Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 4 Review

US Airdate on the WB: October 5^th 1999 – May 23^rd 2000

Changes are all the range as the Slayer makes the transition from high school to college, Willow finds herself interested in magic and girls, Oz departs, Xander hooks up with Anya, Giles struggles to find his role and Riley and Tara see Buffy and Willow with new challenges. Oh and there’s Spike, voice stealers, The Initiative and Adam to contend with.

This Certainly Wasn’t In The Brochure – After three years of the innocence of adolescence it was inevitable that the transition from high school to college to the adult world was always going to be a hard one. I don’t mean just entirely for the writers to make it feel organic but also for audiences to accept that some changes may not see the Scoobies at their best. For the most of this season, the once airtight friendship with Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles see them behaving more like strangers than friends that have been through thick and thin together. It’s a bit jarring to watch but in my opinion (and I may be in a minority of people here), Season Four is every bit as engaging to watch as ever.

The season opens with a low key opener entitled “The Freshman” where Buffy is clearly out of her depth in UC Sunnydale compared to Willow and Oz. We see the usually strong and snappy Slayer humiliated by a professor, bombarded with the roommate from hell and having the shit kicked out of her by a group of vampires, led by the nicely named Sunday. Even a Hugh Hefner dressed Giles tells Buffy she has to grow up and it isn’t until a returned Xander cheers her up in the Bronze that Buffy is able to show Campus that she isn’t a Slayer that should get on her bad side. Then the episode ends with a group of mysterious soldiers snatching a vampire. Yes, people we’ve gone from The Master, Spike/Drusilla/Angelus and The Mayor/Faith to our big bad being a group of scientists and soldiers underneath UC Sunnydale and calling themselves The Initiative as baddies. I knew they were going to be the weakest and least engaging group of big villains this show has ever faced and they are.

For the first seven episodes, The Initiative are mainly snooping around snatching demons while the Scoobies deal with personal problems such as Xander’s inability to keep a crappy job and embarking on a mostly sexual for the time being relationship with witty nymphomaniac Anya as Buffy learns the hard way that some men want sex and nothing else when she becomes involved with Parker. It also doesn’t help Buffy when Spike returns with a vamped Harmony in the third episode “The Harsh Light Of Day” and proceeds to use her sexual humiliation as a source of fun while looking for the Gem of Armara (a ring that makes vampires immune to sunlight). Willow fares no better when Oz is drawn to fellow werewolf Veruca and proceeds to sleep with her as a means to stop from hurting people in the wonderful “Wild At Heart”. Sadly it dents Willow’s ego and gives us our first major hint that magically, Willow could be problematic. The upshot is that Oz leaves Sunnydale to find a way to control his own nature and Spike gets kidnapped by The Initiative.

Our least favourites of season big baddies are brought to the fore in “The Initiative”, when we learn that they are lead by ice cool bitch Maggie Walsh and one of her top soldiers is Riley Finn. Played by Marc Blucas, Riley is a bit of a dork but any serious lover following Angel was always in for a hard time and although I didn’t ship him and Buffy as a couple, boring or not, it’s probably the most healthiest relationship she has been in when you think about. There are times when I found myself liking Riley and others when I found him to be a pain in the backside. His pursuit of Buffy is kind of cute and their flirtation in “Pangs” (a Thanksgiving episode complete with Chumash Indians, Buffy making dinner and a hiding Angel) and “Something Blue” (where Willow’s “will be done” spell makes Giles blind, Xander even more of a demon magnet and Buffy and Spike lovers), does lead to a beautiful first snog in the groundbreaking “Hush” as their identities are then revealed to the other.

Let’s talk about “Hush” shall we? For all those idiots out there who could never take this show seriously, here was a reason why you should. Can you name any adult show out there that has ever done a silent episode and actually succeeded both critically and commercially with it? I know I can’t. Also let’s add that this had some of the most creepiest villains with The Gentlemen (who needed seven hearts), some of composer Christophe Beck’s best work and introduced the wonderful Amber Benson as the wonderful Tara, a character whose presence is more than welcomed throughout the season.

The later half of the season which saw the series go into the year 2000 in an interesting manner focused on many things, one namely being Spike. Unable to hurt people due to a chip in his brain, Joss Whedon would use this as a perfect reason to keep Spike around in Sunnydale but attempting to redeem the character in a manner that would be believable was tricky as despite giving shelter to him and using him for information purposes, the Scoobies still hated his guts as well they should. Suffice to say, Spike wasn’t enamoured with them either and took great joy in taunting them.

Despite hokum episodes like “Doomed” and “A New Man”, the series further progressed the Buffy/Riley relationship and the predicted sinister side to The Initiative in “The I In Team” and “Goodbye Iowa”. Hot sex scenes aside, we saw Professor Walsh for the danger she really was and her efforts to get Buffy out of the picture resulted in the rise of part human/demon/cyborg Adam bumping her off, injuring Riley and basically escaping.

This plot then got put on hold for the wonderful return of Faith in the season’s unforgettable two parter “This Year’s Girl”/“Who Are You”. Having Eliza Dushku back for two episodes injected more excitement into this season that Adam could ever hope to achieve and the fun she and Sarah Michelle Gellar must have had while playing opposite roles you can only imagine. These two episodes are also noteworthy for the by now obvious coupling between Willow and Tara and how a complete stranger could easily tell that Buffy wasn’t herself literally after only meeting her once raised intrigue (that and the spell sabotage thing). Forget Buffy/Riley or Xander/Anya, it was Willow/Tara who was the ultimate couple of the season.

And with the return of Oz in “New Moon Rising”, the writers did tug with our emotions a lot. I mean I felt bad for Oz, Willow and Tara but I ultimately cheered when Tara got her girl. The episode also had me cheering at Buffy for telling Riley about Angel, Riley ditching The Initiative and the Spike/Adam pairing.

As a villain, Adam lacks mainly because he has no complexities in the same way that either The Mayor or Faith had the previous season. Adam simply wants to kill, kill and kill so while it may be interesting that he can be immune to reality altering spells in the excellent Jonathan showcase “Superstar” and views himself as a paradox or that he kills the painfully annoying Forrest, the character just doesn’t hold my interest.

What did were the departure and returns of old characters and their development, the individual personal Scooby stuff. This season is lighter compared to the first three, so I didn’t take the big bad seriously.

Although at Adam and Spike’s interference did get the Scoobies to briefly fall out and acknowledge their distance in “The Yoko Factor”, before the reaffirmed friends used the essence of the First Slayer to break into The Initiative and stop Adam’s wacky idea of making a race of human/demon creatures. While the Buffy/Adam scrap in the excellent “Primeval” may not have been as cool as the Buffy/Faith scraps earlier on in this season, it was definitely a killer of ending The Initiative arc and the season. Well it would have been but Joss Whedon decided to end this season on a more psychological and foreshadowing note with the intelligent “Restless”. Set mostly in dream, we see Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles’ fears and fantasies played out before us while as an audience we can draw whether or not these people have changed for the better or at all this season. Having Buffy duke it out with the First Slayer as Tara warns that “You think you know, who you are, what’s to come. You haven’t even begun”. Even if you didn’t like Season Four, that line is seductive enough to hold you for Season Five. It certainly held me.

DVD EXTRAS: Four seasons in and the extras are only getting better and better and while I wish they would stop adding the scripts and cast biographies, my love for the writers increased with brilliant commentaries for both “The Initiative” and “This Year’s Girl” by Doug Petrie, another hilarious one from Jane Espenson on the comical “Superstar”. Both David Fury and James A. Contner hold their own wonderfully for penultimate episode “Primeval” (originally intended to end the season) but Joss Whedon once again does win hands down with “Hush” and “Restless”. The other features include a heavily detailed “Season 4 Overview” and making of “Hush”. Lovers of James Marsters will enjoy “Introducing Spike” but I personally couldn’t get enough of “Buffy: Inside The Music”. There are also a couple of stills to mull over as well but overall, this is how you treat a series on DVD.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10

4x01: The Freshman = 8/10, 4x02: Living Conditions =6/10,
4x03: The Harsh Light Of Day = 7/10, 4x04: Fear Itself = 7/10,
4x05: Beer Bad = 8/10, 4x06: Wild At Heart =9/10,
4x07: The Initiative = 6/10, 4x08: Pangs = 9/10,
4x09: Something Blue = 8/10, 4x10: Hush = 10/10,
4x11: Doomed = 6/10, 4x12: A New Man = 7/10,
4x13: The I In Team = 8/10, 4x14: Goodbye Iowa = 7/10,
4x15: This Year’s Girl = 10/10, 4x16: Who Are You = 10/10,
4x17: Superstar = 8/10, 4x18: Where The Wild Things Are = 4/10,
4x19: New Moon Rising = 9/10, 4x20 = The Yoko Factor = 7/10,
4x21: Primeval = 9/10, 4x22: Restless = 9/10.

Season Four is currently available on both VHS and DVD.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 3 Review

US Airdate on the WB: September 29^th 1998-18 May 1999, plus July 13^th (3x22) and September 21^st 1999 (3x18)

It’s that special year in everyone’s life – the end of high school and for Buffy that means an ex-lover back from the dead, friendships tested, dynamics changed, an unstable rogue Slayer and overly ambitious Mayor. I did mention the end of high school, right? Hope I didn’t leave that part out.

School’s Out Forever And Don’t You Just Love It – Ah, Season Three the last innocent season of the series before the big, big life as an adult stuff would take over and some people the last good season of Buffy but to me, not quite as good as Season Two but hey, an undeniable classic no less. Season Three opens with the low key but essential episode “Anne” as a disillusioned Buffy attempts to keep her head down and mind her own business, which is obliterated when her urge to help an old friend and more homeless people escape from a mad demon slave cult and a hell dimension. It’s not the strongest opener the series has ever done but main battle has a super cool fight sequence (“I’m Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you are”) and although the Scoobies have a hard time slaying vampires without their slayer and best pal, the sheer effort and willingness of them to protect their town is oddly effecting. That added with a bitter Joyce/Giles scene on their own parental guidance towards Buffy over the years.

One of the strongest elements of Season Three is how the consequences of “Becoming Part 2” are dealt with and while it may have been upsetting for our Scoobies to not welcome Buffy back with open arms immediately, their actions and attitudes towards while harsh are realistic and it’s also wonderful that Kendra’s death sparks the activation of new Faith who makes more than a spectacular entrance in “Faith Hope And Trick”. Played with absolute perfection by Eliza Dushku, Faith is polar opposite to Buffy as you can get – she relishes the kill, deliberately shunts responsibility and her wild and promiscuous ways are fun to watch in the first half of the season. It’s amazing that despite the hostility in her episode, her and Buffy manage to semblance a friendship in a way that Buffy and Kendra never got the opportunity to.

Not that Buffy was short of people in her life in this season. With a more open relationship with Joyce and things back on track with Willow, Xander, Giles, Oz and Cordelia, it was appropriate that a soul fuelled and repentant Angel would spell trouble for Buffy, so much that Xander gets to act self-righteous and Faith shows that being impulsive has it’s drawbacks in “Revelations” when she tries to kill him. In between this action we also got to see Buffy briefly date Scott Hope (a one note guy but prettier than a future love interest), Joyce and Giles have crazy sex when they are reverted to acting like teenagers thanks to chaos lover Ethan Rayne in the hilarious “Band Candy” (Snyder alone is pathetic in that), Xander and Willow cheat on Oz and Cordelia with quite the fallout when Spike abducts them in “Lovers Walk”, an episode which more or less foreshadows Buffy and Angel’s off-kilter relationship later on in the year and the rise of new big bad – The Mayor.

Well we’ve had vampires as big baddies in the first two seasons so it made sense to do something different and Harry Groener is an excellent fix as a man so evil and determined and yet so charming and engaging to watch. How could you not laugh at his OCD like behaviour or wonder about his failed attempt of assassinating Spike. Unlike The Master and Spike and Drusilla, The Mayor is mostly kept in the background for the first half of the season so as down town we deal with Willow and Oz repairing their fractured relationship in “Amends” as Angel is driven into killing himself by The First Evil but the biggest thing in the 1998 aired episodes is the introduction of vengeance demon Anyanka/Anya who brought a whole new meaning to the concept of “be careful what you wish for”. Because in “The Wish”, Xander and Willow are vampires and underlings to The Master, Cordy gets slaughtered, Buffy is a nihilistic young lady and Angel is a bigger wimp than Wesley.

The latter half of the season is a mixed bag of stuff. While “Helpless” and “The Zeppo” aren’t personal favourites of mine, they are noteworthy for Buffy meeting the Council, having Giles tow the line between duty and love for his slayer (and suffering the price as well) and Xander briefly finding a sense of self worth after shagging Faith.

Faith’s storyline becomes the driving force of the remaining episodes as repeating the trick of sending an ally off the deep end (last year Angel, now Faith) works to the series gain yet again when Faith kills the deputy mayor and goes to extremes of blaming Buffy and turning on everyone left, right and centre. There’s great moments as Buffy, Xander and Angel all try to reason with her but the reckless actions of Wesley, the priggish replacement for Giles and Faith’s ultimate desire to embrace her darker tendencies (after dusting malicious vampire and Mayor lackey Mr Trick) see her allying with The Mayor in the superb two part episodes “Bad Girls” and “Consequences”. If you thought the dynamic with Buffy and Giles is brilliant to watch, then you’ll the one with Faith and The Mayor, no matter how twisted it happens to be.

The Scoobies versus Faith and The Mayor does get put aside long for Vamp Willow to reappear in “Doppelgangland”, Buffy to experience the crap side of having psychic powers while using Jonathan wonderfully in the polemic “Earshot” and of course the Scoobies to celebrate their prom, complete with hell dogs, Anya and Angel sensibly dumping Buffy in the not originally titled “The Prom”.

With these distractions then dealt with, the ongoing arc has moments of showing true colours and deception (“Enemies”), hostage taking (“Choices”) before the mother of all showdowns. While I prefer both parts to “Becoming”, the sheer genius of “Graduation Day Parts 1 and 2” has to be talked about. I mean let’s face it, Buffy and Angel finally parted ways (the latter getting his own series), Oz and Willow done the deed, Cordy and Wesley shared an embarrassing kiss, Xander and Giles something useful to do, The Mayor showed his love for Faith and we got probably the best girl fight in TV history with Buffy and Faith, all knives and handcuffs scrapping it out, which put Faith in a coma and Buffy nearly killed to save her lover. It also saw The Mayor turn into a giant snake, had him blown to pieces along with Sunnydale High, Snyder killed and the Sunnydale students beating the living daylights out of vampire and that nice self reflecting ending Oz telling the gang that they survived High School. This finale ended one aspect of Buffy but it did not end the goodness of this show because there is still quality material to come.

DVD EXTRAS: Like I said every season, more improvement and while adding the scripts are tedious, the other extras are fine. Once again we get four commentaries, this time David Fury on the so-so “Helpless”, Doug Petrie on “Bad Girls” and director Michael Gershman on “Consequences” (essential for all Faith lovers out there) and a hilarious one from the lovely Jane Espenson on “Earshot”. I love the obvious enthusiasm the writers and directors had for this series but no commentary for “Graduation Day Parts 1 and 2” – that sucks! Thankfully the in depth overview for Season 3 (on Disc 3 no less) is fantastic along with the features on “Buffy Speak” while Disc 6 caters to “Wardrobe” and “Weapons”. There’s also some stills and cast biographies if you’re interested as well.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10:

3x01: Anne = 7/10, 3x02: Dead Man’s Party = 6/10,
3x03: Faith, Hope And Trick = 8/10, 3x04: Beauty And The Beasts =6/10,
3x05: Homecoming =7/10, 3x06: Band Candy =8/10,
3x07: Revelations = 8/10, 3x08: Lovers Walk =9/10,
3x09: The Wish=10/10, 3x10: Amends =8/10,
3x11: Gingerbread = 7/10, 3x12: Helpless =6/10,
3x13: The Zeppo = 5/10, 3x14: Bad Girls = 9/10,
3x15: Consequences = 9/10, 3x16: Doppelgangland = 8/10,
3x17: Enemies = 7/10, 3x18: Earshot = 8/10,
3x19: Choices = 7/10, 3x20: The Prom = 8/10,
3x21: Graduation Day Part 1 = 10/10, 3x22: Graduation Day Part 2 = 10/10.

Season Three is currently available on VHS and DVD

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Revelation Of The Daleks"

Written by Eric Saward
Directed by Graeme Harper

Dalek: “It is The Doctor.”
Davros: “Excellent. My lure has worked.”

Last time viewers had to wait four years to see a certain Creator and this time, it’s only been a year since Davros made his last appearance on screen. Arguably this has to be his best serial since “Genesis Of The Daleks” but maybe that’s just me.

The Doctor and Peri meanwhile have landed on Necros, a pretty icy planet that for once forces Peri to actually wear some sensible clothing for a change. Funnily enough, Peri isn’t particularly thrilled with this idea but asking The Doctor if she can slip into something more comfortable is met with derision as well.

However The Doctor isn’t here to be frozen to death but more to visit the deceased friend Stengos. This guy seems to be pretty popular as there are two other people on the lookout for him but for the first few scenes its The Doctor interest in him that takes precedence.

Of course arriving on a mysterious planet also means the first spot of bother and when a mutant attacks The Doctor for no reason, Peri is forced to kill. Given that we’ve had to endure most serials with Peri repeatedly getting captured and screaming it’s relieving to see her be the one to save The Doctor for a change.

The mutant however isn’t an evil creature but the unsuccessful experiment of a scientist called The Great Healer. Seeing this poor disfigured person piques The Doctor’s curiosity but there’s a fair amount of resistance from Peri. She’d rather go back in the TARDIS and leave Necros but you just know that The Doctor doesn’t feel the same way.

As for The Great Healer, even if it wasn’t revealed so early, I would’ve guessed automatically that it was an alias Davros was using. It seems that he’s got a neat little business set up on Necros by coming up with his own unique way of combating famine. Well Davros might be a psychopath but he’s also a clever one.

That being said he has to deal with the likes of Kara. She’s not particularly thrilled to be handed virtually all of her money over to Davros so he can make his own advancements. Of course she has to play nice with him but the hostility both her and Davros have for one another can be seen in their very conversation.

To give her some credit, Kara doesn’t just bore viewers by whining to her secretary Vogel about how much she loathes being under Davros’ thumb. Instead she decides to have him killed and hires Orcini, one of the best assassins to carry out the task. Although it’s a smart move on her part, I still don’t like her.

I think it’s because I’ve meant a fair amount of people like Kara who are disingenuous with virtually everyone they talk to. Even with Orcini and his squire Bostock, Kara displays total insincerity. Then after she’s gotten them to leave she makes some nasty remarks about the two of them.

Orcini is probably one of the most likeable characters in this serial along with Bostock. Both of them are strong minded and savvy men and while they argue on tactics, there is a good rapport with them. Although neither of them trusts Kara or Vogel, Orcini happily takes to the task of killing Davros for reasons of honour.

As for Stengos, his daughter Natasha and the rather weak willed Grigory break into Tranquil Repose in order to find his body. Between arguing and shooting staff members there, what they find is pretty gory even for Doctor Who, which isn’t altogether gory.

We’ve seen all kinds of Daleks but a Glass Dalek with Stengos’ head in it, partially converted is really gruesome. It’s nice that you see him try to resist the Dalek mentality before he succumbs and Natasha is forced into killing. Then her and Grigory end up arrested and tortured by workers Lilt and Takis.

The other interesting dynamic is Tranquil Repose. It might have a good reputation but with Davros using it for his own means, the thuggish manners of Lilt and Takis and the repulsive Jobel, played excellently by Clive Swift, it’s hardly Fishers And Sons, now is it?

There’s also Tasambeker, who goes from being sympathetic at one point to utterly pathetic the next. In a sense you feel bad for her due to the monstrous way Jobel behaves with her but when she gets thick with Lilt and The Doctor at different points, your sympathy tends to waver. Working with Davros was also an ill informed decision on her part.

When he’s not moaning about traitors and using statues to lure The Doctor into a trap, Davros is irritated by Jobel. It seems Davros doesn’t like when people refuse his offer of immortality so he gets Tasambeker to kill Jobel. She only does it after Jobel excelled himself in being cruel and afterwards she got killed by Daleks.

Another character who sparkles in this serial is the DJ. A part of me can’t believe I’m actually saying that he’s so bloody irritating in the first half of this story but as soon as he’s paired with Peri he shines and so does she. Peri mentions being a little homesick and the DJ makes a good effort to warn The Doctor and protect Peri from the Daleks. Sadly he’s also another casualty.

Orcini on the other hand has twigged that Kara has set her up and his plan to exterminate Davros doesn’t exactly go to plan either. It seems that Davros was being clever with the head in the jar. When that’s dispatched he appears in his usual form with the ability.

To Orcini’s credit he gets the pleasure of killing Kara and even Davros thinks high enough of Orcini. Of course the real person Davros wants to interact with is The Doctor and they get some of the best exchanges in my opinion. Both Colin Baker and Terry Molloy spark with each other.

Davros lets The Doctor know about his plans, building a new race of Daleks, using corpses as a food solution. Davros’ reasoning for the latter is twisted but consistent with him too. We know how little he cares for human life and only he would get a sick pleasure in making a joke when The Doctor is horrified by what he’s doing.

Davros doesn’t get too long to be smug though. Thanks to Takis, a bunch of Daleks from Skaro arrive to arrest him and with Orcini blowing off his hand, things aren’t looking good for Davros. He can’t even persuade the Skaro Daleks to attack The Doctor and that is a bad sign.

With Tranquil Repose blown to bits, more people dead and Takis and Lilt forced into taking a new business venture, the ending of this serial is lighter. To be fair this isn’t the most darkest of serial, in spite of it’s gore so the ending actually works in it’s favour and both The Doctor and Peri deserve a better holiday after this.

Also in “Revelation Of The Daleks”

It was nice for Davros to actually be introduced early in this serial. Pity this wasn’t a common occurrence with a lot of his stories.

The Doctor: “You eat too much.”
Peri: “Hardly. I’ve just given my lunch to the fish. Can’t I wear something more comfortable?”

There was a lot of comments about food and weight in this serial than you’d usually get from a series like this.

Mutant: “You wouldn’t think I used to look like you.”
The Doctor: “What happened to you?”

Tasambeker: “An attendant has been murdered.”
Jobel: “Why couldn’t it have been you?”

Peri’s botany was mentioned again in this episode, especially towards the end when The Doctor found his own protein solution.

Peri: “Okay. Just don’t drop me.”
The Doctor: “Drop you? I’ll be lucky if I can lift you with the amount you weigh.”
Peri: “Watch it, porky.”

Davros (to himself): “Suddenly everyone sees and knows too much.”

If Davros loathed that DJ so much then why didn’t he have him killed the moment he set up shop in Tranquil Repose?

Jobel: “Mind you, you’re the first living client I wouldn’t mind working on.”
The Doctor (to Peri): “He does go on, doesn’t he?”

The Doctor: “Friend of yours?”
Tasambeker: “What’s it got to do with you?”
The Doctor: “Absolutely nothing at all. I was only taking an interest.”

Big praise to Graeme Harper who did an excellent job with this serial. He directed a few of my favourites such as “The Caves Of Androzani”, “Doomsday”, “Utopia” and “Turn Left” to name four.

Jobel: “I love a Miss who plays hard to get.”
Peri: “Then you’ll love me to death.”

Dalek: “You will obey.”
Kara: “How inconvenient. You know how difficult it is to find good secretaries.”

The place where The Doctor was supposed to take Peri was Blackpool. Originally the next serial was supposed to be located there instead of “Trial Of A Time Lord”.

Davros (to Tasambeker): “As I said, I once offered Jobel immortality. He refused. I now make the same offer to you. Serve me with your total being and I will make you a Dalek.”

The Doctor: “May I ask what you’re doing here?”
Orcini: “You may but only a fool would expect an answer.”

After this serial aired, the show went on hiatus for eighteen months sparking a fair amount of controversy as well.

Kara: “Now we both die. Satisfied?”
Orcini: “You before me.”

The Doctor: “But did you bother to tell them that they might be eating their own relative?”
Davros: “Certainly not! That would’ve created what I believed is termed ‘consumer resistance’.”

There was a lot of music in this episode but Glen Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade”. It would also be used in “The Empty Child”/“The Doctor Dances”.

Davros: “You’ve not heard the last of me. I shall return.”
The Doctor: “And I shall be waiting.”

This was released on DVD in 2005 but then re-released in 2007 as part of the Davros box set. Great commentary with Nicola Bryant, Graeme Harper and Eric Saward.

“Revelation Of The Daleks” was a satisfying way to end Colin Baker’s first season. Davros and the Daleks were well served; there was some great supporting characters, brilliant dialogue and pithy black humour to boot.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 2 Review

US Airdate on the WB: September 15^th 1997-May 19^th 1998.

Hitting the second season of the deadly Sunnydale, Buffy finds almost dying a tough experience. Sadly for her, that’s nothing compared to the dangers of Spike and Drusilla, Career Week at school, a potential stepfather from hell, the death of a pivotal ally and the horror of her first time resulting in a frightening transformation from the love of her life.

Having Sex Reveals That All Men Are Evil – Season Two is the first of many turning points for Buffy, both the character and the series itself. For one, it’s from here onwards that the series goes from an enjoyable supernatural romp to a series where the meaning “life or death” situations are literally redefined. It’s the season (of which there will be many) where the characters are put through the emotional gamut time and time again. Funnily enough, it’s also the season when I stopped being a casual viewer and became an obsessive. Misery love pain, eh? Well I’m not a misery guts but I love my drama dark, meaty and raw and for a series with a large teen following, Buffy would more than satisfy that appetite.

Highly regarded as the best season of the show’s entire run, Season Two opens with the superb “When She Was Bad” where our beloved heroine doesn’t take well the fact that she nearly died last summer so she behaves like so much of a bitch that Cordelia of all people tells her to get over her pain. This is excellent advice and is only really taken into consideration when Giles, Willow and Jenny are to be used as a sacrifice to resurrect The Master and Xander rips Buffy a new one of her attitude. Post Traumatic Stress aside, Buffy snaps out of her funk and rescues her pals and apologises to Angel. So all is well that ends well for now, right?

Um not really because for a second year in a role our main big baddies happen to be vampires and the Cockney punk rock duo of Spike and Drusilla does live up to the promise of more trouble. They’re really here for the Festival of St Vigeous where their vampire powers are at their height but Spike loves the idea of messing with Buffy and proceeds to attack her at school during Parent/Teacher night. Spike is a cocky so and so sired by his insane lover Drusilla who in turn was sired by Angelus, giving them the nice tie into Sunnydale that helps heighten their ongoing plots in both the season and the remainder of the series.

Debuting in “School Hard”, another classic episode was only the tip of the Spike and Drusilla iceberg and these two continues to wreck havoc whether it was trying to kill a vulnerable slayer “Halloween” or “Lie To Me” or abducting Angel in “What’s My Line Parts 1 and 2” where his blood could restore Drusilla, Marti Noxon made her scripting debut or Buffy learned that her brief death meant the activation of another slayer – the uptight and duty bound Kendra, Joss Whedon were not only bringing baddies to be reckoned with but also villains of the epic scale to rival movies. The first half of the season also deserves the credit of the beautiful Giles and Jenny romance, pairing the sparring duo of Xander and Cordelia and debuting monosyllabic musician Oz. Hey, if Xander and Giles can get laid, so should Willow and most people will agree that this is Seth Green’s best role to date in his career.

The second half however only improves on the opening half after we got through a clever analogy of the stepfather from hell (who’s a robot and played by John Ritter no less) in “Ted” and the incredibly banal “Bad Eggs”.

The moment that captured the ratings was the 17^th birthday from hell for Buffy when not only Spike and Drusilla raised a beast called The Judge that could exterminate humanity but sex with Angel turned him back into the former killing machine known as Angelus. We’ve also had boyfriends who are bastards after giving it up but Angelus’ mission to utterly destroy is ever bit as captivating as it’s disturbing. “Surprise” and “Innocence” are the defining moments in any television series but there is the exact moment that also culturally thrust Buffy into the mainstream. The stunning two parter also brought pain for Giles when Jenny was revealed to be a part of the gypsy tribe that was supposed to prevent Angelus from ever coming back. It’s just too bad for her and everyone else that her silence and attempts of redemption by finding a way to re soul Angelus results in a horrifically violent death in the unforgettable “Passion”. This particular event is also sandwiched in between Willow discovering Oz is a werewolf and Xander learning the hard way that having wanting to jump your bones isn’t always a good thing.

The final five episodes of the season continue the consistence quite well as Buffy tries not to let her psycho ex-lover get the better while dealing with an asshole of a principal that is Snyder. A tale of unrequited love gone wrong dominates “I Only Have Eyes For You” and manages to thrash the bogey man themed “Killed By Death” and the much maligned “Go Fish” (which debuted second pivotal staff writer David Fury). Someone really should’ve thought the Creature From The Black Lagoon tribute a lot better than the mess we got here.

The second season ends on a truly excellent but heartbreaking note with the triumphant “Becoming Parts 1 and 2”. If this didn’t have you glued to your seat and the hankies at the ready, then nothing would. With Willow badly injured, Kendra murdered, Buffy framed for said murder, Snyder revealing his true hatred for the Slayer, Giles kidnapped, the fallout Buffy suffered from telling the naïve Joyce about who she really was and the ultimate fight to the death between Buffy and Angelus as he opened Acathla and planned to send the world to hell, the pain came big time when Willow restored Angel’s soul and Buffy still had to send the love of her life to hell to save humanity. Not dealing with this, Buffy skips town and the Scoobies are left to their own devices. It’s not the most positive way to end a drama fuelled second season but it’s certainly keeps with the brilliance that this whole season constantly throws at you. I know I was literally counting the moments for Season Three after the last two episodes were finished. Needless to say, I wasn’t alone.

DVD EXTRAS: Like with many a series, every season of Buffy improves on the DVD and extras scale and the season is served with four interesting commentaries as David Greenwalt has plenty to say on his directorial debut with “Reptile Boy” and Marti Noxon isn’t shy in talking about the series darker side sexually with her anecdotes on “What’s My Line Parts 1 and 2”. Similarly Joss Whedon has high praise on the series defining “Innocence” but why there aren’t commentaries for “Passion” and “Becoming Parts 1 and 2” beggars’ belief. Other highlights in this generous helping the usual scripts and the fun and lengthy features on the shows design (“Designing Buffy”), monsters (“Beauty And The Beasts”), as well as prosthetics (“A Buffy Bestiary”). Many of these have interviews and brief comments from regular cast and crew, which despite a notable absence from Sarah Michelle Gellar; you do have surreal moment of listening to James Marsters in his Californian accent and learn how the teeth on the vampires are done. If that doesn’t float your boat there are some US trailers for certain episodes of Season Two and new cast biographies but honestly, I think there is a lot here for DVD lovers to chow down on.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10:

2x01: When She Was Bad = 9/10, 2x02: Some Assembly Required = 6/10,
2x03: School Hard = 9/10, 2x04: Inca Mummy Girl =5/10,
2x05: Reptile Boy = 7/10, 2x06: Halloween = 8/10,
2x07: Lie To Me = 9/10, 2x08: The Dark Age =6/10,
2x09: What’s My Line Part 1= 8/10, 2x10: What’s My Line Part 2=9/10,
2x11: Ted = 7/10, 2x12: Bad Eggs = 4/10,
2x13: Surprise =10/10, 2x14: Innocence =10/10,
2x15: Phases = 7/10, 2x16: Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered = 8/10,
2x17: Passion = 10/10, 2x18: Killed By Death =7/10,
2x19: I Only Have Eyes For You = 9/10, 2x20: Go Fish = 4/10,
2x21: Becoming Part 1 = 10/10, 2x22: Becoming Part 2 = 10/10.

Season Two is both available on VHS and DVD.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Mark Of The Rani"

Written by Pip And Jane Baker
Directed by Sarah Hellings

The Rani (re The Master): “What’s he up now? It’d be something devious and over complicated. He’d get dizzy if he tried to walk in a straight line.”

What’s better than having two quarrelling Time Lords in a serial? Simple answer would be three. After you’ve got to have the Sixth Doctor interact with The Master and that other devious Time Lord – The Rani. Well it does make for a lot of fun, right?

The Doctor and Peri wind up in Killingworth when the TARDIS is deliberately sent off course. The thing about this is that they’re in the 19th Century and also caught up in the events of the Luddite riots. Angry villagers do not love the idea of machinery replacing and dedicate their time to sabotaging any attempts of development.

However these villagers are behaving more erratically than usual and when they start venting their rage out on geniuses such as George Stevenson, there’s something more sinister afoot. The Doctor is determined to get to the bottom but Peri would prefer to get the hell out of there.

If I’m being honest, the Luddite rebellion aspect of this serial is pretty boring, mainly due to some shameless overacting on the part of the disgruntled workers. Even in their rage, I’d imagine that we’re supposed to feel some sympathy for them but for the most part, I find them a bit of a hindrance to the story. It also doesn’t help that The Master is able to use to attack The Doctor at various different times during the story.

At least the cause behind their rage is a lot more interesting. Not only do they hate development but everytime they head to a certain bath house, they end up leaving with a red mark on their neck as well as the inability to sleep. As plot twists go, there’s a satisfying element to it.

The Rani is the culprit the sleep deprivation and as guest villains go, the woman is borderline perfect. In all fairness besides The Doctor and The Master, there aren’t that many Time Lords that are actually that interesting. Okay so we did have that meddling Monk and there was Romana but overall we’ve been lacking on that score.

Kate O’Mara is an excellent piece of casting as she manages to make The Rani both ruthless and logical in her madcap schemes. The fact that she also avoids doing the femme fatale act also gives her an added bonus. The Rani is an exiled Time Lord who’s been coming back and forth to earth to use human as guinea pigs for experiments.

What’s even more interesting is that when she is reprimanded for her actions, she doesn’t waste a minute to point out how humans are equally as callous to the lesser species themselves. I have to admit that while her actions are seriously wrong, it hard to counter that argument.

The best part of the serial however is seeing The Rani and The Master working together to take down The Doctor. The Master is still seething over the actions of “Planet Of Fire” and while The Rani is only too aware of their ongoing feud, she is literally forced into helping The Master with his vengeance plan.

It can easily be argued that this serial didn’t need The Master in it but after a few watches, I’m actually glad that he is there. I don’t doubt this serial still would’ve been good without him, but Anthony Ainley does pull in a good performance alongside Colin Baker and Kate O’Mara as all three Time Lords sparkle.

One of the things that makes me love The Rani is her assessment of both The Doctor and The Master. As enemies go, the two of them have ‘can’t live with or without’ type of rapport and The Rani is only too quick to point it out. After all it was The Master who contrived this little meeting. Both The Doctor and The Rani clearly have better things to be getting on with than pandering to The Master’s whims.

However with angry villagers about, The Master manages to persuade The Rani into harnessing the intellect of the geniuses that are arriving to Killingworth for a meeting to their own advantage. Using the hapless Luke as well manages to ensure that the meeting isn’t cancelled but he becomes surplus to requirements when The Rani’s booby traps turn him into a tree.

The final 15 minutes of the serial focuses a lot less on the meeting (which makes sense given that George Stevenson is the only genius we meet) and more on The Doctor and Peri stopping The Master and The Rani. It’s interesting that The Doctor’s compassion for humans can be used against him too but it was blatantly obvious that Peri wouldn’t be clever enough to stop the two villainous Time Lords from escaping.

The final few scenes are rather amusing though. On one hand you’ve got The Master and The Rani in the latter’s TARDIS experiencing a bumpy thanks to a certain someone’s interference but at the same time you’ve got that hilarious final line where The Doctor admits to Lord Ravensworth that he and Peri mainly argue.

Now the dynamic between The Doctor and Peri isn’t one of my favourites and here’s it a bit hit and miss. There are times when he overreacts to some of the questions or comments that Peri often comes out with but there are at two moments in the serial where it’s clear that he does care for her. It would’ve been nice if the show had found a happy medium with this team up.

Also in “The Mark Of The Rani”

Originally this serial was supposed to be called “Enter The Rani” or “Too Clever By Far”. I think the latter title would’ve been a good choice.

Peri: “Well I only asked a simple question.”
The Doctor: “Indeed and it was the wrong question.”

Both The Master and The Rani wore disguises here. The Master was a scarecrow and The Rani an old woman in the bath house.

The Rani (to The Master): “You and The Doctor are a well matched pair of pests. You bring nothing but trouble. Now I need a new assistant.”

The Rani: “Do you trust anyone?”
The Master: “Yes, myself.”

Instead of something skin tight for a change, Peri wore a dress that practically looked like it came out of a Disney movie.

The Doctor: “Well you had me fooled if it’s any consolation.”
The Rani: “It’s not.”

The Rani: “No, don’t kill him, kill this one. Touché Doctor.”
The Doctor: “Don’t hurry back.”

This might sound disloyal but not only does The Rani seem more intellectual than The Doctor but she’s got a better looking TARDIS to boot.

The Rani: “The Time Lords will never permit it.”
The Master: “Who is going to alert them?”
The Rani: “Indeed.”

The Doctor (to himself): “The Rani is a genius. Shame I can’t stand her. Wonder if I was nice she’d let me – no, no.”

Among ruling a planet, one of The Rani’s experiments ate the Lord President Of Gallifrey’s cat. Those T-Rex embryos looks incredibly fake however.

The Rani: “I don’t make mistakes.”
The Master: “If that were true, you’d still be on Gallifrey.”

The Master (re The Doctor): “I’d feel happier if I could see him.”
The Rani: “A sentiment he’d reciprocate.”

The DVD released in 2006 has a great commentary with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Kate O’Mara as well as other neat extras.

Lord Ravensworth: “I will venture one question, Doctor. What exactly do you do in there?”
The Doctor: “Argue mainly.”

This is the only serial written by a husband and wife duo as far as I can tell.

“The Mark Of The Rani” is surprisingly a lot better than it’s given credit for. The three Time Lords are excellent, Peri is mostly helpful rather than helpless and although the riots drag, everything else is reasonably satisfying.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Caves Of Androzani"

Written by Robert Holmes
Directed by Graeme Harper

The Doctor: “Too late, Peri. Going soon. Time to say goodbye.”
Peri: “Don't give up! You can't leave me now!”
The Doctor: “I might regenerate. I don't know. Feels different this time …”

Regeneration stories can often be a tricky mix but this one however virtually reeks of perfection. Doing what a lot of Doctors have done before him, Peter Davison decided to leave the role after three years playing The Doctor and the writers certainly gave him a parting worthy of his good work.

Only into her second serial with The Doctor, Peri is in for a rotten time when both her and The Doctor arrive on Androzani minor. First off all, there’s getting herself into a cobweb with fatal consequences and then we have to deal with the fact that her and The Doctor find themselves arrested within minutes of landing on the planet.

That’s the thing with this story. Throughout all four parts, both The Doctor and Peri, when they aren’t staring death in the face are getting repeatedly captured and terrorised by various sides, all of which voicing their own personal dislike to The Doctor.

Morgus, one of the key characters in the story is instantly dismissive of The Doctor and Peri that he has them executed as the first episode ends. It’s a delicious cliff-hanger, one that with the reveal of android versions of our heroes being killed doesn’t mar the overall effect.

This of course leads into the second capture of the story. If Chellak and Morgus weren’t the most hospitable of captors, then the easily annoyed Sharaz Jek is also not the kind of person you want to spend a considerable amount of time either, although as characters go, he is certainly riveting to watch.

While The Doctor is instantly berated and abused by the villain, Sharaz Jek does take something of an overall interest in Peri and throughout the latter part of this story, there are some really unsubtle Beauty And The Beast parallels. I know Peri’s nice to look at and all but Sharaz does go a little too far in his overall fixation.

When The Doctor and Peri do manage to momentarily escape from Sharaz Jek with the real Salateen with them, Sharaz’s main priority seems to be getting Peri back. It makes little to no difference that the girl’s infected with Spectrox Toxaemia along with The Doctor. In fact he seems to enjoy the idea of torturing The Doctor through his androids just so he can get Peri back into his clutches.

Of course, Sharaz Jek is the least of The Doctor’s problems. Getting captured by the annoying Stotz means he’s tied up and blindfolded at one point. It also seems that Morgus is wary of his presence too, though the fact that he refuses to consider the notion of The Doctor is a little strange.

Still with idiots like Stotz around the place, escaping isn’t that hard for The Doctor. He’s able to get out of his restraints and even tries to crash land the ship back on Androzani Minor. The notion of impending regeneration is at this point more or less drilled into our skulls. We know The Doctor’s going to change but it’s only a case of when and whether or not he’ll be able to save Peri.

As for Morgus, we do learn a lot about him in this story. We know that him and Sharaz Jek have personal history and that Morgus’ amoral streak isn’t above assassinating the President, which he does with such joy. The only problem with Morgus is his underestimation of those around him.

First off all, Timmins knows exactly what he’s capable of and wastes no time in getting him deposed. She even goes for the jugular and seizes all of his private assets as well to boot. As enemies go, she’s definitely a very oily woman. The look of humiliation on Morgus’ face however is nothing short of priceless.

Then there’s his dim-witted mercenaries to boot. Originally they were going to help him steal Sharaz Jek’s supply of Spectrox but now that Morgus has no power, they sensibly refuse to help him. Well, it would be sensible if Stotz hadn’t decided to kill for their act of refusal.

As for Stotz, he’s decided now that he wants an equal cut in the Spectrox and given that predictably enough, Morgus needs him more than the other way round, Stotz manages to get his demand. As a team, these two are out and out despicable throughout the entire story.

Elsewhere Peri manages to go from the barely pleasant quarters of Chellak back in Sharaz Jek’s arms when he snatches. See, there was a downside to sending the Salateen android on a fool’s errand but it’s around this time that some sympathy is conveyed for Sharaz.

Okay, so there’s no denying that his fixation on Peri is still creepy but at least when The Doctor returns this time around, Sharaz isn’t threatening decapitation. Instead they band together in order to save Peri by getting an antidote from the Queen Bat and while that’s happening, mud bursts are causing big problems.

On the plus by the last ten minutes of this story both Stotz and Morgus get their just desserts and some sympathy is conveyed when Sharaz dies in the Salateen android’s arms. I didn’t think this story would end up making me feel sorry for someone like Sharaz but I’m impressed that it did.

As for Peri, her life being saved comes at the cost of The Doctor’s. Regenerations scenes are usually quite strange but there’s some quite bleak about this one. It makes sense for The Doctor to have visions of Tegan, Nyssa, Adric, Turlough, Kamelion and even The Master before taking the form of his sixth incarnation. Peri’s utter confusion by what’s just happened is nicely conveyed.

Also in “The Caves Of Androzani”

Although this episode had caves in the title, the things we actually saw were blowholes instead. Even The Doctor mentioned that.

The Doctor (re him/Peri): “We travel a lot.”
Sharaz Jek: “Interesting. We shall have a lot to talk about.”

So the piece of celery actually tells of poisonous gases when it changes purple. Was that added at the last minute?

Sharaz Jek (to The Doctor): “You have the mouth of a prattling jackanapes. But your eyes… they tell a different story.”

Peri: “Why are you keeping us here?”
Sharaz Jek: “Oh, my exquisite child. How could I ever let you go? The sight of beauty is so important to me.”

The use of The Doctor’s physiology is what confused Sharaz Jek’s androids at one point in this story.

Sharaz Jek: “When I ask you a question, I do not expect flippancy. Where’s Peri?”
The Doctor: “I don’t know.”

Morgus (re The Doctor): “Who’s that?”
Stotz: “Government snoop, sir.”
Morgus: “Take off the blindfold.”

It’s kind of fitting that The Master appeared in this story briefly, given that he was in Peter Davison’s debut at the end of “Logopolis”.

Krelper: “"A two-day job," you said!”
Stotz: “"A two-day job," I said, "If we was lucky!" But we weren't lucky, were we Krelper? And your luck's run out right now.”

Stotz: “You better turn this ship around Doctor!”
The Doctor: “Why?”
Stotz: “Because I'll kill you if you don't!”
The Doctor: “Not a very convincing argument actually, Stotz, because I'm going to die soon anyway, unless of course-”

This of course would not be the last time we see Peter Davison as The Doctor. Twenty three years later we got him in the “Time Crash” scene with David Tennant.

Sharaz Jek: “To think that I, Sharaz Jek, who once mixed with the highest in the land, am now dependent upon the very dregs of society. The base, perverted scum who contaminate everything they touch. And it is Morgus who brought me to this! Morgus destroyed my life! Do you think I'm mad?”
Peri: “N-No.”
Sharaz Jek: “I am mad. Do I frighten you?”
Peri: “N-No.”

Sharaz Jek: “You think bullets could stop me now? You stinking offal, Morgus. Look at me!”

This came out in 2001 with a good commentary from Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant and Graeme Harper. The Behind The Scenes footage is worth checking out.

The Master: “No way, dear Doctor. You must die, Doctor. Die Doctor, die Doctor.”

Peri: “Doctor?”
The Doctor: “You were expecting someone else?”
Peri: “I – I – I.”
The Doctor: “That makes three "I"'s in one breath. Makes you sound a rather egotistical young lady.”
Peri: “What's happened?”
The Doctor: “Change, my dear. And it seems not a moment too soon!”

Colin Baker’s face appeared at the end of the fourth part of this story and his name before Peter Davison’s. The Magma creature was naff.

There are some stories that easily earn their stripes and this is definitely one of them. While “The Caves Of Androzani” is without a doubt one of the more darker stories from the series, it by far one of the best as well. A fantastic send off for Peter Davison and a very good introduction for Colin Baker. How could you not like this?

Rating: 10 out of 10.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 1 Review

US Airdate on The WB: March 10^th –June 2^nd 1997

The movie that failed hits the small screen with much deserved success as a sleepy town hides all things that go bump in the night. Their oppressor: a savvy, blonde sixteen year old with a destiny to fulfil.

I May Be Blonde But I Can Seriously Kick Your Ass – As I’ve said in my series review for tv.com, this is the series that made TV into an obsession and awoke the reviewer within. Not seeing this show in correct order, when I went to watch the first season, I wasn’t completely impressed. It was because I had seen the second (most of it) prior and I felt that the show’s opening year wasn’t on a par. Granted out of all the seven seasons of Buffy there is, I would still rank Season One as my least favourite but to be positive, this is one of the best debut seasons to any show past and present and while it may be a pain that it only ran for twelve episodes and had been the least arc driven of Buffy seasons, there is still a lot to recommend about it.

For instance, opening episode “Welcome To The Hellmouth” set up every single character perfectly. We had a seemingly meek and innocent blonde girl named Darla turn into a vampire and kill a random jock while the slayer herself, Buffy Summers had been set up as sweet, aloof and determined to eschew the responsibilities of her supernatural calling. Her various arguments with Giles, who manages to not be a bumbling British stereotype, even if he was a little uptight in the early years, were fabulous. How could you not laugh at how she simply spotted a vampire because he was wearing clothing from 1970’s? Then there was Angel, all dark and mysterious with the intense attraction between him and Buffy more or less asserted with minimal dialogue and strong body language between David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar, as the clumsy and socially awkward trio of Xander, Jesse and Willow as well as Uber-bitch Cordelia. Even The Master coming out of that pool and being stuck underground in an abandoned church as he forces his cohorts into feeding on enough humans and using Luke as a vessel so he could be freed from his own entrapment in “The Harvest”. Suffice to say, The Master failed, Luke got dusted and Darla had holy water thrown in her face but everything about this show was set. The characters felt like real teenagers and even looked like them too, the adults such as Giles, Principal Flutie and even Joyce Summers felt more than accessories and we had villains to be intrigued, amused and afraid of all at once while setting up a fantastic legacy. Although the arc with The Master remained more lighter in favour of setting up Buffy and Giles as slayer and watcher, her relationship with Angel, rivalry with Cordelia and friendships with Xander and Willow and even Giles embarking on a relationship with the plucky Jenny Calendar, the twists such as having an innocent child being summoned to a dangerous vampire called The Anointed One and even the shocking connection of Angel and Darla before The Master got his way with Buffy long enough to walk the earth again . Thinking about Season One was pretty damn memorable.

The first two episodes aside, other episodes I couldn’t get enough of including “Witch”, which the only cheerleading story told on a TV series that kept my interest as it debuted naughty witch Amy Madison (who got more interesting in future appearances), “Never Kill A Boy On The First Date” which saw Buffy’s attempts of dating a regular guy blow up in her face (big hint for Seasons Four and Five then, huh?), “Angel” which was pretty pivotal in revealing that hunky David Boreanaz was a vampire with a soul determined to atone for the horrible things he had in his past thanks to Darla’s influence on him. It was here that also showed that Boreanaz also had slightly more alluring chemistry with Julie Benz than Gellar as Angel and Darla’s more than colourful past would put Jack The Ripper to shame. I also have soft spot “The Puppet Show”, even if it did introduce the loathsome Principal Snyder (think Miss Trunchbull with a penis) and I absolutely adore the concept of “Nightmares”, even if looking at the Scoobies worst fears was something to be better handled in Season Four. There’s also the penultimate episode “Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight”, which is noteworthy for giving Cordelia much needed depth and having future Carnivale actress Clea DuVall as an invincible girl with violent tendencies (though who could blame her for hurting Harmony?). This leaves the season finale “Prophecy Girl” – again snappy dialogue, a genuine sense of foreboding terror and danger and enough emotional weight that enforced your love for the characters. Buffy’s defeat of The Master was sweet and her honest and frank discussion in regards to her own mortality was needed. Essentially, this may be my least favourite season but it started and ended perfectly and even the odd naff episode such as “Teacher’s Pet” or “I Robot You Jane” didn’t deter the fun that was more or less had.

DVD EXTRAS: A good first season deserves a good set of DVD extras and what is on offer has a hit and miss quality. I like when you put in the DVD the screen has clips of episodes and the Nerf Herder theme but I hate that you have to click on the episode to get the extras. The first disc has two fantastic commentaries from Joss Whedon himself on “Welcome To The Hellmouth” and “The Harvest” as he explains about The WB having reservations for using the word “slut” and how any scene in a graveyard for the first year actually took place in a graveyard. He also notes how the show is about a blonde who doesn’t have the patience to be in a horror film, which made me laugh and his joint interview with David Boreanaz is pleasant enough. The trailer for the first season is okay but I hate the inclusion of scripts because they are hard to read and I don’t have the patience to read through. I also like Hepburn’s “I Quit” music video on Disc 2 even though it contained clips from Seasons Three and Four and the photo gallery and cast biographies on the last disc are fine. All in all, decent extras but the commentaries are the real highlight though.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10:

1x01: Welcome To The Hellmouth = 9/10, 1x02: The Harvest = 8/10,
1x03: Witch =7/10, 1x04: Teacher’s Pet =6/10,
1x05: Never Kill A Boy On The First Date =7/10, 1x06: The Pack = 6/10,
1x07: Angel = 10/10, 1x08: I Robot You Jane = 5/10,
1x09: The Puppet Show = 8/10, 1x10: Nightmares = 10/10,
1x11: Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight = 7/10, 1x12: Prophecy Girl = 9/10.

Season One is both available on VHS and DVD.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Resurrection Of The Daleks"

Written by Eric Saward
Directed by Matthew Robinson

Davros (to Lytton, regarding the Daleks): “So they have returned to their creator. Like an errant child, they have come home.”

Wow at this point in the series, you are barely able to pass a season without The Master or Cybermen terrorising The Doctor and his companions but now the use of the Daleks and Davros is becoming more and more sparse. It’s got to be to add to the effect but overall it’s a neat tactic.

The Fifth Doctor is the second incarnation of the Time Lord that has to encounter this maniacal creator and his evil race but this isn’t necessarily Davros’ best story. It is however one of Peter Davison’s stronger stories and definitely an enjoyable enough serial as well.

A Time Corridor is creating all kinds of chaos and it wastes very little time in bringing The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough back to Earth and soon enough all kinds of disaster seems to be happening. A weary guy named Stien needs helps as he’s fleeing from a bunch of trigger happy baddies.

That’s not all – they’re also the Daleks. When they aren’t invading a spaceship in a bid to snatch Davros, they’re also attempting to capture The Doctor as well. It’s interesting that for once neither they nor Davros’ appearances actually come as a cliff hanger. It’s refreshing too as they get more to do than in “Destiny Of The Daleks”.

On the spaceship containing you have an interesting enough crew, lead by an argumentative new guy and a ballsy female doctor in Styles. Both of them throughout the serial go from being trigger happy at one minute to trying to play it cool the next.

They’re all aware that the Daleks are trying to get Davros back and while they do end up failing in keeping Davros, points given to them for sheer might if nothing else. Plus there also comes a point where a missing Turlough helps out with them as well, although at first they don’t particularly trust the lad.

As for the Daleks, it seems that when they are in trouble they will go to Davros nowadays. They might also be determined to betray their creator but at the same time, he’s also needed in helping them out. Unlike their previous serial, the Daleks aren’t exactly in short supply of allies.

On one hand you’ve got Lytton, a nasty piece of work who also has to cater to Davros’ whim but with a race of cloned soldiers and a plot to invade Gallifrey by using The Doctor and his companions, at least the ante seems to be upped in comparison to serials prior to this one.

However the reason why Davros is in such high demand from his creations stems back to the Movellans. It seems despite logic creating an impasse during that on going feud, the Movellan actually managed to get one better by creating a virus that could harm the Daleks.

If I were The Doctor, I’d keep some of this virus for future battles but The Doctor’s too busy getting double crossed by Stien and winding up as a hostage of the Daleks. Apparently cloning him and his companions would be a brilliant way of infiltrating Gallifrey and destroying the place but to be fair, couldn’t the Daleks just raid the place anyway? After all they do love to intrude as well as kill on sight.

Fortunately The Doctor doesn’t have to deal with a clone version of himself as Stien shows signs of faltering and manages to free The Doctor. The actor who plays, while overdoing the stutter is one of the stronger guest stars of the episode. Stien’s sacrifice in defeating the remainder of the Daleks is also noteworthy.

As for Davros, it’s also refreshing to see that he’s beginning to learn some more lessons. He’s happy to help his Daleks become the supreme being but he’s also come up with a nifty device that makes at least two of them subservient to his will. He also pulls the same whammy on a few of Lytton’s people, notably Kiston.

Of course the one thing slightly against this serial is the lack of many scenes between Davros and The Doctor. Davros is a lot more aggressive towards a less threatening version of The Doctor but he also takes some delight in noting The Doctor’s cowardice. The Doctor has an opportunity to destroy Davros but falter. Clearly he’s forgotten something in “Genesis Of The Daleks”.

When it comes to defeats, I suppose it makes sense to use the Movellan virus to do it. If you’re going to have plenty of the stuff around, why not put it to good use? Both the Daleks and Davros find that they are vulnerable to it. For Davros it really comes across as a shock to the system.

However it’s not the Daleks and Davros that are most memorable thing about this serial. Tegan’s exit after three years is the very thing that strikes a chord. Janet Fielding gives a great final performance as an exasperated Tegan has enough and leaves the TARDIS. For a second you think she might change her mind but as exits go, Tegan’s is definitely one of the strongest given to a companion on the show.

Also in “Resurrection Of The Daleks”

These episodes were shown in a double bill, which ended up being the format for the next season.

Galloway: “You’re pathetic.”
Stien: “That too.”

I just noticed that there was a fair amount of smoking in this serial. Given that this had a younger audience, I was a little surprised.

The Doctor: “Trouble with you Tegan is you have no imagination.”
Tegan: “Just because I can’t get worked up about a crumbling building?”

Davros: “You speak as if my Daleks are no longer capable of war.”
Lytton: “A lot has happened since your imprisonment.”

Terry Molloy is the third actor to take on the role of Davros and is also the longest serving actor playing the role as well.

Lytton: “Every precaution has been taken.”
Davros: “I work here or not at all.”

Stien: “Help? You don’t know how much of a coward I am.”
The Doctor: “Well you can take this opportunity to show me.”

How come we didn’t get to see Leela, Benton and Mike Yates during those flashbacks and how were Tegan/Turlough cloned if the Daleks never had them captive?

Davros (to Lytton/Daleks): “I am very difficult to kill. You should already know that.”

Davros: “Who do you obey?”
Daleks: “We obey Davros. He is our master.”
Davros: “Excellent.”

We heard the Cloister bell as well in this serial. We also heard it in “Logopolis” as well.

Davros (to Kiston): “I have waited a long time for this. Once The Doctor is exterminated, I shall build a new race of Daleks. They shall be even more deadly with me as their leader. This time we shall triumph. Once again my Daleks will be the supreme beings.”

Davros has been asleep for 90 years. That’s the amount of time that has passed between this serial and “Destiny Of The Daleks”.

Davros (to The Doctor): “You are soft, like all Time Lords. You prefer to stand and watch. Actions require courage. Something you lack.”

The Doctor: “No, don’t leave. Not like this.”
Tegan: “I must I’m sorry.”

This was released on DVD prior to the Davros box set in November 2007. Good commentary from Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Matthew Robinson.

Like I said at the start, “Resurrection Of The Daleks” isn’t the strongest of Dalek/Davros stories but it’s engaging enough, violent without going too far and has an interesting exit in Tegan. Overall, there’s more good than bad with it.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Five Doctors"

Written by Terrence Dicks
Directed by Peter Moffatt

Fifth Doctor (to Tegan/Turlough): “I am being diminished, whittled away piece by piece. A man is a sum of his memories you know, a Time Lord even more.”

Okay you happen to be one of those rare shows that manage to hit your twentieth anniversary and you desperately want to celebrate in a manner that’s suitably epic and memorable for viewers alike. Back in “The Three Doctors”, the first three versions of The Doctor did battle with Omega in a bid to stop him from escaping his prison.

Here things open up with previous versions of The Doctor being stolen from time with only the Fourth Doctor and Romana Mark 2 caught in some form of a time eddy. Well four out of five isn’t too bad I suppose. So our teams then consist of the First Doctor and Susan, the Second Doctor and the Brigadier, the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane and the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough.

With multiple Doctors and Companions trapped in the Death Zone on Gallifrey, you need a lot of villains so a lone Dalek, Rasillon’s booby traps (including a robot), a Yeti, an army of Cybermen and The Master sent by the Time Lord Council to help The Doctor should do the trick. Hey The Doctor is in danger of being killed for a reason and even The Master’s help might be useful, even if The Doctor is willing to sacrifice him to Cybermen.

Things I liked were all the Doctors talking towards the end and the Fifth Doctor realising he was different back then as well as the usual competitive streak between The Second and Third Doctors. Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton are excellent in that regard. The fancy pants/scarecrow thing was a nice nod too.

There are some good team ups here and two things I really liked a lot were the First Doctor and Tegan and Turlough and Susan. The First Doctor pushed Tegan with the Pi and I couldn't help but notice that Turlough was staring at Susan's rack. I like Turlough. This was one of the few stories I've seen him in and he was kinda great here. He did show some loyalty/concern for the Fifth Doctor. Tegan was a lot less whiny than usual too. That’s something I will always appreciate as a viewer.

The Master was at his best here too. Give Anthony Ainley a coherent plot and his Master can work as well as Delgado’s did. I felt bad when the Fifth Doctor abandoned him to the Cybermen. The Cybermen were suitably nasty in this episode too. I loved The Master using one of Rassilon's traps to get rid of them. That ballet dancing robot of Rasillon’s was just damn cool. The way it just casually wiped out the Cybermen (who were really nothing more than foot soldiers here) was just neat.

Also cool was The First Doctor getting the Dalek to get itself to explore. Why did we get only one Dalek and tonnes of Cybermen? That was a bit confusing. The Second Doctor and the Brigadier were also good together again as well. The Doctor might attract trouble but I think The Brigadier thrives on it despite his protests.

I have to admit that I saw President Borusa bring the traitor coming a mile off. His immortality at Rassilon's hand looked nasty. All that convoluted trouble with The Doctor and his plethora of companions, plus the baddies he added into the game and he gets defeated. For someone so smart, Borusa should’ve realised that immortality comes with a price. His entombment is quite nasty. The Master should count himself lucky he was defeated here. If he had succeeded in his quest for immortality, Rasillon would have another fool for his collection.

Something I do find rather hilarious is the reaction of the Fifth Doctor’s decision to run away from Flavia after she tried to make him President. No wonder he chooses to abandons his people. They can’t even catch a traitor in their own midst and this is the second time this season that Gallifrey trouble has been down to someone in that wretched council.

However there were some things that bothered me. Sarah Jane is one of my favourite companions and she kinda annoyed me a great deal here. The thing with the hillock and Susan twisting her ankle were so badly overplayed. I mean the hell? There’s passive and then there’s pathetic and both of their accidents of sorts reeked of the latter. Susan in particular overreacted on the hillock incident in my opinion.

I also hated that the only appearances from Mike Yates, Liz Shaw, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoë Herriot were reduced to just being illusions. Given that it’s been 14 years since we’ve seen Jamie and Zoë, 13 years since we’ve seen Liz and 9 years since Mike Yates last helped out, would it have killed for them maybe to have been captives of Borusa’s instead of illusions? It would’ve also helped with the danger element if Borusa actually had companions in his grasp with whom he could threaten all the Doctors with.

Mike was always adept at getting himself captured and I really wanted to know what happened to him after “Planet Of The Spiders”. Plus K9 had sod all to do. He could've been used for something productive other than trying (and failing) to warn Sarah Jane of danger. I also got bored watching the Fourth and Romana just talking about nothing of great importance for some reason. That would be down to Tom Baker’s no show and the scene going on a bit too long.

Also in “The Five Doctors”

Opening the episode with a clip of William Hartnell was a sweet touch. Richard Hurndall did a superb job in playing the First Doctor.

Second Doctor: “And, er…and who is this?”
The Brigadier: “That's my replacement, Colonel Crichton.”
Second Doctor: “Ah. Mine was pretty unpromising too.”

Robert Holmes was supposed to originally write this and Waris Husein was originally supposed to direct it but both of them pulled out.

Tegan (to Turlough): “Do something - help him!”
Fifth Doctor: “Oh no, no, don't look so worried - I'll have it all worked out soon. Everything's all right. Everything's quite all right.”

Romana: “Oh, I do love the autumn. All the leaves, colours.”
Fourth Doctor: “Yes. Well, at least with something as simple as a punt nothing can go wrong. No co-ordinates, no dimensional stabilizers, nothing. Just the water, the punt, a strong pair of hands and a pole.”

The scene between the Fourth Doctor and Romana Mark 2 came from the unaired serial “Shada”. Perhaps a future DVD release for that serial will surface.

Tegan: “Two hearts.”
Turlough: “Well, his body seems all right. He just seems to be fading away. Why did he have to set the TARDIS moving? We were safe before he did that.”
Tegan: “Look!”

Castellan: “We believe the attempt to lift him from his time stream was unsuccessful. There he must stay until we can find and free his other selves.”
The Master: “And if you cannot? The cosmos without The Doctor scarcely bares thinking about. What makes you think his other selves are in the Zone?”

This was the first serial released on DVD back in 1999 and is getting re-released in March 2008, almost 25 years after it first aired with an additional commentary from David Tennant, Phil Collinson and Helen Raynor.

Tegan: “Who are you?”
First Doctor: “More to the point, what are you young people doing inside my TARDIS?”

The Master: “As you see, I'm armed. I could easily kill you if I wanted to.”
Fifth Doctor: “And not humiliate me first? Ooh, that isn't your style at all.”

Kamelion is missing from this story which is weird given that he was made a companion in the previous serial. It’s also really inconsistent too for any show.

Third Doctor: “Quick! Over there! Their armourments are built in - and sensors detect movement, any movement.”
Sarah-Jane: “Anything else I shouldn't know?”
Third Doctor: “Yes. They move like lightning.”

Susan: “It's a bomb.”
Turlough: “Big, isn't it?”

Original people who were also supposed to resurface were Commander Maxil from “Arc Of Infinity”, Harry Sullivan, Victoria Wakefield and Sergeant Benton. Plus Jamie McCrimmon was supposed to have a much bigger role.

The Master: “Try it Doctor, it’s as easy as Pi.”
First Doctor: “What an extraordinary fellow. As easy as pie? As easy as pie?”
Tegan: “That's what he said.”

Mike Yates: “Doctor? Doctor, this way.”
Third Doctor: “Mike? Mike Yates? How did you get here?”
Mike Yates: “Same way as you. Liz Shaw is here, too.”

The illusion of Mike Yates had him in his UNIT gear. It’s unlikely that after “Planet Of The Spiders” he would’ve rejoined them. The Brigadier after all didn’t mention what happened to him in “Mawdryn Undead”.

Jamie: “No! Brigadier...!”
Second Doctor: “You're not real. When you were returned to your own people, the Time Lords erased your memory of the period you spent with me. So, how do you know who we are? Answer!”

The Master: “The decision is scarcely yours. Killing you once was never enough for me, Doctor. How...how gratifying to do it three times over!”
The Brigadier (before punching him): “Nice to see you again.”

I kind of wished we had seen Sergeant Benton, Jo Grant, Nyssa and Adric almost to complete the collection of sorts and maybe Davros/Omega but perhaps that might have been overkill.

Rassilon: “You seek immortality?”
Borusa: “I do.”
Rassilon: “Be sure, be very sure. Even now, it is not too late to turn back.”
Borusa: “I am sure.”

Turlough: “Won't the Time Lords be very angry?”
Fifth Doctor: “Furious!”
Tegan: “You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people in a rackety old TARDIS?”
Fifth Doctor: “Why not? After all, that's how it all started.”

This aired the 25th of November 1983 in the UK. Two days after the US viewing and two days after “An Unearthly Child” premiered 20 years prior.

Okay, now that I have seen this in full I’ll admit to thinking “The Five Doctors” is pretty good. “The Three Doctors” might have had a stronger plot but there's much to be enjoyed here. Seeing old companions is definitely a nice reminder to some of the show’s stronger storylines and having all our Doctors (minus the Fourth) team up is a good thing. It’s just why couldn’t we have had other stories as good as this during this era of the show? You know besides “Earthshock” and “The Caves Of Androzani”.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Arc Of Infinity"

Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by Ron Jones

Nyssa (re High Council): “To kill you? Is that why they brought you back?”
The Doctor: “Possibly.”

It’s serials like this that show you why The Doctor is so resistant to stay on Gallifrey. With the kind of people running the High Council on The Doctor’s home world like this lot, I’d want to be as far away from the lot of them as possible. Maybe that’s also why Doctor Who works better without constantly visiting Gallifrey.

Given that Tegan has just departed, both The Doctor and Nyssa seem to be getting on with things ever so well in her absence. In fact while I might be craving for a scene where at least one of them wonders about her well being, both of them are distracted by repairing the TARDIS.

Granted the TARDIS needs the work but it’s somewhat annoying that Tegan isn’t touched upon as a subject. Still with someone nicking The Doctor’s bio data from the Matrix on Gallifrey at least the opening serial to Season Twenty is trying to be eventful.

The problem is that just like “Time-Flight” no amount of danger covers the fact that this is something of an underwhelming serial. Yes The Doctor’s in danger, an old enemy has returned and the High Council of Gallifrey are the most malignant bunch of twits you’ll ever encounter but still something’s a little off with this one.

With The Doctor and Nyssa both working effectively as a team, their TARDIS repairing gets back seated first by a creature attempting to take over The Doctor and then by the High Council summoning the TARDIS to Gallifrey.

Set to play The Doctor in another year and a half, Colin Baker is cast as the abrasive Commander Maxil. Although the character doesn’t seem to have any dimensions, it’s a credit that Baker makes him into such an interesting foil for The Doctor and Nyssa. He’s unsympathetic to both of them and follows his order to hand The Doctor over a little quietly.

Of course he’s not the only who fares negatively in this serial. With the exception of Hedin, the Council themselves are less concerned about The Doctor being used by the creature who took his bio-data and are more eager to execute him. Even Lord President Borusa fails to convince that killing The Doctor is a hard choice for them.

In fact we all know that The Doctor has rebelled against the council several times and maybe there’s a part of them that wants to use this execution as their own personal punishment for The Doctor’s past behaviour. Castellan certainly seems to exhibit the most amount of animosity for The Doctor above everyone else.

Without Tegan by her side, Nyssa is sort of forced to be the rebellious one. Both she and Damon make several attempts to prove that there’s a traitor in the council and Nyssa even tries to get a little trigger happy in a doomed attempt to stop The Doctor from being executed.

To be honest Nyssa needn’t have bothered. The Doctor’s execution seemed merely a ploy for the creature in question to get him and when Maxil and Castellan both do their own investigation and realise that The Doctor is alive, this creature attempts to use Tegan to keep The Doctor from interfering.

The second major development in the episode is Tegan’s return. Despite a decent change of clothing and a new haircut, Tegan’s pretty much the same girl. She’s quickly embroiled with Robin Stuart in a bid to rescue her cousin Colin Frazer in Amsterdam but soon enough the both of them get captured by the creature.

Tegan’s return is probably the biggest selling point of the episode and as a viewer who loves the dynamic she has with The Doctor and Nyssa, a part of me wanted them to get reunited sooner than they did. Tegan was used a few times to keep The Doctor on side but it took a while for The Doctor to actually believe she was really Tegan.

As for the creature itself, well it’s Omega who looks nothing like he did back in “The Three Doctors”. Ten years after his first altercation with The Doctor, both he and Hedin conspired with each other to acquire a new body. Using The Doctor had proved to be rather challenging but Omega did temporarily succeed in using the Arc Of Infinity to control the Matrix.

He also managed to get a decent transformation when ended up looking like The Doctor himself. If there’s one place where the serial succeeds it’s seeing Peter Davison flit back and forth as The Doctor and Omega. There’s even a moment where Davison delivers one of the creepiest smiles as the latter makes an attempt to integrate.

Unfortunately the face-off between The Doctor and Omega in Amsterdam isn’t quite as compelling as what we saw in “The Three Doctors”. With so much padding at the start of the serial, Omega’s defeat is a little too quick for my liking. It’s a shame to lose him yet again as he could’ve been an intriguing recurring villain like The Master.

Still the episode does have on bright point. With Nyssa admitting to the fact that she missed Tegan’s company, the fiery air stewardess practically invites herself back onto the TARDIS. Still it would’ve been nice if The Doctor sounded a little more excited at the prospect of spending more time with Tegan, right?

Also in “Arc Of Infinity”

Also we got see some nice images of the place, the only significance Amsterdam had was the fact it played some part with the Arc Of Infinity.

Robin: “Trust me, Colin. Have I ever led you astray?”
Colin: “There’s always a first time.”

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I can’t be the only one who thought that Colin and Robin were a couple. They were kinda flirty at the start of the serial.

Damon: “Why are you treating The Doctor like a criminal?”
Maxil: “I am simply following orders.”

Hedin (to Zarach): “We sent armed guards when a friendly face would’ve sufficed. Is it any surprise he resisted?”

Hedin was played Michael Gough who also played the Celestial Toymaker and Alfred in the Batman movies.

Castellan: “What are you suggesting Doctor?”
The Doctor: “I thought that would’ve been obvious.”

Borusa: “Have you nothing further to say?”
The Doctor: “I have a great deal to say.”

Both Leela and Romana were mentioned in passing during this serial. The Council aren’t pleased that Romana is in E-Space.

Maxil: “I have my orders.”
The Doctor: “You don’t have to relish them so much.”

Omega: “You knew this would happen?”
The Doctor: “I guess. I was hoping it would give me the chance to meet you.”

With the previous serial concerning The Master, Omega’s identity wasn’t revealed until Part 3. It worked a little better here to be fair.

Tegan: “Yes I’m a friend of The Doctor’s.”
Omega: “We are both fortunate.”

Nyssa (re Omega): “You’re dealing with a Time Lord, Doctor. You won’t find anything in there.”
The Doctor: “We’ll see.”

How exactly did Omega survive his death/defeat in “The Three Doctors”?

Tegan (to Nyssa): “What job? Didn’t I tell you I got the sack so you’re stuck with me after all?”
The Doctor: “So it seems.”

This was released in August 2007 with “Time-Flight” and Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton do a terrific commentary for the story.

Something of an underwhelming opening to the 20th season, “Arc Of Infinity” is a little disjointed in some places. Omega is a great villain but this serial isn’t quite as strong for him as his earlier one was.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Time Flight"

Written by Peter Grimwade
Directed by Ron Jones

Nyssa (re air travelling): “You miss it, don’t you?”
Tegan: “Oh I don’t know. It’s not exactly dull travelling with The Doctor.”

Following the cataclysmic events of the previous serial, “Earthshock”, Season Nineteen of the series ends on a note that can only draw negative connotations. I know this show isn’t perfect but as season finales go, this one really doesn’t do much to inspire.

There’s a long winded plot about concords at Heathrow Airport going missing, which takes up way too much time during the opening scene to actually. Apparently the use of concords was a major coup back in 1982. It’s just a shame that such a coup doesn’t result in a storyline.

One bright spark about this serial is that there’s some strong continuity. Both The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are upset that Adric sacrificed himself to stop the Cybermen but while Tegan and Nyssa are open to the possibility of reversing the event so that Adric doesn’t have to die, The Doctor points out that certain rules can’t be broken.

Fortunately Tegan is wise enough to drop the tricky subject but it doesn’t stop The Doctor from wanting to console her and Nyssa with a pleasant trip to 1851. However the TARDIS ends up getting sucked into the current situation at Heathrow where The Doctor’s TARDIS draws all sorts of attention.

When The Doctor is brought up to speed about the missing concord he wastes no time in figuring out what has actually. Also despite initial cynicism from Captain Stapley, he also manages to use another concord, along with Tegan, Nyssa and the TARDIS to travel back to 140 million years in the past.

Well with an episode called, “Time-Flight”, it’s relieving to get both prospects in a quick amount of time. Of course being stuck in the past evokes all sort of weird feeling as the concord staff are convinced that they are still in Heathrow. Illusions tend to play something of a role in this whole thing.

The big question is what exactly brought them here and that answers seems to lie in a pretty powerful sorcerer named Kalid. Silver and obese this bloke spends a good amount of time enslaving those from the first concord he snatched and then snatching both Roger and Andrew as well.

He also has fun in sending his Plasmatons in attacking both The Doctor and Nyssa at different points but despite using these creatures to initially deter resistance, it’s not long until The Doctor actually faces off with Kalid. As face offs tend to go, this one is pretty uninspired to say the least.

Kalid might be boastful about his ability to make people do what he wants but The Doctor’s disbelief of magic is a good giveaway that Kalid isn’t what he claims to be. Nope, if anything Kalid is more electronic/hypnotic rather than mystical and no amount of mock-annoyance from him convinces The Doctor otherwise.

In fact when Professor Hayter and the concord crew interrupt the face-off, it’s soon revealed that Kalid is actually The Master. Now I know The Master has had a penchant for disguises but if ever there was a serial where dressing up was utterly pointless, it would be this one.

As motives go, even The Master’s here aren’t as grand as you would hope they would be. Basically he’s stuck 140 millions years in the past and he wants to get out. The Doctor isn’t exactly in the best of moods to help him but The Master swipes his TARDIS and spends pretty much the rest of the serial working out his own escape plan. His TARDIS needs a power source and The Master is nothing if not a tryer.

When he’s not instructing people to break down a wall or sending both Captain Stapley and Andrew (both of whom try to best The Master) on a TARDIS trip of their own, it seems he’s also using a race called the Xeraphin to help with his insane plans to escape.

The Doctor’s pretty horrified to discover just how far The Master will use the Xeraphin to aid his escape but worse than that is despite The Doctor even fearing at one point that The Master could actually best him, this still doesn’t feel as tense as you’d want it too.

Towards the final part of the serial, both The Doctor and The Master forge an uneasy partnership of sorts to help each other escape from the Time Zone. Of course it’s also nice to see The Doctor be a little ruthless as well when it turns out that The Master may be stranded on the Xeraphin’s home planet.

However despite the general unevenness of this actual storyline, there are a few bright sparks. For instance the scenes with flight staff such as Stapley, Angela, Andrew and Roger add a perfectly human element to the story while it’s interesting to see Professor Hayter’s eyes open up before his demise.

The best parts however involve Tegan and Nyssa. Nyssa is used on a few occasions to distinguish illusions and to talk for both the Plasmatons and the Xeraphin. There’s also a scene between her and Tegan where they briefly get to see Adric, the Melkur and Terileptil.

Tegan’s also got some stuff of importance as her feelings of longing for her old life seem to sink. Both her and Nyssa seem to have such a good friendship that I liked Nyssa for asking whether or not she missed her old life. Then Tegan winds up being left behind which is the only real punch this entire serial actually serves.

Also in “Time-Flight”

For the first episode, Anthony Ainley is credited as Leon Ni Taiy to conceal his identity. Again I stress that Kalid was a pointless device.

The Doctor (re Adric): “I feel his loss as well.”
Tegan: “You could do more than grieve. You could go back.”

What was up with The Doctor name-dropping The Brigadier like that? I know the bloke hasn’t appeared in six seasons but it felt a little tacked on.

The Doctor: “Well I might be able to help.”
Tegan: “That’s what worries me.”

The Doctor (re Andrew/Roger): “I wonder if they know where the TARDIS is.”
Professor Hayter: “They can’t even remember their own names. They’re in a trance.”

Some original titles for this included “Xeraphin” and “Zanadin”. Neither sound all together that great.

The Doctor: “I don’t understand.”
The Master: “No, Doctor you never understand. You never do.”

Professor Hayter (re passengers): “Doctor they’ve stopped hallucinating.”
The Doctor: “That’s not necessarily a good thing.”

I know it was tradition in the old season, but it’s still amazing that both Tegan and Nyssa haven’t changed their clothes for most of the season.

Nyssa: “I think we’re winning.”
Tegan: “Winning what for God’s sake?”

Tegan: “What does that mean?”
The Doctor: “It means The Master has finally defeated me.”

This was released on DVD in August 2007 in a box set with “Arc Of Infinity”. The commentary is pretty scathing but funny and I liked the “Mouth On Legs” feature about Tegan.

Tegan: “Doctor, hurry up. The Master’s getting trigger happy out there.”
The Doctor: “Oh well, better not keep him waiting.”

Captain Stapley: “Oh hello. I thought you were going with The Doctor.”
Tegan: “So did I.”

Peter Grimwade, who wrote this serial, directed the previous one, “Earthshock”.

Before reviewing “Time-Flight”, I have to admit to watching this serial at least four times since the 10 month period that I have owned it. It’s not one of those serials that gets better after repeated viewing but it did have a few redeemable things about it. However as a season finale, it’s incredibly limp, dull in a good few places and often too confusing for it’s own good. As a villain, The Master is also wasted on this serial.

Rating: 4 out of 10.