Four to Doomsday [TV/1982.1.18 ~ 1.26]

★★★☆☆

  I'm just a big fan of these Dr. Who stories that aren't ashamed to display other human cultures than those of the West. Actually (somewhat) accurate representation -- are we sure this was aired only five years after The Talons of Weng-Chiang? How time marchecs on.

  Here we have a TARDIS crew that wants nothing more than to bite each other's heads off, a spaceship ark with a monarch considering himself God, a smörgåsbord of different Earth cultures represented by their leaders (with Tegan speaking the Aboriginal language) and a genuinely great space drift sequence with the Doctor using the force of a cricket ball to propel himself to the floating TARDIS. Naturally, I have a liking towards it. It helps that I don't see what many claim to be a wonky production; on the contrary, I think the sets and costumes are rather well done. The big downside, or the one notable grudge I have against Four to Doomsday, would be that the fourth and final episode all but plummets all drive that the narrative had up to that moment, moving in such a slow pace that it threatens to suck all excitement I previously had for the serial. Oh well, it speaks to just how much I enjoy the first three parts that the really rather bad fourth part doesn't take any points away from the serial at large, at least for me. It's got plenty of imagination, a mildly interesting villain, some really good scenes with the TARDIS team dynamic put to the test... there's a lot to enjoy. If you enjoy Adric being a right old bastard (as I do), then you'll have no problem. Other notable points of interest include Janet Fielding acting her heart out while she's trapped inside the TARDIS and Peter Davison giving a pretty solid debut performance which sometimes veers on schoolboy-like, complete with prepubescent voice tone... which is, I can only assume, what John Nathan-Turner was (initially) going for, before they realised Davison's Fifth Doctor worked much better as an old man trapped in a young man's body. It's a good debut performance in a pretty good production of a good script, and I have no other big complaints with it. I enjoyed my time, and I always have.