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Tag: Adric

Nu-View #3: Foray Into Five

The Visitation (Story #120, 1982)
Viewed 19 Apr 2011, 21 Jun 2011

Doctor/Companion:   Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan
Stars:  Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding
Preceding Story:  Kinda (Five, Adric, Tegan)
Succeeding Story:  Black Orchid (Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan)
Notable Aspects:

  • demise of the sonic screwdriver, which would not be seen again until The Movie in 1996

I found it difficult to decide at what point in his tenure to trot out Five for the Ladies’ viewing. Eventually, I decided I wanted one that involved the classic trio of Adric, Nyssa and Tegan, and settled on The Visitation because it gave a good sense of the three of their personalities. I’d have used Castrovalva, but I wanted to save that as the denouement of the whole regeneration arc for another time.

Due to various scheduling conflicts, the Ladies had to watch this one in shifts. Each time we had at least one n00b and one veteran (here I include myself). Among other things, it was entertaining to hear the first impressions of appearances. One initiate commented that she wasn’t sure about Five’s outfit (to which jE immediately responded, “wait’ll you see the next one!”). The other thought he reminded her of Chevy Chase. Everybody commented on the ’80s-ness of the episode, from make-up to hair to costuming (jO thought Nyssa “would have looked so amazingly cool in 198[2]”) to the TARDIS herself. There was also some consternation – coming from those accustomed to the modern “just swap ’em out” era – that the poor sonic screwdriver would disappear from the Doctor’s toolbox for nearly a decade and a half after its destruction at the hands of the Tereleptils.

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When Religion Meets Who

Review of Kinda (#119) – Mara Tales, Part 1

DVD Release Date: 12 Apr 11
Original Air Date: 01 – 09 Feb 1982
Doctor/Companion:   Five, Adric, Tegan Jovanka
Stars:  Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse, Janet Fielding
Preceding Story:  Four to Doomsday (Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan)
Succeeding Story:  The Visitation (Five, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan)

In the UK, Kinda and Snakedance were released together (in March 2011) as a boxed set called Mara Tales.  Due to that fact, not to mention the fast-approaching premiere of Series Six, I’ve decided to post my reviews of both DVDs together.  It’s my hope that that will also allow me to provide a sense of continuity between the two, which comprise the only appearances of the antagonist/creature known as the Mara.

Kinda is all about Story.  There are grand ideas and deeper themes that actually kind of obscure the regular characters.  More than in most cases, the Doctor is swept up in events around him, and things just happen to, rather than because of, him; his presence (unlike Tegan’s) is really inconsequential.  That fact alone makes it a rather atypical story, even before considering the aforementioned themes.

Further, the Companion dynamics are a bit odd.  Although this is smack in the middle of Nyssa’s time in the TARDIS, she appears for a total of about 3 minutes in the entire story, at the very beginning and end.  The others get separated early in the first episode, leaving Tegan to play her key role in the unfolding drama, while Adric tags along with the Doctor.  When Tegan and Adric finally are reunited, they snark at each other so much you wonder how no blood has yet been shed in the TARDIS.  In fact, it was this exchange – which painted Adric in a particularly poor light, as a self-absorbed ass – that finally gave me a better sense of why so many fans dislike him so thoroughly.

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