Doctor Who – The Lost Stories

#1.03. Leviathan ~ 9/10

◆ An Introduction

You can usually pinpoint the reasons as to why these scripts never got made – over-ambition and budgetary concerns being the usual culprits – but sometimes you come across an adventure that ticks all the boxes, one which never should’ve been thrown by the wayside. That’s exactly how I feel about ‘Leviathan’.

Pursued through the woods by a demonic figure from Dark Age myth, the Doctor and Peri will soon discover that there is more to the village of New Haven than meets the eye…

◆ Publisher’s Summary

No one lives to old age in the village. When their Time is come, they are taken and never seen again. That is The Way. And, should anyone try to break with the established order of things, then the fury of Herne the Hunter is unleashed…

When the TARDIS materializes near a castle in this mediaeval society, the Doctor and Peri befriend Gurth, a terrified youth who is attempting to flee his fate. And Herne is closing in…

Why does the local baron impose the culling? What is the secret of Zeron? And who are the Sentinels of the New Dawn? The answers lie within a cave…

◆ The Sixth Doctor

Talking about this incarnation never gets boring, especially when the material is this good! From the moment he realises there is more to New Haven than meets the eye, he’s like a dog with a bone when it comes to seeking out the truth. He notices the little things, like how unexpectedly clean supposedly medieval houses are, and how peasants are somehow able to make white bread. Then there are the bigger things… like laser crossbows! Brian Finch has gotten his personality down pat, and gives him some excellent moments of action too: fencing with the Baron at around the forty minute mark was one of the Doctor’s many highpoints in ‘Leviathan’.

Colin Baker is firing on all cylinders throughout this adventure, making every scene he appears an utter delight to hear.

Landing is generally the safest thing to do when you have an in-flight problem. Unless there’s a village fête on somewhere, he’d say they were slap-bang in the Middle Ages: an interesting period in its way, but in increasingly small doses one finds. Medieval life was often short and nasty, according to the Doctor. People lived and died in exceedingly unpleasant ways. He thinks that Peri should’ve learnt from her travels with him that it’s not always advisable to get involved in something that’s purely a social problem. The Doctor changes his mind about helping Gurth when he discovers that the Herne biomechanoid was created by the Sentinels of the New Dawn… a name which clearly worries him! He believes that when you’ve seen one working castle, you’ve seen them all. The Baron remarks that his manner is that of a philosopher, yet his clothing belongs to a jester: such garb is inappropriate for the forest, he stands out too well. The Doctor has never shied from a just fight before, and he’s not going to now!

◆ Peri Brown

Someone has finally given Peri some decent material in this series, hallelujah! She spends a large portion of the runtime getting to know the Pariahs, and I found her friendship with Gurth highly compelling.

Nicola Bryant delivered an excellent performance for ‘Leviathan’.

She wonders if Sil and Rana Zandusia could’ve damaged the TARDIS when they stole it. Peri isn’t some ignorant peasant girl and refuses to be pushed around by someone like Osbert. She’s been in hundreds of scrapes worse than this, but she can’t do anything for Gurth stuck in a cage! Peri has been tortured, she knows what it’s like. She also knows that the lowlifes who do it are the sort who’ll only be encouraged to do it again if the Pariah don’t resist! She assures Wulfric that standing up to tyranny is always the right decision.

◆ The Medieval Truman Show

Peasant folk go about their business working under the shadow of a wealthy landowner in the nearby castle; all relatively standard for a medieval settlement, but the story keeps dropping subtle hints that everything here is stage managed.

Nobody seems to have knowledge of the wider world, while the Baron’s forces are armed with laser crossbows and robot dogs. There are passageways to steel-mesh corridors hidden away within caves, and a biomechanical interpretation of a Dark Age myth goes hunting for people in the woods. The houses are too clean, the food is too good. It all seems a bit “chocolate box”, as though everything here is for show.

Initially, the Doctor thought somebody had been tinkering with the timeline, but he could sense there was more to it. Then came the big reveal during the cliffhanger: everything from the woodland to the village had been constructed within the bowels of a giant spaceship!

The Leviathans defied belief even on the drawing board. A series of unimaginably vast spacecraft, they were mankind’s great hope in the mid 22nd century: the only way he could reach out beyond his own solar system to colonise new planets. Of course, that was before the invention of the interstellar drive. Several prototype Leviathans were constructed, but when photon speed travel became a reality they were left obsolete.

‘Leviathan’ feels strongly reminiscent of The Truman Show, if the set designers had spent an entire weekend binge-watching the first series of Blackadder! A stage managed reality where everyone living inside it is none the wiser. The whole concept is fascinating, and superbly handled by Brian Finch.

◆ Lost Sentinels

The Sentinels of the New Dawn were a secret society composed of powerful people conspiring to become even more powerful. ‘Leviathan’ introduces them as a background antagonist: the ones who created the biomechanical enforcer, modelled on Herne the Hunter, which goes round hunting people in New Haven.

The governments of Earth rallied against them, forcing them to flee our world. They stole a prototype Leviathan which they populated with clones and android overseers – all managed by a Zeron AI – and set a course towards the planet Phlegethon. The Sentinels remained in cryogenic sleep; the clones lived in their stage-managed medieval realm, being “recycled” before they grew too old to question authority… their nutrients being used to feed the frozen Sentinels!

Unfortunately for them, the Sentinels would never see their intended destination. The Leviathan was struck by a meteor storm, damaged, and floated off course for centuries. By the time it was discovered by the Doctor and Peri, all the stasis pods had failed, causing the Sentinels to die out.

◆ Master of the Wild Hunt

I adore when writers find some way to insert folklore into their adventures, because it adds flavour to the script. ‘Leviathan’ is no different, since peasant folk are being terrorised by a robot dressed up like a demonic figure from Dark Age myth!

The earliest written account of Herne the Hunter comes from Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor. Officially published versions of the play refer only to the tale of Herne as the ghost of a former Windsor Forest keeper who haunts a particular oak tree at midnight in the winter time; he is said to have horns, shake chains and cause cattle to produce blood instead of milk.

◆ Sound Design

A medieval settlement situated in the heart of the greenwood that seems almost too good to be true. Simon Robinson does a fantastic job at bringing New Haven to life, and manages to add a whole new dimension to his soundscape when the truth of this village is revealed during the cliffhanger.

Barking android dogs chase Gurth through the forest, while the master of the hunt sounds his horn: it sounds totally unnatural, much like the biomechanoid of Herne itself. Technical issues send the TARDIS careering out of control, before dropping our dynamic duo amongst the tweeting birds and woodland. Herne emits this bloodthirsty panting as he goes hunting for poor unfortunates; he snarls when he speaks, like some savage beast! The Doctor uses a knife to remove the synthetic flesh from the android dogs. The Baron’s men on horseback begin tracking the Doctor, galloping through the woodland around New Haven. Wulfric fires a bolt from the laser crossbow… causing an entire wall to crumble! The bellowing synthesised voice of Zeron barking orders at the Baron. A dank and echoing dungeon filled with squeaking rats. The clashing of edged steel as the Doctor engages in a fencing match with the Baron – can you imagine how cool this would’ve looked on screen? The rattling of a steel mesh floor as our dynamic duo explore the Leviathan proper. Several thousand volts of electricity are used to torture one of the Pariah.

◆ Music

Simon Robinson provides an understated score for ‘Leviathan’, one that perfectly matches the mystery and intrigue of New Haven.

◆ Conclusion

“Demonic figure from Dark Age myth. He pursued lost souls through the night, and usually caught them!”

Our dynamic duo find themselves in a medieval settlement at the heart of the greenwood, where the peasants are being terrorised by a biomechanical interpretation of Herne the Hunter. There’s something not quite right about this whole situation; nobody seems to have knowledge of the wider world, and there are passageways to steel-mesh corridors hidden away within caves. Hearing that the Sentinels of the New Dawn have something to do with the biomechanoid is all the impetus the Doctor needs to get involved… so where are they hiding?

Someone has created a self-sufficient medieval settlement within the bowels of a giant spaceship, and that’s such a fascinating concept! There are enough discrepancies to let you know something is wrong here – the houses are too clean, the food is too good, and the Baron’s men are armed with laser crossbows – but not enough to spoil that revelation. I made this comparison earlier in the review, but ‘Leviathan’ does bear a striking resemblance to The Truman Show, if the set designers had spent an entire weekend binge-watching the first series of Blackadder!

The salvage team are the only thing keeping this adventure from receiving full marks, because they had little in the way of personality or purpose. ‘Leviathan’ was damn near perfect, from beginning to end. Paul Finch done his father proud with this adaptation.