Even though this Sixth Doctor serial contains a number of good elements, it doesn’t fully come together for me, the whole winding up less than the sum of its parts.
The Sixth Doctor and Peri are drawn through a time/space tunnel to the planet Karfel. The Doctor has been here before, but it’s not the place he knew – he’s wary of the society’s inexplicable scientific leaps, and there’s a police state undercurrent running beneath the courteous welcome. Our heroes quickly become entangled in a conflict between Karfel’s despotic ruler and those who want to see him overthrown, picking up extra help from an unexpected source along the way.
One of my favorite aspects of Who is when the show mixes the past with sci-fi/futuristic content, and we get that here with the one-off quasi-companion the Doctor picks up in the 19th century, Herbert. It’s why Jamie and Victoria always delighted me as companions. I like that part of the story, Herbert’s whirlwind trip to a distant planet.
There are other good points too, but most of them feel like qualities that are better executed elsewhere. We’ve seen nice-looking societies with hidden cankers underneath, we’ve seen stalwart dissenters subjected to inhumane punishment, and we’ve seen scary beasties menacing our companions. But the way this story uses those things feels kind of stale, lacking the flair and originality of other serials that create something much tastier out of the same ingredients.
(I will say that “Timelash” is a great name for a time/space corridor used to execute political prisoners. The visuals are corny, but the name is cool.)
Unfortunately, this is yet another story where Peri has to deal with the unwelcome attentions of a lascivious creep. Even though her tenure on the show isn’t very long, I feel like she attracts way more than her fair share of gross villains that get all obsessed with her. It’s stuff like this that give her the impression of being a “weaker” companion—no, she’s never been my favorite, but she’d come off a lot better without the constant creepiness from every Megelen or Sharaz Jek who comes along. Give the woman a break!
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