Timelash

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

Previous Story: Davros

I was going into this expecting something awful and what I got was an OK story. Just OK, bit dull at points, bit fun too. Really generic story about weirdly-named aliens fighting other weirdly-named aliens while having some sort of a civil-war. It's really unremarkable but it's not as horrible as I've seen other people rate it.

At the very least, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are good here. Baker especially is incredibly entertaining to watch and manages to make stories like this worthwhile. I like this story's usage of a historical figure, H. G. Wells. He's played quite well by David Chandler and has a fun dynamic with the Doctor. The reveal of his identity at the end was quite charming.

Overall it's definitely not a great story but I don't see why this one is hated as much as stories like The Twin Dilemma.

Next Story: Year of the Pig

Bad 👍

Why are The Doctor and Peri still arguing? It comes across as if they hate being wanderers and companions in time and space. Isn’t this supposed to be fun? Where is the spirit of adventure? Is actual screaming from The Doctor and flinching from Peri necessary? The activity on the fascistic planet may lack drama when it comes to the Timelash machine but has some good character moments in the quieter darker corners. Our leads however have no such charm. Peri complaining to The Doctor that the complex they find themselves in is too “matte”, preferring a lively “glossy” finish pretty much sums up the problems with this season.

Why would they have poisonous plants just sitting around in the place? Seems like an accident waiting to happen. Totally illogical.

All my good will for Colin Baker in visual form is gone. I am very much looking forward to seeing the back of his ham fisted hack acting. Thank God he was able to redeem himself with Big Finish, because he is rubbish here. The excruciating scenes with H.G. Wells are a good case in point. So much gesticulating and shouting. I imagined Christopher Eccleston playing the same scene with a low key delivery and dismissive tone - he would transform those lines into gold.

It’s an ambitious script but the production does not manage to realise any of the drama. The Doctor enters the Timelash and despite the production team’s best efforts looks incredibly cheap and unthreatening.

The Doctor shames Borad (baddie of the week) for having a facial deformity, which is lame. I could see the idea of the Borad trying to steal Peri as his bride working if the acting was able to sell the dialogue. Unfortunately I care very little about any of the characters presented.

When in his chair, Borad could kill anyone at any time he wants but doesn’t - again, totally illogical.

Has there ever been a more predictable revelation in Doctor Who as Herbert being revealed as H.G. Wells? Yawn.