The Guardians of Prophecy (2012)

The Lost Stories return after a brief break and it’s the return of the Sixth Doctor Lost Stories. The story sees the return of the Melkur who previously appeared in the 1981 adventure ‘The Keeper of Traken’ where the Master was using the Melkur as a TARDIS. In this story the Doctor and Peri arrive on Serenity which is one of the few places not wiped out in Logopolis. The story sees the rise of Malador who has been in stasus for a very long time. The plot is relatively straight forward which I was relieved at because at the moment all I want is for there to be simple or near straight-forward adventures and Johnny Byrne and Jonathan Morris have managed to accomplish this. It did seem to get a bit confusing towards the end but it kept hold of itself enough for me to still follow what was going on.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are a good double act and it’s a shame they don’t do more stories together. You can pretty much guarantee that both will manage to get the best out of the Yellow Pages and so as this story has a good plot they have trouble getting a handle on this story. I found Baker’s performance to be on the usual level that we expect from him. Nicola Bryant did a good job and was good in her part of the plot strand. It’s good how out of all the companions from the classic era, Bryant is the one who’s voice hasn’t really changed over the years (Sarah Sutton being the exception). Graham Cole is for me an interesting piece of casting as he had previously appeared in Doctor Who as a Cyberman and also quite ironically as Melkur in Keeper. I think that he had a good voice for radio and the character of Ebbko was quite a fun one and was possibly a nice bit of lightness in what at times was very serious. Another piece of good casting was that of Simon Williams as Guardian. Williams (soon to be in Counter Measures) was the best of the guest stars, I liked how the character just sounded so good. Stephen Thorne as Malador is always enjoyable and in this Thorne gave the character of Malador something that made the character one of the best baddies that we have had in these lost stories since perhaps the Celestial Toymaker.

The casting was good and large chunks of this story was very good. How good would it have been on TV? I think it would have worked well on TV even in by 1980’s standards. My enthusiasm for the Lost Stories has wained over the last few releases as the major Lost Stories have now been made and anything else is something that existed probably on a single A4 piece of paper. It’s not the best Lost Story that there has been but it is certainly better than other Sixth Doctor Lost Stories such as Hollows of Time and Point of Entry.

Arc of Infinity (1983)

Arc of Infinity is the opening story to the 20th Season of Doctor Who and it’s the story where Doctor Who goes dutch. This is the second time in as many years that Doctor Who went abroad following the 1979 story ‘City of Death’. The bonus about filming abroad is that it gives the story a different feel in a way that we don’t get when a story is based on another planet where it feels exactly like a BBC studio. The baddie in this story is Omega who previously appeared in 1973 story ‘The Three Doctors’ and would feature in the 2003 Big Finish play ‘Omega’. At the end of the previous story (Time-Flight), Tegan had been left behind and so it was just the Doctor and Nyssa which is a superb combination as you will know if you listen to any Big Finish play featuring this pair.

The Omega we get in this story is much better and stronger than the 1973 version. In The Three Doctors, Omega is a mad and ranting character than doesn’t seem to actually do very much. This time he’s given much more scope and we actually get an Omega that poses much more of a threat to the story than before.

Whilst the location stuff is very well shot and there is a lot of it. I feel that after a while there is only so much running about that I could take. Thankfully it’s replaced in Part Four with some fine chasing between the Doctor/Nyssa/Tegan and Omega with the ultimate showdown. However the location stuff is a lot more interesting than the studio work. The problem with filming in studio is that there is only so much that could be done and there is more running about in very narrow and long corridors.

The story isnt perfect. The cliffhanger of episode one has taken on a silly feel to it with the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker here as Maxill) shooting the current Doctor. Back in 1983 it would have been a good cliffhanger but sadly since Colin was cast as the Doctor there have been jokes about Baker trying to get the job early and other such jokes. I also found Robin to be utterly irritating. I just found him to be a downer and also slow scenes down. On the other hand his friend and Tegan’s cousin Colin was ok but unfortunately has to look a bit possessed and doesn’t really pull it off. However they all pale into insignificance when it comes to the Ergon who are just rubbish and rubbish to a degree that I didn’t think was possible. They just ruin any drama that had been built up.

As this story is the return of Tegan it’s interesting that she spends a large portion of the story separated from the Doctor and Nyssa. In fact it’s episode two before she makes an appearance. It is quite funny looking at the Doctor’s face with the prospect of Tegan re-joining the TARDIS crew. I remember watching Time-Flight and being shocked at her sudden departure (not realising it was part of JNT’s plan) and was glad when she returned.

Michael Gough returns to Doctor Who after his 1966 stint as the Celestial Toymaker he plays Heddin who is portrayed as a good guy but it turns out is a traitor and has been working with Omega. Gough’s performance was very good and was great to watch. Colin Baker is ok as Maxill but my attitude is based against his performances as the Doctor and this one is more subdued and is slightly ruined by having to hold that bloody helmet everywhere because it was too big to get through the doors without the need to stoop.

There is a lot going on because as well the finding a plausible reason for setting the story in Amsterdam, Johnny Byrne (writer) has to bring Omega back, the Timelords and Tegan and credit to Byrne he does a good job. It doesn’t feel like he’s rushed things or added too much to the story and it moves at a cracking pace with some wonderful scenes. I really like Arc of Infinity, it’s a good story that is made even stronger by the location filming. The filming is put to better use than in City of Death.

Arc of Infinity is a strong season opener which mixes the filming in Amsterdam with the story very well and with this season set to feature monsters from the Doctor’s past in every story this is perhaps the best story of the season and that’s not a very comforting statement.

The Keeper of Traken (1981)

The Keeper of Traken is a story that I didn’t know much about until I watched it. I remember that I saw it in my local HMV priced at £6.49 which I considered a bargain. It was when VHS’s were still on sale even though the DVD had superseded it as the watchable format. Quite like when I watched the Aztecs for the first time, I absolutely enjoyed this adventure. The story is the first to feature the Master since ‘The Deadly Assassin’ back in 1977. Again, the Master is deformed but in slightly more effective make up this time. It also sees the debut of Nyssa (played by Sarah Sutton). This was intended to be a one off appearance but Sutton impressed so much that she was offered a longer contract.

The story is set in the Traken Union which is an empire of peace and harmony. The Union is headed up by the Keeper, the Keeper has enormous power (he’s able to appear and disappear inside the TARDIS). Unfortunately that harmony is threatened by Melkur who is a creature that arrived on Traken but became calcified in the grove. The Keeper asks the Doctor to visit traken but is soon arrested. The story spends a long time with the council thinking that the Doctor is responsible for the terrible things happening on Traken but its Kassia that is pushing through this ludicrous idea. She has now being taken over by the Melkur who we soon discover is actually the Master’s TARDIS. Whilst the Doctor spends some time with Tremas, Adric spends a lot of time with Nyssa. Nyssa is a smart person who is the daughter of Tremas and the step-daughter of Kassia. It doesn’t take long for Nyssa to start behaving like Adric and they actually work quite well together with Sarah Sutton dragging Matthew Waterhouse through a lot of the scenes. In fact, take Waterhouse out of the story and my feelings about this story would be exactly the same.

Normally the Master’s plan could be accused of lacking in originality. Whilst this isnt the most original its far better than other plans. Due to the fact he has no proper body, he wants to become Keeper so he has ultimate power. That’s quite a plan that the Master has but alas it comes to nothing as the Doctor works it all out and comes up with a plan just in the nick of time. Just when you think that everything is safe now that the Master has been stopped however the shock twist at the end when Tremas (swap those letters around and it makes – Master!) is taken over by the Master and Anthony Ainley’s eight year association with the show begins. But this is not the last that we will see of the Master and he will go on to appear in the next two stories. Even though I knew (and suspect that a lot of people who had never seen this story before) that Ainley would go on to play the Master, I thought the way that it was done was very well thought off. The special effects used were also impressive, they manage to look credible even today.

Tom Baker’s final season is a sad one in many respects. Gone is the exciting and often mad Doctor that we saw in stories like Robot and even in the Key to Time series and it has been replaced by a grumpy and slow moving (and thinking) Doctor. I have often felt that he stayed in the role about two years too long. This is one of his better performances but its hard not to yearn for the heyday of his tenure. Sarah Sutton is wonderful in this story and shows why she is one of the best companions in Doctor Who with Matthew Waterhouse serving a purpose I suppose. Geoffrey Beevers is absolutely brilliant as the Master, his voice is what makes the character so impressive and when he returned in the 2003 Big Finish play ‘Master’ it shows what a great actor he is.

The Keeper of Traken is one of my favourite stories from this series. Even though it is entirely studio based it doesn’t suffer because of it. The story is one of the few stories to grab me on the first view. As I mentioned at the beginning, only the Aztecs has affected me in the same way. The story has well written characters and the direction and set designs were also perfect. Well worth a watch to even the newest of Doctor Who fans.