Doctor Who Twitch Watch: recommendations of the day 07/09
By James Aggas
The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor needs help. But will he get it from the strange place of Castrovalva…?
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: BBC.)
The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor is hunted by the Master, meets a Monarch with deadly plans for Earth, and encounters the Mara for the first time, in today’s stories on Twitch!
Last week, we said goodbye to one of the most iconic ever Doctors, Tom Baker. Moving on from his brilliant performance was always going to be difficult for Doctor Who fans.
Fortunately, Peter Davison does a great job following on from him. A completely different Doctor in many ways. But that just helps him to stand out more, as today’s three stories on Twitch show.
Castrovalva
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The Fifth Doctor’s first adventure, unsurprisingly, kicks off exactly from where Logopolis left off.
The Doctor has just regenerated, and he’s not coping with it very well. Both physically and mentally, the regeneration is taking its toll on him. Worse still, the Master is preparing to kill the Doctor, once and for all…
Castrovalva, while it’s full of good ideas, feels like it’s too long for the story its telling. It’s not until the second half of the story where Castrovalva itself even shows up. Up until that point, the story is mainly set on the TARDIS, dealing with the Doctor’s trauma.
A long delay
While Davison portrays this more vulnerable side to the Doctor convincingly, this portion of the story really is far too long. Particularly as it’s just the regulars and the TARDIS itself to focus on. While it’s cool that we get some exploration of the Doctor’s ship, this portion of the story could have been considerably shortened to one episode.
However, when the TARDIS crew do arrive at Castrovalva, the story gets a lot more interesting. The society feels fleshed out, and there are some great characters. In particular, Shardovan stands out as a very interesting character. Is he behind what’s going on at Castrovalva? What are his real intentions?
Castrovalva takes a while to get going, perhaps far too long. But once it does, it presents a very visually interesting story.
The TARDIS crew arrive on a spaceship with a distinct mix of cultures in Four to Doomsday.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: BBC.)
Four to Doomsday
Four to Doomsday is a rather unusual Doctor Who story. There are a lot of interesting concepts to it, and it’s quite striking visually, too. The mixture of different cultures from Earth is particularly interesting, and not something you’d often see in Classic Who.
Exploring what all of these people are doing on one spaceship, as well as what Monarch’s intentions are, makes Four to Doomsday an intriguing story. Knowing that Peter Davison recorded this story first also makes it a fascinating watch. It makes a lot of sense too, particularly with his hair looking so short in this one.
There are some moments when the science is very questionable, to say the least. Especially the Doctor not wearing a full spacesuit when taking a space walk. But on the whole, while it’s not perfect, Four to Doomsday is an interesting story for those looking for something a little different. But perhaps not as interesting as the next one…
Tegan is trapped in a horrifying nightmare in Kinda.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: BBC.)
Kinda
Kinda has to be one of the Fifth Doctor’s very best stories. It gets so much right. It’s visually great, with both the jungle world and the base set up there as very convincing sets. There’s a very strong cast, and Christopher Bailey introduces so many great ideas with this story.
What really makes it so brilliant though is how much it gives Janet Fielding to do, acting wise. Not only is Tegan put in a very frightening situation, when we see her horrifying dreams with the Mara.
Fielding even has a scene when Tegan is possessed. It lasts all too briefly (a key reason why Snakedance was written, I suspect), but she’s brilliant to watch.
There are also some fantastic cliffhangers throughout. The one for part two particularly stands out, complete with a scream that leads directly into the sting of the theme tune. And Bailey includes a lot of interesting characters, humor and spirituality with his script.
If there’s one thing that lets Kinda down, it’s the realization of the Mara at the end. It’s a very poor and terrible effect. It’s even more shocking how terrible it is when you consider how fantastic the rest of the production is.
Thankfully, on DVD, this can be replaced with a much better, much more convincing CGI effect. But on Twitch today, you’ll only have the option of the weak original, unfortunately.
Still, that’s not enough to ruin one of the best stories this season, and possibly one of the Fifth Doctor’s greatest stories.
Overall recommendation of the day: Kinda
It was always going to be Kinda. This story just has so much that fans enjoy about Doctor Who. It has a great cast, well-written and believable characters, and a brilliant villain.
It also deals in more spiritual aspects than other stories. But it also handles them in a far more satisfying way than Planet of the Spiders did. While Castrovalva and Four to Doomsday have their merits, Kinda really shines in today’s selection.
Next: Serious and whimsical: the two sides of the Fourth Doctor
Are you excited to watch the Fifth Doctor? Will this be your first time watching him? Or do you already have fond memories of watching his stories? Let us know in the comments below.