Peter Davison Stars as the Fifth Doctor!
Back in 2019, work began on a season boxset that would eventually surface in 2023, after delays caused by COVID and unavailability of actors amongst other factors. That boxset is Season 20, the biggest open secret this line of Blu Rays has to offer, and now can finally see the light of day.
Season 20 was notable for being the 20th Anniversary season of Doctor Who, with Producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric Saward looking back at the Doctor’s rogue gallery and bringing them back to the forefront. The likes of Omega, The Mara, The Black Guardian and The Master returned across six stories, whilst the best was yet to come with a dedicated anniversary special that aired in November that year.
Season 20 ran between 3rd January and and 16th March 1983, airing twice weekly, and saw the departure of Nyssa (Janet Fielding) and the arrival of Turlough (Mark Strickson), a schoolboy harbouring sinister intentions – but is he in control of his own destiny?
Arc of Infinity
This was one of the stories from this era I watched a lot as a child, having gotten the Tegan Tales boxset for Christmas one year (Time-Flight meanwhile sat on the shelf, rightfully gathering dust). It’s an ambitious story that takes place in Amsterdam, a rarity for Doctor Who, and on Gallifrey, which hadn’t been seen in such a scale since Season 15’s The Invasion of Time.
The biggest aspects of this story come in the form of the return of Omega (now played by Ian Collier) who hijacks the Tardis with help from the inside to enact a scheme to take over the Doctor’s body through temporal bonding and control the Matrix. There’s also the presence of future Doctor Who Colin Baker, making an appearance as Commander Maxwell who, ironically, shoots the Fifth Doctor in one of the cliffhangers.
There’s also the return of Tegan, who was last left behind at the end of Time Flight for a bit of cheap melodrama. Her role in the story extends to ending up in Amsterdam to find her cousin Colin, who ends up being killed due to Omega’s presence, and being trapped in the process.
Revisiting the story now the flaws are more apparent – the anti-matter monster known as The Ergon is a forgettable foe, and the Amsterdam setting – though nice – doesn’t add much to the story except a holiday for the cast and JNT.
Gallifrey gets a middling portrayal like in TIOT in the scrapped Season 23 too). The main highlight though is Davison’s portrayal as Omega as he briefly becomes whole and takes on the Doctor’s visage. The demise Omega faces owing to some timely intervention is quite sad to witness and gives the character a more sympathetic portrayal than we saw with The Three Doctor’s and its over-the-top caricature. All in all, this was a decent opener, but not the strongest Season 20 has to offer.
3/5
Snakedance
After a strong first appearance in Season 19’s Kinda, Snakedance sees the return of the Mara and writer Christopher Bailey as Tegan begins having reoccurring dreams of the Mara again, leading the Tardis crew to the planet Manussa, where the citizens are celebrating the banishment of the Mara that occurred 500 years earlier.
A notable guest star for the story is Martin Clunes in his television debut, playing the son of the planet’s Federator (one who rules over their federation), a bored and surly type who also becomes a surrogate for the Mara. The portrayal of Manussan society clinging to a 500-year old victory with tacky sideshows and cheap knick-knacks is fascinatingly different from the usual weird alien settings, as it’s all rather familiar.
Snakedance is a solid sequel to Kinda, offering a different vibe and setting to the jungles we saw there, and Fiona Cummings’ work lives up to the sublime direction of Peter Grimwade’s work in Kinda. Nyssa’s rare change of clothing is rather garish, though, as is her out-of-character screamer cliffhanger. Janet Fielding gets a chance to do something more with Tegan than usually afforded, and the set design is memorable for the period too.
3.5/5
Mawdryn Undead
The first in what would become a three-story story arc known as The Black Guardian Trilogy, this serial reintroduces the villain, now portrayed by Valentine Dyall, who plots to kill the Doctor by manipulation alien Turlough (Mark Strickson), who is introduced pretending to be a school boy in 1983 England before being made an offer he lives to regret accepting.
Mawdryn Undead’s plot revolves around the concept of a group of scientists trying to discover the Time Lord secret of regeneration, all whilst two separate time zones, 1977 and 1983, is caused as a side effect. The serial also sees the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), having last appeared in 1975’s Terror of the Zygons.
His role here sees the Brig retired and a schoolteacher, a position that seems odd on paper until you discover that this role was meant to be given to William Russell to reprise his role as Ian Chesterton, but he proved unavailable. He initially doesn’t remember The Doctor but through a solid flashback sequence he soon recalls his old friend and former scientific advisor.
Courtney does well with the difficult prospect of playing two versions of the Brigadier, and the years given here, 1977 and 1983, have become rather notorious in the whole UNIT dating debacle (fans figuring out exactly when the UNIT stories took place in the classic series, owing to contradicting dates).
The titular Mawdryn (David Collings) is an intriguing character, posing as the Doctor in a rouse to get the remaining regenerations from the real deal, and Mark Strickson turns in a good first performance as a very different kind of companion – initially self-serving and secretly trying to kill the Doctor. Peter Grimwade’s script is solid too, and his directing is missed this season, though Peter Moffat’s work is capable enough. Paddy Kingsland’s score is one of the eras finest too.
3.5/5
Terminus
A grim tale which sees Turlough’s Tardis tampering resulting in the crew materialising upon a space craft known as Terminus, which houses lepers inflicted with the Lazars disease. To make matters more complicated, the ship is located at the centre of the universe, and the ship’s remaining crew use giant dog-like biped known as the Garm (R.J. Bell) to treat them with radiation, with an ill Nyssa being next on the list.
As the story progresses, it is revealed that Terminus also serves as a time ship whose energy source became unstable whilst stuck in a time vortex, causing an explosion that started “Event One” aka The Big Bang, and should the remaining tank jettison, the universe would end – created with an explosion and finished by one too.
Steven Gallagher’s script, which leans into mythology, tries to shine through a production fraught with difficulties, like electrical problems and mis-built sets, resulting in poor lighting and rushed recordings and then subsequent extra recordings later on. The story is perhaps best known for Nyssa’s outfit, or gradual lack-thereof, as she ends up in rather little by end of the story, wherein she also leaves to help the remaining lepers.
Despite these behind the scenes issues, Terminus is a better story than reputation and my own recollection suggest, thanks to the darker and unique tone and some solid performances throughout. The sets and costumes here also stand out, though it does present one of the less memorable companion departures, and the vent runarounds are repetitive too, as re the Black Guardian-Turlough segments, which are beginning to wear and wane by this stage.
3.5/5
Enlightenment
A distress signal from the White Guardian (Cyril Luckham) leads the Tardis crew to land on what appears to be a historical sailing vessel, only for it to be revealed in a great cliffhanger that they’re actually sailing through space. These ships and their human crews have been plucked from time and are being manipulated by God-like immortals, the Eternals, to race each other in order to attain the gift of enlightenment.
To make matters more complex, one of these ships, the Bucaneer, is host to the Eternal Captain Wrack (Lynda Baron) who is seemingly responsible for destroying other ships in the race. This serial ends the Black Guardian trilogy, as Turlough eventually turns his back on the sinister manipulator and becomes a proper member of the Tardis crew.
Enlightenment makes for a memorable story thanks to its imagery and concepts alongside some great sets, and also better fleshes out Turlough – enough to make his eventual betrayal believable. I’d say this is the strongest story of Season 20, anniversary special notwithstanding.
4/5
The King’s Demons
Due to industrial action the intended series finale, Warhead, would have to be remounted the following year as Resurrection of the Dalek’s, leaving Season 20 to (technically) end on this historical two-parter, mainly known for the introduction of one of the worst ideas in Doctor Who’s 60-year tenure, Kamelion (voiced by Gerald Flood).
The concept of having a shape-shifting robot as a companion would work with a sizeable budget and, well, a prop that actually worked, but Kamelion was infamous for doing the opposite. His presence here works as a one-off appearance, but it’s telling that the next time he would appear was his final one.
Elsewhere, the Master (Anthony Ainley), disguised in a ginger beard and questionable French accent, is trying to alter history by interfering with the signing of the Magna Carter in 1215. It’s a daft plan for a middling story, the weakest of the season and of Davison’s two-parters, and like them could have used an extra episode.
2.5/5
The Five Doctors
An anniversary special to remember, this 90-minute story sees the Doctor’s past selves being pulled out of time and placed into Gallifrey’s Death Zone, alongside his past companions. It features a rogue Dalek, a squadron of Cybermen, a maddened Yeti and a fearsome threat known as the Raston Warrior Robot.
With William Hartnell having sadly passed away back in 1975, Richard Hurndall fills in the role, doing a solid job making his portrayal his own, and having a nice repoire with not only his granddaughter Susan (a returning Carole Ann Ford) but his future selves and companions too, ending up paired with Tegan later on.
Patrick Troughton’s return as the Second Doctor marks the second of three, and his chemistry with the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) is great to see, owing to them only having two stories together. Jon Pertwee also effortlessly steps back into a role he would never really leave throughout his career, getting paired up with Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) and getting to drive Bessie around as a bonus.
The absence of Tom Baker is rather felt though, and his appearance is limited to footage taken from the unaired serial Shada, with the in-story explanation that he and Romana II (Lalla Ward) end up stuck in the time vortex used to bring them to the Death Zone.
It does, however, give the incumbent Doctor Peter Davison a bigger role in the story, as it is his doctor that instead ventures to Gallifrey to inform the high council of his situation. Without spoiling who the main villain is they face a rather haunting end when the secret of immortality is accepted, the treasure that lies in Rassilon’s tomb a tower at the centre of the death zone, and the reason said traitor forced the Doctor and his companions there in the first place.
Terrance Dicks’ script is rather impressive considering all the changes made behind-the-scenes, and the story features one of the best action sequences in all of Who, as a Cyberman squadron are dispatched by the fearsome Raston Warrior Robot – a sequence notably filmed by John Nathan-Turner as opposed to Peter Moffat who directed the rest of the special.
I’ve always had a soft spot for TFD, and it remains the best anniversary special to date, especially as unlike the 50th, actually bothered respect the past Doctors and companions, and give them their due.
4.5/5
Overall:
Best Story: Enlightenment (The Five Doctors if it counted as part of the season).
Worst Story: The King’s Demons
Must see: Snakedance, The Five Doctors
Check out Part Two where we unbox the set and look through the video & audio quality, discuss the special features and provide an overall review score.
By HW Reynolds
Images Courtesy of BBC
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