Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...
Day 376: The Time Warrior, Episode Two
Dear diary,
I’m going to start today by saying ‘ooh, look, new titles sequence!’. Not because I have anything particularly interesting or profound to say about it, but simply because it debuted in yesterday’s episode, and the longer I go without mentioning it, the more it’ll look like I’ve simply not noticed. For many people, this is the dawning days of the Doctor Who title sequence, the blue vortex and the diamond logo. I’m going to have to be honest, though, and say that I don’t really care that much for it. Oh, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s never been my favourite (I prefer both of the 1960s versions, for example. Or the 2005 – 2010 one. I think I prefer the current one, too). Of course, it doesn’t reach its most iconic style until the start of the next series, with the inclusion of Tom Baker and a TARDIS, but you can clearly see the through-line from here to there – they just update it to reflect the new Doctor!
Anyway! To business! I was surprised today, watching the cliff hanger reprise, just how rubbish Sarah Jane comes across. She’s being dragged inside the castle, events totally out of her control, ready for the Doctor to swoop in an rescue her… I made a note about how disappointed I was by how much of typical ‘companion’ figure she was being portrayed as, when things suddenly turned right on their head.
Suddenly, she’s brought before Irongron – lord of this castle – and she’s on fire. She snaps, and shouts. She wanders around the room, devising various scenarios for where she might be before dismissing them for logical reasons. There’s a way of watching this scene which sees her cast almost in the role of the Doctor, and you can’t help but love her. She proves her worth completely in this scene, and I felt a bit silly for complaining how ineffectual she seemed in the opening moments. She even manages to work in some funny lines about the ‘realism’ of this castle taking things a bit too far and making it far too grotty!
And then, as if that wasn’t interesting and fun enough, they turn her entire relationship with the Doctor on its head. I mused yesterday that they were clearly made for each other right from the word ‘go’ – though I countered this by saying how easy it was to think that with 40 year’s worth of hindsight. Today, they’re on opposite sides, and she’s actually suspecting the Doctor of being the man behind the kidnapped scientists, and plotting an attack to capture him. It feels like exactly the reaction that you’d expect someone to have, and you can easily see how she’s pieced all of this together;
Scientists go missing – They turn out to be trapped in the Middle Ages – The Doctor is there when one goes missing – He also happens to have a time machine in the same room – Also, he’s a bit odd.
Looking back, it’s almost the same kind of situation in which we’re first introduced to the Brigadier. There’s something odd going on, and the Doctor just happens to turn up at the right moment. Someone who will become hugely important to the Doctor in the future is initially very suspecting of him. It’s a brilliant dynamic to see again, and I had no idea that it was even here. It’s uncovering little gems like this that make the whole marathon worthwhile. And who can fail to love Sarah’s description of the Doctor: ‘He’s no magician! He’s just an eccentric scientist!’
The Time Warrior is another one of those pivotal stories in Doctor Who history. Yesterday saw the introduction of these new titles, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Sontarans. Today we get our first mention of the Sontaran-Rutan war, and the very first mention of the Doctor’s home-world, Gallifrey.
In the same way that I’m always surprised that the Sontarans don’t make their first appearance until the Eleventh Season, I’m really surprised that we don’t get a name for the planet until now. Heck, we’ve even been there more than once! It’s exciting, in a way, because all these little bits of the Doctor Who tapestry that we take for granted are starting to fall into place now. When the Doctor says it, it even in the style of the speeches David Tennant gives in the role: ‘I’m from Gallifrey. I’m a Time Lord’. It marks yet another milestone in the programme’s evolving story.
