Time-Flight [TV/1982.3.22 ~ 3.30]

★☆☆☆☆

  There's a good argument to be had that Time-Flight is one of the worst pieces of Dr. Who ever produced or created. That's not to say that anything in it is especially offensive or what have you... but it's true that I think the worst kind of any work of art is the kind of art that does nothing for me, and has barely anything for me to comment on. This final serial of Season 19 (which has generally had a pretty good hit rate for me) is exactly that -- something so incredibly boring and devoid of character that I have almost nothing to say about it, certainly nothing good. Alright, I lie, I like the shot-on-film on-location segments; I wish the script focused more on the actual Heathrow Airport scenes, maybe set an entire episode or two there (they could've taken a leaf out of The Faceless Ones's book). Instead, we get the most generic prehistoric Earth set, the most generic villainous lair set complete with the most uninspired Master disguise yet. The lack of budget really shows with the foam aliens and the other race of aliens that are -- surprise, surprise -- very generic in appearance. Poor Nyssa gets nothing fun to do, Tegan gets precious little herself before giving us the most underwhelming TARDIS crew exit this side of Dodo Chaplet, and the Doctor seems positively bored to death of this adventure... because Peter Davison himself infamously was. I get that Earthshock was a pretty bleak note to end on a season, but getting Time-Flight as the season finale is such a whiplash. It goes from 'one of the best serials of Dr. Who' to 'one of the worst serials of Dr. Who', and it's such an incredible shame. Time-Flight looks, sounds and feels like nobody really cared about it, and that lack of enthusiasm makes me hard to genuinely enjoy any aspect of it.