Castrovalva (Story #116, 1981)
Viewed 24 Jun 2013
Doctor/Companion: Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan Jovanka
Stars: Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding
Preceding Story: Logopolis (Four, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan)
Succeeding Story: Four to Doomsday (Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan)
I had high hopes for this story going in. G seems ready to try a new Doctor, and despite the fact that my kids are home on summer break from school, they have plans for how to occupy themselves while the grown-ups are involved with their silly videos.
And it starts out well. The regeneration scene is recapped, and the action continues on right from that point. The guards catch up to our heroes and drag them off. Tegan huffs, “Take your hands off me. This is an official uniform!”, causing G to chuckle and declare “I like her the best.” Finally—someone who shares my fondness for the Mouth On Legs!
G asks some good basic questions, too. “Why did the Master do that?” she wonders when he materializes in middle of the fray, then seems to go running, allowing the Doctor to escape into his own TARDIS, and leaving Adric behind to be rescued. “So he’d still have a good adversary?” Now if she’d take her speculation to the next level, we might make a Fan of her yet…
I’ll admit that I still enjoy the whole regeneration regression part (as the Doctor does impressions of himself) far more than G does; I don’t even bother to pause and explain when he spouts “reverse the polarity of the neutron flow” and she doesn’t laugh with me. Then again, maybe she didn’t even hear it. After several moments that I’d expected to get a reaction from her get none, I realize she’s left me.
Oh, she claims she’s just “resting [her] eyes,” but I’m not entirely convinced. At any rate, we barrel on through Part Two until we catch sight of Castrovalva itself. “That’s a bit of a climb! With a box!” Indeed.
As Part Three opens, the ladies find themselves surrounded by Castrovalvans dressed up in traditional hunting garb. “Run!” shouts Tegan, and they bolt. G snorts. “I don’t think so.” I must concur. That’s one of the more blatant “wobbly set” moments (in the metaphorical sense) for this particular script.
But eventually we’re finally inside the city itself. I don’t squeal about the celery because he doesn’t put it on his lapel until the end, and not having seen any more of this Doctor, she won’t understand the significance. I figure it’s best to let it unfold in its own time.
On first sight of the Portreeve, G decides “they call him Old Two Hats!” All of the Castrovalvan headgear causes her great glee at its absurdity. “I’m marveling at the Tupperware on their heads.”
Part Three is full of important plot clues, and G seems as engaged with the story as I am. Until I look over and realize I’ve lost her again. This time, instead of getting a denial of any lapse on her part the moment I bring the action on screen to a stop, I pause the DVD and rewind to a place where I’m pretty sure she was still with me, and then sit. For a minute or two.
Poor G hasn’t slept well, with the severe weather we’ve had the last few days, and I can’t blame her. I’m even willing to suggest we save it for another day, but she rallies and is ready to go on. Except that of course, now my kids are done with the first half of their planned activities, and have come to see what we’re up to.
So for the second watch of the back half of Part Three and all of Part Four, H joins us. I think having a small child snuggled up to her and asking constant questions (which petered out after I said, “you’ve missed an hour of it; I’m not going to go back and explain everything to you right now”) helped keep G in the game. And she demonstrates again how sharp she can be by instantly realizing what’s going on with the recursion on our first view of the village square’s odd behavior: “It’s like one of those Escher paintings.”
Now she’s back on form. Part Four has her commiserating with Janet Fielding (Tegan) having to wear her ridiculous high heels (and that blasted “official uniform”) for so many episodes. My favorite part of the story, which demonstrates just how off-kilter this regeneration has left the Doctor, passes without comment from my viewing partners. I put it in my notes anyway. (“There’s something we’re all overlooking.” “What, Doctor?” “I don’t know. I’m overlooking it, too.”)
Then we get down to the good stuff. Everyone’s suspicions fall on Shardovan. “Of course; he’s the only one in the whole city who wears black,” she notes. “That’s a clue,” she adds as an aside to H. Being only seven, H hasn’t come across this good guy/bad guy shorthand much yet, and needs it explained. I bite my tongue.
When the Portreeve is revealed to be the Master, G is as taken aback as Nyssa and Tegan are (and, I’ll admit, as I was the first time I watched it—one of the few times Anthony Ainley disguised his voice well at all). H, of course, has to have the whole “that’s the main bad guy” thing explained to her, and G is forced to backpedal and explain that sometimes it’s the guys in white who are the bad guys after all (important life lesson, unfortunately…).
As our heroes return to the TARDIS, the celery comes out and is added to the Doctor’s lapel. I don’t think G even notices. ~sigh~ Oh, well. She doesn’t seem to have had a strong reaction to the story either way, but H seems happy. This one wasn’t scary. Maybe she likes Doctor Who after all.
Verdict: Thumbs sideways
Looking ahead: Earthshock