Warriors' Gate [TV/1981.1.3 ~ 1.24]

★★★★★

  I realise that one should always be careful before claiming something is special or avant-garde... but if there's one serial from the classic series of Dr. Who that deserves to be called avant-garde, it really has to be this one. Warriors' Gate operates so differently from your usual Who mould, even feels and looks like a completely different show at times, and the greater mythos is all the richer for its inclusion.

  How to even explain Warriors' Gate? A story of slavery, reconciliation from and retribution for the past, or a fairytale in space where two gods from another dimension, their robot dog and a stowaway child discover a black-and-white world hidden behind a mysterious mirror? A love letter to real-life scientific and philosophical concepts, and a Rubik's cube where one must piece together the clues in their own way to discover the true gem of a story underneath? It's all of the above, and much more; it's a beautifully made serial with film director Paul Joyce's (at the time) notable eye for cinematography at the forefront, with some beautifully done blocking and tracking. We've got a Tom Baker who perfectly matches the somber nature of the story by acting as if he's been mentally beaten within an inch of his life, a Lalla Ward performance dripping with venom and superiority (as Romana should), and a Matthew Waterhouse who tries his best and is just happy to be part of the cool sci-fi show he likes. Bless him. 

  There's so much to enjoy here, so many little details that you will probably miss on first viewing. It's very, very much recommended to give this one at least three watches; I've personally been watching Warriors' Gate over and over again for the past ten years or so, and I don't regret a single second of it. From the sublime score and the beautiful sets to the peerless imagery and the fantastical nature that blends so naturally with hard science, it constantly lures you into this truly otherworldly place where anything seems possible... and that's the beautiful thing about Dr. Who, anything is possible and this serial is one of the greatest visual representations of that notion. Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (1946) in space, but so much more -- I adore Warriors' Gate.