From: jogulin@pub_one.fia.dmg.ml.com (Joseph Ogulin)
Subject: ARCHIVE: Review of the JN-T Era of Doctor Who, Part 1
Organization: The Rift from Here to There
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 13:56:44 GMT

Done during the spring semester of 1989 while I was at JHU...

I'll post it (all 8 parts plus any extra stuff) over the course
of this week...

Here we go...

************************ CUT HERE **************************
Back by popular request, here's our JN-T era review...
including the all-new, sparkling part 8 (season 25)!
And look...we even nroff'ed it for you! :-)
-----------------------------
 
 
Right now, Louis and I are sitting down and pulling this out
of   our  posteriors,  slightly  below  the  coccyx....well,
sorta... :-)
 
Since we have a little time, we decided  to  write  a  joint
review of the John Nathan-Turner era of Doctor Who.
 
To help place the time, the year  is  1980.   Tom  Baker  is
starting  his seventh year as the Doctor, and the man in the
Hawaiian shirt takes over as producer....
 
The Leisure Hive -
 
     The Doctor  bypasses  the  randomizer  and  brings  the
TARDIS  to  the planet Argolis, a planet devastated by an 18
minute conflict with its old enemy, the Foamasi.  The  story
involves  the  attempt  to  sell  the hive on Argolis to the
Foamasi and its violent opposition by  Pangol,  an  Argolin.
Pangol  uses  the Tachyon Recreation Generator to produce an
army of  himself  (gee,  instant  cloning...).   The  Doctor
thwarts Pangol (obviously...he's the hero...) and Pangol and
his mum are returned to a younger age by the TRG.
 
     The story has an excellent appearance:  good sets, good
sfx,  and an excellent premise.  The story line, however, is
quite dull.  Overall, this is a mediocre story, but it is  a
refreshing  change  from  Graham  Williams and anyone before
him.  The opening credits and theme provide a shock to some-
one  not  expecting  a change, and disgust for any who don't
like the change.
 
 
Meglos -
 
     The Doctor travels to Tigella to visit an  old  friend,
Zastor,  because  of  a  problem with the Dodecahedron.  The
Doctor is tossed into  a  chronic  hysteresis  (sounds  like
something  most women wouldn't want to get near...), manages
to get out by throwing it out of  phase  (if  he  didn't  we
wouldn't  have  a  story...).  Once he gets to Tigella, how-
ever, he finds that he's already been  there...well,  Meglos
has  been  there  and impersonated him.  Meglos is a cactus-
like alien from Zolfa-Thura,  the  neigboring  planet.   The
Dodecahedron  is  an  immense  power source for some planet-
frying  ray  gun  (the  ultimate  six-shooter...all   right,
twelve-shooter...).    He  manages  to  save  the  day  (yet
again...) by impersonating Meglos, destroying him,  and  the
Dodecahedron in the process.
 
     Blech!
 
     The only possible redeeming feature is the reappearance
of Jaqueline Hill as the high priestess.
 
 
Full Circle -
 
     A Charged Vacuum Emboitement causes  problems  for  our
heroes  by  sending  them  into  E-Space and putting them on
planet at the same coordinates as  Gallifrey,  only  tack  a
negative  sign on the front.  The planet is called Alzarius.
When they arrive, it is time for Mistfall (quite an original
name, don't you think?).  The Marshmen (yet another original
name...) come out of the marsh (where  else??)  nearest  the
Starliner  (again, where else??).  They try to take over the
Starliner, but are countered  by  the  Doctor.   Adric  tags
along at the end, unknown to the Doctor, Romana, and K-9.
 
     Eeegad!!  Boring!!  Preachy!!  We've  actually  figured
out  what that negative sign means:  rather than being inha-
bited by time-geriatrics, Adric is from this planet.  To top
it off, this story was done by a then 19 year old Doctor Who
fan.
 
 
State of Decay -
 
     Still in E-Space, the TARDIS lands on  a  medieval-like
planet.   The  castle  turns  out to be a space ship and the
three rulers are the original officers, whereas  their  sub-
jects are descendants of the original inhabitants (no wonder
those three were so hungry...).  The Doctor  discovers  that
the  Great  Vampire,  last  of  a race destroyed by the time
lords (non-interference, huh?) is here and turned the  three
officers  into vampires.  Using a scout ship as a stake, the
Doctor kills the Great Vampire.
 
     Louis:  this is easily the best story of the season.
 
     Joe:  this is one of the two best stories of  the  sea-
son.
 
     This story finally made it to the  screen  after  being
bumped  by  the Beeb, eventually to be replaced by Horror of
Fang Rock - yet  another  of  Michael  Grade's  intelligence
attacks.   Only bad part is the appearance of the Great Vam-
pire.  Great Marionette might be a little more appropriate.
 
 
Warriors' Gate -
 
     A time-sensitive Tharil (looks  like  a  Thundercat...)
takes  control  of the TARDIS.  The Doctor and Romana manage
to free Biroc (the live Thundercat...) and his people.   K-9
is  damaged  in  the  process (gee, JN-T, you're clever...),
Romana and K-9 stay behind, and the  Doctor  leaves  E-Space
with Adric in the TARDIS (MISTAKE!!!!).
 
     Confusing, though once you figure it out (or  read  the
novelization --Louis), it is actually quite good.  Having to
do all that works against it.
 
     Louis:  certainly one of the clumsiest exits of compan-
ions.
 
 
The Keeper of Traken -
 
     The Keeper of the Source (yet another original name...)
asks  the Doctor for help during the trying times of succes-
sion.  Tremas (rearrange, please...rather  literally...)  is
to  be  the successor, but his wife, Kassia doesn't want him
to be the new Keeper.  An evil statue (guess  who...)   sud-
denly  appears,  wreaks havoc (what else?) and gains control
of the source for a period of time.   The  Doctor  winds  up
confronting  his  old  enemy  (if  you  rearranged  properly
before, you'd know who...), defeats him, and by  process  of
elimination,  since Tremas, Kassia, and Seron bought it, and
Katura didn't want it, Luvic becomes the  Keeper.   Tremas's
body  is  appropriated  by...well,  you'd better know who by
now...
 
     Flop!  Right on its face...or posterior, slightly below
the  coccyx  (take  your  pick...we don't pick ours, person-
ally...)  A nice idea thrown out the window  with  a  crummy
plot.   Oh  well...   Redeeming  factor:   Denis  Carey, who
played Professor Chronotis in "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detec-
tive Agency"...er, "Shada."
 
 
Logopolis -
 
     The city of living math,  or  logic,  or  whatever,  is
visited  by the Doctor in an attempt to repair the chameleon
circuit in the TARDIS.  Unfortunately, you know who tries to
take over.
WWWWWWRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The city's inhabitants become dust, because they can't speak
the  language  of  mathematics, so they can't keep the CVE's
stable (now where did we hear that term before?  by the way,
did  anyone  know what happened to the Second Law of Thermo-
dynamics in this story?)  The Doctor has to collaborate with
you  know  who  to  save you know what before the end of the
universe...considering it's past the point of  natural  heat
death  and  the  CVE's (here we go again...) are keeping the
universe alive (neat...get a physics  prof  to  explain  the
whole  thing...bet  he  can't...).  After stabilizing a CVE,
the Doctor has to fall from the Jodrell Bank Observatory  so
he can regenerate... Two new companions are also introduced:
the brain and the mouth on legs....
 
     Louis:  episode 4 is the best of the season, but it's a
pity  that  the  Master  hasn't been that good since, except
maybe for "The Five Doctors."   Where's  an  entropy  field?
Didn't you hear?  It's just outside of Leeds.
 
     Joe:  other only good story of the season.  The showing
of  the  companions  and  enemies  during his "hang-out" and
"lay-out" are a nice touch, considering the length of  Tom's
tenure.   The  story itself starts off a bit slow, but picks
up as it goes on, and finishes with quite  a  blast,  so  to
speak....
 
 
 
Season overall -
 
     Much better production values,  probably  because  they
cheated  with  the  episode length (21 minutes as opposed to
the old 23 minutes, with each having 2  minutes  of  recaps,
plus  longer titles --Louis).  The music became "mod."  Make
your own decisions, but this was probably the  best  version
of it during JN-T's time.
 
     Louis:  the incidental music seemed quite tinny and the
stories weren't even up to the previous season, except where
noted.  With the exception of Leisure Hive 1 and  2,  Meglos
1,  and  Logopolis 3, the cliff- hangers were pretty bad and
unmemorable.
 
     Joe:  the season definitely marked a change of  produc-
ers.   New music (theme and incidental), a whole new produc-
tion crew, a new personality and scarf for our best  friend,
bad  stories, and some bad companions are all forebodings of
things yet to come under JN-T's reign.
 
 
 
Seasonal trivia:
 
-    What K-9 circuit was jammed such  that  Romana  had  to
     waggle his tail to correct it?
 
-    Give all the episodes to have a  recap  different  from
     the cliffhanger.  (Guess who asked that one.)
 
-    Give the preaches for the following:
 
          -    The Leisure Hive
 
          -    Full Circle
 
          -    Warriors' Gate
 
 
Disclaimers:
 
     No, we're not drunk...just quite  silly...if  you  have
any  comments  or complaints, don't bother trying to get our
phone    numbers...     Just    imagine    if    we     were
drunk................ >:-)
 
                                        --Me and him...
 
(Note:  Phone numbers deleted due to a desire to sleep... |-) )


-- 
==> "You never f**king know the answer when it's important." --The Doctor <==
Joe Ogulin

jogulin@camelot.fia.dmg.ml.com		joe@monroe.pilot.dmg.ml.com
jogulin@apollo.stevens-tech.edu		gcs_jogulin@stevens.bitnet

Disclaimer:  The above article is solely my opinion and does not necessar-
ily reflect that of my employer.  The content is my responsibility alone.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho