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Classic Doctor Who, Season 8 Review
So my plan to watch one season of Classic Who per month in 2019 pretty much hit the skids pretty fast, though my goal to watch all of 70's Who this year is still possible if not probable. That said, I'm glad I got over my hump because this season did end up delivering in a big way, and I'm excited to see how the rest of the Third Doctor's tenure plays out knowing while milestones I still have yet to hit.
The disappearance of Liz Shaw in between seasons is a travesty though. If nothing else, she deserved a compelling exit and maybe even a trip in the TARDIS. However, I'm glad that the show is making a more concentrated effort to flesh out UNIT beyond the Brigadier. Benton's role has been significantly beefed up, and the introductions of Jo Grant and Mike Yates give the show a nice ensemble feel. The major introduction though is the season-long presence of The Master. His effectiveness as a plot device varies from story to story, but Roger Delgado kills it every time he's on screen and because of him this season feels like it has a much more cohesive ongoing narrative than all the season before it.
Like the previous seven seasons, the serials are available to watch via streaming on Britbox. This season had five stories, and while it was very easy to pick my favorite and least favorite, ranking all in between was fairly difficult.
The Characters
Jon Pertwee as The Third Doctor - Pertwee was repeatedly given great material to work with during this season primarily due to his interactions with The Master. Those conversations really highlight the more morally grey aspects of the Doctor's personality, and while he ultimately chooses to do the right thing, they show he is extremely capable of making immoral and selfish choices. With the loss of Liz, he's less challenged scientifically than he was last season, making the temptation for him to abandon UNIT and the Earth a tangibly real threat. It's here where we really get the Third Doctor defined separately from the first two Doctors, whose motivations were much less fixed and subsequently less implicitly tied to the other characters and the integrity of the show's structure.
Katy Manning as Jo Grant - Manning is given an unfortunate task to essentially play the roll of a "dim-witted secretary" without making her character a cypher or a joke. It's a testament to her acting ability that Jo is as formidable as complex as she is, because it's not always there on the page. That said, I think through the first three serials she was mostly underutilized and it was only with her trip in the TARDIS that she became a more core, established part of the show. I'm really looking forward to where the character goes from here.
Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - The Brigadier and The Doctor have really settled into a rhythm this season, and with Liz's absence he's probably the character that directly challenges the Doctor most on his own team. This season I've also felt like they've found more varied ways of using him which I appreciate, and fleshing out his team certainly helps in that regard. I also appreciated how his approach in The Daemons was so informed by the long relationship he's had with the Doctor at this point.
John Levene as Sergeant Benton - Benton wasn't much of a character in previous seasons, but this season he definitely makes more of a mark. In The Daemons in particular he really establishes himself as his own character separate from the function he serves in UNIT itself, and has a nice repertoire with Miss Hawthorne and Mike Yates.
Richard Franklin as Mike Yates - What could've been just another named soldier character ends up being much more, in particular his scenes with Jo Grant in many of his appearances. His double act with Benton also adds an interesting new dimension to the Doctor-Brigadier relationship, and shines during his more central role in The Daemons.
Roger Delgado as The Master - Oh man, it's no wonder The Master is a character with such an enduring legacy. Delgado elevates what was already a fairly well-written role to another level, and his scenes with Pertwee are easily the highlights of this season. On a personal level, I also appreciated how complicated the subtext between those two characters is, and found myself rooting for the relationship between those two characters in a different way than I have with other portrayals. I look forward to seeing where his character goes following his capture by UNIT at the end of the season.
On a minor note, I appreciate that they brought back Fernanda Marlowe as Corporal Bell for an appearance in a second serial, but I wish they had made more of an effort to keep her around and make her an actual character. That this ensemble only has one woman in it is somewhat disappointing.
The Serials
I've ranked the serials based off my own personal preference which is only tangentially related to how good they are on a critical level.
5) Serial 2, Episodes 5-10 - The Mind of Evil
This serial had some very interesting ideas and characters going in, but the execution definitely left something to be desired. It dragged while simultaneously burning through subplots (in particular involving the Chinese diplomats) and ended up being such a chore to get through that I stopped watching the show for four months. This is really a shame, as Jo really shines for the first time in her role as a companion. The subplot with the device is interesting on paper but in execution doesn't work as well. I'm struggling to come up with more to say, because in all honesty a lot of what happened didn't really stick with me.
4) Serial 1, Episodes 1-4 - Terror of the Autons
3) Serial 3, Episodes 11-14 - The Claws of Axos
2) Serial 4, Episodes 15-20 - Colony in Space
Again, this serial is probably ranked much higher than it really deserves to be. However, it was nice to have a classic-style TARDIS adventure for the first time in ages, and see Jo Grant react to traveling with the Doctor for the first time and being on an alien planet. The story itself is rather similar to many Hartnell and Troughton serials, but the Master showing up halfway through takes the story in a fresh direction and keeps it from dragging (and it also probably helps that it's the first off-world story in color). What really sells this story for me though is the conversation between The Master and The Doctor towards the end, when The Master asks The Doctor to join him and rule the universe, even after being spurned by him in the previous serial. I found it extremely compelling and it felt like Delgado and Pertwee were at the top of their game (so far anyway).
1) Serial 5, Episodes 21-25 - The Dæmons
I was excited going into this story, because I knew it was widely regarded as one of the best - if not the best - of Pertwee's tenure. Suffice to say it ended up being very different from what I expected but I adored it all the same. The entire ensemble was utilized wonderfully, and Jo Grant, Mike Yates, and Benton in particular were really given a chance to shine and drive the story as characters. Miss Hawthorne was a standout, and I wish they utilized her more than they did because she owned every scene she was in. I also appreciated the story's scope and how good it looks on a practical level (even though the stuff with the monster still looks a bit silly). My only complaint is that the resolution felt like a bit of a cop-out, but not enough to really dim my enthusiasm for it.
Final Thoughts
This season is really the first time there were ongoing plots unfolding over the course of the season, and it doesn't disappoint. The show's interest in investing in it's own lore is what ensures it's longevity, and The Master is an absolutely fantastic use of the elements they have set up. Since I know she sticks around for a while, I'm really looking forward to how Jo Grant grows and develops, and I really appreciated the ensemble feeling of this season in particular. The Doctor's world feels much more concrete and lived-in than it has previously, which only gives his decisions more weight.
Monster-wise, while I did enjoy what the show did with the Axos, nothing really stood out to me as exceptional among the villains. The strengths really lay with well-rounded supporting characters (Miss Hawthorne) or ones that served the story's allegory in an interesting or timely way (Horatio Chinn's nativism and xenophobia). Next season is the last where the Doctor is exiled on Earth, and I'm really looking forward to one last UNIT-centric season with some (hopefully) innovative Earth-bound stories.
The disappearance of Liz Shaw in between seasons is a travesty though. If nothing else, she deserved a compelling exit and maybe even a trip in the TARDIS. However, I'm glad that the show is making a more concentrated effort to flesh out UNIT beyond the Brigadier. Benton's role has been significantly beefed up, and the introductions of Jo Grant and Mike Yates give the show a nice ensemble feel. The major introduction though is the season-long presence of The Master. His effectiveness as a plot device varies from story to story, but Roger Delgado kills it every time he's on screen and because of him this season feels like it has a much more cohesive ongoing narrative than all the season before it.
Like the previous seven seasons, the serials are available to watch via streaming on Britbox. This season had five stories, and while it was very easy to pick my favorite and least favorite, ranking all in between was fairly difficult.
The Characters
Jon Pertwee as The Third Doctor - Pertwee was repeatedly given great material to work with during this season primarily due to his interactions with The Master. Those conversations really highlight the more morally grey aspects of the Doctor's personality, and while he ultimately chooses to do the right thing, they show he is extremely capable of making immoral and selfish choices. With the loss of Liz, he's less challenged scientifically than he was last season, making the temptation for him to abandon UNIT and the Earth a tangibly real threat. It's here where we really get the Third Doctor defined separately from the first two Doctors, whose motivations were much less fixed and subsequently less implicitly tied to the other characters and the integrity of the show's structure.
Katy Manning as Jo Grant - Manning is given an unfortunate task to essentially play the roll of a "dim-witted secretary" without making her character a cypher or a joke. It's a testament to her acting ability that Jo is as formidable as complex as she is, because it's not always there on the page. That said, I think through the first three serials she was mostly underutilized and it was only with her trip in the TARDIS that she became a more core, established part of the show. I'm really looking forward to where the character goes from here.
Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - The Brigadier and The Doctor have really settled into a rhythm this season, and with Liz's absence he's probably the character that directly challenges the Doctor most on his own team. This season I've also felt like they've found more varied ways of using him which I appreciate, and fleshing out his team certainly helps in that regard. I also appreciated how his approach in The Daemons was so informed by the long relationship he's had with the Doctor at this point.
John Levene as Sergeant Benton - Benton wasn't much of a character in previous seasons, but this season he definitely makes more of a mark. In The Daemons in particular he really establishes himself as his own character separate from the function he serves in UNIT itself, and has a nice repertoire with Miss Hawthorne and Mike Yates.
Richard Franklin as Mike Yates - What could've been just another named soldier character ends up being much more, in particular his scenes with Jo Grant in many of his appearances. His double act with Benton also adds an interesting new dimension to the Doctor-Brigadier relationship, and shines during his more central role in The Daemons.
Roger Delgado as The Master - Oh man, it's no wonder The Master is a character with such an enduring legacy. Delgado elevates what was already a fairly well-written role to another level, and his scenes with Pertwee are easily the highlights of this season. On a personal level, I also appreciated how complicated the subtext between those two characters is, and found myself rooting for the relationship between those two characters in a different way than I have with other portrayals. I look forward to seeing where his character goes following his capture by UNIT at the end of the season.
On a minor note, I appreciate that they brought back Fernanda Marlowe as Corporal Bell for an appearance in a second serial, but I wish they had made more of an effort to keep her around and make her an actual character. That this ensemble only has one woman in it is somewhat disappointing.
The Serials
I've ranked the serials based off my own personal preference which is only tangentially related to how good they are on a critical level.
5) Serial 2, Episodes 5-10 - The Mind of Evil
The Mind of Evil was extremely convoluted both in terms of the actual story and the Master's plan. As a result, some really compelling performances - Jo in particular - get buried, and I found it really hard to keep myself invested in what was happening. (x)
This serial had some very interesting ideas and characters going in, but the execution definitely left something to be desired. It dragged while simultaneously burning through subplots (in particular involving the Chinese diplomats) and ended up being such a chore to get through that I stopped watching the show for four months. This is really a shame, as Jo really shines for the first time in her role as a companion. The subplot with the device is interesting on paper but in execution doesn't work as well. I'm struggling to come up with more to say, because in all honesty a lot of what happened didn't really stick with me.
4) Serial 1, Episodes 1-4 - Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons is an excellent introduction to Jo Grant, Mike Yates, and the Master. It does have some exposition issues in the first episode, but it is the perfect length and once it gets going it is consistently thrilling and fun to watch. (x)
This serial only ranks so low due to the comparative strength of the other stories and certain (necessary) exposition slowing down what was otherwise a well-executed story. In all honesty, this could easily rank as my 3rd or 2nd favorite serial of the season on a different day. This serial introduces a number of new elements - both in the form of new characters such as Jo Grant, Mike Yates, and the Master, and in terms of a stronger, recurring plot involving the time lord's use of the Doctor in his exile and the schemes of The Master. These changes give the series as a whole a shot in the arm, and gives the events of this story an added weight and urgency it might not otherwise have. The Auton elements fades more into the background this time in favor of The Master, but I'm not really sure that's a bad thing.3) Serial 3, Episodes 11-14 - The Claws of Axos
The Claws of Axos is a relatively straightforward story that hit its marks very well and didn't drag. The twists in the final episode were especially well done and a satisfying culmination to a plot that's been developing for the past two seasons. Pertwee was a triumph. (x)
I've probably ranked this serial much higher than it really deserves, but I enjoyed it so much and it reignited my passion for this series after The Mind of Evil that I have to give it credit. I also enjoy that the final episode focuses hard on where the Doctor stands in regards to UNIT and his comrades, as he's given the opportunity to betray everyone and escape but instead chooses to stay and nearly perish to save them. The execution of this, especially with The Doctor and The Master's interplay and role reversal is extremely thrilling and satisfying, as is Jo's more established presence as an emotional anchor despite her short tenure. I also quite enjoyed the concept of the villain, and how thematically it was early timely watching it with the way the world currently is.2) Serial 4, Episodes 15-20 - Colony in Space
Colony in Space is a throwback to the Hartnell and Troughton eras of the show, but the arrival of the Master halfway through gives it a shot in the arm that elevates the story and keeps it from dragging. Seeing Jo Grant on the TARDIS for the first time was a delight. (x)
Again, this serial is probably ranked much higher than it really deserves to be. However, it was nice to have a classic-style TARDIS adventure for the first time in ages, and see Jo Grant react to traveling with the Doctor for the first time and being on an alien planet. The story itself is rather similar to many Hartnell and Troughton serials, but the Master showing up halfway through takes the story in a fresh direction and keeps it from dragging (and it also probably helps that it's the first off-world story in color). What really sells this story for me though is the conversation between The Master and The Doctor towards the end, when The Master asks The Doctor to join him and rule the universe, even after being spurned by him in the previous serial. I found it extremely compelling and it felt like Delgado and Pertwee were at the top of their game (so far anyway).
1) Serial 5, Episodes 21-25 - The Dæmons
The Dæmons deserves every bit of praise it has gotten. An aesthetically pleasing gothic genre piece that rapidly transitions into a skillfully constructed sci-fi race against the clock. Every major cast member on the show shines in this, and Miss Hawthorne is a revelation. (x)
I was excited going into this story, because I knew it was widely regarded as one of the best - if not the best - of Pertwee's tenure. Suffice to say it ended up being very different from what I expected but I adored it all the same. The entire ensemble was utilized wonderfully, and Jo Grant, Mike Yates, and Benton in particular were really given a chance to shine and drive the story as characters. Miss Hawthorne was a standout, and I wish they utilized her more than they did because she owned every scene she was in. I also appreciated the story's scope and how good it looks on a practical level (even though the stuff with the monster still looks a bit silly). My only complaint is that the resolution felt like a bit of a cop-out, but not enough to really dim my enthusiasm for it.
Final Thoughts
This season is really the first time there were ongoing plots unfolding over the course of the season, and it doesn't disappoint. The show's interest in investing in it's own lore is what ensures it's longevity, and The Master is an absolutely fantastic use of the elements they have set up. Since I know she sticks around for a while, I'm really looking forward to how Jo Grant grows and develops, and I really appreciated the ensemble feeling of this season in particular. The Doctor's world feels much more concrete and lived-in than it has previously, which only gives his decisions more weight.
Monster-wise, while I did enjoy what the show did with the Axos, nothing really stood out to me as exceptional among the villains. The strengths really lay with well-rounded supporting characters (Miss Hawthorne) or ones that served the story's allegory in an interesting or timely way (Horatio Chinn's nativism and xenophobia). Next season is the last where the Doctor is exiled on Earth, and I'm really looking forward to one last UNIT-centric season with some (hopefully) innovative Earth-bound stories.