Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...
Day 495: The Visitation, Episode Two
Dear diary,
Big Finish have just released a box set containing two stories set during Season Nineteen. It’s the first time that Matthew Waterhouse has been back to reprise the role of Adric since he left the programme, and the first time that the ‘original’ Davison team have been reunited for work. One of the stories in particular is set immediately after the events of Castrovalva, and is a chance for this compliment of companions to really meet each other properly for the first time. I’ve mused before how quickly all the stories since The Leisure Hive seem to have passed for the Doctor, and the events around his regeneration - including the introduction of Tegan to the cast and Nyssa as an ongoing character - all came from nowhere and then was just accepted pretty quick. We’ve never had a chance to see the characters bonding, they simply fall into their roles and head off on the next adventure.
Today’s episode is probably the first time that Tegan has been able to spend any quality time with Adric, for example. They’re together in Logopolis as the world collapses around them, he’s out of the picture for Castrovalva, they’re kept largely apart for Four to Doomsday and she spends much of Kinda having a nap and dropping apples on people’s heads! It’s strange to think that she’s been a part of the programme now for sixteen episodes, and getting locked in a cell here with Adric is the first real time together that they’ve ever spent! Even here, they just fall into their plot-specific roles, each trying different ways to break out of their confinement. Coming from the depth a script like Kinda gave to even the smallest of guest characters, it feels a shame to be lacking that in our regular cast. They do get a couple of moments of being supportive of each other, but they never feel particularly ‘true’.
But again, we’ve got another ‘companion in the making’ with Richard Mace. I love the Doctor being paired off with him, and I really do think that a historical companion like this could work well as an on-going character for a short time before they get too impractical. I love his entry to the spaceship for the first time, asking quite reasonable questions about it being bigger inside than out (a recycling of the clever trick from The Claws of Axos, in which the ship has buried itself in the ground on impact, so they only have to pay for and construct a small portion of the ship on location), and the way in which the room is lit.
It’s a lovely design of ship, too, and the lighting on this set is used especially well. People talk of the way that 1980s Doctor Who had trouble with lighting in the studio - and that will be an issue further on in this era - but I think this story is a great example of how to do it just right. All the scenes in the cellars of the manor house are dark and dim and they feel like centuries-old cellars. The crashed ship on the other hand is entirely different: enough to have been done by a different designer. I had to check the director, and it turns out that it’s Peter Moffatt, who has something of a reputation for bland direction. While I can admit that I’m not blown away by it in this story, it’s competent enough, and there’s some really nice touches.
One thing, though… when the Doctor exclaims ‘not again’ during the cliffhanger, is he referring to a recent event that I’ve forgotten where he’s almost lost his head? It’s played as though we’re supposed to have seen something similar recently, but I don’t think we have!
