good actress. She was the best thing about Mark of the Rani and that was because of the chemistry she had with Anthony Ainley. If it wasn’t Kate O’Mara playing this role it would have been just a normal mad scientist character trying to do some dastardly deed and this would have been an average story. O’Mara spends a large chunk of this story pretending to be Mel. Every time I watched this I kept wondering to myself…why? As much as I like the Rani and Kate O’Mara, unfortunately she is wasted in this story.

There is a lot of bad things about Time and the Rani. First of all are the Lakertyrans who look awful and unfortunately don’t do much of any interest in this story. I also found McCoy’s performance to be more suitable for pantomime. There is a history of the Doctor being a bit odd shortly after his regeneration but McCoy’s performance was just too silly for my liking. Thankfully after this story his eccentricity gets pulled in and we get the McCoy performance like in Remembrance of the Daleks. This isnt McCoy’s fault because there was no discipline in the story. No one knew what McCoy’s Doctor was going to be like and as a result we get a loose version of the character.

The story was written by Pip and Jane Baker. They wrote Mark of the Rani and I really liked that as I think its one of Colin Baker’s best stories. Then they wrote Terror of the Vervoids for the Trial of a Timelord series which was probably one the better stories of that series but was not as good as Mark. This story unfortunately suffers from uncertainty in that the Bakers didn’t even know who was going to play the Doctor. They do a good job in their 1987 novelisation of this story by explaining what caused the regeneration. It was a case of ‘tumultuous buffeting’ which was a wonderful term.

Time and the Rani deserves its placing in fans opinions. A lot of stories from the classic series that were not held in high esteem but over the years and especially when released on DVD would be looked at differently. Unfortunately this rule doesn’t always apply. Time and the Rani is a terrible story that suffers from a clear direction setting. With the show surviving from the Michael Grade axe and being placed opposite Coronation Street, this story should have been better. Pip and Jane Baker should have made the Doctor darker (even if they didn’t know who the actor was) and perhaps this story might have been better.

The Mark of the Rani (1985)

The Mark of the Rani is the second story from Colin Baker’s first series. This 45 minute format seems normal these days but back in 1985 it must have seemed quite strange. The advantage to a 45 minute story compared to 25 is that you can structure it better and it gives the writer a better chance to tell a good story. In this story we don’t just get one Timelord but three. This story sees the return of the Master which is quite special as he was seen to burn to death in Planet of Fire. But there is the debut of the Rani. The Rani is a renegade Timelord like the Master who has been banished from Gallifrey for her experiments which is something that is bugging the Rani. What is the Mark of the Rani? Well it’s simply a medium size red dot on the side of the neck. A sort of calling card. Nothing more, it’s not a plot driver or anything important so the title does seem a bit silly.

The relationship between the Doctor and Peri is still at its bickering stage thankfully all but gone from their Big Finish adventures. They don’t bicker quite so much in this story as they do in others but there is sadly enough to make the Doctor/Companion relationship seem strange. The story is set in Killingworth in the 19th Century. A meeting of some of the greatest minds of that time are meeting there but something strange is going on. The behaviour of the men of this village has changed. It turns out to be the Rani. There is a chemical which can only be obtained from the human brain. This chemical is for her experiments on another planet. When the chemical is removed from the brain it prevents the humans from sleeping thus making them aggressive. The Rani intends on using the chemical to help her experiments less aggressive. The Master simply wants to use the Earth to take over the universe (same old same old).

Something that gets commented on is the scarecrow that the Doctor and Peri encounter in the field was apparently the Master though if it were, why wasn’t more attention drawn to it.

Pip & Jane Baker (writers) have done very well writing some good characters and also giving them something constructive to say. I found the character of Luke to be very weak however. I just didn’t care when he got turned into a tree. The site of a tree trying to hug Peri was quite funny. The other supporting actors included Terence Alexander as Lord Ravensworth. He was very good as believeable as the Lord. Gawn Grainger was also very good as George Stevenson and was quite a surprise. Anthony Ainley puts in a usually good performance as the Master. This performance is actually better than others because he has someone that he can sparred verbally against who isnt the Doctor. Kate O’Mara is very good in this story as the Rani, she comes across as a cleverer Timelord than the Master and have some good lines. It seems quite amazing that they managed to persuade Kate O’Mara to come into Doctor Who. Especially at a time when people were starting to give up on the show. The Kudos the show had dematerialised at this point. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant put in very good performances. Their relationship aside they both are well used in this story though.

The cliffhanger from Episode 1 is quite good. The Doctor is tied down with no sign of help. Except there are a group of workers who seemingly stop to help but then put the Doctor on some tracks to a pit shaft. The resolution of this cliffhanger is somewhat disappointing as there are clips in the reprise that weren’t in the cliffhanger. George Stevenson comes in to save the day. He hadn’t even appeared in the story so his introduction to the story was somewhat strange. I also found that the dinosaurs in the Rani’s TARDIS were very unconvincing. It wasn’t that they looked bad but it was just directed badly. Almost as if the director went out of his way to try and show the BBC what he had to work with.

I know that Mark of the Rani isn’t that well liked by most fans but I found it to be quite charming. It’s a nice pseudo historical story and the story has a nice strong group of characters.