rewatching – Movement Point

Doctor Who Project: Sylvester McCoy Retrospective

June 5, 2026June 2, 2026 by Chris Baer

Much as William Hartnell bears the mantle, and the burden, of being the First Doctor, Sylvester McCoy wears the title of the Last Doctor. With hindsight, we know that Doctor Who eventually returns, in fits—the one-off “TV Movie” of 1996 featuring Paul McGann’s sole outing as the Eight Doctor—and in starts—the still-ongoing BBC reboot from 2005 onward, with seven (or so) Doctors of its own. But in late 1989, with cancellation confirmed by the time the final episode, “Survival,” airs, McCoy’s Seventh Doctor appears to be the end of our beloved Time Lord’s regeneration.

To be absolutely certain, Doctor Who‘s cancellation has nothing to do with Sylvester McCoy’s affable, energetic, and, as his three seasons wore on, steely presentation of the Gallifreyan miscreant. Drama and politicking behind the scenes at BBC Television Centre drive the decision alongside ratings that suffer worse than normal when the venerable Saturday afternoon show moves into direct competition with Coronation Street, the ITV juggernaut soap opera nearing twelve thousand episodes of Mancunian heartbreak to date. For all the claims from BBC Head of Series Peter Cregeen and others that the show just needs time to regenerate, if you will, to recapture the imagination of the audience through absence, they have in McCoy an actor capable of just such renewal, which even the most die-hard fan would have to admit the series requires by 1989.

One could make the case that Doctor Who has been undergoing “renovations” since John Nathan-Turner takes over as producer in 1980 to start Tom Baker’s Season Eighteen. Ever after, change becomes the watchword for the series, with Nathan-Turner having Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor oversee a herd of youthful companions as opposed to the more restrained counts for the Third and Fourth Doctors, while Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor throws the proverbial toys out of the pram and challenges the audience to accept him (they don’t). In comparison, McCoy seems a return to form, to normalcy, with but one companion at a time and a Seventh Doctor who is eager to please. But all the rejiggering fails to shore up viewing statistics or to convince the suits in charge that the series deserves to continue, and there’s a sense of desperation throughout McCoy’s run, an overarching knowledge that the series hangs on by a thread, having almost been canned prior to Colin Baker’s final season.

Based on the overall strength of McCoy’s twelve stories, all overseen by Nathan-Turner and script editor Andrew Cartmel, there’s little evidence that any change would have sufficed to convince the upper floors of Television Centre that Doctor Who still had life, vibrancy, and strong contemporary relevance. Well, fine, discounting the fact that McCoy’s time on the series starts by having Kate O’Mara dress up as Bonnie Langford…

Doctor Who Project: Survival

May 2, 2026 by Chris Baer

But this is the end, Doctor.

It is a sad irony, or perhaps even an overt statement of defiance, that Doctor Who‘s final story, by Rona Munro, bears the title “Survival” (Story Production Code 7P). And to what far-flung, interstellar destination, to which era-defining period of temporal change, does the last tale take us? Ah, that would be 1989 Perivale, a small suburban outpost in Ealing, a conurbation of London, home to Ace, who has begun to miss her friends since her abrupt leave-taking prior to the events of “Dragonfire.” After twenty-six seasons of alien landscapes and distant times, the quotidian charm of an unhurried residential street with a lad in a period appropriate rugby shirt tucked into jeans washing a car feels shocking, almost subversive, such that it’s a relief once he vanishes after being hissed at by a barely-adequate animatronic black cat.

Doctor Who often shines brightest when set amongst familiar trappings—from Cybermen marching in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral to Autons bursting forth from shop windows on the high street—the better to highlight the oddities on offer, and “Survival” benefits from its down-to-Earth setting. Ace, again, grounds the story in some sense of reality, and we finally see what happens when a companion returns after so long away. Her friends have almost all disappeared, the old haunts sit abandoned, and her mother, last seen as a baby in “The Curse of Fenric,” filed a missing persons report on her months back. Once a busybody Territorial Army sergeant at the youth center, Paterson (Julian Holloway), remembers her as the “waster” who burned down a creepy mansion (q.v. “Ghost Light“), it’s not hard to see why Ace wasn’t terribly upset about being swept into the future and away from Perivale. The scene seems set for some rumination on the costs of traveling with the Doctor, but instead we learn that Ace is not the only Perivalian to journey through the cosmos without a spaceship, or even a souped-up police box.

Immediately upon arrival, while waiting with rather visible impatience for Ace to find her friends, the Doctor takes an interest in a particular (and certainly quite peculiar) stray black cat, leading him to purchase all manner of cat foods from a corner market (paid for by Ace’s winnings from the fruit machine in her local) with which to entice said feline. Ace, meanwhile, has no trouble finding the cat, picking it up on a nearby playground; when it scampers from her grasp, she finds in its stead a bipedal, humanoid cheetah riding a horse, one of the most surprising “monster” appearances ever on Doctor Who—which, after over a hundred and fifty stories, is saying something. That the concept is a mash-up of Planet of the Apes and, alas, Cats does not detract from the sheer audacity of the presentation; director Alan Wareing, helming his third story, fully embraces the moment and does not shy away from showing the costuming, which holds up reasonably well under close inspection.

After a series of less-than-thrilling near escapes up kiddie slides and through jungle gyms in the playground, the cheetah finally runs Ace down, sending her with a flash to another planet, where she finds several black cats gathered around the dead body of the car washer (Damon Jeffery). When the cheetah on horseback also appears, Ace makes a futile effort to flee, only to be saved by her friends from Perivale, who pull her into a thicket and explain that they have been brought to this place as prey for the cheetahs to hunt down—and eat.

The scene is thus set for an exploration of the titular “survival of the fittest,” as established by Paterson, who bullies his charges in the youth center, all to toughen them up, to eat rather than be eaten. Alongside such duties, he also moonlights as the neighborhood watch, focusing his attention on the Doctor, who has been rather unsuccessful in trapping his own prey but somewhat too successful in irritating the local householders. Just as the Doctor is about to apprehend the black cat, having clambered atop a stone fence to reach it, Paterson grabs him. Another flash translates them to “planet of the Cheetah People,” which the Doctor notes has been scarcely researched since no one lives long enough to learn much. A whole tribe of the cat beasts surrounds them, pushing them towards a tent, where a glib smile welcomes the Doctor like the old acquaintance he is…

Doctor Who Project: The Curse of Fenric

May 2, 2026April 2, 2026 by Chris Baer

Behold, the end of the war.

For all the historical periods Doctor Who has mined over the course of a quarter century, the series waits until the bitter end to visit the 1940s, World War II in particular, in Ian Briggs’ “The Curse of Fenric” (Story Production Code 7M). Given the number of period dramas (and comedies) the BBC has set in that era, it’s rather surprising that this specific setting lies dormant for so long—the costume closet from Dad’s Army is available to plunder the whole time, after all. Perhaps the relative seriousness of the topic, and the still somewhat fresh memories of the conflict, keep the series at bay, especially in an era of increasing international sales for Doctor Who, and it’s telling that Briggs’ story hews away from the strictly historical to present instead a tale of ancient horror with a distinctly Nordic twist.

The Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive at a secret Royal Navy base in Northumbria, likely around 1943 given clues about the state of the war, right at the same time that several rafts full of Soviet commandos storm the beaches at nearby Maiden’s Point, suggesting that perhaps the base isn’t so secret after all. The Doctor strolls right in, his air of authority such that several guards with rifles simply let him saunter to the office of Dr. Judson (Dinsdale Landen), a cryptographer working on deciphering German naval ciphers using his “Ultima” machine, an analytic proto-computer that can work through “[m]ore than a thousand combinations an hour, with automatic negative checking.” Like the Doctor, the Soviets also seek the scientist, but their sealed orders further include references to the engraved runes found in the crypt of the local parish church, built, as such things occasionally are, on the remains of an old Viking cemetery.

Briggs and returning director Nicholas Mallett deftly build up the tension in the first of four episodes, establishing a wide cast of characters while drip-feeding the development of the titular curse, one laid upon a group of Vikings forced to land on the British coast when “the fingers of death reached out from the waters to reclaim the treasure we have stolen” from far off lands. Their descendants go on to populate this corner of the British Isles, passing the curse down through the generations. The production team uses the various locations (scattered across England from Kent to Dorset) to excellent effect, much as “Delta and the Bannermen” benefits from its copious and lush location shooting. Several scenes shot underwater, looking up at passing boats and swimmers (in an undeniable homage to Jaws), plus excessive use of a fog machine, keeps the audience on edge, waiting for the creature responsible for the grisly deaths of several Soviet soldiers to finally reveal itself.

Dr. Judson and the camp commandant, Commander Millington (Alfred Lynch), share more than a steely desire to defeat the Nazis, the latter so engrossed that he has turned his office into a replica of “the German naval cipher room in Berlin,” giving viewers the initial thought that, shades of “Inferno,” the British are under fascist control in an alternate universe. (And indeed, it’s an exceedingly odd red herring to throw at the audience, a thread that never goes anywhere beyond signaling that Millington takes his job perhaps too seriously and/or is somewhat unhinged.) The two old school chums also harbor a deep-seated fascination with old Viking legends, collaborating in deciphering the runes in the crypt, which, as it turns out, were partially translated by the grandfather of the current vicar, the Rev. Mr. Wainwright (Nicholas Parsons). The ancient carvings tell of the day when “[t]he Wolves of Fenric shall return for their treasure, and then shall the dark evil rule eternally,” all because the Vikings stole a vase from the Far East. Granted, the squat ceramic flask does hold the incorporeal, sentient essence of all evil…

Doctor Who Project: Ghost Light

April 2, 2026March 2, 2026 by Chris Baer

My theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters, and you don’t like my tie.

Doctor Who under producer John Nathan-Turner draws heavily on the concept of the Doctor’s long life, filled with adventures that the audience knows nothing about; these lacunae add mystery and motivation to the stories we do see, with the peripatetic Gallifreyan having been to a planet before, altering its trajectory, or having previously crossed paths with a foe we’re only meeting for the first time. Marc Platt, in “Ghost Light” (Story Production Code 7Q), takes this device a step further, basing his tale of Victorian horror on a moment from a companion’s past instead of drawing on the Doctor’s history. Ace, as a thirteen year-old in Perivale, hopped the fence of a decrepit house, only to find something terrifying within; and the Doctor, for reasons that seem somewhat callous, takes her to that house in the nineteenth century to confront her fear. (After disregarding her coulrophobia in “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” with nearly catastrophic results, one might think the Doctor would leave well enough alone.)

The setting certainly qualifies as eminently creepy, with a maid sliding a tray of food through a slot in a thick, barred metal door for unknown beasts; a mentally-addled explorer, Redvers Fenn-Cooper (Michael Cochrane) wandering the halls of the dimly lit manor in search of himself; large stuffed emus with glowing eyes at every intersection, seemingly watching all that transpires; and the lord of the house, Josiah Smith (Ian Hogg), flinching from light despite his sunglasses. Platt and director Alan Wareing take pains to develop a gloomy, uneasy atmosphere, giving viewers nothing solid to grasp (and very little to see), essential for horror to take root. Indeed, the three episode “Ghost Light” marks Doctor Who‘s first attempt at genuine, claustrophobic frightfulness since “Horror of Fang Rock,” notable for being confined, mostly, to a single indoor location, as with the present story.

The Doctor and Ace appear just as an envoy from the Royal Society, the Reverend Ernest Matthews (John Nettleton) arrives to take Josiah to task for supporting Darwin’s theory of evolution. Curiously, no one seems surprised in the slightest at the time travellers’ sudden presence, though Ace’s off-the-shoulder blouse causes extreme consternation. After a slight moment of dismay when Redvers, tied up in a straitjacket and locked in a barren room, is bombarded by light from his radioactive snuffbox, everyone seems quite content to sit down for a pleasant evening meal, looked after by the requisite evil Victorian housekeeper, Mrs. Pritchard (Sylvia Syms), and the head butler, Nimrod (Carl Forgione), who just so happens to be a Neanderthal. It’s that kind of story.

Upon realizing that the Doctor has brought her to Perivale, to the one house she never wanted to visit again, Ace runs away, blindly taking the lift into the cellar where the ominous metal door has been opened somehow. The inhabitants have knocked out Nimrod, who was operating a distinctly non-Victorian control panel beneath a glowing panel of lights, and they set their sights on Ace. Mrs. Pritchard, alas, has shut down the lift, leaving Ace to confront two of the most nattily dressed monsters since the Jagaroth…

Doctor Who Project: Battlefield

March 2, 2026February 2, 2026 by Chris Baer

You know, I think I’m rather enjoying this.

Having already shown a deft hand at nostalgia in “Remembrance of the Daleks,” Ben Aaronovitch opens Doctor Who‘s final season with “Battlefield” (Story Production Code 7N), returning a beloved ally rather than a shopworn foe to the series: the Brigadier. Two of them, actually. In short order viewers see Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) wrestling with a potted tree in a garden center, having given up both teaching (as established in “Mawdryn Undead“) and brigadiering; and then Brigadier Winifred Bambera (Angela Bruce), rushing to the scene of an accident near (fictional) Lake Vortigern in Southern England, where a nuclear missile convoy has crashed into an archeological dig site with typical UNIT efficiency.

The Doctor detects a broadcast from the selfsame time and location in a very gloomy TARDIS and heads there forthwith. (Per Paul Kirkley’s Space Helmet for a Cow , the console prop had been discarded between seasons and not yet fully replaced, necessitating some lighting slight-of-hand). Pulling out a set of old UNIT identification cards from his hat (belonging to the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw) for himself and Ace, the Doctor attempts to convince Brigadier Bambera to let him poke around, but apparently she never got the memo about the Doctor and his ontological eccentricities. All the while, projectiles from space fall into nearby hills, eliciting very little curiosity from anyone but Ace. These meteors contain armored knights with futuristic weaponry, also summoned, apparently, by the signal from the vicinity of the dig site.

Aaronovitch and director Michael Kerrigan waste little time in “Battlefield,” with the largest group of knights engaging a solitary knight in battle—via sword, blaster, and grenade, in traditional knightly fashion—by the halfway mark of the first of four episodes. Even with a large guest cast and multiple plot strands to establish, including Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart coming out of retirement once Bambera reports the Doctor’s return to UNIT HQ, the action keeps pace with the exposition. (Though perhaps, as in the Third Doctor’s UNIT days, Kerrigan devotes a bit too much time to a helicopter flying back and forth, if only to get as much value out of the aircraft rental as they can.)

Copious references to the Arthur legend leave little doubt about the story’s direction—the local pub’s CAMRA-listed beer is called “Arthur’s Ale” after all—so that when one of the knights, Ancelyn (Marcus Gilbert), calls the Doctor “Merlin,” the experience is one of knowing appreciation rather than shock, at least until he starts talking about time travel and the relative dimensionality of the TARDIS. Pulling the Arthurian romance into the future rather than sending the Doctor back to the past feels like one of those obvious concepts that somehow never made it into Doctor Who until now, and the anachronism of plate armor together with laser guns comes across as clever and fresh.

Too, the conflation of the Doctor with Merlin fits neatly into the effort by producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Andrew Cartmel to deepen the sense of mystery behind the Doctor’s past (and his future possibilities). “Oh, he has many names, but in my reckoning, he is Merlin,” proclaims Ancelyn, even as the Doctor evinces no knowledge of the knight or of the summons from Excalibur that has led everyone to this moment—including Mordred (Christopher Bowen), leader of the other group of knights, who cowers upon realizing the old foe Merlin has returned. And where Mordred can be found, his mother cannot be far away…

Doctor Who Project: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

February 2, 2026January 5, 2026 by Chris Baer

We want more.

Doctor Who, under producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Andrew Cartmel, can scarcely be accused of false modesty. Case in point, the decision to end Season Twenty-Five with Stephen Wyatt’s “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” (Story Production Code 7J), a less-than-subtle title that refers as much to our favorite series, following a jaunty, peripatetic time traveller, as to the intergalactic circus that the Seventh Doctor and Ace decide to visit after a junk mail robot singing its praises materializes within the otherwise inviolable confines of the TARDIS. But with the series forever balanced between continuation and cancellation, a little horn-tooting can be forgiven.

An overall lack of nuanced presentation pervades Season Twenty-Five, and Wyatt’s entry continues the trend. The Doctor spends not five minutes on the planet Segonax, home of the Psychic Circus, before declaring, “Something evil’s happened here, I can feel it.” The Doctor likewise immediately declares the presence of evil in “The Happiness Patrol” rather than letting an unsettling atmosphere develop organically, an odd decision on the part of Wyatt and director Alan Wareing given that the story otherwise takes its time establishing much of anything at all. With four episodes to spare, there’s no narrative pressure here, and ample time is spent layering images and characters and scenes, a luxury after two three-episode stories in a row.

The juxtaposition of a circus tent replete with whip-wielding ringmaster (Ricco Ross) against two circus performers scurrying across wasteland fleeing from kites being flown by eerie clowns in a hearse—all while the Doctor and Ace eat creamed corn out of melons to ingratiate themselves with a local to get directions to the circus—leaves the audience quite befuddled, though not in a disagreeable way. Even the sudden appearance of the Captain Cook (T.P. McKenna), a nineteenth-century British explorer-type straight out of central casting, and his punk-rock partner Mags (Jessica Martin) digging a giant robot out of the ground comes as no real shock at all.

Indeed, throughout much of the first episode, one gets the overwhelming sense that only Doctor Who could throw this welter of concepts onto the screen and not have it written off immediately as farce; though the appearance of Mad Max-wannabe Nord (Daniel Peacock) on a motorized trike and nebbish teen Whizzkid (Gain Sammarco) on a BMX bike, both headed to the Psychic Circus, begins to strain the otherwise ample supplies of audience goodwill. Less charming, the Doctor’s behavior towards Ace, who shows a decided unease with the entire notion of circuses in general and clowns in particular. He practically browbeats his young charge into coming along, completely disregarding her near panic once they reach the rather undistinguished big top of the Psychic Circus. The show must go on, but a more clever means of getting our heroes into trouble might have been better in keeping with the Seventh Doctor’s near-paternal attitude towards the teen from Perivale.

And Ace, as it turns out, is not wrong in the least. Clowns are creepy…