*A few spoilers.*
I realize that, while this is officially labeled as one serial, it’s really more like The Key to Time, a whole season of different adventures tied together by a particular hook. Yet, for whatever reason, I see The Key to Time as six different serials, but I still tend to view “The Trial of a Time Lord” as one. In short? It’s my blog, and I’ll review how I want, internal consistency be damned!
The Sixth Doctor has been yanked out of his timestream and—you guessed it!—put on trial by the Time Lords. As is their usual beef with him, the charge is interfering in the affairs of other planets. His prosecutor, the Valeyard, presents his evidence in the form of convenient four-part adventures screened for the courtroom via the Matrix, psychic records of the Doctor’s past (and future) experiences. The Doctor’s memory has been scrambled by the aforementioned timestream-yanking, but as he views the evidence, he gets an increasing sense that the Matrix has been tampered with.
This story makes up the whole of series 23, and after what was for me a pretty unsuccessful series 22, “The Trial of a Time Lord” feels like an effort to right the ship. Six is still visibly himself but a lot less unpleasant, and his dynamic with Peri (and later Mel) feels quite a bit better. For all his superiority, it does come through that he actually likes his companions, which goes a long way toward improving matters. It also feels like both Peri and Mel get to do a little more than Peri did in series 22, which is always appreciated.
The “evidence” stories, of which there are three, are all pretty decent. I like the introduction of minor recurring character Sabalom Glitz in the first adventure, an untrustworthy but entertaining mercenary. The second story sees the return of the disgusting Sil from “Vengeance on Varos” and features undiluted Brian Blessed. Finally, the third has a pretty cool new collection of baddies in the Vervoids.
Overall, I’d say the framing device of the trial is hit-or-miss. A lot of it feels repetitive—the Inquisitor breaking in to say a particular bit from the Matrix evidence is too graphic and wonders why the Valeyard needed to show them that (methinks I spy some meta commentary on parents writing letters to the BBC about Who being too violent,) the Doctor challenging a certain scene’s relevance to the trial and the Valeyard basically giving the same answer every time. However, as the idea of evidence-tampering slowly builds and becomes more prominent, it gets a little more interesting. That being said, I prefer the three adventures with some trial interruptions over the final two episodes, which are wholly devoted to the trial and the backstage machinations that have gone on over the course of it.
Also, let’s be real. If the Doctor’s Matrix evidence in his defense is taken from the future, then that certainly suggests that the outcome of the trial doesn’t affect his life or freedom in any meaningful way. It certainly doesn’t mean that he’s executed! (Granted, we know that, no matter what, it won’t go further than a regeneration, but he’s not supposed to know that!)
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