I suppose I should chronicle my great Fifth Doctor rewatch with some reviews, as if my opinion matters in any way. Castrovalva was a bit of a letdown. I used to consider this the best post-regen story, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much this time around. I think I remembered its best parts and didn't retain most of the weaker bits. And by "weaker bits" I pretty much specifically mean the location scenes.

I like the idea that the regeneration is a bumpy process that continues after the physical transformation, but I think they milked it just a little too much. In all honesty, I think The Twin Dilemma handled it better. The bit where he's flashing through old personalities was not as funny as the writers clearly thought it was. And then there's the Zero Cabinet. The Zero Cabinet just doesn't work. At first, you might think Davison was unavailable for the location filming, but then he pops his head out of the Zero Cabinet, meaning that wasn't the case. The Zero Cabinet looks stupid and looks even stupider on the wheelchair. Obviously the Doctor needs the Zero environment to help his regeneration, but since they're going to Castrovalva for that very purpose, Nyssa and Tegan could've just told him to suck it up and wheeled him in the chair directly. The Cabinet's logic doesn't make sense- the Doctor's supposed to be relaxing, but he needs to focus to remain levitating, which doesn't sound very relaxing to me. I'd imagine that's putting a lot of strain on his underdeveloped mental faculties, thus defeating the purpose of the Zero environment. They certainly don't need the Cabinet once they actually get to Castrovalva, or so I'd assume, and yet they make a big deal of it being the Doctor's property and have it delivered to his room. I suppose it does come into use towards the end when they trick the Master, but I think there were other ways this could have been written. The actual destruction of the Cabinet is not very effective. Anthony Ainley slowly tips it off the table and it falls apart, and the sound effects struggle to make this seem anything but lackluster. I'd like to give special mention to the bit where the wheelchair somehow ends up rolling into a small body of water, and Nyssa heads down to retrieve it but somehow slips and ends up in the barely knee-high water which she would have had to do anyway to reach the wheelchair and literally says "ew" in the climax to possibly the most unnecessary scene in all of the classic series. The location shoot from part two should've been excised almost completely, and much more of the story should've actually been set in Castrovalva.

On that note, Castrovalva itself is wonderful. It's the part of the story that I actually remembered, and it's good that I did. The story should've focused on this world a lot more, because it's a fabulous setting with a great guest cast. That's not to say the recurring cast is bad, of course. They're not on their A-game, but this is still one of my favorite TARDIS teams. Ainley's Master has settled into the cornier character we see him as for most of the decade, rather than the softer menace from Logopolis and Survival. That's fine by me; he's one of my favorite Masters, but I will miss his performance from Logopolis. I think Logopolis might've ruined Castrovalva for me. I really clicked with that story upon my rewatch, and it set a high bar that this story didn't quite meet. It's clear that this was a bit of a rush-job to replace the original premiere, although it's definitely not bad and I think Christopher Bidmead did a good job considering how short-notice it must have been. I think a lot of my love for this story came from the fact that my dad was tricked by the Shardovan red herring twice on two separate viewings, and had no clue that the Portreeve was actually the Master either time despite him appearing quite frequently in the first two parts.

What else? I didn't expect to have this much to say, honestly. I guess I'm really good at complaining. It's still a perfectly good story and the rest of the season more than makes up for a bumpy start. I like the bit with Adric in the mirror.

Castrolvalva kind of blew me away, I had so much fun with it.  I very much enjoyed the Fifth Doctor post-regeneration.  It feels like it brings an edge and certain comedic flair I wish stayed true of the Fifth Doctor more in general, because this is some of the best Doctor I've ever seen Peter Davison perform.  I enjoyed the Master's scheme and various scenes with him having captured Adric really nicely played up the villain's evil plan.  Castrovalva was a very fun setting and I enjoyed the big twist around it.

So you have a fun little story and the new TARDIS crew really gives it all a strong sense of character.  You have creative ideas that nicely follow up on Logopolis and even add something new to the world of the TARDIS and Time Lords in the form of the Zero Room.  And you have the Doctor at his best, with a strong use of all three crew members.  The serial offers and lot and winds up being one of the better Fifth Doctor stories out of not just the televised set, but in general. Like I said, I really wish the Fifth Doctor acted a little more silly like he does here as I rather thoroughly enjoyed him on the whole in Castrovalva and he's a big part of what makes these episodes work so well.

I'm going through the Davison era again with a friend now so what better time than to get reviews for all these stories up on this website. I absolutley adore this story, probably more than I should. Nonetheless I do think it holds up very well as both a cool story on it's own and an introduction for this new era. It was an interesting choice having the Doctor out of action for a lot of this story but I do think it works in showing what this incarnation is all about, especially in S19. The starting point of his character is someone who lacks the presence of what you'd expect from the Doctor; someone who is often overpowered and is very reliant on others. All in all this story does a great job of setting up what his character will be like for the rest of the season. Davison wonderfully portrays all the youthful energy, gentle demeanour and dry wit that will define this character.

I think this is a fantastically creative story as well. It's a lot crazier than a typical regeneration story and I love it for that. Things just seem a little off in Castrovalva and the way the discrepancies are slowly built up is great and I love the sequences of the characters running around getting stuck in loops and trying to make sense and explain what is going on. Ainley is great in this story as always and as far as the companions go, Adric may get shafted a little bit but overall Castrovavla does a much better job of balancing the three companions then other stories in S19. I just love this story so much because it feels very cosy; it's got that light and jovial feel that a lot of early fifth doctor stories have before it all starts to go wrong. The fifth doctor's first Tardis team is unbelievably cracked and I'm really happy to be revisiting this era and reexperiencing the wonder of Five failing to be a surrogate parent to his three gay children. 9/10 / 4½ stars.

This is such a fun introduction to the Fifth Doctor. We get some great nods to previous Doctors with this Doctor suffering very badly from post-regeneration trauma (most notably the Second Doctor's 'When I say run, run' and the way the First Doctor would clutch his lapels and say 'Hmm...').

The space-time trap of Castrovalva that the Master and Adric create where whatever direction in the castle you go you end up back at the same square is very clever too, and quite a unique concept. It feels different to other Doctor Who stories past and present. There's a lot of time spent in the TARDIS before we even reach Castrovalva though, and it does feel like they could have either tightened that up a bit, or shown us more of the rooms inside the TARDIS.

The Zero Room is very cool, and it's a shame we have never seen it since, but the TARDIS is limitless and they could really have gone to ball with spending more time inside of it. How about a TARDIS zoo, for instance? Or a museum of all the items the Doctor has acquired on his travels?

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Logopolis

And the Fifth Doctor is here! This story doesn't start off as well as I'd hoped. Post-regeneration stories are very hit-or-miss and I don't think this one quite sticks the landing. Peter Davison does an okay job, especially considering his immediate predecessor is Tom Baker who is a tough act to follow for even the best of actors. Unfortunately, this is one of those regeneration stories where we need to see as much of the Doctor as possible and we don't quite get that.

I'm sure given the time Peter Davison will grow into one of my favourite Doctors but this introduction is definitely not a favourite. Tegan and Nyssa carrying the Doctor to Castrovalva gets boring fast. Luckily, this is all mainly contained to the first two episodes, after that things start to pick up.  There's a distinct lack of Adric in this story, even if he is crucial to the plot which is something I've heard will be unfortunately common with the companions in the season to come.

Once the story turns into a more traditional adventure, it definitely gets better. Specifically, Castrovalva being created through Block Transfer Computation by the Master is a great twist and aside from some gripes with the introduction of the Fifth Doctor this was a very fun story and I'm very excited to see where this all goes.

Next Story: Psychodrome