Review of the Sixth Doctor’s era
| 1984 – 1986 | ||
| The Twin Dilemma* | Attack of the Cybermen Vengeance on Varos The Mark of the Rani The Two Doctors Timelash Revelation of the Daleks |
The Mysterious Planet Mindwarp Terror of the Vervoids The Ultimate Foe** |
| *This was the last story of Season 21. Nearly 10 months elapsed before his next appearance in Season 22. **Collectively, Season 23 is known as Trial of a Timelord, and is sometimes counted as a single story. |
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As devotees (are there any?) of the blog will know, Six is ~ahem~ not my favorite Doctor. However, he has his own peculiar charms, as I’ve come to appreciate over time, and I have to give Colin Baker props for doing as good a job as he did whilst getting shafted simultaneously by writers and by higher-ups at the Beeb.
Among the more objectionable characteristics of the Regeneration in my mind are his brash tone – he tends to repeat comments made to him incredulously to show his disagreement (reminiscent of Four, actually) – and his tendency to talk down to his Companions, particularly Peri. The poor thing gets told things like, “Do use your brain, my girl. Small though it is, the human brain can be quite effective when used properly” on a fairly regular basis. Pompous much?
Granted, much of what I don’t like about this era can be put down to Peri rather than Six. I’m sorry, but there are some really bad performances (particularly at the beginning) and she doesn’t seem to be written to be too bright. Then there’s the clearly fake “American” accent (she particularly likes to say “ideaR” instead of “idea,” and put the emphasis on DJ instead of on DJ in Revelation of the Daleks). I know I probably shouldn’t let these things bother me, but they do, and they make it harder for me to appreciate Six in the process.
Actually, though I know many fans have found it unpalatable on many levels, I think Season 23’s arc Trial of a Time Lord (TOATL) makes Six easier to like. He seems more affectionate to Peri (less condescending) and a little less, errr… over-the-top? (Much as Peri irritates me, though, I don’t think even she deserved to be – from her perspective, anyway – abandoned by the Doctor and left to make the best of it as wife of a warrior king.) Six gets to be a bit more relatable, as someone confused by what is going on around him and somewhat at the mercy of others. It’s his chance to be a tiny bit fabulous without seeming too abrasive.
I truly think that he was on an upward swing, and had we seen more of Six on-screen, I would have come to like him even more. Unfortunately, that was not in the cards, and his second season was his last.
Due to his short time on screen, Six only ever had two Companions. Here they are in order, with the stories in which they first and last appeared and how they left the Doctor:
- Perpugilliam “Peri” Brown
Five’s era to Mindwarp
Inadvertently abandoned by the Doctor - Melanie “Mel” Bush
Terror of the Vervoids into Seven’s era
Changes abounded during this period. Season 22 experimented with episode format, presenting stories in two or three 45-minute-long episodes instead of the previously standard four to six 25-minute-long ones. The show very nearly got the chop at this point, and ended up on an 18-month hiatus before returning for Season 23 (TOATL). Thus TOATL, aside from having the first season-long arc since The Key to Time, returned the show to an autumn broadcast schedule. It also introduced a new arrangement of the theme music. Of course, it turns out these were trifling changes compared to what was to come.
There have been plenty of interviews and documentaries since to explain the politics behind all of the upheaval in Eighties Who. From the outside (both geographically and temporally), I don’t really understand it all even now. What I do get out of it is that at least some of the top execs at the BBC didn’t care for Doctor Who as a commodity any more, and were eager to get rid of it. At the time, the finger of blame for falling ratings pointed not at an unwillingness to invest in the show more, or at the writers (as in my opinion it should have), but at the leading man. Colin Baker, an actor who had stated his intention to stay in the role even longer than that other Baker, instead earned the unenviable distinction of becoming the only Doctor ever to get sacked from the role.
Summary
Six’s era was fraught with lack of support from without and less-than-stellar scripts from within. There are some great, new things to come out of these years, too, though. We have the first appearance of the Rani, a fun multi-Doctor (errr… bi-Doctor?) story, a clear-cased Dalek, and the first sight of Dalek factions. Further, in the person of the Valeyard, we have a really wonderfully strange quasi-incarnation, which creates some interesting potential plot fodder for the future (think Dream Lord).
Having survived a late-life heart attack, the show was getting weaker with age. There would be only one more chance for rejuvenation.
Wrong place, wrong time…
.. is how I would some up Colin Baker’s era on Who. As Big Finish have proved, he’s an excellent Doctor unfortunately scuppered by internal politics. Michael Grade and Jonathan Powell have both said that their intention was always to get rid of Doctor Who simply because they didn’t like it. The problem they had was that JN-T was very good at whipping up publicity against such a move. So they strangled it slowly…
I feel sorry for Eric Saward, who had great ideas but was being thwarted by writers who couldn’t write for the show and a Producer who was becoming increasingly paranoid and wanting more and more control. I also feel sorry for JN-T who was in the unenviable position of being in charge of a show the BBC didn’t want. The stress and pressure must have been enormous. Also, the fans at the time were particularly vicious and ultimately just exacerbated the situation (nothing changes, eh?)
Most of all I feel sorry for Colin who was tarred with the brush of failure – which he really didn’t deserve.
~
Talking down to companions was not a new trait in the Doctor’s personality. One and Three both had a penchant for that little habit. I think the problem lay in the basic idea of making him unlikeable and alien, then slowly peeling away the layers. As an idea it’s fine and worthy and interesting. It was doomed to fail. The audience just weren’t ready for it – and the execution was badly handled.
As you know, I have no problem with Peri, although I think she was better matched with the Fifth Doctor and I wished they’d left her dead. When you realise Peri’s last moments are ones of terror as she is being strapped down for the operation, it makes you feel quite sick. It would have been a dramatic and memorable exit, particularly as their relationship had mellowed considerably during Trial of a Time Lord.
Ultimately though, the Sixth Doctor was a missed opportunity and came at a time when nothing they did would have been right for the BBC or good enough for the fans. A dark time.
P
ps. I am devotee of this blog 🙂
I Need to Invest in More Big Finish
I've heard nothing but good things about C. Baker's Big Finish work, and really want to listen to some. Unfortunately, I'm throwing all my spare cash at new DVD releases right now. ~sigh~
I know what you mean about One and Three talking down to their Companions, but there's just something about the way Six does to Peri that has always seemed especially harsh. And her fate is just grim.
C. Baker totally got the shaft. The politics of the time were simply unnavigable, and the way the Doctor was written was… less palatable than before. I think he did a fantastic job with what he was given; I just didn't care for what he was given. I have all sorts of sympathy for him, and do like him in the role much better than I first did.
p.s. w00t!
Holy Terror
Take a very brief break from DVDs and invest in “The Holy Terror”. £7.99 for the download here: http://www.bigfinish.com/14-Doctor-Who-The-Holy-Terror
It’s just a fantastic story. On Gallifrey Base there’s an annual thread in which members rate every audio story released by Big Finish, BBV and the BBC. Every year since it came out “The Holy Terror” has been in the top 3, bar one year when it dropped out of the top 3. The last results thread was in April 2011, 10 years after its release, and it ranked 3rd (out of 277).
It’s just all-round great. The story’s excellent, Colin’s on fine form, and you get to meet one of his companions from the DWM comic strips – Frobisher, the private detective alien shape-shifting penguin. Honestly, you owe it to yourself to put aside just £7.99. I promise you wont regret it.
You might also be interested to know that the audios have been very kind to Peri, too, allowing the character to grow and mature, and allowing Bryant to prove she can deliver a subtle and nuanced performance. She also gets lots of stories with 5. But those can probably wait until after the DVDs. For now just get “The Holy Terror”.
Great info!
Thanks for the tip! 🙂 I will definitely put that at the top of my wish list. Maybe after Gally…
It's also good to hear that Peri gets better with better scripts. I don't particularly like to dislike Companions, but I've always had a hard time with her. Now I really need to get a bigger allowance. 😉
Just to tempt you further…
You’ll be very pleased to hear that Mel is a great companion in the audios, too. And, again, Bonnie Langford turns out to be a surprisingly good actress, when given the chance to be.
Oh, blast
Definitely need a bigger allowance!
Poor old Colin
He did get the shaft in so many ways. From the hostility to the program from the BBC suits, to being saddled with Peri and all that made her horrible, to that bloody costume, which he (and everybody else) detested. I think he would have made a great Doctor, given the chance.
You can’t write the Doctor as unlikable from the first episode, and that’s what six seemed to be. Eventually the Doctor needs to make us feel safe, or laugh, or empower us in some way as viewers and fans.
We can excuse some eccentricity and arrogance from the character, especially after a regeneration, but that was not allowed to fade with Colin’s Doctor. We had Troughton, who seemed barking mad after his regeneration. Pertwee, who was generally just ill. Baker, who was … well … just big and curly and toothy (enough of a shock for the audience of the time I think), which never really went away; bless. Davison, who was extremely ill and then fairly timid for perhaps too long but got his feet eventually. And then there was Colin who was written mad and grumpy, which was never allowed to fade. And it should have.
The dynamic between him and Peri was like watching ‘The Bickersons,’ and it grew tiring very quickly. Nobody wants to see a beloved character sniping at his companion. They could turn off the TV and watch their parents for that.
But the Big Finish outings showed what he could have been, and he could have been wonderful – even being grumpy.
All that said, at the time, I was glad to see Sylvester McCoy come in.
Great observations
I agree with all you say. 🙂 I've come to appreciate him for his potential more than for how he was actually presented, and I think C. Baker did a bang-up job with what he was given (poor though that was). I really want to get my hands on some of his Big Finish line. Maybe next year…